What's New?
Hello all! I'll get right into it today. I want to talk about some new products I've tried and also about my hair regimen; what I'm doing and what I'm supposed to be doing .
So as you know by now I'm still following a moderated version of The Curly Girl Method. This basically means no more silicones and no more sulphates. Sulphates are one of the cleansing agents found in shampoos that normally help the formulas foam/lather. Silicones are found in most other hair products; moisturisers, conditioners, leave-ins etc. They provide plenty of slip making it easier to comb/de-tangle hair but they also cause build up on the strands which can lead to dullness, dryness and breakage. I've talked about them before so look through the old posts if you want more info or just google The Curly Girl Method.
So as I've said before the method works for me. Cutting silicones and sulphates out of my regimen has made a significant difference. My hair isn't as dry as it was before and it feels a lot softer and less brittle at the ends.
Finding sulphate and silicone free products is still a nightmare though. Especially in England. I resorted to ordering things online from America. My mum went a few moths ago and I asked her to pick up a couple of products for me to try out....
...This brings me on to the first product I want to talk about today: Carol's Daughter TUI Moisturising sulphate-free shampoo.
This stuff is AMAZING!!!!!! I've used it 3 times now.
Hair felt clean, moisturised, soft and the smell.... Mmmm like bubblegum but less sickly. I'm giving it 9/10.
The next product I want to talk about is fairly new on the market I think. A few YouTube vloggers have mentioned it as a good alternative to TREsemme naturals conditioner do I decided to pick it up and give it a go. I've used it twice. It's thick and creamy but provides plenty of slip. I'm not keen on the smell. It has that same marzipan-type smell that I really hate.
L'Oreal new EverSleek Conditioner: Smoothing & Intensely Nourish silicone and sulphate-free conditioner. So far so good. It really does moisturise the hair. It is a rinse out conditioner but I have used it as a leave-in and had no problems with it. It doesn't leave the weird white residue/build up you get when you use TREsemme naturals with the eco styler gel, and I find it does a better job softening the hair than it's counter part too.
8.5/10
Regimen
What I should be doing:
1) Co-washing once or twice a week, OR shampooing once a week (sulphate-free shampoo)
2) Using a good leave-in conditioner to moisturise
3) Protective styling for 2 weeks out of every month
4) Deep conditioning ONCE A WEEK
5) Trimming split ends
What I have been doing:
NOTHING.
I haven't deep conditioned my hair in almost 2 months, I had it trimmed properly for the first time in 1 year last month, and my ends were damaged :(
Had to cut off maybe an inch of hair.
My fault really. You can't leave your hair exposed to the elements without finding ways to re-moisturise and expect no repercussions. I havent even been co-washing as often as before. I know I've said we should all embrace our shrinkage but if I'm totally honest, I'm tired of it. One year completely natural and the growth has been phenomenal. Run some water through my hair and it looks like I just did my Big Chop. Not cool. Sometimes you want to rock a style that requires the full length. Of course there's always the option to blow it out but excessive exposure to heat is not really advisable. So what's the alternative? Avoid things that shrink the hair; i.e. water. The downside to this is dryness. The upside is length. Ultimately I'm going to have to revert to wetting my hair daily. It needs it. But it is annoying. Twisting and/or braiding the hair at night to stretch it out helps of course but it's still not ideal if you have to wet it, or it rains. I'm learning to live with it and I've got my hair in a protective style now anyway 
(Crotchet braids post and video coming soon).
Style
I get a lot of questions about styling, what I do to my hair daily and how I carry it day-to-day. Well, this is it:
That's it. Twists. If it's not out, it's twisted, or covered with a scarf. I blew it out recently though and it was HUGEEEEE!!!!
Lots of growth. Just need to work on maintenance. Moisture is everything guys. Remember that. Dry, brittle hair won't grow and if it does, chances are you won't like the way it looks or feels.
My mum just gave me a bag full of goodies. New products etc that I'm really excited to try out. I'll let you know what I think when I've tried them out.
Ciao for now
xxx