If you've been here for more than 3 months

it took me over a year to find what techniques work and which ones do not. but even still i'm finding new products that work better than old ones so it's always going to be an evolving thing. but at this point i have staples products and techniques so it's much easier now than when i was in the trial and error phase. now i can try something new and still have a consistent regimine to fall back on if it doesn't work out.

I've been here for a year and my hair is doing much better - especially my ends, but my regimen needs some improvement, especially with stretching relaxers. Thanks to LHCF my hair has improved with NTM and jojoba oil, I've been using a seamless comb, and I found out about tenderheaded.com, where I found a scarf that doesn't come off while I'm sleeping.

Never....
i'm always changing.....

I've been here for over 2 years and my regimen is constantly changing. I had a pretty detailed regimen in the summer when I was doing my hair myself a lot but it got to be a lot of work. Now I'm getting my hair professionally done on a regular basis and my routine is a lot less time consuming than when I was doing my own hair.

I go to the salon every week and a half to 2 weeks for a wash, condition, and style, cover my hair with a silk scarf at night and sleep on a satin pillowcase, comb my hair very gently in the morning with a wide tooth seamless comb or a wide tooth seamless bone comb, and apply a light oil (BBD Keala Oil, KeraCare Essential Oils, Design Essentials Botanical Oils, or Kemi Oyl) to my ends specifically if they look or feel a little dry.

I also wear my hair in a bun at work in order to prevent breakage from my hair rubbing against my wool sweaters and wear my hair down on the weekends or if I have an event to go to. The longer my hair gets the bigger the bun so my bun style looks fuller and prettier, and less "grandma -ish," Lol.

I try really hard to add pretty accessories to my bun style at work to jazz it up, since one of my sister's friends always used to make fun of my "grandma bun" style. It made me self conscious to wear it out in public to any place except for work, I will definitely bun it for work as a protective style but you won't catch me on the weekend or at an event without my hair down.
(*Where did the term "grandma bun" come from anyway ? Both of my grandmothers were very sharp and always looked like a million bucks, you wouldn't have caught them sporting any kind of bun hair style, Lol.

With keeping my hair off of my clothes at work, getting my hair done with high quality products, and handling it gently it's doing well and I hope that this simplified regimen will allow it to continue to thrive and retain length.

It took some months for my regimen to evolve into one that's working the best for me, to date. I'm still tweaking it!

It took me about 3 months to develop a regimen and to stick with it.

I am still working on it. Been here two years. I am a pj and jump on most bandwagons. But I am getting away from that because of financial and hair reasons (broke and have not retained length).

CarLiTa said:

how long did it take you to perfect your hair care regimen? I know we're doing trial and error, but how long did it take for it all to just CLICK...

for real man, i've been here for 6 months, and basically i still struggle. It could be the PJ in me... or me being stubborn, not wanting to buy more expensive things that could work better, and always thinking that i'm missing out on something else. I need to find one good shampoo and one good leave-in to stick to, cuz these are the ones that i keep switching all the time!!!

I digress... answer the question please

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HI Carlita,

My regimen was already perfected when I joined. I used Keracare shampoo & condtioner. I use Salerm Now though. both are great products.
I have to say that I have messed up since joining the boards because I got the itch to buy a few other products that just do not work. like this weekend I brought Miss key 10 en 1...that ish does not work at all for me- but that is what the uck I get for straying. I went into the beauty supply to get some Keracare humecto to do a deep condion, and I saw the 10 en 1. Since a lot of folks on the board rave over it I decided to check it out ( plus I was being cheap) It did not do anything for my hair.

I think that if you find something stick to it. I hear ladies saying this made their hair feel oh so soft, but then they are trying something else, that is where the problem lies, when you get the urge to try everything out just stick to what is right.

Took me two years. I was a major PJ

I've been here almost a year and I've learned quite a bit. Before joining, I would get my hair done every 2 weeks, but without washing in-between. While I still go every 2 weeks (when I can afford it) I wash my hair after the first week of my salon visit. I don't use the curling irons and i use a soft bonnet dryer. My hair is pretty healthy, but then again, it was healthy before I got here.

CarLiTa said:

thanx for the replies so far...

I think i might need to treat my hair to a visit at my favorite dominican salon and see what they use on my hair, and from that, i'll decide what to really get, no matter how expensive. I just don't want to try anything expensive and then end up not liking it, ya know? i'm just a high school student spending most of my allowance on hair things

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This is exactly what I did, my family attends the dominican salon regularly and they never seem to know what they use, well I took my daughter for a few weeks and checked out all the products they use and bought them myself, LOL, some of them were: Salerm, Joico, Nexxus, Haiyashi 911, A/g cosmetics products, They also used Fantasia IC or Biosilk things for shine and stuff.

I've been a member here for 7 months, and i still havent found my perfect regime. I'm workn on it tho, i think im almost there, i just need to find a good protein treatment and curb my PJism. Hopefully I'll find my regime by the end of the year.

Thanx everyone! LengthyDreams, that is my goal too! find the best products for MY hair by the end of the year so that I can start 2006 free from this whole trial and error thing and MAXIMIZE the health and length of my hair

My favorite Dominican salon ONLY uses professional products and they do a heck of a good job everytime. I don't go often though. It's been about 3 months since I went. I might go for a blowout in 3 weeks since I'm going to Boston for 2 days for an overnight college visit and I'd like to look very presentable, but I don't know. I also want to stay away from heat. I might just do a braidout.

I think my regimen is good. I'm thinking that the only problems are the products (shampoo & leave-in) besides that, I'm happy with the technique itself

It took me 3.5 months after reading Cathy Howse's book and then I found this site. My techniques change as my hair lengthens and thickens and the changes in seasons, as do my styling products. But the basic shampoos and conditioners work.

I also was caught up in PJ-ism for about 8 mon.

Ayeshia said:

took me nearly two years....and it still wont be perfected lol. my regimen changes as my hair gets longer.

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Same here.
I think when folks are trying out too many new products & new techniques at the same time they may not be able to pipoint what works and what doesn't. When ever I try out a new product I'll stick with my normal conditioner & techniques so that I can truely gauge whether or not I like the product and if it works.

I was able to get a basic regimen down pat within two months since joining. It was the fine tuning that took the longest for me to figure out after that. Finding the perfect products for my hair (in my case is anything from paul mitchel) is what really took the longest.

I was able to get a basic regimen down within a month of joining. I have tweaked it here and there, but the regimen has been the same since. The only big changes may be the products. I went from using all Nexxus to using NTM, Mane 'N Tail, Creme of Nature and Motions. Daily CO washes and overnight/hot oil treatments have been a large part of my regimen since joining.

My hair was already long when i joined. I have tried a few products recommended here & elsewhere but i have since gone back to my faves. I do love learning new techniques though. Like i learned about cw's and using clips to separate my thick hair for a cleaner wash. I even stopped all heat. But i'm going back to using a hard bonnet for my hot oil treatments my hair absorbed more oil & i noticed the oil would just sit on my hair w/o heat(cap). I will be buying my bonnet this week (payday) cuz my old one kicked the bucket early in the summer. oh, to answer your ques. no it didnt take me long cuz i didnt buy many products in the first place.

I've been here about a year and a half, and it started with recommendations of products that I read were good from other members here. I lucked up and most everything I used at first has become a staple product .. Aubrey GPB, Stay-so-Fro, NTM. I'm not a PJ luckily so I don't have the problem of trying everything I see or someone raves about. Its really just a trial and error until you find what works for you.

It took me about 9 months to perfect a regimen/hair products that worked for me. I would say keep trying but find a hair twin or twins and experiment with what works for them to save you the stress and money. Good luck

brandy said:

It took me about 9 months to perfect a regimen/hair products that worked for me. I would say keep trying but find a hair twin or twins and experiment with what works for them to save you the stress and money. Good luck

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Co-signing on finding a hair twin. I recently found mine & was happyto see she uses about the same products. That made me happy to know im on the right path.

I've found a hair twin, and it's DivineInspiration, except that she's all Nexxus and i'm all cheapies, lol... maybe my hair is drier than hers, or maybe I shoud just follow her advices and stock up on Nexxus except i'm just a HS student who doesn't work and my mom would freak out if she saw how much Nexxus products cost

So, as of right now, i'm trying to find cheaper alternatives that work just as well

CarLiTa said:

I've found a hair twin, and it's DivineInspiration, except that she's all Nexxus and i'm all cheapies, lol... maybe my hair is drier than hers, or maybe I shoud just follow her advices and stock up on Nexxus except i'm just a HS student who doesn't work and my mom would freak out if she saw how much Nexxus products cost

So, as of right now, i'm trying to find cheaper alternatives that work just as well

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Awwww Carlita!! I'm gonna send you a PM...

As far as cheaper alternatives, I think Sally's sells a generic version of the Nexxus products. That may be something worth looking into. We'll have to exchange notes on some other products too.
Yesterday I bought Giovanni 50:50 poo so I'm gonna experiment with that tomorrow and I'll write a review.