Saturday 5 January 2013

The Search Continues

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. I wish you all the best for 2013 and continued growth. 

My search continues for a hair routine for my locs. As I stated in my previous posts my aim is to grow healthy locs. I have finally decided that I do not like shea butter on my locs. I have heard that some people say that you shouldn’t use it on locs and others have said that it is possible to use it. I used raw pure shea butter and I always blended it with other ingredients (e.g. coconut oil, castor oil, evoo - extra virgin olive oil); however, I never liked the feel of it on my locs. I thought it could have been the shea butter that I used so I tried a different one, I even tried different blends; all I can say is that from my experimentation I will not be using shea butter on my locs at all. It is lovely on my skin though.

If you will recall from my previous posts I had noticed that some of ends were unravelling. This should not be happening as my locs are matured and I was confused as to what was causing it. I do not know if it was the colouring. I have only dyed my locs twice but I do not know if that has contributed to it. I do wonder if it is split ends and I have considered trimming my locs. I have not yet decided if I would do this myself or go to the hairdressers. I do know that if I do cut my locs I will get some unravelling until it re-seals. My consultant had previously stated that maybe I was over conditioning my locs. I do not what I think about this as my hair feels dry and not over-soft. I do wonder if my hair needs my protein and not moisture. I attempted to do the strand test (sorry I cannot find the link at the moment but I will post when I find it) but I think that it is hard to do properly with locs. So I think I will ease back on the deep conditioning and may be do it once every 2 months or so (not certain as yet). I may do some pre-pooing to counteract the potential dryness of the shampoo. I did go through a phase of co-washing but it does not work with the frequency that I wash my hair; I need a proper cleanse with I don’t get with co-washing. So all in all I am confused about my locs unravelling. I will try less conditioning and see how my locs are and I may trim them.

At the moment I am trying to be really simple with my routine. I went to a hair show and in the goody bag I got some JBCO (Jamaican Black Castor Oil) woohoo. 



It was only a small sample but I am currently using that on my roots after I wash. A friend of a friend makes and sells her own products and she invited us to a new product launch. At this party I got a free sample of honey comb and myrrh, which I currently use on the length of my locs after I wash. 


When these samples are finished I will probably use castor oil on my roots and evoo/coconut oil on the length. I currently spritz my locs with distilled water and JML cactus oil. 


I got the oil during my first year of locking but I never really used it, but i thought waste not want not. When that is finished I will probably use evoo. I did not particularly like the aloe vera juice mix that I mentioned in my last post. I have decided to try using baby shampoo to wash my hair as they tend to be gentler being designed for babies. At the moment I am using Johnson’s baby shampoo; I may switch to a more natural on.  I haven’t totally given up on making my own products so I may make shampoo in the future; but currently for me buying products is the best.


Actually after I had written this post I cam across this article about telling the difference between hair that feels dry and hair that is dry. After reading this I think my hair feels dry rather than actually being dry. I do moisturise it and it does feel soft and supple. It could just be my hair texture. My consultant or her niece (who currently re-tightens my hair) has never told me my hair is dry, so maybe it feels dry rather than actually being dry. I will monitor it and see.  

Happily locked up
Khandee :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm experiencing some ends unraveling as well and I've never colored my locs. I have however co washed, used shea butter along with some other products at around the 1 year mark for a few months. I think it might be product buildup that's working it's way out of the locs. What makes me come to that conclusion is this. The ends that were unraveling were at one time very hard.

Khandi said...

What did you do about the unravelling?

Unknown said...

As I find them, I put a knot at the beginning of the loose hair. I know it's probably not the most conventional method but it works for me.