Practice makes perfect

Well, I am still using up my silicone products. For some reason this weekend I have felt guilty about knowingly ruining my hair. When I was clueless, it was just whatever, but now I know what these products are doing and it kind of sucks. Even though I am damaging my hair, I am practicing for the curly girl method with my current products. So I use my normal shampoo with sulphates :( and then condition my hair. Normally, I would just leave conditioner in for a few minutes then brush my hair when I am out of the shower but the curly girl method says to use a wide tooth comb in when conditioner is in and rinse with cool water so i did that. then when my hair was soaking wet, i threw in my products (full of silicone) and plopped. Plopping is another part of this method. It encourages your curls to curl by getting all of your hair on the top of your head using a t-shirt or a microfiber towel. I just used my sons baby towel. This video describes it well. The other days this weekend I did everything without plopping and my hair did look better BUT today i plopped and oh my god... my wavy hair is CURLY. Of course, I have not gone outside since my shower and it will probably be frizzy tomorrow, but already there is a difference in styling based on this method so when i convert to the new way of hair care, I feel there will definitely be results.
Anyway, I plopped for thirty minutes and then let it down and threw some spray gel in. With this method, you are not supposed to touch your hair because that can lead to frizz and I'm finding that very hard to do considering I have a six month old who cannot keep his hands out of my curls. Hopefully, I can figure out a way to do this.
The book 'Curly girl : more than just hair-- it''s an attitude' has been shipped to my local library and will be there tomorrow. Tomorrow is my birthday so I am at least hoping it will be there :)
Here is my hair done without plopping, you can see the notorious triangle shape that curly's have to deal with, flat on top and curls weighing your hair down.

Here is with plopping, you can see how much fuller it is at the top and my curls are more defined.



Hopefully I will be onto new products soon, I will update the progress, until then--- I will practice.

Giving up silicone...

I just heard about naturallycurly.com and have been researching it. My whole entire childhood was filled with mushroom head and afro jokes from older siblings and straight haired friends. Naturallycurly.com is a place where people like me feel welcomed. I have always categorized my hair as wavy and frizzy but that really isnt' what it is, that is what shampoos and conditioners have done to my hair apparently. Instead of letting my hair get to it's natural curly/wavy state, I have masked it with straightening and products. I have all kinds of "anti-frizz" products and have used shampoos and conditioners promising me sleek and shiny hair. When I throw all of this junk in my hair, it does temporarily behave but the days that I don't want to do anything to my hair (most days), it is out of control. I've envied all of those girls with straight hair for too long and I have decided to embrace my curls and go natural. I will record the progress on this here blog when I do begin but first... I have to give up silicone. The main points of this method are no brushes, no shampooing and no silicones. There are tons more that I will find out but I'm currently on the waiting list for the book by Lorraine Massey at the library.
No silicones? I thought that will be easy, I don't use that. But then I read that if you look at the ingredients on your products and if any of them end in -cone, -conol or -xane, there are silicones in the product. Well I did and apparently all of my products contain this. It makes sense because silicones do temporarily relieve frizz bit does not repair it. The only thing that takes silicones out of your hair is sulfates which is in most shampoos which are really harsh. The same sulfates that are in laundry detergent and dish soap are in your shampoo which is too harsh for sensitive, fragile curls.
Anyway, I am a totally cheap person and love my silicone products so before I give them up and enter my hair rehabilitation , I am going to use them to death and destroy my hair in the process. I know you aren't supposed to, but I want to use them all first just as a junkie would with drugs. That is the only way I can describe it. So until my last product is empty, I will be reading the book and back on here to begin my journey into natural curls. I will include pictures of my progress and details on the outcomes. Hope you will join me...
Thanks,
Jackie