Finicky hair

I was due for a shampoo today so I used my SO’s rejected shampoo: dudu osum natural shampoo. Ingreds: Pure Honey, Shea Butter, Osun(Camwood), Potassium Palkernelate(derived from Palm Nut), Sodium Palm Kernelate (derived from Palm Nut), Glyceride, Aloe Vera, Lime Juice, Lemon Juice, Neem Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Water and Fragrance. I purchased two bottles of it for him from Honeyfig.com because I was sure it had to appease his finicky hair. I was wrong. I’ve had him try practically everything under the sun, but his hair is just too picky.

First off, some background. My SO was using Head and Shoulders with success, but the sulfates were breaking him out on his back and ironically enough, his shoulders. He used Giovanni’s tea tree triple treat shampoo with promising results: his spots were clearing up and he didn’t have any flakes. We named it a success until one day when he didn’t shampoo; the flakes came back. Strike one.

I then had him try a chagrin valley shampoo bar in rosemary mint. It was touted as alleviating dandruff and being all natural, I thought this had to be the solution, right? WRONG. I received the chagrin valley package the day before so I was all excited to use the shampoo bars, too. We both had flaking like none other, his worse than mine of course. Strike two.

He went back on the giovanni in hopes that the flaking was just a fluke, but his scalp was never the same. I suffer from seborrheic dermatitis at the base of my scalp and after using Nizoral several times on it, it disappeared. Ever since then, I’ve been co-washing with low shampoos every 3 days. Since it worked for me, I figured my SO would benefit from it, too. He tried cowashing one day and we were both thrilled because it seemed to moisturize his scalp well, there weren’t any flakes, and I couldn’t smell his scalp at the end of the day like I usually did. Next day? AWFUL flakes. Strike three.

You’d think after three strikes my SO would have refused to be my guinea pig, but keeper that he is, he agreed to a couple more tries. I’m thinking the results we’ve seen with his skin were the driving force. Trial #4 involved the aforementioned dudu osum. The ingredients looked good so, again, I figured it had to work. He wasn’t too keen on the scent – a tart, almost chemical fragrance which is odd considering the ingredients. The first day of use seemed promising but things just went downhill after that. 0 for 5.

So now he’s using Nizoral with the giovanni on off days. We’ll see what happens but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If it doesn’t work, it’s back to H&S. At least we found out what does work for his skin: good ol’ benzoyl peroxide.

Now…where was I? I used the dudu osum, walgreens condish, zerran leave-in, and two jawbreaker globs of hebe followed by jessicurl confident coils styling solution. The combo was mediocre at best. The waves didn’t seem as clumpy as the hebe followed by loob combo and the clumps seemed to separate even as I was applying the ccss. When I took it out of the plop, I was underwhelmed. The waves were really pulled out and thin. I diffused and let it air day and once I scrunched the (slight) crunch, it looked a little more promising, but still nothing to write home about. On a side note, I think that jessicurl may be reaching repurchase status now I’m not getting much frizz with it.

The surprise of the day is Scunci magic-grip hair pins. These suckers are amazing! Just two pins and my hair is up in a messy bun but it feels secure. What a steal for $4.99!

 

Today’s hair is brought to you by…

…a cornucopia of hair products:

• giovanni triple tea treat shampoo (the day before, I mixed the dregs of the sample bottle of aloeba with the dregs of oyin hh; it left my hair feeling overconditioned)
• walgreen’s bioinfusion professional the detangling conditioner
• 6 pumps of salon selectives curl energizing mousse
• 2 quarter blobs of jessicurl ccss
• 2 half dollar blobs of loob

I applied the curl creme (loob) last, diffused, clipped, and did a loose plop. The result? Nice clumping, minimal surface frizz, and the usual scraggly bottoms have some nice curl to them. It’s still too early to say if the experiment is a success, but I will say that I like the walgreen’s condish.

Ingreds: Deionized Water – Aqua , Isododecane , Cetearyl Alcohol , Behentrimonium Methosulfate , Isohexadecane , Rosemary Extract – Rosmarinus Officinalis , Henna Extract – Lawsonia Inermis , Chamomile Flower Extract – Anthemis Nobilis , Aloe Vera Gel – Daucus Carota Sativa , Carrot Oil , Algae Extract , Jojoba Extract – Simmondsia Chinensis , Carrot Extract – Daucus Carota Sativa , Grape Seed Oil – Vitis Vinifera , Fragrance – Parfum , Citric Acid , Tetrasodium EDTA , DMDM Hydantoin , Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate , Bisamino PEG/PPG-41/3 Aminoethyl PG-Propyl Dimethi , PEG-12 Dimethicone

A 13.5 oz bottle for $8? Not bad. The scent is yummy and it provides good slip. I parted my hair in the shower and applied the condish (idea courtesy of biracialhair.org) and combed through. My hair felt very silky and moisturized and I didn’t have to use a lot.

 

A little shampoo and SheaM just makes everything better

Yesterday was another Jessicurl trial day. On Tuesday my hair was pissing me off, so that evening I applied the rest of my WDT sample and washed it out the next day. I used RR, CCSS, and some HEBE on top for hold. My hair wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t up to par that day. It looked a little limp, didn’t have much shine, and the waves were stringy…but oh did it feel soft. It hit me last night that it may be overconditioned.

This morning I used some JC GLS with a dab of Organix coconut milk low ‘poo and my hair felt much better. I’m grudgingly going through my 5 tube supply of HEBE because a) I can’t return it anymore (and my SO will just roll his eyes if I bring up returning another product) and b) it just has to work! SheaM always works for me so I applied my usual 2 blobs and scrunched in some HEBE. It’s 10:20 am and my hair isn’t looking as awful as it has since that evil Johnson & Johnsons leave-in. PJ that I am, I’ll definitely keep trying other combos with HEBE, but at least I know this one ain’t too bad.

 

First really bad hair day in a while…

I used Oyin HH, Jessicurl RR & CCSS with some HEBE today. I was smart enough to leave in a little bit of my rinse out so my hair wasn’t mag-sulfate dry today but my hair was quite frizzy, undefined, and limp. I won’t lay the blame on my Jessicurl experiment today because the night before, I used some Chagrin Valley soap as shampoo and finished a sample packet of Johnson and Johnson’s leave-in that was just awful.

I’m coming to the conclusion that Chagrin Valley soap on my hair doesn’t bode well. I read through some threads on using the soap as a shampoo and just lathered my hands and applied the suds to my hair. The result? Utter squeaky cleanliness As I was rinsing out the suds in the shower, my fingers were even getting tangled in my hair! To make matters worse, I used some Johnson & Johnson’s leave in sample packet that my younger sister gave me to try. The scent is a bit too flowery and heavy for my taste and it has dimethicone as the third ingredient Not good. I figured that since I was going to be home for the rest of the day, why not just use it up? Big mistake. I credit my crap hair day to Johnson & Johnson’s and soap as shampoo. Boo.

 

Jessicurl + KCCC = : (

So I tried KCCC with Aloeba and two little scoops of WDT. Result? Stringy, undefined waves. It’s odd that I can get KCCC to work with SheaM when the creator said that KCCC works best with a non-oily leave in. Well, I sure see why. : /

ETA: When I got back from the dentist (found out I’m brushing my teeth too hard and exposing my roots :/), I did my usual hair check in the mirror. KCCC and Jessicurl resulted in loose waves at the crown to mid-length with little spirals and great waves throughout the rest of my hair. Must experiment more with this combo. I do find that the longer my hair is, the better the waves are.

 

Kinky Curly & Oyin Honey Hemp Conditioner

Ugh. I will DEFINITELY keep away from the SS energizing foam. When I was letting the water run through my hair before cowashing, it just felt plasticky and nasty. Yuck.

Today I cowashed with Suave tangerine citrus or something, used Oyin HH as a rinseout, Shea M as a leave in, and KCCC to style. I think Oyin stretches out my wave pattern. I have a sinking feeling that the Jessicurl conditioners have the same effect (even Aloeba!) so they just might be relegated to winter use….or the swap board.

I’m really liking SheaM and KCCC. Even though KCCC is used more often by the 3s and 4s, my hair seems to like it. I don’t get any frizz and the scent is just to die for! It also has the hold that I expected to get from Herbal Essences Body Envy gel.

My boyfriend and I went to San Diego for the weekend, so I packed the trial sizes of Aloeba, Rocking Ringlets, Weekly Deep Treatment, and HEBE. I think the combo of Aloeba and WDT left my hair a bit overconditioned because the waves were getting droopy. Using HEBE with just a pinkys worth of WDT didn’t help matters much. I don’t know why but I think HEBE just doesn’t work for me. This coming from the girl who has about 4 bottles of it stashed away.

ETA: It’s the end of the day and my waves are still holding up. I think KCCC makes everything work better. I’ll try it out with Jessicurl this week and see how it holds up!