Tuesday was the start of fall – my second favourite season of the year. I took my boots to the shoe repair to get them ready and thought: “I don’t spend time really thinking about what to do with my hair for the season.”
Yes, I actually thought that.
I am scheduled to get my hair braided on October 31 and I’m hoping that those braids will last until the first week of January. Then, if I can find a wig – I’m still on the hunt, people. Any ideas are welcomed! – I’ll wear it for a couple of weeks until my next braid appointment sometime in mid-January.
While the braids are great and I’m looking forward to gaining some more length because I won’t be over-manipulating my hair, there will some time before I put the braids in this fall and a couple of weeks in the deep, dark, doldrums of winter where my hair will be exposed. Even when it’s under a wig, I still have to take care of it. So, these will be the products I’ll use over the fall and early winter. I’ll reassess in January when I take the braids out.
(Italicized products mean I will be trying them out this fall)
Co-wash conditioners
- Suave Naturals – any scent
- Tresemmé Healthy Volume
- Herbal Essences’ Long Term Relationship
Shampoos
- Castile moisturizing shampoo
- My black soap mix
- Country Rose Natural Liquid Shampoo in Spring Blossom
Conditioners
- Kiss My Face Whenever conditioner
- Blended Beauty Curl Quenching conditioner
- L’Oreal EverPure Smooth Conditioner Rosemary Mint*
Deep Conditioner
- Elasta QP DPR-11
- Miss Key’s 10 en 1
- L’Oreal EverPure Smooth Deep Control Masque*
Leave-in Conditioner
- Infusium 23 Leave-in
Moisturizer
- My super moisturizer (my butter and oils mixture)
- Blended Beauty Happy Nappy Styles
- Cantu Shea Butter Grow Strong Strengthening Treatment
Sealing
- Castor oil & extra virgin olive oil
*I don’t support L’Oreal because this summer they were found guilty of racial discrimination in France. Pretty much, they didn’t want women of colour selling their products. That, to me, is not cool. So why am I trying out their products? Well, I got them free at The Ex this year. I have something against L’Oreal, but I have nothing against freeness. This is the reason why I’ll try their products out, but I will not be purchasing once it’s gone.
I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!
The Accidental Natural 
How do you pick the conditioner for a co-wash? As opposed to a regular “conditioner”? Great blog…I’m motivated to do something about my mess:)
Thanks for commenting on the blog! Yay!! From what I’ve seen/read/heard/experienced co-wash conditioners are your cheapie conditioners from the drugstore. You can use anything that isn’t full of silicones, mineral oil and petroleum products (although some people don’t mind). I’ve heard a lot of good things about Herbal Essences, Suave and Tresemmé. I’ll use anything under $5 as long as the ingredients look good.
Regular conditioners have to have something more – meaning, the ingredients have to offer my hair some benefit. For example, the Kiss My Face Whenever conditioner has a lot of good ingredients in there. It’s thick and gives me good ‘slip’ (lets me run my shower comb through my hair easily). These conditioners tend to be more expensive because they have better ingredients in them. Do a web search on co-wash and you’ll see all the info out there, including videos. They are very helpful.
I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I’m having a great time writing it. Hopefully, you (and some more people out there) will get something from my rantings 🙂
Goodness…hair has a language..*slip*LOL. I went swimming this morning and I tried Herbal Essence, I dunno if it is going to do great things, but my hair sure smells SUPAFANTSTIC!
LOL! There is a language. For a while, I had no clue what EVOO was. Finally, it clicked: extra virgin olive oil. I guess that’s too many letters.
So, how did you use it? The conditioner, not shampoo, I hope. As a co-wash, it should work — it’s just cleansing your hair instead of a shampoo cleansing it. I don’t know about HE having much use outside of that.
Yup, used the conditioner. Sadly, my swim cap was completely useless so I stopped at shoppers and bought HE. I think that my twists are too much for the cap. ARGH! How did I used it?? Is there a special way of slaping conditioner on your scalp? LOL
I was thinking of thinning it out with water and putting it in a spray bottle, because my hair is in twists and I will be washing my hair more frequently now that I have started swimming (with a useless swim cap). Any thoughts on that?
Well, yeah, there is a special way… HE is good for co-washing. Meaning, you put it in your scalp, scrub away like shampoo and rinse. Then put a real conditioner in your hair, leave it on for however long and rinse. It’s a lot of conditioner, but it does work!
The mix with water is a great idea. It’ll keep your hair moisturized and protected against this cold, dry weather (really, 9 degrees in September? Chupse) while in twists.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! I should not skim read info, seems like I missed a vital element. Thanks.