I’m in my fourth week experimenting with variations of the Maximum Hydration Method. So far I’ve tried co-washing only (Week 1), Co-washing and the Bentonite Clay Mask (Week 2) and the Bentonite Clay Mask only (week 3). This week I’m going to try clarifying my hair first before applying the Bentonite Clay Mask and see how my hair responds to that. Here’s an outline of my regime:

Week 4 Regime

Day 1

• Cherry Lola CLAY Treatment  – Covered and left on about an hour
• Styling Products – Eco Styler Gel Custard (see day 7 of week 3 for details)

Days – 2-7

• Clarify – BS/Conditioner mix (1 Tbs BS in diluted conditioner), See this video for details – Left on about 10-15 mins, OR, BS/Clay mix, OR, ACV/Clay mix (see Tips & Bits below for details)
• Bentonite Clay Mask – Soaked Bentonite Clay recipe (See week 2 for details), left on for 15-20 mins
• Styling Products – Eco Styler Gel or Custard, light oil spray

The Cherry Lola CLAY Treatment

Here are the results of the treatment on my hair (see my previous post for recipe and instructions):

I mean WOW! Just look at those results. I’m super impressed with this version of the treatment. My hair was soft, silky and detangled. I added in the optional fruit and protein to my mix. There was WAY too much of it for my short, under-cut style (I used about half of the mix) but anyone with more hair will benefit from the full amount (like my daughter). It doesn’t have as much slip as the clay by itself so you’ll end up using more. Next time I’ll halve the clay portion of the recipe to 2 Tbs Clay and 1/2 cup water and leave the rest ‘as is’. Check out the compared results from the previous version (which I did last week) and this one. Both pics are just after I washed out the treatments.

What a difference! This will be my go-to version of the treatment from now on!

Here are the pictures of this weeks progress.

7 Day Snapshot

Tips & Bits

• I wanted to try a different clarifying mix because I thought the conditioner was taking away from my definition. So I decided that a watery Bentonite Clay mixture in place of the diluted conditioner might work better for me, since my hair responds really well to it.
• From day 5 onwards I began using a clarifying clay mixture in place of the conditioner. The first mix I made was a BS/Clay concoction of 150ml water, 1 Tbs Clay and 1 Tbs BS. I measured the water into an applicator bottle first, added the clay, put the lid on, shook it together well and let it sit until I was ready to use it (I made it at the same time I made the clay mask). When I was ready to use it I added the bicarb of soda and shook it again. It bubbled up and thickened the mixture significantly. I then proceeded to use it in the same way as the BS/Conditioner mix.
• I noticed that the Bicarb of Soda, even in the diluted clay mix made my hair frizzier, although it didn’t disturb my curl pattern as much as the conditioner mix. That’s why I decided to try an ACV/Clay mix to see if that would do the job of removing product but smooth my cuticles and reduce frizz at the same time.
• The ACV/Clay mix was made up of 1/4 cup ACV (I’ve since reduced it to 2 Tbs), 1/4 cup water and 1 Tbs Clay (added in that order), shaken together in an applicator bottle and left to sit until needed. I used this mix on day 6 and 7 and my hair responded really well to it. It didn’t disturb my curl pattern but didn’t clarify as well as the BS/Clay or BS/Conditioner mixes as I still had a few white flecks in my hair after I rinsed it out.

Conclusion

The clarifying step really helped to remove gel build-up and significantly reduce the issue of white flecks in my hair I encountered last week when I wasn’t doing a clarifying step. I do think that it took away a little from the progress I had made last week in terms of curl definition but it’s about weighing up the pros and cons of each. It’s either more definition but with gel build-up or slightly less definition without the build-up. The BS/Clay and ACV/Clay mixes preserved my definition more then the conditioner mix but the ACV topped the list in terms of defining my kinks although it was the weakest clarifier.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do next week. I’ll probably play around some more with the clarifying step and see if I can get this thing on lock!

Join me next time for more Maximum Moisture Experiments!