For My Curly Haired Sisters

05/26/2011 09:17

 First, let's get the weight part out of the way.  I'm down 6 pounds after a week on low carb.  I'm sure much of this is water weight, but I don't care.  It's keeping me motivated, and I'm not even that strict.  I didn't cut my carbs to 20g a day ala Atkins, because that's insane.  I've done that in the past, and by day 3 I'm puking eggs.  No, seriously.  Last time I tried this, I puked eggs and couldn't eat them for months.  I couldn't cook them for my kids, who are the egg-lovingest people I've ever met, without getting nauseous.  I'm seriously watching the baby showel them in her mouth with her fist right now, but I digress.  I've figured out that I can have an egg in the morning as long as I pair it with something carby, so right now I'm eating mixed berries and cottage cheese along with a fried egg for breakfast.  Lunch is a fried chicken salad with spicy ranch and an orange.  I eat fried chicken because I get sick of grilled chicken very quickly, and to me, it's worth the extra carbs if it helps me stay on the diet.  Dinner is either another salad or whatever meat and veggie concoction I've come up with.  I try to keep my carbs really low at dinner.  I haven't had any bread, pasta, or rice in a week.  The only grains I've had have been black pepper and olive oil triscuits which I was eating with cheese as a snack, but I've cut that out the past couple of days in order to keep my carbs in check.  I tracked this a few times on Sparkpeople, which is an amazing site.  It has menus, a nutrition checker and log, fitness videos and routines, and it's totally FREE.  Anyway, it looks like I'm having 1000-1200 calories a day, which is less that I thought, but I'm not hungry due to all the protein.  My carbs have ranged from 70-120, which is high for a low carb diet, but I'm still losing.  If I stall, I'll cut them more.  It's easier to do it this way instead of how I normally attack a diet- all or nothing.  That always leads to binging for me.  You have to know yourself, your limitations, and your weaknesses.  Puking eggs is m limit.

 

Now on to the hair stuff.  I have very thick, very curly hair which I have always battled. I've never properly learned how to manage it.  I've tried flat irons, curling irons, sleeping with it in a pony tail, and all sorts of other methods in order to try to tame it.  This includes trying EVERY product on the market for unruly hair.  I haven't had much luck, since I live in the impossibly hot and humid south.  Summers are murder for me between the heat my hair traps against my skull and the size it becomes with the humidity.  Texas has nothing on me.  I've been considering a Brazilian Keratin Treatment for some time, but I was scared.  My hair is overprocesed due to all the coloring, straightening, and curling I do, so the last thing I want to do is damage it to the point where it's falling out of my head. All the research I've done indicates that it's ideal for people with my hair- curly, thick, and damaged.  Well, while looking at all the information I stumbled upon this product by Organix.  It's a 30 day keratin straightening treatment.  I also got the accompanying shampoo, conditioner, and flat iron spray for 2 reasons: 1. The entire line is so reasonably priced, so I figured, what the hell and 2. it got some pretty decent reviews on multiple websites.  

After you wash your hair with the clarifying shampoo they provide in the box, you dry your hair 80%.  Then, you section your hair, apply the product, and comb it through.  I read some complaints about the greasiness and smell, neither of which I experienced.  I was careful not to put too much on, since people who did seemed to have the worst results.  After you apply it, you blow dry your hair straight, and then flat iron it to seal in the product.  You can't wash your hair for 2 days, which was fine for me, because that's my regular routine.  I can say this is the smoothest and sleekest my hair has ever been.  Pardon the lack of makeup.

After 2 days, I washed the product out.  Please keep in mind, it promises to reduce 90% of curls and frizz.

It looks exactly the same...EXACTLY.  This is when it was still wet.  Oh, and I had combed through it, and it was still this curly.  You may wonder why I'm smiling like an asshole if I didn't get the results I wanted.  When I take a picture without smiling, I look like a Psychopath.  I've learned to give at least a little grin, as I did in the first pic, to avoid looking like a mug shot. Anyway, I did notice that my hair did dry much faster, as promised, and when I took the kids swimming, it didn't absorb the chlorine smell like it nomally does.  I could barely smell it, in fact, so I do think it at least sealed my hair shaft.  I haven't tried to flat iron it again, yet, but I will to see if it gives me a smoother look than it normally does.  The bottom line is that based on the reviews, I would advise giving it a shot, because based on my experience, at worst you'll come out with a faster drying version of your regular hair.