My first summer CG and I can already tell it’s going to be tough

It’s my first summer modified CG and I’m already getting a bit frustrated. Temps are high (95+) and there is no humidity or dewpoint to even consider. It’s just dry, dry, dry. I decided to phase out cremes because I figured the combo of creme+gel would weigh down my hair. So, I’m just using gels. I spent the weekend at my parents’ so I took my bottle of Biotera gel. With all the rave reviews on NC.com, I thought it would be a no brainer.

Saturday I cowashed, rinsed out yes to carrots, scrunched in two peas of zerran leave in, and topped off with three puddles of biotera. There wasn’t much clumping, but the biotera seemed to have good hold. I scrunched out about 2 hours later (only pro with the heat: shorter air dry time) and my hair was soft and wavy. Two more hours later and my hair was up with the scunci magic grip pins. The almost 97+ degree weather in Eagle Rock was RIDICULOUS!

Today I snuck a puddle from my sisters Johnson’s shampoo: Johnson’s Baby No More Tangles Shampoo+Conditioner, Straight Hair (yeah, I’m not a straightie like my sis but I was in need of a shampoo and the ingredients didn’t look too bad). Ingreds: Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, PEG 80 Sorbitan Laurate, Sodium Trideceth Sulfate, PEG 150 Distearate, Decyl Glucoside, Polyquaternium 44, Glycerin, PEG 12 Dimethicone, Fragrance, Tetrasodium EDTA, Quaternium 15, Violet 2 Blue, May Contain:, Citric Acid. I could do without the strong baby fragrance, but it was surprisingly gentle on my hair. I then rinsed out walgreens detangling, and scrunched in three puddles of Biotera. My hair was nice and wavy until I stepped outside. I’d swear my hair just deflates in the heat; I lose volume and the waves loosen up. I don’t know if this is something I just have to accept with the SoCal heat or if I just need to find the right product. Anyhoot, a pooh pooh to you, Mr. Sun.

 

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.