DAY 40: Holiday Recovery

The Thanksgiving weekend was wonderful. We spent time with family, ate lots of food, and fought off a head cold. I didn't realize that I had a head cold until Saturday so until then life was fairly miserable and my curls suffered along with me. Once I learned it was a head cold and began taking the appropriate medicine life got more enjoyable and my curls were taken care of.

Since I did a lemonade wash yesterday I did nothing more than a cold water spritz. I keep meaning to make more lavender but I keep forgetting. I blot dried and gel plopped and went to work. Although I have complained that I'm not sure this is really doing anything for my hair, it seems the longer you go the better it really does get. Now that the smell of the Chakra treatment is completely gone I can see how it helped in the long run. I don't foresee myself putting my nose through that again; however, I've learned the importance of a deep treatment every few weeks. Since the weather is getting colder and the air is getting drier I hope to do another one soon.

My curls are thriving, happy, bouncy, and have a touch of holiday spirit to them today. Tomorrow is December 1, I just can't believe how fast the year has gone...

Curl: 8
Frizz: 3
Weather: 49F, cloudy
Stress: moderate

DAY 35: Looking Professional

In a world where women are in the work place there is always someone with an opinion of what looks professional and what does not. Most men can wear a suit and tie and as long as they are not in sneakers are considered to look appropriate for the business work place. Women, on the other hand, do not have it that easy. Should we wear pants or a skirt? Blouse or sweater? Pantyhose or none? Jacket or not? Should our hair be up or down, should we wear makeup or not? With so many decisions to make and so many trends to choose from it's no wonder so many of us are confused as to what to wear to work and what is considered business appropriate in the workplace for women.

Today I happened to wear my hair in a pony tail and I took time on my pony tail this morning to make sure it didn't look sporty. In a discussion I had later with a co-worker I was told that a pony tail has no place in the professional and business workplace. Please keep in mind that I was in slacks, a blouse, and dress shoes; however, according to her my hair was not appropriate. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I thought my pony tail looked quite nice. I made sure to brush back an stray frizzy hairs that stuck out and kept my pony tail some what low on my head. The curling mass that fell down my back was nice and helped show off how the green in my shirt reflected off my eyes. It was not a messy pony tail, it was a well constructed and neat pony tail that I was proud of. In my opinion I looked professional; I guess others would disagree. :-P

Curls: 5
Frizz: 4
Weather: 62F, cloudy
Stress: Low

[*With tomorrow being Thanksgiving I have no plans of writing, my hope is to pick up again on Friday but with it being the holidays I make no promises. :)]

DAY 34: Not Sure What Else to Do

It has been 4 days since using the smelly concoction on my hair and even after doing a thorough co-wash I can STILL smell it. Although faint, the smell is still there and every now and again I get a wiff of my self and can't help but gag. After 4 days of this I have come to the conclusion that I will NOT be using that deep moisturizing treatment again. It's just not worth it; others may not notice it but I can smell myself.

I did a spot clean on my scalp and a co-wash on my ends. I rinsed with cold water, blot dried, and gel plopped. I pulled the front back with bobby pins and let it hang loose in the back. The curls were more of a wave when they were all hanging lose; however, when I pulled the front back the under curls took over and now are going curl crazy around my neck.

Curl: 7
Frizz: 2
Weather: 59F, Cloudy, 71% humidity
Stress: Moderate

Day 33: Getting Past the Smell

This morning I did a lavender mist to hide the last bit of faint baby puke smell. The lavender was strong enough to hide it as well as add moisture and shine. I wonder why I didn't think of that yesterday!

The curls are nice however the frizz is a little on the heavy side. I can tell it's getting time to wash and I'm all ready to get my hair back to its normal scent! I can tell that by the time I get home the frizz on my neck and ears will have gotten to me and it will be in a pony tail but the end of the night.

It's weeks like this that change my mind about curly girl. When I first started my hair made a huge change; however, now that I'm in a routine I don't really see a difference in what I do now and shampooing. If anything my hair is frizzier most days and the curl really isn't better. In fact most of the time the curl is the same or much less.

Maybe it's time for trim....
Or maybe I'm in need of cutting off some of the length...

Curl: 5
Frizz: 6
Weather: 55F, cloudy, 71% humidity
Stress: low

Day 32: Faint Smell

My hair, I feel, still has a soured milk smell when I got up and I knew getting it wet would only make it worse. I sprayed on a little extra body spray this morning to help cover it; making sure to spritz my hair as well as my body. Even with the spritz I still could smell it so I pulled it up and put on a hat.

I know, you're probably wondering why I didn't do a co-wash or shampoo it; I fear build up in my hair or doing a lemonade wash would dry it out. To avoid over treating or drying it out I'm toughing it out and making do. I figure the treatment still worked, it just smelled. The hat kept it out of the wind today and no one was able to smell it, not even me.

Curl: 5
Frizz: 5
Weather: 54F, cloudy
Stress: low

DAY 31: Smelly Treatment

Last night I put together the Deep Charka Moisturizing treatment for my hair. The effect was AWESOME and my hair was super soft and curly. I was very content with the results; however, it made my hair REEK!

The recipe calls for:
1 Tablespoon powered egges
1 Tablespoon powered milk
1 teaspoon honey
1-2 cups of boiled pasta water or boiled water
3 Tablespoons heavy cream

The first three ingredients are mixed to form a paste, then add the boiling water and slowly stir in the cream. Pour over hair, wrap in plastic wrap turban, and let it sit for at least an hour. Rinse thoroughly and condition as normal.

After having my hubby pour it over my hair, and making sure it was all well coated we wrapped it in plastic and covered it with a towel. Take note that even though your hair may be wrapped in plastic it will still leak, so covering the plastic with a towel prevented the liquid from dripping all over me. We both got comfortable and sat down to watch a movie. In all my hair sat for about a hour and a half and made sure to rinsed REALLY REALLY well and conditioned REALLY REALLY well. I dry blotted and plopped with out gel and let it dry before going to bed. My hair was only slightly damp when I finally climbed into bed.

As I laid down I noticed that something smelled. I smelled the sheets, my pillow, my shirt, the carpet, and the comforter. I couldn't find the root of the smell anywhere and it was strong no matter where I was. Finally, as I laid my head on my pillow i realized it was ME, my hair! It smelled like baby formula or baby puke and it was nasty! Hoping it would die off as my hair dried completely I made sure my hair was out of my face as much as possible before attempting to drift off to sleep. When I woke up the smell had lessened but I could smell the fact that the baby puke ora was still there. Spraying my hair with cold water intensified the smell and I to alleviate the problem I seriously considered shampooing. My husband didn't think the smell was as bad as I did and made sure to tell me it was not noticeable; so I just pulled the front away from my face and nose and let hang down my back. The whole incident cause me to I walked around all day a little self conscious and although it did wonders to my curl and shine I'm a little hesitant to try this one again... It is my belief that is was the powered milk that caused the stench.

Curl: 7
Frizz: 1
Weather: Sunny, windy, 65% humidity
Stress: low

Day 30: ONE MONTH

It's been a whole month since I have used shampoo and I am quite proud of myself for sticking to it. Once I got a method and routine down it's been very easy.

I attempted a moisturizing treatment last night only to scald my scalp. The recipe called for boiling water and I thought it had cooled enough; it had not and I ended up pouring HOT water on my scalp. I screamed in pain which caused me to drop the container and everything to be poured down the drain... there went that idea. I might have remixed the recipe and tried again but I was tired and my scalp hurt. Instead, I climbed in a hot bubble bath with a good book to make myself feel better.

This morning was not a rushed morning but it IS Friday and I have hard time motivating myself to put extra effort into anything. My hair got pulled back in a high ponytail and the front pinned. The curl is still nice and it looks more sporty than professional but I can't really say that I mind. I've spent the last 9 days sitting in a room with 15 men who could be my father or grandfather and there is a high probability I will do it again today; is it Saturday yet?

Curl: 6
Frizz: 2
Weather: 40F, Sunny, 90% humidity
Stress: High