I decided to do my second ever treatment with Zizyphus Spina Christi (ZSC) this weekend. You see, my curls were looking far more like waves and even those were pretty lackluster.

So, with my Terressentials order not yet arrived, I figured I’d dig up the remaining 50g of ZSC I had stashed in the cabinet to see if it would rejuvenate some of my volume and curls in the interim. It really worked the last time that I used it (see here and here), so I figured, “What the heck?”

Z-Mix:
Last time, I mixed about 50g of ZSC with a cup of water and it was far too much. So, this time, I started with 25g and 1/2 a cup of water. ZSC doesn’t mix as quickly as henna; the powder kind of beads as the water is introduced and stirred into it. But then, when it does begin to absorb the water, it more than doubles in volume and becomes thick, like the consistency of melted marshmallows! It also foams, due to the saponin I learned this weekend. However, despite the increase in volume, I didn’t think that I had enough to coat my hair, so I added another 1/2 cup of water. The instructions indicate to mix it to the consistency of yogurt, my yogurt was a little watery;).

I left it to sit for a few hours (the online instructions indicate about 2 hours, but it ended up being longer than that by the time I got around to applying it).

Z-Application:
So, I finally got around to applying the ZSC late Saturday afternoon. I had finger detangled my hair on Thursday night to put it into twists and wore the twist-out in the second picture to work on Friday. So, I didn’t finger detangle prior to applying the ZSC. I also didn’t feel like pre-pooing this weekend, so I applied the mud to dry and dirty hair. First, I sectioned my hair into four and secured three of the sections out of the way with round-tooth jaw clips. Then, I squished the gloop through my hair section by section. By the time I got around to the last section, I realized I was going to run out of the paste. So, I quickly made a little more and finished coating all of my hair (figured I’d have to live with applying it freshly mixed to the last section).

I felt like I could see my loopy S-curls popping already! I clipped my hair up and covered it with a baggie (you don’t want this mess drying in your hair). Then, I went about my business for an hour or two. Oh yeah, and during that time, I revisited this post on Newly Natural and read in the comments that the Somali call Zizyphus Qasil and use it to cleanse the body as well as the hair. The commenter also indicated that Qasil is mixed with eggs and sesame oil to make a hair treatment that leaves hair soft, shiny and bouncy. You know my PJ senses were tingling … cleansing, protein and moisture?!?! Let me find out. But, I digress …

Z-Rinsing and Conditioning:
This mug is a b@#$ to rinse out!! Ughhh. I mean, I knew it was … I didn’t forget … shoot, that’s why I hadn’t done it again since September. I was flicking twigs and flakes out of my dry hair for three or four days after my last treatment. Anywho, I hopped in the shower and commenced to rinsing with hot water. I continuously ran my hands and fingers down the length, slowly detangling and loosening the hair to allow the water stream to get into all the nooks and crannies. I guess I was at it for about 15 minutes.

Then, I hopped out of the shower and applied my DC, which was Shea Moisture Raw Shea Deep Treatment Masque mixed with about a tablespoon each of honey and EVOO. There were definitely flakes in my hair still. But, I baggied it anyway and threw on my Hair Therapy Heat Wrap for about an hour/hour and a half. It was probably around 10 p.m. by then, so I ended up going to sleep with the DC in my hair (I really want to stop doing that, but it was late and I was so tired again!!).

The next morning, I got the last bit out of my HE HH by adding water to the bottle, shaking it up and pouring it over my DC. Then, I rinsed with warm water, then cool in the kitchen sink using the sprayer. I rinsed for another 5-10 minutes, I guess, to try to get the remainder of the ZSC out of my hair.

I allowed it to air dry to barely damp and finally styled with a modified Kimmaytube leave-in (1 tsp or so of oil instead of 4) and a new styling product that I’ll reveal shortly *evil laughing* … “BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Once my hair was dry (ummm … mostly … it just takes soooo long), I used a little JBCO/EVOO to seal and soften it. And voilà!

I was pleased with the results and these pictures don’t even do the volume justice. It’s big! LOL! Also, although I do see a speck here and there, I don’t look like I have a bad case of dandruff this time. Keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t be pulling an Ally Sheedy making it snow at work tomorrow!! LOL!

Now, although I get good results with ZSC, I don’t have any plans on re-upping just yet. I’m hoping that the Terressentials will be just as effective without the half hour rinse cycle and pesky twigs and grit! Anywho, here is a slideshow with some additional pictures.

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Now, I’ll probably be wearing my hair out today, but hope to put it into twists tonight. We’ll see if I can squeeze that in between putting together posts for Tuesday!

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How do you get your curls popping when they are barely peeping ;)?