My latest hair routine

This is the latest hair care routine that I’ve been using that seems to be working well. My hair ranges between 2A-C on the front and sides and 3A in the back. If you want to see what these types look like you can check out this site.

My hair is also color treated with an ammonia-based permanent color. One recent thing I discovered is that when coloring my hair it is much better for my scalp to not use a shower cap while the color is being applied. This allows the scalp to ventilate rather than trapping the intense ammonia under the shower cap.

My hair unfortunately has several issues but I am managing to deal with them. One issue has been that, when wet, it has tended to mat. This could be residual damage from an incident quite a while back when I made the grave mistake of using a peroxide-based developer while coloring my hair, which wiped out the curl and basically damaged the hair a lot.

I’ve cut my hair to a short style (which I actually really like – easier to manage and better volume) which I think has eliminated most if not all of the damaged hair by now. The matting issue is also helped significantly by the use of a detangler when cleansing my hair.

The most recent innovation I have come up with is to actually cleanse my hair with DevaCurl’s One Condition mixed with a bit of John Master’s Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler. This is how I cleanse. I do not need or want a shampoo, although I will use a bit of a clarifying shampoo along the roots before doing a color treatment. The innovation here for me was to mix the detangler and cleansing conditioner. They do not have to be used separately. In fact they blend well together.

So that is the first step: Cleansing the hair with One Condition mixed with a little bit of Master’s Detangler. It does not take a lot of either of these products. I prefer to cleanse while taking a bath, where I can relax and take my time applying it throughout my hair. This is also my conditioning step!

This comes to the next step which is leave-in. For leave-in I’ve tried many different conditioners, but there’s something I’ve noticed about many if not most of them: Most seem to not persist. After a few days they sputter out, often dramatically. After cleansing and applying leave-in the hair may be good for a day or a couple days but then suddenly the leave-in just stops working and the hair gets dramatically worse very quickly.

I cannot say exactly why this happens in terms of chemistry, but only notice that it does. However there is one conditioner I’ve been using recently that seems to really work well and not sputter out over time: Acure’s Argan Stem Cell Conditioner.

This conditioner is really dense. It is intense. It has a thicker consistency than most conditioners which is actually good. It really locks in moisture and doesn’t sputter out. Its conditioning lasts exceptionally well.

The trick to using it as a leave-in is to use it judiciously, to not overuse it. Because it is such an intense, moisture-rich conditioner over use of it can leave the hair stiff and also basically wipe out the curl as it weighs the hair down. Therefore I use just a small amount when applying it as leave in, diluting about a nickel- to quarter-sized amount with water to a milky-creamy consistency and distributing it lightly through the hair with a kind of scrunching motion.

Finally, I went to DevaCurl’s website and was checking out their DevaLooks tutorials. They have one tutorial there for “The Jet Setter” which was really helpful to me. Basically the tutorial recommends using their Spray Gel and, when the hair starts to get kind of icky and flat, to use some No-Poo Quick Cleanser on the roots. I find the No-Poo Quick Cleanser works really well and it only requires a little bit to revive hair.

I’ve also taken their tip and use Spray Gel not just in the traditional sense of an after-cleansing application, but also as a touch-up, similar to how I might use their Mist-er Right touch up spray which I also still use occasionally.

And when my hair needs a bit of just plain moisture, for example in the morning, I still use my own custom spray which is mostly water mixed with a little bit of Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner. This is the other conditioner which does not sputter out as many others do, but it is a lighter conditioner than the Acure Argan Stem Cell.