My Regimen!

This is probably the hardest post because it will constantly change, adapt and morph into a horrible uncontrollable mess of trial and error and maybe a little crying in the bathroom.

So here is my regimen as it is a work in progress:

Basics:
Pre-Poo
I know Pre-poo sounds like pre-shampooing but it is more like Pre-conditioning before you wash your hair. Basically you deep condition your hair while it is dry for a certain amount of time before you wash it. I pre-poo an hour before on my wash day.
   -Currently using: A mixture of the 3 moisturizing daily leave-in creams, the neutrogena daily deep conditioner, the Africa's best Herbal Oil and Proclaim 7 natural oil.

Shampoo and Condition
    Shampoo and Condition Hair once a week
    -Currently using: Ion Vitalizing Thickening Shampoo/Conditioner or Vo5 Herbal Escapes Balancing Shampoo/Vo5 Moisture Milk Conditioner or this strange concocution of Proclaim Olive Oil Shampoo with Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Jojoba Oil and some other stuff I threw in there and Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner

Deep Condition
    Deep Condition Hair after each wash
    -Currently using: Fructis Deep Conditioning 3 minute masque Sleek N Shine.
   WIP(Work in Progress)-Add a longer deep conditioning process

Co-Wash Aka Conditioner wash
   Some people like to co-wash their hair in between their regular wash day for various reasons. Working out, excessive sweat etc. When they do this process they use a less expensive conditioner and 'wash' the hair with only water and the conditioner. Shampoo has harsh additivties that will strip the essential and natural oils from your hair. I don't co-wash, I will wash my hair mid-week if I feel my hair is dirty or has excessive product build up. I just don't have the time to do deal with 'puffy' hair every twice a week, especially with me trying to avoid heat, if I have flat ironed my hair the last thing I want to do is ruin that! I also wash my hair, with both shampoo and conditioner if I do a mid-week wash.

Flat Iron:
   Flat Iron once a week if necessary. (Heat seems to be to hair like water is to the Wicked Witch of the West! A very bad thing. Without proper care to much heat can lead to damaged hair with split ends) I am attempting to forgo heat treatments unless I am going out somewhere fancy! I am also exploring more alternatives to bone straight hair. I have not used heat on hair in the past 2 weeks and I am currently sporting my first semi-successful flexi rod set!
   -Currently using: Proclaim Glossing Heat Protectant

Intermidiate:
Moisturize
    Use a moisturizing product daily (My hair is dry and so I need to use something daily to maintain moisture)
    -Currently using: Profective Mega Growth Break Free Daily Leave in Strengthener or Fructis Daily Leave-in cream Sleek & Shine or Neturogena Triple Moisture Daily Silk Leave-in cream

Seal
    Use an essential oil to seal the cuticle of the hair shaft after I moisturize (More on the hair cuticle later!)
    -Currently using: A mixture of Africa's Best Ultimate Herbal Oil, Proclaim Natural 7 Oil, Jojoba oil and a touch of castor oil or Coconut oil.

Advance:
Protein Treatments
   Your hair is made up of proteins, while the hair is already dead you maybe able to added strength to your hair with proteins. I just recently discovered this and as a results the ends of my hair are pretty trashed and the only help for them is a snip, snip! (I cry a little inside whenever I think of trimming my hair)
   -Currently using: Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstruct twice a month and after I have rinsed out the relaxer but before I have neutralized. (More on relaxer's later.)
   -Also using: Aphogee 2 step Treatment (This is a very 'hard' protein treatment and should be used sparingly) 1 week before relaxer.

Relax/Perms
   A chemical relaxer is: is a type of lotion or cream which makes hair less curly, and easier to straighten by chemically "relaxing" the natural curls. The active agent is usually a strong alkali although some formulations are based on ammonium thioglycolate instead. The relaxer is applied to the roots of the hair and remains in place for a "cooking" interval, during which it alters the hair's texture by a process of controlled damage to the protein structure. The hair can be significantly weakened by the physical overlap of excessive applications or by a single excessive one, leading to brittleness, breakage, or even widespread alopecia. Sciency enough for you?! I tell you this because a relaxer is a strong chemical that you apply to your hair that can have long lasting consequences and yet we do this process over and over again with no thought as to how it will affect you. Based on the sevority of this act I will save the entirety of this process for a later post please see(Relax the new growth away)
   -Currently using: ProFective Super Relaxer (Trying to stretch my relaxer out to ever 10 weeks instead of 6 to 8 weeks.)

My regimen is a work in process and I am constantly updating, modifying and making it just right for me.
Please see my next blog (This week's Trial)