Dry, dry, dry, dry...oh, and did I mention dry???!!!

If you couldn't tell from the title, I've been suffering from some SERIOUS dryness. However, I think I've pinpointed some part of the problem. One of the reasons I gave up deep conditioning for longer than 10-20 minutes was because the dryness I experienced was unaffected by the deep conditioning no matter how long or how much money I spent on hair products. Once my hair dried, ALL moisture was gone!

I thought maybe using products with no cones would help. I've been using the Shea Moisture (yellow) hair product line, but I've heard a lot of bad things about that product on both natural and relaxed hair. I'm thinking I'll try mixing these products with olive oil to add slip so I won't have wasted my money. The conditioner works well on detangling my dry hair, so I'll just keep up using that one as a pre-poo/detangler before I wash my hair and cut out using it after I shampoo.

Today I decided to go back to the silicone-based products. My hair is only half an inch away from bra-strap length (BSL) when stretched, so I definitely have way more relaxed hair than natural. I went through section by section and moisturized my hair with my old favorite Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat, then sealed with Africa's Best Herbal Oil. I lightly brushed it, put it in a ponytail (with ends tucked and pinned), and tied my hair down with a scarf. When I took off the scarf and rebunned my ends, my hair felt a MILLION times better! It feels moisturized, and the natural hair is finally laying down so my bun looks smooth and neat. I don't know if using silicone-based products will have any long-term negative effects, but it was something that finally penetrated my fragile air-dried hair. I will continue using my tried and true cone-based products until I experience any further trouble.

I was thinking I would need to start adding a lot of heat to my no-heat regimen, but it looks like it won't be necessary. I will be adding a teeny bit of heat to the middle section of my hair (meaning not the roots, not the ends, but the middle) so that this section will finally fully dry overnight (it REFUSES to completely air dry in ponytails, braids, bantu knots--you name it my hair refuses it), but I'll let you know how that goes once I try it.

All in all, I'm very happy with my hair right now.!