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...

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.

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

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!

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!

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 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!

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.   

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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.')

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.    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.

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

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.

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

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.

Great pictures of great hair!  Thanks for sharing.

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 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. 

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

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.

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.

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.

I got a compliment on my figure 8 bun today.     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 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.     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 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.   

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.

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

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.

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. 

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

I see a major dusting coming up.   

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.

The wedding was Sunday and was very nice.     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.   

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Hey - it's good hand lotion too  ...g

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  ...g

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

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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.

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.

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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. 

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

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.

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

*runs away*

Cynde

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 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.

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

Shea butter is awesome!  Great for my skin too!

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 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 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.

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 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.  

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.

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.

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