Continuing my DIY hair spa at home

Hi everyone,

So the last time I blogged, my hair was braided and I'd oiled it the night before.
Well, I decided to rinse out the oil this time, using Vatika Ultra Shine & Smooth shampoo.
The commercial (you can find on YouTube) and package proclaim it has fast acting naturals. It contains the shine enhancing ingredients yoghurt, honey and henna.

Aside from the lovely promises, I also saw the shampoo contains silicones, formaldehyde and perfume. Ingredients I do not like to see in a 'all natural' shampoo.  

 I absolutely loved the smell of this shampoo though, but it didn't get the sticky feeling from the oil out of my hair. The shampoo felt more like it was coating the oil, instead of removing it. I will keep trying this shampoo for a couple of times though. Need to give it a chance.

Right after I used pure Aloe Vera shampoo to rinse all the oil out. It's called 'lidah buaya' from Pyramid's. It's green, smells soapy and it's very thick. Not like regular shampoo.

There is no cleaning shampoo like Aloe Vera. One time I dyed my hair with a semi-permanent hair color product and washed my hair the next day with Aloe Vera shampoo and the water ran brown. It was like I washed out the hair dye. But my scalp was ever so clean.

Perfect solution to my problem this time.

Than I used Dabur Vatika Naturals virgin olive deep conditioning hair mask.

The front says it contains olive, almond & henna and should work against dry, dull & lifeless hair.

The olives should provide nourishment, the almonds should soften and strengthen the hair and the henna, working with the other ingredients should coat, protect and give shine to your locks.

You should massage it into your hair, especially the ends after washing, leave it in for 15 minutes and then rinse out. I followed those directions exactly. Took a relaxing bath while the mask was conditioning the hair and then rinsed it out. 

I honestly felt, while it was still wet, that it was very shiny already. Took a picture and you can judge it yourself. As I always do, I let my hair dry naturally.

And it was perfect.

I didn't see any difference when it comes to thickness, but I don't think it's fair at this point. A product doesn't thicken your hair after first use. At least, I don't believe that. Proper care might. Which is the big test here on this blog...

While it was still damp, I braided it very loosely, because I didn't have time to walk around with wet hair, but refused to blow-dry.

Anyways, when it dried eventually and I took the braid out, I brushed it and found a couple of knots, but the hair was soft to the touch. Just the ends seemed a bit clingy. That was gone after brushing.

From that picture you can definitely tell that my hair was nourished. But the ends weren't 'feeded' that well. I was very surprised though, that this time I didn't necessarily have to use Argan Oil Serum, but I still did, because of the ends and some fly aways on the top (new hairs). I also made a extra picture in better light from the back, so you can see the results.. I'm pleased. It was even better the following day and stayed looking good and shiny. But on monday july 25th I had a friend oil my hair in the evening with a mix of castor oil and Vatika Coconut Enriched hair oil. I'll tell you more about the oil tomorrow, when I've rinsed it out!

Started july 12th till now

Although I started this online diary just now, I'd started one on paper on july 12th. This blog will lead up till now, as an update. It will not really contain day-by-day pictures of results yet, because I had not taken them.

Tuesday, july 12th
I used the Vatika coconut enriched hair oil. Heated it, massaged it into my scalp, left it overnight. Than I used a steaming towel for taking in that extra conditioning and rinsed it out. After that, I opened up a real fresh coconut, massaged the milk into my scalp, left it for 15minutes and rinsed out. Seriously, the best shampoo there is. I've never gotten such a clean scalp before. As icing on the cake I used a pure coconut conditioner, left it for another 15-20minutes and rinsed it out. What I think is important, is that the water should always be lukewarm when it comes to your hair. And after conditioning, you should rinse it with cold water. Your hair follicles are then closing due to the cold and outcomes the shine!

The results were perfect!
My hair still looked a bit 'frizzy' though, so I used some Argan oil serum after, let it dry naturally and put some Dabur Amla gold hair oil in the lengths.

Amla oil contains mineral oil of which everyone knows it's occlusive. That means that it coats your hair, letting nothing in or out. It keeps the shine and moist you get with oiling it, but the mineral oil itself makes it difficult for your skin/hair to breath.
Amla oil is being used by Indian women who have very thick, strong and lustruous dark hair though & it truly works magic on most peoples hair. Perhaps the amount of mineral oil isn't that much? Or the close the hair follicles to later open them again (when washing the mineral oil out) works like a treat?
I am not sure and I couldn't find a certain answer on the web.
All I know is, that you better wash it out after leaving it in overnight.

The reason I still added some oil AFTER washing, is because the package & Dabur website say that if you have long hair, you can put some in for nourishment. That is the only reason I put some in.
And because my hair is so dry, I wanted to try and see the difference..

I combed my hair through, braided it and later on saw that my hair was gleaming with health. Honestly, it looked like I'd been to some hair spa for a treatment.

Now usually I wash my hair every other day or sometimes after 2 days, but this time my hair looked like it was just getting better & better while not washing it. So I decided to wait till friday.
That day I started with the Kerastase densi-recharge capsules. I took both the purple capsule & the green pill the package contains. I made sure I hadn't had any green tea product the last 24 hours, since it is advised that you do not take any green tea while on the treatment. And normally green tea is all I cling too; either iced or hot. I'll blog a little about the Kerastase product later.
Anyhow, I heated the Vatika coconut enriched oil, massaged it in and left it overnight.

On saturday, july 16th, I rinsed out the oil, used Garnier's Pure shine shampoo (no cones or parabens) and it is said to work against calciumoxyde, make the hair 10 times stronger and purify the hair. After washing that out, I put the pure coconut conditioner in my hair and wrapped my hair in a steaming towel for 20 minutes. Having that rinsed out as well, I let it dry naturally, put some Argan Oil serum and Amla Gold in my hair. Also, took my daily capsules, which I'll not mention every day, except if there's something special about it or as a reminder.
This time my hair was rather soft, but somewhat fuzzy.. Not exactly what I'd hoped for.

It looked better the following days, but I decided to do another heavy oiling that monday the 18th. This time I used the original Dabur Amla hair oil (so cute to see actress Rani Mukherji on the package instead of the picture they used to have on the bottle) to oil my hair. I didn't heat the oil, but used a good amount of oil and had my sister massage it in for me. Put a towel on my pillow and left it overnight..
The following day I rinsed it out and conditioned it the way I had been doing it ever since I started with Indian haircare. This time after letting it dry naturally, I did not add Amla gold to the lengths, just Argan oil serum. My hair was fuzzy, but shiny & soft.

Thursday 21th july 2011 I wasn't contented and went to my local Indian store again. I explained what I'd been using, how much I was trying to take care of it and showed the fuzzy fly-aways. The salesman admitted that my hair looked rather thin and couldn't understand why the Argan Oil serum had not fixed the fuzzy effect. He told me that usually the product succeeds in getting the hairs calmed down.
He then told me it might be best to use something even more natural...

Castor oil. I was adviced to massage my roots and tips with it. Washing it out wasn't that necessary. I bought it, massaged it, hated it. It is soooo sticky that it's just annoying to massage into the scalp. Still, managed to do it, braided my hair and left it overnight.
But when I woke up friday the 22th, my hair was super sticky (chip chip & much of it) and I had knots. Now really.. knots? I never ever have knots in my hair. Brushed it out and decided to not give up so easily..

I braided my hair for the day and decided to take further care in the evening. This is when I decided I wouldn't just keep some paper diary about it with 3 lines a day. I would be using this blog to record every hair move/change. Again, I watched online reviews, read how-to's and watched some commercials. All hair care related of course. I took a little cup, put some castor oil in it, some Dabur Amla (original), stirred and put in my hair. From massaging the roots, gliding through the lengths till rubbing gently at the ends. I put a towel on my pillow (since I was sleeping on a satin pillowcase, which is great for hair and skin) and left it overnight...

The search for the solution

It got quiet for a long time. I searched for the solution in silence.
Didn't succeed.

I can't take a picture of every product lined up right now (I will, later on and add it to this blog post), but I'll name what I can remember I've used :

• Just about every L'oreal Paris shampoo, conditioner, leave in products and serum.
• The complete John Frieda Brilliant Brunette line.
• Garnier shampoos and conditioners.
• Two different lines of L'anza products (what I recall first is that one line had blue packaging and the other beige. One was made for moisturizing, the other mainly to straighten the hair)
• The Laminates products from Sebastian professional
• Chi Organics
• Chi serum, hair mask & shampoo (made especially for heated styling)
• All the products for extra coarse hair from Kerastase Oleo Relax
• A complete line of Nioxin products, with some additional products I purchased from them
• The complete Redken 'Real control' line
• The complete Redken 'Smooth down' line
• The complete Redken 'Extreme' line
• Kerastase's Ultime Elixir
• Kerastase's Masquintense with Gluco Active system for thick hair (hair mask)
• Kerastase's Nutri-Thermique hair mask
• Redken's sun protection line, but also sun protection from Kerastase
• And so many more...

This picture contains what one of my hair product orders would look like. Bulk buying.

If I recall more, I'll definately add to my list and I'll also write some reviews about the products I mentioned.

But to kick off the start of this blog, I'll now tell you what's going on at this time.

When my father passed away in 2007, I got so much stress to take in, that my hair loss was astounding. My mom bought me Kerastase's Densitive capsules. I had to take those for 3 months steady. It really helped, so I went on using it for 9 months. At that time, I didn't abide the rules anymore (like, you can't drink green tea when you take those capsules, but I started drinking lots of it again etc) and I felt like my hair was falling out more. I stopped using it and took normal care. My hair had gotten a huge boost from the capsules and it lasted quite a while. The thickness.

You can clearly see that it was thick yet quite manageable in the picture above. 

Recently though, someone reminded me of how my hair used to be and said my hair had gotten thin. Yikes! If you've read my introduction well, you know this was a nightmare to hear.
I almost killed my hair follicles to get my hair more sleek, now it's sleek, but too thin?


The person was right though. I realized my hair has definitely taken another blow, probably from stress and has gotten quite thin.

I was browsing YouTube and found lots of (primarily) Asian hair commercials, that sell the idea that great nourishment is the recipe for thicker hair. Might not sound too new, but does it really?
I saw opportunity to experiment..

I made a list of commercials and a list of reviews and decided to go back to my 'old' hair stops. The indian stores. Haul, much?

The one thing I got at the Indian store as well, but isn't pictured, was all natural hair dye. The sun had bleached my hair so much, that I just had to get it darker before I'd start. To see clearly and properly when it shines or looks dull. The dye was a bit messy, but did it's job & my hair was really soft afterwards. 

I took a quick picture of everything I got to start my experiment.
The Vatika Almond enriched hair oil, Vatika Olive enriched hair oil, Vatika coconut enriched hair oil, Vatika Almond shampoo, Vatika Ultra shine shampoo, Vatika egg/honey hair mask, Vatika olive hair mask, pure coconut conditioner, Argan oil serum, Vatika all natural protecting styling cream, Castor oil, Dabur Amla gold hair oil, Dabur Amla hair oil (original) and Kerastase Densi-recharge.

Apparently, they changed Densitive into Densi-recharge. Back when I used it, there were only green capsules and you had to take one per day. Now you get a purple and green one for each day, so you get to swallow a capsule and a pill. Bought for 3 months, but will be trying it for six months.

I've decided I'm going to give my hair all natural haircare. Just to see whether it really works magic on hair. I figured that simplicity and patience, might be key to this.

This picture was made about 2 weeks ago and I'm posting it, because the natural environment stands precisely for the direction I'm going with my hair AND to show the recent looks of it.

I'll be taking more and clear pictures of my hair as I'll be updating this diary.

So I'm going to put a lot of effort in time in keeping it all natural and will be using this blog as diary on how it goes and what I've used. I hope it helps me in finding out what works and what doesn't & perhaps I might be able to help a reader out as well!

Hair introduction (from Pocahontas to Rapunzel?)

Hi dolls,

A little introduction will be needed & I'll make sure I'll be mentioning every aspect of haircare I'm familiar with. First, you need to know that my mom is from European descent, with a lot of hair that is sleek and straight. Not too thick. My late father was a native Arowak (American Indian) with thick, course, slightly curly hair. Recipe for a hair war on a baby's head!

*Giggles* No, seriously. That is what a hairdresser told me once. Literally: 'Your mom and dad are fighting over a place on your head'. That was during puberty. When all the hair troubles started.

When I was little, I didn't have any haircare problems. It was thick, my mom kept it long for me and took really good care of it. I think I grew up with constant coconut smell. I always had something in my hair that would nourish, protect and keep my hair in a bun/braid. Had to have it tied up, because I didn't like it when it was brushed. My hair got so long at a certain time, that my mom had to cut it, so I wouldn't be able to drop it in the bathroom (if you know what I mean). I hated it short. Looked like a cleopatra wig, because my hair was just too thick and coarse to look good short. It tends to look 'wide', when it's short, while when it's long, it gets pulled down more by the weight.

Anyhow, when I got in my teen years, I noticed that most of the other girls wore their hair shorter & much more styled than I did. I felt like everyone could see I was from Native American descent, but not for the right reasons. I had to always wear a braid or clip it, because otherwise I'd feel embarrassed of the    coarse texture. Crazy, right? If you would have asked me back then what I thought of my hair, I'd 've been all negative. I would have said it was too thick to handle or 'look cute'. And too dark.
Oh, if I could go back to that time...

At the time of the picture I was 13 years old and my haircare regimen consisted of brushing my hair thoroughly twice a day, shampooing every other day, always using a conditioner & indian Amla hair oil. I did not realize back then that it was the Amla that kept my hair so dark (& perhaps, thick?).

My friends pursued me to cut it shorter, buy some curling/straightening irons, use some hair dye to get it lighter (since I had such fair skin and we felt I would handle lighter hair better) and chemically straighten it. I cut it somewhat up to my shoulders, got it chemically straightened 3 times in 6 months (of which 2 times in one week) and dyed my hair one color after another.

My friends had not realized that regular hair dye wouldn't work for my hair. The drug stores brands didn't lighten my hair shade at all. My hair was getting dryer and more frizzy than ever. Coarse is an understatement. But I still wanted that sleek European hair so I went to various hair dressers to get it cut and dye it in another color. The only hair dresser that got my hair to lighten up, made it turn yellow, after which I sent a friend to get a brown hair dye at a local store and dyed it that very same day, to remove the yellow.
Can you imagine the damage??

In this picture you can clearly see the texture switch. It was now curly, frizzy, some straight parts and completely dried out and dead at the ends. Horrible!
I felt so uncomfortable in most situations, because my hair would be the first thing to enter a room. Not me.
You'd see some gothic looking Rapunzel walking in with 'unbrushed' hair.
I think that was what got to me the most: the fact that it looked like I wasn't bothering my hair, but actually did so many things to it, in hopes of getting it easier to work with.
I guess I wanted what every teen wants; hair that moves with the wind, shines & looks healthy. Oh, and preferably like whatever was in fashion back then.

With the discovery of black hair dye, the hair starting looking traumatized.. The bleach was just too much for my already weak hair. Though I have to say, I loved the color Brazen Bronze from Softsheen Carson. But you don't gain anything, having a beautiful hair color & awful hair structure! No shine, frizz, split ends, fly aways..

Well, I completely ruined it as you can see in the picture above. That was actually taken just 2 weeks before I had a hairdresser cut it short...

Ever since I got obsessed with taking better care of it. I was about 15, but decided to get it trimmed more often, keep a better diet, not dye/bleach it so much anymore, never chemically straighten again and try whatever brand to keep it healthy.

I did notice that I had to switch hair products regularly, to keep my hair responding well to them. If I stick to a product for too long, my hair doesn't react as 'fresh' as it does when I don't use it steadily.
My hair got thinner, but more manageable... The hair loss started and didn't really stop, but there was more room for confidence about the way my hair looked.

Certain friends always preferred the thicker, pure hair. Especially my 'black' friends, if you will. They were the ones that warned me from the start. But the problem was, I couldn't relate to their hair. And not to my European (looking) friends either.. Actually, I didn't know anyone with these issues. Or the perfect solution. I went from thick, sleek hair to coarse, frizzy, curly hair in my teens and back to sleek, but thin..