Has My Hair Texture Changed?

Hey guys,

So lately I’ve been wearing my hair in stretched styles and I’ve been seeing amazing results. I started doing this earlier this year by doing twist outs, flexirod sets, mini twists and braid outs. I stuck with twist outs because they led to less breakage and the fluffiness that I’m used to, plus they took less time to install because i typically had 6-8 big twists each time.

When I uninstalled my box braids about a week an a half ago, i put them into twists when i would finish a medium sized area. I ended up with a nice, loose twist out and didn’t feel ineeded to wash my hair because my scalp was clear & i just washed it a day before.

My hair was acting funny and was poofier than usual. It waa becoming frustrating to set a style & wake up with nothing that you planned for. So a few days ago i decided i desperately needed a wash and i did just take down my ombre box braids, so i missed my natural curls. I did my  usual wash and go routine with a cowash but my curls weren’t popping like they used to. It had been at least a couple of months since i had seen my natural curl pattern and i could’ve sworn they looked different.

So what was wrong? After much consideration i found that i had too much of my favorite homemade Shea butter in my hair and had been doing water only washing and cowashing for to long. Also, i needed a bit of a trim on my ends because i was noticing some single strand knots & split ends. I was retaining length, had little breakage, but my hair was limp and prone to poofing to uncontrollable levels, all because of my Shea butter. Plus, i made a different mixture when i whipped it and it’s a little different from my original whipped Shea butter so it has been making my hair act differently from what I’m used to. I tried adding coconut oil to it and ive decided it only has a place in my hot oil treatments.

I decided to use my jar of Aunt Jackies Curl La La Curl Defining Custard and my hair behaved similar but not the same as what it did before. I am a big fan of Cantu’s Coconut Curl Defining Cream but i did just pick up the Aunt Jackies because i was looking for a new product, it was a little cheaper and it smelled great.

I now have a flexirod set and plan on getting back into my wash and gos soon. The moral of the story is i should’ve stuck to my original recipe for my whipped Shea butter (duh, zhanéa) and i shouldn’t keep doing water only washing/cowashing and just add shea butter after i do because too much of anything (especially humectants like shea butter) is not good for your hair or your style. I hope this helps you guys with why your styles or curls may not be acting the way the normally do. Try to find out what you’ve been doing differently and you’ll be able to tweak your routine to get back on track.