Starting off the New Year….with horrible hair

The holidays have been hectic for me – what with family drama and moving over the holidays. Yes, MOVING OVER THE HOLIDAYS. I got the key to the new house on the 2nd finished moving everything late that evening with the help of my AMAZING boyfriend. I swear, next time I’m seriously renting that Uhaul.

Suffice to say I now have no Internet and everything is still in boxes so I’ve been using what I can find. Unfortunately, that means really crap hair days. I don’t understand what all the hullabaloo is with Tigi MM. I’ve been using it for the past month or so and there are days where I don’t think it’s all thatbad mixed in with days where I just want to chuck the bottle into the trash. Today is one of the latter. Sure my hair feels all smooth and silky with tons on slip under the shower head, but once its out of the running water, strands start to repel one another and it’s a feat to run my hands through my hair.

My waves are starting to act like they did with the B2B jasmine curl conditioner.  I’m halfway through the 16 oz. bottle and considering just relegating it to a shaving cream rather than suffer another month of horrendous hair.

Today I used my bay rum bar, an ACV/honey rinse, tigi mm, gvp pm the cream, curls by sister smith wshp in brown sugar, and gvp pm extra body sculpting gel and my hair is NOT feeling it.  The GVP PM the cream makes everything too soft and results in killing any super strong hold from a gel. The WSHP does smell great but my hair feels dry and it’s stringy.

 

Tigi Moisture Maniac mania – not one that I would join

I’ve beenusing Tigi MM for the past two weeks and can say that it really doesn’t do much for my hair. Much like jillipoo’s blog entry on empty conditoner syndrome, I agree that “It goes on light, has great slip, and smells pretty.” However, that’s all it does for me. I’ve been noticing that the last few times I’ve been using this conditioner my hair just doesn’t have that slippy clumpiness to it after rinsing it out. To verify that it’s the conditioner and not the leave-in I’m applying, I conditioned with Giovanni smooth as silk yesterday and got the slippy clumpiness I’m used to with most other conditioners I’ve tried. Again, just to test my theory, I conditioned with Tigi MM this am after a shampoo bar and ACV/honey rinse and once I started to rinse it out,  my hair felt a bit rougher and there wasn’t much clumping action; in fact, it seemed as though some hairs were repelling each other. This brought to mind the way my hair acted with Back to Basics Jasmine conditioner. While Tigi MM provides more slip than B2B, I feel that it falls into the “junk food conditioner” category in that it satisfies my hair’s moisture needs but doesn’t really add any nutritional benefit so to speak. I’m really starting to realize that my hair prefers conditioner with more natural ingredients; it just responds better and I feel like I’m taking better care of my hair by feeding it with better, more natural ingredients.

Today’s hair is a bit of a fluke. I forgot to add my leave in prior to applying today’s gel mix (half dollar of LA looks sport with a nickel of PBH passion shine). I stood there in the shower for a few seconds in cold, dripping disbelief and thought about going sans leave in but the winter weather brought to mind images of frizzy hair so I applied two dimes of GVP Paul Mitchell The Cream after the gel. I was pleasantly surprised to see some immediate clumping and wave enhancement!

I Sedused and, as luck would have it, forgot to diffuse the crown with my DevaFuser. Pooh to my spazzing out this am. However, it’s now 3 hours later and I’m able to scrunch what little crunch there was. I have good definition, good clumping, and the fact that cream was applied post gel made for less crunchy hair. I’ll definitely have to try this out with my CJ coffee coco cream.

 

Nexxus Phyto Organics Rigid Gel

I’m actually quite impressed by this gel; it’s a clear, fluid gel (i.e., not as thick and sticky as LA Looks nor runny like Biotera) that actually doesn’t require a lot to provide hold, definition, and crunch. I can’t find the ingreds list online but sleekhair.com did have this description from the back of the bottle:

Nexxus Phyto Organics Rigid Gel is an extreme styler with strengthening bamboo extract. Rigid Gel Extreme Styler blends instantly into damp hair to create a variety of textures and designs. This super hold sculptor is excellent for molding, defining curls, and blow dry styling. Formulated with strengthening Quinoa Protein, Bamboo extract, nutrient rich Alfalfa, vitamins, and thermal protectants to add strength, sheen, and exceptional body.

I washed with my KM bay rum bar, ACV/honey rinsed, conditioned with curls coconut sublime, and scrunched in two dimes of CJ coffee coco. I followed up with about two blobs between a nickel and quarters worth of the NPO rigid gel and scrunched. I noticed that the gel spread easily but didn’t disappear into my hair like angell; in fact, it actually made my hair feel a little slick like I had applied a more runny gel. I started to consider adding a bit more gel to ensure complete coverage but refrained from doing so to see just what my hair would do with this gel.

It’s about 12 hours later since styling and my hair is frizz free, defined, shiny, and soft with enhanced waves. To add to that, my hair feel like…hair. Not hair laden with product as it does with the Deva gels. I plan to experiment more with this but can tell it might be a repurchase.

 

Minor hair updates and L’oreal HiP Jelly Balms

For the sake of experimentation (and to see what bars really do for my hair) today I did a cowash with Suave peach essence, rinsed with an ACV/honey mix (I know that it isn’t necessary with a cowash but I need to get rid of a particular ACV bottle), and conditioned with KBB milk in cocomango. I scrunched in a nickel of CJ coffee coco and being my alertself at 415 in the morning, I forget to apply some to my other side and proceeded to scrunch in a dime of PBH passion shine +  a quarter of LA looks sport on either side. I diffused with my Sedusa and Devafuser and clipped. I truly do love the Sedusa. My hair, of course, is never going to be 3a status but I do love how my hair dries so much faster with the contraption. My Devafuser also has a special place in my heart because it dries my roots and nape quick style. Now, when I get to the office, I can scrunch the crunch within an hour! I plan on alternating between cowashing and bar washing this week to see if there will be any buildup at the roots.

In other news, I’m loving the L’oreal HiP jelly balms. I have them in all colors (thanks to BOGO at Walgreens) and I can’t really pick a favorite color from amongst them. What’s great about these little pots is that they marry both color and shine in the perfect package. My main gripe with most lipglosses is that the color isn’t true to the pot and that it wears off pretty quickly. With the HiP pots, the color is true to the pot but sheer and it wears surprisingly long for a lipgloss. Also, the caramel scent is incredible. The MUA reviews are a bit mixed; it seems as though some women were expecting the color to be true to the pot. I think a lot of them forgot that uh, it’s a lipgloss? so there has to be some give and take. On the flip side, the jelly balms are pretty pricey as far as lipglosses go so I would definitely only purchase this during BOGO time.

 

Paul Brown Hawaii passion shine gel verdict

Not going to repurchase. It’s only what? three days? and I’m already halfway through the bottle. Plus 6 oz for approx. $10.00 doesn’t sound like a steal to me. But will that stop me from trying the PBH gelatine goo that I’ve read about on the NC.com boards? Nope. I just recently discovered that the passion shine gel is marketed as a flexible/medium hold gel….something my hair doesn’t much like on its own.

Today I washed with my bay rum bar (loving the spicy scent!), did an ACV rinse, rinsed out curls coconut sublime, scrunched excess water out, scrunched in two dimes of cj coffee coco, and a nickels worth each of lush the big tease mixed with pbh passion shine (x2). The result? Not a great hair day. Even my SO noted that it doesn’t look as controlled as it usually does. My hair feels fluffy and there isn’t a whole lot of holding action going on. I think the pbh flexible hold cancelled out the tough hold the lush usually has. On the plus side, my hair isn’t horrible enough that it requires putting up in a messy bun, nor has it expanded into frizz city like it did the first time I used KMF upper management.  

What I did notice with some surprise was when I lightly scrunched out the excess water after rinsing out the curls conditioner, my hair clumped up in a major way and the waves remained. Nice.

I’m still liking my sedusa and after diffusing today, I had no troubles at all taking my hair out.

 

Shampoo bars and being a wavy

I received my shampoo bars and KBB samples from Kathymack on Tuesday and I of course had to sample the bars the first chance I had. I have been using the carrot milk and honey bar from Chagrin Valley and have been pleasantly surprised by the softness, wave formation, body, and lack of frizz each time. Since KM’s hair has been responding so well to an all natural routine, I figured it was worth a shot. I lathered with the wind blossom bar (smell leaves much to be desired; kinda “granny” smelling), rinsed with an ACV and honey mix, rinsed out my KBB milk sample in coco/lime (scent is not one one of my favorites), scrunched in the KBB nectar in white tea (I’m surprised at how much I like this scent!), scrunched water out with  a flour sack, scrunched with a MF towel once out of the shower, and applied two scoops of KCCC. There was no frizz, my hair felt soft, and I noticed a half sausage curl buried within my waves. However, I didn’t feel like there was as much body as I had with the CV carrot bar and I didn’t notice as much wave boosting. I tried the wind blossom bar again today, rinsed out what was left of the regis vivid satin, applied some KBB nectar in white tea, and srunched in two dimes of LUSH the big tease. As of 2.5 hours later, my hair is dry but it’s half up with some clips. (I don’t think I put enough gel).

The verdict so far? Shampoo bars are giving me good results and without the same-day frizz that I usually get  on low poo days. I definitely want to experiment more. As for KBB, so far I’m not experiencing anything earth-shattering. It seems like any other leave-in for me. I’ll try Kathymack’s routine for a week or so to see if KBB products really contribute to healthier and better-looking hair.

I fully accept and cherish my wave pattern. I know I’m not a curly and I don’t try to pretend to be nor do I wish I was. One thing that I find bothersome on the boards is that a majority of wavies are unhappy that they aren’t a curly. There is a thread about the “Woes of a Wavie”, “Are you generally happy with your hair pattern?”, and talk about whether a perm is the way to go to achieve a curlier look. I find it disheartening. Yes, there is the whole “grass is always greener on the other side” mentality, but I can’t understand why for some it’s so hard to embrace the waves. I think waves are sexier than curls. They are more versatile as it’s easier to go straighter or curlier on any given day. I know I can’t convince a wavy to love her waves if she’s really dead set on achieving a curlier look. What I’m trying to say is that wavy hair isn’t bad. And it’s easier to learn to love and work with them than it is to hate them and try to make your hair what it’s not.