4b/ 4c Naturals Growth Thread

[snoop]

Been looking to switch up my routine, anyone here tried soap nuts? I want to use it as a DIY dry-ish shampoo with a scalp applicator bottle, spray a bit of aloe vera juice, and dab dry with a white cloth. Same thing with the hair itself. I leave my hair in twists and comb once a month, but wash them in braids every two weeks. is it okay to leave a bit of soap nut on your scalp?

similar to this video but just with soap nuts

I've been reading through some of the old ayurveda threads and there seemed to be a consensus that aritha (soap nuts) was more stripping and therefore more drying than shikakai. I'm wondering if it would dry out your roots if used like that?

Naturally High also uses witch hazel as a cleanser instead of the dry shampoo. I think she also uses aloe vera juice mixed with (I forget ???) but I believe she has videos on these as well.

 

[Sheabutterboy]

I've been reading through some of the old ayurveda threads and there seemed to be a consensus that aritha (soap nuts) was more stripping and therefore more drying than shikakai. I'm wondering if it would dry out your roots if used like that?

Naturally High also uses witch hazel as a cleanser instead of the dry shampoo. I think she also uses aloe vera juice mixed with (I forget ???) but I believe she has videos on these as well.

Ahh i see okay will take a look, thanks

 

[storm777007]

How many times yall moisturize?

I noticed that I have to moisturize at least every other day. The longest I can go is maybe 3 day’s before my hair is dried out. However I recently incorporated carefree curl into my leave in conditioners and wow! The difference is amazing!

 

[bubbles12345]

Usually once a week, maybe twice. And then wash every 7-10 days.

A couple of pictures of my hair recently. Since I've been working from home because of coronavirus, I've just been wearing 10 big revair blow dried twists, in a bun or hanging down. Recently I did a twist out with them.

View attachment 457975

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What products do you use?

 

[niknakmac]

My hair has seemed dryer than usual the last couple of weeks so I have gone back to basics. I will be wearing twists for a while and moisturizing daily with water and my shea butter mix.

 

[Prettymetty]

Hey ladies!

Do y’all notice that hair stylists are overly rough with our hair? They treat it like looser textured hair and let’s be real, it’ll break off. This is the main reason I became a diyer. I love the sleek salon look, but I hate that I have to sacrifice my fragile strands.

Some days I think about taking a blowout class to improve my technique

 

[snoop]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been finger detangling under running water. Just water, no conditioner and my likes it so much better than damp detangling. My hair is clumping so I just gently separate the clumps and remove any noticable shed hairs. I'm hoping that as this goes on, that I can get clumping at my roots as well.

I'm going to try to keep it up over the next few months -- keeping my fingers crossed for better retention.

 

[beloved1bx]

I want to try this 'no oils, no butters' thing. But looking at the ingredients list of products, I realize there's oils in almost everything.
I also want to play with these colored hair waxes I have, before I have to return to the office in Oct.
I may put off the no oils/Wash n Go thing for another week so I can play with my hair.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

I want to try this 'no oils, no butters' thing. But looking at the ingredients list of products, I realize there's oils in almost everything.
I also want to play with these colored hair waxes I have, before I have to return to the office in Oct.
I may put off the no oils/Wash n Go thing for another week so I can play with my hair.

It's not "no oils/no butters". I think people & YouTubers misunderstood what stylists were getting at. As you said there's oil in just about every hair product. A few stylists say no oils/butters in the first 5 ingredients for 30 days as a way to detox the hair. But overall the thought process is not using raw oil & butters in addition to the products you are using because the oil/butter is already in there.

I use gemini naturals temporary color gels and I really like them.

 

[beloved1bx]

It's not "no oils/no butters". I think people & YouTubers misunderstood what stylists were getting at. As you said there's oil in just about every hair product. A few stylists say no oils/butters in the first 5 ingredients for 30 days as a way to detox the hair. But overall the thought process is not using raw oil & butters in addition to the products you are using because the oil/butter is already in there.

I use gemini naturals temporary color gels and I really like them.

A new stylist I went to was the one that mentioned the no oils/butters thing, but I do think she was probs talking about raw oils/butters like you said. But then when I looked online, I saw people saying there shouldn't be any oils in the first 5 ingredients, which very is a very small sub-section of products. I won't sweat it though. And like you mentioned, maybe just try to avoid the raw form of oils.

I'm currently have a red hair wax from Organic Root Stimulator in right now. But I do have 2 small jars from Gemini Naturals that I bought a while ago and have sitting around that I'm going to use next.

 

[oneastrocurlie]

A new stylist I went to was the one that mentioned the no oils/butters thing, but I do think she was probs talking about raw oils/butters like you said. But then when I looked online, I saw people saying there shouldn't be any oils in the first 5 ingredients, which very is a very small sub-section of products. I won't sweat it though. And like you mentioned, maybe just try to avoid the raw form of oils.

I'm currently have a red hair wax from Organic Root Stimulator in right now. But I do have 2 small jars from Gemini Naturals that I bought a while ago and have sitting around that I'm going to use next.

I personally don't follow that first 5 ingredient rule. My stylist never mentioned it like that but she is a no raw oil/butter gal so I've been going that route since going to her. I do read the ingredients in general like most of us probably do.

 

[snoop]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been finger detangling under running water. Just water, no conditioner and my likes it so much better than damp detangling. My hair is clumping so I just gently separate the clumps and remove any noticable shed hairs. I'm hoping that as this goes on, that I can get clumping at my roots as well.

I'm going to try to keep it up over the next few months -- keeping my fingers crossed for better retention.

I'm still doing this and my texture has "changed". What I should say is that my hair is holding it's coil pattern when dry now and so my twists aren't smooth anymore. They're textured. It's neat because I didn't realize that my hair could or would do that. I'm a finger comber, but I think that the amount of water that my hair gets while washing has increased significantly and I am raking my fingers through my strands a lot more than before.

 

[snoop]

Over the last couple of weeks I've been finger detangling under running water. Just water, no conditioner and my likes it so much better than damp detangling. My hair is clumping so I just gently separate the clumps and remove any noticable shed hairs. I'm hoping that as this goes on, that I can get clumping at my roots as well.

I'm going to try to keep it up over the next few months -- keeping my fingers crossed for better retention.

I am still using this routine and I think that it's here to stay for me. There were w few times over the years that I'd discovered that detangling under running water worked well for me, but I never stuck with it because it "wasn't" how we were supposed to detangle our hair. I'm pretty sure my retention would have been much better and I would have been at TBL if I stuck with what worked for me instead of what we're "supposed" to do.

 

[snoop]

I am still using this routine and I think that it's here to stay for me. There were w few times over the years that I'd discovered that detangling under running water worked well for me, but I never stuck with it because it "wasn't" how we were supposed to detangle our hair. I'm pretty sure my retention would have been much better and I would have been at TBL if I stuck with what worked for me instead of what we're "supposed" to do.

So I'm still pretty much doing this routine, though for the past couple of months, I've gone back to wearing medium or mini twists for 2 to 4 weeks at a time. Yesterday I took down my medium twists and it was so easy. Again, way less breakage than two week prior when I used ACV to detangle my hair.

I came out of the shower yesterday, feeling like a lion!

 

[snoop]

I don't even remember posting the March update. It seems like ages ago!

My conundrum: Detangling my hair under water is where it's at. Ideally, to keep my roots from matting I'd do this twice a week. BUT how do I style my hair after? Two strand twists are great, but I also like threading my twists and have now discovered that simple plaits work just as well. Taking down threads or braids every three or four days feels like a lot of manipulation -- 1. it's something we're "not" supposed to do and 2. do I really have time for that?

Braids are keeping my length sheeny. I'm not sure how to get the same look at my roots.

My morning thoughts...

 

[faithVA]

I don't even remember posting the March update. It seems like ages ago!

My conundrum: Detangling my hair under water is where it's at. Ideally, to keep my roots from matting I'd do this twice a week. BUT how do I style my hair after? Two strand twists are great, but I also like threading my twists and have now discovered that simple plaits work just as well. Taking down threads or braids every three or four days feels like a lot of manipulation -- 1. it's something we're "not" supposed to do and 2. do I really have time for that?

Braids are keeping my length sheeny. I'm not sure how to get the same look at my roots.

My morning thoughts...

I'm back to twists as well. Wearing them two weeks at a time and rinsing and reapplying gel after the first week. Going to stick with this for a while.

 

[snoop]

@faithVA Are you still wearing your twists? How does your hair like this routine?

I don't even remember posting the March update. It seems like ages ago!

My conundrum: Detangling my hair under water is where it's at. Ideally, to keep my roots from matting I'd do this twice a week. BUT how do I style my hair after? Two strand twists are great, but I also like threading my twists and have now discovered that simple plaits work just as well. Taking down threads or braids every three or four days feels like a lot of manipulation -- 1. it's something we're "not" supposed to do and 2. do I really have time for that?

Braids are keeping my length sheeny. I'm not sure how to get the same look at my roots.

My morning thoughts...

I haven't worn mini twists in a while, but here I am. I plan to keep them in for all of November. We'll see.

I feel like over the past 12 months I've really gotten to appreciate how much my hair likes water. During wash day, my hair gets an obscene amount, but it seems to like it. Also, I think that it has been helping with sebum distribution which in turn is causing my hair to stick to itself as much. I still get matted sections, but they're much easier to (finger) detangle now vs. before. I find that detangling under water is the best way for me to manage my hair. Spraying my hair with a bit of water works, but it's much faster under a stream of water AND I don't need to add any product to it to create "slip".

When I first started my natural hair journey I quickly came to the realization that my hair preferred not to be washed to a squeaky clean state. It was only years later that I realized that clay washing allows my hair to retain some of its natural oils and this allowed my hair not to break as easily. Washing and detangling under water I think has allowed me to distribute sebum more evenly through my strands and my hair clumps really nicely if I'm consistent with it. Plus, I do believe that all of the raking helps to train my strands to clump better. The techniques works even better if I apply my clay/ayurvedic masks in micro sections, similar to the way that I would detangle my hair. I feel like I've gotten the best of the WaterOnlyHairWash lady's technique ("scritch and preeing" in two strand twists under running water) combined with Green Beauty's "scoop and spread"... but on loose hair).

I still haven't figured out how to get my roots to be as sheeny as the length. My roots in my crown area dry out faster -- pehaps due to more exposure to the sun and wind? -- and if I pull my hair back, the perimiter of my hair faces the same fate.

 

[faithVA]

@snoop , I have not been wearing 2 strands as often as I would like. My schedule has been crazier than usual and I haven't wanted to spend the time to put the twist in. I've been lazily just doing flat twist. I do want to get back to this. Supposedly I'm going to put twist in tomorrow but we shall see.