Update: Career; Hair Product Staples

Greetings!

It’s been a loooooong time since I’ve posted any sort of update. I hope you and yours have been well in the interim.

Career

I’ve been concentrating a lot on my tutoring business. Word of mouth has brought me new clients, and it’s been good and exciting! Each of my clients is doing very, very well. It’s wonderful to be able to provide excellent service to these families. They are so grateful, and I feel like I’m using the skills with which God has gifted me. 😀

Recent Hair Ease

On the hair front, because I’ve been focusing so much on the business, I have pulled back a little bit regarding hair care. I have still been cleansing and deep conditioning faithfully. However, I have simplified styling immensely: I mainly wear chunky twist outs. They take comparatively little time to install, they dry overnight, and take down and styling is easy. Bonus: They resist knots and tangling. (Huge thumbs up!)

Current Hair Interests: RevAir, Olaplex, an Easier Wash-and-Go, and Current Hair Product Staples

The RevAir

I have been eyeing the new RevAir hair dryer. From the demos, it looks like a super serious game changer (see demo YouTube video below). I feel the RevAir could help me reduce mechanical damage. I’m thinking I would:

1. detangle my hair and twist it up to prevent re-tangling,
2. wash it in twists,
3. deep condition in it in twists,
4. and then either blow dry it and THEN install twists for a twist out on stretched hair . . . OR . . .
5. . . . install twists for a twist out and dry them with the RevAir . . . OR . . .
6. . . . install Bantu knots on stretched hair for the beach waves look that Naptural85 achieves (I’d have to really practice as my Bantu knot outs have not been stellar 😛 ).

I’m waiting to see someone demo drying twists with the RevAir. I have three reservations about the RevAir: its price, its loudness, and its bulkiness. The results might just make me overlook all of that! Check out the demo video below to learn about all three as well as its performance on natural hair. What are your thoughts? Wait until the manufacturer works out the kinks and produces RevAir 2.0? Wait until sellers provide a serious discount? Yeah. 😀

Olaplex

I’ve been reading a lot of good reviews about Olaplex. This is a collection of products designed to repair the bonds in hair. Olaplex products Nos. 1 and 2 appear to be salon products, whereas Olaplex products Nos. 3, 4, and 5 appear to be products for at-home use.

I recently ordered and used Olaplex No. 3 (the at-home treatment) and Olaplex No. 4 (the shampoo). I am not prepared to do a full review, but I can say that my hair felt different after using these products: soft and strong in a way I’ve yet to achieve with other products. It did seem to “undefine” my hair at the roots, meaning, my hair seemed to lose its definition/coiliness after using the two products. No one else has mentioned this, so it might be unique to my hair. In the past I have been able to regain this definition via either a good protein treatment or a good deep conditioning treatment. We’ll see!

Have you heard anything about Olaplex? Have you tried it? If so, which products? Have you decided to bypass Olaplex? If so, why? I’d love to hear your thoughts on Olaplex in the comment section below! 🙂

Easier Wash-and-Go

Yesterday I tried a new wash-and-go method and product combination. Here are the results. Below I discuss the technique in detail.

First, I detangled my hair at the bathroom sink with Jane Carter’s Curls to Go Cowash. I’m really excited about this product. It smells great, has plenty of slip for detangling, and it allows me to reduce mechanical damage to my hair by allowing me to detangle and cleanse AND condition — all in ONE step. I use this cowash by applying it to a section, then applying water over the cowash with a spray bottle it until it gets very slippery, next doing light finger detangling, and then finally using my KareCo Tangle Buster Brush to further detangle the section. I then twist up the section and repeat these steps with all remaining sections.

Second after detangling, I rinsed my hair in the shower and liberally applied Camille Rose Naturals Coconut Water Leave-in, section by section. I liked this move! It left my hair coated with slippery stuff so that my hair was knot-resistant. I chose this leave-in because I felt it would dry clear on my hair, and I thought it thus might pair better/well with the gel I would be using. After applying this leave-in to each section, I quickly flashed each section under the shower water so as to disperse the product thoroughly throughout the section. Then I squeezed out the excess water and product. I did this to try to prevent any bad interactions (e.g., flaking) between this leave-in and the gel I would be using.

Third after applying leave-in in the shower, at the bathroom sink I applied Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel. I was running out of time and had to do this quickly. I had no time to tension blow dry for elongation. I just had to let it air dry.

It looked okay, but I feel that it looked MUCH better the next day after I had slept with it banded in four sections overnight (please see the photo above).

Have you trialed any new wash-and-go techniques and/or product combinations lately? If so, what . . . and how did it fare? Sound off in the comments! I’m truly curious! 😀

Current Staple Hair Products

Below is a photo of the products I’m currently using. The Olaplex products aren’t actually staples: They’re on trial. I’m going to watch the health of my hair over the next few months to see if they make any difference. Regarding the rest of the products, they are working GREAT on my hair. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or questions about one or more of them.

All Products

Products to Use to Chelate, Treat Hair with Protein, and Deep Condition

Products to Use to Strengthen the Bonds in My Hair and then Deep Condition

Products to Use for a Twist Out on a Typical Non-Chelating and Non-Bond-Strengthening Wash-and-Style Day

Products to Use for a Wash-and-Go on a Typical Non-Chelating and Non-Bond-Strengthening Wash-and-Style Day

As always, thank you so much for visiting my blog, and please feel free to drop me a line! Until next time! ❤

Yvette