Five Ways To Deal With The Oily Grease Stained Pillow Situation

                       

Do you notice a grease spot on your pillow where your head lays? Do you have to frequently wash your pillow cases sometimes up to 2-3 times a week to get rid of grease stains? Then you have an oily pillow ‘situation’

The oily pillow can be a common occurrence amongst ladies just trying to keep their hair moist. For naturals the frequent use of butters, pomades, oils, creams and similar emollients in order to keep the hair moist is usually the culprit.

As a kinky, coily headed natural I NEED my emollients 24/7 because my hair gets ridiculously drier than sand. As a result the issue of stopping the use of my trusty combinations of castor oil and curl activators can’t even be considered. Applying this mix at a certain time, wouldn’t make a difference for me because that combination is the business and lasts on my hair for at least two – three days before I need to re-apply again. I also have acne-prone skin that does not share the same love for castor oil as my hair does.  So dark coloured pillow cases would not be enough, because that would only solve the appearances factor. Here are some useful measures to take against the O.G.S.P.S! (It’s patented baby! ;))

How To Manage The Oily Pillow Situation (Temporary basis)

1. Put an old t-shirt or towel on top of your pillow.

2. Put more than one head covering on your head to absorb any excess oils.

3. Do both 1.) + 2.)   *_*

How To Stop The Oily Pillow Situation (Permanent basis)

4. Apply your pomade’s with a lighter hand! If you have a routine of applying your emollients just before bed, try to apply your emollient sparingly and even a couple of hours before bed. (This maybe helpful to those that prefer to use lighter emollients or oils with shorter life spans)

5. Sleep with a plastic cap on your head, and put your bonnet or scarf over that. (This is my favourite method, because it keeps Dafro very happy too).

                        

Now if you can’t stand the crinkling of the shower-cap. Which like myself I couldn’t handle, then consider purchasing shower caps made with a thicker more substantial durable material.

                        

 I love this particular brand because it not only comes with a thicker material but also comes in larger sizes for the big-haired ladies amongst us. Saving us the need to have to use  more than one typical shower cap at a time.These particular shower-caps do not crinkle half as much as the typical disposable caps and last twice as long for me. Or if you want to preserve the sexy and stylish self all the way to bed for the beau. How about this one by soap and glory I found at Boots for about £6?

6. A waterproof pillow cover may also help to increase the longevity of your pillow.

And for the stained pillowcase…

Getting out oil stains can be difficult. So here is what you can do.

You could wash the pillow cases with:

-       Bleach

-       Lemon juice

-       Vinegar

-       Or even just wash and lay the pillowcase directly under the sun. (For the sun to bleach naturally).

So... How do you deal with your O.G.S.P.S?

Reasons Why I Do Not Like The Conditioner Only Method On My Coily Hair

I tried the conditioner only method with Kenzia smoothing conditioner & castor oil layered on top.
I expected to get alot of shrinking with this method and I got just that, but mayne I wasn't prepared for what was to follow because I had not allowed my hair to get sooo tangled up like this in so long. "Another reason why it's good to always stick to what works for you".
Now with the conditioner -only method and my choice of conditioner (yes I take full responsibility for this) My coils had no enlongation but were very soft and fuzzy, despite how much condish I piled on and squished in.  Now fuzzy from this point onwards will be a RED FLAG for me, because that indicates NO CONTROL.

Yes, my coils had no control and felt free to have an orgy amongst themselves. My hair got so tangled up. Ok, ok, fine, alright! That may partially have been my fault because I couldn't keep my hands out of it -  *squeaks *" but it was soooo soft!". Seriously! By the 3rd day when I tried to finger-detangle  Dafro,  she went PSYCHO on me! It was a crazy mess!!  I mean I'm not one to go all dramatic about my hair.  But Jeez!
I slathered on Tresemme (Took one handful, Oh great now I'm out) and then some Cholesterol.My coils were in such disarray, I couldn't believe how tangled up it got!  I mean I had put this fro in scrunchies overnight. When did it get the chance to tangle so much?!I spent over an hour trying to placate Dafro, the most it usually takes me is 15mins, 20mins tops?! As soon as I was done, I slathered on some Tigi Leave in (current fave coil popper) & HS curl activator then LOCKED those happy-go-lucky coils into place with some Keracare Defining Custard. BAM!
I am not letting these babies go crazy like that on me again. No way! I don't think I'll ever be trying this method again without a holding agent i.e. GEL.
Conclusion: I don't think I'll be in a hurry to try this again, unless it's with a very heavy conditioner that leaves no white/grey cast behind on drying. (Is there any such thing?)

What is your take on the conditioner only method? Have you tried it?

Heat Damage : My Experience.

Heat damage of coils can be experienced after extended contact of hair and a heating tool for an extended period of time past the hair's limit of tolerance. Past this limit the keratin bonds within the hair strand are permanently altered/damaged.


I experienced heat damage literally a year ago from now. In March 2011, I had my hair "pressed" at a salon. I remember thinking that the stylist hardly used any heat protectant and "smoked" my hair quite a bit.But since it was my 1st experience, didn't say anything and thought it was the norm.
I had deep conditioned extensively prior to attending this appointment and thought I was "covered" but then clearly that had not been enough.


I wore the style for only five days, before I yearned for my coils again, but they never came back entirely. Some tightened up a little 2-3 days after more afterwards, but they never quite returned to that tightly kinky state they originally had. The root to about 3/4 of each straight clump (yes they still clumped despite being straight) would curl but the ends would still be stick straight, so I took a scissors to the straight strands..to retain my sanity.  I tried Aphogee, Aubreys GBP, steaming, deep conditioning for weeks on end until I gave up. Certain strands were never going to return back to their original state again.Here are my observations over the past year with heat damage:


The Good: it made me appreciate and realise even more just how fragile my strands were. I relied even more on finger detangling. You know the saying, you don't know what you've got till it's gone? Lets just say this experience made me appreciate my texture even more.


The Bad: Though the bulk was reduced, the strands were weaker. So even more care had to be taken while manipulating the hair strands. The general appearance of my coils was disrupted. Straight strands would stick out where they were not expected. Couldn't wear a decent wash n go with my hair just out.
The picture below shows what would happen to my hair, if I tried a wash & go. It looked like I had taken a trip back to the 70's with a Jherri Curl.. Ugh! Not a pretty sight at all.

                         

The Neutral: the straighter hair strands reduced the bulk of the hair. I could still get away with pinups, updos & buns so I wore a lot of those. (Can you spot the straighter strands within the bun?)

My conclusion: My choice of styles had to change. I had to forfeit my shrunken w-n-g fros and go for the buns/updos/pinups, as these kept the straight ends out of sight and protected them especially as the kinky strands grew out even more.So the focus turned to TECHNIQUE. The only thing that kept the hair on my scalp was my finger-combing.

If you are fortunate to straighten without experiencing any loosening at all, then you are lucky and most likely stayed below the damage threshold for your hair. In this case IMO any product could bring back your curls. If you went past that threshold of damage then it will never entirely be the same. No matter what product you use.  It is possible to "baby" your hair while gradually cutting the damaged strands off.  In the end, the penultimate choice will be up to you. Do you cut them all off yourself? Or do you let the heat damaged strands fall/break off  on their own? What would you do?

As for me, for the next year,  following the damage, I ended up cutting off the damaged strands.