Couldn't resist using this pic as the lead for this post!

Y’all know I was super worried that I might not pull off “down and out” for the Meet-Up, right? First, I haven’t done a TnC in months!! Second, and the reason for the first, my hair never dries overnight and my old, Helen of Troy Carel bonnet dryer had stopped trying. So, I’ve just been stretching with four to six twists, leaving those in a couple of days and then untwisting for updos. Well, for the Curly Nikki Meet-Up, that just wasn’t going to fly! I had to try to pull off a fab TnC, but was afraid I might just end up with my standby … a big, banana clip bun!

So, after reading Marsha’s review of the Gold ‘N Hot Ionic Bonnet Dryer, I decided to bite the bullet and picked up one from Sally’s last week. If I was going to have any chance of pulling this off, a dryer was absolutely necessary. Next, I had decided to try a protein treatment. I’d been manipulating my hair more than normal early in the month and saw more broken strands/ends than I liked. I took it really easy on my hair last week, putting it in four twists to dry on wash day, then loosely bunning it the entire week with either a banana clip or this easy, bungee type ponytail holder and a single mini jaw clip. After recently reading a lot of posts about how to properly use protein for effective results and recognizing that I might be giving it a bad rep for nothing, I picked up ApHogee 2 Minute Reconstructor at Sally’s last week too.

Wednesday night, after procrastinating for far too long, I started the process at around 7/8 o’clock. Without further ado, here is how I accomplished the above TnC using almost the identical techniques I demonstrated in my bulleted TnC Tutorial.

• Pre-pooed with Vatika oil on length, olive oil on ends, essential oil (EO) mix on scalp and placed hair in 6 twists (see video tutorial for my pre-poo method and EO recipe here). My hair was very stretched from bunning all week.
• Marinated for 30-45 minutes under plastic cap and winter hat.
• Shampooed scalp with Deva Care No Poo, releasing twists in process. I diluted the No-Poo with water and added about a tablespoon or two of olive oil to the mix. I did this because I was applying the protein conditioner immediately after shampooing without detangling. I hoped that it would help prevent excessive tangling. Rinsed shampoo thoroughly.
• Applied ApHogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor (preliminary review to follow next week) and left it on for about 10 minutes (directions indicate 2-5 minutes, but got caught up “making” DC for next step). Rinsed thoroughly.
• Mixed about 1 tbsp melted coconut oil, raw honey and EVOO into 2 ounces JessiCurl Weekly Deep Treatment and warmed in microwave for 10 seconds.
• Applied warm DC to hair, put on plastic cap and sat under dryer for approx. 30-45 minutes. Allowed hair to cool for 10 minutes and “sealed” with diluted Aussie Moist prior to rinsing with cool water (see my DC technique here).
• Lightly blotted hair dry with Curl Cloth.
• Applied modified Kimmaytube leave-in (2 tbsp KCKT, 2 tbsp aloe vera juice, 1 tsp JBCO/EVOO mix).
• Combed through hair with wide-tooth shower comb. I know!!! But, it was getting late and I just wasn’t up to finger detangling! I was gentle with the comb though and ran my fingers through each section first to make sure there weren’t any big, major knots before using the comb.
• Placed hair in 8 twists using about a fingertip full of Wonder Curl Butter Than Love on each twist. Secured the twists at the roots with large bobby pins, except the two in the back middle that were secured together with a Goody Comfort Flex Barrette.

• Spiral rolled twists to roots on small pink flexirods. Tied hair down with a hair net.

This pic is for illustration purposes. It was from a TnC in Feb.

• Sat under dryer for 2 hours (while “napping” on couch until 2 am!). Then, went to bed.
• In the morning, sat under dryer for another 30 minutes as top twists still felt damp (with more time, I would have allowed my hair to dry more prior to applying the leave-in and styling).
• Removed flexirods and smoothed twists with a little JBCO/olive oil mix before releasing and lightly separating.

Lightly separated.

• I went to work and, throughout the day, separated my curls more and more as I was going for big fluffy hair!
• When I got home, lightly spayed hair with EVOO cooking spray to add sheen as my hair didn’t feel as supple and moisturized as it normally does, nor did it look as shiny. I think this was a factor of the ApHogee treatment.

Separated more.

After work.

"Red ta go!"

You know ... just in case any pesky split ends decided to reveal themselves!