Deep Conditioning On Dry Hair

One VERY important part of maintaining healthy hair is keeping one's hair moisturized, especially African American hair, or hair that is very tightly curled. These types of hair are very fragile because Curly hair is more fragile than straight or wavy hair because the cuticle is more raised than straight hair. The hair shaft can be thinner as well. Thus the strand is more vulnerable to split ends and breakage.

Deep conditioning can help combat this by infusing the hair shaft with moisture. Yesterday I had a lot of errands to run so I threw on some Joico Moisture Recovery Lotion, Nutrine Garlic Conditioner, Vatika Oil (I just bought it, but have read a lot of good things about it), put a shower cap over my head to trap my body heat so the conditioners could penetrate further, threw on a wool cap (it's winter in these parts), and went on my merry way.
Then, last night I was supposed to wash it out but I was side-tracked and by the time I got home I was too tired and lazy to care. So I reapplied the vatika oil, some megatek followed by evening primrose oil onto my scalp. I baggied my bun as well. I just put in some Pantene Pro-V Relaxed and Natural Daily Oil Cream Moisturizer in a sandwich bag, added the evening primrose, mixed them together and placed on my bun. I scrunched it up a little so it would penetrate my hair, then placed a rubber bad around the sandwich bag. I put the shower cap back on my head, tied it down with a scarf and headed to bed. Now it's almost 6pm and I've yet to take it off and wash my hair. Maybe later. Caring for hair is hard work and I don't want to do things half-heartedly.

To replicate my lazy ways here are the things I used (all of which I bought online):

1) Joico Moisture Recovery Lotion

2) Mega-Tek Pet Rebuilder
ok ok, they use this on horse for their hair, but MY hair loves it, and horse hair and human hair are made up of literally the same thing. Also, the company asserts that it's safe for human use. So there!)

3) Nutrine Garlic Conditioner

4) Pantene Pro-V Relaxed and Natural Daily Oil Cream Moisturizer
Smells good, and works as described.

5) Vatika Oil
I want to use this consistently so I can give a fair review.

6) Evening Primrose Oil
Good for the scalp.

On a side note: I'm currently working in lab right now, but while I was waiting for my stuff to finish, I watched The Bourne Ultimatum. It. Was. Awesome. I want more. And more Matt Damon ;)

Talk to you soon,
PV

Beginning of my hair journey

So I found this awesome website and community. Long Hair Care Forum (www.longhaircareforum.com). It is a community of mostly african-american women that have acquired or in search of healthy hair. What I like about this website . You have to subscribe for full access to the forum I believe, but it's only $6.50 a year.

I never gave two hoots about my hair. My mom would always yell at me to be careful with my hair - be gentle combing, always moisturize, blah blah, etc. but I never listened or half-heartedly did. But I think I'm just at the point in my life where I actually care about my hair. Which is what this journal is about.

Here are some pics of my hair:

As you can see. Wearing weaves and braids have decimated my hair line. I've been trying to nurture my hair. I'm in boxbraids and have been using Mega-Tek (I know it's advertised for horses, but it works just as well for humans and is equally safe).

My edges/hairline are way shorter. So the next time I check my hair length I'll look at my edges too.

Be back soon,

PV