ORS Nourishing Conditioner in a bottle?? (and other musings)

On Saturday I visited my local Pennywise beauty supply store with no definite intention of buying products; window shopping was the aim of the day.

That is, until my eyes fell casually on the Organic Root Stimulator Nourishing Conditioner............in a bottle!

IN A BOTTLE!!!

It will suffice to say that I snatched that bottle up, baby!

(Okay, I may be a little late on the scene...but I've only ever seen this conditioner in the sample packets, so excuse my enthusiasm!)

When my hair was relaxed this product was my favourite conditioner; it provided so much slip and softness to my hair! It continued to deliver when I began transitioning to natural hair, and although I've only used it a handful of times since being fully natural, I expect that it will still be a wunder-product for my kinks and coils.

The second product I bought was the Vo5 Tea Therapy Revitalizing Shampoo. I remember reading a favourable review of this product by a hair blogger months ago, so I decided to try it. I've used it once so far and it was gentle on my hair. 

Thirdly, I purchased some shea butter by Ashanti Naturals. The first time I bought 100% natural shea butter it was by "Okay African Shea Butter". I never used that shea butter on my hair because I felt it was waay too sticky and I hate it when my hair feels like glue. I'll be uploading a separate post soon with how I plan to make a homemade shea butter mix for my hair.

And finally, every black woman's staple: bobby pins!

And my new side-kick: hair shears. I loved my first pair but whilst I was travelling it was taken from me in the airport (silent tears may have been shed).

"I don't need these products! I have too many already!!" - said no hair junkie ever.


Love,

~Hatter

Hair Update: 11 weeks post relaxer

Saturday 11th May made me exactly 11 weeks post relaxer.

This is a milestone on my hair journey seeing as I've gone so long without a relaxer and I still have a lot of hair on my head! *hoopla!*

For the past month or so I have not rollerset my hair. I'm reluctant to go back to rollersetting because it takes so much time and effort...Honestly, airdrying gives me satisfying results in half the time.

On another note, the ORS HAIRepair Nourishing Conditioner is really helping me to manage my two textures with less and less headache. Even 3-4 days after my wash day on Wednesday, my new growth was still soft and manageable!  The ORS Nourishing Conditioner is very effective in making my hair soft and slippery, and even though its a bit expensive, I will keep it as my new staple as I transition to natural hair.

**Note to self: I must be careful to rinse out all conditioners thoroughly from my hair! There were wash days when I was left with horribly sticky hair. Now I undo the braided sections that I wash my hair in while rinsing to avoid future trauma from hard, stiff hair and more breakage.

Last week I wore some jumbo twists which I then loosely flat twisted and pinned the ends up. Then on Sunday I untwisted them and wore a pinned up-do. On Monday I made two cornrows and pinned the ends around the sides of my head- sort of like a crown.

Today I washed and deep conditioned my hair. Detangling was painless and quick, thank God!

As you can see from the picture above, I have a mixture of natural hair textures- some strands have super tiny spirals while others have larger loops and waves. I even have some zig-zags (not pictured above) and strands that coil up on themselves. However, looking in the mirror at my hair, its difficult to find the exact line of demarcation, maybe because I have some texlaxed areas of hair that come between my fully natural hair and my bone straight relaxed hair. 

This week I also got some jojoba oil, lovingly purchased by my aunt (thank you aunty!) It hardly has any smell and has a relatively light consistency. I plan to use this to replace my ORS HAIRepair Vital Oils and to mix it in my shea butter once I get home.

I have at least one more week to go before I get my braids (extensions) installed. I'm happy that over the past weeks I've learned to manage my two textures better and have almost eliminated my previous stretching woes. I look forward to my natural hair growing longer and longer so I'll be closer and closer to the big chop!


How's your hair journey been going?

Love,
~Hatter

Wash day @ 7 weeks post relaxer

On Monday I washed my hair at 7 weeks, 3 days post relaxer.

What I did:

1. Sectioned my hair into 8-9 parts, spraying diluted moisturizer on my roots to soften them and help with the parting. Finger de-tangled, applied ORS Vital Oils and braided each section. 
2. Pre-pooed for about an hour under my heating cap. 
3. Shampooed with ORS Neutralizing Shampoo.
4. T-shirt dried my hair for about 2 minutes, then applied ORS HAIRepair Nourishing Conditioner, using 1 & 1/3 packs. Sat with heating cap for about 1 & 1/2 hours.
5. Rinsed my hair and T-shirt dried for about 5 minutes.
6. While hair was still damp, I sprayed diluted moisturizer on my hair, focusing on the roots. Applied Herbal Essences Split-End Protector and de-tangled. 
7. Blow-dried lightly, using tension by pulling down on my hair while blow-drying to stretch my roots.
8. Sealed with ORS Vital Oils.
9. Cross-wrapped my hair for bed and done!

~~~

source

~~~

The next morning I bunned for the first time in a looong time. After doing my hair it felt very soft and manageable. I definitely attribute it to the ORS HAIRepair Nourishing Conditioner. It always make my new growth a breeze to de-tangle!

Unfortunately, the breakage is still occurring but I've almost accepted that as normal (sad isn't it??) so I ignored it and styled. I'll be dealing with this issue in a later post.

I planned to wear the bun for the whole day but...5 minutes after going outside it collapsed!
I didn't secure the ends well so when I charged into the wind...let's just say it was hair blowing left, right and centre =P After that I took out the bobby pins and just wore a simple ponytail.

Hair fails... they're inevitable!


Have a great weekend =)
~Hatter

Mini hair haul

Last Friday I went hair shopping, and although I had a long list of items to buy, these are all I ended up purchasing:

 

Can't wait to use my ORS Nourishing Conditioner! This is fantastic on my new growth, so I hope that it'll help to make my hair softer and decrease my manipulation issues.

I also bought a moisturizer from the new Shea Butter Miracle line from African Pride. I already use the original moisturizer I described here, but I took this one just to see if it'll be any different on my new growth.

New bobby pins! I'm sure every girl knows what it's like to have these disappear right under our nose! I shouldn't lose all 120 any time soon :)


Love

~Hatter

Wash day @ 7 weeks post + ORS Nourishing Conditioner

Today's wash and deep condition was relatively easy for 7 weeks worth of new growth.

First, I deep conditioned on dry hair using Organic Root Stimulator Nourishing Conditioner.

After leaving it on for an hour with my heat cap, I rinsed it out and shampooed.

Then I air-dried my hair with a t-shirt for about 15 minutes, and applied some Herbal Essences Touchably Smooth Split End Protector. Even before applying the moisturizer, my hair felt very soft and smooth.

Today my comb was able to glide easily through my hair, and at seven weeks post that is something to rejoice about!

Usually at this time I would already be experiencing major tangles and friction when de-tangling after deep conditioning. Today I experienced none of those problems.

Firstly, I attribute my results to the ORS Nourishing Conditioner. This is the second time I've used it, and both times it left my hair very soft and smooth...even my thick 4c new growth! It did a marvellous job in increasing slip and leaving my hair well conditioned.

For my hair, it seems to be a light/medium protein. I actually like it better than the ORS Replenishing Conditioner, which was my main staple. The Nourishing Conditioner is less sticky, absorbs into my hair easier and makes my hair a bit smoother.

*Beware! Some may find that the ORS Nourishing Conditioner has a peculiar smell...the first time I used it I hated it! In my opinion it smells like play dough and faintly of bananas...today however, it wasn't that bad since I am a little used to it. My results outweigh the odour so I'll continue to buy this conditioner.

Secondly, I think deep conditioning on dry hair has also helped to reduce tangles and friction between my strands. Like a pre-poo, DCing on dry hair added strength and slip even before shampooing, allowing my hair strands to glide past each other with relative ease.


However, even after using the conditioner I still experienced noticeable, short strand breakage when de-tangling. It was no where along the lines of my previous stretches, but still unusual! My ends are thinning too. Before DCing, I dusted my ends in the hope that it would reduce breakage but it looks like I need a proper trim...and I thought I was protecting my ends well! I guess not...

Guuuurl look at those ends.

Honestly, I'm a bit discouraged because when I did my self-trim 7 weeks ago I thought it was thorough...and now it seems that my hair has gotten damaged since then. So I'm really not sure why I'm experiencing breakage. Is it moisture/protein levels, manipulation or something else?? My ends aren't horrible, but if I don't take care of them as soon as possible I might have to trim more than I'm comfortable with when I relax my hair.


But in all things, I give thanks. I'm trying to stay optimistic and I'm determined to regain thick, healthy ends as one of my 2013 hair goals.


How have you been caring for your hair recently? If you're busy busy like me you know its not always easy!

Love,
~Hatter