Wash Day Diary @ 11 Weeks Post: 17.03.13

"I can't believe it's been a whole week since my last wash day when I took out my crochet braids. Time sure does fly - I was hoping to apply this sentiment to my wash day today and make it hassle free and speedy!"

My starting point was my 7 day old bun and these are the steps I followed (with a few pictures):

1. Sectioned my hair into four and finger detangled each section.

Starting point of my week old bun. There is not pony tail holder or hair grips in my hair

2. I made my conditoner mix which consisted of EVOO, honey, Alter Ego Hot Oil Treatment, Aphogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor, Roux Porosity Control, Silk Amino Acid Powder and Aloe Vera Juice and placed the bowl of conditioner in the sink resting in hot water from the tap to warm it slightly.

My conditioner at various stages of the mixing process whilst it was sat in a warm water bath.

My new growth at just a few days shy of 12 weeks post - it's crazy! I think the last set of crochet braids were succesful in helping my hair grow. TOP RIGHT: This is the front of my hair BOTTOM LEFT: This is the top of my head, directly above the back of my head BOTTOM RIGHT: You can clearly see how 'scalpy' my hair is at the back of my head! My hair in this section is a) finer and b) less dense that it is in the other areas

3. Next I applied the conditioner in one inch secitons starting at the nape, as though I were applying relaxer *messilly*! As always I started at the roots, applied to all 1 inch partings in that section and then using a squeezing motion I distributed the conditoner at my roots [which had by now warmed up and thinned down so it has more slip and is easier to push/pull down the length of my hair]. I then applied conditioner to the ends to make sure they are thorougly covered before adding more to the length of my hair to cover any strands which are not already coated in the conditioner mix.

I apply the conditioner using my finger tips to apply to the sections of hair which have been finger parted, I tend not to use a comb in my hair on wash days until I detangle after airdrying slightly. My hair doesn't do well with being combed when it's soaking wet. I finger detangle prior to applying my deep conditoner to dry hair and I slightly finger detangle in the shower under the running water.

This is the end result after adding the deep conditioner. The conditioner left in the dish is the amount I used on the final section and is pretty much the same amount used for all sections. I am heavy handed when applying my conditioner but I like to make sure that every-single-strand of hair is coated in conditioner as I only do this once a week.

4. I then covered with a plastic bag then a scarf and went about my business for an hour. After an hour I decided to remove the plastic bag from my hair and sat under my steamer for 15 minutes. After my time under the steamer I immediately replaced the plastic bag to trap the heat/moisture and kept the conditioner on for a further 2hrs or so with a towel on top.

5. I then rinsed out the conditioner in the shower whilst my hair was still in four twisted setions. Working section by section I rinsed the conditioner, applied Hair One Cleansing Conditioner to the roots, retwisted the section and then moved to the next. Once I got to the last section I squirted some Paul Mitchell Super Strong Treatment into my palms and ran this down the length of my hair and the ends. I only added this additional protein step because a) I plan to blow dry my hair next week [using the tension method] and b) I plan to relax my hair next week. I then rinsed this out after about 3 minutes and followed up with a peppermint tea rinse [cold] concentrating on my roots and I didn't rinse it out. Lastly I decided to do an ACV rinse [after I got out of the shower so I just did this over the sink] then covered my hair with a towel for 5 minutes to soak up excess moisture.

TOP: My hair right before jumping in the shower and rinsing and cowashing my hair. I threw away my shower filter head as it was badly cracked by someone dropping it on the floor of the shower (repeatedly I think!) so I need to buy another one. BOTTOM: My hair after removing the towel after cowashing with no leave in products applied.

6. I then applied my leave ins in this order; Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk, Bee Mine Luscious, EVCO, Keracare Oil Moisturiser and Organix Coconut Milk Serum [just to the ends and hairline]. I then airdried in four two strand twists for a couple of hours before applying Treseme Heat Defence spray and blowdrying using the hand tension method concentrating on the new growth.

Air drying with product applied. At this point I've not detangled my hair.

7. I then lightly dusted my ends before putting my hair back into four 2 strand twists before covering with a scarf and going to bed.

TOP: After blow drying and dusing my ends this is how I 'wrapped' my hair for bed. I had four pony tails and kind of cross-wrapped the ends over to keep them as straight as possible. BOTTOM: This is how my hair looked first thing this morning prior to pulling my hair back into a bun.

My bun. I am pretty proud of how full my bun is looking. Still massive room for improvement but leaps and bounds ahead of where I was three years ago!

This wash day was really simple (although it probably doesn't sound like it). For the most part I wasn't rushed, harassed and stressed at all and to top it all the amount of hair I lost due to shedding this week is considerably lower than I expected. I have now made a new daily leave in tea spritz using peppermint tea, olive oil and aloe vera juice as I think my previous concotion is helping to reduce my shedding. So far (24hrs later) I like the feel of this peppermint tea spritz, my hair doesn't feel hard at all and the tea smells great!

TOP: Hair on the right hand side of my palm is from finger detangling and applying conditioner, the hair on the left hand side is from the remainder of my wash day including detangling, blow drying and dusting. BOTTOM: Total hair combined.

Today I posted a few pictures of my bun and newgrowth on the Simply Into My HAIR Facebook page. I was asked in the comments section about the tension blowdrying method I used, below is my response: