The Hair Journey: The fungus is baaa-aaaack!

Howdy folks!  I have some terrible news to share! The fungus is BACK! I'm so disappointed and slightly irritated at my dry flaky scalp.  Even if I apply tea tree oil it seems to get worse.  I have come down from my adulation of being rid of this pesky condition.

One thing I've been doing differently is not using and tea tree or dandruff shampoo.  I've been doing more co-washes because I wanted to stop using shampoos that stripped my hair of moisture and changed my curl pattern.  I used apple cider vinegar and did not see any relief.  So now, I'm experimenting with a home remedy I've "heard of" on social media:  onion and ginger juice!  I added aloe to the party because I'm desperate! Take a look.

My scalp - June 22, 2014.  Not pretty - this is 4 days after co-washing.

Step 1 - make the onion ginger aloe juice concoction: I used my juicer...and cried a lot!! Those freshly juiced onions were serious tear jerkers!

I used 6 -7 inches of ginger and two medium sized yellow onions. 

Step 2 - mix the ginger onion juice with aloe vera juice:

Aloe vera juice, spray bottle and ginger onion juice

Aloe vera juice

Final mixture: ginger, onion and aloe vera juice

Step 3 - Apply to scalp, cover and let the anti-fungal treatment begin!  I left the cap on for about 1 hour.  My hair is so thick, I just parted it and applied the juice to each section.  I was boo hooing the whole time (it's the onions...the onions I say).

After spraying before capping

The treatment was working....I could feel tingling....

Step 4 - rinse hair and style.  My style for the day was a free flow afro.

After rinsing (scalp looks free of debris)

Curl pattern

 

Pomade of choice!  Applied before picking. My favorite styling product and you can pronounce all the ingredients!!!!!!!

Picked out afro...free style...no patting into submission...

Shrinkage!!!! Whoa mama!!

After the treatment..my scalp felt good.  I'm not sure how many times I should repeat the process, but I'll do it as long as it takes.  I'm also researching foods and herbs that help eliminate fungus/dandruff.  I want to do it the natural way.....no chemicals.  Onions are recommended a lot in home remedies for hair,  but I didn't understand why.  Come to find out onions are high in sulpher....our hair is full of di-sulfide bonds...so I can see how it can strengthen hair but still not clear on it's anti-fungal properties.  Aloe and ginger both have antiseptic/anti fungal behavior so I understood the use of those ingredients.

The fungus saga continues..........stay tuned for more updates!

What else can I use to combat my fungus parties???


Peace and love!

The Hair Journey: Dry Scalp Woes!

I've stated before that I have had issues with my scalp being flaky, dry and irritated.  I have pictures that show light spots on my forehead.  I've also used countless shampoos and conditioners or just ignored it and increased the amount of times I washed it in a week.  But I had a lot of hair and frequent washings were not practical or timely based on how I needed to style my hair to be presentable.  The funny thing is, some of it got better with out me really targeting the issue.  Maybe it was a change in body chemistry.........Sadly I ended up getting used to it.

Check out the light spots on my forehead

Well most recently I was enlightened to the fact that my scalp flakiness and light patches were not because I couldn't make up my mind on which pair of shoes to wear or what restaurant to go to for lunch.  I had scalp friends.....called Malassezia  a.k.a FUNGUS! Yuck!!! I feel like a big fungus after all my research on this topic. 

There is a particular type of fungus that most of us have on our skin (malassezia) and when the opportunity arises (body chemistry changes, etc.) it can begin to grow...and grow......and multiply...and just start having nightly parties.  Depending on what products you use or what you eat, you can promote or inhibit growth.  For years, I was promoting growth by feeding the fungus with the wrong hair care products (and maybe my diet too).

Now I know better...and thought I was doing better until the parties started again.  So now, I'm on a quest to kill the fungus on my scalp for good.  I want to clear this problem up for good especially with my hair being much shorter now.  It should be easier for me to increase the wash frequency and address the issue with out so much hair to deal with!

So far I've come across some natural remedies that I'm going to try, but I'm not sure what regime I need to employ for optimal benefits (i.e. calling the cops on the parties and stopping them for good).  

1. Apple cider vinegar
2. Tea tree oil
3. Coconut oil
4. Anti dandruff shampoos and conditioners
5. Black walnut and aloe vera

Today I  used a tea tree shampoo and conditioner, sprayed my scalp with black walnut/aloe vera mixture and applied tea tree oil to my scalp after the black walnut solution dried.

Dandruff....the result of fungal parties

I'm still on the prowl for a good fungus killing program.  If anybody out there has any suggestions please let me know.  Does anybody else have a scalp that looks like the pictures above?

I will not let this fungus define me....I am not FUNGUS! I just have it on my scalp! Ewwwww!

Peace and blessings!