Not a good hair day *LOL* Last day before wash day is always blue but man!! am I annoyed here.

I posted that my hair has not been great with this LUSH shampoo, don't know whether to keep trying it or what. Have wondered whether to try it with a different conditioner, seeing as I am used to using a "co-ordinated set" or whether SLS just is no good for my hair. I also remembered that the conditioner I have been using with it is my cheap one, which I sometimes use for CO, and it does leave your hair soft, but quite flat....which is why I use it for that, when my hair has been damaged or my head is sore. This is part of my reasoning for trying a different conditioner with the LUSH.

I am going away and want to look decent this weekend (just, a place I need to feel comfortable about myself) but my hair is dull and flat and at the moment, how my hair is is a big part of how good I am feeling about myself. So I have taken both shampoos, my normal one and the LUSH, and will see how I feel on my way to the shower in the morning.

Second problem.....which I thought I had relieved but it doesn't seem to be working. Kinked braiding. As my hair gets longer and my dh still can't braid, I still have to find ways of braiding my own hair. I normally pull it over my shoulder but seem to be getting kinky braids. All my strands are pretty much the same thickness, could it be the wave in my hair from damp styling (therefore it will fit to those rather than anything else)? am I doing something wrong? too loose? too tight? Trying to reverse things in the mirror?! I mean to ask a friend to braid it for me next week to see if it's any different when someone else does it. I rely on braiding for night-time and work styles - so every day. I don't know whether these two problems are related at all (flat hair not staying put...or something).

I am so tempted to go back to my regular shampoo. *grumbles and makes muttering sounds*. Sorry, think I am just feeling a bit stressed.

Bees

Not a good hair day *LOL* Last day before wash day is always blue but man!! am I annoyed here.

I posted that my hair has not been great with this LUSH shampoo, don't know whether to keep trying it or what. Have wondered whether to try it with a different conditioner, seeing as I am used to using a "co-ordinated set" or whether SLS just is no good for my hair. I also remembered that the conditioner I have been using with it is my cheap one, which I sometimes use for CO, and it does leave your hair soft, but quite flat....which is why I use it for that, when my hair has been damaged or my head is sore. This is part of my reasoning for trying a different conditioner with the LUSH.

I am going away and want to look decent this weekend (just, a place I need to feel comfortable about myself) but my hair is dull and flat and at the moment, how my hair is is a big part of how good I am feeling about myself. So I have taken both shampoos, my normal one and the LUSH, and will see how I feel on my way to the shower in the morning.

Second problem.....which I thought I had relieved but it doesn't seem to be working. Kinked braiding. As my hair gets longer and my dh still can't braid, I still have to find ways of braiding my own hair. I normally pull it over my shoulder but seem to be getting kinky braids. All my strands are pretty much the same thickness, could it be the wave in my hair from damp styling (therefore it will fit to those rather than anything else)? am I doing something wrong? too loose? too tight? Trying to reverse things in the mirror?! I mean to ask a friend to braid it for me next week to see if it's any different when someone else does it. I rely on braiding for night-time and work styles - so every day. I don't know whether these two problems are related at all (flat hair not staying put...or something).

I am so tempted to go back to my regular shampoo. *grumbles and makes muttering sounds*. Sorry, think I am just feeling a bit stressed.

Bees

Hello Bees!! :D

Unless you are commited to testing out Lush products exclusively, I say go back to your old shampoo/cond for a bit to see if it improves the feel/look of your hair, especially if your old products worked well. Maybe it's just the day-before-wash-blues, and maybe your hair will be happier after you wash!

With my hair, I have found that if I wet bun in a KM bee but bun, I get huge loose waves that fall right out into straight hair. If I braid while my hair is still even slightly damp, I get braid kinks. As long as I braid my hair loosely when it is completely dry (I'm a night-braider too), I don't get any kinks. I braid the same way you do - I start braiding & then bring the length around to the front over my shoulder and continue to braid while turning my head to the side to help keep the braid straight.

Hope you figure your hair out ;)
I'm hope you have good, happy, well behaved, comfortable-to-be-in hair this weekend!!

oops...

I just re-read your post and I see you are talking about your braid being kinked, not your actual hair.

I'm not sure I have anything helpful to say about that. I'll tell you what I do when I braid, but I don't think it will help any because I'm sure you already do this...
When I swing the length of my hair over my shoulder to continue the braid, I literally twist my head as far to the opposite side as I can to help keep the hair pulled at the same amount of tension and angle as it was while it was behind my head. So while I'm finishing the middle and bottom portion of the braid, I am looking over my shoulder and as far behind me as I can to keep the braid as straight as possible while I'm braiding it.
That probably didn't help at all! Maybe one of the braiders will have a helpful suggestion for you.
Hope you have a great weekend!

Hi Bees! What exactly is happening with your braid -- could you explain a little more what you mean by "kinks"? I find that using even tension during braiding makes a huge difference in how smooth or twisted my braid turns out. Sometimes, if I think about it too much, that only makes it worse! :? A looser tension keeps braids smoother than a tighter tension. I start reasonably tight (at the nape), but keep the tension fairly loose after the first two or three crossovers. It's at that point that I pull my hair over my shoulder to finish braiding. If I go any more than two or three crossovers before pulling it over, I usually end up with a twist or "kink" in that spot.

For a tighter looking braid, try to keep the crossovers close together. You don't need to pull tight at all to do this -- just keep the crosses high on each other. (I hope this makes sense.) However, I've found that the looser I hold the tension, and the more even it is throughout the whole braid, the smoother the finished braid turns out -- regardless of whether I keep the crossovers close or not.

Well, I hope this made even a little sense and will be helpful. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll try to clarify. As a 24/7 braider, I LOVE talking braids! :mrgreen:

sorry to hear that you had bad luck with lushs chamomiloe lawn too. the only lush shampoo i get on well with is antiphilitron. washday greens is ok but leaves me a bit limp. but keep searching.

Not had the greatest day at work either......just about to finish getting ready to go away. I'm going back to my old shampoo for a bit until I can get to a Lush to find something else.....maybe I'll trial it again with H'suan Wen next week. Maybe my hair just likes SLES, maybe it likes something else in that shampoo..

I will bounce this thread back on Sunday night to answer the braiding questions....I promise. I just wanted to let you all know I'd heard you before I dash off for the weekend.

I'm going to get showered and changed, wash school off me and feel better about myself. ((((((((((((((biggest hugs))))))))))))))))

Love

Bees xxx :Star:

I can't use Lush shampoos, they make my scalp itch the moment I put them on my head. Which to me indicates that they are quite harsh and drying.

I haven't had any problems with the Okra and Coolaulin conditioners, but the Veganese I don't like at all. It instantly coats my hair and dries it out. Okra and Coolaulin are both favourites of mine, though.

So sorry your not getting good results :( I would say go back to your usual products until you have more time to give it another try. No sense in frustrating yourself when you have a busy weekend ahead of you.

Have a pleasant weekend Bees!!

Hello folks, me again. I promised I would bounce this post, and now I have.

I had an interesting weekend. I went to a conference about Mission for my Church. I am still not sure what I was there for, only that I met some interesting people and did some good networking. I re-met someone I met in November too, and it was nice to catch up and find out how she is getting on and encourage her a bit (hopefully!!!)

ANYWAY!! I had adventures in hair washing on Saturday after discovering that I only had immediate access to a bath. I've put all that in my hair journal. My hair at the moment is smooth, silky, virtually straight because it air dried on Saturday (alternative method of drying - warm conference hall!!) The water where I was staying is much softer than here too, so I had terrible trouble rinsing out shampoo, but after really rinsing rinsing rinsing afterwards my hair is beautifully soft. I used lots of leave in too though, so it could be that!! My dh commented last night that my hair was silky smooth.

Kinky braids..........I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!! I had a brainwave on Saturday morning while I was doing something else. If you pull your hair over your shoulder and down your front, you are basically braiding it round your neck aren't you? In a C curve. So when you flip that back, the weight of the hair will pull the braid over into a twist.


Equestrian wrote: I'm not sure I have anything helpful to say about that. I'll tell you what I do when I braid, but I don't think it will help any because I'm sure you already do this...
When I swing the length of my hair over my shoulder to continue the braid, I literally twist my head as far to the opposite side as I can to help keep the hair pulled at the same amount of tension and angle as it was while it was behind my head. So while I'm finishing the middle and bottom portion of the braid, I am looking over my shoulder and as far behind me as I can to keep the braid as straight as possible while I'm braiding it.

Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't - didn't notice any connection. Saturday night, Sunday-day and Sunday night I did exactly this. Folk with kinky braids, listen to Equestrian, she knows her stuff. Three perfectly flat braids. If I had been able to get at a PC I would have come right here and hugged the stuffing out of you because.....THREE PERFECT BRAIDS!! Woo hoo!! I was doing the happy dance, let me tell you!! :D
Plus, try to do as many turns as you can before you stretch it out or bring it over.

You do look pretty weird doing your braids this way, but try doing it alternate directions (if you can) and get a nice stretch for your neck. (Pilates/Yoga sty-le). I got some nice hair compliments over the weekend, people saying how nice and long it was, how pretty. That was nice, because I don't wear my hair down so often these days. Yesterday I wore a french braid bun, and need to wear that more...because I can make it sit low on my neck and not be such a weight. Even managed to sit in a car with it.

Thanks all for your support and encouragement. ArcticPixie, if you are reading this, can you PM me and let me know where to find your crossover braid thing? I heard mention and it sounds interesting.

Oh Yeah, and I reached my first goal length. 8)

Love

Bees xxx

Bees, I found the guidelines on Making Smooth Braids from Dreamweaver Braiding to be very helpful:

http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com/braids/Smoothbraids.htm

The info about crossovers is in it.

I'm not sure I have anything helpful to say about that. I'll tell you what I do when I braid, but I don't think it will help any because I'm sure you already do this...
When I swing the length of my hair over my shoulder to continue the braid, I literally twist my head as far to the opposite side as I can to help keep the hair pulled at the same amount of tension and angle as it was while it was behind my head. So while I'm finishing the middle and bottom portion of the braid, I am looking over my shoulder and as far behind me as I can to keep the braid as straight as possible while I'm braiding it.
That probably didn't help at all!

It helped me! I'd always just pulled the braid around to the front and kept going. I had no idea there was a "trick" to continuing. I guess I'll chalk it up as another thing I missed growing up with short hair, no sisters, and a mother with short hair. I won't even go into how long it took for me to learn how to make a simple ponytail ... But anyhow, I digress.

I tried this last night, and it worked perfectly. Great straight braid right down my back. Thanks much.

Cheers,
Jonobie

Bees, I found the guidelines on Making Smooth Braids from Dreamweaver Braiding to be very helpful:


http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com/braids/Smoothbraids.htm

The info about crossovers is in it.

Whoa Pixna, that one was an eye opener, thanks!
I have been braiding each night for probably ten years and always thought a "snug" braid means "pullig tightly" - and I didn't want to do that to my hair, so I ended up with lose braids all the time. Okay for sleeping, but too sloppy to wear during the day.

Last night I tried the "crossing as high as possible" advice and got something like the best braid ever! It even looked still like a decent (frizzy but snug) braid in the morning. This adds a whole new perspective to daytime styles - I am able to do french braids, dutch braids and braided buns, I just never got them snug enough to stay put and look good.
Can't wait to play around more.

It's incredible what a difference little things make, and how much about such basic stuff even long time longhair can still learn from this community :D

You do look pretty weird doing your braids this way, but try doing it alternate directions (if you can) and get a nice stretch for your neck. (Pilates/Yoga sty-le).

Oh Yeah, and I reached my first goal length. 8)


Thanks Bees!! :D

How wonderful to find this very kind response to a post that I thought would not be very helpful!! :D :)

I'm so glad your hair is behaving and I'm glad you had a great weekend!

What's this????
You reached your first goal length?!?!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That's great Bees!!

[quote="BeeLady"]You do look pretty weird doing your braids this way, but try doing it alternate directions (if you can) and get a nice stretch for your neck. (Pilates/Yoga sty-le).

Oh Yeah, and I reached my first goal length. 8)

OOPS,
I wanted to comment on how odd we look craning our heads around behind us while braiding. LOL. Yes, we look odd.

Good idea to turn it into a well done stretch. My instructor at the yoga class I used to attend told me the same thing one day as I was preparing (my hair) for class!!

Congrats again on reaching your 1st goal Bees!!