Initial Thoughts: Extra Wide, Extra Long Curlformers

I slept on 48 of these for the first time Tuesday night.

Ohh boy. What a restless sleep full of tossing, turning, flipping, adjusting....you get the idea. How I finally slept was using a small rectangular pillow on top of my regular pillow. Pic to follow soon.

However, I might say that these are more comfortable than the generic. This plastic/mesh is much softer and easier to bend. Hope that makes sense. The generics I have are harder and have no give. I don't look forward to sleeping on 48 of these again but I'd rather sleep on these than the generics.

I also tried to use the dryer once I had all 48 in but no dice. It can fit maybe 30 of the EWEL curlformers, which is kind of a bummer. Guess I'll dry in sections.

Do you need 48? I honestly don't know. I like having 48 because I can do small sections. I split my hair in half and use 23 in the front and 25 in the back.

Let me just say the Blowdried hair + curlformers was an epic fail. Not a curl in sight. No worries, I have confidence in my next test. I'm going to wet my hair like I should have and use some Ecostyler Argan Oil.

Curlformer Olympics

I have two packs of Extra Wide Extra Long (EWEL) Curlformers and their softhood dryer waiting for me under the tree!

Not my tree but close!

I can't wait!

I've purchased an extra hook, Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Foam and Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel.

I plan to use Matrix Biolage leave-in and Pul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum for each set.

Product Trials:

1. Blowdried hair with a little PM serum.

2. Wet hair + Eco Styler Argan Oil Gel

3. Wet hair + JC Foam.

4. Wet hair + KMF Gel.

Hopefully I can have my set perfect by New Year's Eve! 

Strand Tests: Why They're Important

The PJ inside of me loves getting new products. I used to run home, jump in the shower (or dunk my head under the tap) and slather on my new product.

But after the Aveda Disaster I had to stop doing that. Otherwise, I was going to end up with severely damaged, thin hair. If I did a test patch I could have:

• Saved myself HOURS, yes hours, of detangling
• Prevented the need to cut 2-3 inches of my newly BSL hair.
• Saved my hair from TONS of split ends and mid-shaft splits, most likely caused from poor detangling.

Now every time my PJ fingers get the urge to slather anything on, I just think Aveda and slow down.

Before I use anything on my hair, I do a test patch. My strand test section is below. I chose that spot because it's small, discreet and combines my 3C and 4A sections. Perfect. 

DOH! Do your own research!

One of the first hair bloggers that I looked up to was Curly Nikki.

2010- Although I was still transitioning at this point, her hair looked like what I imagined my hair would look like. This was just a guess because I had no clue what my hair looked like. As a child my hair was always blow-dried or in some stretched state. 

So, I went out and bought some of Nikki's staples, most memorably Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. I used it several times and each time it made my hair feel tangled, coated and gross. Wash day wasn't easy at a few months post, but it was extra painful with the HEHH. I came to my senses and tossed it.

2013- A few years later, I still followed Nikki's blog even though our hair has different likes. Now more educated about my hair, I knew that we had similar textures and fine strands. I saw a post of hers raving about AG products and rushed to Ulta to pick a few up. 

I got home, tried the AG conditioner and fortunately, the Aveda Disaster taught me to do a test patch. My test patch is a small section in the back that has my 3c and 4a sections.  Although it didn't make my hair a tangled matted mess, my hair felt horrible. No curl definition (which is how I tell if my hair is moisturized) and my hair felt off. I had HEHH flashbacks and put the bottle down. 

Although Nikki and I have similar hair and strand size, our porosity is totally different!

I'm Natural and I still use Protein.

Yup. During my hair research I read that only chemically treated heads need protein. Basically, the idea is that the keratin bonds are broken in chemically treated hair, whereas with natural hair, the bonds haven't been broken. So I took a protein break for a few weeks. I usually wash my hair once maybe twice a week with Trader Joe's Nourish Spa set. 

After a while, I noticed that my hair lacked definition and wasn't clumping as much. My hair is pretty fine/tangle-prone, but it was tangling more than usual. At this point I hadn't dealt with over-moisturized natural hair, so it took me a while to make the connection.

My natural hair needs less protein than my relaxed/transitioning hair, but it still needs protein. As a relaxed head I rotated protein and moisture every week. As a natural, I henna (which is a massive protein treatment for me) every 6-8 weeks and use protein twice in between.