Wash Day......HURAAYYY!!

I was once told I was a "hair guru." Not sure how I feel about that but I do know that I have battled, loved and struggled with this head of hair and for this moment, I feel like I may have let it down. For now. Because in a few short months, I will have to redo my routine to battle the death grip of the southern summer!! 

But for now, here is my wash routine!!

Typically, I don't wash my hair weekly -- I know...Natural Hair blasphemy!!

 I recently challenged myself (I didn't want to call it a New Year's Resolution but it kinda was) to be more proactive and do a weekly wash day...with two small children, a spoiled dog and a husband, that hasn't happened just yet. I have, however, ventured into some new products and I hope it will give me a little more enthusiasm about washing my hair weekly!!

1. Rinse hair with lukewarm water. 

2. I usually wash my hair with either Shea Moisture Curl and Shine Shampoo OR a black soap bar. I suffer from extremely dry skin on my scalp and these have been the ones that work best for me. Neither have any sulfates or parabens and contain all natural products. I typically wash only once...both of these make a rich lather and once is usually enough (unless I have been super slack and I need a little more "suds" to clean my scalp). As a part of my New Year's resolution to wash my hair on a more regular basis, I also will be incorporating co-washing into my routine. I will have to save that for another blog post as that can spark quite the debate!!

3. I try not to rub my hair too much to help prevent tangles and fairy knots. T-shirt drying and patting with paper towels can help with that as well. I squeeze as much excess water off my hair as possible because I don't like sopping wet hair when I'm trying to add conditioner. 

**As you can tell, I do not use a conditioner in my routine. Because I use the LOCS method, I didn't see a need for it BUT (as you will see at the end of the post), I will begin to incorporate one pretty soon to see if my results are different. 

4. I have been using the LOCS method religiously lately and I LOVE it. LOCS method (if you don't know) is a method that is meant to retain moisture. L=liquid, O=oil, C=cream based moisturizer, S=sealant. Here is my list for the LOCS method:

L=Creme of Nature Argon Oil Leave in Conditioner

O=Coconut and Olive Oil (I use any kind but I made a trip to Trader Joe's right before Christmas and stocked up)

            

C=Aunt Jackie's Knot on My Watch Instant Detangling Therapy 
Once I add this to my hair and comb it out, i will section it off into 6 sections, twisting each section, to make it easier to manage. I recommend always separating your hair into sections that you can work with. Many people will say 4 sections but sometimes that can be overwhelming and difficult to manage...especially in the back of your head that you can't even see!! 

S=Shea butter with Jamaican Black Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil and Vegetable Glycerin

*I melt them all down and mix them together for sealant as well as to promote hair growth. I use the vegetable glycerin in the winter mostly to add moisture to my hair because the dry winter air tends to make my hair drier than in summer months when the humidity is much higher. I add this to each section and saturate my ends with most of it. 

           

I focus on my ends a lot when I put on sealant. The ends of the hair is the oldest part of the hair so they need lots of TLC to prevent breakage and split ends. 

5. Since you already have your hair sectioned off and twisted in chunky twists (which can dry into a style itself), you can go an many different directions. Many times, I go for protective styling because it saves me a lot of time in the long run. My go to style is the two strand twist and I have recently ventured into learning the three strand twist that offers more definition to my curls. I don't add a lot of product and I have recently begun using As I Am Twist Defining Cream and it is AMAZING for definition. Since I already have my hair sectioned off, I typically will just break those sections down a little more and do either a two strand or a three strand twist for a couple of days and take it down after it has completely dried. And yes, it can take a couple of DAYS for my hair to dry!! I also use a little Ecostyler gel with Olive Oil for a a little more hold on my twists. Oh yeah, and get a small color application bottle from your local beauty supply store and put some oil in it to oil your scalp...just a quick run through will go a long way. A little scalp massage will also wake up those nerve ends and can promote healthy hair growth!! 

    

This is just my routine (for now) that has been working well for me. Like I mentioned before, I am a slacker at washing my hair...it can get bad ya'll!! I'm working on it though...

Stay tuned...I have also just recently purchased a Trader Joe's conditioner that I will be adding to his regimen as well. 

Product Review: Aunt Jackie's Knot on My Watch Leave In Conditioner and Detangler

Aunt Jackie's Curls and Coils Knot on My Watch Instant Detangling Therapy

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Propylene Glycol, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit, PEG-150 Distearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Glycerin, Parfum (Fragrance), Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Cyclopentasiloxane, Phenyl Trimethicone, Lanolin Oil, Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Acrylamidopropyltrimonium Chloride/Acrylamide Copolymer, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Stearalkonium Chloride, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, d-Limonene, Hexyl cinnamic aldehyde, Linalool, Amyl cinnamic aldehyde, Lilial,Benzyl alcohol, Citronellol, Hydroxycitronellal, Cinnamic alcohol, 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one, 2-Methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one, CI 17200 (Red 33), CI 19140 (Yellow)

Use: after each wash as my C in the LOCS (liquid, oil, cream, sealant) method
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Hair Type: 4C
Length: mid back/bra strap length

Review

Positive: Aunt Jackie's Knot on my Watch is by far the best and easiest detangler I have used on my hair in the history of EVER!! It is fantastic and smells great as well. The smell actually lasts for about a week. Knot on My Watch is Paraben, Sulfate, Mineral Oil and Patrolatum free so it doesn't have that yucky stuff in it that us naturalistas try really hard to stay away from. The first ingredient is water so it was winning before I even out it on my head!! 

Let's go back a few...I first started using Aunt Jackie's after a visit to Family Dollar for a hair brush and durag for my daughter. I was browsing the product aisle like I do at EVERY store I go to and low and behold, there it was..for $5.00!! Of course being the reforming product junkie that I am, I had to try it...a detangler, for $5.00, that smelled good AND it was made with natural products. Even if it didn't work, I figured it was worth a shot. I began to use it on my daughter's hair which is beyond a tangled mess after a wash and it worked a miracle on her head. She didn't even cry during the process. So I used the one small bottle (they only come in 6 oz bottles at Family Dollar) in no time. I figured I could make it a staple product so I bought more. Then I found a place that was selling a bigger (10 oz) bottle and I went for it! $7.99 and no tears when combing is worth every penny!

Not only do I back this product for children, I use it on my hair (mid back/bra strap length), as well. It provides awesome slip for detangling and with the Shea butter and olive oil enriched in the product, it is an awesome leave in conditioner as well.
After using it for a while, I noticed that my hair became much easier to detangle cutting my total wash day routine down by quite a bit of time. It also provides lots of moisture to my hair. I love that you don't have to use the entire line to feel like the product works well. I don't typically use an entire product line anyway. I like to mix and match!! 

I HIGHLY recommend Aunt Jackie's to naturalistas that experience lots of tangles from fairy knots to larger tangles. If you like a lingering scent of product, this scent will usually last about a week if you don't put too much other products on your hair. It also provides some moisture which can reduce the amount of other products you may need for that. Like I mentioned before, I use it as a cream leave in during my process and my hair LOVES it!!

Negatives: It doesn't last a long time! I need a pump size bottle of this stuff!! I prefer not to by the smaller 6 oz package because it won't last very long if I stick to a weekly wash schedule. Unfortunately, this is the most common package in the stores. This product can also be very messy...it's a loose consistency (similar to conditioner) and since you use A LOT to get those harder to soften areas, it can make a bit of a mess. 

Overall: This product will remain in my "must haves." It worked the very first time the same way it works now. I will recommend this to any and everyone that struggles with tangles and difficult to manage coils or curls after a wash. 

It's available at more locations now that it has become more popular. They also have a website auntjackiescurlsandcoils.com with more information.