Any thoughts on Maximum Hydration Method

[SimJam]

Hay all, Ive given the MHM a break. My scalp had become very sensitive and my stylist noticed several inflamed follicles. Not sure what has caused it but the only thing Im doing different is MHM.

I had started using a cream (and doing twist outs) instead of the gel because my scalp was constantly wet and had started to get that wet dog smell.

I havnt done the MHM in about a month and my hair still is at the same level of hydration. I still use the MHM approved products and cowash once, and sometime twice a week just that I havnt been doing the baking soda or clay rinse

 

[faithVA]

Hay all, Ive given the MHM a break. My scalp had become very sensitive and my stylist noticed several inflamed follicles. Not sure what has caused it but the only thing Im doing different is MHM.

I had started using a cream (and doing twist outs) instead of the gel because my scalp was constantly wet and had started to get that wet dog smell.

I havnt done the MHM in about a month and my hair still is at the same level of hydration. I still use the MHM approved products and cowash once, and sometime twice a week just that I havnt been doing the baking soda or clay rinse

It is probably a good idea to stop. I find it is easy for my scalp to get off in ph balance, especially if I allow it to stay wet too long. I also found that with using the baking soda I needed to balance the ph of my scalp with acv.

Do what you need to do to have a healthy scalp.

 

[myfaithrising]

So if there was a MHM challenge/support group for 2015, who would actively participate?

I'm just putting out feelers right now.

Count me in!

 

[myfaithrising]

Ok. With the # of people that suck at challenges I'm thinking we are leaning more towards staying in this thread or creating a thread that's name something like "The MHM Hangout". There really isn't a need for a challenge. More of a need for a supportive place maybe.

Great idea, I'm terrible at challenges

 

[snoop]

My sister achieved maximum hydration using just some basic tips I gave her 2 months ago. She wears her hair in WNG like 95% of the time, so her hair was used to water and was quite curly though dry, breaking, frizzy and dull. But by implementing some tips (cowashing and prepooing), her hair has now become frizz-free, shiny and clumped root to ends, WITHOUT gel. That's why she's giving it to me. She just uses her leave-in conditioner and her hair looks like she has a Jerry Curl in. Her new problem is breaking up the curls to get more volume LOL.

So cowash, prepoo and that's it? Waiting for details. ...

 

[CocoGlow]

So cowash, prepoo and that's it? Waiting for details. ...

I can believe it!

Some people don't have to do a regimen like MHM to reach a high level of hydration for their hair ... a lot of people co-wash frequently and do not suffer moisture-blocking buildup from it ... Of course I'm sure that if those same people added Clay Treatments their hair could be even more hydrated than ever (max hydration) but they manage to have great results from co-washing alone, hence the huge success of the Curly Girl Method.

For those of us that need something extra or want more hydration than we already have, MHM is an awesome regimen.

 

[Nightingale]

Hey guys!

I was shopping at Sprouts earlier and came across gallons of alkaline water (8.8pH)
If the pic is too small, here is a link to it being sold on Amazon. This one has a higher pH of 9.5.


I'm not doing the MHM at the moment, but I thought that maybe something like this could replace the need for baking soda. Thoughts?

 

[faithVA]

Hey guys!

I was shopping at Sprouts earlier and came across gallons of alkaline water (8.8pH) View attachment 281379
If the pic is too small, here is a link to it being sold on Amazon.


I'm not doing the MHM at the moment, but I thought that maybe something like this could replace the need for baking soda. Thoughts?

That really is a good idea. I actually think I have some alkaline water in the back room. I will have to check it out.

Thanks for letting us know Nightingale.

 

[faithVA]

I do have alkaline water in the house that my mom left. I may play around with some ways to use it. Maybe using it with an herbal blend for a prewash.

 

[fasika]

So cowash, prepoo and that's it? Waiting for details. ...

snoop,

Cocoglow explained it well. Some people's hair just needs a nudge to reach full hydration. My sister's regimen (a lifelong natural BTW) was super super simple, but she never DCed either before or after shampooing. She also shampooed every time instead of cowashing. As soon as she changed those two things, it was like 3 weeks before she reported back that there's been a huge change. Another couple of weeks later and her hair was fully hydrated.

Her DC/prepoo are done weekly, either of 3 ways:

- Coconut oil and conditioner applied as prepoo. She leaves it on at most for a couple of hours. It melts away all tangles and enhances moisture and clumping. I just started this myself after seeing Naptural85's vlog.
- Homemade concoction as prepoo: random mixes from EVOO, EVCO, eggs, avocado, mayonnaise and yogurt
- Hollywood Beauty Olive Cholesterol usually as a DC on shampooed hair


She cowashes a couple of times during the week, and uses either a regular leave-in conditioner or EVCO. She wears WNG almost exclusively, almost always airdried. She straightens her hair only 1-2 times a year, and usually to get a trim so it's at the salon. If it's not in WNG, it's in a bun. That's maybe 5 days a month.

That's it.


What I found interesting is how her hair used to look like a super frizzy 4a, with coarse strands (which is what I classify my hair as), but over time it seems that her hair now looks like 3b/c. In addition to the size of the curls increasing, her strands definitely have a more ''silky'' look and feel to them. This is not due to MHM since she's never done it, but reaching maximum hydration made it very obvious since her hair has no frizz now in addition to looking very moist and the color richer. I'm not sure what triggered this change - is it her regimen or is it due to her dietary change. I have no clue and neither does she.

 

[faithVA]

I only do the regimen once a week so my hair isn't hydrating quickly, so I don't usually have any pictures. But here are the pictures from my clay comparison yesterday. tashboog says she sees curls starting to form, I just see a mass of hair I look at it all the time so it always looks the same to me.

Pink Clay on Right Side/Rhassoul on Left




After Rinsing

 

[myfaithrising]

I only do the regimen once a week so my hair isn't hydrating quickly, so I don't usually have any pictures. But here are the pictures from my clay comparison yesterday. tashboog says she sees curls starting to form, I just see a mass of hair I look at it all the time so it always looks the same to me. Pink Clay on Right Side/Rhassoul on Left After Rinsing

Yup, they're there alright, I see em too!!

 

[faithVA]

^^:lol I'm glad you both see them. Im going to need more evidence.

 

[bronzephoenix]

Sadly, I ran out of clay so I've been out of the hmm loop :/ I intend to order more soon and restart my 1st week. One thing I have been doing pretty faithfully is using ACV before cowashing. Love it.

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[Guinan]

Hay all, Ive given the MHM a break. My scalp had become very sensitive and my stylist noticed several inflamed follicles. Not sure what has caused it but the only thing Im doing different is MHM.

I had started using a cream (and doing twist outs) instead of the gel because my scalp was constantly wet and had started to get that wet dog smell.

I havnt done the MHM in about a month and my hair still is at the same level of hydration. I still use the MHM approved products and cowash once, and sometime twice a week just that I havnt been doing the baking soda or clay rinse

That's good that you were able to pin point what was causing you irritation on your scalp. I only do the MHM 1-2x's a week. My hair and scalp doesnt like alot of manipulation. I've also shorten the time of how long I leave the ACV on my hair.

 

[faithVA]

That's good that you were able to pin point what was causing you irritation on your scalp. I only do the MHM 1-2x's a week. My hair and scalp doesnt like alot of manipulation. I've also shorten the time of how long I leave the ACV on my hair.

Yes you have to listen to your hair and scalp. With the baking soda, the ph of the scalp can get off and if nothing is done to adjust it, the scalp can easily become irritated. When I do use the baking soda, if my scalp feels off balanced I make sure to spritz my scalp with an acv mixture prior to putting on the clay. I didn't have any problems after that.

 

[fasika]

SimJam, did you do MHM everyday? Did you do too many airdried WNG during the MHM?

My scalp also gets the wet dog smell if I do too many cowashes, and don't dry it all the way. The hair on the crown and right under it takes forever to dry (pre-MHM), and the combination of the two just was gross. See if using a diffuser to dry would help you.

 

[DarkJoy]

Hay all, Ive given the MHM a break. My scalp had become very sensitive and my stylist noticed several inflamed follicles. Not sure what has caused it but the only thing Im doing different is MHM.

I had started using a cream (and doing twist outs) instead of the gel because my scalp was constantly wet and had started to get that wet dog smell.

I havnt done the MHM in about a month and my hair still is at the same level of hydration. I still use the MHM approved products and cowash once, and sometime twice a week just that I havnt been doing the baking soda or clay rinse

Upthread I posted the same thing. Very bad scalp irritation. That coupled with the clay stripping out my color, I am off MHM. Its not for me.

Learned some really goid things that I've already incorporated into my reggi, such as my hair needed mych longer DC than I had been giving it and that it does MUCH better with frequent clarifying (with swimmers shampoo). Before it was maybe 2x a month. Now I clarify 2x a week and have almost zero breakage even with manipulation. It seems stronger this way.

 

[Honey Bee]

I was looking at the Komaza analysis thread and I noticed a looot of people saying they were told to stop cowashing so much, that it was causing build-up and damaging the scalp.

I believe it.

 

[Honey Bee]

I noticed a tender spot near my temple last week... but then I changed where I put the knot on my scarf and it went away. Almost thought I had a 'situation' for a minute, there!

Doing the whole process again today.

 

[MiamiChic]

I was looking at the Komaza analysis thread and I noticed a looot of people saying they were told to stop cowashing so much, that it was causing build-up and damaging the scalp.

I believe it.

I believe it as well. I tried cowashing for two weeks or so and my scalp was so dirty from build up!

 

[KinkyRN]

Used diluted aloe Vera gel with a a smidgen of EVOO instead of the KCCC. It worked pretty good. There seemed to be more frizz than normal but I need to use the clay. I've just been clarifying with baking soda and DCing because of a crazy work schedule.

Sent from my iPhone 6 using LHCF

 

[faithVA]

Used diluted aloe Vera gel with a a smidgen of EVOO instead of the KCCC. It worked pretty good. There seemed to be more frizz than normal but I need to use the clay. I've just been clarifying with baking soda and DCing because of a crazy work schedule.

Sent from my iPhone 6 using LHCF

I didn't know you were doing the method. When did you start KinkyRN?

 

[snoop]

So I think that I forgot to add the pics from when I tried this method a few weeks ago. I might try the full thing this weekend with the baking soda step included. If/when I do, I'll be doing it with my hair in twists since that's how I normally wash.

So, I did try the full MHM last Friday. The only thing that I didn't do is seal with gel (I really don't like gel), so I (L)CO'd instead. For the record, the twists in the picture look really fuzzy because they are two weeks old and I had washed them the week before (so this would have been the second time washing them.) I took the twists out on Saturday. I'm not sure if it was because I had smaller twists in, but the twists after they came out stayed really tight.

It's Tuesday and they're just starting to fluff out, but that could because of m&s'ing each day. I noticed that one piece that fluffed out completely had some clumps in it. I don't think that I got this kind of clumping after a twist out before. Just to see if this was happening in other parts of my hair, I examined other sections and noticed that the clumping was also happening there. As you can see in the final picture, it's still bound at the bottom, so it's not like the clumps were made by me.

For me, I feel most comfortable washing my hair in twists and so I'm glad that it worked out.

 

[faithVA]

^^nice pics. I do see the clumping as well.

 

[faithVA]

Last night I was thinking of tweaking my regimen to see if I could get more definition. Then I came to my senses I was thinking why would I do extra when I'm not going to wear my hair out until it gets warm. There will be no wngs and very few twist outs. I need to just stick to the plan.

I haven't used baking soda for bs 1 in a while so next wash I will do that. And everything else will stay the same. I promised myself I would keep the same flat twist hairstyle for all of November except for special occasions. I will stick to that.

I am also trying to remember to baggy once I get home. Since I only wash once a week, the extra baggying does help keep my hair from drying out.

 

[reeko43]

I have been doing the mhm for the past 3 weeks once per week. My crown is extremely dry and coarser than the rest of my hair. My shrinkage is much greater in that area and I have a lot of breakage.

The first time I did the complete method. However I did the basic cherry lola treatment. I also used diluted sm manuka honey conditioner and the manuka honey masque. I used Maneobjectives recipe for the clay portion and used rhassoul instead of bentonite clay. Finally, i used the SM jbco leave in with an oil mixture to seal for my wng.

I am so happy! My crown is more moisturized and soft. My wngs are shinier and more defined at the crown. I used to have curls/coils everywhere but the crown. My crown was just dry fuzz. Now I have coils/curls in my crown!

I am thankful to pinkecube for sharing her methods and everyones ideas for modifying. Everyone deseves to be happy with their hair being in the best condition it can be. Achieving this is quite a learning experience but a worthwhile one. Even if the mhm method doesn't work for everyone, even incorporating some of the steps may be helpful. So glad I tried this!

 

[faithVA]

reeko43;20715557[/USER]]I have been doing the mhm for the past 3 weeks once per week. My crown is extremely dry and coarser than the rest of my hair. My shrinkage is much greater in that area and I have a lot of breakage.

The first time I did the complete method. However I did the basic cherry lola treatment. I also used diluted sm manuka honey conditioner and the manuka honey masque. I used Maneobjectives recipe for the clay portion and used rhassoul instead of bentonite clay. Finally, i used the SM jbco leave in with an oil mixture to seal for my wng.

I am so happy! My crown is more moisturized and soft. My wngs are shinier and more defined at the crown. I used to have curls/coils everywhere but the crown. My crown was just dry fuzz. Now I have coils/curls in my crown!

I am thankful to pinkecube for sharing her methods and everyones ideas for modifying. Everyone deseves to be happy with their hair being in the best condition it can be. Achieving this is quite a learning experience but a worthwhile one. Even if the mhm method doesn't work for everyone, even incorporating some of the steps may be helpful. So glad I tried this!

Thanks for sharing reeko43. Your hair looks very pretty in your siggy.

What is Maneobjectives recipe for the clay? tia

 

[reeko43]

faithVA, sorry that is a wig , lol! Been using mobile so long forgot what was in my sig. This is my hair but before mhm

Recipe: 1/2 cup bentonite clay, 1 tbsp each of castor, coconut and sweet almond oil, six tbsp acv with mother, 3 tbsp water. Mix clay and oils, then add acv. Wait 15 sec and then add water.

I use whatever oils I choose and rhassoul but this is the actual recipe. I get 2 applications from this but I am heavy handed.

 

[faithVA]

faithVA, sorry that is a wig , lol! Been using mobile so long forgot what was in my sig. This is my hair but before mhm

Recipe: 1/2 cup bentonite clay, 1 tbsp each of castor, coconut and sweet almond oil, six tbsp acv with mother, 3 tbsp water. Mix clay and oils, then add acv. Wait 15 sec and then add water.

I use whatever oils I choose and rhassoul but this is the actual recipe. I get 2 applications from this but I am heavy handed.

Well your hair looks nice even before MHM.

That is an interesting recipe. My mind doesn't know what to do with it I can't imagine 3 tbsp of water with 1/2 cup of bentonite. There are so many different variations Thanks for sharing that.