I've wanted to do this for quite awhile, and as I sit here with my olive oil, honey, egg and coffee deep conditioner I decided it was time.  

At last measure my hair is 33 inches long, with some shorter layers @ 26 inches and some wispy bangs past my chin.  

I wash/condition 2-3 times a week.  I currently use sally's brand placenta and protein shampoo.  I put a small amount in shampoo bottle and mix with water.  I swear I'm never going to get through that bottle.  I use biolage conditioner, which is really heavy and I plan on changing it soon.  

I deep condition about twice a month right now.  I haven't noticed anything from adding coffee yet, but I'm still hoping.  My length is quite blond and my roots are growing in a dark blond/light brown.  

Let's see what else; I use jojoba oil daily on my length, use a plastic wide tooth comb, and brush occasionally w/ a boar bristle brush.  

My goal is classic length, and from there as long as it will go.  :o)

I too am currently using Biolage conditioner and I agree that it is heavy, I feel like I rinse & rinse and can't get it all out.  And that's the "light conditioning".  I got it (paid more than I ever have for shamp/cond!) because my ex-hairdresser used that on my hair and i loved the way it smelled and felt when i left there, but to use it everyday is a different story.  I'm kinda bummed about it.  I usually use Pantene because it's pretty good and affordable, but I want to switch to something less chemical and harsh.  Guess i'll keep on searchin... :-/

When a conditioner seems "too heavy", you could try diluting it before applying to your hair and see if that helps.

Thanks Bikerbraid, I'll have to try that next time and post how it works out.  

Maggie, let me know if you try something you like.  I bought it because my stylist said that it would be a good conditioner to leave under my swim cap.  I think I liked it better when I was using it just for that.  

And just for random, my hair still smells like coffee and I washed again today to get rid of the smell with neutrogena.  Hopefully I won't notice it as much tonight, but I think the coffee treatments will have to end.  

I am really considering dyeing the length of my hair to match my 6-8 inches of dark roots that have grown in.  I hate the idea of causing more damage but at the same time I don't want to spend the next 20 years growing this out.  I've even considered chopping it all off and seeing how wonderfully healthy I could grow a new head of hair but I know that I would regret that and be horribly unhappy.  

Its so depressing to look at pictures of me from just a few years ago because I actually was a blonde.   ???

And I still smell like coffee.  I will never use it again.  

You might try a vinegar rinse to get rid of the smell of coffee.

Consider a level 2 hair color, which does not lighten. This will be less damaging to your hair than a level 3, and since you've previously lightened, should take fairly well.

But if you have the money, I'd suggest getting it done professionally, by someone with experience fixing color problems.

Thanks Bikerbraid, I knew I forgot something at the store.  I've never done a vinegar rinse but have been wanting to try it.  

eKatherine--do you know where I can read more about a level 2 color?  I've never heard of it, and I'm pretty dense about coloring hair.  I will have it done professionally.  If I did it myself I'd end up w/ stripes!

Hi,
If you do your color yourself or have it done and can talk your stylist into listening to you, you might try color with only a 5% developer or 10% max.  (20% is usual strength.)
This will only deposit color and not lift or lighten your hair, will cause much less damage and can be repeated periodically if needed.
You can purchase 10% developer at Sally's and mix it half and half with distilled water to make 5% or even mix one part 10% developer, one part color and one part conditioner, though this is less permanent than without the conditioner.
I'm a licensed cosmetologist since 1987 and when I worked in the salon corrective color was my absolute favorite thing to do.
Hope this helps some

It does Strawberryfine, thank you!

I just remembered that I have a friend who is a stylist near me.  We haven't talked in ages, just checked on each other through mutual friends.  I'll have to see how long hair friendly she is, my hair was much shorter last time I saw her, but I'm sure she'd be willing to work with me for a less damaging treatment.  

I'm in a run-on sentence kind of mood today.   Sorry! :-[

I did a vinegar rinse last week and the coffee smell is finally gone.  Thank goodness!  ;D

I'm in San Francisco for the next week and a half.  Quite a difference from oh so dry Denver.  My partner insisted that I would need the blowdryer, but I really doubt it.  I washed this morning before we left so I should be able to get at least 2 and possibly 4 days before I wash again.  And I can just leave it in a single braid and even if it takes all day and night to dry it won't be a big deal.  

I had really wanted to try rag curls for my birthday which will be next week but I didn't bring any fabric with me.  I may stop at the store and pick some up though.  If I like the rag curls, I'll probably rsvp to my company christmas party and wear my hair in curls.  Assuming I find a dress too.  

My hair is not cooperating! It might be the humidity or just my mood I don't know.  Its getting really greasy, but I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to wash it.  Thank goodness for baseball hats.  

My braided buns look so awful, but it is one of my favorite styles.  I look at other peoples braided bun and it looks so full and textured.  I guess my ends are too thin or something though because I always have the base of the braid/bun sticking out.  

I did my first 5 stranded french braid tonight and it doesn't look terrible!  I'm so freakin' excited.  I had hoped to take braiding classes while I was out here, but since that didn't work out I've just been playing w/ my hair.  Last night I finally figured out the figure 8 bun too and wore my hair like that during the day.  

My hair feels so soft after washing.  After I put in my conditioner, I wrapped my hair in a towel while I finished my shower, then rinsed it out with cooler water.  

Last night I was complaining about my braided buns, but today I took a picture of mine (I put it up like that when I ran down to get breakfast), and it didn't look too bad.  

Can someone tell me how to put up pictures on this site?  

I just put instructions in the Tip for the Week area of the board.  Hope this helps - I'd love to see a picture of your hair!

I'm a bit slow, but I think I finally figured out how to post pictures.   Thanks for the instructions bikerbraid.  I really need to figure out why all my pictures end up so blurry.  

Here's my braided bun--blurry which might be why I like it.  
http://photos.imageevent.com/rainbow4497/valerieshair/small/braided%20bun.bmp.jpg

First attempt at figure a figure 8 bun.
http://photos.imageevent.com/rainbow4497/valerieshair/small/figure%208.bmp.jpg

First 5 strand french braid
http://photos.imageevent.com/rainbow4497/valerieshair/websize/1st%205strandfrench%20braid%20with%20flash.bmp.jpg

Today was a fairly traumatizing hair day for me.  Last night I got a great idea for how to wear my hair today to go to a fancy dinner with my partner for my birthday.  I was going to make 2 single english braids with the 2 sections of hair closest to my forehead with maroon ribbons in the braids.  The back of my hair was in a bun, then the 2 braids would wrap around the bun.  

First I couldn't find the right kind of ribbon and ended up buying christmas ribbon that I had to cut down to small strips which broke when I tried to tie them.  I finally got one in my the braid but when I braided it, you couldn't see the ribbon hardly at all.  So I took out the braid then wrapped the ribbon around the braid.  It took FOREVER!!! And then I had to do the other side which seemed even harder, and didn't look as nice.  I didn't drape the braids right, and instead of framing the bun nicely, they just went back to the bun, and my small braids get so tiny that I didn't get that pretty look that I was going for with wrapping them around.  Then I also wanted a couple of loose strands to hang around my face but I couldn't manage to get them to curl so they just hung there.  I left it in because once I was done I had spent so much time on it I couldn't bear to take it down and start something else.  

Once we finally got to the pier, we had a good time.  Dinner was good, the Wayland gallery is wonderful even if I can't afford anything in it.  I am throwing away the shoes I wore though.  After 3 hours I wanted to die.  

Below are pictures of the hair.  I might keep playing around with the style to see if I can get it right.  A gal at my office wears her hair in braids that come into her bun and it looks so cute.  Her hair is a lot thicker than mine though.  And I want to keep working on braiding w/ ribbons.  I know its lame, but I want to figure out a good crown braid so that I can braid holiday decorations into it.  

http://photos.imageevent.com/rainbow4497/valerieshair/small/IMG_5357.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/rainbow4497/valerieshair/small/IMG_5358.JPG

Your pics look great!  If you have a Michael's craft shop in your area, they regularly have satin ribbon on sale.  I've used their thin fabric ribbon in my braids many times.

wrote on Nov 17^th, 2004 at 11:59am:

Your pics look great!  If you have a Michael's craft shop in your area, they regularly have satin ribbon on sale.  I've used their thin fabric ribbon in my braids many times.

Thanks Bikerbraid.  I'd love to see pictures of your hair braided with ribbons.  I couldn't keep the ribbons straight and it seemed like my hair kind of swallowed them when I braided them with my hair.  I'll have to try again with better ribbon though.  And I've also been wanting to mention that mixing my biolage conditioner with water and has made it much more manageable.  

(oh, and I can log in now.  I couldn't find the 'don't remember your password last night.')

I was almost tempted to get out the blow dryer today.  I thought how nice it would be to wear my hair down and straight, something I haven't done for close to a year.  I didn't do it, and need to wrap my hair up soon in a bun.  Hopefully I let it air dry long enough that when I take it out of the bun it will be smooth with big waves.  

A few weeks ago I noticed I had some dandruff so I washed w/ neutrogena t-gel which usually clears it right up and I won't have any other issues for a few years.  But it seems to be back  :-[, and related or not my scalp seems oilier than it normally does and I just washed this morning.   ???

I'm going to try the various recipes I found on one of the very early posts here starting with just a vigorous scalp massage of warmed olive oil.  Hopefully it will soon be cleared up.

My partner found the Suave daily clarifying conditioner today that I have been looking for and bought it for me.  (He's so sweet to spend time looking for hair stuff for me).  Once the dandruff is gone I'm going to try condition only washing again.  I don't know that it will work for me, I tried it a little over a year ago with not so great results, but I didn't know about vinegar rinses then either.  

And since I'm already completely vain in this journal anyway, I'll add that I made it back to the gym today for the first time in ages.   ;D It felt great and I can't wait to go back tomorrow morning.  A little confusing though, I weighed myself there which is the scale I usually use, and it says I've lost 3.5 pounds.  Not that I'm complaining, I still have 15 to go, I just don't think I've really lost that much.  They probably recently recalibrated them or something like that.  

I did my first CO wash yesterday w/ Suave daily clarifying.  My hair feels good, although it had only been 2 days from my last wash and I can usually go 3-4 days.   I feel like I've washed my hair a ton this week.  I get a lot oilier when I'm at the gym everyday.  

This week I'm going to try deep conditioning my hair at night, sleeping in it, then washing in the morning after the gym.  I can wrap a bandana around my hair at the gym.  Hopefully I'll be able to fit in more conditioning treatments this way.  I'm skipping them more often than I should right now, since I try to time them before a wash and it hasn't been working out.

I'll CO again tomorrow w/ a vinegar rinse.  

Valerie,
I think your pictures of your ribbon braid look great!
It's a nice look for you.  And I think the Christmas braid will be really cute, too.

strawberryfine

Thanks Strawberryfine!  I'm really missing vacation where I had all that time to just practice new braids, but hopefully I'll start working on them again.  I really want to try to work more with ribbons.  

I think I'm a CO convert.  I did my 2nd wash yesterday and my hair is so soft.  My hair over my left ear is a little oilier than the rest of my hair, but not noticeable until I'm really inspecting it. The rest of my hair looks the same as if I had used shampoo, except not so much frizz.  I'll have to scrub a bit more on that left side next time.  I'm amazed at how much conditioner it took, luckily it is soooooo cheap!

Tomorrow I'm going to sport a figure 8 bun for my job interview.  I'm hoping for a professional, but not boring look.  And I really want to keep my eyebrow ring, so everything else has to be very professional.  Its a seasonal position and no one has said anything in the 11 weeks of classes, so we'll see.  

Beautiful hair, Valerie! 8)

I'm so glad you like Suave Daily Clarifying Conditioner. It's a favorite of mine for CO wash.

I did my 3rd co wash yesterday.  I'm really oily on the sides.  I'm going to try a vinegar rinse tomorrow.   Part of it was that I forgot to dilute my biolage conditioner so the length of my hair is really weighted down too.

I've been massaging the conditioner into my scalp while I take a bath, then wrapping my hair in a towel and let the conditioner sit for 10 minutes or so.  Then rinse and rinse and rinse in the shower.  I'm doing a ton of massage when putting the conditioner in and rinsing it out.   There must be an easier way to do this though.  At least I hope there is since my showers used to last 2 minutes and now seem to last forever.  

My dutch braids have gotten very neat which is nice.  I'm trying to spend time working on a varied style every other day or so.  

I'm almost certain that I will dye the length of my hair to match my roots.  I just have to find the time, energy and funds to do it.  Several weeks ago I had this dream that I had almost knee length hair and only the last 5 inches were blonde.  It looked quite good for some reason in my dream, and I thought I wouldn't dye it, but then decided that if I get my hair to knee length I could dye the bottom 5 inches.   I think my hair looks good in a long braid even with the length blond, but on the rare occasions that I wear it down the color difference is really noticeable.  Also, I'm sure I'm just over analyzing, but I think my buns look a little wierd with the color difference.  I'm too lazy to do anything about it soon.  Who knows, by the time I'm ready to do it, I'll probably have changed my mind again.  

I got the job and I'm very excited about it.  I spend this month continuing to take training classes.  Tax season will be horribly busy.  I don't have any good plan for how to run the house while I'll be working so much, but hopefully we'll figure it out pretty quickly.  I'm sure I'll end up in buns and simple braids to save some time.  

Why am I not tired at night?  I'll really regret this in the morning.  

I CO'd yesterday morning w/ a vinegar rinse.  My hair was wonderfully soft, but felt more like the 3rd day after washing, not 6 hours.  By 9 @ night I was definetly oily and so I CO'd again in the tub.  I rinsed in the tub water, then rinsed again with the shower.  This morning my hair feels good.  I hope it lasts.  I don't want to have to wash more often than I was.  I could get to 4 days before looking oily.  Although, if I get back to the gym in the mornings this week, more regular washings might work.  

I want to do a deep conditioning treatment too, but I'm worried about washing it out w/ the CO washing.  I'll have to get some coconut oil to try.

I tried a ribbon braid going over my head last night a couple times that soooooo didn't work out.  By the right side I was pulling half way around my head.  I'll have to try again with a mirror some time.  

I'm going back through the 'veterans journals' to pick up some different techniques.  It will take some time, but really good info out there.  

and it worked.

I'm still adjusting to working 2 jobs, and having to go into my first job an hour earlier and have been sleeping in WAY to late.  Yesterday I got up with only 1/2 hour before I had to leave and my hair was way to greasy to go in public with.  There was no way I had time to do a CO wash.  I really didn't want to call in late, so I decided that I would try and wear a scarf to cover up the oiliness.  I got out a silk and velvet scarf, wrapped it over my hair, then braided the ends of the scarf and my hair into a simple braid.  I tied off the scarf, wrapped these curlers I have in my ends (left the curlers in until I got to work), and ended up with a really cute look that got a ton of compliments.  I wish I had gotten a picture, but I was running too late yesterday morning, and then too tired last night.   I had to 'dress up' a lot for me anyway to really pull the look off, and actually wore makeup which I doubt I've ever done in my 2 1/2 years working there.  

If I do this style again, (which why not?) I will pull back the top part of my hair and secure with a barette, and secure the scarf and ends of my hair at the base of my hair line before making the braid.  

Anyone who thinks they can't pull off a scarf look, try again.  I assure you that I never thought that I could, and if you asked my friends and coworkers they would probably have agreed with me.  

Great pictures of great hair!  Thanks for sharing.

After my class today I had to wait for my ride and stopped into the great clips next door to look for a deep conditioner.   I told the gal that I was looking for a really good deep conditioner w/out cones.  She gave me the blankest look ever.  I should totally know that stylists don't have a clue about long hair care, but still...

I'm putting together a photo album for my parents for christmas.  I'm horrified at some of the things I did with my hair.   Bad nineties!  Long hair suits me so much better.  

I feel like every other wash w/ my CO is working great, and the other ones, not so much.  I also feel like I am going to have to wash a lot more often, possibly every other day which doesn't thrill me.  This last wash was good, I'm not oily on top.  But my hair feels really heavy around about 4-5 inches down, kind of behind my shoulders.  I wonder if when I'm rinsing a lot of the conditioner is going there and then I'm not rinsing that part enough.   I like CO washing better than shampoo still.  Today is my first day after washing and I don't have any of the frizz I used to have.  It was easy to braid and survived a lot of moving around at the dentist and those headphones.  

I haven't had a chance to get to the store to try the deep conditioners that have been recommended to me (but I do plan to soon).

Tonight I mixed about a teaspoon of shea butter and a tablespoon of the biolage conditioner I've been using.  I also did a jojoba oil scalp massage.  I'm going to sleep in this and then wash it out tomorrow.  Can't wait to report on how it goes.  

I started saving my shedded hair in hopes of making my own rat own of these days, although I still have to find the instructions.  I knew my partner was concerned when he asked what on earth this bag of hair was in the bathroom, and since then he keeps asking me if I'm making a hair doll.  To which I reply no, I'm making a rat to make my buns bigger.  He was very curious as to why I was suddenly interested in a larger bum.   And what my hair had to do with it.  

I really need to go through my bathroom and reorganize my hair stuff.  That was definetly something on my wish list.  Currently I have 3 open crate type things that sit under the since since we don't have a cabinet.  The top 2 are for my hair stuff and just never stay neat for very long.  The containers that I was using for hair ties and pins were cute but required 2 hands to open them which isn't a good thing when one is fully involved in a hair style and can barely spare one.  So I need to work on that area and figure something out.  

Also, we have a large deep closet in the bathroom that has a lot of storage room, but organization is difficult, because it is so deep and has shelves up so high.  

I wish that I was going to be working these issues this weekend, but I MUST get my photo album done for my parents, not to mention the pictures going to everyone else.  Now I've decided to do the album instead of the scrap book.  The scanning takes forever.  I still plan on scanning all the photos, but it will take me all weekend just to do that part, not to mention the cropping and the printing and the cutting and the arranging, etc. etc.  So now my idea is to give them the album for christmas.  Then use the scanned photos to start a scrapbook for them and give them a couple pages each holiday.  

My hair felt so good after I washed it today.  I did a long thorough CO wash including the ends to wash out the conditioner from last night.  Then a vinegar rinse and a light conditioner that I rinsed out.  My hair feels so soft, I love it.  And it still looks good, but I can tell that by tomorrow morning I'm going to be oily.  I think I'm going to try and find the kiwi lime VO5 to try for CO wash.  Or maybe look for something for oily hair.  

I'm starting to think that CO washing might not be for me.  I feel like I am having to wash more and more often.  If I was going to the gym it would probably be okay, but since I haven't managed that either...
I really want to try a different conditioner before I give up on it entirely, I just never think about it when I'm at the store.  
And I'm thinking that I might try putting a little shampoo in the conditioner.  I don't know if that would defeat the purpose though.  I just can't stand washing my hair everyday especially in the winter.  

I got such beautiful hair toys this holiday.  I will have absolutely no reason to wear my hair the same way two days in a row.  

I put a dab of shampoo in water to mix into my conditioner for my CO wash and lasted 2 days without getting greasy.  

I'm definetly lasting longer on washing now that I'm mixing some shampoo in it.  I'm sure I'll have to wash by tomorrow morning though and since its supposed to snow, I think I'll wash it tonight and hope that by tomorrow it is mostly dry.  

I'm so tired.  It may be a blessing that I won't have as many hours as I wanted at my 2nd job.  

Yesterday I CO'd, but started with dry hair then forgot to add any shampoo.  I'll probably wash tomorrow, but the results are not bad.

I've finally found a good way to wear my hair at night.  A bun on the top of my head.  I don't think my hair is *that* slick, but nothing will stay on it through the night and although a braid works, I worry that I'm damaging it by rolling over on it constantly.  This way my hair stays on my satin pillowcase and I have almost no tangles in the morning, but great volume and waves.  

how do you secure your bun for the night? and i am wondering if it doesn't give you painful roots.

I just use a hair band w/out metal, wrapped twice around the bun.  If it feels tight I do a bit of a scalp massage to loosen it up a bit.  I haven't had any soreness or headaches.  

I dusted quite a bit last night and this morning and I feel like my braid already looks better.  I hope my hair won't split so much when I finally grow out all of the damaged ends, but I remember always having splits as a kid so I'll probably just have to get used to them.  

This has been a long week for me.  I woke up Monday with the awful cold that is going around, and decided to stay home and try get rid of it right away.  It pretty much worked, I felt so much better Tuesday, although still not 100%, but I made it to both jobs, working 13 hours a day Tues-today.  I even made it to the gym yesterday.  

Today when I came home, I did a scalp massage w/ olive oil, then also massaged some into my length.  Let it sit for 15-20 minutes.  Took a long hot bath with jojoba oil mixed in for my skin and let my hair loose in the tub.  Then took a shower, CO'd my scalp and length, then did the brown sugar scrub Styg and Leia have been talking about.  My skin feels soft, I'm wonderfully relaxed, and I'm sure my hair will feel good tomorrow.  The only thing I'd add would be a couple drops of tea tree oil to my bath for my sinus' maybe.  

Jojoba oil makes a great lip balm too.  

My hair is irritating this week.  Even my buns are wacky.   >:(

I got a compliment on my figure 8 bun today.   ;D  It was so exciting, and the gal's hair is pretty long too, so I told her how to do it.  All I've been doing w/ my hair is english braids or buns, gets boring, but I don't have time for much else.  

I washed w/ straight shampoo for the first time today.  I'm thinking I'll try washing w/ shampoo once a week, and washing hopefully just once w/ conditioner in between.  I really don't have any frizz which is good.  

I decided I wanted to try something new on my hair in these wee hours of the morning that I can't seem to sleep.  I checked out the recipe page, and the only one I had ingredients for was the beer and jojoba conditioner.  So I went ahead and mixed some up--I thought regular beer smelled awful, but warm was even worse.   :-X  I dipped my ends in the bowl, put my shower cap on and massaged it into the roots.  This way the smell didn't bother me so much.  When I rinsed it out, my hair felt sooooo soft.  I CO'd, then did a final rinse w/ ACV to make sure not beer scent would linger.

I started playing around w/ hairstyles today.  I'm not very good at twist braids, but I'll keep trying.  I'm also trying to get some of the techniques from uncommon adornment.  One thing that looks really neat and maybe not too hard is to skip adding hair into the french braid every other time on the outside section.  Then that hair adds to what is hanging down.  I'll keep working on it and post how it goes.  I may ask the inn keeper to have a selection of flowers from my bouquet kept separate to put in my hair.  

Its so funny, but my hair is really what I keep focusing on for this whole ceremony.  Then I remember, oh yeah, I need to tell the folks, or pick out a dress.  

I hope that my family will be excited about the ceremony.  They of course know that we are together and in it for the long term, but I think they need to 'see' this to really realize that we are married.   And I need to tell my grandparents.  My gramma is great, but a bit senile at times and doesn't always understand.

I got the color done today.  The top looks a bit darker than before but its not entirely dry.  I really like it though.  I think I might be a convert to mouse brown.   ;D

I'll do a deep conditioning treatment on Saturday to get more of the softness back.  

My friend was great, she said she would have loved to cut it to my shoulder blades but never would since I like it so much.   She did seem shocked when I told her that I was growing it longer though.

My hair feels dry today so I'm going to do a conditioning treatment tonight instead of waiting.  I can't believe how much easier it is to see split ends with dark hair.  I wish I hadn't lost my new hair cutting scissors.  

oh and I forgot to mention that everyone loved the color at my job.  

My hair was soooo dry.  I didn't have almond oil--we must have tossed it after years without use--so instead I just put a couple tablespoons of olive oil on my hair from the shoulders down.  I could tell even last night that my hair was just soaking it in.  This morning I took my hair out of my bun, and the ends were dry again, but the 'mid section' was a bit oily.  I used my boar bristle brush to distribute the oils to the ends and wrapped my hair in a figure 8 bun.  You can't tell that it is oily when it is up, just a bit when its down.  

Let's see... I love the color, still haven't put pictures up yet though.  But I'm so sad about the damage.  I have so many splits... I never found my hair cutting scissors so I'll have to go buy more this weekend to start trying to get rid of them.  Part of me thinks it is hopeless though.  I find comfort in the fact that I had billions of splits when my hair was collar bone length, and I seem to have the same # w/ hip length hair.  

I also think I'll be going to a salon to get my hair styled for the wedding.  It may have just been a bad week, but if it is more than a bun, I can't seem to get it to look right.  

This weekend I really have to figure out what I'm doing w/ my hair for the wedding.  I have a friend who wants to help me so that will be good, and I think now that my mom is feeling better, I'll ask if she'd be willing to help me with some braiding ideas too.  What I'm thinking right now is that I want to do a classic french or lace braid w/ an off center part that comes around to the sides and into a bun.  I really love the looks on the uncommonadornment site, where when they add hair from the length, but only on every other section.  Gives it a dressier look I think.  Then I'd also like to braid in ribbons, or have some flowers in my hair.  Leave the ends down in big full curls.  I'll take pictures and see how it goes.  

Yesterday I did a lace french classic braid w/ a left side part, and tried the gathering sections from the length every other time.  Not horrible, but I may not be able to get that one down.  

But last night I did an upside down dutch for the first time EVER that looked decent, and I think that I've found a new possibility.  Add a couple rope accent braids, have my shoulder length 'bangs' swept across the front in nice big rolling curls, and the braid, and top section of hair in a high bun.  Pin in some rhinestone bobby pins, and some baby's breath, and well anyway, I think it could be very very nice.  

I'm going over to my mom's this weekend, and also a friends house, to work on 'girling me up.'  The hair styles that I think I want to focus on, and choose one are: a classic french lace braid, leaving the length of my hair down in big curls, an upside down dutch as described above, maybe a classic dutch braid to a bun--(I was looking through my braid book by Karen Ribble, and she has such elegant pictures of her hair in that style, but mine just isn't as thick so I don't think I can pull off the same effect), Styg's 2 rope figure eight, and a style on the loom that was posted, with big loops pinned up, and she had white roses in the loops--my bouquet will have at least one large blue iris, so I was thinking something like that would be pretty nifty.  I did find a very cute antiquey looking butterfly claw clip at 'the icing' last night, that I may go back for.  If I do my hair myself I want to have a couple 'back up' styles if the first choice just doesn't work, and I think that that would look nice just pulling up some hair in the clip and have big loose curls.  More casual than I'm hoping for, but as I keep reminding myself, no stress, no hassle, just fun.  

I finally started calling around to salons yesterday, but shocker, most of them aren't open Sundays.  I found one gal that would have been willing to come in, but she has a hair show in Denver that day.  Probably best this way, save some money anyway.  

I went shopping with my mom last night which was fun.  Bought my bodice, and other under things, some hair stuff, and shoes.  The shoes are so neat, I'll have to remember these for dress shoes.  They look like heels, have the ever so popular pointed toe, but are completely flat, so my toes aren't pushed into the point, I can walk with no problems, and my partner won't be trying to stand on his tip toes to be taller than me.   ;)

So now that my shopping is done, and my hair stuff might actually be coming in place, the last 'issue' is makeup.  I managed to lose all my makeup and good hair cutting scissors.  I was running around all the time with a travel case of everything, since I usually put on makeup for the 2nd job, and the case is MIA.  I'm mostly ticked off about losing my scissors.  I'm going to hopefully replace the makeup with some higher quality stuff than I usually buy, and will suffer through the malls yet again to have their make up people, teach me the 'art' of makeup.  

I'm feeling a bit manic depressive about my hair tonight.  I love it, I hate it and back again.   :-/

So I tried the upside down dutch again.  The braid looked okay, I left out sections for accents braids and then tried to tie off with a bun.  I couldn't really get it to look good from the back.  Maybe my bun was too low, but I don't think I want it on the top of my head exactly.  The back of my head may just be shorter than most peoples.  Hopefully w/ my moms help tomorrow it will come together a bit easier.  

Then I tried some rope braid styles and that went even worse.   ???

But the good news, I'm trying out a 'half' gibson.  I put my hair in a pony tail.  Wrapped the end a bit, then opened a pocket to push the hair into.  I probably couldn't get the whole thing to stay in there without breaking out the bottom, and even if I could, I thought that looked kinda funny with the big shelf protruding from the back of my head.  So I left 6-8 inches or so hanging out, and I'm trying to do a quick curl with them.  As likely as I am to jinx myself by typing this, I have good thoughts about this style.   :D

The half gibson went well.  Will definetly be an option.  I would do smaller curls for the hair that is left out.  

And my hair was OILY yesterday and this morning for the first time since I dyed it.  I slept in an olive oil and honey conditioning treatment Thursday that I rinsed yesterday.  I went to work with my hair damp, in a braided pony tale, so the slicked back look was good and I didn't even realize how oily it still was.  Normally I'm sure this would be a bit irritating, but I was beginning to think that instead of buying a bottle of jojoba I would have to switch to pure olive oil with my hair being so damaged.  I washed today w/ Anais' COW method, adding more shampoo than normal, conditioned w/ Kenra that I got from my MIL and so far my hair feels very good.  I had it pulled back before I remembered I need it down to dry so that I can have people help me with it today.  

I think I have made a descision that my hair will be in the half gibson for the wedding.  Its elegant, easy, and fun.  I'll leave my shoulder length bangs out curled, and have babys breath and curls popping out.  Oh, and I got some glitter hair spray to shine it up a bit.  I guess I can return the rhinestone bobby pins, I can't think of anyway to use them.  

I can't believe its in 2 weeks!   :o  I have to work on the basement tomorrow, but the house will be in good order for the house sitter, then my makeup, and shoes for Sean and I'm DONE!  Well, except for the waxing and nails that will need to be done the week of.  And we'll have 3 days with each other, no critters, work, school or cleaning to preoccupy our time.  Definetly the best part.   ::)

I'm sure Sean will call me wife after the ceremony.  I hate to give up partner for husband though.  As cold as it once sounded, now I think it is the most accurate term and that really everyone should use it.  

I found my travel makeup case with my hair cutting scissors!  YEA!!!

I see a major dusting coming up.   ;D

I did a 1/2 hour dusting this morning while waiting in the car for Sean to get off work.  One of his coworkers ended up walking a dog in front of my van, I'm sure she thought I was nuts.  But I can already tell the difference.  I pulled my braid in front of me and started snipping splits about 6 inches up.  Luckily they didn't seem to be much higher than that, at least not in any great quantity.  But the lower parts, my god, there were so many of them.  I'd bend the braid and just cut the tips off of everything that stuck out, because it all had breaks.  I had to get out of the car 3 times to brush off all the ends.  I still have a lot of dusting to do, but now it is much more typical, where I actually have to look for the splits.  

I've also gotten to a point where I wash about every 5 days, and I think I'll be able to get it to once a week.  Tuesday I'll do a deep conditioner to get ready for wedding hair.   :)

I'm able to go 5 days without washing during the week, but washing Thursday or Friday and my hair is oily by Sunday so I still had to wash this morning.  I must play with my hair a lot more on the weekends.  I slathered my hair in olive oil, wrapped it in a bun, wrapped in a scarf and slept in it, then washed it out this morning, including a brown sugar scrub (and facial exfoliator, how NICE).  I'm amazed at how fast my hair dries.  Its not completely done, there is that shoulder length patch that is damp in the middle, but almost all my hair was dry after an hour.  Seems incredible.  

I am also trying cold water rinses for my conditioner.  Need to ask what other people think of these and if it is even worth the time.  

I left my hair cutting scissors in my van, and on my lunch break I'll keep tackling my splits.  Looks so much better now, I'm not embarrassed to wear my braid down, since at least at this point someone would have to be examining my braid to really see any splits.  

I wore my hair down w/ waves from my braid yesterday and got tons of oohs and aahs from co-workers.  I just love that.  I wore make up today which also caused quite a stir.  ;)

This morning I felt that I couldn't not wear part of my hair down for the wedding.  I mean, whats the point of having all this hair if I don't show it off on a day that is technically all about me???  So I'll have 2 styles to choose from, either the 1/2 gibson which will look good and is easy, or a half up do, with all my hair in big waves.  I'll tie up the top of my hair with either just a hair tie wrapped with a braid, or possibly that butterfly claw clip that I can go back for.  

The wedding was Sunday and was very nice.   ;D  I KNEW that Sean and I would be having our own freak out sessions the day of.  We always do when we have to get dressed up and go anywhere, and I really wanted to look pretty, I mean the photos will haunt me the rest of my life.  But we got through it, mostly kept our freaking out to ourselves, so I spent hours in the bathroom, and Sean spent quite a while online trying desperately to tie his tie, when he finally had to have his Dad do it.  

The night before the wedding I thought of a pretty style that I ended up using.  I wanted to have a 'crown' braid around the front with the length falling down in big curls.  I decided to take a small section from the bottom of my hair, braid it in 2 braids then bring it up and around like a heidi braid.  I also did rag curls the night before, and low and behold, I got IT!!! Unfortunately I put in too many and ended up w/ Shirley temple curls, which I didn't want so I spent hours finger combing them out so that I could do hot rollers.  Oh well, I'll know better for next time.   It took me quite a while to get the braids around my head right.  Pinning them was difficult, and keeping my hair pulled back, while I kept playing with the 2 braids proved challenging at times.  But it ended up looking very nice I think.  I pinned the 2 braids up, and layered them along side each other for a while, but pulled out the holders, and let the curls from each braid hang down.  I put in 4 rhinestone bobby pins along the front, and ended up with my 'tiara.'  

The ceremony was beautiful.  It was based on a celtic handfasting.  The rev. and his wife officiated, and they had 7 ribbons to tie around our hands for different vows.  I'm going to frame the ribbons along with one of the photos.  I just can't believe how well everything turned out.  The weather was perfect, mild and cloudy, the flowers were GORGEOUS, the cake delicious, and the family and friends wonderful.  The innkeeper delivered our photos to us the next day.  It was so much better than we ever expected.  

I'm going to work on photos now, and I'll post some later.  You can definetly tell that the dye is coming out of my hair.  It amazes me that when I dyed virgin dirty blonde hair red, I had red hair until I cut it all out, (and this was supposed to wash out in 6 washes), but I dye bleached hair brown and the color fades.   :(

CONGRATULATIONS!

It sounds like your day went well and you hair style sounds lovely.  I can't wait to see pictures!  ;D

Congratulations Valerie!

Your big day sounds so nice and the 'do, too! We want piccies :)
Congratulations again and much much much happiness to you both  :D

So its been eons since I updated this thing and I really have been wanting to track my hair care routine.  

Its so horribly hot and the AC doesn't work (darn dog ate the plug off again!) so I've been taking cold showers multiple times a day.  I started mixing shea butter and olive oil and putting that in my length when its wet in the shower.  I love how soft my hair has been.  I've also gone without shampoo for almost 2 weeks now.  I alternate with doing brown sugar scrubs and CO washes, although not everytime I get in the shower.  I figure my heads either sweaty, or dripping wet so even if I'm a little oilier than usual no one notices.  I'm hoping I can keep this going.  And not go back to shampoo.  But I can't find the suave daily clarifying conditioner anywhere.  Grrr...

I've also been working on my crown braids.  Getting much much better, but I still can't figure out how to get them looking good from the start.  I end up with this wierd part, and the braid is so tiny at first that it just isn't working yet.  

I've gotten a lot of hair compliments lately.  Everyone is amazed that I braid my own hair, and I will hopefully have willing victims to practice on.   ;)

I washed my hair 2 days ago with honey and baking soda.  Just put a couple tablespoons of honey and dumped a bit of baking soda on top, then mixed water with it and dumped it over my hair.  It felt great while it was in my hair, but when I rinsed it out my hair had no slip and I wasn't very happy.  It dried nicely though and my hair doesn't look oily at all.  

CO washed last time--I'm oily which is disappointing, but I can stretch it another day and then do the baking soda and honey again.  

For work today I put my hair in a ponytail, then curled it around a scarf and made a bun.  The result was a kind of funky knot with hair and scarf, but cute, and I got a lot of compliments on it.  I had perfect curls tonight when I took it down too.   ;D

The thing about CO washing is that if you're wearing your hair up, it really doesn't matter if your oily or not.  My olive oil and shea butter conditioning too.  The length of my hair feels very heavy and slick when I'm playing with it, but it doesn't look greasy at all when its up.  I'll stick with it for now, especially since I'm in the shower multiple times a day from the heat and see how it goes.  If I could really get away from shampoo I would be really happy.

I'm on a braiding kick, which has been fun.  But I still can't get the crown braid which is what I really want to do.  Herringbone braids are gorgeous though and I'm having a lot of fun with them.  They are very simple, but take a lot of upper arm strength since they take so long to finish.  Next time I go out, thats how I'm going to wear my hair.  

I'm thinking of cutting my hair in the V shape.  Fox's signature pic on the loom is so pretty and tempting.  It would speed up how fast I get rid of my damaged ends too, since my hair grows in a bell/V shape, and it seems like I wouldn't really be losing all that much length.  Must think about this awhile...

I bought horsetail supplements, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, and rosewater today.  I spritz my hair with the rose water, then put a bit of the almond oil on.  I smell wonderful!

I bought lots of protein at the store too.  Imitation crab meat, I just don't have it in my to cook meat lately, but this is at least something.  And yogurt and cheese.  If I can get one yogurt, and a serving of meat, along with the cheese I already eat, I hope it will help a bit.  

I'm taking my horsetail every day, but forgot to bring some home with me so will have to skip the weekend.  I really hope it helps.

The CO washing has me oily.  Nothing terrible, but I will probably go back to a shampoo soon.

I created a new hairstyle this evening.  It is a gibson tuck, but with a 'crown braid' coming across my hair.  I'm very happy with it.  

Valerie, I'd love to see a pic of your gibson tuck w/ crown braid.  I love the look of the gibson tuck, I'm still a bit short to achieve it myself.

Thanks Sakina!

When I make a neater one I'll post the picture.  I didn't leave enough hair below the braid to give the tuck a good foundation, but now that I know it can be done...

I've been struggling with this 5 strand dutch braid all morning.  I can do the part on my head just fine, but when I get to the tail, I can't seem to put enough tension on it to keep its shape.   And once I'm down a ways on the tail I have to flip the hair over a shoulder or bend at the waist so that the braid comes in front of my head and neither are working!  >:(  I can't seem to keep my hands going in the same pattern once I move the hair.  

I'm hoping to turn this into another braided tuck since the top did turn out okay.  Not sure how much hair I can stuff inside the braid, but I think I'll find out.   I hope that someday I figure this out.

I'm going to wash with honey and baking soda today, and I think I'll do a vinegar rinse since its been quite a while.  Its been ages since I did anything but CO my hair.  I love the idea of it, it just doesn't work out so good for me.  

When I put the baking soda and honey in my hair, it felt very soft as I massaged it in, but the same as last time, when I rinsed it out it lost all slip.  Luckily the vinegar rinse cleared that right up.  I don't ever notice shine in my hair, but now dry it feels nice and soft.  And with great wave from the french braid I put in at lunch yesterday.  

I accidentally completely over oiled the length of my braid today.  By the end of it I felt like the oil might drip off (though it wasn't quite that bad).  Should be good for my hair though.

I had started to french braid, and decided that I would oil the length.  Once I got to the tail, I had braided a third of the way down before rememebering, and then I guess just being sleepy I decided to drip the oil on the length instead of getting a better hand hold so that I could oil each section.  Oh well, it doesn't look too oily, and I don't like people touching my hair anyway so if they get a bit of gloss, its their own fault.  

Hey - it's good hand lotion too  ;D ...g

Very true Gabi!

Yesterday was the first 'bad hair day' I've had in months.  Not the extra oil on my length, but the braid just looked funky from the front.  I think it was the baking soda and honey wash.  I feel like my hair neither likes shampoo, or CO.  

Today I looked like a greaseball, so I used Anais suggestion of C-COW-C.  I conditioned my length with Suave daily clarifying (since thats what I had), then mixed a bit of shampoo, more of the suave conditioner and water in a bottle and washed my scalp, and down to my shoulders with that.  It felt so wonderfully creamy yet lathered at the same time.  I rinsed all that out, then conditioned with Kenra Platinum for dry hair (from my MIL and seems to work well).  I combed the conditioner to distribute it then let it set until I was done in the shower.   So far so good but I'm still wet so we'll see what happens.

I must clean the shower drain tonight.  Its all plugged again, which is such a PAIN!  I'll have to try some of that shower fresh stuff I saw on here once.  I can pull out the hair at the top of the drain, but I know there is more down there that is causing the majority of the issues.  

Ooooo - you need one of those little wire cages - you can even make on if you can't find a find wired one at the hardware store - just some mesh and duc tape will do it - remove your drain cover if it won't fit over it and ta da  ;D...g

wrote on Aug 11^th, 2005 at 8:39pm:

Ooooo - you need one of those little wire cages - you can even make on if you can't find a find wired one at the hardware store - just some mesh and duc tape will do it - remove your drain cover if it won't fit over it and ta da  ;D...g

My husband loves your idea, and I'm sure will be working on that.  I had a plastic one that fit over the drain cover, but it caught too many other things.   ::)

I LOVE the way my hair feels today.  I will be sticking with this wash method for a good long time.   ;D

(((Valerie))) I'm glad the wash method worked well for you.

Anais

Hiked Hanging Lake today (only 1.2 miles, but over 1000 foot incline).  My scalp was greasy, but not enough to care about and I left my hair my hair in a bun with a bandana over it.  The lake was beautiful--completely worth the very strenuous hike up.  

Tomorrow morning we leave for our mini-backpacking trip.  My goal is to get 2 classic french braids, then tuck them up inside the alternate braid as much as possible, and wrap with a thin leather strip to keep the braids fully intact until we come home on Tuesday.  Hopefully we'll finish packing soon so that we can get some sleep before I have to fix my hair.  

Wore my hair down today to go out with hubby's coworkers.  It is so fun to wear down.   ;D

My ends have felt a bit crunchy lately.  I think it might be oil, but I'm going to have to keep better track to figure out if that is what it is causing it.  I'm not ready to trim off 3 inches yet, but I"ll admit the thought has crossed my mind.  

Crunchy ends.  How I hate them!  Have you tried a vinegar rinse to clarify the ends?  I've found that works well when my damaged ends get crunchy.

Don't give up on the crunchy ends just yet!  I had a trim a month ago, and I already have an inch of crunchiness.  Not split, but definitely dry.  I just started doing clarifying rinses and they really seem to help.   Especially if I follow it with a conditioner.

Cynde

wrote on Sep 1^st, 2005 at 1:42am:

Crunchy ends.  How I hate them!  Have you tried a vinegar rinse to clarify the ends?  I've found that works well when my damaged ends get crunchy.

Come to think of it, I haven't done a vinegar rinse in quite a while.  I'll have to add that to the weekend wash.  Thanks Bikerbraid!

Khrome--I absolutely love your new icon.  Its so fun!

Used a pea sized bit of shea butter in my ends and everything is nice and soft tonight.  

I ordered the set of braiding books/dvd's from Karen Ribble's site.  I've ordered from her before, but lent out the dvd and never saw it again.  I'm really looking forward to the dvd on braiding your own hair.  

Its time for my wash tonight, and I'll add in a vinegar rinse for good measure.  Its hubby's b-day Monday, and I want cute hair for the family bbq tomorrow and Tori concert on Monday night.  I'm thinking 2 bee butt bun curls on the top of my hair with sock curls on the lower sections, but might just do 4 sock curls, haven't really decided.  I've never tried bee butt bun curls and the day of the event is usually not the best time to start.

I'm so excited about my growth this month.   ;D

I c-cow-c tonight, starting with Suave Aloe and vitamin E.  I did a brown sugar scalp massage during the first c.  Then cow with suave daily clarifying and my Sally's protein/placenta shampoo, did a vinegar and honey rinse and finished up with a c of kenra platinum moisturizer.  My hairs still wet but feels wonderful so far.  I'm waiting for it to dry mostly so that I can work on curls.  

I also exfoliated my face with brown sugar and white sugar for the rest of me.  After shaving my legs I rubbed jojoba oil into them, and will probably add lotion before I go to bed.  I'm so over being itchy.  

Once my hair was dry I wrapped it in 4 sock curls and went to sleep.  I didn't want to take them out yet this morning, so I gathered them with tights into a giant bun on the back of my head and wrapped with a scarf.  I think its really cute.  And my curls should be perfect when I take them out this afternoon.  

My curls so did not work out.  I had 4 stringy twisted curls, that turned into a frizzy nightmare.  My ends feel wonderfully soft though, and I finger combed it all out and went in a figure 8 bun.  

wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 1:24am:

My curls so did not work out.  I had 4 stringy twisted curls, that turned into a frizzy nightmare.  My ends feel wonderfully soft though, and I finger combed it all out and went in a figure 8 bun.

Oh, I'm so sorry!  You were so excited about them too. :(

Did you put something on your hair when you curled it?  

Good luck if and when you decide to try it again.

wrote on Sep 5^th, 2005 at 11:46am:

Oh, I'm so sorry!  You were so excited about them too. :( Did you put something on your hair when you curled it?   Good luck if and when you decide to try it again.

Hi Maroula--sorry I didn't see this till today.  

I used aloe vera gel in the curls but that is what I use on a regular basis.  I think I twisted the sections too tight.  Its all right though, I'm always working at getting good curls.   Today I did a dutch classic.  I figure I can leave this in until Saturday or Sunday and have great curls again.  Now I just need somewhere to go.  

my braids are quite frizzy at this point, but I wore them for a 2nd day at work with a bandana over them.  The many comments that I looked like Heidi, a westernair, or the gal that just wanted (and did) hold my braids like reins was interesting, if just a bit more attention than I really wanted today.  

wrote on Sep 10^th, 2005 at 3:02am:

or the gal that just wanted (and did) hold my braids like reins was interesting

What? Okay, that is *interesting*.  :-/  I hope you don't get odd requests like that very often, Valerie.

wrote on Sep 10^th, 2005 at 7:12am:

What? Okay, that is *interesting*.  :-/  I hope you don't get odd requests like that very often, Valerie.

Not very often, but it seems lately that someone is always tugging on a braided end anytime I wear one down.  The reasoning is always that I wear my hair up so much that they didn't realize how long it really was.   So maybe I'll start wearing it down once a week so everyone will know and it will stop.  

As long as they say something to me before they touch my hair I'm fine.  Its when I just feel this tugging that I get really irked.  

Took my braids down, and I have nice waves but no curls.  I really think that getting my hair wet while it is braided and then letting it dry is the real staying power to get curls.  I'm going to work on plopping next.  

My books/dvd's came from Braided Image.  I can't wait until we're done moving and I can watch the DVD's and really practice.  

2 bee/fly critters committed suicide in my vinegar rinse today!  I was getting ready for my shower and in the 2 minutes that I set the jar up to when I went to grab the jar to go put honey in it, there they are floating at the top.  Kind of put me in the mood to postpone the shower.  Besides, that was the last of my vinegar.   >:(

wrote on Sep 11^th, 2005 at 2:17pm:

2 bee/fly critters committed suicide in my vinegar rinse today!  I was getting ready for my shower and in the 2 minutes that I set the jar up to when I went to grab the jar to go put honey in it, there they are floating at the top.  Kind of put me in the mood to postpone the shower.  Besides, that was the last of my vinegar.   >:(

There's nothing wrong with a little protein in your rinse!   ;D

*runs away*

Cynde

 ;D

Remember the movie "The Kid" ? I think you need a
whambulance too  ;D

*running after khrome trying to hide*

Nothing exciting happening with my hair lately.  Although when I wore it down the other day everyone thought that I had dyed it.  I think that because my buns are blonde (the ends are so much lighter than the top), that everyone assums that is my color and when my hair was actually framing my face they saw how dark it actually is.  

We've moved finally though and its time to get brutal with old hair supplies.  I have no storage, so I can't keep anything 'just in case'.  And since I don't use most of it ever I shouldn't miss it much.  

I'm back to trying a true CO routine.  Our water heater went out a few days after we moved in, and I ended up in braids to cover my oily hair after going over a week without washing.  I decided that was the time to try it again.  I did my 2nd wash last night, suave daily clarifying on my scalp, suave aloe and vitamin e on my length, then my final condition with kenra platinum.  I really need to remember to do more ACV rinses though.  My hair has no slip and feels dry on the ends.  

I CO'd wash on Tuesday night, then tried plopping for the first time.  I went to bed with my hair wet and still in the towel and thought for sure it would be dripping in the morning, but it really wasn't.  The waves were great too, but a little too frizzy for a work day and I did comb them out.  Next time I'll try combing my hair while the conditioner is still in, then after my shower lightly oiling, spritzing with sea salt, and a bit of aloe before wrapping my hair up.  

CO'd again tonight, but I've run out of clarifying conditioner and must get that soon.  Its so hard to adjust to having to wash my hair more frequently w/ CO.  

Shea butter and almond oil are SO wonderful for my ends.  

Three cheers for shea butter!  I love the stuff!

Shea butter is awesome!  Great for my skin too!

Yes, truly wonderful.  I need to order some more before I run out!

I have a friend who is in school to be a massage therapist and she was telling me about how good it is to do a cool/cold rinse after being in a hot tub for overall health.  I've been *meaning* to do a last rinse in cool water, but never really did except in the summer.  But now that it is cooler, I'm taking a hot bath most nights and have been actually doing a quick rinse in as cool of water as I can stand.  And it is wonderful!  I don't know if I've noticed much of a difference with my hair (most of that could be the shea butter and almond oil), but I stay warm all night when I get out of the shower.  Its like I lock all that warmth inside.  I'm even too warm to wear my robe around the house.   I will have to keep this up.  

Good for you!  :)
The only time I can get myself to take a cold (cool) shower is when I am at the Sauna.  :-/
I heard about the health benefits as well, but .......
brrrrrr - just thinking about it  ::)

I finally remembered to do an ACV and honey rinse this weekend and have been wearing my hair down a bit more.  

I think that I have successfully transitioned to a CO routine.  Hopefully I won't jinx myself, but my hair doesn't get horribly oily, and while I am washing a little more frequently than with shampoo I can already tell that it is taking longer before I get greasy.  I'm very excited to finally get to this point.  I never feel like I am damaging my hair anymore if I do have to wash more frequently, and since I'm hoping to get back to the gym on a regular basis I'll need it.  

I know at the beginning of this journal I swore no more coffee treatments, but I can't stick to anything sooo...

I'm dressing up as Lara Croft tonight and wanted to darken my hair as much as possible.  So I made a really dark batch of espresso and added cloves and vinegar and let that sit on my hair for 20-30 minutes, then hopped in the shower and did a rinse with more of the espresso and honey.  I'm soft and shiny, but I don't think any darker.  And I smell like coffee, but it isn't nearly as bad as last time.   ;)

I might keep trying the coffee rinses, or maybe switch to black tea.  Upon closer inspection although I don't think I'm darker, the ends seem a bit richer in color.  

I've been having thoughts of cutting off all the damaged ends.  Just go into my friend that does hair and say cut off where the color changes.  I'm sure I won't do anything that extreme, but it kind of sounds like fun.  When the tip of the good ends grows out to tail bone I might be more likely to take such a plunge.  

But since this thought keeps coming back, I did get a bit more agressive in my trim this month.  It was a little depressing after realizing that I had no net growth from last month, but my ends almost always feel tangled lately.  Vinegar rinses and shea butter and oils, and that is still where my comb catches.  

Also, I'm pretty oily on top today and I just washed yesterday.  I'll do another CO wash tonight or tomorrow morning, but I hope that I'm not adjusting to the CO routine and have to switch back to a shampoo of some level.  

I may have finally found a good sock curling method for my hair.  I divided my hair into 4 sections and tied each off with a band.  Then lightly twisted each section, but not to the very ends, just about 4-5 inches from the end, then continued with Anais' instructions.  I love the way the curl turned out.  I still don't have much curl at the hair line so I'll still work on tweaking that.  I did it on dry hair with no product only 5 hours ago so we'll see how long it lasts.  

I soaked my length in olive oil last night and massaged a bit into my scalp.  I left it in until this afternoon, just wearing a high bun.  My CO wash didn't get all of the oil out, but I braided it and went about the rest of they day.  I finally made it to the gym tonight  ;D, and rinsed my hair again afterwards.  Now that the oil is really rinsed I can appreciate how wonderfully soft and shiny my hair is.  I also rinsed with vinegar and honey today after my first wash which I'm sure helped.  

I'm just now getting around to watching my dvd's by Karen Ribble.   There wasn't nearly as much instruction for the crown braid as I had hoped, but I'm going to rewatch the french and dutch sections and really try to figure out her handholds.  And watching someone do it is helpful.  I've always tried to tuck the tail on the inside of the crown, and it makes so much more sense to do it on the outside.  Also, her way of wrapping the tail of a braid into a bun looks so simple and nice.  She wraps it around her hand, tucks the band in, then positions it on the head.  It will be fun to try new techniques and try to master more styles.  

Wow, if you learn how to do a crown braid on your own hair, you have to send me the directions!  Also, do you use EVOO or just OO --- and is there a drastic difference between the two?

wrote on Dec 4^th, 2005 at 4:18am:

Wow, if you learn how to do a crown braid on your own hair, you have to send me the directions!  Also, do you use EVOO or just OO --- and is there a drastic difference between the two?

I use whichever I have in the house.  I think I used up some 'light' olive oil, and then supplemented with OO since there wasn't much left.  When we have EVOO, I've used that and I've never noticed much of a difference.  It always takes a while to wash out though.  

I had the worse tangle today.  I really don't think I've ever had a knot like this.  I really tried to untangle it, but all the hair was so damaged, I just cut it out.  Kind of sucked, but it couldn't have been more than 15 hairs thankfully.  

Omigosh, I hope you didn't have to cut a lot off...  :-/

Cynde

I really must note this day, since it is the first time that I have ever completed a crown braid good enough to leave the house in.  It is still far from perfect--I took too big of sections in the front and had to pull the hair at a bit of an angle and my part is really noticeable in the back, but all in all I'm very happy with it.  I also switched to a lace braid when I was braiding around the crown of my head.  I just couldn't figure out where to pull hair from on the inside.  It isn't noticeable though, and the next time I try it I think I'll just plan on doing that.  

http://www.bestsmileys.net/gestures/notworthy1.gif

Congratulations on the crown braid!  I've never been able to accomplish this myself.  I wish I had learned it when my hair was shorter and more manageable for this type of braid.  Keep practicing and you will be a pro in no time!

I'm considering a 3 inch trim.  The very ends of my hair are really dry and damaged, and difficult to deal with.  So if in March if I haven't changed my mind, I'll have that done.  I think I'll try the shears that are heated that are supposed to eliminate split ends if I do.  

This is my 2nd black tea rinse.  My hair is still wet and piled on my head so I'm not sure of the results, but last weeks were great.  Before I noticed a color difference I could tell that my hair was a thousands times softer than I've ever felt it.  As it dried and through the week I could tell that the demarcation line on my hair was much less noticeable.  I'm very excited that this could be a good alternative to dying.  

That black tea rinse sounds rather interesting. How do you do it?

wrote on Jan 23^rd, 2006 at 1:10am:

That black tea rinse sounds rather interesting. How do you do it?

Hi Juri!  Sorry its taken me so long to check this!

I put 2 tea bags in the coffee maker and brew a large pot, then run the same water through again to get a strong mixture.  Once its cooled, I transfer it to a large bowl and have another one handy.  I stand over the sink with my ends in the empty bowl and pour the tea over my hair, then just keep doing that for however long until I feel like I'm done.  My ends stay in the tea for essentially the entire time, and since they are bleach damaged and light that is what I want.  Its more effective than just holding my hair in a jar of it for a minute or so in the shower, but still very subtle.  When I'm done, I wrap my hair in a dark towel until its dry enough not to dye my clothes.  Then continue to air dry.

That's okay, Valerie; I wasn't in a rush to try this. I also have bleached hair so this sounds like a good way to even out the color a bit.

My hair seems to be revolting against washing cycles.  I've been CO'ing since September and had gotten back to my pre-co wash cycle of 4-5 days.  But seemingly overnight I turned into a greaseball and was washing every night.  I blamed it on being sick, but I got better, and my hair stayed greasy.  When I'd stretch it out to 2 nights between washing, my hair would just be gross.  I'm thinking I'll have to reintroduce shampoo, and have been really considering trying the giovanni products.  Every time I hear that brand name its followed by rave reviews so I may just have to do it.

In the mean time, I'm really trying not to spend money this month, I have been taking a 4 oz glass, sprinking baking soda in the bottom, drizzling honey over the top of it, then dissolving the mix with 1/4 cup hot water.  I pour that over my scalp, then massage in my suave daily clarifying conditioner on top of it.  Last night was my 2nd try with it and my hair feels fantastic today, and no where near needing a wash.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this could work at least at until I'm ready to drop some money on new shampoo and conditioner.  

Last week I did a deep conditioning treatment of yogurt, olive oil and honey.  Left it in my hair for an hour or so, rinsed most of it with cool water in the kitchen sink then did a CO wash.  My hair felt wonderful--I don't know why I never tried yogurt before.  I always have it in the house.  

Then earlier in the week I was in the tub, and asked hubby to get me my almond oil.  He went straight to the kitchen, and I had to redirect him to the medicine cabinet.  He said he just assumed that anything for my hair must come from the kitchen.   ::)

My hair is still acting a bit funky, but I've been back to the gym so I'm washing more anyway.  Its hard to tell what is having the most affect on it.  I still want to pick up the giovanni products and then maybe co wash most days at the gym if just a water rinse isn't enough.

I realized that my hair is at an uncomfortable drying length, and the days of braiding it wet and leaving it to run around are over for a while.  My hair is just past tail bone, so now I get a wet rear which is really unpleasant and wierd looking.  Once I got past BSL--and the lactating that accompanied it, I didn't think I'd have such problems.  I may take this as a reason to chop a good 3 inches or so.  I've been thinking about it for months, and its definetly time.  

I am finally committing myself to trimming off at least 3 inches, and potentially 5.  I've been thinking about it for months and its definetly time.  Tonight I'll do a deep condition, then trim this evening or tomorrow morning.  I'll probably start with an inch and a half just to make sure I don't take off too much then redo it.  I'll wait at least a couple weeks to decide if I want to trim the whole 5 inches off.

My horrendously damaged and thin ends take so much extra care to feel soft, and yet still tangle really easily that wearing my hair down has become a pain and I just completely avoid it.  

Its kind of funny that I'm deciding to do this now when my longest ends are just a couple inches from *barely* classic length.  I think when it hit hip length I realized my hair really was long.  And while classic length will be cool, I no longer feel like I'm in a race to get there.  

Its been almost a month and still no trim.  Its long enough that it is difficult for me to get a good grip on and feel like its even.  Hubby agreed to do it for me but we just haven't managed to get around to it.  Oh well, it will happen when it does I guess.

I bought giovanni shampoo and conditioner and so far I'm not loving it like I thought I would.  I don't have any noticeable difference in texture and I'm having to wash almost every day.  I'll try it out a bit longer though to see if it is just an adjustment period.  

I finally trimmed!  I'm loving my blunt edges even though they are still quite thin.  I took off an even 3 inches and its still past my hips.  I'll wait a couple weeks, but I'm thinking of slowly trimming up to my natural waist.  That would get rid of most the damaged ends and still be long enough to do the styles I like most.  Plus my hair seemed a bit more fun when I was anxious to get to 'long' hair of at least hip length.  

I'm liking the giovanni shampoo and conditioner more and more.  Still having to wash more often then I'd like, but I guess that is just a phase also.  

I don't think I've done anything but bun my hair in months.  I'm long over due for some nice braids.  Hopefully this weekend when we get out and about.  

Courageous lady! I'm with you on the big trimming if it is really needed. You will enjoy your hair much much more afterwards. Healthy and long.  :D

I did it, another 5 inches gone, for a total of 8 inches in the last month.  It falls at my natural waist, 34 inches now.  It feels good, it feels full, and it feels short...but good.  I thought of it as  release of all the dry and damaged bits I've been holding on to.  And by letting them go I'm making room in my life for health, fullness and beauty.  

I'm still loving the health of my shortened hair.  I've worn it down more, braided it more, and just plain enjoyed it more.  It should be back to my hips within 2 months I think too.  

Its still doing the greaseball thing though which sucks.  I managed to go 5 days one week, but now its back to every 2.  

I went backpacking last weekend and did a french classic pinned in heidi braids and wore a bandana over it for the 4 days.  I soaked it in shea butter, jojoba, and aloe before braiding.  I came home to beautiful curls.  Wish I could get that look any other way and be able to enjoy for an evening out sometime...

My hair has had the halo of frizz for weeks.  Aloe and jojoba oil would help a bit, but not entirely and they just contributed to having to wash every other day.  I think most of it was going back to shampoo.  So now I'm washing once a week with baking soda and honey with a vinegar rinse and dusthing my hair with cornstarch once in between.  I dust it at night and by morning my hair looks as if I had washed it the night before.  I've been much happier with my hair the past 2 weeks.  

Time for a quickie update I suppose now that a years gone by...  :o

After the baking soda/acv routine I tried water only for about 2 months.  It got to the point where my hair didn't look horrible, but I was always terrified someone would touch it.  It was so waxy.  So I quit that and I think went to CO for a while.  My hair was quite dull and greasy and no fun at all.  Around valentine's day I switched to cones and have been much happier.  I wash every few days--whenever its starting to look greasy with a little bit of pantene sleek and shine shampoo mixed with Suave's daily clarifying conditioner.  Then condition with a knock off of pantene conditioner.  My hair is much smoother and brighter and I'm quite happy with it.  I try to keep up on my acv rinses as best I can to clarify.  My hair is prone to splits (although its better than it used to be), and I really don't notice a difference between pre and post cone.  I'm over due for a deep conditioning treatment.  I always mean to do them on the weekends, but then put them off.  My mother bought me a big tub of cholesterol that she has really liked on her hair and I've been meaning to do a long condition with it to see what I think.  

Hey, Valerie, nice to see an update in your journal! From your avatar and the pin curl pictures you posted, your hair is looking great! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Thanks Juri!  :)

I did a deep conditioning treatment tonight with hair cholesterol.  My hair felt nice and thick when rinsing it out--I'll have to see what happens tomorrow.  Also, I actually washed the length of my hair tonight with shampoo which I never do.  I didn't manage to clarify with vinegar before getting in my tub and wanted the deep conditioning to really be able to soak in.  I doubt I'll do that very often.  

The cholesterol is going to the top of my list for fave deep conditioning treatments.  My hair has been so soft and shiny I love it.  Plus, no mess in the kitchen!  Just run it through the length, wrap it in a bun and rinse several hours later.   :)

*dusts off cobwebs*

Wow, my length is the same as when I started this journal...

I am in the painful process of trying to switch back to CO.  I did find a small bottle of the Suave daily clarifying conditioner that I used to really like and used that last night.  I haven't combed yet, but I can tell that my hair is oily.  I've gotten away with my normal buns the last couple days, and I'm hoping that holds out for me again.  

I remembered to use a ton of conditioner and let it sit on my hair for quite a while, then massage alot as I was rinsing it out.  Hopefullyy the transition doesn't take too long.

I've had to add just a touch of shampoo to my 'washing' conditioner to really get the greasiness out, but I have cut out the cone laden 'conditioning' conditioner and switched to a cone free brand.  So far so good, but I'm not loving it yet so I'm sure I'll keep trying different things.  

I'm still having to add a bit of shampoo to my 'co' routine.  My hair feels soft which I like, but I really want to cut down on how much crap I have in my bathroom.