Monday, January 30, 2012

Back to Black...Again

I am a little over 9 weeks since my last relaxer.  I usually get a relaxer at 10 weeks, so this weekend's was in preparation for my relaxer.  Here were my steps with some explanation:

Pre-poo.  I now pretty much only pre-poo with oils, ever since the Organix Conditioner I used as a pre-poo a few months ago left my hair a nasty tangled nest.  For this weekend's wash, I decided to try conditioner again, but mixed it with a lot of oil.  I hate getting back in the shower to rinse out my deep conditioner, and I always feel like I'm not doing the best for my hair when I rinse in the sink, so I want to dry to deep condition on dry hair for a while to eliminate that extra step.  I mixed Vatika oil with about 1/3 of an ORS Replenishing Pak.  I also added some Pantene Breakage Defense Mask and Pantene Relaxed and Natural Conditioner.  I don't use these conditioners much anymore.  They're pretty good on my hair, but not great, so I want to use them up.  I applied the mixture like a relaxer to my whole head with a color brush, put a plastic cap and then a scarf (for a little more body heat), and left it in for an hour or two.

Shampoo. I shampooed twice with Elasta QP Conditioning Creme Shampoo and once with Hair One.  I de-tangled with the Hair One in with my new magic comb (love it!).  I wanted to make sure my hair wasn't tangled for my next step.

Semi-Permanent Color.  I applied Kiss Express Semi Permanent Hair Color in black that I bought from my local beauty supply store for under $5.  I also applied this like a relaxer with a color brush.  I covered my head with a plastic cap, and let it sit without heat for 25 minutes.  Because it was the first time I used this brand, I did a patch test on the inside of my elbow a few days before to make sure I didn't have an allergic reaction, like I did to some other semi-permanent colors.

Rinse.  I rinsed the color out in my kitchen sink (I figured it would be less messy this way).  I let warm water run through my hair until the water was clear.  I then applied some KeraPro Restorative Treatment to my hair to make sure it was soft.  I experience "hard hair" sometimes after putting in a color.  I left it on for 5-10 minutes and rinsed.  I then applied Roux Porosity Control Conditioner to my hair and let it sit for 30 seconds before rinsing. I haven't used this much lately, since realizing that I have low porosity hair, but I figure after applying the color and to prep my hair before getting a relaxer, it couldn't hurt.  The KeraPro and Roux definitely softened up my hair.

Style. I applied Salerm 21 as my leave-in and set my hair on red and yellow magnetic rollers with a few sprays of coconut oil diluted with water, Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum, and a little diluted setting lotion.  After my hair was dry, I flat ironed the roots in the front, wrapped my hair and went to bed.

I haven't used a black rinse/semi-permanent color in almost a year.  I'm kicking myself for it.  The black color really does something wonderful to my hair.  It always has.  I thought that since I was on my hair journey and have been conditioning my hair better, I could live without it.  I can't.  I also thought that the black looked to severe on me.  It doesn't.  Last year I asked a couple of friends what they thought about my going black with my hair color, and all of them thought my hair was already black.  No one ever gave me a compliment on my natural hair color or my henna'd hair.

I don't have the "see-through" hair I had before.  When I took my rollers out, my hair was shiny and moist before I added any product- something I haven't experienced in a while.  My hair is laying down so nicely.  I think the color gives my hair the weight to lay down and resist static that I'm always looking for.  My edges are even easier to deal with.  The Kiss brand is much better than any of the other brands I've used.  All of my grays were covered in the recommended 25 minutes with no heat.  I usually have grays that didn't take, or have to keep it in my hair longer, usually with heat.  It conditioned my hair to the point that I feel I could go another week or two before getting a relaxer (not sure yet).  If I didn't know anything about hair, I would think that it was magic. 



The only negative about this product, and this is a small negative, is that it really stains.  My sink was stained (easily cleaned with a bleach cleaner).  My scalp is really stained.  I was able to get the color off of my ears and neck with a warm soapy cloth, but my scalp is still stained. I think I look like one of those guys who uses dye on their hairlines, but everyone I tell about it doesn't notice.  I'm afraid to wear my hair up or pulled back, thinking the stain will show.  I'm thinking about shampooing again in the next day or two, but (1) I don't usually have the energy to wash my hair during the week, (2) I don't want to manipulate it too much, and (3) I'm planning on getting a relaxer in less than a week.

2 comments:

The TyWay said...

I love a black rinse! They make the hair look so much shinier & so much healthier.

Tiffanita said...

Me too- I feel so stupid for not using it for almost a year!