PURSUIT OF MOISTURISED NATURAL HAIR: MAXIMUM HYDRATION METHOD VERSION 2.2
By Hadassah Agbaps - March 17, 2015
Hi people, what's been on?
So I'm here with an update on Maximum Hydration Method.
Before I start, I just received a fresh batch of manshanu today!
If you're interested, let me know by email ..nappilynigeriangirl@gmail.com
Okay, back to MHM.
Basically, it's a series of steps geared toward maintaining moisture in dry low porosity type4 hair. It involves 7 days of intensive hydration and then maintenance every 2 to 3 days afterwards.
The first step is a protein treatment called Cherry Lola Treatment, then clay wash, cowash and setting coils with gel. I also discussed and compared it to other moisturising curl defining methods.
A lot of people balked at attempting the one week moisturising marathon. Those who were determined to try it had varying results. Many saw an improvement in hydration, curl clumping and manageability of their previously dry, frizzy hair. A Nigerian natural with type 4c hair tried it with beautiful results. There were a few who didn't see any difference.
Those who tried it made some useful tweaks to the regimen to make it easier and less time consuming while still getting similar results as the full regimen. Among them is a blogger, Denise B. She shared her experience on her blog www.dubaidee4c.blogspot.com
She noticed that she had greater definition after rinsing out the clay step but her natural hair frizzed up as soon as she applied leave in. Other challenges encountered when following the full MHM regimen were
- Long drying times
- Difficulty in finding MHM approved conditioners
- Time taken to complete the regimen
- Low porosity, low density and fine textured hair
Her solution???
No More Conditioners. No rinse out conditioners, no leave in conditioners!!!
This goes against the natural hair care maxim of ' Condition, Condition, Condition', right?
Personally, I go through 3 bottles of conditioner for every bottle of shampoo. I invest in rinse out conditioners, co wash conditioners, cleansing conditioners. reconstructing conditioners, deep conditioners, leave in conditioners, talking conditioner, flying conditioners.....if there's 'conditioner' I'm definitely giving it a second glance and most likely adopting it and introducing it to a growing family of conditioners........
.......and my hair is singing the 'boing song' all the way!
So you can imagine my shock to hear that conditioners are the reason for hair woes!!
Who made the rules anyway....#shrugs
However curiosity got me bad.......actually the thought of finally having the chance to try out the MHM and getting uber defined root to tip coils in a jiffy got me bad!
Add that to Neuyogi sharing her lovely definition using Denise's method on Instagram @neuyogi and I just had to finally give it a shot!
Denise's method involved clay mask rinse and drive by spray of flaxseed gel.
The shortest darn maximum hydration method. Period.
In her words,
' I simply rinse my hair thoroughly in the shower (after applying the clay mask) and bring my gel in with me. Holding my head upside down, I shake off excess water and with my head still down, I spray the gel on and finger comb through quickly from root to tip and give it a quick shake. My hair was dry in less than an hour and was soft and springy and moved even when fully dry. It was shiny without any oil being applied and not a flake to be seen!'
Sounds promising, right?
For more information, check out Denise's blog www.dubaidee4c.blogspot.com and her full regimen here
UPDATE:
I tried out Denise's MHM method. I did not do the Cherry Lola Treatment and I am not doing the MHM regimen. My hair though is moisturised from my personal regimen so I am not starting with dry, frizzy hair.
My current product rotation is free from sulfates, mineral oil and silicones but isn't completely MHM friendly.
My hair type is fine, with a mix of 4b/c, high porosity with medium density. My hair easily clumps together when weighed down by curl defining products due to its fineness. I can not do without conditioners and moisturisers because my hair gets dry easily. So it is a big deal for me to skip the conditioning step.....but I gotta try!
I applied a mix of Bentonite clay, aloe vera juice and Apple Cider Vinegar to my hair making sure to coat my hair evenly. I left it in for 30mins and rinsed out under cold shower. Then to sopping wet hair (very quickly as I hate being wet for long), I applied a light hold gel I recently purchased (I know...I know...I promised no more buying but I needed it!).
Here's my result in pictures.
The ends of my hair dried faster than my roots but I was quite happy with the wash and go definition. My hair wasn't crunchy (probably because the gel is a good one). My hair stayed defined like I used a heavier gel.
I quite like it......but what am I supposed to do with all the leave in conditioners I have? Also I'm not sure about the long term health of my hair especially my ends since it is on the longer side. I feel it needs more than just gel and I've been retaining good healthy length with my current routine so I'm not comfortable switching up a winning regimen for the MHM regimen.
However, I think this regimen can be adopted when I want quick defined wash and go hair and save myself the extra shingling and leave in steps since the bentonite clay helps clump my curls and the gel helps keep the clumps in place.....and when I'm travelling, I won't need to pack much...just a tub of bentonite clay and my gel and wahlah....fab defined wash and go! Pretty convenient, abi?
It won't hurt to try it out, guys!!!
So I'm here with an update on Maximum Hydration Method.
Before I start, I just received a fresh batch of manshanu today!
If you're interested, let me know by email ..nappilynigeriangirl@gmail.com
Okay, back to MHM.
Basically, it's a series of steps geared toward maintaining moisture in dry low porosity type4 hair. It involves 7 days of intensive hydration and then maintenance every 2 to 3 days afterwards.
The first step is a protein treatment called Cherry Lola Treatment, then clay wash, cowash and setting coils with gel. I also discussed and compared it to other moisturising curl defining methods.
A lot of people balked at attempting the one week moisturising marathon. Those who were determined to try it had varying results. Many saw an improvement in hydration, curl clumping and manageability of their previously dry, frizzy hair. A Nigerian natural with type 4c hair tried it with beautiful results. There were a few who didn't see any difference.
Those who tried it made some useful tweaks to the regimen to make it easier and less time consuming while still getting similar results as the full regimen. Among them is a blogger, Denise B. She shared her experience on her blog www.dubaidee4c.blogspot.com
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| Source |
She noticed that she had greater definition after rinsing out the clay step but her natural hair frizzed up as soon as she applied leave in. Other challenges encountered when following the full MHM regimen were
- Long drying times
- Difficulty in finding MHM approved conditioners
- Time taken to complete the regimen
- Low porosity, low density and fine textured hair
Her solution???
No More Conditioners. No rinse out conditioners, no leave in conditioners!!!
This goes against the natural hair care maxim of ' Condition, Condition, Condition', right?
Personally, I go through 3 bottles of conditioner for every bottle of shampoo. I invest in rinse out conditioners, co wash conditioners, cleansing conditioners. reconstructing conditioners, deep conditioners, leave in conditioners, talking conditioner, flying conditioners.....if there's 'conditioner' I'm definitely giving it a second glance and most likely adopting it and introducing it to a growing family of conditioners........
.......and my hair is singing the 'boing song' all the way!
So you can imagine my shock to hear that conditioners are the reason for hair woes!!
Who made the rules anyway....#shrugs
However curiosity got me bad.......actually the thought of finally having the chance to try out the MHM and getting uber defined root to tip coils in a jiffy got me bad!
Add that to Neuyogi sharing her lovely definition using Denise's method on Instagram @neuyogi and I just had to finally give it a shot!
Denise's method involved clay mask rinse and drive by spray of flaxseed gel.
The shortest darn maximum hydration method. Period.
In her words,
' I simply rinse my hair thoroughly in the shower (after applying the clay mask) and bring my gel in with me. Holding my head upside down, I shake off excess water and with my head still down, I spray the gel on and finger comb through quickly from root to tip and give it a quick shake. My hair was dry in less than an hour and was soft and springy and moved even when fully dry. It was shiny without any oil being applied and not a flake to be seen!'
 |
| Source |
 |
| Source |
Sounds promising, right?
For more information, check out Denise's blog www.dubaidee4c.blogspot.com and her full regimen here
UPDATE:
I tried out Denise's MHM method. I did not do the Cherry Lola Treatment and I am not doing the MHM regimen. My hair though is moisturised from my personal regimen so I am not starting with dry, frizzy hair.
My current product rotation is free from sulfates, mineral oil and silicones but isn't completely MHM friendly.
My hair type is fine, with a mix of 4b/c, high porosity with medium density. My hair easily clumps together when weighed down by curl defining products due to its fineness. I can not do without conditioners and moisturisers because my hair gets dry easily. So it is a big deal for me to skip the conditioning step.....but I gotta try!
I applied a mix of Bentonite clay, aloe vera juice and Apple Cider Vinegar to my hair making sure to coat my hair evenly. I left it in for 30mins and rinsed out under cold shower. Then to sopping wet hair (very quickly as I hate being wet for long), I applied a light hold gel I recently purchased (I know...I know...I promised no more buying but I needed it!).
Here's my result in pictures.
The ends of my hair dried faster than my roots but I was quite happy with the wash and go definition. My hair wasn't crunchy (probably because the gel is a good one). My hair stayed defined like I used a heavier gel.
I quite like it......but what am I supposed to do with all the leave in conditioners I have? Also I'm not sure about the long term health of my hair especially my ends since it is on the longer side. I feel it needs more than just gel and I've been retaining good healthy length with my current routine so I'm not comfortable switching up a winning regimen for the MHM regimen.
However, I think this regimen can be adopted when I want quick defined wash and go hair and save myself the extra shingling and leave in steps since the bentonite clay helps clump my curls and the gel helps keep the clumps in place.....and when I'm travelling, I won't need to pack much...just a tub of bentonite clay and my gel and wahlah....fab defined wash and go! Pretty convenient, abi?
It won't hurt to try it out, guys!!!
11 comments
Wow im impressed, i will try out her method during the summer. No wash and Gos for me during winter. Which gel did you use?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Oh......it's LA Look Nutra Curl Gel with Avocado.
DeleteCurls on fleek! See definition!
ReplyDeleteI may set one week aside for this MHM, just to see. I'm happy with my regimen as it is, but I'm really really curious.
Lol! Thanks AB. Try..try...try...try!!!!
DeleteYour hair definition is amazing! I'll try this when I take my braids down but I do have a few inquiries.Was it this defined until the end of the day? How did you handle your hair the next day(after the whole MHM week thingy) and how long did your hair look this "defined"?
ReplyDeleteIt held up throughout the day ( I packed a hair tie just in case my hair frizzed up). I didn't do the complete one week MHM just this modification. At night, I put my hair in a bonnet. The next morning I had bed hair (flat fro). Once I sprayed water, the gel cast began to wear off and little fizziness occurred especially at my roots but the ends still stayed defined. This gave me shrunken roots but well defined ends. The third day I just made an afro puff to take advantage of the definition at the ends. This I had in for 4 more days. So to answer your last question, definition at the ends lasted a week plus but at the roots just two days. My hair is porous which may account for such. Perhaps root definition should last longer on low porosity hair.
DeleteGreat definition!
ReplyDeleteI am currently trying out the origina. mhm regimen and I love the results so far. No more complaints of dry hair here! I have not tried this modified regimen and wonder at the complete elimination of conditioners and it's long term effect on the hair. Although I know dubaidee uses rhassoul clay which I hear is more conditioning than bentonite and she mixes with milk and other conditioning agents, so she may be on to something.
Anyway, great reading your blog as usual x
Thank you Beeba! Yes she's on to something....
DeleteThank you for visiting my site. I admire hair stylist.I am a novice in anything hair.I will learn from your tips. Have a beautiful weekend.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nitty. I really enjoy the frankness of your blog. I learnt a lot. It'll be a pleasure to help out hairwise.
DeleteI've commented on this post before lol but skipping leave-in when styling is definitely something to think about!
ReplyDeleteFor hold that lasts, and to reduce how quickly my hair frizzes, I've been avoiding leave-ins on styling days for about 6 months now.
After a good DC treatment, my hair is in a good place and sealing only works fine. If I know I'm not going to be able to style on the same day, I may use a leave-in, seal, and return to style only after my hair has dried. Washday is next week. I will definitely try to imitate the MHM with the products I have (cones and all) and see what gives!
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