The salon visit was $181.00. I had a great time and enjoyed it very much. I'm going bare bones basic this month. I hope to tell myself to keep brutally honest notes. Perhaps I'll stick to the same style for the 3-month comparison after I get my products. I'm still at 23" but my hair does seem thicker. At the salon visit there seemed to still be a bit of build-up at the edges so I need to tell myself to be sure not to skip the edges in ACV rinses. ROUTINE I do the CO wash for now and so far so good! I've heard some say they someimtes stick in a CWC every week or so but with careful ACV I may do ok. I tried Suave and it was ok but I got the St. Ives on sale and get a great lather out of their conditioner with my CO so I'll use that for a bit. I can always switch to White Rain if I run out of St. Ives before this exp. is up. I want to do MM excl. and take notes then Ouidad excl. with notes and then MM + Ouidad DT. LEAVE-INS I alternate I23 and JO+rosemary for now. But I ordere

*~~~Balleryna~~~* Ears~Collarbone~Waist Type2c3bcFiii Botticelli &Corkscrew *~Chestnut/Auburn to Golden*~ ****Fairy Tales: My Story**** www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/247824 I LOVE: ballet, ballet & ballet... fairy tales..any&everything pink.... pearls&lace...ruffles&frills..movie musicals...classic novels...an evening at the opera...victoriana

ROUTINE
CO Wash 2-3 times a week
St. Ives Extra Shine conditioner
Leave In - alt. Jojoba Oil + rosemary/sage/thyme and Infusium 23

CONDITION OF HAIR
Very very shiny all the way down to the tips of the braid or ponytail! And feels silky to touch, esp at scalp/root.

CONCERNS
A little itchy in crown of head. Still using AV rinses but have added rosemary to scalp early evening and that helps. Maybe I'm getting lots of growth this month!

DIARY
This month I've been sticking with conditioner-only washes. It's been working very well for me and I use TONS of conditioner but I've heard that you should use a lot. My hair is unbelievably shiny! I've never known my hair to be as shiny as this. Not sure if it's the CO or if it's the JO.

My scalp in the tip-top crown of my head has been itchy this month, however. I've been doing the AV rinses as usual. It hasn't really become annoying or tiresome but I just don't recall having this problem since I added AV rinses to my routine. So I've been pretty much adding JO+rosemary and sometimes even rosemary straight to that area in the early evenings.

Balleryna
0"/23”/32
(Scalp~Collarbone~Waistlength)
2C/3B-3C (Spiral/Wavy) Dk. Chestnut w/ Auburn/Golden hi-lts.

ROUTINE
CO wash 2-3 times/weekly

VITAMINS
UNH, MSM, Biotin, Silica, EPO, FSO

PRODUCTS
CO: St. Ives Extra Shine cond.
Leave-In: Infusium 23/Bindi Oil (alternate)

TREATMENTS:
Pre-Wash: Bindi Oil
Scalp: Sage/Rosemary/Thyme
Special: Shirodhara Therapy

SATURDAY -
Did a hot oil treatment Sat. morning with new bindi oil. It felt wonderful. I poured the bindi oil in an old WGO container (great cap on those bottles!) and ran under hot water for a minute or so. The warm oil felt wonderful on my scalp and I satured my scalp with it. About mid-day I poured in a little more onto my ends. My hair LOVES oil and really soaked it up relatively quickly.

That evening I glopped on the conditioner. I used Manes/Tail conditioner b/c I was almost out of St. Ives Extra Shine already and wanted to use it for the final condition. I could feel it kinda mixing in with the oil. It felt very nice as I stroked my scalp. I showered. And rinse rinse rinse. Then I poured on more conditioner (the St. Ives this time). I worked it down to my ends and then did the rinse routine. I applied the last bits of St. Ives to hair from my ears down and then poured on the ACV. I stroked my scalp for a bit again. And rinsed away with cool water. I wrapped my hair in a towel.

I parted my hair into 4 sections and applied the new scalp oil I made. It smelled kinda medicinal but was really very soothing since I've been having that itchy crown lately for some reason. No more itchies.

My hair was so shiny all the way to the ends and felt very silky to the touch, esp. at the root, edges and nape. Ah!

SUNDAY -
I poured on the I23 a.m. and gathered my braided hair in a double-wrapped ponytail.

Still no more itchies. Not sure what the problem was last week, if it was the scalp oil that resolved it, or if I perhaps just hadn't rinsed very well the last time I CO'd!

MONDAY a.m. -
Applied bindi oil before shower as leave-in for the day. Unbelievably silky!

This is really a very very simple routine that I'm trying this month. It's so simple and easy I almost hate the thought of parting from it. But I do wanna test around and see which I like best. I love trying new things and if anything even when I find my "dream routine" I could even decide to switch up now and then (I've heard that's a good idea sometimes) and just for fun.