My Current Routine In Summary.

I've been asked by a reader to summarize my current hair routine and treatment program in one post. So of course, I'm going to do that. Now, I know how drastically different every head of hair is, even people with hair of my own hair type, but I'll do the summary of my regimen for the record. I'll be making a page with this summary for ease of access.

Washing: Every 2 or 3 days (I try to stretch it to 3): I wash my hair using the CO method. I am currently using cone-free conditioner, usually the inexpensive Suave Naturals.

I then rinse with a mild apple cider vinegar rinse. I use about 5 or 6 tablespoons of vinegar to 2 litres, or approximately 8 cups of water. I use that as a final rinse right before getting out of the shower.

I leave the towel on my hair for no more than 10 minutes and then I add a pea-sized amount of conditioner to my length as a leave-in. I'm currently using Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit and Sugar Beet conditioner.

I do not comb or brush my hair when it is wet or damp, with the exception of my bangs, which are short. I let my hair air dry and then I begin to finger comb it as it dries. Only after my hair is dry will I comb it with a horn comb.

Nightly: I put my hair in a bun on the top of my head after a short session with a boar bristle brush. I secure it with a scrunchie or a clip.

Oiling: I use a total of 6 drops of jojoba oil to my hair from the ears down when my hair is almost dry. I put 2 drops in my hands, rub them together and smooth the hair from one side of the head between my hands. I repeat with the other side and then repeat with the back.

I use the same amount of oil again right before bed, and lightly brush it through with a boar bristle brush. I do that each night until the next wash.

Deep Oiling: I like to do a deep oil treatment once every 2 weeks or so. I soak my hair in either extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil for at least an hour, sometime for several hours. About an hour before I wash, I put conditioner on my dry, oiled hair, bun it up, and leave it until I wash. This ensures that the excess oil comes out. Because oil and water don't mix, it's best to add the conditioner first, rather than wetting the hair and trying to shampoo it out.

Protein Treatment: About once a month I do a protein treatment. I like Joico K-Pak. I like to leave it on my hair for an hour before COing.

Deep moisture treatment: I also do this every two weeks or so. I use one part honey (I microwave it for about 30 seconds so that it doesn't lighten my hair) to 2, 3 or 4 parts of conditioner, depending on how I make it that day. I put that in my dry hair (sometimes I dampen it lightly with spray bottle of distilled water), and completely saturate my hair with it from root to tip. I cover it with a plastic grocery bag and then cover that with a towel. I leave it in for at least an hour. When I get into the shower, I add some water to my scalp, work it in well, and treat the mixture as a CO. I rinse it out as I would a usual CO.

Occasional treatments: When my ends feel crunchy or velcro-like, or if my hair is getting very dull, I will clarify my hair. The shampoo I use for that is Herbal Essences Drama Clean. I always moisturize my hair very well after clarifying.

Sometimes I do a coconut milk soak. I soak my hair in full fat coconut milk, cover it with a plastic bag, and cover that with a towel. I use CO to remove it.

Once in a while, I do a mayonnaise treatment. This would be in the place of a deep oiling, and has the added benefit of protein as well as being a very good pH for the hair and scalp. I use full fat mayonnaise and I wash it out with conditioner only.

Colouring my hair: My hair is dyed, and I touch up my roots only every 4 to 6 weeks. I always coat my hair in coconut oil overnight or for at least two hours before the touch-up, in order to help prevent peroxide damage.

I think that's pretty much it. It sounds like a lot when all written out, but really, it's not a lot in terms of actual time spent or dollars spent.


Well, we had quite a storm last night, and it brought on a major migraine. It will be early to bed for me, as I try to banish this latest bout, which is a real blaster.

I am happy to say that despite this migraine, my spirits are much better in general today than they had been for a couple of weeks.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.
xo

Doing a Deep Oiling

After doing my root touch-up on the weekend, my hair felt like it needed a good oiling. So last night I slathered my hair from the nape down, put it up on a bun on the top of my head and slept that way. I added oil to the rest of my hair this morning, and about 2 hours ago, I put conditioner all over my hair.

Once I finish writing this, I'll rinse it out, do a CO and hopefully have nice softer hair. It really wasn't terribly dry or brittle feeling anyway, but it just felt like time for a good oiling.

I pretty much knew that I wouldn't be going out today at all, so I was okay with having all of this oil on my head for the day. If something came up, I could have always washed it sooner anyway.

I still didn't get a good enough sleep last night, so I still feel as though I'm walking on a tightrope today, somewhere between sanity and going off the deep end. I know it will get better though. These things always do.

Thank you everyone, for the comments left yesterday. They really meant a lot. Each and every one made me feel more hopeful that this phase will pass.

Once again, I'm looking at the clock and ciphering just how much more time I have to put in before I go to bed. I'm going to try to hold out until 9:00. Chances are better that I'll sleep through the night that way, rather than following through with the urge I have to go and lie down right now.

It's probably a good thing that I have a headful of oil and conditioner, because there's no way I could sleep like this way anyway, and maybe the shower will perk me up a little.

I have a lot of hair-related issues that I'm just dying to discuss, but it just won't flow out right now.

Again, I thank all of you for standing by me during this time of minor difficulty. It's really hard to write anything at all right now, but nonetheless I'm writing something, and not giving up just because I'm down. Quality blog entries? Not really, but at least I'm showing up.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.
xo

It's One Of Those Days

I just can't seem to do a thing with my hair today other than put it up in a very simple bun. I did a deep oiling yesterday with EVOO, and my hair dried nicely, but I think it didn't need the additional drops of oil that I later put in my hair without thinking about it. 

I was on auto-pilot I guess, since I usually oil my hair every day. After a deep oiling though, I generally don't add any more oil until the next wash.

Even though I'm getting to know my hair much better than I ever did, I still slip up sometimes. I guess we all do from time to time.

It's been over a week, but I still can't get over the fact that my hair is looking long, even at the front. I was just looking at a front photo of myself taken in January, and the difference is astounding. It's not a great photo, but once I take a new photo of myself from the front, I will post it anyway. 

Today has not been the day to take a face photo though. I have a migraine, acid reflux, and I woke up in the wee hours of the morning once again, after going to bed last night a little later than usual. I think I'd rather have a bit of rest and feel a little more healthy before having another photo taken.

Right now, I'm looking at the clock and wishing it was a little closer to bedtime. I could likely fall asleep right now, but then I'd jeopardize my night's sleep, methinks.

Anyway, I know that I'm usually Chatty McYapstick, but for today, that's about it.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.

xo

When You Over-Oil Your Hair

And you will, if you are new to oiling your hair, or even if you know better and just have a mishap. Just about everyone does at one time or another. I've mentioned before that I use about 6 drops of jojoba oil on my hair each day, but it took some experimenting with amounts and different oils before I found the right every day oil for me, and the optimal amount for me to use.

In the early stages though, I would often apply an oil and it would simply make my hair look oily.  Not about to go and wash my hair right away, I quickly learned that the best thing to do was to brush my hair with a BBB and then bun it or braid it. The oiliness wouldn't be so obvious and sometimes the next day the oil would have absorbed enough that it didn't look quite as oily anymore.

However, sometimes one can over-oil to the point that it's hard to wash out. So many times I've read on LHC that people over-oil and find that their hair still feels greasy after two or three washes.

And yet many of us, including myself, often deep oil before a wash, and have nice, soft hair without apparent greasiness. How do we do it?

Well, the secret is conditioner.

While it sounds counter-intuitive, conditioner actually removes excess oil much more easily and of course much more gently than shampoo.

I don't know the science behind it, but I do know that what we perceive as being the greasier substance (conditioner) removes excess oil very effectively.

I can saturate my hair with coconut oil or EVOO and wash it out with conditioner only.

Here are the most effective ways that I've found to wash after over-oiling or deep oiling. Even if you use shampoo, these tips will be helpful, I think.

1. Coat the length of your hair with an inexpensive conditioner, such as VO5 or Suave Naturals.
2. Leave that conditioner in your hair for 30-60 minutes if possible. I like to bun my conditioned hair and clip it up out of the way until it's shower time.
3. When it's time to wash, make sure that your hair and scalp are thoroughly saturated with water.
4. If you are a shampoo user, add another layer of conditioner to your hair from the nape down and try to concentrate the shampoo on the scalp only.
5. Rinse well.
6. Add your usual final conditioner, and leave it on as long as you usually would.
7. Rinse well.

You should find that your hair is soft and smooth, without any excess oil that will carry over until the next wash.

I hope that's helpful. I know that when I initially had some over-oiling experiences, I used to use shampoo to do most of the oil removal, and it just didn't work. If my hair was not still greasy, I can assure you, it would be extremely limp.

Oh my goodness, we've been blessed with yet another beautiful summery day. I can't remember a weekend that's been quite so lovely. Is there anything more beautiful than a warm, but not hot autumn day when the sun is shining and there's not a cloud in the sky?

I had a wonderful experience today. My best friend from university, whom I count as one of my few true lifelong friends celebrated a birthday a few days ago. She has been living in England for 25 years, and I've only seen her 3 times since that move. 

One was when I went to England to stay with her for two weeks--a wonderful experience--and the other times have been when she has come back here to visit. We hadn't talked for a long time, and we are both terrible at letter writing, although I admit, she is better than I.

In any case, I had lost her phone number, but as providence would have it, I found it just in time to phone her today, just a couple of days late for her birthday.

We haven't spoken on the phone in 10 years, but the minute we heard one another's voices, we shrieked and giggled just as we did 31 years ago when we first met. We spoke at length, catching up on each other's lives, and having a few reminiscences, even recalling the day that we became real friends all those years ago.

It was so much fun, and honestly, I would have thought that we had just spoken to one another yesterday. We just picked up where we last left off. I found out that she has a Facebook account (I had searched there for her in the past to no avail), so we'll be able to keep in touch more frequently and easily in future. 

So today, I am feeling doubly blessed.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all, and extra hugs to anyone who is feeling despair today.

xo

Lack of Sleep, PMS and Damaged Hair Don't Mix

Sunday evening already! Where did the weekend go? It was rainy all morning and cloudy and cool all day. Today was the very first time that the house was just a touch chilly when I woke up. Not chilly enough to put on the heat, but chillier than I've been used to.

I slept a bit longer last night--until 4:58 a.m. That was just not enough to make up for my sleep deficit, and I have PMS. Not a good combination.

I did that lovely deep coconut oiling yesterday, with wonderful results. I love that the oil can be washed out with conditioner. It never ceases to amaze me how well conditioner cleans hair. In any case, my hair feels soft and lovely.

However. I have to admit that I've been obsessing again today about my thin, damaged ends. I honestly don't know how bad it looks to any of you, but I can tell you that I can really feel it.

When I pull my hair into a ponytail and slide my hand down, there is not a gradual taper. There is a very abrupt point where the hair palpably gets thinner.

I swear if it weren't for you all who read this, I may have given in to temptation and chopped off enough hair today to get rid of those last few thin inches.

I am so fortunate to be accountable to you who read my words, as well as to my family. It makes giving in to hormonal whims more difficult.

So, crisis has been averted, and I won't chop. But I have to admit to you that I wanted to.

Finding that balance between cutting out damage and still allowing my hair to grow is very difficult at times, and today was particularly hard.

I just have to remember that I cannot expect perfection. No one is perfect and my hair doesn't have to be perfect either.

Thank you all who read my blog. You all help me more than you'll ever know.

I hope that you all had a great weekend, and I wish you a happy week ahead.

Love to all. 'Til tomorrow, my friends.
xo

Barely Coherent

That's me today. I woke up yesterday morning at 3:30 again, and this morning I awoke at 4:30. Let's just say that I'm sleep-deprived, to say the least, and I'm finding it difficult to think in a coherent manner. Oh, and I have PMS like mad.

So, I guess I'll make this entry brief.

The weather has cooled drastically here, and I'm not sad about it. The extreme heat and humidity that we had this summer was getting a little old. I know we'll be in for at least one more hot spell, but for now, I like the more temperate weather.

As for my hair, not much new. I trimmed my bangs a couple of days ago, and today I gave my hair a very deep coconut oil treatment before COing. I do that about once a month, and my hair likes it.

I have an idea for a new hairstyle, but I'm not sure whether or not it will work. My hair is wet right now, as I just finished COing, or I would have tried it today.

If I master the style, I'll post it here as soon as possible. In all my time at LHC, I've never seen it done, but you can bet that if I've thought of it, someone else has, so I'm sure it's been done before. If I can't master it, I'll send out the idea, and maybe one of you will be able to do it.

I noticed today that when I sit in one of my customary positions, the sides of my hair touch the crook of my elbow. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it's been a long time since I felt that sensation. Have I ever mentioned just how much I love those mini-milestones? It helps keep me on track and motivated.

Well, this really was a drive-by entry, but I'm so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. My plan is to sleep until at least 6:30 tomorrow. I hope my plan works.

I really hope all of you are having a wonderful autumn weekend.

'Til tomorrow, my friends. Much love to all.
xo

Another Rainy Sunday

I was hoping to touch up my roots today, (it's been 5 weeks already), but I still have the combination migraine and cluster headache that I woke up with on Sunday. So I haven't even been able to drag myself into the shower as yet today, let alone think about colouring my hair.

The weather this summer has been the absolute worst for a migraineur, and I hate to say it, but this year I really won't be sorry to say goodbye to the summer.

So yes, Lulu, we did get the rain last night, overnight and into today. It was really coming down last evening. I hope that you got the rain in your neck of the woods. I'm about halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls, at the inner elbow of the lake, and where we are positioned geographically, the weather that hits Toronto or Niagara Falls sometimes bypasses us due to lake effect. Not this time though. I hope that you got the rain that the Niagara Region so needs right now.

As far as the coconut oil that I use, I use a very common brand, Spectrum. I found it at a local health food store, but since then I have found it in regular grocery stores as well. Although unrefined coconut oil is the preferred oil by most people, I don't like the coconut odour, so I use refined oil. Clearly it is still effective for me.

I should make it clear though that coconut oil doesn't generally thicken one's hair. In my case, I believe that it has protected my hair against the peroxide damage from hair dye, thus preventing the early breakage that I used to get.

Coconut oil also helps hair, whether coloured or natural, to retain protein. If you don't colour your hair, or use a permanent wave or straightener, it's unlikely that you will suffer any severe protein loss.

A lot of people like to use coconut oil on their ends daily, but it's too rich for everyday use for me. However, different hair types like different oils. Also, many people, including myself, like to use it as a pre-wash deep oiling treatment. I have found that it can make my hair feel softer.

If you have crunchy or velcro ends, remember that usually that's a sign of buildup and the go-to first step to remedy that would be to clarify your hair and then use a deep moisturizing treatment such as a cone-free conditioner mixed with honey.

AutumnLeaves, I agree that it's best to leave well enough alone, but I'm here if the siren call really gets to you.

Thank you again to everyone for your well wishes and kind comments.

'Til tomorrow. Much love to all.

Mayonnaise Treatment For Hair

Chances are that you've heard about using mayonnaise as a deep treatment for your hair.  Chances are that you've never tried it. I remember first reading about mayonnaise treatments in my teens, and I did try it back then on my perm-damaged hair. I liked the results then, but I forgot about it along the way until just a few years ago.

A mayonnaise treatment is an excellent choice for when your hair is feeling dry or damaged. It has a perfect balance of moisture, protein, oil and pH level. Some people think it works like a miracle. I wouldn't go that far, but it is a great go-to treatment for when your hair is stressed for any reason. It's also very easy to use, as it's pre-mixed and you don't have to have any preparation time.

I do suggest this treatment for when you're home alone, unless you share a home with people who don't mind your minor eccentricities.

The next time you see Hellman's (or Best Brands) Mayonnaise on sale at your grocery store, pick up a jar. Consider marking the label with an indelible pen, so that you remember that this jar is for your hair only. This is purely for sanitary reasons.

The treatment is best done on clean, damp, but not wet, hair. If you use silicone-based products, be sure to clarify first, as I described in this entry.

When your hair is damp, just start slathering on the mayonnaise from the roots to the tips of the hair.I always use more than is probably necessary, but that's okay. Your hair will only absorb so much.

After the mayo is worked through your hair, loosely bun your hair on top of your head and cover with plastic. I like to use plastic grocery store bags that may be hanging around the house, because I can handily tie the bag up with the handles.  Sometimes, I then cover the bag with aluminum foil.  This really helps hold the heat in, and allows for even better absorption.

Cover the whole mess with a towel, and as with the coconut milk soak, it's a good idea to have an extra towel to drape over your shoulders, to catch any drips.  And there will be drips.  This is not pretty.  The results are worth it though.

Try to keep the mayonnaise on your hair for an hour or so.  Then shampoo out with your regular shampoo. If you use conditioner only, you can also use just the conditioner to wash it out.

You may want to shampoo it twice.  Don't panic if your hair still feels oily after the second shampooing. Shampoo does not get oil out of the hair as well as conditioner does. While it sounds counterintuitive, oilier products actually remove oil better than shampoo does.

Make sure that you use a lot of conditioner.  You'll need it to remove the excess mayonnaise.  Work the conditioner into your hair well, and try to leave it on as long as possible.

Rinse for at least three minutes with lukewarm or cool water, and follow if you like with an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse.

That's it!  I suggest keeping a jar of mayonnaise on hand for one of those days that you feel like giving your hair a treat. You will find that your hair is smooth, shiny and healthier feeling for it.

Putting Your Hair To Bed

Unless you sleep like Lily Munster, you likely move around a lot while sleeping, and the friction that your rubbing against your pillow puts a lot of wear and tear on your hair.  There are some steps you can take to prevent this, and no matter how short your hair might be right now, it's not too soon to start protecting your hair at night.  Remember that whatever hair you have now will be one, two or three years old if you're planning on growing it long.  Proper care now will help your hair to be healthier down the road.


Pillowcases can be hard on hair.  To minimize friction, I suggest silk pillowcases, satin silk pillowcases or if your budget does not allow, then a regular satin pillowcase will do just fine.  Satin pillowcases are not terribly expensive and are much worth the price.


Also, bedtime is a very good time to apply oil to your hair.  What I like to do is to put a few drops of jojoba oil on my detangled hair from the ears down.  Then I brush with a boar bristle brush to evenly distribute the oil.  Also, sometimes I like to do a deep oiling.  That entails using a large amount of the oil of your choice.  I usually use extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or coconut oil for deep oil soaks. 


Some people use satin sleep caps.  Personally, I move around to much to ever be able to keep a sleep cap on, and frankly I don't think I'd feel comfortable wearing one, but for those of you who have a lot of damage, or whose hair is fragile, it's a good idea.


How you wear your hair to bed can also help to reduce wear.  When my hair is too short to bun, I like to use double braids or a single braid as a bedtime hairstyle.

At the length my hair is now, my favourite bedtime 'do is a bun placed right on top of my head and held with a satin scrunchie.  This style is extremely comfortable, as well as being functional and secure. Also, when I take my hair out of the bun in the morning, I have a bit of extra volume, and also, I have no tangles!


So think about protecting your hair at nigh time.  It takes almost no time at all, but the rewards can be great.

Here is a photo of my hair deeply oiled and in my sleep bun.