My 2015 updated hair regime

For those who have been asking about it, I’ve finally updated my regime. Not too much has changed in the last year, but I have incorporated a few tweaks. My routine does tend to change slightly with the seasons (Japan’s seasons are extreme) and when I’m travelling, but for the most part I keep it fairly constant. In order to meet my 2015 hair goals, which you can read here, I’ve adapted my routine to the following:

I follow this process once a week.

1. Pre-poo and Detangle

I pre-poo and detangle my hair before I wash it to ensure it does not get stripped of its natural oils during the wash process. Pre-poo simply refers to a hair treatment before you wash it. And detangling my hair before I wash it means I’ll have less tangles to worry about in the shower. I use my favourite oil for this – coconut oil. About an hour before I wash I divide my hair into four sections and spray each section with a bit of water to dampen it slightly and then I apply the oil liberally. While I work it into the hair I start detangling. Sometimes I’ll work conditioner into the hair instead of water and apply the oil on top. This combination provides loads of slip and is especially effective if your hair is super tangled. After I’ve completed each section, I’ll twist it up and out of the way until all four sections of hair have been saturated in oil. I’ll leave this on for anything from 30 minutes to an hour before I jump into the shower.

Products

• Coconut oil, occasionally olive oil
• Tres Emme Naturals Conditioner
• Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Moisturising Conditioner

2. Wash

I wash the hair in the same 4 sections I had during the pre-poo and detangling sessions and twist up each section before I move on to the next. I focus on my scalp and let the cleanser run off to my ends. During the Summer months I’ll alternate between washing with a gentle sulphate-free shampoo and a cleansing conditioner, but during the dry Winter my scalp benefits more from washing with shampoo only. So I’m saving my yummy co-washes for the warmer months.

I do however apply a regular conditioner to each section after I’ve washed it and leave it in while I wash the other sections. Then I rinse it all out just before I apply my deep conditioner.

Products

Cleansers

• Giovanni Tea Trea Triple Treat Invigorating Shampoo
• Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Shampoo
• Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Moisturising Shampoo
• As I Am Coconut CoWash Cleansing Conditioner
• Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Cleansing Conditioner

Conditioners

• Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Conditioner
• Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Moisturising Conditioner
• Tres Emme Naturals Conditioner

3. Deep Condition

I deep condition my strands every time I wash it, i.e. once a week.  After I’ve washed it I apply a commercial product or make up my own DYI deep conditioner. I continue to work section by section and twist up each section before I move on to the next. Once I’ve applied the deep conditioner to all my hair I pin the four sections to the top of my head, cover with a shower cap and a warm towel and leave it on for at least 30 minutes to an hour.

This year I’m alternating moisturising and strengthening deep treatments on a weekly basis to ensure stronger strands as my hair is getting longer.

Once I jump back into the shower to rinse I detangle the hair under the stream of the shower. If I need more conditioner to help this process along, I’ll reach for one of my regular ones.

Products

• Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Moisture and Shine Hair Smoothie
• Carol’s Daughter Monoi Repairing Hair Mask
• Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque
• Aphogee Keratin 2 Minute Hair Reconstructor
• Favourite DIY deep conditioners

4. Moisturising, Sealing and Styling

After I’ve rinsed out the deep conditioner, I wrap my hair in an old cotton scarf or a T-shirt to absorb most of the water. Working in sections again I’ll start by applying a leave-in conditioner. I follow that up by sealing in all the moisture with coconut oil and currently my home-made whipped shea butter cream.

Then I twist the hair up into 2-strand twists and let it air-dry over night, wrapped up in a silk scarf. I always sleep on a silk-lined pillowcase since I don’t actually own one made of silk.

Products

Leave-In Conditioners

• Mixed Chicks Leave-In Conditioner
• Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioning Repair Cream
• Carol’s Daughter Hair Milk Original Leave-In Moisturiser

Butters / Creams / Stylers

• Home-made whipped shea butter cream
• Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie
• Carol’s Daughter Marguerite’s Magic Restorative Cream

Oils

• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Avocado oil
• Sweet Almond oil

5. Weekly Maintenance

During the week, I keep the twists in for 3-4 days, after which I need to restyle. Once I’ve taken them down I’ll wear my hair in another protective style, or at the very least, a low manipulation style, like 2 braids on each side of my head, jumbo twists or buns. These styles I re-do every morning. I mainly wear my hair out over the weekends,  in which case I’ll wear a braid-out or a twist-out. But like I said I want to up my protective styling game over these Winter months, so I may just continue with protective styles over the weekend as well.

To maintain the moisture in my strands I spritz it with a little water daily, applying a bit of leave-in conditioner,  shea butter cream and finally some oil. (Layering the products like this is also referred to as the LCO and LOC methods of moisturising – see this post for more info on this method.)

I’ve been thinking that I’d like to keep my twists in for longer, which I’ve been trying over the last 2 weeks. But in all honesty they tend to go puffy and frizzy by the 4th day, even if I do re-moisturise and seal. So for now I’m going to stick with my modus operandi above.

As usual, I make sure that I wrap up my tresses in a silk scarf every night.

I’ve also just recently introduced a completely new product into my regime, which is a spritz made from bay rum, bergamot essence, placenta, castor oil, aloe vera juice and water. I spray this on my hair, mainly at the roots 2 – 3 times per week, but more on this in a later post. 🙂

I realise that I’ve written quite a lot here and that it seems like a lot of steps, but actually it’s not. With this regime I literally saved my hair and brought it back to life when it was breaking off so badly when I first moved to Tokyo. My hair is now longer and healthier than it’s ever been, so while it’s working for me, I’m going to stick with it.

Hopefully my regime can help some of you if you’re still trying to figure yours out. Although I do use other products as well, the ones listed in this post are the ones I currently have in high rotation. If you have any questions regarding my routine, please leave it in the comments section or feel free to Tweet or Facebook me.

Love your curls!