Wow, that is kind of completely the opposite of my Monday post of last week, isn’t it?!? LOL!! So yeah, this past week was muuuuuch better:). I’m still not quite over this cold and I had one really bad morning last Wednesday, because I decided not to take any cold medicine. But, overall, I had a decent week :). I felt a lot better, though not 100%, the electricity was restored in my house on Wednesday before I returned to it, I got my car appraised and  will take it in on the 14th for repairs paid for by the other carrier and I checked a decent number of items off of my “to do” list for work!

In regard to health and fitness though … ummm, the news isn’t so good. Ironically enough, given that my Fitness Spotlight was just up last Friday, I had a HORRENDOUS week in regard to diet and haven’t exercised at all since two Mondays ago. The cold knocked me off of my feet in regard to my exercise routine (I was a little frustrated by that as I was just getting into it again). Also, given that I didn’t have any power and stayed at my sister’s house for a couple of days, my normal weekly meal planning was totally disrupted. I ate everything and anything!! I’m talking, pancakes and taylor ham, sweet potato fries, pizza on 3 occasions, cake (wedding slash baby shower at work), Pop Tarts, McDonald’s and I’m sure there were some other things that I just can’t remember now. It was sad and I probably put on 5 lbs this week! So, I’ll have to work hard to take them off this week. I think I’ve recovered enough to start exercising again (FB posts are back on!), but I still need to hit the grocery store to replace my beloved Lean Cuisines lost in the power outage:(.

As to my hair, I hadn’t washed it since the CurlyNikki NYC Meet-up, so it was a little over 2 weeks between washes. As is par for the course, I wore it in buns and the pre-wash braided updo that I posted last week. The braids are the new technique that I mentioned I was trying. As I indicated last week, I started reading Chicoro’s Grow It! and she recommends detangling dry hair and placing it in loose braids for the wash session. As you know, I usually twist my hair, but braiding actually made more sense when I read this and thought about it. First, because my hair isn’t tightly curly all over, especially the ends, twists tend to unravel once my hair is saturated with water. However, braids tend to hold a lot more securely as the hair is interwoven more. The second thing is simple science. A braid creates more surface area than a twist (3 sections of hair versus 2), so products are able to reach more of the hair so you are able to shampoo and condition more thoroughly.

See those grey roots?

So, on Wednesday night I dry detangled my hair and braided it into six sections. On Thursday night, I unbraided each braid, applied my Vatika and olive oil pre-poo, then re-braided each section. I also mixed up some henna for a long overdue treatment. The grey was out of control as it had been 2 months since my last henna. I used Rajasthani Twilight (RT) for the first time!! I ordered 500g after Nikki did this post on ordering it instead of Jamila after a conversation with Catherine of Mehandi.com. Seems that the more recent crops of Jamila weren’t as high in dye content or quality as Catherine liked. So, she recommended that Nik try RT as the sift was supposed to be as fine as Jamila and the dye content even higher at 2.9%. Well, that purchase may have been a little premature as Nikki soon thereafter posted her initial thoughts on RT and indicated that it was a pain to rinse. She was even forced to … *gasp* … shampoo her hair the following morning to remove the residue!! Unheard of!! *lol*

As I am not one to throw money out of the window, I already knew that I’d use those 500g of RT, regardless! What I did decide to do was mix 100g of RT with 100g of Dulhan instead of using 200g of RT solo. I noticed that it did look coarser than Jamila when I poured the powder into a bowl. Also, when I mixed it, it appeared lumpier. I couldn’t get it as smooth as I can normally get Jamila and Dulhan in the mixing stage. Anywho, I mixed the two hennas together in a glass bowl using a plastic spoon, covered it with plastic wrap pushed smooth against the henna, covered the bowl with its lid and left the henna to sit for dye release overnight … and longer because I forgot to refrigerate it the next morning!

On Friday night, I shampooed my scalp and braided hair in the kitchen sink with about 2 tbsp of Ion Curl Defining Shampoo diluted in 8 ounces of filtered water. I wanted to do a clarifying shampoo in preparation for the henna on my roots and a protein treatment on my ends. That is why I used a sulfate shampoo instead of my normal DevaCare No Poo. Because of the oil pre-poo and the diluted product, my hair felt clean, but not stripped.

After rinsing the shampoo, I applied ApHogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor to the last 3 inches or so of my hair. I did this for three reasons: 1. I was still seeing a little breakage after the first treatment and the directions indicate to use it every wash until healthy hair is restored.; 2. My ends are old and had been without a full strength henna treatment for 10  months!; 3. I want to fortify my hair for the blow out prep (maybe) and Afro Puffy twists that I plan to get later this month.

While the ApHogee was in my hair, I mixed some honey into the dye released henna, which seemed to help smooth the texture of the mix. I then rinsed the ApHogee from my ends with lukewarm water. One by one, I unraveled each braid and applied henna to the first 3 inches or so of hair, working from the back towards the front. I then applied Sally’s GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm to the remaining length of my hair (I don’t like to leave the length of my hair “naked” when going under the bonnet dryer).

I always mix 200g of henna so that I have enough for two applications and can freeze half of the batch for my subsequent treatment (no mixing or waiting for dye release! Score!). I wrapped it in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil and placed it in a freezer bag before sticking it in the freezer.

Looks just like bull doo doo, doesn't it?!? Ewww *smh*! LOL!!

It was about 7 pm at this point and I knew, right then, that wouldn’t be rinsing the henna, applying indigo and DCing that night!! It would have been 2 am before I made it in bed! So, I wrapped my hair in plastic wrap, donned a baggie and sat under my bonnet dryer for 4 hours (Yes! I sat on this computer catching up on blogs, comments and FB the whole time!). Then, I hit the sack with my winter cap on top of my baggie.

Saturday morning, I awoke around 8 a.m. (too late!), lollygagged for too long and then scrambled the rest of  the morning to get out of the door by noon for the Sofistafunk & Friends event! I rinsed the henna by tub dunking first, then hopping in the shower and applying loads of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration (HE HH). I probably did the conditioner/rinsing thing two times. I didn’t have a problem rinsing the RT/Dulhan mix, so I was pleased. I hopped out of the shower, mixed some indigo with salt and warmed filtered water and applied that to the roots in the back of my head and at my temples and sides. I only like the red on my grey to be apparent at the top of my head. Well, I didn’t have enough time to let the indigo sit for a full hour, so I got under the bonnet dryer again for about 45 minutes.

Next, I hopped back in the shower to quickly rinse the indigo, using more HE HH. Then, I applied my DC. I started with Darcy’s Botanical Pumpkin Seed conditioner, but ran out after I did one half of my head! I thought I had another one under the sink and was dismayed when I realized I didn’t (now I’ll have to wait for another CurlMart promotion to re-up!). So, I had to run to the fridge to grab my JessiCurl Weekly Deep Treatment (yeah, I keep that one in the fridge for some reason). I applied that to the other half of my head, threw on the baggie again, my Winter hat and shower cap to provide heat while I took my actual shower! I had NO time to sit under the dryer now!

Finally (Wow this post is long! Are you guys still with me?!?!), I applied Kinky Curly Knot Today (KCKT) straight, no chaser! LOL!! I didn’t have time to make my modified Kimmaytube leave-in and I didn’t want to anyway as I wanted a poofier WnG. So, I applied KCKT, finger combed lightly and then used my shower comb to finish the job. If I felt a snag with the comb, I removed it, finger detangled and then tried again with the comb. I prefer not to use a comb at all, but have to when time is short. My hair wasn’t very tangled at all despite not detangling at any step during the wash process. I definitely think the dry detangling and braiding had a lot to do with that. I then raked JessiCurl Confident Coils through my hair. Both the leave-in and styler were applied section by section to four sections (I divide my hair in quadrants). After the curl solution was applied, I put each section into a twist to encourage a uniform curl pattern and clumping of my ends so that I don’t get such a gappy perimeter. Then, I ran out the door (yes, with wet hair!).

My hair was rather stringy looking when I reached the event as it was still wet. But, the ends were dry enough to release the twists and separate them a little so that my hair could finish air drying. It “poofed” nicely once it was completely dry:).

So yeah, that was my wash day! Guess I made up for not having one in over two weeks:)! Later today, I’ll be posting an updated regimen as I’m incorporating some things and plan on trying some new products this month. I’ll also be sharing some pics from the Sofistafunk & Friends event with a recap. So, stay tuned for those!

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So, what did you do with your hair this weekend? Are you tweaking your regimen? And don’t forget, it’s October Update time for all your Grow Out Challengers! Send me those links or e-mail those updates to hairscapades@gmail.com!