homemade Marshmallow root and Slippery elm conditioner

DIY leave-in conditioner -

http://www.msdeekay.com/4561/diy-marshmallow-root-and-slippery-elm-leave-in-conditioner/

It is an alternative to KCKT

Based on Love your tresses detangling spray with Marshmallow Root and Slippery Elm.  I left out the Argan oil because I wanted it to be more of the consistency of the KCKT).   I only use a fingertip amount of extra virgin olive oil mixed with castor oil before applying my Flax seed gel after applying this leave in because my hair is very fine but dense and APL which can get weighed down and oily with a lot of product.  I am still playing around with the ingredients but so far I like it.  I also leave it in the fridge.  I hope this is helpful.
MARSHMALLOW ROOT-3 TBSP
DISTILL WATER 3 CUPS
VITAMIN E OIL 20 DROPS
ALOE VERA 1 TBSP
LAVENDER ESSENTIAL OIL-15 DROPS
LEMONGRASS ESSENTIAL OIL-15 DROPS
SLIPPERY ELM- 1 TBSP
1/3 DISTILL WATER
SPRAY BOTTLE
Combine MARSHMALLOW ROOT, WATER, SLIPPERY ELM and boil on low to medium heat for 15 minutes. Allow to cool and strain herbs.  Fill 1/3 of spray bottle with distilled water and add strained herbs mixture.  Add 1 TBSP OF ALOE VERA GEL, VITAMIN E OIL, ESSENTIAL OILS and Shake.

Day 50 - my hair is back on track!

Yay!

Its been a week since.I did my hair in trinidad and about 3 days.since I did a modified MHM with tresemme naturals.

Today, I went into town and got the 16oz kccc and a bottle of kckt pkus some olive oil. I came home and did my hair to good results.  Heres what it looks like -

 Nice and cute. Yay!

 Here's what it looked like - no bueno

Day 33: using bentonite clay

Yes, I'm on cycle 33!

I started last night by putting my cherry lola mix in my hair. It didn't have avocado or bananas and I used white vinegar. It was in my hair for just over two hours and then I followed up with KCKT, which I left on over night.

Here is a pic of my hair with the protein treatment -

Once I rinsed out the conditioner, I applied bentonite clay. It was a thick consistency, despite the water added and I even added more water to ensure that it smoothed out properly. I immediately noticed that my curls popped like crazy. I also noticed more hang time. I applied the clay in sections, then went back to ensure that I smoothed it in adequately. I passed over my hair a third time with wet fingers just to give the hair some moisture before I put on a shower cap. 

I had the clay in for 5 hours. Below is a pic of my hair with bentonite clay in it -

Here is my product-free hair once the clay was washed out -

My observations of bentonite clay are that it is better at creating coils, giving some hang time and much less messy! I'm thinking I will find a way to mix calcium motmorilonite and bentonite together so as to use up the former clay.

As my hair began to dry, normal shrinkage kicked in. Still, my curls look good and I will try bentonite again on Wednesday/Thursday. Hopefully, my benefits from the clay, plus overnight conditioning, will accumulate.

mhm day 21

Its been a month and I am now at 21 cycles. My hair looked good this morning even tough I did not wash it yesterday. Lots of clumping everywhere, but some frizz began to make an appearance.

To celebrate, I did a cherry lola treatment sans the avocado.

Hair is alright. Not much different since cycle 20 IMO but I'm happy to not go backwards.

I left the CL treatment on for 2.5 hours, applied hot KCKT for over 40 minutes, applied clay for an hour and then showered and put the leave-in and gel.

I think I will wash again tomorrow. However, I am considering simply doing an ACV, Clay, Leave-In, Gel process (ACLG). We'll see.

Hair with CL treatment

Product-free hair after washing out CL treatment

/hair with CL treatment

Hair with (too much) heated conditioner

Hair after rinsing out conditioner. Notice the serious clumps at the bottom there?

Clay Step

Product-free hair

Product-free hair looks good

And the final result was - 

Hair with gel

Hair with gel

Hair with gel

Hair with gel

I am getting better definition and dare I say 80% of my hair is defined and clumping. I know this is still the beginning of my mHM journey but I hope my strands will swell to absorb more water and not only look better but feel better for longer periods of time.

MHM Day 11: Product Free Hair

After two times of doing a short MHM version,  I decided to go back to doing the long version.  The reason was to see if I get better results at this stage of the journey.

So tonight, I ACV'd then cowashed (with full strength KCKT) for about 45 minutes. I then left clay in for about 70 minutes. I applied conditioner (full strength) and put on 2 showershowercaps for bed.

Here are pics of my hair without any product after washing out the clay. To be honest, it didn't look different from when I have product in it. I put some jojoba in my hair aftee the conditioner simply because I had too much in my hands at the time.

MHM: Day 2

The second run through of my MHM journey was on wednesday yesTerday. It started with an ACV rinse. I actyally applied diluted ACV to my hair and wore it under a shower cap for about 30 minutes. Then I rinsed it out with more diluted ACV. Then I put KCKT for 20 minutes. Then I applied the clay mix and left it for 60 minutes. I thrn applied diluted conditioner and gel.

Unfortunately, I had more frizz than coils/ringlets. However, my hair wasn't as sticky as the day before.

Hoping that with improved technique my results will get better.

MHM Journey: I Did It! (Day 1)

So, on July 21st around 5pm, I started my MHM journey. the results were pretty good.

My product-free hair before MHM.

Product-free afro

Here's what I did.

I mixed up the modified Cherry Lola (CL) Treatment, the clay mix and the diluted conditioner mix the night before.

On the 21st, I applied the CL and wore a shower cap for just about70 minutes then rinsed outside by the garage.

 I then applied KCKT (Kinky Curly Knot Today) conditioner and let that sit for 45 minutes. I rinsed and applied the clay mix, which was MESSY! I have to thicken up my clay mix so I can really apply it properly on my head.

Anyway, that stayed on for approximately an hour before I rinsed outside. After getting as much of it off, I went into my shower to rinse again and followed up with the diluted KCKT conditioner and loads of gel.

Hair after with gel in it. I later raked to define ringlets

My curls were indeed popping in the form of little ringlets everywhere. I didn't apply the way Pinke and others recommended of doing the hair in sections. Instead, I simply applied the conditioner and then followed up with gel.

What I did do however, was go through the strands again later on to distribute the gel as evenly as possible by raking my fingers through my hair. Then I sectioned the hair into small plaits.

My hair felt heavy and I was impressed to see and feel the ringlets. It looks like I have definition already from root to tip in 90% of my hair. That was good to see.

Positives:
It didn't take me as long as I thought it would. I was done before 9pm!
I loved the end result and was able to style my hair the following day and go out.

Negatives:
I used TOO MUCH gel. It made my hair feel yucky!
I shouldn't do this in the evening as I don't like getting my sheets wet. However, I wore a shower cap to bed, which solved that issue.

Now, due to a super busy Tuesday, I was unable to do another treatment. I will however do one today (Wednesday).

I will do the following -

1. ACV rinse (leave for 30 minutes)
2. Cowash (leave for 30 minutes)
3. Clay rinse (lave for an hour)
4. Leave In
5. Gel

Hope it makes my hair look even better!