Hair

Hair Update Revisited

So, you remember those cornrows that my stylist told me would last six weeks (See Hair Update for details)? Yeah, well, they lasted more like 13 days!

Ooh chile, when I say my scalp was on fire, I mean it was on FIYAH! Not that it was hurting, because the braids weren't tight at all. However, I believe the combination of having my scalp exposed to the air, plus the tension, even though it was slight, caused my scalp to become extremely dry, itchy and irritated.

Now, you ladies know that I don't put anything on my scalp. In times of extreme dryness, I may use pure oils like Vitamin E or EVOO. Yet, even those weren't providing any relief. If anything, they made it worse! I managed to wash my scalp with witch hazel and rinse the ponytail with cool water after the first week, but that offered no respite. I then broke down and washed the cornrows as I would normally wash my hair, but even that didn't do it for me. Alas, I took that mess out!

To tame the mess you see in the picture above, I began by spritzing my hair with a combination of water and setting lotion. That softened up my hair enough for me to detangle it with a wide tooth comb. This is the amount of hair that came out:


I know it looks like a lot, but considering the amount of hair I have, and the fact that I didn't comb my hair at all for two weeks, that was nothing. As you can see, the water and setting lotion combo allowed me to tame my hair into four manageable sections:

I shampooed my hair and deep conditioned with Organic Root Stimulator's Replenishing Conditioner. Although that helped, my scalp didn't completely turn back to normal (i.e. no flakes, no itching) until after the second wash. So, all in all, I found the cornrow, curly ponytail style to be convenient, but not a long-term solution for protective styling.