Protein & Pin Curl Magic

About a week and a half ago I got my hair done. I went to a Cape Verdean salon that uses the Dominican technique.  I've been there before and had great results, but I was NOT happy this visit.  I should have waited for the salon owner to do my hair as usual, but I thought that since I had a fresh relaxer that anyone could do my hair.  There are a bunch of young girls working in there, who probably never went to beauty school, and treat everyone's hair the same (even though all of the customers have a very diverse range of hair textures and lengths).  The girl who did my hair washed my hair way too hard.  I do NOT like getting my scalp scratched.  I could write a whole post just about this, but I'll save it for another day.  She shampooed my hair like 4 or 5 times, which is way too much for me, and then had the nerve to try to scratch my scalp with a rat tail comb.  Why would she do that?!  I don't have a flaky scalp, so I don't understand  She was pretty gentle de-tangling and or roller setting, but I felt like she blow dried the heck out of my hair.  I only asked her to blow dry the roots, and I'm not sure if my roots even needed it.  My hair was very straight, but too straight for my taste. I left feeling like my hair was over-manipulated and that it looked thin.  I won't be going back unless the owner does my hair.  I think she knew I had an attitude, but probably thought I was just tender headed, since I kept telling her not to scratch my scalp and to be easy with the blow drier!  Now I'm thinking I shouldn't get my hair done every 2-3 weeks. I really don't trust anyone in my hair at this point.

Since my hair had been so manipulated, I tried to keep the style for two weeks, but I broke down last night and washed my hair.  I had been wearing it up in a bun since I got it done, because I thought it looked too thin to wear down.  But when I took my bun out last night, I had some shedding and even a little breakage, and I felt like I needed to try to correct it as soon as possible.  I decided to use an egg mixed with oil as my protein treatment.  I used two eggs with olive, jojoba and almond oil.  I planned on leaving it in my hair for 15 minutes, but by the time I did what I had to do around the house, it ended up being about 40.  I noticed that the egg/oil mix took a lot of my black rinse out, which was fine.  I shampooed with Elasta QP Creme Moisturizing Shampoo, and deep conditioned with Aubrey Organics GPB.

I broke my promise to myself and roller set my hair.  It was already almost 9pm by the time I rinsed out my conditioner, so I knew my hair wouldn't air dry before I went to bed.  I used my new Matrix Biolage leave-in tonic to set my hair.  When I took my rollers out, I noticed how moisturized my hair felt and it looked thicker than it has in months.  I needed protein!  I haven't been using much protein lately, because I thought the henna had been acting like a protein for me. It wasn't.  I wish that I didn't realize this sooner.  I'm hoping regular use of protein products for a little while will help bring my hair back to health.  I just need to research the different kinds of protein, since some products with protein don't work at all for me.

I pin curled my hair in 8-10 pin curls.  Here is how I looked this morning:

I really like how it came out.  I've been too lazy to pin curl my hair at night, but I'm going to start doing it more often.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on my hair today.  I also consider this somewhat of a protective style, since my curls are tight enough to stay off my clothes.  My curls fell a little during the day, but not enough to rub against my sweater!

No Home Rollersets

My focus is to get my hair thicker. I am really not happy with how thin I think it is.  I hate see-through hair!  The black rinse definitely helps, but I have to do a lot more to reach my goal of thicker hair.

I have decided not to roller set my hair anymore.  It's a lot of manipulation and I think I roll too tight, which has caused too many broken hairs when I take the rollers out.  I will only get roller sets at the salon from now on.  I've lost a little confidence in doing my own hair. I get so much less breakage, shedding and dryness when I get my hair done at the salon.  Maybe I'm using the wrong tools.  I'll work on that later, but for now, I'm looking forward to being pampered every 2-3 weeks.  I'm going to air dry when I wash my own hair. I have air dried my hair the past two times I washed it, and it's been pretty good.  After my bad air drying experiences last year, I've realized that I can't just leave my hair out to air dry. I've been putting my hair in one loose braid and tying the edges down with a scarf.  During the day, I've been keeping it in bun. I moisturize and seal at least once a day.  My hair has stayed moist and smooth.  I've actually gotten a lot of compliments.  Unless I go to the salon for a roller set, I'll be wearing my hair up indefinitely.

I've been trying new conditioners and moisturizers, but I need to stick with the same products for a while. I really believe that consistency with moisturizing products is the key for me, not necessarily the specific products.

So that's it. I'm keeping it simple and consistent.  I haven't taken any pictures lately, mostly because I'm not happy with how my hair looks.  I know I'm my worst critic, and that my hair probably doesn't look that bad.  I also know that I should be taking pictures so that I can see my progress in the coming weeks.  They're coming!

February 2012 Relaxer

I got a relaxer a couple of weeks ago after a 10-week stretch.  My stylist used a mild Mizani relaxer for fine hair.  Almost all of the black rinse I put in the week before washed out, so I'll apply more this weekend.  I got a little trim. I love how my ends look now, but I really need to give the trimming a rest if I want to make it to bra strap length! I wore my hair out the first day or two, but have been wearing a bun since.  I'm not happy with my thickness (or lack of), so it's even worse after a relaxer!  I actually like wearing a bun right after a relaxer, while my edges are so straight and smooth.