Hey, it's Courtie!

Hey girlies.

So I had that dry braid and curl that I did after I straightened. It looked like this, which is depressing.



Mm-hmm. So I made up my little amla oil treatment (Melted shea, melted Vatika coco oil, Dabur amla oil, olive oil, and amla powder), put it on and let it sit under a shower cap for about 1 hour.

Then I mixed up a HUGE batch of the Cherry Lola treatment and put that all over my hair. I let that sit under a shower cap for about 45 minutes. I washed it out with Garnier Triple Nutrition and HEHH, then got out of the shower and applied Giovanni Direct Leave In and Organix Healing Mandarin & Olive Oil to soaking wet hair. Using my modified version of Ms. Tiashauntee's holding cream, I twisted, using shea butter to seal the ends.





Slept in a bonnet, and untwisted at work this morning.





This will be the style until Friday or Saturday when I henna gloss. The trim I gave myself really helped!

Courtie wrote:
Any questions on that amla treatment, let me know. You can see how shiny my hair is. My boyfriend is now doing amla like twice a week. Don't sleep on it.

Question: Do you measure out your ingredients when you use the amla powder? I know you said that you used a heaping teaspoon but how much of the other ingredients did you use? Just got in my order from BNB's and I want a good recipe.

Thanks!

--Reese

Oh Courtie, your hair look delish!!!

@Freestyles - no, girl, I just guess at it. I'd say about a tablespoon of each oil will cover it.

@Intelligentbeauty - Why thank you sis!

oh I love the results of your twist out!!! Stunning! The shine is off the chart!!! Great stuff!

wow your hair is so shiny and beautiful!

COURTIE!!! I FINALLY found some amla and brahmi powders at my local indian grocery store. This place is less than 5 minutes from my house and I didn't even know it!! I thought it was just an Indian restaurant. I was traveling all the way to the other side of town for my henna when I could've been going right around the corner. Ughhh!! But HELL YES! I am going to try your amla treatment THIS WEEKEND!!

Courtie!! Where are you my dear?? I didn't try the amla treatment yet. I was wondering if you would recommend prepooing before doing the amla treatment? You did the Cherry Lola treatment on top of it and I don't plan to so should I just put it on my hair dry and let it sit and then do a cowash or a deep condition?

Girl, I'm finally back today. Things have been cray-ZAY.

When I do the amla oil thing, I just consider that my prepoo. Since I mix it with oils instead of water, it's doing double duty. I'd put it on dry and then cowash and condition.

I have been gone for a while -- my life has been hectic.

And my hair is ridiculous. I was sick, and then the holidays came, and I really only styled my hair twice in two weeks. That's what I'm supposed to be doing, and I don't usually keep to it. Well, my hair has grown the 1/2" back that I trimmed a couple of weeks ago.

I did a coil out last night that DID NOT turn out well -- trying to figure out where I went wrong with that.

I co-washed and detangled with HEHH, then I let Organix Nourishing Coconut conditioner sit while I showered. I put more Organix and Giovanni Direct on while my hair was still soaked, then I plopped for a bit.

I did the coil out with my trusty holding cream and a TON of shea butter.

Here's the wet coils right after I did them:



And here they are dry right before I took them out:



Everything looks okay so far, right?
Then why the heck did I end up with this mess?



The curls on one side of my head are completely flat and frizzy, and they are sticking out all weird.

I don't know what I'm going to do, as I am going with my boyfriend to his parent's house for the weekend and I don't have time to do my hair again before we go. I am just going to have to make it work and reboot when I get back on Sunday.

On the plus side, my hair is extremely moisturized from all the conditioner and shea butter.

Hey sis..glad you're over being sick. Could you twist that turned out flat back and pin it up some kind of way? I think the left side looks good from what I can see in the picture. I've been thinking of doing a coil out but my head is so big and my hair is sooo thick it would take forever. Ugghhh I just don't have the patience lol

Let me know what you come up with!

Well. It certainly has been a minute.

Anyway, here's what happened with the coil out -- I wore it all New Year's weekend up until Monday the 4th. I made it work with a side ponytail that covered up the flat part, and I got a lot of compliments. I liked the coils that turned out so well that I decided to try to do it again.

That was a mistake. On Monday I did a henna gloss using some Mehandi I had frozen, mixed with some Organix White Tea and Grapeseed conditioner I got on sale. I left it on for about 2 hours, washed, DC'd with HH mixed with coconut oil and olive oil, and coiled again. I used holding cream and shea butter, and I thought I figured it out because I saw where coils were coming undone and I went back and fixed them.

It still didn't work. The coils on the right side of my head were shiny and springy, the coils on the left were flat and frizzy. So I think that's it for me and coil-outs. I'm over it.

But again, I made it work until Friday. On Friday I did my usual amla treatment, followed up by a Cherry Lola treatment. I conditioned with Organix Nourishing Coconut and HH, did a leave-in of Organix and Giovanni, sealed with olive oil, plopped, and shingled with holding cream and shea butter.

The results are -- big.



It's nice and moisturized, but it's the third day and it keeps getting bigger. The reason I tried shingling is because I like my hair best as a wash n go, but I can't do that style because it wreaks havoc on my hair.

I don't know, it's okay. Next time I style I am doing small-medium twists and I will wear it out for a week.

Texture shot:

Okay, let's get the style out of the way first. Yesterday, I pre-pooed with Vatika coconut oil and olive oil, I applied a large amount to my dry hair.

I let that sit for 1/2 an hour, then I mixed up the Cherry Lola and put that on for 1/2 an hour.

I rinsed and detangled with HEHH, cowashed with Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition, then I used Organix Nourishing Coconut Conditioner as a leave in, along with a liberal squirt of Giovanni Direct Leave In.

Then I twisted. I made some fresh holding cream. Here is what I used (I had a bunch left over):

2 tbsp coconut oil, melted in a bowl
1 tbsp olive oil
a little pinch of shea butter
1 tsp honey
3.5 tbsp conditioner (I used Organix Mandarin & Olive Oil)

I twisted with that cream and some shea butter. Here are the little twists (this AM before I took them out).





I let them dry overnight and took them out this morning:



It's really springy and shiny, so I'm happy.

I pulled it back for work:



Now for the exciting stuff. LENGTH CHECK!
My hair has grown like crazy over the last two months.
I took this pic on November 11, two months ago.



About 2 inches past collarbone, stretched.

One month after that, Dec 14th, I cut an inch off my hair in the back and 1/2 inch all around.

Here is my hair one month after the trim:



I measured -- it's 3 inches past my collarbone, even with the inch I cut off a month ago.

That means it grew 2 inches in a month.

So obviously the shake, the amla and the low manipulation are working. I am going to keep to my routine -- I can't wait to be waist length.

Your twist out looks good. Great growth too.

Thank you!

And great growth on your end, too. I like your av -- is that a coil out?

Thanks. It's a stretched twist out.

Hi Courtie ive been lurking in your thread so i thought i would say hi. Your hair looks great thanks for sharing your regimen i love reading new stuff i will definately give cherry lola a try. Keep up the good work.

Hey I know I am a few pages late but where do you get the Henna gloss product from? I love the consistent shine of your hair!

congrats on the growth! girl you are making me want to revist that cherry lola! your hair looks really good!

I'm a terrible blog keeper!

Hi Courtie ive been lurking in your thread so i thought i would say hi.
Your hair looks great thanks for sharing your regimen i love reading
new stuff i will definately give cherry lola a try. Keep up the good
work.

Hi Leila and thank you! If you need help with cherry lola let me know!

Hey I know I am a few pages late but where do you get the Henna gloss product from? I love the consistent shine of your hair!

Stacye -- I am loving your hair in that av! I want my puffs to look like that! The henna gloss is just henna powder mixed with a little green tea, allowed to release the dye, and then mixed with a ton of conditioner (you can use cheapie). I let it sit on for an hour or two -- way faster than a full henna and less red color deposit, but the same amount of shine!

Your hair looks good as always! I love the pulled back picture--bunches and bunches of curls. Your hair grows fast.

Thank you for the compliment -- you know I adore your hair. That updo in your av is lovely and it looks soooooo complicated.

congrats on the growth! girl you are making me want to revist that cherry lola! your hair looks really good!

Thanks thanks!!! I checked out your page and you are doing the damn thing, girl! Your hair is really growing nicely.