Fighting Fire With Fire (Because I'm Not Patient)

CG News
After returning from my wedding roadtrip to North Carolina on Monday, I decided to go back to doing the whole CG thing with my Suave Naturals Ocean Breeze Conditioner. Starting out the no-poo regimen requires patience and time, of which I have little when I see straggly, frizzy, oily, unevenly-curled, clumpy hair. I decided to fight fire with fire to see if that would bring back some curl definition: Last night I did a DT with honey and olive oil. (I did an olive oil treatment a few years ago when I tried going CG and remembered how much my hair liked it, as well as adding honey to various products.) I warmed 1/2 c. honey and added 2 Tbsp. olive oil per the directions on the livefreelivecurly site. Before doing the DT, I thought I should remove any existing gunk from my hair. I added 1 Tbsp. of baking soda to my conditioner and followed that with an ACV rinse. Next I poured the warm honey and oil over my head while bending over in the tub. After massaging it into my scalp and raking it through my hair, I wrapped my head with plastic wrap and let it sit 30 minutes. It was difficult to rinse out, so I CO-washed. BTW, I think a sulfate-free or loo-poo shampoo would've worked better in this case because I had a LOT of honey and oil in my hair! (Next time, I'm going to reduce the recipe amounts by half.) After rinsing in cold water, I added more CO as a leave-in. My flax seed gel wasn't on hand, so I used HESMU gel and squeezed excess water out while scrunching upside down. Then I put in one clip front and center at my hairline to create more lift, plopped for 10 minutes, and went to bed. I noticed that my curls were already showing more definition and were standing away from my scalp when I removed my towel before bedtime, so I was looking forward to seeing what my hair looked like in the morning.

The first picture is how I generally wear my hair. I smooth out the curl with a round brush around my face, diffuse the rest, and then hand style; or I pin the long bangs down and air dry followed by hand styling. The second picture is from this morning after waking up from doing the DT. (I know, I'm not a morning person and this picture clearly shows that. Just look at the hair please!) More definition and boingy curls -- goal achieved! It'll be interesting to see how long my hair stays moist from the DT. I'm glad to have alleviated a few days of frizz and sped up the process of my hair becoming more moist.

Knitting News
I finished one side of Wright and am on the second side now.

Next time I go grocery shopping, or maybe sooner, I'm going to buy Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Invigorating Shampoo (although I hear the 50:50 works well, too). It contains zero sulfates. I'm also interested in Nature's Gate (Tea Tree Calming Conditioner, Hemp Nourishing Conditioner, and their Organics line of shampoos and conditioners) and J/A/S/O/N (Everyday Hair Care line and their All-Natural Specialty Hair Care line). I think these all cost around $7 or $8, so not too bad. Although, I'm more likely to buy just the sulfate-free shampoos and continue with the cheaper Suave Naturals and VO5 COs for CO-washing and CO-rinses. If I did splurge and buy one of the above-mentioned conditioners, I would use it sparingly since I tend to use a lot.