Shea Growth And Retention Regimen 2018

Saga said:

What queens shea has done for me:

In my siggie my hair was bone straight and at the 3 in August mark, it is now at the 6 mark as of December

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caribeandiva said:

3 inches in 4 months?! Impressive!!! @Chicoro Do we have another Shea made unicorn on our hands?

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Sarabellam said:

Thank you @flyygirlll2 !

I hope that this is helpful for someone.

The part of my routine that has been consistent over a long period of time is:

Washing on average once per week. ( a year ago I washed every 1-2 weeks. Now I wash 1-2x per week and my scalp is much happier)
- I focus on my roots and scalp with actual shamppoo. Now I’m using j.r. Liggets shampoo bar but I’ve used neutrogena anti dandruff shampoo or Kinky-curly come clean back when I shampooed less frequently. My length does not have suds placed directly on it unless I am trying to optimize the efficacy of a treatment such as aphogee or henna.
- I most often finger detangle after cleansing and conditioning. KCKT has been great for this! My previous favorite was a slightly doctored Giovanni direct leave-in.
- Finish by sealing my hair with Shea butter and stretching in a braided style. I’ve gone from 4 braids to 2 to most recently 1 braid that contains 6 chunky twists. I wear my current style throughout the week and tangles are significantly reduced.

My real “aha” moment for my hair actually occurred years ago. I got the idea of stretching a strand of my hair to check for moisture protein balance from the ladies on this board. I was babysitting my niece-in-law who has pin straight hair that grows to her bum without any effort. I tried to stretch a strand of her shed hair wrapped around my two index fingers and it would not break without a lot of effort, rewrapping, and the pressure pinched my finger. I tried a strand of my hair and it broke effortlessly and did not pinch at all. I began experimenting with techniques from LHCF with the end goal of giving my hair some resiliency on the pull test. My hair can’t get her results as it is very fine in diameter. However, I know that my new optimal dry state can cause a pinching sensation when pulled. I consider my hair as being “off” unless it can achieve that result. This helps because I can identify a suboptimal state before my hair begins to behave differently during washing and styling. It also gives me a better system for assessing how a treatment affects my hair.

My hair fortifiers that I turn to are:
Aphogee 2 step (strength)
Henna (strength and strand thickness)
Mud wash (balancing/ moisture )
Camille rose algae renew DC (moisture)
Mielle organics babassu oil and mint deep conditioner (mild protein and moisture conditioner)

I take vitamins for overall health:
Trader Joe’s high potency multi-vitamin chewable (highly recommend)
Rainbow light iron (highly recommend if you need iron)
Trader Joe’s vitamin D
MSM (on and off for fun and will occasionally had to liquid topicals)

Other aids that I’ve used:
-Xcel21 (inconsistent)
-Massaging (inconsistent frequency and technique)
-Scalp oil (castor + safflower) with rosemary, lavender, thyme, and cedar wood. Previously used 2-3x per week. Now it is a pre-poo scalp treatment. I use it occasionally on my hair length.

Please excuse the typos. This was written on my phone.

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Chicoro said:

How often are you doing Aphogee 2 Step and Henna, please?

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Sarabellam said:

I try to use both once every 2-3 months. I use henna first then I wait anywhere from 3 weeks to over a month to use aphogee.

I picked this schedule because it fit around the highs and lows of my work schedule. I believe that it is recommended to use aphogee more frequently, every 6-8wks. But you know the saying, “the best schedule is the one you can follow”.

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Chicoro said:

I think it is important for people to understand that you ALTERNATE your use Henna and Aphogee, using a 3 week cycle.

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Sarabellam said:

Definitely, Do not use them in the same wash day! Thank you for pointing this out. However, a 3 week cycle would be too much for my hair. I try to wait at least 5 weeks after applying aphogee before I consider using henna.

Below is practically a novella but I don’t want anyone reading this to walk away with a plan to ruin their hair.

The tldr is moisture is king. Know how henna and aphogee affect your hair. Space out henna and aphogee as far as needed for your hair to return to a baseline moisture protein balance.

The chemistry of henna is that it binds to the keratin in the hair. Lawsone (the dye in henna) is also known to react with many proteins commonly found in nature. Aphogee coats the hair in a protein layer consisting of mostly collagen.

If you apply them both within a short time your results would be affected by the thick aphogee coating on your hair. The best case scenario is that the henna would be unable to bind to you hair in some areas and you would get an splotchy, uneven application which fades as the aphogee layer falls off over time.

The worst case scenario (and the one that I think is most likely) is that you would have “protein overload” with dry, brittle hair that could last for weeks, maybe longer.

I like to wait until most if not all of the aphogee has left my strands before I think of using henna again. Following henna I like to wait a minimum of 3 weeks to make sure that my hair is balanced with a moisture heavy routine before applying aphogee.

My general plan is this:
1. Henna hair
2. Wait minimum of three weeks but will wait however long it takes based on hair assessments and my work schedule.
3. Aphogee treatment
4. Wait minimum 5 weeks.
5. Repeat step 1

To decide exactly how long I’ll wait for steps 2 and 4 I’ll assess my hair on a weekly basis by keeping an eye on how my hair behaves, how well it stays moisturized, and doing the “pull test”.

If things seem off, I’ll increase the moisture in my routine first. If my hair is supple and moisturized and still seems “off” then I make note to do step 1 or 3 when my work schedule allows.

This cycle I had to wait ~6 weeks before I felt comfortable applying aphogee because I have been experimenting with rice water and my hair needed more moisture.

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Chicoro said:

"The tldr is moisture is king"

What is tldr?

Thank you for taking the time to write and post this for us. I'm a huge fan of Aphogee 2 Step but I have never used Henna. Now, because of your post, I have a base for a routine to incorporate them together. I printed out your GREAT post. Even Tony had to drop the mic.

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Saga said:

What queens shea has done for me:

In my siggie my hair was bone straight and at the 3 in August mark, it is now at the 6 mark as of December

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ItsMeLilLucky said:

I have a confession.

I LOVE Shea on my braids...

Just not so much on my loose hair.

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ItsMeLilLucky said:

I have a confession.

I LOVE Shea on my braids...

Just not so much on my loose hair.

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ItsMeLilLucky said:

Just not so much on my loose hair

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caribeandiva said:

I don’t think any of us use it on our loose hair either

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GGsKin said:

I do!

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caribeandiva said:

How do you do it?

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ItsMeLilLucky said:

Whew, that was close

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