My New Mane Wash Regimen

 Ok, so some folks may be wondering why I took so long in doing a hair post. Well, I made some changes to my hair care regimen and it took some time to get it right for me.  Add to that the fact that it’s Winter and I’ve been rocking protective styles, I haven’t had to do my hair much and I haven’t done much to my hair.  So, in truth, it’s been pretty dull. But I do have a new wash regimen to share with you!

I picked up and adapted an apple cider vinegar wash regimen from Naptural85 on YouTube.  When I first heard about using (ACV) to cleanse your scalp, I was very skeptical because ACV is very acidic (duh) and can be very drying.  Since my scalp and skin has issues with dryness, flaking & eczema & I didn’t want to make a sometimes out of control & frustrating issue worse.  So I stuck with doing a pre-poo hot oil treatment, then shampoo & condition every week to 2 weeks for a while. I tried co-washing…my scalp laughed at me & gave me the side-eye.

But then, I ran across this video skimming through Whitney’s play lists one Saturday afternoon & it made me think to try using ACV as a cleanser for my scalp, instead of shampoo.

 I’ve been doing a rendition of this for about 4 months now & and it has been working very well for me.  Now, the only thing I picked up from the video is how she does her cleansing. I do not have the mud wash she uses and I’m still on the “no new products” action because I have plenty of shampoo and conditioner.

Here’s what I do: I section my hair into twists, just as Whitney does in her video & I use my ACV & water mix to cleanse my scalp.  However, instead of shampooing I pulled out my fired bottle of the Giovanni Botanicals conditioner.  A few posts ago I explained that, while I bought it, I wouldn’t be using it because, while my scalp liked it, my hair did not. It was much too stripping to use after I’d already shampooed & it ended up leaving my hair very tangled & feeling like it could matt up any moment. It was truly a frustrating initial experience.  But after figuring out that shampooing after the ACV cleanse was also too stripping & co-washing with a regular moisturizing conditioner didn’t get all the product & gunk out of my hair, I pulled that big ole bottle out of the closet & viola!!!!  It was the perfect match.

Now, again, its winter & I’m wearing my hair in protective styles so I’ve been washing my hair about once every 3-4 weeks.  And this is working great for now. Come Summer I may have to change it up again because Summer = sweat which means more frequent washes, but if that changes, I’ll talk about it then.

So…that’s one hair update.

TTFN!!