Monthly Review #60 - 5 years!

Five whole years! I measured the longest strands at 29" - so definitely losing length to mechanical damage since it used to grow about 7 inches a year and between year 3 and year 5 has only been 8 inches total. I didn't write it down in 2018 when I measured but I could have sworn it was 26, closing in on 27 - which would mean 5 inches in year 4 and 3 inches in year 5. ooph. I may need a haircut soon. The bottom reaches beyond my hip bones when pulled straight. And when in the shower the bottom sits on the top of my butt. 

Sleeping: crunchie put on tighter definitely works better for pineapple and daily life and somehow leaves the hair better curly, not creased or broken/flyaway. I tried a satin bonnet but it was hot and ruined my volume.

I went to deva and they advised against b'leave in - makes hair drier - weird for a leave in conditioner.  So now I have heaven in hair as a conditioner (that was some up charging - beware they don't have prices out so when they suggest you go from a $18/ 12oz conditioner to a $44/16oz conditioner you won't know until you get the charge.) and original no-poo as my cleanser - they were ot of the low-poo delight and the low-poo original has lanolin in it (not vegan). Plus I got the ultra defining gel to use with my existing supercream. of course that night the supercream ran out. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW IT'S RUNNING LOW?

I keep looking at LUS - it's one product and done and a lot of their founder/models look to have similar hair to me. But then there was a curly on the forum who had terrible build up from LUS and it looked terrible.

found out all of curly world is vegan so that's good. but spiral (x,y,z) - the salon in tribeca- is not really open? You have to email for an appt, no hours to walk in and buy stuff. So I've inquired after an appointment....maybe even to have it cut.

These pictures are taken the morning after a shower - on June 15th and then after it had fluffed out by end of day and the following morning even though that technically counts as the next month even though technically when I shaved it myself (6/15) I went into the salon the next day (6/16) to have it evened out...so maybe these months should have been bisected on the 16th. I took the photo mode off wide-angle selfie at the end to make it comparable to previous years since wide angle selfie looks farther away and thus like the hair is shorter.

Definitely thinking that next year I'll need to shear it off again.

Happy five years!

Monthly Review #59

I've missed a whole year here.

I figure y'all aren't super interested in my hair just getting a little longer.

But in any event - I need to decide what to do with my hair so I'm going to write for clarity today:

My hair is DRY. It's flat. The curl pattern is collapsing vertically.

Curl patterning/ finger coiling: UGH this sound like so much work.

I miss in college when I just washed it and went to bed and boom - it worked. Daily curls and bounce and shine and so many colors.

Colors: I feel like my hair is one boring shade of brown per level now (it still oxidizes from root to end) - I miss all the different colors making natural highlight patterns. Is that from damage from the shower? uneven from lots of half-assed washing?

Shine: this feels like a lost cause. I may never get it back....or maybe just when it's moisturized? It doesn't look unshiny when it hasn't lost the moisture?

It looked AMAZING the day after the melt into moisture treatment. so I must need moisture. and it looks too stringy after the protein treatments....so assumedly I just need moisture BUT it has so much damage and breakage at the bottom....can I get that back?

I'm thinking I'll try olaplex 1 & 2 from my mom's amazon buy - do we know if it is real? not at all. But we'll try? Mainly on the ends. I think the top is probably fine.

Also why don't these companies sell like a "sample it all" kind of deal? this is so much wasted product.

--

Olaplex + Malibu C Curl Partner made my hair SO shiny. Multiple men made prolonged eye-contact with me on the train in on my two stops to work. But no better curl patterning or damage reversal?

So now I have a schedule: Every Sunday I do a treatment (right now rotating between olaplex 1&2, Deep Sea Repair, Melt into Moisture) And I clarify/chelate before MIM.

side note: DSR seems to be helping my broken nail not be so broken.
Another: why can DSR only be left on for 15 minutes?!

I should probably invest in a hot head cap for my treatments. hmm.

I sampled from deva the decadence and original NP and OC. The decadence made my hair SO hydrated. However - it had no volume on top. The original gave me lots of volume but the hydration was just a little less in the beginning but it had no staying power - it looked much drier by day two.

I haven't used the delight low poo yet but I'm a little worried about it being very dry. I've considered mixing - every other day original and delight cleanse, with decadence conditioner. But what if it's the conditioner weighing down the roots? Do I even dare use the delight for fear it won't be enough for my damaged hair?
and should I sample jessicurl or lus at all?

ugh figuring out the water solubility of things is so difficult. like I think curl junkie hair treatment (um gardenia smell, yum) might be good for me but I'm not 100% sure it's water soluble.

I want to try curly world but it's like double the price of deva. at my estimations it'd be about $600 a year to cleanse and condition and leave in.

the pineapple is killing me. it never stays up. I'm working way to hard to keep it up at night and not crease it. I'm afraid of using the bobbles because of damage and getting really twisted in there. I think I need to get a wrap or something but I'm not sure what.

I want to try b'leave in but I'm not sure what i'm looking to get out of it....lasting moisture? lasting hold? idk if it really does either of those. maybe it'd need to be sprayed in? hmm.

also want to try wash day wonder. and maybe gel at some point? but ugh I don't like it. maybe mouse instead?

maybe it just takes time.

So these pictures start with that first clarify and olaplex. The first half of march. Also I was keeping these shirts around for pictures (dark hair, light shirt) unfortunately that means it's harder to tell the different between days.