Moisturizing My 4c Hair *Update*

Hello, lovelies! In a previous blog post I provided the following recipe for a daily moisturizing spritz:

In a clean spray bottle add:

1. Half cup of distilled water
2. Two tablespoons of aloe vera juice
3. Two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin
4. Two tablespoons of jojoba oil

Shake the bottle well and spritz hair with it. Style as normal. Feel free to adjust the amounts as you see fit, based on how your hair reacts. Always test new products on your skin first to check for any allergic reaction.

I want to update step 3. Two tablespoons of vegetable glycerin is too much. I would change that to one teaspoon. A little vegetable glycerin goes a long way. While the spritz  moisturized my hair, it kept my hair in a constant shrunken state. Case in point: I’d leave the house with a bomb afro. By the time I’d make it to work, my afro would be reduced to a small packed down fro. Not cute.

Apologies to anyone who may have used the previous recipe I provided with not so great results. Always feel free to adjust recipes to fit your hair needs. No two heads of hair are alike! *Kisses*

 

Sage Tea Rinse

Last week a workmate gave me a bunch of fresh sage that was grown in her mother’s garden. My first thought was “What can I cook with this?” Then I thought about how I could use this on my hair. I remembered reading about how some naturals use Rosemary and other herbs as tea rinses. I also read that Sage is good for your hair and promotes hair growth. Naturally, I began to Google the benefits of Sage for your hair and skin.

Benefits of Sage: 

• Sage is a traditional topical treatment for graying hair
• Sage may promote new hair growth. Sage is an astringent, so when applied to the scalp, it increases the flow of blood to the follicles and so promotes hair growth.
• Using a sage hair rinse is said to thicken hair and strengthen it and give your hair shine. Sage essential oil is also said to be an effective way to combat hair loss too.
• Sage has antibiotic, antiallergic and antiseptic properties and is a source of magnesium, zinc, potassium, and vitamins B and C. 
• As for the skin, if you use cold sage tea as a skin toner, it will help clear up acne, reduce inflammation and leave your skin feeling fresh and clean.

After learning about all the wonderful benefits of Sage, I immediately wanted to know how I could effectively use the fresh sage that I had on hand. I found a very simple way to use my sage.

Making the Sage Tea: 

• In a pot, add however much water you want to use – it’s up to you
• Bring water to boil
• Add two or three stalks of fresh sage to the water
• Turn off heat and allow the sage to steep for about 15 minutes
• Remove the stalks (I used a fork) and allow the tea to cool
• Pour the sage tea into a large cup or bowl and then rinse hair, massaging your scalp as you do so

On my wash day, I washed my hair with baking soda water and rinsed with apple cider vinegar. As my final rinse, I used the sage tea BUT I rinsed it several times with the tea. I placed a large bowl in my sink to catch the tea as I rinsed, and then poured it back into my cup and repeated about two – three more times. I wanted to make sure my entire head was saturated with the tea to get all the benefits from it. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but it was something I wanted to do.

I detangled my hair and then allowed it to semi-air dry before adding my oils and mango butter to prepare for twisting. I will say that my coils felt looser and my hair did not draw up like it normally does after a regular shampooing and conditioning. My hair and scalp felt very clean and soft after doing this sage tea rinse.

I plan on purchasing some sage and rosemary essential oils to keep on hand to use as a daily light spritz. Do you do herbal tea rinses? If so what have your results been, and what herbs do you use? Please leave a comment below!

 

 

Vegetable Glycerin and Aloe Vera Juice

Recently I’ve adopted a new way (new for me anyway) to moisturize me and my daughter’s hair using vegetable glycerin and aloe vera juice. (see my previous post for recipe https://2dimplzs.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/moisturizing-my-dry-4c-hair/) First off, it totally works! I have never felt my hair this soft and stay so moisturized before in my life! Our hair was more manageable and easier to comb or finger comb through.

But…no matter if we plaited or twisted our hair and styled it the next day for a bomb twist out, puff, or afro it would shrink down quickly! You’d think we lived in the hot and humid south instead of the dry northwest! My daughters did not like this, they love being able to rock their huge afros or huge puffs. I had to agree with them, it was definitely a downside to having and keeping moisturized hair.

I think this is a case of taking the good with the bad. Having moisturized hair is very important. It cuts down on breakage, it promotes growth, and it makes our 4c hair much more manageable. What more can you ask for? What I will change is how often I spritz our hair with the vegetable glycerin and aloe vera juice. A little goes a long way. Finally, I feel like I’m finding my way through this natural hair journey!

Xoxo