Week 3 ~ wash day

Today... I will once again experiment...

By the way...

I am getting my basic recipe format from using the book...

The Herbal Spa Book

From there, and researching different herbs as well as minerals, I came
up with my choice add-ons. This time I experimented with an infusion of
the herbs in two different methods...

One, by boiling hot water and letting the herbs seep for 10 to 20
minutes.

Two, by slowly heating up the water in the blender, then adding the
herbs in... making sure the herbs aren't being over cooked.

After infusing the mix, I strained the blend using a muslim cloth bag
(its finer holed than cheese cloth).

Then I tried both out...

The product worked a lot better, without the tiny pieces of herbs. My
hair stayed conditioned and soft... I personally perferred the raw
version compared to the cooked blend. Only because I know that the
benefits would be better, with the material in its raw form.

I didn't use Shea Butter in the conditioner, like before. But I did
grease my hair with the Shea Butter, afterwards.

Still felt like I was getting there, but not quite there yet with
perfecting my recipe.

--
Latoya

Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Week 3 ~ summary

My hair has styed relatively soft, since I washed my hair with my
homemade shampoo and conditioner.

I also noticed that my hair has appeared thicker and my skin has
appeared... clearer???

I find that quite odd, since I am not using any of the Shea Butter on my
face... just my scalp. Another interesting fact is that I am still using
chemical based products on my face...

Neutrogena oil-free products...

And my skin has suddenly become much more radiant and clearer than it
has ever been.

How do I know this? People keep coming up to me and complimenting me on
my skin. I find that amazing since, that is one of those types of
compliments that you rarely hear.

It makes me also wonder...

If my skin is quickly improving due to the change of hair products that
I use. That must mean that the chemical based hair products I was using
were a form of cause of acne and bad skin...

Going back to hair... my hair remains thiick and seems really healthy.
The color is a rich deep jet black.

Can't wait until wash day...

--
Latoya

Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Week 2 ~ wash day

I decide to make up my own hair shampoo and hair conditioner recipe.

I blended alvocado, sage, basil, rosemary, almond oil, olive oil, shea
butter (in the conditioner only).

The result was noticable. When I washed with "Mane n Tail" my hair
shrivelled and almost instantly changed its texture. To a more dry and
wirery feeling type of hair. But when I washed with my homemade shampoo,
my hair felt light, non ichy, it gently turned to ringlets under water.
And stayed soft and oiled.

The disadvanteges to my home blend, was that I forgot to strain the
formula. So particals got in my hair, and showed when my hair dried.
Other than that, I think I am on the right road.

--
Latoya

Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Week 2 ~ summary

It took a while to regain the quality of my hair, in the 2nd week of
using the raw form of shea butter as a regular hair food replacement.

The texture of my hair went bad after washing my hair with the chemical
shampoo and conditioner (for this experiment I am using Mane and Tail
deep moisturizing hair shampoo and deep moisturizing conditioner.)

Thru out the week, it was like catch up game on trying fix what was
lost. Eventually, by Friday my hair was beautiful soft, rich in color,
and thick.

End of Summary
--
Latoya

Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Day 1: August 7th 2007

I finally received my imported 'Raw Shea Butter'. I quickly opened the package and divided up the pound of Shea Butter into sections. One small chunk I placed in a small container (keeping it refrigerated) the rest of the bulk, I put into the freezer.

I was fairly surprised when I smelt it. I was expecting a unpleasant smell. Instead, I smelled a licorice smell, which was quite pleasant.

I took out my braided hair style and began greasing my hair. Almost instantly, I noticed a difference.

1. I found that the Shea Butter glided quite smoothly along my hair.
2. The butter absorbed very quickly into my hair. Unlike the "Silk Elements" hair grease (as well as other hair food products). I found that they stuck to the hair or felt as though they were sitting on top of it rather than absorbing.
3. My hair quickly became softer and much more manageable.
4. My hair felt lighter, and not weighed down with products.

So, I parted and twisted up my hair, temporarily and waited an extra 20 minutes, for it to absorb into my hair strands and scalp.

At the end of 20 minutes...

WOW!

It felt like new hair! It was really 'buttery soft'. When I combed through my naps, there was hardly any greasy residue and my comb easily glided through my hair.

Parting my hair was like "a butter knife cutting through softened butter".

It was so very easy to style. I wanted to add a small test, so I cornrow twisted the front half of my hair, and left my hair with a 'fro in the back. I went out for a few hours. Through the entire evening my hair remained as SOFT AND MOISTURIZED as it was when I first styled it!!!!

I "night braided up my 'fro" then satin wrapped up my hair and went to bed.

~End of Day~

Introduction

The hair style is a form of expression of an individual. Every style we wear helps determine what group of people we belong to; what gender we are; what our background is; our status in society; political views; and whether we have confidence within our selves.
Whether we are aware if it or not. Our hair style groups us under a human category.

For me, however, I don't view hair as a mere cultural form of acceptance. I see hair as another form of media to be creative.

But I have questions that need answers, like:

" How far will we go for being accepted?" "Are we willing to damage our self for personal vanity and acceptance?" "And if we find the answer, are we willing to accept them?"

So here's the THEORY:

I believe that the hair products we use are actually the reason for causing the damage to our bodies and our hair, rather than aiding it. I believe that the products that claim to help with balding, hair breakage, frizzy hair, tangles, and hair growth are actually the root of the problem.

Well its one thing to make a claim and its another to prove a point.

I intend to prove my theory correct. So, with using my own hair and head I plan to find my answers.

For the record, my hair is "Nappy". This type of hair is actually a perfect specimen to experiment on because "Black Hair" uses the largest amount of hair products, compared to other types.

I have been waiting to try this out, so I have been using a few chemical products. Not as much as if my hair was straightened. But still a good amount.

The products I have been using are as follows:

• Mane 'n Tail Deep Moisturizing Shampoo
• Mane 'n Tail Deep Moisturizing Conditioner
• Mane 'n Tail Daily Leave-in Conditioning Treatment
• Silk Elements Regular Formula (aka Hair Grease)

So how do I test my theory?

Simple. I have to replace these chemical products with something NON CHEMICAL. For this experiment I decided to go back to my roots...

And choose "Raw Shea Butter" as my replacement.

I actually wrote an article about Shea if you wanted to look it up.

Shea Butter is found, in many different forms, in a lot of black hair care product (as well as body care products). On the shelf or ready to go products usually use the refined version. More expensive ones use unrefined Shea, the only problem with that is the fragrance and preservative chemicals kill or annul what benefit you would have gotten if it was in 'raw' form.

While high end hair products start at $38 for 4.9oz and claim to be 100% Pure Shea Butter, the actual Raw Unrefined form of Shea Butter is sold at $10.50 per pound and has a way better benefit.

***

But back to my project:

I will be using just "Raw Shea Butter" as my hair grease (as well as a body moisturizer)...
I want to see for myself the difference of "Ready Made Products" vs "Natural Products".

Lets begin...