CASTOR OIL CHALLENGE
Okay, so I'm doing a Castor Oil Challenge from the CurlyNikki.com forums. I said I was going to do it from the 6th through April 6th, but I decided to wash my hair today instead, so I'm starting on the 5th I didn't get a good length shot when I was washing, so the pic I use for the challenge will have to be taken after my hair finishes drying. As I've stated before, I already use Castor Oil to Deep Condition (DC) along with my conditioner, about 3 week ago I started using it mixed with a little Jojoba Oil for my moisture sealing routine. The rules of the challenge are that I have to use the Castor Oil directly on my scalp (something I hadn't been doing). Here are the rules for the challenge if you want to join in. I also am trying to talk one of my Sorors who has complained about how slowly her hair grows and how thin it is, so I hope she'll be joining me even though she has relaxed hair (and I don't foresee myself being able to talk her into going natural, but I'm going to keep trying! LOL)COMPARISON SHOTS
I just realized I haven't done a comparison shot since December, I haven't been very consistent, have I? Well, here's the picture from October 13, 2009:
Here's the pic from December 2, 2009:
and Here's the pic from Today February 5, 2010:
I haven't dyed my hair, the last pic the color is more vibrant because I took the pic in different light. My hair is naturally a reddish brown color, the only coloring I've ever done is my highlights (and although I'm going to miss them when they are gone, I doubt I'll get more once they grow out/are cut off)
So you can get a bit of an idea of how my hair has been progressing, the last month or so it seems to be growing really fast to me. But I will edit this post later with a length check for the Castor oil challenge, I'll compare that to this pic from Month 6:
Ah, it seems so long ago that I was so happy about finally seeing some curls, it's like once my hair realized I'm really going to let it live without perms it started growing like crazy. I can't wait to see what it does when I finally cut off all of the permed ends since a lot of people claim that their hair started growing even FASTER after they BC'd.
And while I am getting anxious, I'm still planning on waiting until May to cut my permed ends off, and I'm about 97% sure I'll be cutting it in May, I'm already getting tired of wasting perfectly good product on hair I'm getting rid of anyway. LOL
NEW REGIMEN
So my regimen has changed a little bit since I last posted about it. A couple of weeks ago I started doing a pre-poo (or I should say pre-wash since I don't really use shampoo anymore, I think I've used it twice since last October, and I know I haven't used it at all in 2010).
Basically what I do is I take Herbal Essence's Hello Hydration (HH) and detangle my previous style (which was almost always something curly that needed to be detangled before I even dared to wash). After I detangle (usually finger combing), I twist up the back and put a clip on it. It's not like a two strand twist, it's just taking the hair and twisting it around and using a duck clip to pin it up. I then put my satin bonnet on over that to trap in more heat and leave it on for 30 minutes to an hour before washing.
For co-washing I either use my V05 Strawberries and Cream Conditioner or Aussie Moist, I haven't used the HH for a co-wash since I've started using it as a pre-poo, and wash/rinse with warm/cool/cold water. I always do the actual co-washing twice (as in scrub, rinse, repeat)
After that my routine has stayed pretty much the same. So all I really did was add that additional pre-wash step. I think my hair likes it. Other than that I've been subbing Castor Oil for the Coconut Oil. A lot of people rave about Coconut Oil, but I don't think it was really doing much for me. Maybe because I didn't have EVCO, I just had Coconut Oil. Next time I get some, I'll get the Extra Virgin kind and see if it does anything for me.
Right now I have my hair banded to stretch out my new growth, I'll probably put in some medium sized twists again (I've been crazy about twists since I got that ORS Twist n Lock Gel, that stuff is amazing!). If I actually have to leave the house, I can always just take them out and rock a twist-out, or leave them in a put them in a kinda bun.
One last thing before I end this (long) entry. Here's a shot of my head where you can kinda see what the growth is doing in the back (where my hair is SUPER thick, today it was a little tender, but I think that was because I've been scratching):
And no I'm not naked, I have on a cami. LOL
BTW, you can click on any of the pictures on my blog to see much bigger versions.
