Guest Blogger: Revelle & Fifi

Kandy

Guest Blogger: Revelle & Fifi

OUR TIGHTLY CURLY EXPERIMENT - SUMMER 2012!

WEEK 3, POST 3

Hey Kandy Land Kurls readers! We are at three, count ‘em 1, 2, 3 weeks with our Tightly Curly Experiment. Summary: Best definition we’ve had so far, but with a catch (!) Plus, a brief exposé on shrinkage, love it or hate it – it’s here to stay! Shall we? Okay, let’s!

1. To keep her scalp eczema in check, I shampooed the scalp lightly with Head & Shoulders Eucalyptus Itchy Scalp Care, followed by a co-wash and detangling of the hair with the remaining AVEENO NOURISH+ MOISTURIZE Conditioner from last week – might as well finish the bottle – and this worked well under the shower.

2. Fresh out of the shower, I started the process by testing out another of Teri LaFlesh’s recommendations – Aussie Moist Conditioner. To apply, I first tried Teri’s doodling process, but I just couldn’t get the hang of it, so I reverted to the smoothing process. Her whole head took longer this time – 3 hours. Here’s what I did, forgive the blurriness/overexposure of the pics!

Applied conditioner to wet section AND separated hair with a Denman brush

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

Re-dampened next section as needed and repeated

Note: I only apply the conditioner about ¾ - 1 inch from the scalp, to prevent having her scalp flare up and itch from all that conditioner on it. I read that that happened to some people.

3. Okay, so here is the catch I alluded to earlier. About half-way through, I realized that with the way her hair was already drying, we were going to end up with the same (somewhat) patchy results that we had last week. So, I changed course and decided to add some Kinky-Curly Curl Custard Gel, in addition to the AMC conditioner, to try for better curl definition – and the results we’re really quite great!

Upon completion, and even before her hair dried, I immediately started seeing a curl pattern lock-in in her fuzzy/frizzy areas.

OUR FINDINGS (click on pictures to enlargen)

1. As I said last week, I was hoping to find a way to achieve better curl uniformity. And, I now know that adding some sort of holding agent (gel) is essential for us – we finally achieved Day-2 curls!

2. At night, I plaited and rolled up her hair, and it stayed like this for a couple days. On Day-5 and -6, I took these down, sprayed the hair with about 6 oz. of water, and smoothed this over with coconut oil. Temperature-wise, it has been really hot where we are, so I styled the hair off her neck.

3. On Days 5 and 6, spraying the hair with water, as I did above, really helped the curls to come back to life. I did notice some gel build up on Day-5, but the addition of the water and coconut oil quickly remedied that.
4. Overall, her hair still stays generally tangle free; and thanks to the abundance of conditioner, shampooing is the easiest it has ever been!
5. My review of the Aussie Moist Conditioner? It’s okay. Funny thing is that I don’t find any of these conditioners to be very moisturizing. The only time I was blown away was week 1. BUT back then I used oils in the main conditioner application step and that is what I think made her hair feel so spectacularly soft and moisturized.

**Bonus Topic: Shrinkage**. 

As most of you know by now, curly hair – of any persuasion – shrinks. So, I just wanted to touch on the fact that with this method, um expect shrinkage :-D

Fifi’s hair tends to shrink in any instance, but normally it’s progressive, you know over a few days of spritzing and product adding etc. But with this TC method, it’s instantaneous. I don’t mind at all, because the goal here is curl definition. Normally, once the hair has been plaited for bedtime, the curls stretch out a bit by the next day, but then shrink up again with the re-application of water – it’s back and forth! And it is what it is – no fuss, no biggy! But curlies beware!

Thanks again for stopping by. I think we’re getting the hang of this and thus may have only one (maybe two) post(s) left in this experiment. I want to repeat/combine certain aspects that we have already done to see if we get the same or better results, as only then will I know if this is something we will ever do again. I might also try one more new conditioner. So, comment, leave questions/suggestions and do come back next week! - Révelle & Fifi