The MAX HYDRATION METHOD(from my other post)

THE MAX HYDRATION METHOD As talked about, proven, and explained in my other post, "wash and gos 'don't work' on Nappy hair"(this method is ideal for those with majority of type 4 hair, but can be adjusted for other hair types depending on your hair's needs):

in order for this method to work the most quickly and effectively; accurate, consistent, and frequent application of this method must be done on the hair. i'd say at least daily, but dont stretch it longer that every 3 days. this is how long conditioner will last in the hair.  while doing this be mindful of what your hair likes, so you can choose the proper options that will best benefit your hair.

you need to also have a proper understanding of the products and other things you put on your hair that your hair loses moisture from. this needs to be more than just a shallow understanding of "softness always means moisture" which is False. you need to understand what things affect (block) how your hairshaft actually absorbs the moisture, and what isnt effective enough to seal it in. this understanding can be better made by trying to read more of my post, "Wash and goes "don't work" on Nappy Hair".


 even though i target this at those type 4s with low poros hair, if you believe you have naturally high porosity hair and are type 4 still experiment and see if this works for you. also make sure to do a strand test on hair ph balanced, clean hair for the most accurate results. its likely if your hair falls in many of the symptoms that i described in my other post, you could be mistaking your hairs porosity, or even mistaking natural porosity for temporarily opened cuticles.

 if your hair is high porus from some sort of damage, you can still benefit from this regimen greatly. danabnatural does a version of this regimen and recovered from the adverse effect hair coloring did on her hair.

Prep step for first timer

If you're doing this method for the first time, I would suggest starting off with a Modified or regular Cherry Lola Treatment. After that, this can be done as often as every 2 weeks. I myself have only done the treatment twice. The first time I did it I did the regular version, only I didn't have liquid aminos. The second time I did the modified version, along with the liquid aminos. This was a few months ago, but I noticed and still notice the effect it had on my hair. It is what set me up to have root to tip definition in certain areas of my hair.

The modified version is a combination of the Caramel Treatment, and Cherry Lola

Ingredients:
Greek yogurt (2 cups)
Baking soda (2 tbsp)
Organic apple cider vinegar (2 tbsp)
Raw coconut aminos(or just regular aminos, but i personally didn't like soy in my hair) (2 tbsp)
Raw honey (1/2 tbsp)
Unsulfured molasses (1 tbsp)
Half an over ripe plantain or banana
Avocado (3/4 tbsp)
1 egg (optional, but I used it no problem)

blend the ingredients in your blender.
saturate your dry (but detangled) hair completely from root to tip with the mixture.
put a shower cap and let sit for 1.5-2 hours.
Rinse out completely with warm/hot water.
co wash with botanical/cg friendly conditioner. ( whatever you wash your hair with will be absorbed into the hair shaft, so no silicones, parabens, sulfates, drying denatured alcohol)
apply more conditioner but leave it in.
seal with botanical gel

if you choose to do the regular recipe, it is the same as this only substract the vinegar, overriped banana and advocado, egg, and molasses. after doing this you can cowash. and continue on from there to a wash and go. DONT do an acv rinse directly after this. You can do a cowash and maybe do a cold rinse with conditioner afterword and that will be enough to reclose the cuticle. The point of temporarily opening the hair cuticle is so the moisture can get in, it makes no sense to just reclose it before actually putting the moisture in your hair.

EDIT: ACTUALLY, an excellent option would be to ghe or deep condition overnight directly after rinsing out the treatment. this applies to both the modified version, and the regular version. in the morning you can make methods to close your cuticle, or even just proceed to wash and go. this will quicken the pace of your hydration retention levels, and i actually think this is the best way to take advantage of the treatment.

Step 1: Clarify

Option 1: Apple cider vinegar rinse. You do a 1:1 ratio of apple cider vinegar with water in an applicator bottle. Apply in sections. Let it sit in the hair for 30- 1 hr before rinsing.

Option 2: Baking soda rinse. Mix 1.5 tablespoons of baking soda into 1/3 a cup conditioner. Apply to hair in sections and let sit on the hair for 10-30 minutes.

Option 3: Alternating between either rinse. You can opt to do each rinse every other day/night. It's up to you to experiment.



Step 2: Cowash&detangle

Option 1: Apply warm conditioner in your hair in sections. Let it sit for 10 minutes, rinse out with warm water, while detangling under the water. if you are doing this step, first pour the conditioner into a microwavable bowl, and microwave for no more than 10-15 sec if you are using the microwave to heat your conditioner. NEVER just stick the bottle of conditioner straight into the microwave. no. trust me.

Option 2: Apply conditioner to your hair in sections, and deep condition by covering your hair in a shower cap. Maybe put a scarf over it to trap heat. This can be done overnight, as exceedinggrace mentioned in her post. The first two steps can actually be done before bed. in the morning, you can detangle your hair before going in the shower or also under the running water in section, your hair will have enough slip to detangle outside of the shower though.

Option 3: Apply conditioner to you hair, put on a shower cap, and steam your hair.Akedafitgirl does this once a week, and does her hair every 2-3 days. I would recommend trying to do it more often, as her hair already has maximum hydration, we are trying to build that up. detangle before getting in the shower and in the shower under the running water, similar to the prior option.

EDIT: sorry guys, i forgot to mention this is also the step you detangle your hair in!

Step 3: Bentonite clay rinse
With all options, leave the rinse on the hair for at least 15 minutes before rinsing, and remember to apply in sections.

Option 1: Bentonite clay rinse with out apple cider vinegar

ingredients(rough measurements):
1 cup bentonite clay
1.5 cup warm water
1 tbspn of honey
1 tblspn of olive oil

Option 2: bentonite clay with apple cider vinegar Same, just add vinegar.

Option 3: Ready made bentonite clay rinse, or any other type of clay used to clarify hair examples like rohsoul clay (excuse me if that's misspelled, I will go back to correct it) or terrasentials.

Step 4: Leave in Conditioner
Following the cg rules, avoid any conditioner with silicones, sulfates, and drying alchols. Other than that, apply thoroughly in sections, you really want you hair to be wet. application techniques include smoothing and raking, twirling or whatever technique works for you. These are suggestions, there's no set rule on specific application techniques imo, just apply enough so your hair glides through and you feel slip. Same with gel.



Step 5: Apply Botanical Gel of your choice

Option 1: use a small amount of oil (or however much you feel you need) for extra sealing before gel if you find you need it, for more softness.
 Layering options can be LCO, or LCOC, but Never do the LOC layering order. oil is not a moisturizer, its a sealant. you wouldnt put gel on b4 conditioner, so don't practice that with oil.

Option2: don't. it's up to you.

In application of gel, you should be putting enough so you can feel the gel slip, that way you know it's coated the hair. A technique that has worked for me is starting the gel application at the base of the section, like i'm slicking my edges or applying a root touch up with hair dye. then smooth it down the rest of the strand and proceed to rake, smooth, and spread the gel evenly. Apply more gel if you need to spread it further. Do this in sections and twirl and clip the sections away with a shower clip as you go along. This will help keep you organized. When I both the leave in and gel step, it takes 30-40 minutes, so it's fast in comparison to what I needed to do before. after timing myself, i found both the leave in step and the gel step took me a combined total of 34 minutes and 8 seconds. however, i section my hair and do both steps as i go along instead of going over my entire head twice.

This is the step where you will see your curls pop and clump together.


Finished.


Optional step for stretching

Step 6: stretching options


Option 1: Clipping

Rachaelcpr actually does something similar to this one of her videos. I recommend taking as many sections as you need, twirling/rolling/single twisting/French roll whatever you call it, and clipping it in place. Leave it like that for maybe 30 minutes or as you get dressed, take the clips out, and shake. This should give a slight stretch.


Option 2: Wear your hair in a rolled half ponytail

You can actually do this on short hair. Just section the top of your hair (the part used in making a half pony) and section that into two on either sides(left and right).

Take one section of freshly defined hair (don't worry about it being wet, the definition stays) and roll it towards the back of your head like a French roll, pinning in place. (Make sure not to pull the hair too taught when rolling. The pins will be enough to keep the look in place without over flattening the curl definition) Do the same with the other side. Wear this for the day. When you get back, your hair will be dry. Take the pins out, unroll your hair and shake. Your hair will be stretched but sticking up. Take a satin scarf and arrange your hair the way you want it to fall before gently securing it (not to tight).

By the morning your hair will be a smushed, but the curls will remain unfrizzy, and they won't be completely oblitherated either (a big problem I would have w/ set styles) because of the gel. Now take you fingers to your roots and jiggle them in a back and forth motion, gently. This should shake loose your now stretched curls for second day hair. If you want a stretch for third day, you only have to put the scarf on your head to sleep.

This should stretch the top half of your hair for a bob like shape, but won't interfere with the curl pattern like twisting and braiding would imo, and also with out drying your hair out with heat.




The reason why I am posting this in a separate thread, is so people can more easily find the actual method incase they don't want to browse through a sea of comments to find it.


For more information and indepth explantation, view my other topic post, "Wash and gos "don't work" on Nappy hair"





Edited by pinkecube - Mar 05 2014 at 1:09am

kwicherbichen wrote: Pinkecube, I sent you a private message with my e-mail address. I have already made a connection with a woman who sells natural hair products and she is interested in the method. I told her that we can send her blog posts to promote MAX HYDRATION METHOD and anything related to it and also feature us in her upcoming e-book. I'm really serious about working on the details of this.  I also have to ask, why combine ACV and Baking soda? Isn't an alkaline needed to lift the follicle for low porosity hair? What about replacing ACV with milk of magnesia (which is more base than baking soda)?

Hi, kwicherbichen, sorry im late in replying this, I didn't see this before logging out.

I addressed this concern that Ladyaradia had and i'm reposting the reason I think its fine that did that below:


lADYARADIA:I sent you a PM about using baking soda WITH vinegar in your cherry lola dupe formula you made up above. ( They need to be put on separately with the vinegar in a final rinse. You can not mix them together! I like to avoid them both actually because they dry the hair


MY RESPONSE:

"the reason i adjusted the recipe was actually because it foamed more. i believe that contributed to my results.

Greek yogurt, which is the LARGEST portion of the recipe, already has a low ph 4.25- 4.5, and bc of that the recipe already does already foam.

the effect when i used it on my hair was very effective, i had a lot of root to tip definition from it, and i was amazed.

the drying factor is why both honey and overripened advocado and overripened banana was added to the recipe. let me also add that the ph of both ripened banana and ripened advocado are actually both alkaline."


If you want to try both recipies some time, you can actually test the ph of both an compare them. I truly think the addition of the banana and advocado, balances out (not neutralize) the effect of me putting in only 2 tablespoons of vinegar. So the ph of the original cherry lola treatment and this one should fall in about the same place, and effectiveness. I could adjust the measurements to include a little less vinegar, maybe only 1-1.5 tablespoons.

I will edit this with the ph's of the egg and molasses as well, but I think the egg is optional to add.

ph of egg: 7.1-7.9

ph of molasses: 5.0-5.5


http://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/causesofillnessbadbugbook/ucm122561.htm

Also, great news about the ebook! Im glad you're already in the mist of promoting this idea, and I can tell you're really taking the seriously.







Edited by pinkecube - Mar 04 2014 at 4:28pm

kwicherbichen wrote: Ok, why do you think this recipe works if it has a balanced pH? Because I thought the point of getting moisture into low porosity hair was to increase the pH? I'd like to eventually compare this to my milk of magnesia + baking soda mix

sorry, my wording makes this confusing. this doesn't neutralize the whole mixture. the addition of the banana and advocado, directly balances out (not neutralizes) the effect of me putting in only 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

So the ph of the original cherry lola treatment and this one should still fall in about the same place, both will be effective. I think the best thing to do, is at some point both treatments need to be prepared, and the ph's of both of them compared. I will look up the ph of cherry lola treatment and see if I can find it.

As for the effectiveness, I can say the way I did it, definitely gave me positive and dramatically effective results. I was getting root to tip definition in areas of my hair that were frizzed out.

I actually got the idea of this recipe off another forum, where a girl said she combined both the cherry lola treatment and the caramel treatment. I don't think she posted her exact recepe, but I just combined both by what I knew. I will look up that post and try to find it.

The post:

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=359727&page=2

Edited by pinkecube - Mar 04 2014 at 5:02pm

im gonna try this.

ok I tried the 1st timer regimen last night. It was super soft...I mean super duper soft. I did not add the plantain or avacodo or eggs. I may need to go under a steamer or something because i have low porosity hair. It was super soft while wet then when it dried it was back to regular dry hair after putting in eco styler gel so I know now that eco is a no.