My washday for the past few weeks has been mostly following the regimen detailed in this post. As I said in my last post, I now wash in braids, which reduces the tangling I get during washing that negates my detangling during my oil pre-poo. Last week I clarified instead of using my no-sulphate Naked Shampoo because I wanted fresh and clean hair for my style of the week.

A lot of people at the moment seemed to have picked up on bantu knot-outs at the same time/are blogging about it. They're a beautiful way to style your hair and once you get the right method (e.g. level of hair dampness) down, are really easy. Why am I saying no to bantu knots? Because I had to cut two knots out of my hair during my mid-week hairstyle refresh and I also noticed that my hair was beginning to lock together in sections of twisted hair. That's a major no. I noticed that my hair felt well moisturised for the full week I had the hairstyle but I did have to redo the knots after 3 or so days so they'd be fresh for a birthday I had to go to. That's when I first realised what a pain they'd be to detangle. Also, after washing, I noticed broken hair after broken hair. That's likely half due to not moisturising/sealing every day and the manipulation required to detangle.

Maybe I haven't quite got it down and should wait until my ends are of a better quality to do this style again. Or perhaps I should just save it for special occasions and only have it for a couple of days. Either way, I'm sticking to low manipulation straight airdried styles for now.

This week, I used an apple cider vinegar rinse as my final rinse (15ml ACV to 1 mug warm water) after cold water. From what I've read, it restores the pH of your hair and allows the cuticle to shut more tightly, holding moisture in. As I have both relaxed and coloured hair, that sounded like something I should explore! After the rinse, I definitely noticed a certain fluffy softness to the top parts of my hair that I've never experienced before. However, my ends are in pretty bad condition from the knot-out and so I don't feel as though I'll see the full benefits for a few weeks. Thinking I might do a mid-week deep condition to put some oomph back into my ends.

'Til next time,
Lam