I took my braids out a few days ago. Since then, I’ve been wearing my hair in wash and goes and sticking to The Curly Girl Method- which is a silicone free, comb/brush free, haircare method. I find it is very practical and beneficial to combine the Mini Braid Method and Curly Girl Method.

My hair was in large twists after I took out my braids. You can see what it looked like in this post. After undoing the last of my mini braids (from May) I undid the large twists that were holding my loose hair out of the way. I used my detangling mix- conditioner and water- to moisturize the hair. I finger detangled from the ends to the roots, small sections at a time. There was quite a bit of loose shed hair that I pulled out of the sections. This was expected since my braids were in for 2 months.

After fully, finger detangling my whole head of loose hair, I shampooed with a clarifying shampoo from Suave. I always clarify before and after braids. Even though I didn’t have visible build up, my hair was holding onto smells from the sulphur products I used while in mini braids. I followed the clarifying shampoo with a cheap sulfate shampoo.

Next, I used bentonite clay to further clarify my hair. I’m still working on my mix, but I will say it consists of bentonite clay, aloe vera juice, water, apple cider vinegar, and oil. I will post a proper recipe at some point. The trick I discovered for getting a good wash is to make sure your clay mix is more like mud or liquid, than clay. A thick paste is not the best consistency for hair. Your mixture should be pourable. [see hair with clay below]

After the bentonite clay, I needed some conditioning, so I used my Giovanni Nutrafix and raked it through my hair. I rinsed it then went on to styling with Tresemme Naturals. The Curly Girl Method suggests using a rinse out conditioner as a leave in. I shingled my damp hair with conditioner, then use a diffuser (for the 1st time!) to dry my hair.

You can see the finished look in my iPhone photos posted in this post from a few days ago.

Since that day, I’ve done a henna treatment. I’ll detail that in an upcoming post. I’ll also review the diffuser, Tressemme Naturals, and grapeseed oil. Not to worry, I’ll also post about braid maintenance etc even though my hair is not in braids. I have a family friend who saw my braids a few weeks ago and had her mini braids done at a salon- they are beautiful! I’m excited to see that I’m inspiring others online and offline to care for their hair with braids. She’s a doctor as well and chose mini braids as her professional hairstyle for her 1st day at a new clinic. 😀