Guest Blogger: Revelle & Fifi

Kandy

Guest Blogger: Revelle & Fifi

OUR TIGHTLY CURLY EXPERIMENT - SUMMER 2012!

WEEK 2, POST 2

Hello again Kandy Land Kurls readers! We’re back with our second installment of our Tightly Curly Experiment. In short, the results are better, but we’re still not quite there yet. Oh and did someone say multiple hair types?!! More about that later!! Ok, let’s get to it.

1. I shampooed again with Aubrey's Swimmer's Normalizing Shampoo, to remove the heavy salt and mineral build-up from the sea from our last day at the beach
2. We then deep conditioned and de-tangled with Curl Rehab Moisturizing Hair Treatment, then rinsed the DC out. (same deal as last week)
3. Fresh out of the shower, this is where we changed course. I divided her hair into 4 sections and applied a new combing conditioner, AVEENO NOURISH+ MOISTURIZE Conditioner. This is one that (tightly curly) Teri LaFlesh recommends.

4. This week, I used Teri's smoothing application method exactly. To do Fifi’s whole head took about an hour and a half. Now, because I didn’t know until after the fact, that I would be blogging about our journey, again I have no pictures of our application – so, I will next time, promise and pinky swear!!! But the “smoothing application process” went something like this. To wet, not soaking, hair, I

- Applied conditioner to section

- Separated hair with a Denman brush

- From root to tip, “smoothed” each separation created by the brush

- Put that aside, re-dampened next section as needed, and repeated

Again, Teri's full application breakdown can be found here, with pictures.

OUR FINDINGS (click on pictures to enlargen)

1. No oils were used this time in the conditioner application process, as I wanted to stay as close to Teri’s method as possible; she doesn’t use oils. I did, however, use coconut oil subsequently to help with moisture. See point #4 below….
2. I learned my lesson and started in the morning – her hair still took all day to dry! (but it did so at a faster pace, because the hair was so separated from the smoothing – if this makes sense; compare her wet, un-separated curls from last week to see the difference)

3. I didn’t like the AVEENO NOURISH+ MOISTURIZE Conditioner – too lightweight. By the end of Day-1, her hair felt dry, straw-like. I won’t be using this conditioner again – Fifi’s hair craves moisture, all – the – time!
4. At bedtime, I loaded the hair with coconut oil, put in six big braids, and the next day whomp whomp….no Day-1 curl definition, BUT very separated and tangle-free. Still, the lack of moisture was annoying me, so before braiding the hair out, I sprayed her hairline and ends (the driest parts) with Cara B Moisturizing Hair Mist and smoothed this over with Cara B Leave-In Conditioner / Daily Moisturizer, braided out, and voila – soft, beach/bed hair!

5. A day after this, she was back in a pool, so that was a wrap for this week’s trial!

NOTE: Bonus Topic: Multiple Hair Types. I have always known Fifi had multiple textures in her hair - you know looser curls here and there, tighter curls there and here, etc. But this process has really accentuated that. Look at the pictures below and you’ll see what I mean. In some spots, her hair takes on a frizzy/fuzzy appearance, and even though I was heavy handed with the conditioner in those spots, the curl definition was still lacking in those areas. Also, she has three different colors. The really light sections to the front left, behave differently from the front right, and from the rest of the head in general. The crown and back are darker and also do their own fuzzy, weird, non-curling thing….and so on and so on. Hopefully by the end of this experiment, I would have learned how to achieve better curl uniformity when she wears free hair. I’m not complaining, just saying! :-D

Thanks for stopping by, please comment, leave questions/suggestions and do come back next week. We’ll have a new bonus topic, be trying another combing conditioner, and we will be nowhere near water, so hopefully we can see the progression over a week, with visuals of course ;-)

- Révelle & Fifi