My ACV rinse with a hint of Green Tea

Just realised this post is nearly two whole months late but here it is! Better late than never right? lol

After applying my Avocado & Banana Deep Conditioner, I proceeded to wash my hair out with ACV and Green Tea. 

ACV & Green Tea Rinse Recipe

Ingredients:

- 2 regular teabags

- 1/3 cup of ACV

- 1 cup of hot water 

Directions:

Nothing special really! I just added the above into a plastic bowl (the ACV, followed by the water and then the tea bags). I then repeatedly dunked the teabags in and out to increase the concentration of tea in my rinse. I made this "concoction" before washing & DC'ing my hair so by the time I came back it wasn't so hot.

My main reason for combining the ACV rinse with a Green Tea bag was to reduce the time it took to wash my hair (sometimes I wish I could shampoo/cowash, DC and  rinse my hair all in one step lol).

Why did I choose to use green tea instead of other types of tea?
... becuase it was the only one I could find at local Tesco (a supermarket), but I am still on the look out black/nettle tea which i've hear are also quite good.

Benefits of Green Tea:
Well first and foremost it's literally bursting full of antioxidants (mainly EGCG - Epigallocatchin) and secondly it contains vitamins such as  B5, C, D and E all of which combat free radicals which could potentially be damaging to our follicles, strengthen and condition our hair and stimulate our follicles leading to healthy hair growth! Green tea is also known to soothe dandruff and psoriasis and reduce inflammation.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar:
When researching ACV I found that it was typically used to cleanse the hair particularly those with following and no-poo regime. The slightly acidic nature of ACV means that it reduces build up. ACV contains bottle bacillus fighting enzymes (bottle bacillus is a type of bacteria believed to be responsible for many scalp conditions including dandruff). Lastly, ACV's antibacterial properties means that it prevents hair loss and stimulates healthy hair growth just like Green tea!

Pictures:

I'll definately be doing the ACV & Tea rinse more often in the future (maybe weekly/every two weeks) just becuase it is extremly easy to prepare and the results were fantastic!

NB: Please pay attention to how you hair responds to new products, it may be necessary for you to isolate products in order to know if they are really working or not!

Wallet friendly Homemade DC Mix

As you can probably tell from my last post, on Thursday I decided to try (after making a few alterations) the much loved Avocado & Banana Deep Conditioner.

*The following recipe is just about enough for SL/CBL hair - you may need more if you have longer hair*

Ingredients:

• Half a banana 
• Half an avocado 
• 2 table spoons of plain Greek yoghurt 
• 1 table spoon of coconut milk 
• 1 & 1/2 table spoons of honey
• 3 drops of pure vegetable glycerine 
• My oil mix (incl. avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil, castor oil and Jamaican black castor oil)
• Aphogee 2 min reconstructor 
• ORS Replenishing conditioner 

Directions:

1. Blend the banana, avocado, Greek yoghurt and coconut together 
2. Pour into a small bowl and add the other ingredients 
3. Apply to hair from roots to tips with an applicator brush massaging into the hair every so often
4. Cover hair with plastic cap and leave in for an hour & a half and then co-wash out 

Pictures:

The significance the main ingredients:

Bananas are rich in potassium, carbs, natural oils and vitamins which help soften the hair shafts and protect each strand's natural elasticity (preventing breakage and spit ends), increase manageability and control dandruff. Add Bananas to your DC if your hair is dry, sun damaged, chemically treated (i.e. dyed or relaxed) or if you suffer from dandruff.

Avocados are also rich in potassium, vitamins and natural oils avocados can help moisturise your hair and promotes growth. They also contain copper and oleic acid (a mono-saturated fat). 


Yoghurt gently cleanses hair whist eliminating frizz and dandruff leaving hair shiny soft and conditioned. It can also be used as a detangler. 


Coconut milk contains proteins which strengthen the hair and can help minimise breakage. 

Honey & Glycerine are both humectants which return moisture back to dry hair & gives it extra slip
NB: do not use humectants in very wet or very dry areas or when there is too much or too little moisture in the air.

Notes:

Next time i'll use banana baby food or make sure I blend the banana bits well as it was slightly difficult removing some of the banana fibres from my hair. 

Wash day and DC mix & ACV + tea mix

This post might end up being a tad too long so I might split it up into 3 parts (one post with a summary of my Wash Day, another on my DC mix and the last on my ACV + tea mix).

So, I shampooed, deep conditioned and did a green tea + AVC rinse on my hair on Thursday. It had been 2 weeks & 1 day since my relaxer (& therefore my last wash). I decided to shampoo rather than co-wash mainly because I found out that the ORS Olive Oil Lotion I've been using contains petrolatum and I have been M&S my hair daily with it.

My hair after detangling
& before entering the shower.

I pre-pooed the night before with coconut oil and put on a shower cap under my satin bonnet for an overnight GHE session. In the morning, I detangled my hair with my (NEW) BodyShop wooden de-tangling wide tooth comb and jumped into the shower.

Before shampooing my hair, I decided to mix a few ingredients I had bought and make my own little DC mix which contained:

• Half a banana 
• Half an avocado 
• 2 table spoons of plain Greek yoghurt 
• 1 table spoon of coconut milk 
• 1 & 1/2 table spoons of honey
• 3 drops of pure vegetable glycerine 
• My oil mix
• Aphogee 2 min reconstructor 
• ORS Replenishing conditioner 

I jumped into the shower and shampooed once with my ORS Creamy Aloe shampoo and then once again with my KeraCare Hydrating Detangling shampoo. I then towel dried my hair, applied my DC mix and covered my hair with a plastic shower cap. After 90 mins I went back into the shower and rinsed off the DC mix, poured my Apple Cider Vinegar + Green Tea mix over my hair and co-washed with my Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner to get rid of the awful smell of vinegar and banana bits (more on that in my other posts). 


Like usual, I applied some cantu shea butter to my damp hair and let my hair air dry in a loose bun. I then M&S with my Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends moisturiser and my oil mix. 


So what was the end result? Well my relaxed ends felt like butter & the texlaxed sections of my hair also felt noticeably soft but the best part of all was that the breakage I was suffering from was reduced! My hair also had an incredible amount of slip!

This was an extremely long process so I may not do this every week BUT I WILL DO THIS AGAIN! (maybe every month?) 

Wash day (extra long post)

My hair has been in a bun constantly (sorry for the lack of pictures) and the time has finally come for me to wash my hair. Every night (or every other night depending on how my hair felt) I would moisturise and seal my hair by spraying (distilled) water, using cantu shea butter (to seal the water), the the ors olive oil moisturising lotion, followed by herbal essences beautiful ends and finally sealing with KTC coconut oil (more on why I used so many products in the post before this). Afterwards, i would remove my hair-band, twist and tuck under the ends of my hair and wrap it in a silk scarf. 

1. The night before, I prepoo'd on dry hair with coconut oil and left it in over night. 

2. I then de tangled my in sections the next morning and put them in loose twists (picture below):

3. I decided to use the Keracare Hydrating Detangling shampoo (so I could do a product review soon) and added 30ml of the shampoo to 30 ml of water creating a 1:1 ratio of shampoo to water. I created sections with the sections (lol) and added the mix directly to my scalp on dry hair.

I had planned to use the ORS Aloe Vera clarifying shampoo first but I forgot (woops)! Although this isn't too bad as I want to start stretch my clarifying shampoo from once a month to once ever 6 - 10 weeks.

4.In the shower I tried washing my hair in sections but this took too long so I ended up washing it altogether.I let the shampoo run through my hair (from my scalp) and then added the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner/co-wash to the ends of my hair (because I didn't want to strip the ends too much by adding shampoo directly).

5. After washing my hair, I towel dried it for 5 mins and added the Aphogee 2 Min Reconstructor, popped on a shower cap and left it for roughly 15 minutes  (although the bottle said 2-5 I wanted to strengthen my hair in preparation for blowdrying & the braids I plan on getting tomorrow).

6. I washed then Aphogee 2 Min out and then added the ORS Replen Pak for about 50 mins.

The end result of the above was extremely soft hair! I also did the strand test in the shower whilst washing out the ORS replen pak (so on wet hair) and the result was stretched hair which bounced back.

7. I towel dried my hair for 5 mins and then added  some cantu shea butter & that resulted in:

 ignore the straggly ends, I was worried about this too but it must be the because of the difference in textures. 

8. I then let my hair air dry out (as the cantu shea butter stopped it from dripping) for 4 hours and then proceeded to moisturise and seal my hair.