3 Years 9 Months and a Sisterlock DEEP CLEANSE!

My recent/current fixation  has been to focus on cleanliness, the avoidance of  build up and to deter the possibility of mildew. I have reduced my hair washing routine to once a week. Happily my scalp is not itchy, but my product use is minimal. I am strictly dieting on Awapuhi only, every day spritz. I have switched shampoos to a new (ok almost discontinued brands of Radiant Lili Pili by MOLTON BROWN. courtesy of TKMaxx (whats new? ;))  Nai's locks are not faithful and will love anything that loves them!

Radiant Lili lives up to her name! it makes my locks look and feel so soft, silky and healthy, loveing the feeling (serious hand in hair itis). non creamy,  clear coloured simple scented, does the job with good body.
I am also newly enamoured with COWSHED beauty brand, Cowlick shampoo, smells gorge with a great ginger candy scent, (the Wild Cow body lotion links well) The quality is so good, love using it, its labelled gentle and have no SLS....

SUPER CLEANSE products and process. (last weekend).

So I gathered them all together, boiled the water, planned my strategic positioning, (to enable full and complete lock emersion and soaking ...
I used ...

200ml ACV
2 squirts Ecover washing up liquid.
Suave shampoo
1 kettle full boiled water.
I bowl

I mixed them all together and plonked my head (carefully!!) into the bowl for ... a long time! Approx  30mins. when the water cooled i began to wash it using the suave, my Slocs felt a bit dehydrated, and the whole house scented like a vinegar factory. the water was gritty and dirty when I disposed of it in the bath - I was actually surprised at how dirty it was ... I think this has to be a Bi annual process from now on.

The results.

Progress is being made taking care of this young  mans lovely hair, although its hard work for me, as if I don't have enough to contend with!
Now at least I am teaching him how to wash it. (its not difficult) especially with Creme of Nature Ultra moisturising shampoo AND Argan oil shampoo which really enhances softness and total manageability.

ReTi, 2 years and 7 months

Original Post written Wednesday 29 December 2011.

Consultant Reti Day was yesterday, my head still sore, nobodies fault, just my issue.  Loving this stage, even though it took 3 hours to reti me, I knew there was a LOT of regrowth, especially as I do not reti  'tight' when I DIY.

A drastic mistake ...

.... had to wash my locs on Tuesday in time for reti first thing Wednesday, BUT I had a few friends around and we stayed up until 3am, hair washed ok, but I still had conditioner in it, and could not face washing it out! (slaps head) so I went to bed, with a view to washing it out in the morning.
WELL, my locks were DRY, I had to shampoo the conditioner out, no time to check the head,  I rushed off for my 10am appointment.

Reti style looked lovely, but underneath I had horrid evidence of left in conditioner, where I had not over rinsed, SIGH! I was not gonna wash my whole head again. so gathered the top clear portion in a bun, and mixed my concoction of shampoo and bicarbonate, THEN added vinegar. It frothed up and I applied it direct. I rinsed it out over the bath section by section, not a smple task but do-able. It worked!

 




















Today 4/1/12.

I washed my locs last night, using I Love Juicy. As Antiphilitron is no longer available from LUSH, I am in need of a clarifier that I notice deep cleans AND leaves the locs fluffy and full. As these products are drying I have decided to first wash with clarifiers and second n third wash with a

hydrating/moisturising shampoo. I am rubbish at rinsing, so have decided to avoid conditioners for a while, or at least take Ofo's advise and water them down before applying!
I will try to add Bicarb soda to I Love Juicy to see if it is as effective as the Anti Phil on removing build up. I have posted previously recommending ILJ as a great loc shampoo because it leaves them looking lovely! So lovely that I have not been able to keep my hands out of my head!
I want to alternate Deep Cleanse Clarifying to every other wash, but I do it more consistently if I choose to use a conditioner.
Also, I need another type of head wrap to sleep in, my locs are getting long, I have had to put them up in a bun for baths and shower, and even a couple of times to go to sleep.

Nai, Deep Cleansing and ACV rinses.

Hair! November 2011

No Hair! April 2007

Hello everyone, 

I finally managed to trawl through the hundreds (yes hundreds!) of emails from the Lockitup Group on Yahoo, that I managed to amass over the last few months.

One topic of interest was a recipe for deep cleaning locks, involving ACV and Baking Soda. Ingredients below. 

Baking Soda Deep Clean ingredients:
(note: these ingredients have been tweaked to balance the ph levels when combining ACV and Baking Soda)
Large bowl of warm water
1/4 cup of baking soda
2tsp of lemon juice
1tsp of sea salt
3/4 cup of acv
Stir until all is well dissolved

The 'how to' video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/chescalocs#p/u/15/ns3VXi-VsmE 

I tried it last Friday, however it was a bad plan as I had a very busy weekend ahead ... I soaked my head a bit too briefly I think, I should have left it on longer, then shampoo'd out. From what I remember  the result was ok, I just was not that focused on the task. 

However, last night, I noticed a bit of build up on the locks at the very nape of my neck,  I got me some ACV (or Cider Vinegar here in the UK) and soaked the offenders neat in the ACV, no dilution. Later on I saw that some still remained, so made up my mind to try again the next morning. 

And so I did, this time spraying the ACV directly on the locks and letting soak for about 45 minutes.

Last night I also took out my Antiphilitron by LUSH, a lemon based clarifier that is said to remove Silicone, oils etc, when I think about it now, going straight for this bottle would have been a better, less fussy, option. It IS very very good!

The result of the ACV rinse is good, very good, shiny clean loc's, yes shiny, there is a fullness too. 

I washed my locks out with BIG, the best shampoo choice in this instance. Altogether, great results, completed with Moisture Maniac. There is still a small element of build up still left there, my guess is that as those locks were not long enough for me to see before, but I will definately simply soak (spray) them in Cider Vinegar and then wash it out with BIG, then double moisturise. 

The pics above came about because I was trailing through images and that 2007 pic got my attention, in  4.5 years What a change! When I say I l LOVE my locks, I do so with humility, I am humbly and quietly grateful for the technique that has been developed and has proven to be perfect for me. You can see for yourself how bad my straightened hair was. And now ... This ...