Tag Archives: healthy hair

Hair challenge and regimen

I have been researching a lot about the benefits of Castor oil of recent and I’ve seen some impressing results with using this oil.
Castor oil is a natural oil that derives from a plant.
Castor oil has many benefits for the body, skin and hair amongst more. Some of the benefits for hair include:

– Promotes hair growth
– Thickens hair
– Darkens hair
– Thickens eye brows and eye lashes

I have decided to incorporate using castor oil in my regimen to receive some of the above benefits, therefore I am setting myself a challenge. I will start off with a 3 month challenge and extend it if I see great results! Please comment if you will like to join me on my challenge to grow healthier, longer hair.

The challenge rules:
– Apply castor oil to scalp at least 3x a week (I am planning to apply it every other day)
– Massage the oil in to scalp for 1 – 5 minutes (massaging will increase blood flow and help aid in faster hair growth)
– The night before washing and conditioning hair, apply castor oil to scalp and hair, wear a steam cap to bed (I aim to do this at least 1x a week as an added deep condition step)

Note: You may want to mix your castor oil with a carrier oil e.g. extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil etc. This is fine and will help to lighten the otherwise thick consistency but make sure you have at least 50% castor oil in the mixture.

You do not have to wash your hair every time you apply the castor oil, you can simply apply a small amount to the scalp and wait until your wash day, since I am following the curly girl routine, I plan on co-washing my hair at least 3x a week but if you will like to stick to 1x a week then it’s up to you. It doesn’t matter if you use shampoo or conditioner for your wash, as long as you moisturise with a good conditioner after you shampoo.

Challenge start date: 12/02/2015
Challenge end date: 12/05/2015

My regimen:
Day 1
1. Put hair in 4 sections then Clarify my hair with either baking soda and water mixture (2tbs baking soda to 2 cups of warm water) for 2-7 minutes or Apple cider vinegar mixed with water (1:1) for 30-60 minutes then rinse out
2. Apply kinky curly knot today in the 4 sections and finger detangle before steaming or deep conditioning over night
3. Apply bentonite clay mixed with water and leave for 10-15 minutes before rinsing
4. Apply kinky curly knot today (watered down or on sopping wet hair)
5. Apply kinky curly curling custard to define my curls

Day 2 and 3
1. Rinse hair with water then put hair in 4 sections
2. Apply kinky curly knot today
3. Squeeze out excess conditioner (for low porosity hair)
4. Apply kinky curly curling custard to define my curls (wet hair if hair begins to dry before this step)

At night: Apply castor oil to scalp every other day and all over hair before day 1 wash

Update: 18/02/15
I’ve noticed that my hair has not been responding well when product has been applied and products are starting to sit on my hair much more than before (when I was doing the maximum hydration method). At first I just thought that I will do the full MHM method once a week and cowash in between but my hair is definitely looking more dry and losing alot of moisture. Therefore I have decided to go back to square 1 and do the 7 day maximum hydration method full regimen. I’m hoping I’ll be able to gain moisture again in my strands and after the 7 days I will hopefully be able to do it less often – at first every 1-3 days and in time every 3-5 days (when I have reached max hydration on all strands of hair). The max hydration method is the day 1 routine above and I will be doing this as this is what helped my hair receive much more moisture than I used to get before knowing about it. This time I’m hoping to be more consistent with it before adapting the routine to make it a little less time consuming which is the whole reason why I stopped doing it often enough. Additionally I have noticed that my hair does not like coconut oil and glycerin as it causes my hair to appear dry. An update will be made after 3 months to show my progress