MelMelBee writes:
When I first started on my natural hair journey, my hair was extremely damaged. When I first did the water test to determine Charlene’s (her name) porosity, my shed hair was submersed under water within seconds. I commenced regular protein treatments including henna and gave into to my PJ tendencies to find the perfect products to care for my 3a/3c, overly porous, fine, un-dense, hair.
Fast Forward….
My hair is growing nicely and feels stronger. I’ve been able to practice a wide variety of styles and I love the versatility. It is more coarse in the back and due to regular amla treatments clumps beautifully all over. However, lately I’ve noticed major dryness, especially the ends of my hair. Despite regular DCs and moisturizing, it still feels dry and hard. I recently re-did the water test…my strands just floated on top…24 hours later…still floating.
So, based on all of the information I have found on CurlyNikki and other sites, my hair now has low porosity, and appears more coarse in certain areas. Bottom line….PRODUCT CHANGES! A part of me is excited that I get to give in to my PJism, but the other part of me does not want to go back through the process of “buying and trying”
How do you ladies handle hair changes? What do you do (or not do) to curb your PJ tendancies?
What do you do (or not do) to maintain the protein/moisture balance in your hair?
What do you do (or not do) to maintain the protein/moisture balance in your hair?
I would try changing up techniques before buying new products…It could be as simple as adding a step or removing a step from your current regimen
Amla is an ayurvedic powder. When mixed with henna powder, it helps to prevent the curl from relaxing/straightening. It is also used as an astringent and can help prevent dandruff and infections.
The water test is a porosity test. You place a few strands of hair gently into a cup of water, if the strands sink quickly, it's overly porous (it absorbs and then looses moisture quickly), if it floats near the top, it has low porosity (does not absorb water so easily). HTH
what does hair floating on water mean? I also what to know what is amla?
Whats amla?? What does it do for the hair?
Oh wow. I totally understand this. After hennaing very frequently for the past two months, yes my hair is thicker and shinier, but now it's low porosity and always dry on the ends. Now my products wont work anymore :(. I've spent a year trying to figure out what products work and now I might have to start over.
I just BC'd on the 14th so I haven't really had any hair changes. I'm just dealing with dryness. To curb my PJism tendencies as ANON 2:43 said I only buy a new product (esp if I have something like it already such as conditioner) if I run out of something else. The only time I will buy something new is if I think it could really benefit my hair. Ex: this week I purchased some castor oil and AOHR conditioner to help battle my dryness. I'm going to test the castor oil out first with my leave-in for a week to see how my hair likes it. Next week I am not going to use the castor oil but I will use the AOHR to co-wash my hair and see how my hair likes that. Whatever my hair likes (hopefully both) I will continue to use. And I'll use the old co-wash conditioner as a deep conditioner so it doesn't go to waste. As far as protein/moisture goes I too have low porosity so I'm trying to find moisturizing conditioners with no protein (I co-wash every morning right now) i.e. the AOHR. Other than that just deep conditioning weekly and making sure I start my co-wash with hot water and end it with cold water 🙂
To curb PJism, I do not buy a new product unless I have run out of something else. I also really try and get a sample size first before buying a whole bottle. I am less likely to buy it if a sample size isn't offered.
Deep conditioning weekly and henna monthly helps maintain protein/moisture balance.
Thanks Nik for posting my question because I realllllly need help! LOL
At any rate, before you ladies start to give suggestions, please let make a correction! I don't know what happened when I was typing the question, but my hair is definitely NOT a 3 ANYTHING….this is why I dislike the classification system (numbers are not my strong suit…LOL).
In the front my hair is about 3/c. In the back…whole nother story…it depends on the day sometimes 4/a…sometimes 4xyz789qw6…LOL. This is why "she" has her own name because she is very inconsistent and down right ignorant when she does not get her way, ie. products that she does not like.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Peace and Love
@LaMaraVilla: I don't know about you, but my hair definitely has an alter ego. At any rate, it's just for fun…to each it's own!
MelMel…this has recently happened to me. My "holy grail" products seemed to be ineffective after years of using them. I too began to re-examine my hair to figure out the problem. I did the porosity test again too and realized that my hair had become low in porosity and did not do well with certain product ingredients. I SLOWLY began to introduce new products. I also attempted to add EVOO and other emollients to existing products in an attempt to not cave in to my PJism…because it's a BEAST! Anything changes you make do them slowly and make sure you journal and pay close attention to the changes and the effects of your hair…aka Charlene! HTH
Rita
Am I the only one who finds it extremely strange and silly when people name their hair? I mean really now . . .
Funny, because I've been going through the SAME EXACT thing. I hate when my hair responds excitedly to a new product and within a few weeks, it laughs triumphantly at said product, moving me to send it to the bin. I believe what you're talking about may be a little different though (?) Lately my ends have been dry, and I thought it might have something to do with my DCing process – but lo and behold, DCing really does not benefit my hair to a notable extent. I've since discovered adding aloe vera juice to my leave in conditioner (taken from one of my favorite yters, Kimmaytube – I mix Giovanni Direct, olive & castor oils, along with the AV juice) and woooow has my hair took a change for the better. I've also realized that protecting my ends (in bun styles) combats dryness.
But to really answer the question, I try to follow a holistic process when it comes to my hair – I take note of changes, record what's working and what's not, and follow suit. I also don't subscribe to many natural hair "rules" – I do what works, regardless of what some say you should do. And no one knows your hair better than you – when I complain about dry hair to my natural friends, they touch my naturally fine hair and exclaim, "Are you kidding?!" But I know my hair well, and if it's dry, it's dry.
Sorry for the long post!