Meh....

I've had a very busy past 7 days or so with my hair.  It started off on a high note when I received my Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) about 2-3 days after I ordered it on Amazon.   JBCO and Castor Oil in general is said to be great for maintaining moisture in your hair, which can help with breakage.  Also, from what I've observed, castor oil also helps promote growth.  I'm not sure if it's because your messaging your scalp more or maybe just because you start taking better care of your scalp period... But I've seen some miracles with castor oil, so I impulsively replenished my stash.

Since I have quite a bit to work with now, I decided to go ahead and test it out.  I had already applied JBCO to my scalp with the remainder that I had left from the first time I purchased it, but this time I wanted to do a deep condition and use the JBCO to, first, do a hot oil treatment, and second, mix with my conditioner. 

So to do the hot oil treatment, I put my applicator bottle with the JBCO into the microwave for about 30 seconds and then applied it to my scalp.  I then massaged by scalp for about 15 minutes.  To make my deep conditioner, I mixed the Shea Moisture Organic Balancing Conditioner with the JBCO in a plastic container.  I will note that I have not liked the Balancing Conditioner.  It's not thick enough for my hair.  It smell amazing, but my hair just sucks it up.  Since castor oil is supposed to be great for mixing with condish, I added a ton to my mixture and then applied to my hair in sections.  Next I baggied and sat under the dryer for about 30 minutes.  And I have to give myself a pat on the back for deep conditioning on a week day.

Hello Old Friend... No, I haven't deep conditioned in a while

Since I've had issues with air drying recently, I decided to use flexi-rods this time around.  But I didn't do my typical small sections, but used large parts all over.  I didn't take a picture, but I probably used about 15 rods total, if that.  Since, I did it kind of messy, it didn't turn out as cute as possible, however, I just used a headband and called it a 'do.

This weekend, I decided to kick it up a notch and I did a protein treatment.  It's been a while and I never do it like I'm supposed to, so I'm trying to get back on track. Speaking of getting back on track, I will admit that I've been relaxing a lot more frequently.  My new growth would quickly become unmanageable and I'd be reaching for the relaxer.  I was starting to feel that way last week, however, the castor oil has made my new growth SOOOOOOO much softer.  My curls actually feel curly and soft and moisturized.  Back to the protein treatment - so this entire treatment, I used the shower to wash/rinse my hair.  It was EXTRA time consuming jumping in and out the shower each time, but it allowed me to keep my hair detangled as I went through each step.  And keeping my hair detangled has been key to my finger combing process that I started last week!

Wet hair with protein treatment applied

Dry hair with protein treatment applied

So after taking my hair through so many highs and lows last week, the word to sum of how I feel about my hair now is - meh.  My air dry after the protein treatment did turn out a lot better.  My hair is a lot smoother, but it is still tangled and my hair feels oily.  I might need a clarifying shampoo after this weeks hot oil treatment.