Oops! I washed ;)

So, in my kitchen I found powdered coconut milk, I whipped some up not adding water, applied it to wet hair and put a disposable plastic shower cap on and a towel on top of that for 30 minutes.  This is my extra hydration attempt.

Next, I washed with two whole eggs, thoroughly whisked no water added (I should have done 3) and I applied it to my roots in slimy watery scoops and massaged and massaged my scalp.  Then I worked the yuck slowly in sections down the length of my hair careful to leave a bit in my dish for my ends.  I dipped my ends into the dish to ensure they were saturated and then braced for the cool water... Eek!!!  Man!  I haaaate even cool water!!! 

Then I finished with a 50/50%  ACV rinse with 10 drops of tangerine EO and carefully wide tooth combed from ends up to roots. 

Then I added aloe vera gel, like gel, scrunching, pre-defining my curls in the thickest part of my hair, too, sides, ends and even parted the top, re-combed and arranged and defined them and then long sleeve T-shirt plopped to dry. I slept in it overnight. 

In the morning, I'll manually define with a bit more water and more aloe vera gel so the curls fall how I want, and are super juicy ... and that my dear, will be the start of my curly cycle. 

By day 4, sebum needs to be brushed, so I may wet my brush and brush out my curls and brush the sebum through and then French braid it, or simply brush out dry and flat iron it in small sections on medium heat.  I then will add jojoba oil to my ends, especially the ends of the layers I've got too, and the next morning add mire oil and spot treat if needed.  Now with straightened hair I can brush so much better and can keep this straightened style for up to 2 weeks. 

My current wash cycle is 3 weeks.

I don't think I can manage sebum only SO much longer than that because my hair seems to go limp and lifeless at that point, and I actually produce much less sebum so I need to rehydrate!

Well 5 hours later, my hair was still damp, now that its dried, it's full of curls and super hydrated!!  THIS... Is bedhead!!! Holy curls batman!  It amazes me that before going no poo, my ends were split, dry, scraggley, couldn't curl.  Now, the curl back on themselves, they're healthy and well hydrated!  Time to depouf, and fix up a bit with a little water and aloe vera to help define curls that aren't sure what to do with themselves ;)

Hi ho hi ho... Four days of curls we go... Then I'll iron it straight so I can brush brush brush and maintain oiling the ends and using aloe IF I need hydration, all to maintain my hair health.  Awesome!!,

I'm 8.5 month no poo and loving it!

Have a great day!!

Coconut Milk Conditioner

Its officially awesome!  I put coconut milk all over, put all my hair into a disposable shower cap and wrapped that into a turban for 30 minutes.  I then washed with an egg wash.  That was 5 days ago.

Last night I gently brushed out my curly hair, and boy despite my curly mess it was very easy to brush out and detangle.  Was it because my hair was sebum infused, restored with the protein from the egg wash or hydrated from the coconut milk?!

I'm trying to figure out whyyyy my hair is shiny, moisturized, not at all oily, smells like nothing and barely needs my flat iron on the ends because its sooooo straight!!

My scalp feels great, my hair looks and feels awesome but it was kind of flyaway like (too moisturized) when I wore it curly, I was afraid I'd have to wash it out in case it was oily, but its not!

Never in my life..... But I'm not complaining.

Sebum Only Washing...

Sebum Only:  its when you don't wet your hair at all.  You scritch to loosen dead skin cells on the scalp, preen like a cat, massage your scalp and brush with a boar bristle brush.

I've been in warm weather on vacation for 12 days, no water, no oil, nothing.  Just me and my brush.  My last wash was on March 2nd.

I have no issues with oily scalp anymore, 8 months into no poo (no shampoo) however, even in the warm weather, I'm dying for some aloe on my scalp.  Its as if my sebum is diminishing and its a little dry.

SO (sebum only) is something I've always thought about, I'll have to be careful with those darned monthly hormones though, I've come to realize that there is a smell and extra oil production at a certain point in my cycle which if left alone does goes away.  That may be me weak point... it makes me crazy when I can't predict my hair!!

It could be an opportunity though for a once a month water only wash.  I'm thinking as a curly, there will have to be WO (water washing) at some point.  There will also have to be flat ironing so I can brush.  That also means adding oil and aloe vera since I tend to be dry.

I do worry a little... rspecially mussing the benefits of ACV (apple cider vinegar), but hey!  I'm in!  I've got fantastic SO partners, one over there in the UK, my hair guru C.N. herein referred to as "The Lone Ranger" unless she chooses another nickname for this space, and from down under, DoobyDubai who's sure to keep me laughing at myself along the way!!

Officially, I started on March 2nd with my last wash, and I'm SO washing, with a little water here and there ;)

UPDATE March 20th: My hair is limp and lifeless. I need some flat iron touchups because of mist or rain or snow melting in my hair and making it go wavy.  I'm a mess & I can't stand it... I need conditioning!!!!  I'm thinking of doing an egg wash followed by a coconut milk rinse... perhaps with ACV, I'm not sure.  I'll wear it curly for awhile and then flat iron it straight and hopefully go another 3 weeks again.

Stay tuned.

April 2nd: I've realized that curly hair by nature needs water.  I don't think I can be SO, but I certainly can keep my cleanse days 3 weeks apart so I can enjoy the glorious, nourishing benefits of sebum!!

Going for 3 weeks again...

And I'm doing very well!!  I'm already wearing my hair straightened and brushing well.  I'm away from home so there's very temptation to wet my hair for any reason at all!!!

I've noticed something though.  Back when I found this fabulous brush, I didn't realize that my scalp would miss the exfoliation that the nylon bristles give me.  So I've got this brush, but a mini ($5) for my purse, and happened to give my hair a good mid-day brushing and does it ever give a great brush and exfoliation!!  I love the gentle scratching feeling the longer nylon bristles give!

Highly recommended, this could very well be the only brush I use!!

So, I'm going for a minimum 21 days again.... And since I'm out of town without even acv in sight... I have no choice but to persevere ;)

Aloe & Coconut Milk Yummy Wash!!

I'm totally going to try this!! 

Some other alternatives...

Flax seed hair gel - Part 3

Now that my hair is totally transitioned, I think I'll retry this hair gel.  I'm guessing by adding my essential oil this time and playing with the consistency, I'll likely use and love it more.  The aloe vera gel does get quite costly after awhile when it's the only thing helping me define my curls.

This is from my first attempt at making Flax Seed Hair Gel:
Part one - Info and links
Part two - Cooking it up

And some tips...

Honey Aloe wash

I had just over a tablespoon left of honey and it was painfully slow moving to the point I just wanted to throw it away!!  But wait!!  Honey is a humectant... I can wash with it!!

So I brought the end of the honey in its squeeze bottle into the shower, added a but of very hot water and shook it to dissolve/liquify the honey.  Then I added equal parts aloe vera gel and gave it a good shake again.  I washed the lengths of my hair with it, washed my scalp only with my argan oil castille soap bar "lather", and washed it all out and then did a final conditioning rinse with my 50 /50% apple cider vinegar and water from another squeeze bottle with some essential oil for scent.

I added a bit more aloe vera throughout my wet hair and put it up in a T-shirt to dry.  An hour later, the T-shirt comes off and it was air dried in about 30 more minutes!!! It used to take all day to dry!!!!!!!

Then I spot added aloe Vera gel again on dry hair to spots to enhance curl definition and for extra moisture on the ends.

Voila!!

Here's a link to a recipe with aloe Vera for us curly girls. (Not page 2).