I shouldn't say sort of. I did wash my hair today. I didn't take my hair down on Monday night as planned because I wasn't going to get my hair cut until tomorrow. Plus there was no time to sort out what to do with my hair while I still got two workouts in before the holiday. I took it down last night, well I started out right after I finished running around but because they were so small it took me almost six hours to wrap that process up, but was so tired that all I did was did a brief fluffing out and then went to bed. I noted a few spots that were knotted but nothing that couldn't be addressed after some conditioning.
I woke up this morning and grabbed almost ever deep conditioning mask and treatment I had (Dr. Miracle's, Moroccan Oil, It's a 10 and an Organix blend) and took some time to fully cover my hair. Then I did my first really good detangle and covered my hair with a plastic cap and the Hot Headz (I think that's the name, don't hold me to it) cloth cover and went about my day. I cooked breakfast and the turkey for lunch/dinner, almost took a nap and then had my only two meals of the day thus far. Then I figured I should wash this out because I wasn't sure how long this was going to take to wrap up. My hair felt like it was okay but I detangled again just to be safe. I washed it out and felt a little place where it could mat if I wasn't careful but fingered it loose and then went for the post poo deep conditioner which in this case was just Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque and a store freebie that I can't remember lol. I only left it in for like an hour and washed it out in the sink to hopefully prevent any kind of post love matting. I finger detangled until I put in my leave ins following the LOC method with an added bonus of an Aveda Smooth Infusion treatment to help the hair straighten. And then I fired up my new hairdryer.
I will say I had massive reservations about how this dryer would hold up with all of the poof that was my almost five month and change post relaxer hair. I knew it was more powerful than my other one which was supposed to mean it would dry faster but yeah life could super suck if the comb attachment and dryer didn't live up to its billing. This was the only time ever that my hair felt like butter when a dryer hit it. It worked quickly and really just made the entire process super easy. I had to stop for a while because my other dryer I could hold like a big brush versus this one. But the comb and dryer moved through all of the poofiness with not a bit of trouble. I stopped short of flat ironing it since I'm going to have it trimmed tomorrow and her flat iron skills far exceed my own. I'm going to tie it down at the gym tomorrow morning if I can wake up on time. Hair appointment at 2 and then new photo when I'm not quite looking homeless. I don't now just like dang have you EVER put a relaxer on your hair. Now onto the reviews.
New Products: I have used Shea Moisture products before and my hair super duper did not like them. I was hesitant to buy them as part of my transition but Carol's Daughter discontinued their transitioning line and Shea Moisture was recommended as a good alternative both online and by my old stylist (hey Keshia). First it took a while for it to lather but when it did my hair felt clean and fresh and a few finger curls through stopped any major issues. After I figured out how to open the conditioner it worked equally well and I probably could have stopped with the two of them but I added parts of my old staples just to keep it balanced with protein and moisture. I will give a total thumbs up to the Raw Shea Butter and Argan Oil product line (I didn't purchase this kit because it's not available in the store but it shows you all the products I used except the finishing elixir which they didn't have in the store). Maybe they aren't great for super straight hair but for hair in need of some love and moisture they were well appreciated. For those of you that like numbers better 9/10, I do like more lather but it seems to do the job well so far.
New Dryer: Hot Tools Professional Tourmaline Tools 2000 Turbo Ionic Dryer. I played with about 6 dryers of varying price points before I went with this one and I'll admit a large portion of what I made my final decision on was that was red lol. I was worried because when I have purchased dryers like this in the past the comb attachments weren't sturdy enough to handle the thickness of my hair. They frequently broke and just left me irritated about finding a replacement. My Gold N Hot was a god send when I found it but really after almost abandoning heat altogether over the last few years I hadn't noticed how ineffective it had become in working through my hair. So yes it was time but no I wasn't confident. As I mentioned earlier though it was amazing. Watching the heat shift smoothly along with the fan speed was new. On full blast though it would fry my hair so medium to high heat and no more than medium speed and I had dry soft poofy hair in a fraction of the time it would take with my old dryer. I'd say really like half the time and that was with my old dryer being on bake your skull heat. I highly recommend it especially if it keeps holding up with the wash days as the hair gets less and less relaxed. Plus it's on sale right now and if you get it at Ulta (the link directs you there) then you can get a free styling tool with it and not the cheap stuff they are trying to get rid of either. I got a 1 inch barrel curling iron (in purple no less lol) that was normally 52.99 for free. So yeah it was 70 bucks but I got both products for 35 at that point plus the random coupons that Ulta gives out lol. Thumbs up here as well. For those of you that like numbers better 9.5/10--there's a knock on comfortability in the hold but it's good. I'm pretty sure the Ulta model is missing the focused blow attachment but I wouldn't use that one on my hair so it wasn't a major loss that it wasn't in the box. EDIT my box has all the attachments--I still won't be using the focused blower lol.
UPDATE: So I went in and got my trim today and the flat iron is so randomly foreign to me now that the smell of my hair is slightly maddening. Regardless it wasn't as traumatic to do as I thought it might be so I'm going to just let the hair grow out slowly under a series of twists, braids, weaves and what not. Here are updates of my barely neck length hair that will be hidden again in a few days. Made it to the gym before the trim too--yippee!
