Curly Girl Chronicles ~ 3: The Sulphate-free shampoo & A Protective Style

Hello all!

So it has been a couple weeks since I wrote a post. Let me start by telling you all that I hit 11 months natural a week ago. Sounds so silly but it had me all excited. Almost a whole year working with my natural hair.

This post isn't really about the shampoo. It's more of a general update. But'll start by talking about this new shampoo I tried a few weeks ago...

So I've been using the TREsemme Naturals conditioner to co-wash. I decided it was time to mix it up a little and do a proper shampoo cleanse. As you know now, you're not supposed to use sulphate shampoos with the Curly Girl Method. [Finding CG friendly products is SO HARD!! Especially if you don't want to spend a fortune. Some people are ok using conditioner only to cleanse their hair and scalp but I'm still not totally comfortable with that.] As I have said before, I am all for modifying to suit your personal needs, so I went out looking for a sulphate-free shampoo. I found a sulphate free shampoo in a white hair salon last month and I'd been saving it just waiting for an opportunity to use it. The shampoo is called Regis DesignLine Moisture Shampoo (sulphate-free)

This stuff DRIED my hair out. The minute I lathered some into my hair I could feel the difference. Now, if you're looking for JUST a cleanser, this will DEFINITELY do that. But it felt like it completely stripped my hair of all of it's moisture and even deep conditioning afterwards didn't help much. It smells nice and lathers well so some people may like that. For me, this product is not the one. If I'm totally honest, I kind of feel like finding any kind of shampoo that isn't going to dry out the hair is going to be tough. I'll keep looking around, but at the moment, it seems like co-washing is going to have to do the trick. My only concern with JUST co-washing is I'm not convinced it gets your scalp as clean as it should be. This is a problem. I haven't figured out how to tackle it yet but hopefully I will. 

Shampoo rating: 4/10

Protective styling

I've been rocking a lot of Braid outs, Twist outs and wash n Go's recently. Eco-styler has become my new best friend. I  use it to smooth the front of my hair down before I pin it. Less stress (until it's time to wash and de-tangle).

I decided I wanted to do some sort of protective style, initially I thought kinky twists would be a good idea... and then I remembered how frazzled my ends were after the last round. So I thought I would try weaving/cornrows instead.

I co-washed, deep conditioned and then blow dried my hair using whipped shea butter and olive oil. 

11 months Natural Blow Out

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKjdLwLSrG8&feature=plcp]

See what a difference shrinkage makes?? Crazy right!? It had a bit of a wave because I plaited each section after blow drying to keep them out of the way.

Then came the cornrows/weaving. It was PAINFUL! This is why I tend to shy away from plaiting my hair. I think my scalp is too sensitive. Took about 2 hours to finish. This was the result.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diIDSeArNCo&feature=plcp]

I used Colour 2, Xpressions hair extensions. I wanted black but I can NEVER find black hair. Really weird.

The plan was to keep them in for 2-3 weeks if possible. Ambitious. I took them out today after just 10 days. My head was REALLY itchy and they were already starting to look a little rough. And the ends were poking out too so they weren't really protected.

Soooo....

I took them out today and twisted them out of the way. I really should have just washed my hair, but I don't want to go back shrinkage and tight coils and curls just yet :( I know we're meant to embrace the shrinkage but it's not always easy. See how much Longer it is when it's stretched??

I'll wash and deep condition it over the weekend. It's STILL pretty dry from the stupid sulphate-free shampoo :(

I'll save the rest of my rambling for the next post.

Much Love xxx