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.

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.

Three cheers for shea butter!  I love the stuff!

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.

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 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 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  , 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.