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.