My new curl journal!!!

Restarted Curly Girl routine on 29th December 2011.

29th December 2011, Thursday

Washed hair with sulphate shampoo for the last time - used Pantene Aqua Light.

Co-washed with Asda Jojoba, detangled, rinsed, conditioner Morrison’s Fruits, rinsed, deep conditioner Boots Ingredients Honey & Jojoba.

Applied Sainsbury’s Basics Gel then twisted hair to form uniform curl pattern.  Quick blast with the hair dryer/diffuser to get rid of drips, then allowed to air-dry.

30th December 2011, Friday

Basically just detangled and wore in a high ponytail.  Had some frizz, probably due to using sulphate shampoo yesterday, but still good curl pattern.

31st December 2011, Saturday

Washed hair, used Asda Jojoba as co-wash, detangled, then Morrison’s Fruits as conditioner, cold water rinse to seal cuticles.  Then applied about a teaspoon’s worth of Asda Jojoba as a leave-in.

Allowed to air-dry, which takes a while due to low porosity.

So far so good - no visible frizz as yet!

I’d like to make/purchase some good but economical products, such as shea butter and flaxseed gel, that have been recommended to me.  Also, in a nearby beauty shop there are some good products like 100% pure coconut oil conditioner, shea butter conditioners, etc.  I need to look at the labels to find out the ingredients plus the directions for use to see if they’re suitable.

UPDATE:  Here’s what I’ve so far decided to buy:

o Buy some linseeds from a supermarket and make some flaxseed gel - I’ve salvaged a nice-sized clear jar for it, and I’ve always got loads of un-usable tights to strain it through.

o Buy some unrefined shea butter from eBay and keep that in a margarine tub.

o Buy some coconut water from my local supermarket (1 litre for £3.49) to use as a clarifier in place of an ACV rinse (as that didn’t agree with my hair yet coconut always seems to).

o Plus the tubs of things from my local beauty shop that I have yet to check out properly.

UPDATE: I’ve founds linseed at a few supermarkets for different prices.
Sainsbury’s: 100g = £1.09 (£0.01 per gram)
Tesco: 100g = 69p (£0.006 per gram)
Asda: 150g = 90p (£0.006 per gram)
Waitrose: 500g = £1.99 (£0.003 per gram)

Out of those the cheapest is surprisingly Waitrose!

UPDATE: I’ve bought some linseeds!  I was going to buy them from a Waitrose, but then I found this website called Health Store 24/7.com which sells 500g of golden organic linseeds for £1.99 (just like Waitrose) but also with free delivery which was more handy for me.  Can’t wait until it comes!

There’s also their other website which is Health Store 24/7.co.uk - it’s the same people, running a health store in Tarporley, Cheshire.  You can pay with PayPal.

1st January 2012, Sunday

Today’s second-day hair wasn’t too bad - used a little argan oil to calm down the frizz that had accumulated overnight (new sleep cap only just bought, see below), then a little SB gel, then some SB hairspray.  The hairspray was the main mistake I think, as it made my hair feel crisp and when frizz appeared it was less likely to go away.  Don’t think I’ll use that again when wearing my hair down, only when wearing a bun probably.

Found out my pack of shower caps to try some overnight deep treatments sometime, as I think that will do my hair a world of good.  Just need to find out some good overnight treatments that won’t weigh down my hair and that will co-wash out the next morning.  Homemade would also be good.

Today I bought an unlined satin sleep cap, and 100g of pure natural shea butter, both off eBay, so probably won’t receive them until later in the week.

2nd January 2012, Monday

This morning I have basically just sprayed my hair lightly with sparkling water, run my fingers through gently to get rid of any big knots (which there weren’t many of due to pineappling over night), then putting a tiny bit of argan oil over the curls to define them a little.

Will be washing my hair tomorrow, so I might try a mayonnaise PT that I found on the web, of:

1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions:
Combine ingredients. Massage well into hair from scalp to ends, then cover with a plastic processing cap. Process for one hour at room temperature, then cleanse hair with a non-sulphate cleanser.

As I don’t currently have a non-sulphate cleanser, I’ll use a tiny bit of my Tresemme Naturals Lower Sulphates Nourishing Moisture shampoo, before co-washing and conditioning as usual.

UPDATE: I’ve found out a good recipe of a baking soda clarifier (on a recommendation), so I can try that tomorrow after my mayonnaise PT, instead of the Tresemme.

This is the recipe:

1 tbsp baking soda
240ml hot water

Mix baking soda with hot water and stir or shake until well dissolved.  Put the mixture in a spray bottle. Wet hair, rub in some of the baking soda mix and massage into your scalp well. Rinse well, and follow with co-wash and conditioner as usual.

3rd January 2012, Tuesday

I am currently sitting here with my hair in a plastic cap, feeling a bit silly!  My cats also think I’m rather weird.

I made the mayo PT and applied it to my hair at 11:20am, so I’ll be able to go and wash it out soon.  In order to wash it out properly I also made the baking soda mix and put it into a spray bottle.  Not really sure how much I need to completely wash out the mayo PT, but I’ll work it out.

I read that fine cherub curls, with a low porosity, benefit loads from protein, so I’m really hoping that this mayo mix is worth it!  It was a lot thinner in consistency than I expected - I was thinking the mayo would make it pretty thick like a cream, but what with the oil and egg it made it more like a lotion.

I’ll update later with the results.

UPDATE: My hair seems a little more frizzy than before, so I don’t think I’ll be doing the mayo PT for a while!  It could be the soda mix so I’ll have to try the soda mix another time to see whether it was that or the mayo mix.

Just looking back at my other diaries, I did forget to apply some leave-in conditioner today as well.

Wearing my hair in a bun today so the frizz will calm down.

4th January 2012, Wednesday

Today my hair has gone really nice - no visible frizz and in well-defined ringlets, yahay!

All I’ve done is apply a few drops of argan oil (I love that stuff) and some SB gel (need to get some more of that next time I go).  No detangling today as it really didn’t look like it needed it.  I pineappled it overnight.

So even though the mayo mix felt like it hadn’t helped yesterday, maybe it has helped after all?  Either that, or not using shampoo is taking an effect already!

5th January 2012, Thursday

Today I washed my hair.  Co-wash with AJ, conditioner MF, deep treatment Carino Jojoba.  Forgot again to do a leave-in conditioner, grrrr!

Styling was simple, some argan oil and SB gel as usual.  Can’t wait until my linseeds and shea butter both come, and I can manage to get to an Asda to get some coconut oil, then I can start rotating products to keep my hair better.

Received an email tonight from the eBay seller I had bought my satin sleep cap from, saying that it was no longer available, and giving me a full refund.  So I searched around for a different one, and found one basically the same on a website, for £1.79 plus postage of £3.30, which came to 10p more than I had paid for the eBay one.  So I bought that one, plus a conditioner processing cap for £1.00, for when I do deep treatments or protein treatments before washing my hair.  The website says they process orders within 24 hours and the postage is for 1st class, so might receive it Saturday or next Monday, hopefully!

6th January 2012, Friday

Quick entry for today - sparkling water detangler, quick wide-tooth comb detangle, SB gel and tiny bit of argan oil today.  Put my hair half-up, and despite sanding a staircase down and playing vigorous table tennis, hair didn’t frizz up.  Put hair back into a low ponytail later on as it was getting in my way rather than frizzing.

7th January 2012, Saturday

Meant to wash my hair today, but completely forgot.  However, my hair did come out fairly nice, and I was able to wear it down for the whole morning without it going frizzy.  Just did my usual routine.

8th January 2012, Sunday

Again, usual routine, but also detangled with sparkling water and wide-toothed comb as I forgot to pineapple overnight.

Popped to my local Morrisons and got 2 bottles of the Fruits conditioner as my current one is running very low.  Bought one of ‘Big & Beautiful’ for fine hair and one of ‘Soak It Up’ for dry/damaged hair.  Might rotate them weekly when I start them.

I did have a look for the KTC Coconut Oil at Morrisons, but they don’t stock it.  Asda is my only hope as far as that goes.

9th January 2012, Monday

Today my shea butter, sleep cap, conditioner cap and linseeds came.  I’m using the sleep cap overnight and soaking 1/4 cup of the linseeds in 1 pint of water overnight.  Can’t wait to try making FSG tomorrow!

10th January 2012, Tuesday

Tried making FSG this morning.  I used 1/4 cup of linseeds and soaked them overnight in 1 pint of water, then this morning added 3/4 pint of water and started boiling them.  When they came to the boil I simmered them until the mixture got thicker.  It took about 15 minutes and it was still rather watery.  Hmmm.  The end mixture, even after whipping it, is still very watery.  Next time I’ll try using less water.  I found about using more water somewhere on the forum, but maybe it doesn’t work for everyone?  Ah well.

I tried straining the seeds through some old tights but it would not go through it at all.  Going to research into ‘pop socks’ in case they’re different to my tights!

UPDATE: Doesn’t look to me like ‘pop socks’ are any different to ordinary nylon tights, so will have to use a sieve in future.

Washed my hair, used some Tresemme Naturals mixed with conditioner as a low-poo to remove some build-up, co-washed with AJ, detangled, conditioner with new bottle of Morrisons Fruits ‘Big & Beautiful’, left for 2 minutes, then rinsed and applied AJ as leave-in.

Later applied FSG all over hair and then a top layer of gel.  Diffused for a few minutes til half dry, then allowed to air dry.

Curls seem well-formed, if a little frizzy in places.  But I have plenty of watery FSG to use so I’ll just use more!

14th January 2012, Saturday

Yayyy I’ve had my hair cut!  It’s now about 6 inches shorter on the overall length, and in uniform layers.  I have to say, this is the look I’ve been trying to achieve for years!  This length is great, too.

I’ve attached a couple of photos of how my hair looks now.

BEFORE:
http://media.use.com/images/s_1/1f0ae8d284840b156422.jpg

AFTER:
http://media.use.com/images/s_2/d10523e2312492fe7b9f.jpg

really lovely Fliss