Have You Tried? - Atomized Oil?

My hair is very strange with oils.  It mostly hates it, but the lighter, more penetrating ones, i.e., Camellia and Cranberry seem to deliver consistent results.  I sometimes like to finish with a light scrunching of my curls with a teaspoon of one of these light oils once it is completely dry and to add additional shine and softness.  One thing I do hate is putting the oil on my hands! So I put on my thinking cap and remembered this Misto oil atomizer!  Although it is for cooking, it is great to lightly misting your curls with oil at home as well as on the go!  It's on sale at Amazon right now with free shipping. 

Time For Some Henna!!

I've been using BAQ (Body Art Quality) Black African Henna from Mehandi.com for about 4 months now.  Even though Henna is kinda drying to me to use straight up, I find it does a bang up job mixed with other things to curb the drying effects, boost moisture and shine.  I will typically mix in Amla (to retain and refresh curl pattern), Indigo (to cool the intensity of the red to a dark auburn color), Camellia oil and sometimes Honey.  

I will steam for an hour with the Henna pack on my head, plastic cap it and putter around the house cleaning and doing laundry for another 3 or 4 hours and rinse out.  I mixed up a pack on Thursday evening, cover and let it sit on the stove until early Saturday morning when I apply.  I'm infusing my Camellia oil with fenugreek, amla and hibiscus flowers and I will add 4 or 5 tablespoons of the mixture to the Henna, along with the Amla/Indigo mix I make and put in right before I apply the mixture.

I will probably deep condish after as well. 

Sometimes I will deep condish the following day so I can make sure I have gotten out all the henna and to determine dryness level. Will post after treament pics!!  I'm really loving the color it gives also...wonderfully highlighted hair without the trip to the hair dresser, chemicals or hundreds of dollars!!

Today's Hair - 11-11-2009 - Emergency Steam Deep Condish!!

Well, my Elasta QP DPR-11 with hot cap treatment and overnight DID NOT last a day!  My hair was hella dry again last night!  I think my hair must be getting spoiled with me giving the steam treatments..*side eye to my hair* LOL!  I pulled out the Aubrey's Honeysuckle Rose, the last of the Matrix Biolage and about 4 tablespoons of my trusty Camellia oil, mixed that up and slapped it on, steamed 45 minutes and plastic capped it for the night.  NOW! I have some long lasting moisture in my tresses!  It's soft, frizz free, defined.

I think I will have to get like 5 bottles of Aubrey's next time I hit the health food store.  Even though it's  hard to get out of the bottle and looks like it's too heavy for my finicky hair, it does the job without leaving my hair coated and feeling heavy.  Yay!

Deep Condish Fridays

I typically will deep condish on a Friday night, plastic cap, sleep and rinse out Saturday morning. As I love to play around with mixtures and try different things together, Friday nights are usually a good time to relax and give myself a well deserved weeks end treatment.  This time I used for the first time Aubrey's Honeysuckle Rose Moisturising Conditioner mixed with a warmed dose of my favorite oil, Camellia, that I steeped in rose petals, fresh organic rosemary, nettles and hibiscus flowers. Mixed up well and slapped on well rinsed, wet hair and then 30 minutes under the steamer while watching the movie, "Twilight" (eegh-was alright, was expecting a little more).

So, this morning I will rinse and style and enjoy a great hair day!

Fenugreek/Methi Powder

On the advice on one of my Indian co-workers and some articles I came across on the interwebs, about a month ago I stocked up on Fenugreek/Methi powder and added it to my monthly henna treatment along with amla, which helps to keep my curls from stretching out too much and remain springy. Fenugreek is a GREAT addition to my herbal treatment arsenal. It provides smoothness, clumping and SHINE!!

Yesterday I while browsing teas, I saw it in a prepackaged tea bag form, and a picked up a box to make a tea rinse and a liquid to mix with my Fenugreek "root treatment". I mixed a cup of Alma powder with enough Fenugreek tea mixture to make a cake batter consistency and then added 2 tablespoons or so of Organic Camellia Oil. Camellia Oil is my go-to oil as it's not too heavy for my hair or skin ( I rub it on after shower on damp skin as well.)

I pour a 1/2 cup of warm water to the root mixture I let sit on my head under a plastic cap for 2 hours or so, lather it up root to tip and rinse it out, following with a co-wash, rinse again, then fenugreek tea rinse, Tresseme moisure conditioner as my leave in, style and seal with a fingerful of Jessicurl Deep Conditioner and Aloe Butter. Twirl sections around my finger and all done!!