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: Tress Update #9

It's been 9 or 10 months since I've had a hair cut! My hair is growing nicely, but in the back of my mind, I feel like it should be longer by now.  It seems twice as thick as before...and I'm loving my extended Flo Fro!

Extended Flo Fro - front view

Extended Flo Fro - side view

The return of the Fungus:
Unfortunately I dropped the ball on my apple cider vinegar treatments to help thwart my fungus friends......and It's baaa-aaaack! So I'm back on the program.  This fungus fight is a long term initiative.  Gotta stay on it...or it comes back! 

What I'm using on my hair:
I decided to take a break on the wash and go since I was having a hard time finding products that provided the curls I liked....remember the weird  Jheri curl look?? LOL! I've stuck to just using plain shea butter for my hair and tea tree and rosemary oils for my scalp. 

How I've been styling my hair:
Lately I've resorted to twist outs, chunky afro and head wraps.

 

The Chunky fro



The Hair Journey: Tress Update #6

Happy Summer! 

I am LOVING my hair journey!  I have enough variety in my back pocket to keep my small fro busy! I've been able to keep my fungus friends at bay and love my growing Flo fro!  It's actually much longer than pictured but  I'm giving you the refined patted down version tonight.... :)

The extended Flo Fro.....the patted down version

Two - stranded twists (1/2 released...the twists are growing!)

How are you coping with your growing hair?   Any stories to share?  I want to hear back from you!! :)


Peace and blessings!

The Hair Journey: Finally! Dry Scalp and Fungus Free!!

Hi Folks -

I've never been worried about hair growth..it's always grown quite well...but what has worried/concerned  me is the dry scalp/fungal issues I've been experiencing for YEARS!

I am happy to report that since I've been on the Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)/aloe vera gel regimen I have been free of the fungus!!

I am in a really down mood this evening...have you ever had a headache that just WILL NOT quit? Well that's me tonight. I'm in pain...but I have to share this  success story about my hair!

The process:
1. I sprayed ACV (diluted with water) on my hair for 1 week.  Kept it in overnight covered with a shower cap. 

2. Most of the time I DID NOT rinse my hair in the morning.  I just sprayed the aloe vera mixture on my hair, applied tea tree oil (diluted with jojoba oil) on my scalp and locked in the moisture with plain shea butter.

ACV

Shea butter

Aloe vera gel

The result:
1.  As I stated in the beginning of this post, I am fungus free (based on what I can see with my naked eye meaning no visible scaling).  

2.  I have not had any extreme itchy episodes (including when I was rocking the Mohawk). No major flakes falling and no burning. Plus the white spots that were starting to form on my forehead are gone!

3.  My hair felt nice and moist until about noon...then it felt dry.  But when I ran my fingers through it, it wasn't as dry as I thought.  So some moisture was being retained.

4.  I am a happy camper! Loving the fungus free experience! And loving the fact that I'm finding a good process to keep my hair clean and moisturized.

I will continue to use this process for my hair.  And I LOVE the fact that I did not have to spend a heap of money on products!

What natural elements are you putting in your hair?

Peace and blessings!

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!