Originally Posted by meandmyglory

Thanks Tina!!! Your hair looks great as well. How do you get your mini twist not to shrink? or does shrinkage not bother you? The mud wash is the best thing that ever happen to my hair. It makes washing sooooooo easy. If you try it I'm sure you'll love it to.

Originally Posted by meandmyglory

Hi Everybody. I have been natural since July of 2008 and I've had my ups and downs. After about a year and a half natural a thyroid issue cause my hair to break badly and after about 2 years I got a texturizer and it led to mad breakage. This year I finally got to a point where my hair is healthy and really starting to grow like it should. I'm eager for it to grow and have been experiminting with different techniques to see what works. I do mini twist from time to time but my shrinkage is crazy and I always end up taking them out after like a week tops. I started a protective style challenge because everyone says protective styles equal growth but during the course of it I realized that I hate protective styling. So I've decided to go for low manipulation instead and see where that gets me. I typically wash/co wash weekly. I wash with Terrenssentials Organic Hair wash ( I LOVE this stuff) and co wash with either tressumme naturals or giovanni smooth as silk deep conditioner. I also use Giovanni direct leave in, seal with castor oil and then whatever styler I'm using (they vary ALOT). I do a braid out or a twist out and rock with it for a week. I will rebraid or retwist at night unless I'm lazy and then I just put it in a puff. I blow my hair out once in a while if I want big big hair, but I don't do it often because I'm lazy and the tension method takes way to long and using a comb attachment often leads to me ripping hair out. During the week if I need to remoisturize I use plain water and seal with castor oil and a little shea butter mix on the ends. I also henna like every 8 weeks or so. I started doing this when I was going through my breakage issues and it helps alot. I think it also gives my hair a nice sheen. I have attached a length check pic of my current length. In the other pic I show how I typically wear my hair a puff or what I call the half ass frohawk cause I only pin up the sides in front of my ears. The bottom pics are backwards. The one in black is day one of a braid/twist out and the one in the pink is like day 4. At night I was just putting it in like 6 big twist. I know I've written a book (I tend to do that), so my bad if that's a problem for you. So what is everyone's current routine, what products can you not live without and what are you trying to change or accomplish. I simply want growth without protective styling so I'm going to see if I can a regimen going that will give me just that.

Originally Posted by tishaamelia

All I know is your hair has the most defined curls ever when you do your twist out/ braid out. I'm always impressed. I would like to know if you have a certain technique.

Originally Posted by meandmyglory

Hi Everybody. I have been natural since July of 2008 and I've had my ups and downs. After about a year and a half natural a thyroid issue cause my hair to break badly and after about 2 years I got a texturizer and it led to mad breakage. This year I finally got to a point where my hair is healthy and really starting to grow like it should. I'm eager for it to grow and have been experiminting with different techniques to see what works. I do mini twist from time to time but my shrinkage is crazy and I always end up taking them out after like a week tops. I started a protective style challenge because everyone says protective styles equal growth but during the course of it I realized that I hate protective styling. So I've decided to go for low manipulation instead and see where that gets me. I typically wash/co wash weekly. I wash with Terrenssentials Organic Hair wash ( I LOVE this stuff) and co wash with either tressumme naturals or giovanni smooth as silk deep conditioner. I also use Giovanni direct leave in, seal with castor oil and then whatever styler I'm using (they vary ALOT). I do a braid out or a twist out and rock with it for a week. I will rebraid or retwist at night unless I'm lazy and then I just put it in a puff. I blow my hair out once in a while if I want big big hair, but I don't do it often because I'm lazy and the tension method takes way to long and using a comb attachment often leads to me ripping hair out. During the week if I need to remoisturize I use plain water and seal with castor oil and a little shea butter mix on the ends. I also henna like every 8 weeks or so. I started doing this when I was going through my breakage issues and it helps alot. I think it also gives my hair a nice sheen. I have attached a length check pic of my current length. In the other pic I show how I typically wear my hair a puff or what I call the half ass frohawk cause I only pin up the sides in front of my ears. The bottom pics are backwards. The one in black is day one of a braid/twist out and the one in the pink is like day 4. At night I was just putting it in like 6 big twist. I know I've written a book (I tend to do that), so my bad if that's a problem for you. So what is everyone's current routine, what products can you not live without and what are you trying to change or accomplish. I simply want growth without protective styling so I'm going to see if I can a regimen going that will give me just that.

Originally Posted by NaturalAngelic

I'll go ahead and share my weekly routine with you guys (: The products I use change every so often, but I do pretty much the same thing every Sunday. I start by doing a hot oil treatment with extra virgin olive oil. I heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds in a glass then put it in a container that has a nose(this is what I call it lmao) so it's easy to apply. Then I use my hair therapy wrap to really penetrate. After I wash it out then I do a deep treatment with cantu Shea butter leave in and I also use my har therapy wrap for that. Then I rinse and shampoo or co wash my hair. I don't use any specific product. Ive been using Shea Moisture's sulfate free shampoo. Then I put a rinse out conditioner, which has been shea Moisture's as well. Then I use a leave in to help me detangle which has been cantu Shea butters hair lotion for natural hair. Then I seal in the moisture with some type of oil which has again been Shea Moisture's elixir. Finally I do whatever style I'm feeling at the moment (: thank you if you read all that and feel free to ask questions! Lol

Originally Posted by tishaamelia

All I know is your hair has the most defined curls ever when you do your twist out/ braid out. I'm always impressed. I would like to know if you have a certain technique.

Originally Posted by NaturalAngelic

Thank you for the story! I enjoyed reading it (: your hair looks really really healthy, so glad it's working with you now. What type of protective styles did you do?

Originally Posted by NaturalAngelic

I'll go ahead and share my weekly routine with you guys (: The products I use change every so often, but I do pretty much the same thing every Sunday. I start by doing a hot oil treatment with extra virgin olive oil. I heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds in a glass then put it in a container that has a nose(this is what I call it lmao) so it's easy to apply. Then I use my hair therapy wrap to really penetrate. After I wash it out then I do a deep treatment with cantu Shea butter leave in and I also use my har therapy wrap for that. Then I rinse and shampoo or co wash my hair. I don't use any specific product. Ive been using Shea Moisture's sulfate free shampoo. Then I put a rinse out conditioner, which has been shea Moisture's as well. Then I use a leave in to help me detangle which has been cantu Shea butters hair lotion for natural hair. Then I seal in the moisture with some type of oil which has again been Shea Moisture's elixir. Finally I do whatever style I'm feeling at the moment (: thank you if you read all that and feel free to ask questions! Lol

Originally Posted by tishaamelia

It sounds like you have a great routine and from your picture I can tell your hair agrees with it. What are your "go to" styles.