I Figured it Out!!!!!!

Hey guys - I know I have been boring you for the last 3 weeks about my stressful wash day sessions. Just to recap, when I got my last relaxer in December, my stylist and I noticed I had breakage in my hair. Leading up to this appointment, I noticed my hair was breaking, but I couldn't figure out why and wasn't really proactive in trying to figure it out.

After my relaxer, my stylist loaded me up with products and I vowed to get back to the basics that I had stopped doing as 2012 progressed. Well I've been diligently taking care of my hair, using protein weekly (which was the big thing that I stopped doing in the second half of 2012), and trying to get my breakage under control. Nothing seemed to be working. This week I ended up not doing the every other day treatments that I had planned because I didn't think that it would make a difference.

Fast forward to today, I was in the shower washing my hair, noticing all of the small pieces of breakage and I again thought back to when the breakage happened and what I changed around that time. Last year, my hair was fine (and actually thriving) from March - September. So what changed after my September relaxer? OOOHHH CRAP.....I introduced 100% Amla Oil.

Amla Oil, really? That would cause breakage? I think so! I don't know for sure ladies, but that's one of the major things that I introduced into my hair regimen around September and have been consistently using. I first purchased Amla oil in May of last year and actually posted about it, but the first bottle I got contained mineral oil and I wanted pure Amla, so I ordered another bottle in late August that's 100% pure and went crazy with it. I put it in my scalp oil mix, of course in all of my sealing oil, and it was the main oil that I was using (as in 30-50% of all of my mixtures). Over the last two weeks I've made two bottles of Amla + Coconut Oil to seal with. It has been a staple since September, and my hair has been breaking since then.

So - since I just came to this realization today during my wash day, I'm going to only use coconut oil to seal this week and complete my normal wash day next week and see if my shedding decreases. Basically I'm cutting out all Amla on my hair for the next few weeks to see if I really did figure out the cause of my breakage. I'll keep you posted!