My plan for whats left of my stretch

To help me to get to 12 weeks here's my plan. Yes ladies I am ditching the cowashing. Friday will be my day once a week.

Next friday (June 5th) I will pre poo with castor oil and olive oil wash with a moisturizing shampoo, oil rinse with carrot oil and olive oil, deep con with Alter Ego and ORS replenishing pak rollerset and airdry.

Week 11 ( Jun 12th) will pre poo with same as above, oil rinse and deep con with hydrafuse and thermasmooth rollerset saran wrap.

Week 12 (June 18th) (thursday) pre poo, clarifying shampoo, hard protein treatment, deep con with steam with hydrafuse, rollerset.

Relax day at 13 weeks (June 22nd)

As you can see I will be rollersetting more or attempting to, no more cowashing the less manipulation the better,

10 weeks on Monday

This stretch has me shedding more and possibly breaking more. I am seeing breaking especially in the middle of my hair. I am wondering if the castor oil is making my hair shed more and harder to manage. I have now started to apply my moisturizer like a relaxer. I will slow down the castor oil to see what happens and will definately try oil rinses.

Stretching and Product Haul

I need to go to "PJ anonymous" for sure. I went to a hair store and I had to talk myself into not buying too many things. I ended up getting;

Mane and Tail Detangler

CON shampoo and Conditioner

Hair pins and steam caps.

I must say that the Mane and Tail detangler is definately a keeper, not so sure about the CON conditioner.

This stretching business is no joke, I was about to throw in the towel today but after a deep conditioning with Aussi 3 min, Hydrafuse, olive oil and CON I was Ok. I used waaaay more conditioner than I usually do but I was really desperate. I had been experiencing a lot of breaking and shedding recently and decided to lay off the protein deep con and it did work. I also decided to finger comb my hair when wet and gently use a comb when dry. Us 4a girls have really fragile hair so you have to be careful with the manipulation. I am now airdrying it and will do some neat cornrows when dry.

My protective style for this week

I am really determined after seeing the progress of others to "up my game". Basically trying to retain every inch of hair that I grow. "Dusting" the ends on relaxer days and on a "need to do" basis. So the challenges I am presently doing are the , "BSL in 09" and the "Castor oil challenge".

I have now been moisturizing and sealing my hair daily with my Giovanni moisturizer and castor oil and EVOO mixture, with alternate day application of the castor oil to my scalp. DC twice per week with protein once weekly. Hard protein every 4-6 weeks with corrective moisturizing DC after each protein treatment.

Now on to the topic at hand; since protective styling is soooo important especially for us 4a-4b gals I must say that it is easy to get "stuck in a rut". I am trying a new style its kindda a spin off from a style I saw on essence.com and something that Traycee does from time to time. You either hate it or love it, I love it.

Oils

Oils have been missing from my regimen for a couple of weeks, I ran out. I joined the castor oil challenge and I am back on the oiling trail. The castor oil challenge has us using the castor oil on our roots at least twice a week. Initially I had a big prob with this, it would irritate my scalp and I would actually get sores from itching it so much. So after some advice I decided to mix the castor oil with EVOO 50:50 with a few drops of tea tree oil and I have been doing good. I am now adding EVOO in my conditioner as well as using it as a pre poo/ hot oil treatment. I love love how it makes my hair feel, love everything about this combination. I would strongly advise you to try it, the challenge goes on for 3 months. Of course I will post pics.

Keep that silk scarf on!

I notice that I go to bed with my silk scarf and wake up with it off. Seriously I tie it in all sorts of ways and can never get it to stay. Over the past 2 days I have decided to put a head band on it. Its thin and almost the same colour as the scarf. All I can say is that the scarf has not fallen off in 2 days. And it doesnt have to be tight either. Just something that is flexible and will move with your head when you toss around at nights. Try it.

Silk not cotton

Its so weird that our natural hair looks less like silk, more like cotton but really should be treated like silk. I have noticed that our hair is the most fragile of them all (4a-4b). Due to our tight curls, when the hair does a spiral its actually very weak at the turning point. If you examine your hair closely you would notice that even when natural the cuticle is not smooth and you feel ridges as you go along the hair shaft, this is the point where it tends to break. This is the way it grows out of the scalp. Protein treatments, deep conditioners all tend to smooth down the cuticle and "fill out" the ridges but nothing really permanent, thats the way we were born. I suggest that we treat our hair more like silk and less like cotton. As the wash cycle says, cold wash , gentle cycle and low iron (if at all). This means for us in addition to the different conditioning treatments and stretching of chemical treatments (to avoid overlapping); cold rinses, no harsh brushing or unnecessary combing and low heat. Just my 2 cents.