"Gimme and head with hair..."

WE ARE GENUINELY NATURAL

Natural inspires everything that we do here at Carol’s Daughter – it defines our company culture, it defines our relationships with our consumers, and importantly it defines our approach to manufacturing our products for your use.
--Carol's Daughter

What gives, Carol's Daughter? Hair Milk was a great moisturizer - not too heavy, not to greasy, and my hair was soft with a good shine to it. And, the scent was neutral, so I didn't have to worry about getting kicked out of class or anything. The new Hair Milk adds artificial fragrance (so much for the natural) and alcohol (so much for the moisturizing). Or maybe not - I'm reading around and finding that, depending on the type of alcohol, it might actually help hair retain moisture. So, I'll do a little more research - check the alcohol and take a whiff to see what this fragrance is - before deciding. But I've stocked up a little on the old formula, just in case  ;)

In other hair news, I'm trying something new. I've been getting a little bored with my fro, wanting to change the look of it for a while now. The real problem is that I'm both lazy and broke, so I don't want to do anything labor intensive and I can't afford to have someone else do the work for me. This weekend, I decided to get over the lazy part and try a twist out. Last night, I bit the bullet and put in some work, first concocting a few things, then washing and conditioning, then twisting. First, I did a clarifying wash. To make this, I added 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 1/4 cup of water to 2 tablespoons of my regular shampoo (which, for now, is Bed Head Moisture Maniac). Then, I deep conditioned. I used a homemade conditioner recipe I found online at one of the many natural hair-care sites: 1 tablespoon honey, 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 cup warm water. (This felt a little thin to me, but my hair does seem happy today. I might try either a bit less water or a bit more honey next time, though.) I poured all of that on and worked it through my hair, then put on a plastic cap and let it marinate for about 20 minutes before rinsing thoroughly (cold water on the last rinse). Then, I towel dried (I've heard I should use an old t-shirt instead, but haven't tried it yet) and combed through with detangler, which I made by combining 1 part conditioner (right now I've got Pantene Pro V Relaxed & Natural Intensive Conditioning, which I think is now called Pantene Pro V Relaxed and Natural Dry to Moisturized Conditioner) with 4 parts water in a spray bottle. Finally, I got to twisting. And twisting and twisting and twisting. I used a small amount of gel (1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water. - I put it in the fridge to firm up, but it probably would have gotten there eventually at room temp.) on each twist and added more detangler as hair started to dry. I distracting myself from the tedium (and burning arm muscles) with Pushing Daisies  :)

I didn't twist the roots well enough to feel comfortable wearing the twists out and about - a lesson for next time. Given that, my original plan of wearing the twists for a few days before the twist out stage won't work. So, this morning, I put moisturizer (Hair Milk, old formula) on the still-twisted hair and I'll cover it with a hat today and see what sort of twist out results I get tonight. Fingers crossed. If it's cute, I'll wear it to karaoke.If not, I'll wear the hat and try again sometime (it's really tough on my neck, in addition to the arm fatigue, so not something I'd want to do often).