This past Saturday I finally made time for a long overdue henna day.

Pre-Shampoo Deep Conditioning
On Friday night, I decided to take a leap of faith and do a pre-shampoo deep conditioner treatment with the Aubrey Organics GPB (Glycogen Protein Balancing) Conditioner mixed with Vatika Oil. Though it’s a protein conditioner and I was doing a henna treatment, I suspected that I could violate the cardinal rule to not use protein and henna at the same time for two reasons.

1. I only henna my roots, so I could concentrate the protein conditioner on my length and go lighter on the roots that would get henna.
2. I was doing the protein treatment prior to shampooing, so I would still be following the henna treatment and protein with a moisturizing deep conditioner.

I slept in the treatment overnight and, on Saturday at around 1 pm, I set out all of my henna and indigo supplies and hopped in the shower. I rinsed the AO GPB/Vatika Oil combo and my hair felt strong, sleek and smooth! SCORE!! It wasn’t hard or brittle at all, it just felt good! After rinsing the deep treatment, I placed my hair into 6 loose twists and shampooed with diluted DevaCare No Poo (again, diluting the shampoo with water makes it go on so much easier, more thoroughly and aids in detangling). I rinsed that and then applied Herbal Essence Hello Hydration to thoroughly finger detangle before rinsing and hopping out of the shower. Again, detangling was a total breeze. I can’t tell you how awesome that feels as my hair had started to become a struggle to detangle and I thought that it was due to the added length and wear and tear. What a difference Aubrey Organics makes!!! I am in love (I even begged Wei to let me put it in his hair on Sunday for a pre-poo DC before he hit the shower so that he could see what I was talking about!!! I was just so excited about it. I don’t think he was too impressed though ;). Of course, he didn’t condition after he shampooed either. Men. *lol*).

Henna/Hendigo
Now on to the henna/hendigo treatment. I reeeeeeeaaally didn’t feel like doing a two step treatment,which at the minimum adds another 1 1/2 hours to the process, so I decided to give hendigo another whirl. I applied straight henna (mixed with honey and Sally’s GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm) to the center top roots of my hair. Then I applied what I think was about 2/3 indigo mixed with 1/3 henna to do the sides and back of my hair (again, roots only) in hopes that it would make them a dark brown. Finally, I applied Sally’s GVP MBCB to the untreated length of my hair and sat under my heat cap for a full 4 hours. #FAIL … AGAIN.

Ugh. So, it looks like I have no option if I want dark brown/black hair in some areas. I can’t take the shortcut. I have to do the two-step henna/indigo process *sigh*.

Anywho, though the hendigo was a bust, the length of my hair that had conditioner on it was so smooth and sleek!! The parts with henna had the typical, post henna, dry, hay-like feel. As it seemed the Sally’s GVP MBCB worked wonders on my length, I decided to pull out the jar of the real deal that I picked up many months ago on sale at Ulta!! Although it isn’t formulated as a deep conditioner, it seemed to work great! So, I applied it heavily to my henna treated hair and very lightly to the length. Then, I sat under the heat cap again.

After an hour, I removed the heat cap and allowed my hair to cool for about 10 minutes. Then, I pulled out my other new Aubrey’s acquisition, the Green Tea Cream Rinse. This is a different looking conditioning product. It has a light, minty green color and smells like mint green tea. The consistency is like Pepto Bismol, which was a surprise. I guess it is because the first ingredient is “coconut fatty acid cream base?”

What they say:

Want shiny, healthy-looking hair in a hurry? Fast-acting cream rinse infuses vital nutrients and rinses clean to help hair dry quickly for easy styling. Detangles on contact and controls flyaways to leave lengths silky and full and curls softly defined.

I diluted it with filtered water in a dye applicator bottle and applied it directly over the DC, then rinsed with cold water. Again, smooth, sleek, silky hair!!

Styling
Finally, I hopped out of the shower one last time and proceeded to gently and easily finger detangle and set my hair in 13 plump twists … yes, you read that right. THIRTEEN PLUMP twists! When does that happen on my fine hair?? I used AO Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner as my leave-in and sealed the ends with a JBCO/EVOO mix.

Wei and I then went out to dinner and those jokers had the nerve to be dry by the time we got home a couple of hours later. AGAIN, another “never” event for my hair!! The hits just kept coming!!

 Since my twists were dry, I decided to release them and found a very defined, but soft and silky twist-out!

Could have used some more fluffing, but it worked. I can’t wait until I fully transition out my thinner ends!

And that’s it!! Aubrey Organics is a KEEPER!! My PJ ways may be over y’all! I’ll probably still try other things to give reviews, but I really think that the products in this line are going to be my staples/holy grails!! I mean, have you seen Jasmine and Zhara’s hair?!?! The proof is in the pudding!! I ordered one other product that I’ve yet to try, the Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo. I didn’t want to strip my hair too much as I was doing a henna treatment. So, I didn’t use it this wash day. But, I want to try it this upcoming Friday in order to get nicely clean hair for my first Curlformers attempt!! We’ll see!! I don’t know if I should be experimenting with a Meet-Up on the line! LOL!!

Oh, and lastly, I put my dryer together on Sunday! It was very easy to assemble. Test drive pending.

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINES!! WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL MONDAY!