Stepping forward

On Saturday night, I decided it was time to try some of the simpler tips I've found on "Le Jardin d'Isa et No", so I started by crushing some garlic and massaging it into my scalp. I'm not sure how successful or efficient it was, I seemed to get more garlic on the floor than in my scalp, but I'll try again, otherwise, I'll make a macerated garlic oil.

Next, I massaged some Mira oil into my scalp, to try to get rid of it, and finally, I coated my dry ends in sweet almond oil. The almond oil worked wonders, so I tried it again last night, using the smallest amount possible, and by morning, all the oil had been absorbed, and my ends where as smooth as though they'd just been cut. Talking of which, I bought some haircutting scissors, so I'll be able to have a little fun with the Search & Destroy method when I become paranoid about split ends.

On Sunday morning, I applied a little dry kaolin to my hair, to start "cleaning" my hair, rinsed it out, and then shampooed it with Thea's kitchen shampoo recipe. When my hair finally dried, it was so soft, I've never felt it to be like that before.

Since, I have finally made up a vinegar hair rinse, and I'm going to repeat last weekend's routine, adding the rinse at the end, as my hair needs a wash!

I've also decided to ask mum if she can order some stuff for me from the Alter Africa  site with her french account, because they won't accept my card, and neither will they accept foreign cheques. It's an African fair trade site aimed at french consumers, and they sell many African and oriental products, such as Rhassoul and Aleppo soap.

I've received my Barefaced Beauty special offer items, and I'm fairly happy with them, but the colours aren't that exciting, so I might not be buying from them again.

It's been a long time

...And there have been a few changes to my routine. I eventually became tired of the leave-in serum, and got rid of it, unfortunately I couldn't recycle the bottle. I did try the Weleda shampoo, but I wasn't impressed with it, and I haven't been impressed by Mira hair oil and shampoo. I've washed out the two shampoo bottles, for later use, have stopped my subscription to Mira, and I have half a bottle of the oil left, which I will now use instead of olive oil in all my preparations, until I finish it.

For shampoo, I am currently using a recipe by Thea from the Long Hair Loom, but I would like to try Rhassoul clay, and as I'm going to London next week, I'll be trying it soon, and I can use it to cleanse my face as well. I'd also like to get some Alep soap, because I'm tired of shower gels, they all seem the same to me, and it could serve as an emergency, or fall-back shampoo.

Yesterday, I did a coconut milk mask, before trying to wash my hair with kaolin, a.k.a. white clay. I say try, because kaolin has a strange reaction with water, meaning that getting the right consistency is very difficult, and I wasn't impressed with the results. My hair was very soft, and eventually dried, but it looked either still wet, or heavily oiled. Annoyed, I made Tanja's hair miracle mask last night, again from the Long Hair Loom, although I forgot the EO's, but the Mira oil made up for that. I put it on for the night, and washed it out this morning, with Thea's recipe. My hair's not dry yet, so I'll post my impressions later.

I still love my wooden combs, and I'm thinking of replacing my brush with a wooden one that I've found online. Advantages? A lot easier to clean, and far less chance of broken bristles, as long as it doesn't suffer too many accidents.

I've opened an account on a new forum, but french this time, called Le Jardin des Chevelus .  The website it's attached to, Le Jardin d'Isa et No , is dedicated to natural products, and home-made recipes.  It therefore has lists of many ingredients and there uses, which I find great. I also very much like the way the forum is organised, although it can feel like being back in high school with all it's rules, but I understand why they're there.

the last of the shampoo bar

I massaged the Mira hair oil into my scalp last night, and finished my shampoo bar this morning. My hair feels livelier and fuller, although it's not thicker, but that will come in time, if it does.
I measured my hair this morning, and it is 53cm long, so I must have made a mistake when I last measured it (44 cm), because it hasn't grown 10 cm in two weeks!! Although it has grown, meaning I can now wear a low ponytail or a french braid without escapees, which I'm delighted about.
My combs should be arriving next week, as should one of Riquette Hofstein's books I ordered. I can't wait to get my nose into that!!! Sounds like an interesting read. I've also sent Fox an email about her hairsticks, because I would like to order some, and I can't make my mind up.

Back to old ways

I have decided to go back to using the leave-in serum, at least until i've finished the bottle, and by then I might have found that I don't really need it, hopefully. Also, I prefer to blow-dry my hair, as it looks and feels a lot better when I do.
I bought myself a pack of 3 green scrunchies from Claire's, to use instead of rubber bands or elastics, although I still intend to order some blank scrunchies from the Dharma Trading Company, and dye them.
My hair is feeling so soft, strong and healthy, I love it!! and I can't wait for it to grow!!! I also recieved my first shipment of Nara (now called Mira) hair oil, with the Aloe Vera shampoo, and they smell delicious!! I've got one last wash left with my shampoo bar, and then I'm done with it, so I'm going to massage my oil in tonight, and finish my shampoo bar in the morning.

A little update

I went swimming again yesterday, and applied some coconut oil to my hair before putting my cap on, and washed and conditioned as before, except that I'd diluted my conditioner a bit more. To try to avoid getting frizz by letting the wind blow-dry my hair, I rolled it up in a bun, and put it down again when I arrived home, to let it dry.
By evening, I had lovely '40s style waves, with the only problem being that my ends felt very dry when I passed my fingers through my hair, so I decided to apply a little coconut oil to the ends overnight. Unfortunately, I must have put too much in, as it still shows now, and I'm not very experienced at oiling my hair yet, but I'm not going to touch it for now. However, apart from that, I'm happy with it.
I also bought Weleda's Lemon Balm and Orange Blossom shampoo, which sounds like it's full of good stuff, from the ingredients list anyway, so I'll be trying that soon enough, as my shampoo bar's almost finished.

Not much to add

I've heard from the combmaker, and I should recieve the combs within two weeks, which is exciting!! I've also noticed that my hair has grown well since I cut it, because I can now make a proper bun! And I'm thinking of getting some hairsticks by Fox from the Long Hair Loom, but I'm going to have trouble making my mind up, the toppers and sticks are all soo beautiful!
Otherwise, my hair isn't as frizzy as it was yesterday afternoon, but I still don't really like it. I'll have to try the coconut oil before I go swimming again tomorrow, hopefully it'll make a difference.

Second Experiment

Today I went swimming, so I put a bathing cap on to protect my hair, but I should also have coated it in coconut oil, because I like putting my head under the water, which means my hair does get moist/slightly wet, but I'll do it next time.
I washed my hair afterwards, with my shampoo bar, and diluted conditioner, patted it with a towel, and let it dry. I was a bit annoyed during the day, because as my hair dried, it gained a lot of volume and frizz. However, the frizz and volume seem to have calmed down tonight, which I'm relieved about, so we'll see what happens.
I've ordered a new book, "Grow Hair Fast", by Riquette Hofstein, via Amazon. When I saw the sensationalist title, I was sceptical, but I read excerpts from it, and I'm intrigued by it. Riquette seems to swear by home-made cosmetics, and she strongly believes that commercial cosmetics and their chemical ingredients are what cause our hair troubles in the first place, which benefits the industry, because "remedy" products are then needed to "rectify" these troubles, and before you know it, you're using a dizzying array of products, and still struggling with your hair.
I've also decided to order a couple of hardwood combs from Sierra Legacy. I probably won't have them for a while yet, because they will need to be made and shipped, but when I do, I 'll post on what I think of them.

First Experiment

I washed my hair with the same shampoo (which I will do until I've finished it), and then conditioned with the same conditioner, but this time diluted 1 part vinegar rinse, 2 parts conditioner. When I combed my hair, it squeaked like i'd never heard it squeak before!!
I skipped the leave-in serum, and blow-dried as usual. It was a bit frizzy that day, but that went away the next day, and it's been fine since. For some reason, my hair's always slightly funny the day it's been washed, and goes back the next day to being absolutely adorable.
I'm going swimming tomorrow, so I'll see what happens with the same routine as above, but with a finger dry, instead of a blow dry.

About my hair care routine

For the past year or so, I've been washing my hair with Lush Jumping Juniper poo bar, conditioning it with Lush American Cream, and then applying Superdrug Expertise serum, especially on the ends, while still wet. I wait until my hair is almost dry, and then blow-dry it, turning the ends in under with BBB.
I'm quite happy with the way this routine has worked for me, but I've read so much stuff since I've found this site, that I'm now going to experiment with different routines, and I want to find one that's as close to nature as possible.
I've also just started brushing my hair properly, with BBB, and it seems to be beneficial, especially for my scalp.

A little about myself

I am 19, a student at Aberystwyth University (Wales), in my first year of Plant Science. My mother's french, my dad's english, I was born in France, and grew up and lived in London until the start of my course here. I went to french schools in London. I started ballet when I was 5, and didn't stop until last June, which was the end of term, and there aren't any ballet classes I can go to here, I really miss it! Since I arrived here, i've been pretty lazy exercise-wise, but I have started ballroom dancing, and horse riding, which are both quite fun.
As a child, I had waist length and very thick hair, until puberty kicked in, and I also had serious issues with my father, and over the years, my hair became very damaged, as did my health, and I lost a LOT of it every day! So I kept it relatively short.
Since i've arrived at uni, I've been a lot better, and so has my hair, especially since I cut it to the base of the neck at Christmas, to cut off the last of my damaged lengths. It's already grown, and it looks and feels thicker.
As many other girls, I've always dreamed of having long hair, and I've decided to make that dream come true, now that I can. My goal is a classical length, although I will grow it as long as I can (how about floor-length? lol), but I'll be concentrating on the health and thickness of my hair, because I know it's still nowhere near as thick as it used to be.