Ok, notes to self.

Today I appear to be having a stonkingly good hair day. Unfotunately my head underneath it is aching terribly (I knew that G&T Mr B made me last night tasted a bit strong!).

Anyway, I’m recording what I did so that I can remind myself after my next failed experiment.

1. I am one week into a Matt James haircut - using Deva Cutting technique.  It’s great.  Loadsa shape, bounce and some of the best curls I’ve had ever.

2. I have reverted to using a lo-poo on a more regular basis, almost daily.  I’ve been doing this for two weeks because I noticed that I get much less of a halo and a great deal more shine when I use a lo-poo.  CJ daily fix just isn’t fulfilling the brief in the same way.

3. I have a massive influx of hair products from an Emporium delivery and a trip to TK Maxx.  Mr B commented on the product lake in the bathroom.

4. Yesterday was particularly frizzy, I’m blaming the rain and possibly the product combos

5. But yay; today is perfect weather for great hair, dry but neither arid nor humid and no wind.

6. I washed with Giovanni Smooth as Silk shampoo. 1 litre bottle from TK Maxx purchased yesterday, took a risk having never tried it before but at £14.99 it was a bargain too good to miss. Lathered a lot, felt a squeek when rinsing which concerned me.  Think I will need less next time.

7. Applied Giovanni 50:50 balancing (hydrating-calming, aka balanced remoisturising).  As above 1 litre bottle purchased, not tried, risky! Thick.  Thank goodness the container has a pump.  Felt plumping in the hair, in fact thought whole head of hair was swelling out at one point.  May have been a bit heavy handed. May not have rinsed shampoo effectively either.  Remember, you have less hair than you did last week.

8. Rinsed thoroughly.  Wasn’t sure at this point (soaking, dripping wet) if hair was feeling very hydrated, nervous that it had characteristics similar to when it goes fluffy.  Usually prefer hair to feel a bit seaweedy at this point.  Still, gently squeezed out some of the water, applied CJ Beauticurls leave in, applied a little more (to compensate for the lack of seaweediness).  CJBLI seems to be one of the most effective halo stoppers around. Light scrunch.  I don’t like the word scrunch, it implies roughness.  At this point it’s a grab and gentle squeeze -with head upside down. 

9. Applied CJ Curl Queen. After a shakey start initially with this stuff, I have just bought two more bottles.  Shakey start was on account of timing of application. CQ best for me after LI and whilst hair is still quite wet.  7mls or so of CQ in palm, gently rub palms together.  Grab and squeeze hair, a little more forcefully than before, but encouraging curl, rather than attempting to injure myself.  Head still upside down.  Enjoying light headrush that brings - helping the G&T head. 

10. Did some grabbing, squeezing and holding…. sorta like a scrunch and pump, but without actually pumping. Or maybe a very light pump. Looking now like well shaped curls and minimal if any stray hairs escaping from clumpy clutches.

11. Curl-ease towel, more grabbing and squeezing.  Still upside down. Floaty - yeah!

12. Up in vertical position. Different kind of floaty. NB, be less enthusiastic with the movement next time. Hair has fallen slightly too central (centre parting makes me look like Charles II) need to shimmy some over to the right.  Hmmmm, wierd looking now.  A wee clip in the front should stablise.

13. Apply Batia and Aleeza Bio Mineral Gel.  Recently returned to this stuff after a break. Estupendos for sealing in moisture and hold.  Very liquid, small puddles rubbed between palms and gently squashed/smoothed into hair.

14. And relax

15. What’s the time? NO DON’T RELAX.  Face, clothes, drying, coffee all still yet to do.

16. Face, clothes done.

17. Kneel on bed.  Lean over the end.  Grateful no small people to come and bounce on it and knock me off.  Diffuse. Medium heat, high speed as not patient enough to do anything slower.  Try not to move drier around too much, but very easily bored.  Radio alarm turns itself off.  Shoot, it’s later than I thought.

18. Bored of drying now.  Stop. About half dry, but feeling good.  Yeah, still minimal escapee strands. Good clean, defined curls - with enough cohesion to look like they all belong to me but individual enough to make them seem unique.  It could be a good hair day…..

19. Brisk walk to station, no dangerous weather to contend with. Hoping it stays that ways as I realise - no coat and no umbrella.  Refrain from touching.  Ok, just the finger tips on a little bit - just to check.  Yup, doin alright so far.

20. Arrive at work. “Oooo, it’s looking very defined today” says the supportive and patient colleague. Raise my hands to it; “DON’T TOUCH IT”, she orders.  Yes ma’am.

21. Circa 10am, dry enough to SOTC. 

22. WHOOOOOOOOP. Soft, defined, shiny, gooooood big well formed curls, with a few spirals here and there.

Ok….. what are the chances I’ll have another day, with the same set of circumstances? Unlikely! Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

See, I thought I did exactly the same thing today and it’s just not quite as stonking! Good, but not as good.  Oooo this is a fine balancing act.  Grrrr

Love the title of the diary.

Thank you lela7…. I nearly went with ‘dontcha just wash’n'go?’.... But this won the toss.

Yesterday I experimented, ‘tis the weekend and not going anywhere, so low risk if a disaster struck. 

1.washed with CJ gentle shampoo…. Very liquid. Lathered, but gently. Felt cleansed, not stripped. Did the job.

2. Decided on a deep condition and had a one portion size left of DB PSC, applied. Hunted for my sower cap. Lost! Oh no, I love that cap. Eventually found a hotel one but must find my lovely and slightly eccentric pink and black satin number; if you wear one you should really go for it. Applied face pack and played tiny wings (seriously addictive) for about thirty mins.  Like most, i find the clovey, christmassy smell of PSC Divine. It’s also thick and rich, yet very easy to distribute. These qualities made me think it was better for my hair than it actually is.  It’s a better than average conditioner for me, but not wow. Now this bottle is finished, I think I shan’t buy more. I have also suddenly paid attention to the ingredients and see coconut oil is quite high up… This may explain things!

3.after rinsing gently squeezed some  water out and applied Komaza Care Coconut Curl Hair Lotion. This was the risk. My history with this line is not good. I had a trial size pack of the range. Tried it twice, using everything and got string. I think me and large doses of coconut oil are not friends.  Have tried using the shampoo combined with other products and it’s been ok, so wanted to try another product in a different mix. Started cautiously, small blob, smoothed through. This stuff doesn’t have much slip, it’s a bit grippy, which doesn’t seem quite right. Still, felt I needed more, so another 20p size blob went on.  Still not stringy. Good news. Started to grab’n'sqaush. Hair felt the damper side of wet, whereas normally the wetter side of wet at this point, so was a bit disconcerted. 

4. Applied CQ which added moisture. All the usual upside down grab’n'squash’n'curlease’n'upright’n'B&Agel;. All good so far. Five mins later started to diffuse

5. Diffused patiently on high heat, slow speed and not too close to hair. Dried to about 80% dry. Feeling silky, reasonable to good. Looking fairly shiny, a bit more halo than I wanted so light spritz with mist-er-right, smear of B&A. Good to go. Go where? Nowhere! Just pootling around. Allow rest to air dry.

6. SOTC, perhaps too early. I am far too impatient sometimes. Wondering if I need to introduce handcuffs or stocks into my routine. 

Well overall curl was looser and a bit more beachy, which in many respects isn’t a bad thing…. It’s ok for casual looks, but not what I want on a work day. Hair clumped a bit more as the day progressed. It sometimes does this; finer individual curls come together and ringlet a bit. Again, this is fine by me. However, in general I wasn’t that pleased with the results. It felt silky and smooth, but beachy became too fluffy and lost shine. The back looked a bit straggly. I shan’t rush back to this combo.

Today I have been cleaning, so not yet cleaned me. I have done a pre-poo with some pure argan oil. I’m dying to start a company with someone called Jason. We’d sell various Argan oil products…. Yes and we’d be called Jason and the Argan Oils. 

In spite of the fine wet rain (as compared with the dry sort) and gale force winds (ok, probably wouldn’t warrant a warning on the shipping forecast; but it was right proper blowy); a decent day. Pre-poo condition with organic bloom, scalp cleanse with CJ gentle poo, rinse out condition with CJ H&B deep fix. H&B deep fix is an ace rinse out on me. Reliably good. Sick of the smell of it though.

LI and gels as normal.

I think I am coming to the conclusion that being very heavy handed with conditioner pays off.  I always worry about over conditioning, but in reality it seems that this is very hard for me to do.  My best days seem to come from when I put on so much rinse out conditioner that it really squashy, almost foaming! I do rinse it all out, and then apply leave-in, but am starting to think this might be a key differentiating feature of very good hair days. 

In spite of the warm wet weather, today is very good; a natz of stonking.

Cleansed with Daily Fix, Rinse out with Beauticurls strengthening, Leave in with Beauticurls LI, Curl Queen squashed into very wet hair, curl towel scrunch and hold and just to deviate from CJ products, sealed and held with a mixture of Kiehls strong hold (two pea sized blobs) rubbed through palms with a puddle of B&A gel.

Hi Julia

Am loving your diary. Yes I think most Curlies find it difficult to over condition. My Hair loves conditioner the more the merrier for me

Ah thanks Keisha Jo.  The only frustration is that it makes my hair, like the rest of me, an expensive date!

I have to say the weather is being a lot less kind to my attire than it is to my hair.  This week I must have flashed my pants at half the population of Birmingham. 

New note to self. Do not just think of hair when looking at weather forecast - think of personal dignity too. 

Speaking of personal dignity; this has nothing to do with the weather, or my hair - but yesterday I managed to walk through the city centre for about 10 mins doing a Judy Finnegan.  Oh the shame! At least it was a nice bra.

I’ve just tried to enter a discussion with Mr B about this one particular curl on my head. Which in my opinion is, today, outstanding. He tried to care, he really did. He looked, he touched he made some noises, but I think, if pushed he’d claim confusion.

Piled on the Giovanni today. Made sure LI and CQ went in slightly more wet than very wet. Was it soaking or just teetering on the edge of soaking? I can’t decide. The result is good all over with one stonkingly good spirally, chunky, shiny, soft, defined, bouncy curl (see para 1). Wish the halo was less impressive. I tell myself every day it looks worse to me than everyone else.

Well, yesterday; if I’d have been a kite, it would have been the best day ever! 

Down at the beach on the Essex coast was a reet proper test for products.  I’d used a couple of sachets of a Fushi shampoo and conditioner that had found their way into my possession.  The lo-poo was a lo foam and stimulating sort, lots of essential oils.  Contains coca betaine so will cleanse away most things.  The conditioner was quite light and the sachet nowhere near enough to give me what I wanted.  I’d thought ahead and put some extra giovanni conditioner in my wash bag.  So we had a mix of conditioners!  Both products seemed decent, I think maybe better on finer/thinner hair than mine. 

followed with CIAB mixed with Kiehls strong hold gel, squashed in when very wet.  Mostly air drying, minus a short blast from the diffuser.  Not only did it stand up to high winds, but also to being buried under several cushions, quilts and toys by my nephew.  I wouldn’t say perfect.  I would say that I wasn’t worried to be seen in public!  The front bits were a a bit straighter and I felt as though I had a fine mist of something, most likely salt, all over.

I spent the long and tedious journey reading lots about porosity.  I’ve spent the last 12 months rubbing my fingers up and down my strands, measuring how long my hair takes to dry, considering what heat/colour tortures I have put my hair through (not much really), reading descriptions etc, etc.  I get what it’s about and I know that I am neither extreme and somewhere in the middle; so mostly normal porosity - with a few varying bits.  That pretty much sums up my hair diagnosis.  No real extremes in any characteristics.  I’ve decided it’s resilient and that’s a good thing. 

Today I am using up/just checking I don’t get on with Komaza coconut stuff.  The hair pudding and lotion particularly.  If string cheese for hair was a look, today I’d be bang on trend!

Stringy look dried. I put my hair up because it was annoying me. Just unclipped it, Mr B and I are agreed I look something like a cross between Noddy Holder and a Supreme.

Was concerned I’d be sporting the Ken Dodd look today after yesterday’s disaster, but actually, I’m really rather pleased.  Shiny with minimal halo and good definition.  It seems stonkers follow diasters.  Perhaps I need to construct this…. On days I need good hair days, if I plan a diaster the day before it’ll all pan out?  I wonder if planning a diaster is going to be more easy than planning good hair days? 

a CJ day of gentle cleansing poo, stengthening conditioner (maybe I needed a protein hit? whilst my hair is not a fan of coconut oil in styling products, I read somewher that coconut can help with protein effectiveness; perhaps this played out today?). Beauticurls LI and CQ on top.  Sealed with B&A, again.  These last three are my summer special. 

I tried to be more patient with drying today and I think this helped considerably.  I used the pixiecurl method keeping the diffuser on each section for a minute before my scalp caught fire and turning on and off between sections.  NB, remember cool shot is useful.  I usually struggle with patience for pixiecurl method; but really it doesn’t take any longer.

My text messages tell me that my 15% off order has arrived… there’s no drought in this product lake!

What a difference a day makes….

Ok, and the ingredients.  Apologies for the poor quality webcam shots but they give an example between yesterday’s disaster hair (don’t laugh too loudly) and today’s considerably better hair.  This is an example of what the wrong ingredients (for my hair - they work excellently on others) can do to my hair.

I think it’s pretty easy to work out the bad day?

Julia - 31 May 2011 07:32 PM

What a difference a day makes….

Ok, and the ingredients.  Apologies for the poor quality webcam shots but they give an example between yesterday’s disaster hair (don’t laugh too loudly) and today’s considerably better hair.  This is an example of what the wrong ingredients (for my hair - they work excellently on others) can do to my hair.

I think it’s pretty easy to work out the bad day?

You have some gorgeous curls going on in that first pic Julia! 

Cheers CT - for the end of the day and 14 hours after styling it held up ok for the photo! A sign of a good hair day is that it still looks reasonably decent at the end of it. 

Today I am in a fierce mood and I don’t mean fierce as in good - not waving but drowning?  Still it will pass.  I happen to look like a late 70s TV star - it’s all in the hair…..  I quite like the retro look and may go hunting for a Wonder Woman outfit later. 

I wouldn’t have expected seventies flicks and kinks from a gentle wash, a banana and soy conditioner (some random purchase from the Asquith and Somerset homade range - discontinued I think but CG friendly).  It is thick and smells of bananas (odd that!), freshly pulped ones - it looks like very smooth babyfood dessert. I used a good palm full and it felt moisturising though not a lot of slip.  Tangles seemed to rinse out though, and I sprayed a small bit of CHS Silk to help.  CJ BLI and after that CIAB, KC Spiral Spritz and some BRHG.