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justmyinkblot · 8 years ago

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I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my MHM 7 Day Challenge posts. Actually, I’ve gotten the same question a lot of times.

“What happens after MHM?”

According to the Research…

There isn’t a straight answer to it. Some sources say you don’t do anything for three days, then repeat the cycle again replacing step one with the Cherry Lola Treatment every 2-4 weeks.

Others say you should return to your normal process (read: pre-MHM life), repeating the cycle every 2-3 days, although the time span is contended wildly between sources. As far as I’ve been able to find, the modifications are based on curl and porosity type, which creates a spider web of different approaches and techniques. It’s complicated.

My hair is a high porosity 3b curl. Which means it’s super dry, but curls about the width of a sharpie marker, and the strands are super fine. That means I don’t need such a strong curl definer. A creme is better than a gel for me.

Post-MHM Life & Me

The MHM 7 Day Challenge is like a detox cleanse for your hair. Not only does it get your hair to square one, but it forces you to reevaluate the choices you make. I’ve learned to determine the reasons for my hair’s behavior. Instead of trying to apply some kind of product to combat the issue, I can respond to it with science. The biggest gain from MHM is that it forces you to learn the science of your own hair. There’s a reason for each step:

The baking soda rinse is all about lifting the cuticle of your strand, so that you can dump as much hydration into it in the conditioning step.

The clay removes the excess product from your hair, so in the end you’ve got a plump, shiny clean strand.

Leave-in conditioner gives that last moisture dump, and the curl definer hardens around the strands, forming a cast. This causes the curls to clump, and if I’m being honest, this is as far as I ever got with my hair process. I had no real concept of the final step.

The final step is the one where you fluff and separate the clumps of dry curls very gently. It’s also the one where you put the oils on the ends of your curls to help them look less frazzled. Skipping it leaves the roots of your hair weighed down more, making it less likely to curl up there the next day.

By the end of the 7 Day Challenge I’d learned the various textures of my hair.

Fluffy and dry.

Mega friction squeaky clean.

Slippery and conditioned.

Crunchy.

I found that I could predict the final result by the way it felt when I’d finished styling. I learned how to define that Goldilocks combination of slip and friction, and that I still have a lot to learn about my hair, and a lot to learn about myself.

I have to learn that my hair is supposed to stand up. That’s what it does. Frizz is going to happen. I have to remember that it isn’t just curly girls who battle frizz, it’s everyone.

I have to learn how to get the top of my head to curl all the way to the root.

I have to learn to embrace the round shape of my hair, and stop feeling like it looks messy.

At first there was a lot of trial and error, although I continued to dilute my conditioners, both the co-wash and the leave-in. I also love the applicator tips because the help me make sure I’m hitting my roots. I have to refill the co-wash bottle every other day-2-3 squirts of conditioner, and fill the bottle with the hot water from the shower. I’m sticking with the kinky curly leave in, and the Face Values brand tea tree conditioner—I’ve come to love the tingle.

There were a few days where I tried to make the Kinky Curly Gel work as a spray gel, which lead to some weird splotches of gel as I experimented with dilution, and different spray bottles. A misting bottle works well, and is pretty good for killing frizz, but I just hate the texture of it. I can’t touch my hair at all. It’s something I’ll save for special occasions when I need my hair to look amazing.

When the hair at my crown stops curling to the root, and my curls start to take on more of an s-shape than a spiral, that’s when I know to repeat the MHM cycle. So far it’s been about a week between cycles, and I still haven’t repeated the Cherry Lola step. I’m a little leery of how long the first batch is supposed to last, and I haven’t gotten around to figuring it out. I’ll probably make a new batch before I get an answer. I prefer my hair after the apple cider vinegar rinse to the baking soda rinse.

I’ve changed de-tangling equipment quite a bit. I use a shower comb to de-tangle my dry hair before i shower, and finish it with a metal fan pick. I’m also using a fan pick during my final separating step.

I’ve also upgraded my shower cap situation because I can’t handle the crunching sounds they make.

During the step one rinse I use a spa headband to catch the drips.

During the deep conditioning I wrap a scarf around my head like a turban.

I use a shower cap for the clay step, because that stuff can be messy

I got a wave cap for plopping my curls.

Oh, yeah, remember plopping? When I have the time to let my hair dry at home, my hair responds beautifully to plopping! I just add a little extra curl definer, pile my hair into a wave cap, and let it dry.

I’ve compiled a full slide show for all the days of MHM, including the four weeks beyond.

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In the end my process comes down to this:

I can get up to three days of use out of one styling. If I’m not wetting/washing my head in the shower, I just clip it into a bun and do my best to avoid the water. I don’t mind a little water in my hair, I just don’t let it get soaked. It helps with styling after the shower.

Hair wetting days

detangle dry hair

apply diluted warm conditioner from root to tip. Clip into a bun atop head.

detangle in shower

apply diluted leave-in followed directly by curl definer in sections (experiment with this daily).

separate and scrunch when completely dry. apply oil to ends as needed.

MHM Days

de-tangle dry hair

apply clarifying rinse with spray bottle. clip into bun atop head. use spa wrap to catch drips. 30-60 minutes.

rinse. apply diluted conditioner root to tip. clip into bun atop head. use scarf and spa wrap to contain. 15-30 minutes

rinse. apply clay rinse root to tip. clip into sections (experiment with configuration). contain with shower cap 15 minutes

In shower, rinse in sections. Return hair to sections after rinsing. Alternatively rinse all in one mass and section with clips before leaving shower.

apply diluted leave-in followed directly by a little extra curl definer.

plop hair until 80% dry.

separate and scrunch when completely dry, apply oil to ends as needed

If I’m being honest, I put off MHM days. As I’m writing this post summer is upon us, and it doesn’t always make sense to let my curls loose. There are lots of updos, and hair buns happening, and with two kids home, it’s hard to find the time to get through the entire process. I won’t put it off forever. That’s how I know the impact the Maximum Hydration Method has had on my hair. I’m still willing to do it.

Would I do the 7 Day MHM challenge again?

Absolutely!

In fact, I’d like to challenge one of my favorite role models, one of the most graceful, beautiful and intelligent women today, Michelle Obama, to take the challenge, and show us her natural curls! Wouldn’t it be amazing if it caught on? If women everywhere stopped succumbing to the pressure to get straight hair, and the world was filled with beautiful curls?!

Curly hair has a stigma. It has associations of being dirty, smelly, and unclean.

It looks wild, unkempt, untamed. There are people who are scared of curly haired folk.

Curly hair is an identifier. The products for them are usually sold in “ethnic care” sections (don’t even get me started on this!. What does that even mean?), a subtle act of segregation.

Curly hair is an act of resistance. Societal standards have attempted to erase natural curls for millennia as a subtle method of control.

There is an ever-growing curl power industry starting to catch its stride, and the more visibility we give our curls, the more knowledge we can discover. Wouldn’t it be awesome if when we told little girls they were beautiful, we meant it for all of them, not just the ones lucky enough to have straight hair?

It sounds superficial to spend so much time thinking about hair. It feels like I should be writing something about valuing ourselves by more than just our physical representations. Still, if I can save one little girl, or one grown woman from a flat iron, or a chemical relaxer, it would all be worth it.

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I leave you with one final slideshow of the amazing hair days I’ve had Post-MHM. Enjoy!

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That time I told you all about the 30 Days after MHM with more selfies than you've ever wanted of me. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about my MHM 7 Day Challenge posts. Actually, I've gotten the same question a lot of times.

#curl girl #curly hair #MHM #MHM Challenge #Post MHM

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justmyinkblot · 8 years ago

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It’s finally here! The final day of MHM. It’s a strange feeling. I thought I’d be more excited. There’s a lot more burnout involved than I’d imagined, but I’ve never spent so much time actively worrying about my hair. It’s been quite a journey. Here’s my final day’s re-cap:

Step One: ACV and the rest of the option 2 baking soda rinse.

Steps Four & Five

Kinky Knot diluted Leave in & Miss Jessie’s Multicultural Curls.

Today I got very distracted in the garden, and didn’t get started until 2:00 PM!! If you’ve been following along this far, you know that the MHM process is crazy time consuming. So I skipped the finger combing in favor my shower comb. It was much easier to get the conditioner through. I also made the call to return to my original curl definer: Miss Jessie’s Multicultural Curls. The gel just made me unhappy. It’s not a total loss though. I’ve read that if I dilute it enough (I’m working on the enough part) it is a wonderful spray-on. I may try this as a final step when MHM is over.

I was able to fly through these steps in 20 minutes! That’s a 7 day record! Using the Multicultural Curls cream made everything feel so much nicer, and while the frizz wasn’t fully banished, it was definitely under control. It was my best hair day so far. In fact when I woke up the next day my hair still looked amazing. It was my best hair so far.

The Reveal:

Day 7 MHM Reveal

The best way to see the results is the shake test. I wish I’d thought ahead enough to take a video of Day 0. Still you can see how amazing the definition is. You can see how each curl is it’s own independent body, instead of just being one giant mass.

Day 7 Shake Test.MOV

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My MHM Assessment

If we take a look at a side-by-side shot of Day 0 and Day 7 of MHM, it’s clear to see that my hair has changed.

I’ve been so obsessed with frizz during this process, it’s funny to look at the hair I started with. My pre-MHM hair is so much frizzer!! Can a person get spoiled so quickly? Post-MHM the curls form full ringlets, and they start much higher up to the root than they did before. With each curl defined, my hair has the volume I’ve been searching for too.

The real question is, would I do it all over again?

I want to give you an unequivocal answer, but the truth is that the MHM process is sooooo time consuming. I can’t stress this enough. The ACV is kind of stinky, and my family did get pretty irritated with me. All the waiting in between steps is nothing short of obnoxious. It’s hard to sit down and write while your hair is dripping, or your scalp is tingling. Plus, writing my experiences down took up a significant amount of time too. Oh, and did I mention the mess? I definitely sprayed just as much ACV on the mirrors as I got on my hair. It was absolutely a challenge to get through, and it caused lots of timing issues. Because I skipped a day a few times the process took a total of 11 days, and by the last day I was so sick of shower caps. If I did it again, I would make sure not to schedule anything time sensitive for the duration.

On the other hand, I am soooo in love with my hair. It’s incredible. It feels good. I feel confident. My husband loves how much curlier my hair is. If he hadn’t been privy to what I was doing, he says he would’ve thought I cut my hair. That’s how much spring I’ve gained! The best part is that my ends are super healthy. I think I may still get a trim, but it will be minimal. After an entire year without a cut, that’s impressive. I may actually get to keep the length that grew in that year!

The best part is that I don’t have to do it all over again, at least not every day for seven entire days. To maintain maximum hydration it is recommended to repeat one day of the cycle every 2-3 days, but I’m calling it once a week, as that’s the guideline for 4c hair. The Cherry Lola treatment can replace Step One once a month.

Honestly, I can’t say I would do it all over again, all seven days, all the rinses, all the waiting, the tired arms, the dripping hair… at least not until I know what my hair looks like after MHM. If the question is, would I do the MHM every time I wet my hair, then the answer would easily be “hell no”. However, if my hair continues to look this fabulous even after my 15 minutes of normal styling I’ll be singing a much different tune.

In the meantime, check out a pictorial wrap up of the 7 Day MHM challenge.

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My next post will be all about life Post-MHM- how MHM changed my practice, and I’ll dish on the big decision: to MHM, or not to MHM!

The one where I reveal & review the final results of the MHM 7 Day Challenge. It's finally here! The final day of MHM. It's a strange feeling. I thought I'd be more excited.

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justmyinkblot · 8 years ago

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MHM 7 Day Challenge- Days Three -Six

The one where I tell about Days 3-6 of the MHM 7 Day Challenge, troubleshooting the process, and post lots of pics to show the progress #MHM

If you haven’t been playing along, I took the Maximum Hydration Method 7 Day Challenge (click here to learn more about MHM), and had some really amazing results so far on Day One & Two. The only problem was the frizz factor was worse than I’d hoped it would be, although the weather was pretty humid the entire time. For the most part the first three steps stayed the same, with the exception…

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#curls #Maxiumum Hydration Method #MHM #MHM Challenge

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justmyinkblot · 8 years ago

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MHM 7 Day Challenge-- Day Two

The one where I tell you all about Day 2 of the MHM 7 Day Challenge, and show you a vid of my best hair day in a long time.

It was on Day Two of the 7 Day MHM Challenge that I realized this would be really difficult for a working woman, especially a working parent, to accomplish. There is a whole lot of sitting with stuff in my hair, and a whole lot of rinsing. I can’t imagine I’d be able to pull this off if I didn’t work from home, unless I took a vacation, and who really wants to spend their vacation rinsing their…

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justmyinkblot · 8 years ago

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I decided to start the Maximum Hydration Method on a Friday to avoid having to worry about dropping my daughter off at school with a shower cap on. It was a LOT of work. I have pretty strict Monday-Friday rules for myself. I write a scene a day up front, and then I use whatever time I have until school pick-up for errands, or chores. I made sure I ran through my own usual process so I could fairly assess the before and after. I had an hour and half to gather all the ingredients, which included things that sounded hard to find like, Bentonite clay, and liquid aminos. Between Whole Foods and Harmon, I found every single thing at a $50 price tag when all was said and done. Well, I did flub a bit on the applicator bottles. Why did I think 4 oz travel bottles would work? Probably because I was rushing. If I had to do it again, I would have prepped by hanging onto empty conditioner/shampoo bottles. Luckily I did have a couple hanging about, and the applicator tips from my too-small bottles fit them. I could have saved about $10 by planning ahead.

Once all the ingredients were procured, and the kids were back home doing homework, I got to work.

MHM Step One: Detangle and Cherry Lola

The Cherry Lola Treatment is a strictly Day One product. Once the 7 day cycle is complete you’re free to repeat it as often as every two weeks. I used half of the recommended baking soda, because this is an intended abrasive, and other curly girls have reported a potential disruption of curl. I also added an entire TBSP of avocado, because I didn’t have a 3/4 TBSP and I figured it couldn’t hurt. Oh, yeah, and I got to eat the rest of the avocado! Bonus yum! In my house bananas don’t last long enough to become overripe, so, at the suggestion of one of my friends, I baked a plantain in the toaster oven at 300 for 30 minutes. It worked to achieve the consistency the Cherry Lola Treatment requires, but I can tell you, after frying up the other half, it wasn’t sweet. Still, a couple slices double fried made excellent tostones! Bonus yum 2!!

My favorite part was detangling my hair. I never do this on dry hair, because it stretches my curl straight. Not completely straight. It’s about as straight as you can get a sheet of paper after you’ve crumpled it into a small ball. No matter how hard you push or press, without heat, it will always have creases. The same holds true for my hair getting detangled by a comb. It was like watching the balloons inflate for The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The circumference of my hair was stupendous. I couldn’t help but to take a selfie break. This needed to be documented. I should also mention, seeing the magnitude of my mane was a bucket lister for my husband. Bonus Dreams Coming True!

I combined the ingredients easily into the Ninja Blender Large Carafe until it looked like a kale smoothie. I didn’t bother trying to pour it into an applicator bottle. Instead I took the pitcher into the bathroom, and scooped it out as I saturated my hair with it. Definitely messy!! Be prepared to clean the tub afterwards.

The first thing I’ll say is that my hair did NOT like this combination of being detangled, and then coated with goop. Some of it started to frizz rebelliously, and it felt like it would never feel completely wet. I just kept applying it root to tip until it was all one big mass that I could wind into a bun on the top of my head. I covered it with saran wrap, and used a bandana to cover the edges.

I stored the rest in a mason jar in the fridge. I think I have enough left for two more applications, but I’m not really sure how long this kind of mixture can be stored.

Meanwhile, I prepared and bottled the rest of the rinses. I decided that I’d alternate ACV rinses and the option 2 baking soda rinse. Both were easy to prep. I used an old leave-in conditioner bottle to store the option 2 baking soda rinse, and still had about 4 ounces left over. Well, well, well, travel-sized bottle. One of you has served a purpose. The ACV rinse is all liquid, so I stored it in a 6 oz bottle I found, which an applicator tip fit on perfectly. *Note* Since writing this I have already completed some of the MHM cycle, and have since learned that the best practice for this rinse is a spray bottle.

The clay rinse is slightly more complicated. If I’d bothered to read the directions more clearly, I would have seen the recommendation was to use an old 32 oz shampoo/conditioner bottle. It wouldn’t have mattered, because I didn’t have one of those, but I feel like I would’ve tried harder to source one. I mixed the conception in an old ricotta cheese container. It’s supposed to be a liquid consistency, but I left it a little gloppy. I figured I’d have to add water to it when I used it the next day, and would handle it in the moment.

This clay rinse is too thick to be used as-is, but I can add water when I need it.

Once all the products were prepped and bottled, I took some time to clean up. Then I cooked dinner.

It was over two hours later when I washed it off in the shower.

MHM Step Two: Deep Condition

The MHM Method offers you a few options here, all of which involve 2-3 ounces of conditioner mixed with 4-6 ounces of water in an applicator bottle. The difference in the options has to do with length of time to keep the conditioner in, and the temperature of the conditioner you use.

Option 1 is to apply the conditioner mixed with temperate water, to your soaking wet hair, and leave it in overnight under a shower cap.

Option 2 is to apply the conditioner mixed with warm water (or tea), and then sit under a steamer hood (if you have one) for 15 minutes.

Option 3 is the same as option 2, just without the steamer hood, under a shower cap for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can sit in a hot shower and let that function as a heat source, but that may be a big wasteful for some folks.

I picked option 1 for Day One, just to give my hair the extra oomph. I mixed 4 ounces of water with 2 ounces of conditioner in an applicator bottle, and applied that to my still soaking wet hair after I’d turned the water off. I tried the saran wrap and bandana method, but it didn’t hold up to couch cuddling with my honey. I swapped it for my go-to overnight hair wrap from back when I was plopping my curls on the reg— the Curly Hair Tee. The recommendation is to seal in the heat with some kind of plastic shower cap, I think, but I couldn’t deal with it overnight.

Remember how I told you in the last post, how I chose the FaceValues Tea Tree Oil Conditioner? Before you run out and purchase it, let me first warn you that the ingredients DO include Tee Tree Oil and spearmint. Either of these ingredients will make your scalp tingle, but the combination is pretty intense. Personally, I didn’t find it to be horrible. In fact, since it’s allergy season, the aromas actually helped keep my sinuses clear, which I found to be a major plus. I could see others, particularly those with low pain tolerance, or sensitive scalps, being really uncomfortable with it. My husband did his best to tolerate my minty-fresh scent, but I know it wasn’t the most fun for him either.

Going to bed was NOT the end of Day One.

In the morning I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. I’d read that the best method was to pour water over your hair with a pitcher. I tried it, and found that my hair was incredibly soft and easy to detangle with my fingers BUT I ended up using my detachable shower head to make sure it was all out of my hair. Either way, my back was very unhappy afterwards. Bending over for long periods of time stinks. Don’t forget to stretch!

MHM Step Three: Clay Rinse

I admit, this time I was also not paying much attention to the rules. Instead of thinning out the goopy clay mixture, I used the same scoop and saturate method I’d used with the Cherry Lola Treatment. Again, very messy. I vowed not to do that again, as I washed the tub after application. This was another back breaker too. the recommendation was to NOT pull it into a huge mass, but I didn’t listen to that either. It was so messy I couldn’t imagine being able to apply this AND try to coil it. A better solution was required. Either way I wrapped it into a shower cap and left it for 30 minutes, but 15 minutes is the minimum.

I rinsed this off in the shower. It was a little unnerving because my hair was so clean it was actually squeaky! I confess that I never let my hair feel like that, because it feels like it would get too dry, and then too frizzy. The other thing was how easy it was to detangle with my fingers. The squeaky feeling usually comes with extra tangly coils, but this was the exact opposite. Everything felt soft and clean. While I was still in the shower I separated and clipped my hair, starting from the nape of my neck, in sections. Part of my goal is to reshape the way my curls fall, so I could get rid of the part in my hair, so I chose to define these sections as Bottom Layer, left and right; left side; right side; crown, left and right; front of head.

MHM Step Four & Five Leave-in & Curl Define

This part is kind of tricky, because the mirrors are so steamy after a shower. Letting the hair clips full of hair drip, I toweled dry and got dressed, and opened the door to let the steam clear. This step is to apply your MHM approved Leave-in conditioner, and then your curl definer (whether it’s a gel or a cream) section by section. Do not apply the leave-in to your whole head, and then do the definer. I did this bent over for the two bottom sections, and the side sections. The crown section and the front of my head section I did while standing straight up (my back was killing me.

Let it dry. Don’t touch!

Letting it dry without touching it was so hard. I was dying to see the results! For one, the curls had started forming much closer to the root, and they were spiraling fully! I think I may have used more curl definer than I needed to out of habit, which is something I’ll need to work on. I think it would have been even softer to the touch had I toned it down. Even so, Day One of MHM gave me my one of the best hair days of the entire year. The weather was good for it too, no humidity or excessive heat. My husband said it looked like I’d come home from Ouidad, which is high praise. If this is it what Day One does, I can only imagine how this will look by Day Seven!!! What do you think?

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In my next post I’ll take you through Day Two, the pitfalls and the successes, and we can both see what if there are any curl gains to be won!

The one where I tell all about Day 1 of the #MHM 7 Day Challenge, and share the most embarrassing photos of myself on the web #naturalcurls I decided to start the Maximum Hydration Method on a Friday to avoid having to worry about dropping my daughter off at school with a shower cap on.

#curl tips #MHM

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