How Changing my Regimen Saved my Hair.

Hair regimens are important. Especially if you have natural hair. Once of the biggest pitfalls of having natural hair is overcoming that inner product junkie. You know the one that wants to try every single product that comes out on the market? Being that I’ve been natural for many years I thought I finally figured out what my hair liked there were certain products from brands that I could use and certain products I had to stay away from.

After doing another impromptu big chop in January I realized that my hair was riddled with grays. I mean I’ve always had gray hair but this time, they seemed to be on a whole other level. Since I’m working hard to not put color in my hair anymore I decided I would dye my grays naturally using Henna. You see my entire process in this video. After the henna my grays were a nice brownish red and blended in well with my hair, basically they weren’t as noticeable. After the henna treatment, I noticed that my hair didn’t feel the same on wash days. It felt and looked dry and rough.  I always do the LOC method and even deep condition my hair, but there was seriously no getting around the latest texture change. 

At first, I thought “oh goodness I’m gonna have to big chop again.”, but after doing some research I realized that I was suffering from Protein Overload. The Henna treatment not only added color to my hair but added a lot of protein throwing off the overall balance. To treat this I had to change my hair regimen. I’d been using the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor oil line and following up with coconut oil to seal in the leave in. Castor Oil is rich in protein and coconut oil helps to retain protein. So basically, I was oversaturating my hair with protein. 

To treat this problem I switched up my regimen completely. Instead of using the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Shampoo I switched to the Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Shampoo, followed by a deep condition with the Dark and Lovely Au Naturale LOC deep conditioner delight. After this, I do another quick condition with Carols Daughter Black Vanilla Conditioner. Slowly but surely I started to see my texture revert back to its original form. Three weeks in and after rinsing out the conditioner my curls are naturally forming instead of my hair looking straight

MY LOC regimen consist of the Dark and Lovely LOC Leave In and Oil Cocktail instead of the Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil leave in and Coconut Oil. I’ve found the lighter the product the better for my hair. To style my hair I’m using the Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Curl enhancing smoothie followed by the Curling Gel Souflee from the same line. I’m so glad I took the time to figure out what was going on with my hair before I did anything drastic. If you’re experiencing inconsistencies with your hair definitely make sure you take a look at the products as they very well may be the culprit.