My Hair Obsession

So, I got my pretty little hair sword last week. The more I see & use it, the more I love it! Ain't it purdy? The other one is a rose hair stick from longhairgirl.com. I love these things - they hold so well with less hair damage than elastics or metal barrettes. Plus, when your hair is up, the ends are protected & therefore get fewer splits.

I'm loving the condition my hair is in since I've changed the way I care for it now that I've discovered the Long Hair Community. See that shine! (I am so freakin' thrilled!) Even if you're not looking to grow long hair, your hair can benefit from the care tips you can glean there.
I thought I just had Chronic Big Hair Syndrome(CBHS). Waves that would poof out & flyaways that persistently, well... flew all over. Now that I've learned that CBHS comes when wavies & curlies use brushes & have started using oils, my hair is so different. It still has it's rebellious moments but the shine is phenomenal & it doesn't even tangle as much.

My new routine? I condition-wash-condition (CWC) every morning, although lately I've been experimenting with conditioner only (CO) follwoed by an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) rinse every other day. CWC is putting conditioner on from about the ears down, leaving that & shampooing the scalp only. Rinse everything & condition again. My deep conditioner is about four parts conditioner mixed with one part pure aloe vera gel & one part honey. I bun it, cover it with a plastic shower cap & then sleep on it all night before shampooing it out. After the shower, I carefully comb it out with a wide-tooth comb & then slide a little (seriously, a little goes a long way) coconut oil on. I let it dry a little & then whirl it up in a bun of some sort. When I take it down later in the day, I have the most awesome bun curls! Before I go to bed, I put some shea butter on the length, braid it & then either put my very (not) chic silky headcovering-doohickey on or just use my satin pillowcase. Like I said, the condition has improved so much. I still have lots of split ends that I'm slowly weeding out with Search & Destroy missions (S&D). I plan to eventually get rid of the layers I have. Not a lot of them, but it still makes it hard to braid all the way down. I want to get closer to my goal length first.

Most of the pictures on the hair forum are of the backs of folks' heads. It's kinda funny, but I had to get some while we were on vacation in the Black Hills. Mom got the above shot while we were on the walk up to Mount Rushmore. I've been doing my hair like that for around a year & never knew what it looked like until about a month ago.I asked Dad to get a shot of my hair. I didn't think I needed to tell him that the hair needed to be able to seen by the naked eye, but apparently... ;-)