I came back from a 2-week vacation in India and decided to give my hair a treat, since it had been facing lots of heat, sunshine, and pollution. So, I mixed up a hair concoction, consisting of shea butter, olive oil, honey, and a dash of cinnamon.
Big mistake! I should have remembered the reason why I gave up conditioner and shea butter in my hair. My hair gets overconditioned
very easily - the best conditioner for me is a light coating of oil.
Anyway. I left it in overnight, and the next morning (after 3-4 shampoos), my hair never dried. It was a mess of icky, sticky, yuckiness. I decided I would wait it out till the next wash, hoping that the shea butter would at least moisturize my hair in the meantime. I kept it in braids and buns for 2 days, then couldn't take it any longer and washed a day early!
For this wash, I got out all my Indian herbs, applied them on my hair, and even sat under a heat cap for an hour. I left these in overnight as well. These herbs get even the heaviest oil out, and I was sure they would work!
But they didn't (and I shampooed another 2-3 times this time). They got out most of the gunk from the top half of my hair, but the bottom half was still a tangly, sticky mess. I couldn't wait till the next wash day to get rid of it all! So, this morning, remembering something I had read from Heidi W.'s post some time ago, I mixed some baking soda with shampoo and used that on the bottom half of my hair. My hair is still wet, but it feels SO much lighter, and I could see all the goop being washed out in the drain with the baking soda mixture.
So, I (re)learned that shea butter works better on my dry skin rather than in my hair (I also probably used too much, and my hair didn't NEED all that conditioning, which is why it didn't get absorbed). Poor hair - I tried to give it a treat and ended up having a bad hair week! Anyway, baking soda did the trick, and hopefully my hair will be clean and nice from now on!
~*Leia*~
Pic from December 2006
2bMiii
Current length: 42" on November 3, 2006
Growing since January 2003; found TLHL at the end of June 2003 and was at 25". I am 5'4.5".
Leia's Journal
Last Updated: September 17, 2007
