Updated hair routine

I shampoo my hair with a non-sulphate shampoo twice. I only put shampoo on the roots of my hair so I don't dry out my ends. Mostly, I shampoo my hair twice to be sure it's clean. Next I condition my hair with a a slippery conditioner, I often go for a mild protein conditioner in order to keep my hair strong.

Next I deep condition my hair, for the most part I use my staple deep conditioner which you can read about here.

I leave this in my hair for a minimum of forty five minutes and then detangle my hair before washing it out.

I style my hair in lots of different styles depending on what i'm doing. 

When I chose to go for no heat styles I first add my leave ins, this typically includes one of my favourites but mixed roots, which you can read about here with a little bit of something protein based.

I very rarely let my hair air dry and leave it completely. In other words, I do not "wash and go" Instead I put my hair in a protective style to stop it rubbing against my clothes and to avoid manipulation about 60-70% of the time. My chosen protective style is normally a messy bun. 

I often use limited heat when I'm in a rush, when I don't have time to let my hair air dry.

When using any heat it's important to use products which are suitable for use with heat. Lets not forget the horrible, yet amusing, video of a girl who literally burnt her hair off. This is most likely because she used products which should not be used with heat. For this reason I use various products which aim to strengthen and protect hair with heat usage such as Aveda.. and aphogee..

Once i've added my favourite products to my hair I'll blow dry my hair and normally put it in a protective style.

Although this style uses limited heat, it's still damaging so I do my best to go for completely no heat styles more often and I always use a heat protectant.

I like to straighten or flat iron my hair often. In this case I do not blow dry my hair, I'll either leave it over night or let it air dry. As some of you may know my current flat iron is the steam pod. I absolutely love it but it requires I use certain products and technics which you can read about here.

It's hard for me to quantify how much I actually straighten my hair as it all depends on what is going on in my life. For example, whilst I'm revising or writing a big piece of course work I won't straighten my hair. If I'm going out a lot I will straighten it more often. I straighten my hair around once every 2-3 weeks and occasionally I will do a few touch ups although I tend to avoid them.

When my hair is curly I put it in a pineapple, and when it's straightened I put it in a bun or flexi rods.
I'll occasionally use different methods such as hot oil treatments, hard protein treatments or something completely different.

Is your routine similar? What should I do differently?

April Length Check

As you guys may have seen in my last post I'm basically really bad at length checks so I'm going to follow this guide to keep check of my progress.

I know this is a bit of a random time to do a length check but I've been home from university this week so I can get proper photos.

Please excuse my messy curls.

April 13th 2014

Trying a cult favourite: Kanechom and silicon mix.

A few years ago I heard about dominican (I think) products called kanechomn and silicon mix. These people here and here were raving about how it made their hair look and feel.

April Inversion: Update

After completing inversion for a week I can say that if I hold my hair one way it looks like I've gained an inch. If I hold it a different way I haven't gained anything.

To cut a long story short, I really can't tell if i've made progress but I'm assuming I haven't.

I think I need to improve my length check techniques, I read a great post here about length checks and will follow thing method in future.

Have you had success with inversion?