How I DO IT! - My Hair Regimen

I relax my hair no less than 12 weeks apart. I love stretching, I've been known to stretch for as long as 8 months. 

With that out of the way, let's start with wash day since this sets the tone for the rest of my week. 

 I:

Pre poo - using oil and/ or conditioner before every wash or co-wash. 

Wash - with a shampoo which is gentle on my hair. Typically, I use a sulfate-free shampoo or one that's for damaged hair. I do this once per week or every other week. On the weeks I don't shampoo wash, I co-wash with a rinse out conditioner. I also give my hair a thorough cleansing 1X a month with a clarifying/ chelating shampoo which removes dirt, product build-up and mineral deposits. 

Deep Condition - every week without fail and have done this since the start of my hair journey, sometimes even more than once if I'm feeling up to it. My deep conditioner is usually a mixture of store- bought and natural ingredients. (We'll explore them further on down the road.) The mid-week DC session is usually accompanied by a co-wash. My routine is 2 weeks moisturizing DC and the following week, a mild protein deep treatment is done since my hair is pretty thirsty. I incorporate a medium-harsh protein session about once a month. 

Condition - as the final rinse of each wash with a rinse out conditioner (duhh :-)). I T-shirt  dry for about 15 minutes before air-drying my hair. Even when I intend to blow-dry and/ or flat-iron, I always t-shirt and air dry a little prior to doing so. 

Do oil treatments - in the form of hot oil pre poo treatments, oil rinses, adding oils to my deep conditioner mixes and to my shampoo, as well as a means of sealing my moisturized hair. These are pretty much done as needed rather than on a schedule.

Do tea (& coffee) rinses and incorporate the baggy method as needed. That is, when I experience excessive shedding or dryness. 

Moisturize and seal my hair Every Single Solitary Day! As I said before, my hair craves moisture. Sometimes I even do it 2 or 3 times a day. 

Employ Protective and Low Manipulation styles about 90% of the time. Throughout the year I am usually in a long term protective style like a wig or braids. After a relaxer, which I schedule near my summer or winter vacations, I wear my own hair either curly or straight, employing low manipulation styles. I do however, break out the old blow dryer and flat iron and go to town on my hair every now and then after a fresh relaxer. Hey, A girl's gotta live!

*I take a multi-vitamin daily (for the most part) adding Biotin and MSM tablets to the mix. I rotate a few others in the name of experimentation. 

So there you have it! A look at how I do it. How do you DO IT?