I did it, I did it! My new hair routine! Bwahhaha!

[scalawaggirl]

Okay, I am a bit over-excited but, hey, you all know what it's like to find a working routine.

A little background, I've been toying around with oils, henna/cassia, CO, CWC, no-cones, cones, catnip, and scalp massages among other things. It's been somewhat daunting as I'm in the midst of growing my hair back out after having it at waist although not in the best condition. I wasn't oiling or doing any deep conditioning treatments at the time and I was dying chemically. In mid-2006, an acquaintance convinced me to chop it off and I did (duh). Fall of last year is when I decided to get serious about growing.

So, today was my jackpot day and here's what I ended up doing:

-CO w/VO5 Clarifying Conditioner and rinsed very well
-Catnip tea rinse (bagged and left on for 5-10 minutes)
-CO w/VO5 Strawberries & Cream and rinse
-When damp, apply Fox's leave-in and air dry

Usually, to get any type on control over my mane, I have to double layer oil and then, it's a bit too controlled. Ugh. Here's an action shot of my hair now taken w/an auto-timer. It's shiny, managed and I'm one happy LHC camper!

[Nocturnal]

Congrats! It looks great! And your hair colour is so bright!

[Moldilocks]

Yahoo! Beautiful hair

[kwaniesiam]

Congrats, it looks great! What is your natural color if I may ask, that henna sure comes out bright

[scalawaggirl]

Hi, all and thanks!!! Regarding the color, it is nice and bright in person. I drive my BF up a wall talking about my hair so our running joke is, "Hey, is my hair still red"?

Anyway, I started out with chemically-treated hair that I did myself after having highlights put in eons ago. I was using Wella Color Charm from Sally's w/30% developer on roots for about a year. So, I have a lighter canopy than under-canopy and like it for interest. At some point, I may need to address this because there will be changes as my hair grows out w/just henna but I'll do that as the need arises.

For my henna recipe, I followed Nightshade's and added a few other things to it:

80 g BAQ Moroccan Henna (from Henna Sooq)
120 g Cassia
3 T. Allspice
1 T. Ginger
7 T. Honey
Chamomile Tea (enough to get a mousse-like consistency)

I really love this mix because it tends much more toward the golden red (orange-y) coloring, which is what I wanted. Also, I think that the catnip rinses I've been doing (also as week deep treatments) and COs are helping keep things nice and bright.

Not the greatest lighting for the before/after here but it should give you an idea of what I started with in the following pic. It's an interesting growth comparison, as well, since the view is about on par in each. I'm guessing an inch growth but I did a self-trim to round it out recently.

[Pixna]

Purdy!!!!!!!!!

[Johanna64]

Wow,what a beautiful color

[ImperfectBrat]

Congrats !! Isn't a load off your mind to find something that works ?



Lovely hair !

[Coriander]

Sparkly hair! I love it!

Congratulations on finding your routine

[maunaloa]

Fantastic. Your hair looks mahhhvelous...