Hello everyone! So I've pretty much come to terms with my posting sporadically! I wanted to check in to provide an update on my hurr!


The castor oil challenge 1/25 - 4/25:

I initially entered at the intermediate level applying to scalp 2x weekly and adding to deep conditioner but after the first month I saw such awesome results I amped it up to the Extreme level, applying every other day to scalp, adding to my DC's and even sealing with it. I used regular castor oil from Heritage store. you can purchase here.

How it affected my hair:

Pros:

-Softened my hair especially my NG
-allowed my hair to hold on to moisture longer
-thickened my hair (my NG is extremely bulky). As a general rule our NG is always thicker than the texlaxed/relaxed strands but with the castor oil, my NG is a monster.
- my hair feels silkier and smoother. Imagine the results you'd achieve from your staple DC but on 10. It's hard to explain but like many of us on hair journeys we've gotten to know our hair and my hair feels different but in a much improved way.
-lessened my shedding. Now I'm not a huge shedder by nature but I believe castor oil kept my hair so moisturized and my scalp so healthy that shedding and breakage had to mind their own damn business.

Cons:
- in the beginning I experienced some itchy scalp. I was not alarmed because I was not a heavy user of this oil before the challenge so my scalp had to get used to it and I've read reviews that that was normal because of the detoxification of the scalp.


CAUTION!!!!:

-UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should this oil be used by itself. It's extremely thick and will do more harm than good if applied alone.
-You'd get better results when diluted with a carrier oil. During this challenge I rotated my carrier oils between coconut, olive and avocado oil, and I always added some stimulant/essential oils like tea tree, rosemary and peppermint. These are great to ward off the itches and stimulate your scalp
-You may or may not need to clarify your scalp more than once a month.

I am a huge advocate of castor oil. Of course it may not work for everyone but I believe most can benefit in some way from using castor oil in their regimen even if it's just adding a Tbsp to your weekly deep conditioning treatment. I'd advise to start small and increase usage if desired.

Now for some pics:

Lenght check at start of challenge

Lenght check (sorta) at end of challenge. Due to humidity of this Florida weather and the fact that it rained the same day I flat ironed, my hair reverted at the roots by days end.

Looking at the pics it appears I had more thickness at the start but I promise you the weather totally rained on my hair parade. Due to reversion of my NG the ends ended up looking uneven and my roots looked like I didn't even flat iron it.

My air dried hair. The right side (your left) looks a little more tamed because I attempted to dry using tension method  but I gave up and let the left side air dry.

New growth stretched after air drying

Look at my Curlies! Lots of NG!!

Shot of my New Growth wet

New growth after I air dried. So there it is. It's been a wonderful challenge. My hair has responded beautifully and I cannot wait to see my "actual" results when I touch up in October. I'm currently 8 months post. Pray for me y'all.  Hope each and every one of you are staying blessed. Thanks for reading. Love Out Loud Sammy