Mixtress in da house

This will be a rambling post. Bursting at the seams with loads I’ve been up to since my last post.

Hair update

I did a protective style. Those who follow me on Instagram would have seen the pictures. Lovely jumbo braids. I carried them for 4 weeks. I was impressed. One that I didn’t get bored with the style after 2 weeks. Secondly that it didn’t frizz too quickly. By the 4th week, it had frizzed proper, so I was glad to take out the braids.  Did I miss my hair?, not really. I moisturized and sealed every day. the only difference with my normal regimen was I did not wash my hair throughout the period the braids were in. I didn’t have any itch issues.

What did I moisturize with? I had 3 types of spritzes.

1. Aloe vera juice (whole leave, home made)

2. Plain water with coconut oil, tea tree e/o and peppermint e/o

3. Kimmaytube leave in conditioner. (aloe vera juice, leave in conditioner, castor oil and jojoba oil)

Everyday, I spritzed with any of the spritzes I fancied, then sealed with an oil or homemade hair grease sometimes. There were times I didn’t need to seal with an oil. I definitely did a Keep It Simple Sister. (KISS)  J J

The braids have been out for about 3 weeks now. For the first week, I did two strand twists…..all by myself. 3 hours of standing in front of the mirror. I was impressed by the outcome. I liked it enough to take to work for a whole week. I didn’t want to lose another 3 hours of my time doing twists the following weekend. What did I do, went to the salon, that’s what I did. I enjoyed my vist. My hair was done in under 30 minutes. Two strand twists. Not different from what I did myself, but in only a fraction of the time. Wondered why I haven’t been going to the salon all this while. The cost of my hair at the salon and the home service I have been doing is not much different. Salon visits will spare me all the unnecessary bantering and socializing, which frankly I don’t feel up to most of the time. I just want my hair done in piece without me having to make conversation. Anyone out there like me? give me a shout out!!

That’s what my hair has been up to in the last 7 weeks.



Mixtress_ing update

I have honed my DIY_ing  a.k.a mixtress_ing skills. My new motto is, “if I can make it, I won’t buy it”

Hair Grease

While braiding, the braider asked for a hair pomade. Frankly, haven’t used any in ages. All that mineral oil makes my scalp itch. Vaseline is a no-no . told her not to worry. I mixed up a hair grease in less than 15 minutes.

1. Beeswax

2. Cocoa butter

3. Shea butter

4. Coconut oil

5. Olive oil

That was all. Using double boiler method, I got all the ingredients melted and mixed. Poured into a container and in less than 5 minutes, it had solidified. Hair grease ready!

Antiperspirant

After I took out the braids, I felt I didn’t need the grease anymore. Feel it will be too heavy on my hair, being fine and all.  What did I do?, I added some bentonite and rhassoul clay, a little more beeswax ( I think too much) and got a deodorant/antiperspirant. Easy peezy  right?

I had to ditch the antiperspirant though. The beeswax I used must have been too much, I didn’t like the sticky under arms.  Back to using Thai Crystal antiperspirant. Store bought. Will try the clay antiperspirant recipe another time.

Cold press coconut oil

This is by far the most exciting thing I have made to date. I didn’t believe how easy it was to make cold pressed coconut oil. I used two coconuts. Grated and extracted the milk. All I did was to leave the milk to settle. The oil was at the top of the bucket. After about 12 hours, it looked more like curd.  Scoop out the cream at the top and leave to sit for as long as you want, the oil will float to the top. There you have it, cold pressed coconut oil, no additives, preservatives or what not. Pure, unrefined. I had recently bought a bottle of coconut oil, now I’m looking for who would like to have it. I prefer the one I made. I have used on both body and hair. Definitely one item I won’t be buying again!.



Almond milk

After I made it, I wondered why I had spent money buying it in the first place. Seriously, there’s no need to consume packaged almond milk. I don’t care if its touted as being organic, no preservatives or whatever. It is not worth the money. Earlier I had attempted to make almond mil. The sieves I used were not fine enough, so there was always bits in the milk. Didn’t quite fancy the grainy milk. I bout a whole case (12 cartons) of almond milk from a health store here in Lagos. Yes…. It was okay, but I couldn’t get round all the added sugars and sweeteners. It probably contributed to my weight gain during that period.



When the carton finished, the health store no longer had the milk in stock. They made me get flax milk. Wasn’t bad, but too much added sweeteners. Told myself I would return to attempting homemade almond milk. I changed the sieve to cheese cloth. Hey!, that was the trick. I had flawless milk. Beautiful. No grains, just smooth milk.  I couldn’t get enough of the milk. Cheese cloth started to wear out. And miracle of miracle. At Game (ShopRight, Lekki) in the auto section, I found something called sheep cloth. No idea what its meant for. Maybe cleaning. The texture looked like it was a finely meshed cheese cloth made from soft wooly fabric. It was a roll. It was cheap, less than 2,000Naira. I bought it. That very evening, I made almond milk. Sigh!!! It was pure heaven. Ahhhh!!! The best almond milk to date.



I have an endless supply of sieve, almonds are cheap and readily available. Who says dairy intolerant people can’t enjoy a bowl of cereal without milk, ehn?

One more thing I won’t being buying again.



Aloe Vera Juice

Sometime last year I planted aloe Vera in a flower pot. It grew so well, I had to transplant into another pot. Both pots are huge, with leaves everywhere. I had bought a gallon size aloe Vera juice from trader joes. When that finished I got another bottle.  Why waste all that money when I have the plant staring at me everyday.  Decided to start making my very own aloe Vera juice. I have made two batches now. No regret. What I noticed is the spiny edge should not be included when juicing. The first batch I did, I plucked, washed and juiced up. I got itchy neck and ears when I used the juice. Interestingly, my scalp did not itch.  Second batch, I trimmed away the edges.  The resultant juice was perfect. No itch anywhere.  One more thing I won’t be buying again.



I’m not yet done mixing by any means. I have two recipes, I plan on trying out soonest. Ghee and carrot oil. They are so easy to make. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I make them.



Till then, keep smiling!!



XOXO

Tweak in hair regimen

Hallos, how are you all doing. Hope reaching your goals....hair wise.
I decided to get a little more creative with the regimen i've been using. Guess i'm one of those who get bored doing the same thing over and over.

I totally have stopped using shampoos. Whoever is interested and would like to have the ones i bought last is welcome. Say so in the comments

Usually i wash every two weeks and get someone plait my hair. Usually twists or braids. I'll stop that now. I want to grow my skills in the twist department. Practise makes perfect. The new tweak in the regimen is to wash every week.

Basically, i'll be the only one handling my hair. Hoping to try this for 2 months and see if there'll be a positive change.

After seeing Neffyfrofro's amazeball growth on youtube, i decided, hey, i should take control of handling my own hair.

1.  Prepoo with coconut oil
2.  Deepcondition before washing. As opposed to the other way round.
3.  Wash with a diy black soap + clay + camwood mix
4.  Coat hair in olive oil and lwave for about 5in
5.  Use rinse out conditioner to wash out oil.
6. Close cuticles with aloe vera juice
7.  Seal with shea butter mix.

I used the steps this past weekend. My hair was soft and shiny.
I allowed the hair to completely air dry. Then twist it in the dry state.
Going forward, i'll be twisting/braiding my hair when its completely dry.

Pls note, comb was used only once while hair was still wet and shea butter was on it. It made the combing a breeze.
After the hair got dry, i didn't comb. Used only my fingers and i got a good stretch.

I'm currently wearing a wig. Using it as protective styling.
Between washes, as needed, i'll use LOC method to moisturize. Hair milk + oil mix + curl pudding.

I'll give an update on this tweak after 3 to 4 weeks

Till next time....

hair regimen - mud wash

Hallos everyone. It's been a while. I haven't updated this blog like I should have. Pure laziness if you ask me.  Wish a day could have 40 hours. Sigh! Would be great.

I have developed some form of regimen which I have kept to for some time. I would say it hasn't been such a bad idea to have a routine. I think my hair even knows the regimen. Lol.
Every two weeks, I wash and deep condition. I don't wear my hair loose. It's always in some form of protective style. Braids, twists or cornrows usually.  Routine has been, 1. take off twist/braids/cornrows.
2. Pre poo with oil, any oil.
3. Was hair and scalp with either a us si moist shampoo or Aubrey organics moisturising shampoo.
4. Deep condition. The items are use are a function of what I can lay my hands on the re and there. Some ayurveda powders, mayonnaise, eggs, honey, oil, banana and some ready made deep conditioner .  I steam by wearing a plastic cap and covering over it with a scarf.
5. Rinse off after 1 -6 hours. Depends on j ow much time I have.
6. A tea rinse
7. Moisturise and seal.
8. Voila! Get my hair plaited.

I love experimenting.  For a while I want to replace the shampoo with a mud shampoo. Yep!,  you heard me right. Will use mud to wash my hair. I have bentonite clay and will use it as a base for a d.i.y shampoo.  I'll report back on how it goes.

Yesterday,  I made a mud face wash. It didn't sud or any thing. I however liked the way my face felt afterwards. Clean and not dry. Will use the mud wash to wash my face for some time and see how it goes. On the face, will do a 1 month challenge.

Till next time,

loads of hugs

Corn rows for the week

Hi ya all,
How are you doing?
The past weekend was wash day. The new thing i did was a herbal tea rinse. Woohoo! I'm stepping up my game. ;-).

Had bought nettle, horsetail and neem leaves during the week. Already had rosemary and hibiscus at home. Mixed them all up and steeped in freshly boiled water for an hour. I allowed it to cool before using. Dudn't to burn my scalp cos of some herbal tea.

After shampoing, using a spray bottle i saturated my hair with the rinse. And braided up to dry. By evening it was dry and that was when i used leave in conditioner and sealed with oils. Styled with shea butter.

I had this vision of a beautiful twist out to take to service on sunday. Alas that didn't happen. Ended up with a fro.

By afternoon, i got corn rows.
Hoping i'll carry the style for a week and a half and have a braid out for the remaing half of the week.

Wish me luck.

Micro twists anyone?

Hello all,
 How're you doing, thanks for stopping by. This post is an update on what's been happening to my hair since my last post.

I took the yarn locs off. And boy! I nearly fainted. I shed a lot of hair. In my opinion it was like half of the hair on my head. My stylist begged to differ in her opinion. She said the shed hair was normal. Well i didn't buy that.
I moisturized and sealed regularly while in yarn. Maybe i over moisturized?  (Shrug), dunno. Its just hair anyway,  so i moved on.

I now deep condition before washing. That works for and reduces the total time i spend on wash day. I found that adding egg and mayonaise to the regime has been a game changer. I no longet suffer from dry brittle hair hours after moisturising. I now go 2 to 3 days before i need to re-moisturize.
 I'm still testing my new regimen. As soon as i am confident its working and the results are fairly consistent, i'll make a post about it.

 As soon as i took of the yarn locs, i had 2 strand twists put in
 Alas!, i am yet to perfect twists, got someone to do them.
 A week and half on, i still have them on. They are all frizzy and the front loks like no twists are in. I still love the hair.
 There's the freedom that comes with carrying your own hair as it is. No wigs or weave. The hair gets to have fresh air and sunlight for a change.

 I hope to carry my hair sans wigs, weaves et al for a couple of months. This will  allow me opportunity to nourish it and give it a chance to reach out and grow.
 Hey! Hear me talking like my hair is a person. Oh well, you get the point.

 Till next time,
Loads of love

freshly done, check out the definition

still got somedefinition

frizzzzzzz

frizz or not, still like it