Okay. I feel a little - *grins* happy. That's the last thing I was really 'concerned' about when it came to my hair - how slow it grows. I KNOW I have a big head and everything, but I still feel like it's creeping along. I know it's growing but - well, hell, I'm impatient.
ANYHOW! *settling down*
I'm officially getting some Mason Pearson combs now. If I'm attempting to maximize the growth coming out of my head, it's the height of stupidity to not do my best to insure that I retain at least 95% of that growth. So. I used my bone comb today, and saw that it had flaked up and a hair was caught in it.
Oh, hells nawh.
And then I KNOW my shower comb and my fine tooth comb aren't seamfree. So, yeah. AND I just got paid? *ch* This is about my best time to get em!
So. I found the following on eBay (oh, how I love thee)
for 67 bucks, including shipping. Which - yeah, it's kinda steep for combs, but hopefully this will be the last set of combs I have to buy. I really hope so.....sixty seven bloody dollars. *sigh* But I'm worth it, yeh?
We went to New Orleans for our anniversary, and I actually wore my hair out - it made a pretty hot twistout.....
I was really thrilled with it, as it's the first twistout I was REALLY happy with. It started out much tighter - when I took it out dry at first, it looked like little perm rod set ropes. Once I got it wet, it was puffier, but still tight. As it dried, it got much more 'full' and 'fuzzy' - and of course, it got shorter at each stage as well. All the same, I liked it - a lot.
Even more pleasing, when it came time to detangle, it wasn't hard at ALL. I finger combed, then wide toothed, then slapped in the Caramel treatment.
I don't know if I made it differently, or what, but it was SUPER watery this time. SUPER watery. It dripped, dripped, dripped horrriiibbllly. *sigh* And I even added cornstarch this time! I don't know, I really suspect my measuring cup was the wrong size. And I used 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup. Mrr. *sigh* I dunno.
Anyhow, my hair, as usual, turned out fabulously.
One thing that I noticed is that it seems like the more moisturized/healthy my hair is, the more of a cnapp I become - little to NO curl, but many tight tight waves....I'm not sure if I like it..... I hope that I can get some curl back. The ends coil up nicely - but the rest is just - poofruzz. *lol*
Urm.
I think that's everything.
I'm so happy with my hair.
Floating....
I see things.....
wonderful things!!!
*blink*
*blink*
So, urm, yeah. I mentioned that I had started using the Eqyss Mega-Tek Rebuilder daily, and more frequently on wet hair, right? That's - well.
I've been growing hair for a little less than 2 years (I count May 2006 as the start, as I dyed my hair platinum blond - and I ended up cutting it all off, so I might as well have shaved my head), and I have roughly 6 inches of hair. Miserably, that means that my hair only grows about 1/4 inch a month - on average. I suspect it grows a little faster in the summer time, but it slows down a lot in the winter. Anyhow. 1/4 inch a month is the growth rate I was assuming going into this.
Based on those pictures, I've grown...well, let's see.
I started at barely a 1/4 inch below my nose. By the 15th, I was almost to my upper lip - maybe at the 1/3 of an inch mark. Today, though, I'm WELL at my lip crease (ignoring the two or three strands I was holding onto to hold the braid down) which would be the inch mark. That would mean that I grew 3/4 of an inch in a MONTH. Three. quarters. of. AN. INCH!!! *faint* :woot:
That would actually be THREE TIMES my normal growth rate. I'm not taking any vitamins (not even the multi-vitamins I REALLY should be taking), nor have I been using any other kind of growth aid - just the Mega-Tek.
Holy shit. I'm just comparing these pictures now, myself. I could tell that it had jumped in growth, but I'm just seeing just HOW MUCH it's jumped.
I'm also thinking that the slightly longer hairs are most likely the ones closest to my hairline, which got the benefit of the daily dabs that I do to encourage my hairline to come in - that reminds me, I need to do a hairline comparison shot, as well.
*giggles*
Now, I'm seriously trying to figure out how I can finagle it to use this daily, without having my hair out. As it gets longer, I can do more styles (in fact, the 'style' I put my hair up in while I was treating it today gave me an idea), and work with my hair a little more 'loosely'.
*giggles giddily*
Oh. My. GODS!!!
Okay, must go & post to LHCF - I'll come back to ramble on about other hair things.
I've got goosebumps.
ho-hum.....
It's been a dull hair week - about the only thing I've done interesting has been to give myself almost nightly Megassages - I'm eager, yet nervous about this weekends growth photos....
Here is the two week comparison pics, done a little better.
Two things I notice - both, I think, to the benefit of growth.
1) The March braid was fatter, which mean it would have shrank up more.
2) The March braid wasn't combed out as well as the February braid, so the ends should look fuller.
Even taking those two things into account, my hair has CLEARLY grown over those two weeks. Considering that my hair grows about 1/4 inch a month *sigh* - and the space between my nose and mouth are almost exactly 1/2 inch apart.... for a 'normal' months growth, I should be just BARELY touching my upper lip in this next set of pics. Considering the twist that I was playing with earlier in the week while my hair was out was almost to my lower lip - I think I'm doing pretty good. I hope so. I really, really, REALLY, hope so - because if it does work, and it works that well - the Mega-Tek would be doubling my growth rate. *blink* Which, would bloody well rock.
I could poke myself for NOT having taken better pictures - sheesh, Kiya! I'm usually not eyeballing the previous pic when I take the current one though, so I might need to change that, and create a 'picture standard' for myself.
Mrr, though, really, once I either prove or disprove Mega-Tek, I really won't be trying to keep up with these SUPER tiny changes, just the major ones, so maybe it doesn't matter.
Me, being the skeptical pessimist that I am, is still marginally in denial, really. Personally, I won't believe it til I see it for myself. Though, I HAVE to admit - I do like how it feels in/on my hair. I've noticed that usually, when I take my twists out, I'll get little pieces of broken hair off of the end - since I've started the MT - nada. And - my shedding has gone down a LOT too. And - I WILL continue to use it on my fingernails - bottom line, as they have gotten HUGELY stronger since I've been using the Mega-Tek, and usually I don't even bother actually applying it to my nails - it's just what gets on them as I'm working my hair.
So.
I dunno!! I wanna be hype, but I'm still reserving final judgment - and that final judgment is SOLELY on the growth enhancing properties of MT, as it's other properties rock.
At 20ish bucks for 16 ounces, and at my current rate of using about - hrm, say an ounce to two ounces a month (and to use the two ounces, I would have to be doing my hair at LEAST 4/5 nights a week), that's - at least a years worth of the stuff. It's definitely worth it...even if it doesn't live up to ALL of it's hype. *fingercrossed* But - so many other ladies have seen increased growth - and increased thickness - it's can't be hype!
Yes, this is me doing my public weeblewobble - I'm a skeptic. :lol:
Okay - off the growth stuff - our anniversary is this weekend, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my hair. We'll be out of town for the weekend, and I think that what I'll do is just leave my hair in the updo til Sat morning, then take it down, get it soaking wet, and rock a lovely lil twist out. Then, bantu knot it Sat night, and take it back down the next day, and hopefully, be able to rock a twist out again. Though, I'm going to be twitchy about not taking my hair down tonight - I've been fondling the back of it all day - I misssss my hair!! *sigh* I'll be busy though, so it'll be aiight, I suppose.
Hrm.
I think I'm done.
Combing Hair
Since I was talking about switching combs because my ends get the most mechanical damage when I comb it - maybe, before I spend the money on combs, I can change HOW I comb my hair.
I'm - I'm pretty insane when it comes to detangling/combing my hair - which is partially a factor of my only doing my hair once every two weeks, and once because I know the better I detangle it this time, the easier it will be next time.
I usually start with untwisting my twists, and I fingercomb - slightly - while dry. Then, I get my hair wet. My first rule is that I don't rub my hair together at all, I 'work' my hair via fingercombinging. It's the first step, really, in detangling my hair. I tend to collect long strands of hair at this point and 'webs' of hair over my fingers - I'm not worried about ANY of this hair, because I'm generally 99% certain that it's all shed hair.
Then I put in whatever - goo - I'm using that week (as an example, going foreward, I'll just pretend I've got the Caramel Treatment in my hair), and I work it through my hair, with my wide toothed comb. Most of this hair is strictly shed hair, as well.
Then I part my whole head into four section - two in front of my ears, two behind, the crossroads at my crown. The sections on the top of my head, are the smallest ones - but the hair is also thickest there. The two back bits are actually - significantly thinner/finer than the upper bits, but I think its more of a factor of the size of the strands of my hair. The back of my head is fine hair - whereas the front of my hair is medium/coarse. Anyhow. Splitting it up like that ends up with about the same amount of time detangling. The back bits FEEL longer than the front ones though, and that gives me hope going forward that my hair will get easier to manage as it gets longer. I twist those sections into halfassed two strand twists that I have to 'tuck' under themselves so that they don't come apart, and I let my hair rest that way for 3-12 hours, and then I climb back into the shower.
Anyhow. Before I let the water rinse whatever goo I'm using out, I comb through my hair.
Starting with the 4 sections that my hair was 'resting' in with the goo of the week. I split each section in half and I grab that half-section in my hand, so that it make a little 'puff' and the top part is sticking out of my fist. I started the 'puff' trick because I'm tenderheaded, and holding my hair in that grip insured that no matter HOW hard I tugged on my ends, I wouldn't make my scalp hurt.
Mind, I've learned that I shouldn't be tugging on my ends THAT damn hard, anyhow, but I still use the puffist trick to comb my hair out.
I start with my medium tooth bone comb (as my wide toothed shower comb wouldn't do anything at this point), and gently, gently, comb through my ends. I try to start as far away from my fist (and thus as CLOSE to the ends of my hair) as possible, and comb that through. Then, I position the comb a little closer to my fist, and try to comb through to the ends. It usually doesn't work. At the point that the comb gets stuck, I pull it out, repostion it closer to the END of my hair (further away from my fist, again) and keep combing until I can comb though the whole puff.
This entire process actually lengthens my puff significantly - I would say that my puff gets almost twice as long while I'm doing this. Once I've managed to comb through the whole puff that is outside of my hand, I open my hand breifly, grab a little bit of hair inside my fist, and try to comb through. If I can't, shift closer to the end, and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Eventually, I can comb through the whole section of hair from root to end, without catching on a tangle.
At that point, I put that section of my hair into a two strand twist, and move on to the next section.
As complicated as that sounds, it only takes me about 15-20 minutes to do that to my whole head.
After doing all that (in the shower, because it's the only way to contain the splatter), I rinse my hair. I just take apart each section, rinse well, and then put it back in. I repeat this for all the sections.
Then, to let it dry, I take each of the sections and split it in half. I coat that section with Kiya Pudding, and comb with a medium fine tooth comb - starting from the ends again, and working my way up until the whole section can be smoothly combed through.
Then I braid that section, and move on to the next. I end up with 16 braids, mostly detangled, well conditioned, and I leave them to dry.
I need to start making my intial parts better, as that would allow me to skip the step where I take apart the dry braids and part them correctly for how I want my two strand twists to fall. I usually either just pull the 'loose' section back, and use either a no snag elastic or a haircomb (not seamfree *sigh*) to hold it up.
I make a part in each section for the the twists, add a little extra Kiya Pudding, and I brush each 'twist' section with my Denman, and then split them into Strand A & Strand B, and I start my twists.
All together, I 'detangle/comb/brush' four times, but each time with a smaller comb. Well, no, really - I do just that. The wide & medium tooth comb detangles while I have goo in my hair, the fine tooth comb combs with Kiya Pudding, and the brush, brushes, with more Kiya Pudding.
I don't know. IS that too much stress? I can't see how skipping a step would make any of the later steps easier, and I don't see how leaving out any of the later steps would insure that all of my shed hair is out. And that's really what I'm trying to do - reduce tangles by reducing the chance of dreads.... I'm just concerned that it's STILL too much manipulation/too much breakage/too much stress.
And so, see, this is why I'm all about the Mason Pearson. I would want a wide toothed one, to replace the shower comb, a medium toothed one to replace the bone comb - I use it on wet hair, and that causes it to flake, and each raised/rough point in a point of mechanical damage to my hair. Then, I would want a fine toothed one to replace my fine toothed comb. I think I can stick with the Denman, as my last step, though.
So. I don't know - that regimen seems perfectly reasonable - esp. since I only do it twise a month. It would be different if I was doing all of that every week, or gods help me, every day- but, it seems like a low to reasonable amount of manipulation - assuming seamfree equipment.
*sigh* I really do think that any manipulation with a non seamfree piece of equipment is too bloody much manipulation.
Mrrrrr.
I'll have to check eBay, I think.
Well now, isn't that interesting.....
So. I had emailed the dude who was selling the Rejuvenator (which the discovery of spawned the whole Horse vs. Human question), asking about the ingredients in what he was selling.
Interestingly enough, the ingredients in the Rejuvenator that HE is sellling is IDENTICAL to the ingredients of the Rebuilder, NOT Ovation.
Either way, it still makes the current horse product the unquestionably better product.
Hi Kiya,
Mega-Tek Rejuvenator contains: Deionized water, hydrolyzed keratin protein, stearalkonium chloride, glyceryl stearate, peg100 stearate, marine protein, peg 40, panthenal, demethicone copolyol, magnesium citrate, allantoin, amino acids,
methlparaben, mucopolysaccharides, propylparaben, imidazolidinyl urea, frangrance.
Mega-Tek Rejuvenator binds proteins to the hair to help rebuild damaged hair. We
sell quite a bit of the product and I personally use it every other day after shampooing. We also include a instruction/directions sheet along with a 1 ounce
applicator bottle. Mega-Tek is very concentrated, and we recommend putting ½ teaspoon in the applicator bottle and mix with water as this will help you to disperse it all over your hairs.
I double checked his ingredient list against the list on the bottle of Rebuilder I have at home, and they are IDENTICAL.
I'm happy, as that means I will definitely be staying with the Rebuilder.
TheGirlToLove pointed out that I had missed the cetearyl alcohol as one of the ingredients missing from the Rebuilder that was in the Ovation - cetearyl alcohol is is an fatty alcohol used as an emollient, emulsifier, thickener, and carrying agent for other ingredients. Can be derived naturally, as in coconut fatty alcohol, or synthetically.
So, it just changes the 'feel' of the mixture - doesn't really DO much. Funnily enough, though - that is one of the chemicals I have in the cabinet that I got from a swap - so if I wanted to, I really could add that to the Rebuilder, as well.
I got Vitamin E Oil (Tocopheryl Acetate, Grapeseed Oil, Safflower Oil) and added about 12 squirts of that - maybe 1/8 a teaspoon? It's the 30K IU kind, and it was the strongest they had at Kroger. I'm almost certain I've seen the pure stuff, but I didn't feel like stopping at another store for it, esp. since I was able to find the Castor Oil there as well. I added about a capful of that (1/4 teaspoon, maybe?) to the Rebuilder as well. It's mixed, but it's not mixed very WELL - so I'm really thinking about adding a few grains of the cetearyl alcohol I have to it - it should help everything blend together better & 'hold'. Funny, and I was JUST saying that I had no clue as to what to do with those chemicals. ^_^
I used the latest version on my head - and I think I felt MORE tingles - I dunno. I know Vitamin E oil is a very good carrier, and sinks into the skin easily - so, maybe that helps carry the 'active' ingredients further? I dunno, but I'm VERY satisfied with sticking with the Rebuilder exclusively now - AND it's much cheaper than either of the other options - you KNOW that's right up my alley. It made my roots feel all puffy though - the thought flashed through my head that maybe I need to go to a once a week styling pattern - that would give me more chances to use the ERB (Eqyss Rebuilder, as I'm tired of typing that *lol* and I don't want to use the generic Mega-Tek, though it seems like both items have the same ingredients!) but, I'm concerned that the increased manipulation might defeat any increased growth I might obtain.
Hrm. I'll think about it.
Speaking of growth, I realized it's almost time for new 3 month pictures - my last set was taken in late Dec, and it's almost late March! My hair will be out next weekend, so I'll take pictures there - I'm hoping to see some serious growth - and I really do think that I will. I hope. I'm a little - unhappy - with my rate of breakage, though. *sigh* And everytime I think of that, I think of those danngone Mason Pearson combs. *sigh* I want, I want, I want. Mrrr. I mean - otherwise, I'm an angel to my ends. I moisturize them daily, and I double treat them anytime I get my hair wet. I ALWAYS wear them up - the only time they are exposed to mechanical damage is when I'm combing them. *sigh* *glares at ball of hair* *sigh* Mrrrrrr.
I also picked up some clear mascara, too - finally! I mixed in a full capful of SAA into it, stirred and shook well, took before pictures, and applied the first coat - March 22nd. I plan on using it daily (just the SAA, as I want to see the difference between it and SAA + Castor Oil), and I'll take another set of progress shots on April 22nd. I realized I have REALLY sparse eyelashes - *sigh* - I really need to get my thyroid properly checked out.
The clear mascara does make my eyelashes look a little fuller by itself though, so that's a nice perk. :)
Urrm, what else? I rinsed my hair well before I used the ERB today, and I put some Kiya Pudding on the ends to keep them moist (see, I love on them!). Gave myself a good scalp massage, and now I'm letting it dry loose......
The last henna took VERY well - I almost have flaming hair in the sunlight - I really need someone ELSE to take a picture of me, so that I can get a good shot. One thing I noticed though - my roots are decidedly NOT red. Not red at all. Hrm. I wonder if that's extra growth? Nah.... it is interesting though, that it's a pretty clear line of difference between the red hair and the not red hair.
Oh, that reminds me, I need to break the link to my comparison pics on LHCF. Hrm. Flickr is being - flaky. I'll do it later.
Ah! I've also started rubbing the ERB into my fingernails. I'm so tired of having crappy nails. It feels rather nice on them, I must admit. I plan on trimming them every period, so that I'll have a natural record of when I cut my nails, and thus how they are growing.
That's one thing that I LOVE about using horse products - they're always safe (and if there is the tinest risk they aren't, it's on the product) for mares. And considering the multi-millions some people put into their horses - yeah. I like horse stuff.
Horse vs. Human - who comes out on top?
So. The latest 'growth enhancer' that I'm using comes in three different formulations. Thanks to LondonDiva, I've got the ingredient list for all three - so I want to compare them, and see who comes out on top. It's product deconstruction, ya'll!!
Ovation (current 'human' version):
Deionized Water, Stearalkonium Chloride, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, PEG-40 Castor Oil, Cetrimonium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, DM DM Hydantoin, Methlparaben, Propylparaben, Tetrasodium EDTA, Frangrance
Rejuvenator (discontinued 'human' version):
Deionized Water, Stearalkonium Chloride, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, PEG-40 Castor Oil, Cetrimonium Chloride, Hydrolized Keratin, Panthenol, Tocopheryl Acetate, DM DM Hydantoin, Methlparaben, Propylparaben, Tetrasodium EDTA, Frangrance.
Mega-Tek Rebuilder (current 'animal' version):
Deionized water, hydrolyzed keratin protein (HU), stearalkonium chloride, glyceryl stearate, peg 100 stearate (DI), marine protein (DI), peg 40 (no castor oil), panthenol, dimethicone copolyol (the one cone), magnesium citrate (DI), allantoin (DI), amino acids (DI), methylparaben, mucopolysaccharides (DI), polyparaben, imidazolidinyl urea (DI), fragrance
DI = Different ingredient
HU = Higher up on the list
The Ovation and the Rejuvenator are identical, as far as the ingredients and the order they are in.
The Rebuilder, though, has MORE hydrolyzed keratin protein (by virtue of it being higher on the list of ingredients), and it has marine protein and amino acids, which neither of the others have, along with a few other 'different' ingredients.
Now - here comes the reason I decided to put this in my blog - I'm about to go crazy ingredientHunter over here. So!
The rebuilder is missing DM DM Hydantoin, Cetrimonium Chloride, Tocopheryl Acetate, the castor oil in the peg 40, and Tetrasodium EDTA.
The DM DM Hydantoin is a preservative, that the imidazolidinyl urea replaces. The Cetrimonium Chloride is an anti-static agent (most likely leaves your hair feeling softer and smoother) but it doesn't really seem to be involved in accelerating growth. The Tetrasodium EDTA is a chelating agent - so that's more about the hair 'feel' than about any additional growth.
It makes sense that they would take out the 'make my hair feel good' stuff from the 'animal' version - they tend to not have paw in hair disease, ya know?
Now. The difference between peg-40 and peg-40 Castor Oil is - well, one has Castor Oil added in, the other doesn't. It acts as am stablizer/emollient, and I assume they took it out of the animal version because animals tend to lick themselves - and castor oil is a known laxative. Ew. *lol*
Tocopheryl Acetate is a fancy word for Vitamin E Oil, so that's easy.
I can add some Castor Oil, and some Vitamin E oil to the Rebuilder. I can also add some citric acid to it, if I REALLLY wanted to, for the chelating action to kick in.
Okay. Now, let's explore the ingredients in the Rebuilder that are NOT in Ovation.
We have peg 100 stearate, marine protein, peg-40, dimethicone copolyol, magnesium citrate, allantoin, amino acids, mucopolysaccharides, and imidazolidinyl urea.
We already know that the imidazolidinyl urea replaces the DM DM Hydantoin, so we can ignore that one. And we know that the only difference between peg-40 and the peg-40 castor oil is the castor oil, so we can ignore that, too.
So.
The peg 100 stearate apparently is a cleansing agent/emollient mix - I assume that's to make it easier to wash off of the horses without having to use another soap - basically making the whole thing MORE water soluable.
The marine protein - is well, a protien. Without knowing exactly what kind of marine life it came from, I can't get much more specific than that. We'll call it a protien boost, though.
Our old friend dimethicone copolyol is the only TRULY water soluable silicone. I don't like cones, do not like them at all, but I'll give this one a pass. It's lowish on the ingredient list (#9 out of 17), so, I won't whine, too much. Though! It DOES crack me up that dead on the bottle it says 'contains no silicones' - and there dimethicone is, big as day. Annnyhow.
The magnesium citrate is - well, it's a laxative, at least that's all wiki has to say about it. PLEASE tell me that ain't milk of magnesia!! *lol* It also says that it works by bringing water into the intestines via osmosis - so maybe it's doing something similar in the hair - acting as a humectant? I bet this ingredient is also the culprit for the 'dandruff' look that some ladies have reported seeing. I don't know - I haven't been able to find any references to why you would use this externally.
On to the allantoin, which appears to be - well, I'll copy the juicy stuff from wiki:
Which, in slightly less chem heavy language, appears to be saying that it's a humectant, speeds the turnover of skin cells, makes the skin smoother, increases the rate of cell growth, and soothes.Allantoin has a moisturizing and keratolytic effect, increasing the water content of the extracellular matrix and enhancing the desquamation of upperlayers of dead skin cells, increasing the smoothness of the skin; promotion of
cell proliferation and wound healing; and a soothing, anti-irritant, and skin
protectant effect by forming complexes with irritant and sensitizing agents.
Damn, the horses got the GOOD stuff.
Amino acids are kinda like the marine protien - without knowing EXACTLY which ones, I can't say anything about it except it's a damn good thing for hair.
Finally, the mucopolysaccharides. Innnteresting. They appear to be one of the the natural moisturizing factors, and actually help 'hold' cells together. I can only think that this would ROCK on your scalp, and so, I'm saying once AGAIN, the horses got the good stuff.
So, overall.
The ingredients that the rebuilder is MISSING are the stuff that makes your hair 'feel' good, but without really DOING anything. The ingredients that might actually do something - castor oil, vitamin E oil, and a chelating agent, are super easy to substitute in.
On the other hand, the ingredients that are UNIQUE to the rebuilder are - stellar. We've got protiens & amino acids. We've got two things shown to help hold skin together and increase the rate of cell growth. We've got some stuff to make it stick together better, and to rinse off easier. And we've got a random cone. *lol*
Definitely, definitely, DEFINITELY - the Rebuilder (the HORSE product *faint* ) is a much better buy - and it's almost HALF the price of the Ovation.
Hrmph. Horse-sense, indeed.
Growth....
So - here's a comparison - two weeks - the first picture was taken Feb 28th, the second was taken March 15th.
Now, I'm kicking myself for not having taken a picture of the same SIDE - I'll correct that in a bit, as I'm sitting here with a DC in my hair right now - It's been a couple of hours though, so I need to rinse it out soon. Anyhow.
Murrr. With the facial blurring, it's not as easy to see - the first picture, my finger stops about level with my nose. The second picture, my finger stops about level with my lips.
*sigh* But - it's on the wrong side, AND my hair is wet! Bugger, I didn't even notice that before. So - I'll have to take another picture, after my hair dries, AND figure out a better blur method so that I can show where things stop at.
I'm REALLY excited, personally - I think (despite my photo faux pas) that my hair is actually growing faster - and significantly so. Gooooo Mega-Tek!
So.
Let me go meddle with my hair. *sigh* I really miss the laptop.
Changes....
I'm not on my usual computer (had a sad accident with water and keyboard), and everything looks a little off. My gods, a 19 inch screen is bloody HUGE.
Urm. Hair.
This is gonna take me a while, as I have to take breaks.
*blink*
Okay. Had to adjust the size, but it's still - off.
Hrm.
Anyhow.
Today, I've rinsed my hair (straight water), clarified my hair (baking soda and water) and hennaed my hair (henna, water, and conditioner - cheapie V05 Blueberry something or another).
I also came to terms (more or less) with the fact/concept/meme in time that I simply CANNOT allow my hair to shrink un stretched.
I've rather got the Hair Up (98% of the time) thing down pat.
I'm rather fearing that I will have to add a hair stretched 99.9% of the time challenge to it, as well.
Why?
Well.
I rinsed out my hair, and DH took this lovely in-shower shot of me.
I added baking soda and water, and shrinkage took over with a vengeance. It was rather amazing, how - powerful my shrinkage was. I got out of the shower, and chilled for a while, and my hair became - dare I say it - unmanageable Tight, strong, dense. How did I handle it? I climbed back into the shower, and let the magic of water weigh it down. Not only did it weigh it down, it ALSO made it incredibly easier to comb through.
I detangled (again), and put into two strand twists.
The shrinkage, however, would not be denied - despite the fact that I could GET my hair into those twists, my hair rapidly shrunk right out of them. It was kinda amazing, frustrating, and cool as hell, all at once. *lol* So.
Mrr.
What can you do about that, besides grow more hair?
I put the henna into each 1/4 at the same time, then split them in half, twisted, and tucked into themselves.... that way, I ended up with eight two strands twists/treeknots on my head.
So, at this point I'm in 8 sections to twist up my hair. Slowly, as my hair gets longer, I'll graduate to four, and then to two, and then to one.
I don't have Dyslla thick hair, but I think that my hair is - well, my kink makes my hair pretty impressively thick - and VERY fucking short. If I want to see the full length of my hair, I HAVE to make my hair 'thinner'. If I want my hair to be thick and luscious - I have to accept that it will also be shorter.
The were rather interesting looking, coated in baby-poo yellow as they were. The conditioner I used was blue, and ew, simply. I don't think I"ll be doing that again - I'll be sticking to yellow/pinkish conditioners, as that makes the prettiest henna ever. Hah. As if it makes a difference in the final results. *eyeroll at self*
Speaking of difference in the results, I mixed up a fresh batch of henna this time, and it stained my gloves like I'm used to FNWL henna staining my gloves. I really do think that the old mixed henna (from August, maybe) has been slowly demising all along, despite being in the freezer. *sigh* If that's the case - I don't know. I think that I will alternated - fresh henna/old ass henna/fresh henna, until I'm out of henna all together - then I can re-up on henna, and start all over again.
I'm rather excited to see what my hair looks like, since it's been getting 'redder' as it is with just the SAF - it will be interesting to see if the henna really shows up better.
It got gooky, too, which is something I haven't seen in my henna for a while. So. I'm thrilled, also, with that.
My hair - ohmigods, I also think it's growing. I got kind of depressed over the fact that I figured out my hair is ABOUT 6 inches long, which means I grow an average of 3 inches a year, which means I grow about a 1/4 inch a month - and dear me, but that's the LOW end of hair growing.
However.
I'm almost certain that my hair is distinctly longer in just two weeks of using the Mega-Tek. I'm not totally sure, as I haven't compared the pics myself - but just washing my hair, and looking at it - it FELT longer.
Sqquuueeeeeee.
If it is - ohmigods. Me and Mega-Tek will be like WHAT? WHO!
*blush* I'm shamed to admit, I was looking at some dog shampoo, and thinking of how fabulous the ingredients sounded.
It's so not a good thing. Trying to control the PJ'ism.
Speaking of which.
The conditioner chemicals I have are:
Glyceryl Sterate
Cetareth-20
Cetearyl Alcohol 30/70 NF
All from lotion crafters, so I should be able to look up their properties. Mrrr. None of them have been ones I've heard GREAT things about (though, I do know that Cetearyl Alcohol is one of the 'good' alcohols) - so, thay aren't really crushing my urger to get some Dipalmitoylethyldimonium Chloride from soapcrafters.com............... Grrr.
I've also (man, it feels like it's been a while since I've posted) come across a new forum, thanks to one of the members posting a link to the Caramel Treatment pictorial I put up. They seem to generally rock, AND they allow cussing. Which, ya know gives MAJOR bonus points to a forum, in my mind.
At HC, I've seen references to both Kinky Curls Knot Today, AND BBD Stretch - both of which are held if HIGH respect. *stomps on my inner PJ*
*sigh* Dh is almost done with dinner, so I'm not going to go and get links to EVERYTHING right now.
I'll post, and come back and edit.
I'm hungry. ;)
*unfond glare*
My hairline.
It drives me mad.
Really, all I want is a thick, solid, hairline. Not a hairline where you can see through the first 1/4 of an inch of it to bare scalp.
I've noticed that my left hairline is in better shape than my right.
I sleep on my right side, most of the time, so it's not my sleeping. My scarf, I tie in the back of my head (and I have a widows peak on the BACK of my head - we aren't even going there tonight - if it goes away bloody lower I'll have back hair!) so that's not the problem.
The only thing that I can think that I do on a regular basis (maybe) is that when I do a flat twist across the front of my head, I usually start on the right (being right handed) and finish on the left. I'm wondering if the fact that I start on the right stresses my hair enough that it breaks off/is finer on the right side.....
So. At first, I was thinking that I should start on the left after every Caramel treament. Then, I thought - well, if that's really the issue, why continue to stress the weak side at all? Why not switch to all starting on the left side until the right side catches up, and THEN start alternating sides.
Hrrm.
I dunno.
I'm going to be taking another set (triad, I suppose?) of hairline pictures this weekend (ooh, it's a henna weekend!!!!!!!!!), and I'll compare the left/right side of those... it should be interesting, if nothing else.
I'm thinking that my earlier hopes of getting my twists over this dome of a head by April 1st... well, it might have been a fools idea. I don't know. I'll have to meddle with it some.
My twists - well, it's starting to seem like the twistOUT might last better than the twist itself. I dunno.
I definitely plan on making a fresh set of henna this weekend. Hrrm, how shall I arrange this?
Friday night, I take my hair down, and give it another good Megasagging ( ;) Shimmie!), leave it be. Saturday, get up, mix the henna, clarify my hair while the dye is releasing, put the henna in, tie it up, forget about it. Rinse it out before I go to bed, coat my hair in EQ IFC, baggie it, go to bed. Sunday, get up, rinse out the IFC, fat braid with KP, let dry. Put into two strand twists with more KP (bugger, I REALLY need to get some seamless combs), massage with Mega-Tek and Amla, flat twist it up, and be done with it.
Mrrr. I think I'll time how long I'm actually doing something to my hair, and how long (comparatively) something is being done to it. If I spend more than 8 'active' hours on my hair (and no, I really don't CARE that it would only equal out to 16 hours a month - which is just a little more than 30 minutes a day) - it'll bother me.
Mrrr.
It's officially 1am, and I definitely need to be in bed. *pats hair fondly*
G'night.
Flakes and Funnies
First, a quick reference guide for natural ways to stomp on dandruff. I was poking at my hairline with a pin today (what?? I wanted to see if what looked like stubble actually was!), and had several flakes come up! *faint* I've NEVER had dandruff, and while I know that my skin has been right bitchy for the last month or so, I was hoping that my scalp might avoid that, with the protection and the TTO and all. *sigh* I'll have to add something else to my weekend washes, as well as doing a better job of 'scritching' when my hair is loose, that's all. I can't ABIDE dandruff. *shudder* My hair is too thick to even CONSIDER doing a manual scalp exfoliation, so I might try one of these, and see how it works. I've heard good things about the asprin. *nod*
Take a couple of aspirin pills, drop them in a big cup with a little bit of
water at the bottom. Let them sit there for a minute until they're soft and
break up easily. Break them into tiny pieces, add more water and a touch of
shampoo (enough to make the water slippery so it will work through your hair).
Then pour the diluted water/aspirin/shampoo mixture over your scalp, slowly
massaging into your scalp. Do NOT pile your hair on top of your head...just do
the scalp (you should never pile your hair anyway it destroys your hair, just
squeeze shampoo/water through the length). Let it sit for a few minutes...shave
your legs, wash your body, whatever you want to do...and then rinse. Shampoo and
condition as normal.
You can also add an apple cider vinegar rinse to the end of your shower
routine. Just dilute a TBSP of ACV into a cup of water (just a cup, not a
measurement) and pour over your head. You can rinse if you want, but it isn't
necessary.
Coal Tar/Pine Tar Shampoo
Thyme is a fantastic remedy for dandruff! Just get fresh or dried thyme,
pour in some boiling water and leave to steep in a glass bowl for about 30 mins.
Then strain, add some cold water and pour over your head. You should do this as
a final rinse, after your shampoo/conditioner/no poo routine. You may need to
keep doing this for a few days, but the dandruff will go away. Thyme EO is also
an option
Shikakai/Amla Hair Rinse
It just hit me that I officially have different 'stages' for my hair.
Right before I wash it, it's SUPER soft, and shiny, and usually a little grubby feeling from the dust, etc, that's clung to my hair/my mister over the week. I should take a picture of dirty hair, and then take one of clean one, too. I've been meaning to play around with single strand pictures lately, anyhow.
Right after I wash it, it's dry feeling, and very wiry. It doesn't feel BRITTLE, but - it's definitely not as elastic as I think it should be. And this is even after I've put in the Kiya Pudding.
A couple of days after I wash it - it's at it's peak - wonderfully soft, super smooth, still wonderfully fresh feeling. That's where I'm at now, and I really think it's a side effect of the honeyquat in my spray - it attracts and holds JUST the right amount of moisture to keep my hair consistently happy.
Thankfully, it always smells good - but now I understand when people talk about 2nd day hair!
I had to redo one of my flat twists in the back last night on my way home (I can ALMOST redo one at a stoplight), and *wiggles head* it feels like it's trying to wiggle it's way free, again. It DID look pretty once I redid it though - all full and fluffy instead of my usual tight & firm twist.
This is an irksome length - when my hair is JUST too short to go all the way across, but JUST too long for the 'tail' to tuck neatly. Hrrmph. So, everytime I try to 'tuck' the tail, I end up 'breaking' the twist above it. I REFUSE to leave it out (unprotected and it'll look funny), and they aren't long enough to actually 'join' together in the middle.....
Hopefully, I'll be out of this stage in a month, or so - if I grow well, that should give me the added length I need. I figure, all I really need to be able to do a single flat twist (and have it STAY) is anothe 1/2 - 3/4 inch. I should get about that in a month, and with the warm weather coming AND mega-tek? Oh, yeah, by April 1st, I should be able to wear a single flat twist down the middle of the back of my head. By May 1st, I should be able to wear one down my whole head (Dino Style, that ones called) - I THINK.
I've been CONSIDERING - maybe, maybe, MAYBE - flat ironing/pressing my hair in May, just to see how long it is, totally stretched out. Dunno.
Green Snow......
The one downside of using ayurvedics herbs - esp. in twists - is the simple fact that they ARE herbs - thus, they don't really dissolve, they just suspend themselves in liquid.
Thus, they don't always come out of my hair as well as they seem to. I just sat here and shook LOADS of fine green powder out of my hair - if it was dandruff, I would be running through the streets screaming. Thankfully, it's not, so I can just shake my dry twists well to get the powder off, and not worry about it. It bothers me that despite me rinsing, and rinsing, and rinsing, I still have dust. Though, of course, I DIDN'T fully strain out this batch (being lazy) so I guess I can't really blame it on the tea, now can I?
I just finished an amla massage since my hair was finally dry - I used the Megatek while my hair was still damp, and it felt - okay. I dunno, I think I like how it feels on dry hair MUCH better - it feels a little - tacky - once it dries. I dunno, I don't like it on wet hair. That's okay, as that just means I'll switch the order - do the amla while my hair is damp, and then the megatek once it dries.
I have to admit, my hair does feel - fuller, somehow. It will be interesting seeing how it feels once its' actually loose again. I can't say it's any longer - it'll be interesting seeing what my hairline shots look like next week, as well.
I also retwisted a BUNCH of twists - the roots were just crazy puffy, so I split some of them in half and retwisted - that way, my updo won't drive me AS crazy for the rest of the week. I don't think I'll do them quite as big next time...... or, maybe if I did more square sections, it might work better. Mrrr. I dunno. I'll have to experiement more and find out.
It's back, it's back!!
TLHC is back - and it's back as a brand new 'clean' board. My heart dropped a little when it looked like the journals were gone (they have blogs now - how ironic!), but apparently, at some point I'll be able to access them off of the archives.
It's kinda cool, having it back and new and fresh - it should be interesting.
But damn, I miss my journal. I wonder if I can pump the RSS feed of THIS blog onto that one? Or just link them together - that would SO rock.
*goes to check it out*
Hrm, no I can't. Murph. I doubt I'll be C&P'ing entries over, either, as converting from HTML to BBCode is a pain in the tushie.
Ah, well.
In hair news - I haven't done much this weekend - I'm been keeping up on the Megatek (I really want to keep track, this go around). I've used in on my hairline since I got it, so that would be Tuesday, the 4th. I used a scalp massage on Wednesday (the 5th), and today (the 7th). I plan on using SAF tonight, and letting it seep overnight, then letting my hair dry, massasing it in again, adding some alma oil on top, and twisting it back up for another week.
I think - I don't know - I don't really like the roots on these fatter twists. It's not that they look messy (I don't think, I'll have to double check), it's just - not as 'neat' as I'm used to. I have to keep reminding myself, though, that my eventual goal is to actually WEAR my hair loose - from the roots all the way up to the ends - so I should get used to the 'frizzy/fuzzy' wavy look. It's interesting.
I cropped a picture to show off my plugs, and also got an interesting shot of my loose hair on the side (the back was out, and I just had a comb pinning it up).
And - I don't know - it doesn't - it doesn't seem like that's my hair, somehow!! *lol* It's so pretty, even though it's not really that clear.
I tried to take a picture of my dry, mostly unmanipulated hair - and yeah. So not so much - I just can't get it, for some reason. Maybe I'll start a post on LHCF....
I've also noticed/realized that I'm getting a little 'lax' on my banned products - MegaTex has a cone in it (yes, water soluble, but STILL!) and the amla oil has a mineral oil base. My scalp and roots LOVE both products though - so I guess I can't complain, eh.
I have to admit, my hair didn't like the amla oil - at all. I dunno. I'm learning that my boundaries are a little more flexible than I thought they would be.
Urm. I think I'm done for right now.
I REALLY want those Mason Pearson combs, dammit.
Weekend Recaps
Ahh, the delights of a hair out weekend. I ended up doing a SAF rinse, and the caramel treatment - it was quite wonderful.
I also took a new set of comparison pics.... this is a little over two months worth of growth - Dec 26th to March 1st
About 3/4 of an inch, maybe? I got smart this time (rolls eyes at self) and held the braid down so I could actually see it's full length - it's definitely grown. I've also got my wee braid stick up over my shoulder back there - that'll give me an idea of how that hair is growing.
Let's see. I started out with the SAF - I put that in Friday night, put my hair in two 'fatwists' down the side of my head, and slept on it. Saturday, I rinsed it out, then rinsed with baking soda - I complained about my scalp feeling 'coated', and I can't remember the last time I clarified. That felt REALLY good. I then let my hair dry a bit (and played in it - I've got such happy little curls!), then put the Caramel treatment in it. I think I messed up at this point, by NOT putting it into some sort of 'stable' style while it sat. I left that in for - oh, 2-3 hours, then rinsed it out. I detangled in the shower, under running water - it was definitely harder than it had to be, and I'm almost CERTAIN it was because my hair had a chance to 'shrink' freely. *headshake* gotta put a stop to that.
Anyhow. Left those in all day Sat/most of the day Sunday, then took it all apart, and put it into two strand twists. My hair seemed to want to 'stick' together - not quite tangle, but cling - I suspect that 'feeling' is raised cuticles, and that I'll need to do a CA rinse before my henna.
I finished my twists in record time, I think - I'm making them bigger and bigger - it's far too early in the year to start getting lazy - we aren't even out of Q1!! *lol* Ah, well - I also need to learn to not wait until so dang late in the day to start messing with my hair - I didn't do my usual amla massage (hrrm, I wonder if that's why my hair feels a little 'drier' too?) because I was SO ready to go to bed. I might do that tonight, instead.
Overall, my hair feels good. A littler 'drier'/'stiffer', but I'll give it a day or so before I swear on that - esp. since I clarified AND I made it through another weekend using ALL homemade stuff, except for the Kiya Pudding. I'm REALLY quite pleased.
I've also discovered something new to drool over - Mason Pearson combs. Stttuuppiid expensive (20 bucks for a COMB!!!??) but ooooh, so pretty. And seamfree! And I realized that if I really want to keep combing my ends with a finetooth comb - I really need to be using a seamfree one. *sigh*
Let's see, what else? I realized there's no rush (really) to get new powders, as I have at least 4 or 5 more applications in my cabinet - and even assuming that I use a new formulation every week - which is doubtful - that would last me at least another month. The Mega-Tek isn't here yet - I'm hoping it gets here in time for me to use in on Wednesday.
Hrm. I think that's it, for now.