Protective Style II Take Down & Wash Day

                     

Braids are gone people! (finally) After 7 long weeks, i took them down friday and im and so glad to have my hair out and about again. Its a learning experience doing these type of long term protective styles. its long term for me since i dont where my hair in twists for more than a week or 2, 3 is sometimes stretching it.

But take down took me an entire day. I pretty much stayed home after my surgery and chilled on netflix on my brothers big screen lo. Like the loc extensions, i took my time taking out the hair, spraying my roots with the acv spray and ball of dirt collected at the start of the braids. I gently pulled that apart and finger combed for each braid. After a while the pain kicked in from sitting in one position so long and i had to stop for the rest of the night.

heres a good video to watch on take down..

Saturday was wash day. i treated with a protein treatment plus a bit of garlic in the mix to help with my major shedding that occurred. Garlic will be a new addition to my weekly treatments from now on. Afterwards i followed through with the luscious locks shea butter shampoo (can find here or here) and then alikay naturals honey sage deep conditioner (here).

                               

With the DC i read on Curly Nikki this "Before rinsing, add a daily conditioner to seal in the treatment" It was a couple months ago before when i read this that i finally put it to use this weekend because hair still felt some type of way to me. i used Shea Moisture's Raw Shea Restorative Conditioner and it felt great afterwards. i would have used the shampoo but it smells something awful. Never have i ever used used the raw shea shampoo before and it smelled rancid (like rotten eggs and perm)... Just NO! i was not using it and i emailed them immediately! i really like their shampoo its just his one bottle that came out wrong... Lets see how that goes (cue side eye)

As for moisturizing and styling products, i used;

• alikay naturals lemongrass leave in (20% off Code FOC2014, ends 2/10)
• my oil mixture
• alikay natural shea yogurt moisturizer (20% off Code NMEL2014, ends 2/20)
• luscious locks shea butter curl enhancer (out of this months curlkit)

A well needed trim followed. I dusted my ends in th large sections after moisturizing. then again in smller sections as i went through for styling. I was aiming for a flexi rod set.. before i headed out for my friends surprise birthday party (of course my hair didnt dry in time... NEED HOODED DRYER!)... ended up with two large flat twists for the night (no pics)

And now i need a protective style for the week, cause its gonna be cold in NYC =(

...found it yesterday, new post with pics later!

Happy Days,

A.Soul

DIY Hair Care: Protein Treatment

Now, protein treatments are a must for all hair types, whether natural or straight, male or female... it must be done. Depending on your hair type there are heavy and light protein treatments.

For a light protein: i recommend: Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Conditioner (light citrus scent, leaves hair manageable and soft, great slip, and an all time personal fave... costs about $6-8 for 12.25 oz or $12-14 for 33.8oz)

For a heavier protein: I usually make my own. . but so far (in terms of buying) I tried the

• Tropical Isle Black Castor Oil Protein Conditiner ( was not fond of the mustard smell and my hair was font of the product at all)
• Aubrey Organics GPB: Love. love love 
• HiProPac Protein Treatment: I really liked this one, my hair came out feeling awesome and i would highly recommend it to others
• Homemade:
• Chocolate Hair Mask: cocoa powder, egg, yogurt, oils, honey
• Mayo Mask: Egg, Mayo, Oils

Now with my mayo mask, i changed it up this weekend. Instead of just mayo, egg, and oils, i added some extraness (yea i made it up) I put in some ACV (restore's hairs pH balance and great scalp cleanser) and Aloe Vera Gel (good for dry scalp/dandruff). The main reason being that my hair has been breaking a lot lately (i havent been treating it very well) and it needed a good balancing cleanser as well since i was putting in a protective style for the next month.

The Recipe:

• 1/3-1/2 cup mayo (depends on how much hair you have)
• 1 whole egg
• 2 tbsp oils of choice (i recommend what ever oil mixture you use or a mix of evoo, rosemary, tea tree, peppermint
• 2 capfuls of Bragg's ACV or if store brand (already distilled) use 1 oz
• 1-2 oz of Aloe Vera Gel

This mix worked really great for my hair. I mixed it in my parkay mixing bowl (yea i reuse lol), had a semi thick consistency (need more mayo for thicker consist-), and used and applicator brush to apply to my hair. I recommend detanglign your hair beforehand. I did it with the mix and my head was so tender afterwards (like i said my hair was suffering from neglect i was all tangled up). 

My hair was so soft and manageable afterwards, had shine, my ends were loving it (jest needed a trim) and my scalp was clean. Everything a protein treatment needed. I followed with the Ori Essentials cleansing cowash and moisturizing conditioner (thumbs up)...LOC..style.