My Hair Regimen



April 2011


MY HAIR TYPE

* Andre Walker's hair typing system: I'm a 4A

* LOIS Hair Classification System: I'm Sister O(S) and have hair that is spongy, has high sheen, is of medium density and my individual hair strands are fine.

* My personal description of my hair: Coily, fluffy, naturally dry,  frizz prone (especially in the front), lots of sheen, fine strands and of medium density; it's neither thin nor thick.

I have varying diameters of coils, from the diameter of a pen spring to a coffee stirrer, all over my head. Because my hair is so coily, the shrinkage is bananas. It's shrinks up to anywhere from 50 to 60% of its actual length. I don't wear it in its original coil pattern often because it likes to tangle on itself so I, 99.9% of the time, keep in stretched in styles like braid outs, twist outs, blow outs, roller sets, up-dos, etc.

REGIMEN:

1. I condition and wash my hair every 1-2 weeks
1. I divide my hair into 4-6 sections.
2. One section at a time, I lightly mist my hair with water first, apply whatever homemade conditioning mix I feel like, detangle it and twist or braid it. 
3. I then cleanse my hair, with those twisted/braided sections still in and follow up with an ACV rinse
4. I apply BM Deja's Hair Milk to my hair in sections; comb them through each section to ensure even distrubution and air dry in braids (mostly) and style
2. I moisturize my hair when it's needed; feels dry. At night I'll mist my hair in sections with my hair mist and seal with Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk and put into 4 plaits; sometimes I won't mist my hair and just apply the hair milk. I put on my Stay On Satin sleep sack and style the next day.
3. I do comb my hair more than once a week to prevent tangling and fairy knots. The no comb method works for many but I'm a natural that benefits from combing her hair a little more frequently because it's very coily and tangles on itself easily. I comb no more than 1-2 times between washes with a jumbo rake comb or shower comb. I (sometimes, lightly mist my hair in sections with my homemade hair mist first and then) apply BMDHM before letting a comb come within 4 feet of my hair. The BMDHM has great slip for me to comb/detangle my hair. 
4. Henna gloss every 1-2 months, I try to anyway.
5. I mainly wear my hair in up-dos: I love wearing my hair in up-do's. They look great on me, they protect my ends and help me retain moisture and practically all of my length. Some of my favorite hairstyles are retro inspired up-do's (they look so cool on highly textured hair), braid outs, curly fros, and flat twist outs. I also like to wear wigs too. 
6. I do use heat but I do not abuse it. 99% of the time I let my hair air dry after I have washed it. Every now and again though, I will feel like a blowout and do so. When I know that I want to blow my hair out I let it dry overnight and then prep it with BMDHM and grapeseed oil (for some heat "protection"). I use the Tension Method to blow my hair out. I love this method; in conjunction with use the BMDHM and grapeseed oil, it leaves me with soft and moisturized hair. 
1. I don't straighten my hair. I haven't since I went natural. I have nothing against straightening natural hair, I just haven't had the interest in doing so on mine. That could change in the future but for right now I have no desire to.

Note. This is what works for MY hair. I cannot guarantee that my personal hair care methods will work as good for anyone else as they do for me. Hopefully some will but it's imperative that YOU experiment till you find what works best for YOUR hair. I built this regimen through trial and error. It did not come to me right away. If you're a new natural or just taking an interest in taking better care of your hair, it may take some experimenting to build a regimen. Don't get discouraged.