My Thanksgiving week ran pretty smoothly, all things considered. Monday to Wednesday were kinda hell since I was jamming in as much work possible before the long weekend and touching base with clients abroad. At least I finally feel like I have my shit together.
I had to be up at the crack ass of dawn on Thursday to be the sous chef for dinner since the host, who I adore with all my heart, accidentally did a slicey-dicey with a mandolin the night before and needed to get 13 stitches– the fact she didn’t hit anything important still astounds me. But a fantabulous dinner made it to the table with turkey, mashed potatoes, two kinds of sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, and so much more. I was ready to nap after one plate.
I usually swear off Black Friday shopping, but my local grocery store had a $5 coupon for members, and my cats needed food and haven’t figured out how to pay bills yet. And I got a couple face masks, so my skin can stop being angry at me. On Saturday, I caught up with my old high school friends to celebrate one of them turning 22, and we got lunch and went to see Ralph Breaks the Internet. Other than that, mostly a good, mildly rainy weekend to be a napping couch potato.
Yet my hair routine rests for no one, and 3-4 days in a bun is a gateway to hell. The late autumn hasn’t been too kind to me, so I’m still figuring out protective styles, especially during my commute. But at this point, my curls were dying of thirst, and it was as good of a time as any to try something more heavy duty like Cantu for wash day.
Cantu is another safe go-to brand for curly hair, especially when going sulfate and silicone free. Not the largest variety of products— at least of what I found at local drug stores—, but you get the major basics for super cheap and with excellent ingredients. This masque contains beeswax, shea butter, mango seed butter, and 11 different natural oils. The nutty and floral scent is just the bomb, and this is the thickest hair mask I tried so far, more so than Shea Moisture. It popped out of the pack like balls of mozzarella; it almost looked good enough to eat.
Cantu is a popular brand among those with kinky, coily hair which tends to have higher porosity– which means it easily absorbs product. My hair’s in that weird medium porosity where it can suck in conditioners like no one’s business, but it also gets dry and tangled within 2 days. I spent all month struggling with my hair to just calm the fuck down, so this masque just seemed perfect to detangle and moisturize.
I was worried my hair wouldn’t absorb enough of the product because it’s super dense, so I put my hair under high heat for an extra 30 seconds before letting it sit for 30 minutes. Thank God I did, because I don’t know if I would’ve gotten the great results I did.
And here we are, 100% dried with the rest of the leave-ins and gel!
Still some frizz here and there, but the curls are back in action to take on Monday after a four day weekend! It struggled a bit the next couple of days to stay defined, but a little R&B Moisturizer is a hell of a miracle worker. I’m looking more into protective hairstyles as the rains keep coming, and I started wearing my silk scarf during my commute so my hair won’t be too smothered under my jacket hood. It’s quite the extra effort, but it’s just the little things we do for love.
I actually got a neat hair remedy recommendation from my boss, so be on the look out next week for something new that isn’t a hair mask!
Hair Mask of the Week: Cantu Intensive Repair Deep Treatment Masque My Thanksgiving week ran pretty smoothly, all things considered. Monday to Wednesday were kinda hell since I was jamming in as much work possible before the long weekend and touching base with clients abroad.
