Hi people, what's been on?

Sooooo.....I had my silk press in for 3weeks and 3 days!!!! My hair stayed silky straight until the last three days when I got bored and wet it to do a twist out and subsequently updos.
 I missed my curls!
 Straight hair is high maintenance mehn! I couldn't just bun for days and get away with it without the hair around my crown staging a prison break. Every night,  I would dry oil my hair with NappyGirl Growth Enhancing Oil, brush it out carefully with a Denman brush and wrap it in a bantu knot for bed.
I had my hair in a ponytail most of the time because the trade winds of Nigeria would not allow my hair be when I let it down. With my hair flying every which way, it meant that I had more smoothing to do at night to avoid tangles not to talk of the dust and grime!
There's only so much a lazy naturalista can tolerate ....so it was wash day for me and back to my coils.

Remember that not a drop of moisture touched my hair...so you can imagine how thirsty and parched it felt.
Whenever I straighten my hair, I revert back with the following process...

1. Condition with conditioner.

I try not to shampoo immediately to avoid dryness and shampooing after straightening always leaves my hair a tangled mess!
I divided my hair into six sections (more if your hair is shorter). Then I applied Natural World Brazilian Keratin Smoothing Therapy conditioner to each section, fingerdetangled and wrapped it in a loose knot before proceeding to the next section.



I waited 10mins for my hair to absorb the product.  My hair is high porosity so it absorbs products easily. If your hair is low porosity, you may need to use heat (cover with a shower cap or use a heating cap).

2. Cowash with cleansing cream

 I cowashed my hair and scalp using Mazuri Naturals Shea Butter Cowash Conditioning Cleanser to get rid of dirt and grime. I blotted off excess water with an old t-shirt and proceeded to the next step.

...look at how much hair I  lost after detangling....not bad, not bad at all!

3. Deep condition with heat

For deep conditioning, I wanted to try out a new deep conditioner. For some reason, Shea Moisture discontinued my holy grail deep conditioner, SheaMoisture African Black Purification Masque (which I reviewed here). I was already running out and decided to quickly restock when I was in Lagos. Unfortunately, it wasn't available and since the ingredient list of the replacement product, SheaMoisture African Black Soap Dandruff Control Masque was similar to the Purification Masque, I concluded that it was simply a matter of rebranding.... not a completely new product..... and bought it.

Boy, was I so wrong!!!!
Everything was different...the smell, the texture ....everything!

My face says it all...😒

I made up my mind to give it a try though ......because you never know. Also, I already had a back up product which offered me the same results as the Purification Masque...just in case I wasn't feeling it.

Anyways, after washing and blotting off the excess water from my hair, I divided my hair into six sections again and applied a generous amount of the Dandruff Control Masque to each section. Then I covered my hair with a black grocery bag (couldn't find my shower cap) and set up my Gold and Hot Bonnet dryer attachment for deep conditioning. I stayed under the bonnet for 20 mins and then took off the grocery bag.

Chilling.....😇

4.Cowash off the deep conditioner.

I would really like to give an extensive review of the Masque after more uses but my first impression was that I hated...sorry...disliked...the almost medicinal fragrance. I was hoping to just rinse off some deep conditioner and leave the rest in but ...the scent.
I had to thoroughly cowash it out of my hair. I miss the banana fragrance of the Purification Masque....please bring it back, SheaMoisture.
If you don't fancy smelling like food (I love smelling like fruits), the scent may not bother you.

My hair looked and felt really hydrated but I wasn't sure if it was as a result of the deep conditioner alone or a combination of oiling, protein treatment and deep conditioning with heat.

5. Oil

After rinsing off the d.c., I blotted off excess water and proceeded to oil my damp hair with another staple of mine...NappyGirl Growth Enhancing Oil.
Below is the final amount of hair I shed for the day.
Can you see how fine my strands are on my fingers? You can barely see it!!! Thank God I have a lot of hair.

Not bad at all!!!!

6.Moisturise

After oiling, I sprayed on a new leave in I got recently....Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Restructuriser. I love me my Aphogee. If you have breakage prone hair like mine, it's a brand to consider.

After all these treatment, here's what my hair looked like......

BOING!!!!!😍

Oya, tell me why I should ditch this routine???

Of course, shrinkage had to do its thing .....my hair shrunk to chin length!!!
I loved it! I missed just leaving my hair down and not having to worry about my ends rubbing on anything!

The next day though, I did a proper wash and go with a holding product. I didn't want to leave my strands 'naked'. The gel cast provides extra protection.
I debated between using hard core gels like Miss Jessies Jelly Soft Curls/Ecostyler gel or soft hold curling custards/creams like Jessicurl Confident Curls, NappyGirl Ubermoist Pudding, Cantu Define and Shine Custard or Cantu for Kids Styling Custard (new).
I finally moved in favor of Cantu for Kids Styling Custard.

FROM SILKPRESS....

TO KINKY CURLY

SUMMARY OF THE PROCESS...




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