Why I stopped Co Washing.

I am not trying to convince anyone to stop co washing I'm sharing my experience just in case someone else had the same problem I had they can try it out.

 If you have been following my website you know about my past battle with dandruff, if your new to my website my scalp used to hate me and flake up and be super itchy all the time. My old wash schedule was that I would wash my hair every week, co washing for two weeks and  then wash with shampoo.  So I would wash my hair with shampoo for about once a month. Once I got tired of scratching until my scalp was bleeding I began doing natural remedies to cure my dandruff and the one that I do requires me to wash my hair with shampoo then do a apple cider vinegar treatment. I ran out of acv and kept forgetting to buy some more so I just kept shampooing my hair every week and my scalp has loved be ever since I stopped co washing.

I once heard that co washing is like washing dirty clothes with fabric softener or taking a shower with lotion. Now when I wash my hair I use a shampoo that is sulfate free and has tea tree oil in it (I did a product review on it). The way shampoo my hair has changed, letting the shampoo sit in my hair for a little bit and giving the shampoo time to work really changed the feel of my hair. It actually feels soft after I shampoo instead of that dry super stripped feeling. My hair just works better for me when I have shampooed hair.

So do you co wash and have success of do you need shampoo in your life?

wild growth light oil moisturizer

***ATTENTION THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE OIL!!!!

After my bad experience with the peppermint tea tree oil I went to Sally's to get my go to Jamaican Black Castor oil but guess what they had a huge sale on it and they only had one bottle left and it was the rosemary kind. I opened it up to smell it and it smelled just lie rosemary chicken and I just couldn't get it. I was so upset because all I wanted to do was oil my dang scalp! I look on the shelves for something else hoping I could find something familiar because I didn't want to try another new oil and have it fail miserably. My eyes spotted Wild Growth..........

I have used Wild Growth before (the one in the white bottle) when I was in high school after a bad relaxer thinned the middle of my hair out and it worked wonders then. I checked the ingredients to see what all was in it and holy cow I was shocked. It has olive oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, castor oil, flax seed oil, carrot oil, pumpkin seed oil, grape seed oil, safflower and more. Its like someone took all of the great oils and put them in one bottle.
 Now since this product has so many different oils I will tell you that it does not smell like roses, it smells very herbal. I put it on at night so by the time I wake up the smell has had time to tone down. Since there is coconut oil in it you might have to run the bottle under hot water for a while to melt it, I do that for about a minute or two then shake the bottle and its good to go.

When I apply it I simply run to spout through my scalp and squeeze on random parts of my head then I gently massage it so it can be distributed to my hair as well.

I have seen some good growth but I can't say its all to the wild growth because I am also doing some new scalp treatments so it might be a combination of the two.

Overall I give this product a 10 and I definitely will be buying this again especially since its under $10. 

Treating dandruff with: apple cider vinegar

I have always suffered from severe dandruff since I started puberty and it just seems to get worse as I get older especially in the winter months when the air is so dry and this winter has been the worst. After scratching my scalp to the point were I was constantly breaking skin I was ready to make an appointment with a dermatologist. I decided to try one last thing before I had to fork over a lot of money.

First I did some research on dandruff to get more info on it. Dandruff is the excessive shedding of the skin in the scalp. It is hypothesized that for people with dandruff, skin cells may mature and be shed in 2–7 days, as opposed to around a month in people without dandruff. Dandruff can be caused by different things its most common causes are; dry skin, irritated, oily skin, not shampooing often enough, psoriasis, eczema, sensitivity to hair care products, or a yeast-like fungus.

So if you are experiencing dandruff I would recommend stopping the use of any new products to see if that is the cause because you might be allergic to it. If that fails then you can start trying natural ways to treat it.

Unfortunately  you can't cure dandruff because your skin has to shed but you can treat it.
One of the ways I found online is the apple cider vinegar rinse. I bought the organic brand because I didn't want to be cheap and have it not work as well. So here is what you do:
1. Wash your hair with SHAMPOO.
 If you have dandruff you need to get a dandruff shampoo or something with no sulfates. After you work the shampoo into your head let it sit in your hair for another 5 minutes so it can have time to work (I felt a big difference letting it sit in)

2.After your washing process is done and you have rinsed everything out mix one part apple cider vinegar and one part water and pour it on your scalp. AVOID GETTING IT IN YOUR EYES. IF YOU HAVE ANY OPEN SCARS ON YOUR SCALP IT WILL BURN

3. Let the vinegar sit it your hair for a little bit.
By letting the mixture sit you are giving it a chance to kill any fungus that can cause dandruff. I let it sit in my hair for at least 15 minutes. I did a t shirt turban so I wouldn't drip all over the place.

4. Rinse it out
This process will sink like hell but after your rinsed hair dries it does not smell like vinegar.

After I do this process I coat my scalp and hair with coconut oil (another tip i found)

The website says to do this every day but that is too much washing so I have been doing it once a week. I saw a reduce in dandruff the first time and after 3 days I haven't seen a flake (that's very rare). I plan on bringing the process down to every other week with co washing in between if all else goes well.

If you want more natural ways to treat dry scalp of dandruff this is the link where I found all of my info
www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Dandruff

Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Tea Tree Oil

I really love Eden BodyWorks jojoba oil so I went to Walmart to get some more because I had ran out, well apparently everyone else loves it too because they were out of it. I was sleepy and in desperate need of oil so I bought their peppermint tea tree oil instead so here is what I think about it.......

This is not the oil for me, I have very dry hair and scalp so and this just seemed to make it worse. The oil is lighter than most oils that I use so that was probably why it was no help to me.I applied it to  my scalp every night as I do with all my oils and by the morning time my scalp was back bone dry. The only thing that I really liked about this is that it made my scalp tingle, other than that my dandruff was out of control and my boyfriend said I smelled like a grandma lol.

If you don't have hair that soaks up everything in massive amounts then this might be the product for you but if you have dessert scalp like me I wouldn't recommend getting this or at least wait until the summer to try it when the air isn't so dry.

The fabric theif

With it being a nice cold winter the first thing that came to my mind when I think about hair is losing moisture. Did you know that certain fabrics can change affect your hairs moisture? If you did then yay for you, if not read these tips to help you out.

When its cold and you are having a bad hair day or simply just like to wear them you grab a cool beanie. If your not protecting your hair that cool beanie is stealing all the moisture and oil you put in your hair before you put it on, also if your not careful it can rub your edges and can cause some hair loss in that spot. Now before you feel betrayed by your favorite accessory you can still keep wearing them. All you have to do is put a satin bonnet or scarf (a bonnet is the easiest) underneath it.

If you are a new natural you may not know how harsh cotton can be on your hair. In a recent discussion with my aunt she told me that she would oil and braid her hair up at night but in the morning her hair would be bone dry. I asked her if she slept on a cotton pillow and she said yes, the pillow case was stealing all of her oil.
If you like to be free when you sleep and hate to sleep with a scarf or bonnet  then you must get a satin or silk pillow case to keep your hair nice, soft, and moisturized. You can get them from anywhere you can get bonnets and scarfs for your hair.

You wash your hair and you go to dry it, do you grab a towel or a t shirt? If your looking at this and thinking I'm crazy for even saying t shirt then you should try it next time you wash your hair. The fibers from the towel can be harsh on your hair and a t shirt won't have your hair as bone dry as the towel.

My last tip is to check your favorite scarf that you like to sleep in. If your scarf is anything but silk or satin then honey you need to go buy a new one asap! My favorite scarf that I would wear when I had relaxed hair doesn't work on my hair now. Its cotton and I kept wondering why my hair would be so dry in the mornings especially when I wore my hair straight. So I ditched the scarf and replaced it with a satin one. I only use it if I need to hold something on my hair in place because its huge and even then I put a bonnet underneath it.

The LOC Method

If you have hair that gets dry like the Sahara then the LOC method is for you!

After hearing a couple of my features say they do the LOC method I decided to try it.
Now I did some looking around and I found that their are two was to do the this method,

I tried the leave in, oil, cream method and my cream was light weight but if I used one of my thicker homemade mixes I would have used only water. Now at first I was worried that it would be too much product on my hair and that it would be heavy but it wasn't at all. I washed my hair and then wrapped a T-shirt around it (a towel will steal to much moisture) instead of going straight to do my hair I got caught up in something on tv for about 20 minutes so my hair dried a little bit. I took my hair section by section and applied the leave in first, oil, then cream. I brushed the section with a denman brush to define my curls and distribute the product evenly then twisted up my hair. After I took my hair down it stayed moisturize for 3 days without me adding anything to it. Even when I had to reapply some cream and oil I only had to use a little bit.

I used shea moisture leave in conditioner, eden body works jojoba oil, and 4 naturals curl craze.

4 naturals Curl Craze Curl Lotion

When I went to a hair show there was a 4 naturals both and they had a deal that I couldn't refuse. In one box it had a detangling shampoo and conditioner, a deep conditioner , daily treatment leave-in, and the curl lotion for onlt $10!. Now the Curl Craze is for type 3 hair only so if you have type 2 or 4 this review isn't going to do anything for you but I do recommend trying their brand. If you aren't sure what your hair type is you can go on their website and find out (they have pictures to look at) and you can get the products specifically for your hair.

This product is light and gives a nice soft hold to  my hair. I used this product on freshly washed hair when I tried the LOC method as my cream and it left my hair feeling amazing. It wasn't too heavy so it didn't weigh my hair down. I did the LOC method then did some flat twists, 6 rows in the front, 6 or 7 in the back. When I took them down I separated and fluffed and my hair was awesome and my curls lasted through the week with pineappling and only re-braiding once during the week. I would definitely buy this product again. I saw it once at Walmart but of coarse when I went back it wasn't there. It might be at Sally's but when in doubt just by it online.