Friday, August 8, 2008

Nighttime treatments


Although I have no head for science, I really do wish I were a scientist. Then maybe I could tackle the perplexing question: Why does everyone's hair react differently to products and treatments?

I have 3a hair. It's thin but there's a decent amount of it, so people often think I have thick hair. But it gets weighed down easily so I do have to watch how much oil I put in my hair.

Or so I thought!

The shea butter experiment continues to yield terrific results. And this surprises me because most of the shea butter proponents at naturallycurly.com have thicker, curlier, coarser hair than I. But then, maybe I am just using the right amount for my hair.... When I scrunch a dime-size amount of this stuff into my hair at night, I have great curls the next day. I don't even co-wash it out -- I just condition my hair like normal.

I used to sleep in Too Shea once a week or once every two weeks, but I haven't done that in at least a month. The shea butter treatment seems to do the job just as well, and I don't have to rinse it out before taking my crack-of-dawn daily walk, like I would have to do with conditioner.

I have also started experimenting with oils. I found this fabulous oil sampler at Oils by Nature and got Avocado, Coconut, Rice Bran, Sweet Almond Oil, and Apricot Kernel Oil. I haven't tried the almond or apricot yet, but I am very happy with the avocado and coconut. The rice bran, I'm still not sure about. Again, the amount is key. For me, coating my hands and scrunching it in seems to be the way to go. The avocado oil in particular left my hair soft and curly, and gave me great curls the morning after.

I just find it very interesting that any of this works for me, because my first experience with oil was with Jessicurl's Oil Blend. Now, that has coconut, jojoba, and avocado -- so you'd *think* I'd like it! But no matter how I used that stuff, my hair looked awful: flat, frizzy, not curly. I am now inclined to believe that my hair doesn't care for jojoba oil.

Another nighttime treatment that I really like is plain ol' olive oil!

It's fun to experiment with all of this. Have you got oils or nighttime treatments that work really well for you? I'd love to hear about them.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I was wondering how you use oils in your hair. Do you coat your whole head in it and cover it up, or just put some on the ends, etc?
Thanks!

Sage Vivant said...

Hi, psychic! I use about a dime or nickel-size worth of oil (coconut or avocado). I spread it between my palms and then run my hands through the bottom half of my hair. So, I do cover my ends but also a little more. I keep it away from my roots.

After this, my hair looks a tiny bit greasy but it's not bad at all. If I had to, I could go out with it looking like it does after I apply the oil.

I then put it up in a ponytail (kind of a pineapple, I guess, although my hair is a couple of inches too short for a truly successful pineapple, I think) and go to bed. In the morning, I just condition or co-wash and it all comes out with no problem whatsoever.