The Transition Struggle from Relaxed to Natural Hair: Wash Day with New Products! 5/8/17

This was one time that I was excited to wash my hair. Only because...I had new products to try! Yes, I know I said I was going to hold out on buying new products BUT Sally's had a sale so I picked up a few products. This week I tried Design Essential's Almond & Avocado Detangling Leave In Conditioner & Twist & Set Setting Lotion. But first let me give ya'll the breakdown of how wash day went this week.

Bragg's ACV & Briogeo Be Gentle, Be Kind
Avocado + Quinoa Co-Wash
(Don't mind the toddler cups in the background!)

Shampoo
I'm not really a fan of co-washing, but I do like to do it when my hair doesn't have a lot of product build-up. Plus it makes wash day go a lot quicker.

I didn't' pre-poo this week so I went straight to the sink and wet my hair with warm water. I then poured the ACV all over my hair and massaged it in.
I rinsed and then applied about 3-4 pumps of the co-wash to my hair. I massaged the co-wash throughout my hair and I let it sit for about 2-4 minutes.
I rinsed and repeated with the co-wash again. After a final rinse, I towel blotted my hair.

Hot Head Cap, Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning
Mask, & Mielle Organics Mint Almond Oil

Deep Condition

On this day I decided that I would only use a deep conditioner. Now usually I apply the conditioner and then the oil, but I wanted to do it a little different today.

I put a generous amount of oil on my hair and massaged it in. I immediately started to feel it tingling on my scalp.
Then I added a generous amount of deep conditioner.
I put on my processing cap (aka the plastic cap), popped my Hot Head in the microwave, and then put it on my head. I let the deep conditioner stay in for about 20 minutes, then rinsed it out.

The Mane Choice Ancient Egyptian Oil, The Mane Choice Hair
Growth Oil, Design Essentials Almond & Avocado Detangling Leave-In
Conditioner, Design Essentials Twist & Set Setting Lotion, Q-Redew,
Nouritress ER Edge Repair, The Mane Choice Ancient Egyptian Split
End Serum, Denman brush, alligator clips, white & grey perm rods (not pictured)

Styling

So this is the fun part about wash day said no one ever. This is where it takes me the longest time to finish my hair. I try to be patient because I don't want to just pull unnecessary amounts of hair out so this is why I have to be in a really good mood for wash day.

The first thing I did was massaged my scalp with the hair growth oil.

Next, I applied the Almond & Avocado Detangling Leave In Conditioner. OMG this stuff smells sooooooo good!! I'm a sucker for a product that smells good. It's not too much of a sweet smell; it's a really light but pleasant scent. This is my first time using it and at first I was a little disappointed in the texture/consistency of it. The conditioner seemed to be a little watery. I'm used to the TGIN leave-in conditioner (my favorite) and it's fairly thick. BUT as I moved to the next step I was slightly pleased with this particular leave-in conditioner.

I then sectioned my hair into four sections and held the sections together with the alligator clips. With the leave-in conditioner I was able to do this with ease. I NEVER detangle my hair while washing or deep conditioning it. That's poor practice but I just don't like doing it. But this conditioner melted the tangles away and I had no problem sectioning my hair off.

Now I applied the split-end serum to the ends of my hair only (per the directions) and then added a little Ancient Egyptian oil.

I detangled and added moisture by penetrating the hair products into my hair with my Q-Redew hair steamer.

I sprayed some of the Twist & Set Setting Lotion and worked it into my hair. This was also my first time using this product. It also smells really good! I loved that it was not too thick and sticky like some setting lotions can be. I didn't drench my hair in it, but I wet it enough so that I could roll my hair. I loved the final result because it didn't leave my hair feeling hard or crunchy. It gave my perm rod set a soft hold and amazing definition. This is definitely going to be one of my favorites!

I coiled my hair around the white perm rods in the back and grey perm rods in the front.

I repeated the above steps for each section. The only added step was around my edges I added the Nouritress Edge Repair. I have to make sure that my edges stay strong and in check because I talk about too many people not having edges. Don't judge me...ya'll know ya'll talk about people who don't have any edges. 😛

I usually let my hair air dry for about 2 days but I had somewhere to go the next day. I used my hand held blow dryer to semi-dry my hair. Then I put my bonnet on for the night and let my hair finish drying on its own.

The next day I took the rods out, rubbed some TGIN Argan Oil on my hair, then separated and fluffed. I loved the results so I need to buy some more of this setting lotion to put in my stash!