So, tomorrow will officially be two months since my Big Chop and 3 months since my last relaxer (down with creamy crack!!).  I’m so psyched.  I’ve experimented a lot these last two months with products trying to find what works “for me” and what doesn’t.  My hopes in posting this blog is that someone else gets the courage to find their “natural” self and hopefully try some of the products I’ve tried and post their experiences.  NATURAL seems to be a new, but growing, trend.  It’s been very liberating and I’m so happy I made the choice to do this.    My fears about looking like a wooly mammoth when I started this have been removed from my mind.  The freedom that comes with a wash-and-go is PRICELESS!  No more worrying about styling tools (I use none….not even a comb….my fingers do the work).  No more heat from the flat irons or curling irons (and I air dry).  No more worrying about having time in the mornings to get myself “together”.  No more spending an hour rolling my hair at night.  No more itchy, dry scalp.  No more breakage.  Just healthy hair.  Lorraine Massey rocks with her research into curly hair and providing The Curly Girl Method to the world!  My daughter has even developed love for her hair (which makes me VERY happy).  It’s all good.

The routine I have settled on that has worked wonders for my hair is:  VO5 Champagne Silk as a pre poo followed by Tresseme’ Naturals Coconut and Jojoba as a co-wash.  I then soak my hair in Suave Naturals Coconut conditioner followed by L’Oreal Eversleek Frizz Taming Serum.  Last, but not least, I apply my Eco Styler Argan Oil gel.  My hair is now moisturized all day and into the next day.  It feels soft and is growing at a healthy rate.  I will never go back to the creamy crack!!  NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!  I’m so happy my daughter never had to endure the pain of being a slave to a hair treatment and never will have to.  

This is the night of my Big Chop (or should I say morning as it was after 1:00 am) on 07/24/12.

This is the morning after my Big Chop.  Love what conditioner and gel does for the hair.  

The back of my hair in the beginnning.  Looked okay but dry.  

My hair now.  More curls and more moisture.  (odd angle, hard to take a pic of the back of your head by yourself.  LOL)

Even the scab hair is better!!  This was when I started.  

This is after.  More curls and less “hard” hair). Pics are blurry because I couldn’t get a good angle…my daughter took the other pics.

Overall I’m so happy and looking forward to the rest of my curly journey!  

So,  I decided to switch things up a bit.  As you may recall I was using Suave Naturals Coconut conditioner as my leave-in and Tresseme Naturals as my co-wash because of Tresseme’s inability to play friendly with my Eco Styler gel.  However, while out on a shopping trip I discovered there are so many Eco Styler gels (I hit the jackpot).  I decided upon the blue Eco Styler gel with a hold of “5″.  My clear Eco Styler gel has a hold of “10″.  I decided to give my Tresseme Naturals another try as a leave-in.  So today, I switched it up and used my Suave Naturals Coconut conditioner as my co-wash (must admit it’s not as thick as the Tresseme and I missed the Tresseme while washing my hair).  I then applied a generous amount of the Tresseme Naturals followed up by my L’Oreal Frizz Taming Creme Serum  (love, love, love this stuff) and then applied the blue Eco Styler gel .  Even though my hair is still quite short, it takes a while to dry.  It took around four hours for my hair to dry and surprise NO WHITE FLAKES in my hair!  I’m so psyched!  My hair feels super soft…not crunchy like with the firmer hold of the clear gel.  My curls are beautifully defined and I’m one happy curly girl!!  

Bonus: It’s for color treated hair so my hair (which I recently colored black after the Bozo the Clown incident) is thanking me!!  

Give it a try and tell me what you think.