Let's talk Natural hair: Pre-Pooing with Cayenne Pepper oil.

          Psalm 91 vs 11- For he shall give his angels charge  over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

Hey guys..happy sunday. Hope service was great? i would like to discuss my new found love which is CAYENNE PEPPER OIL. lol you heard right, "cayenne pepper".
Just incase you are wondering where to get this, it is basically Nigerian/African  ground red pepper with a fancy name and container, although  it took me so long time to realise it was the same 10 naira "tie-tie" pepper we used to make Jollof rice back home.

WHAT IS A PRE-POO?
well it is bascially  the act of coating the  hair with oil and/or conditioner before shampooing.The hair is  being  drenched with oil or favorite conditioner of choice and covered with a plastic bag or shower  cap, left in for a while  and then the hair is washed and conditioned as normal.

WHY PRE-POO?
regular conditioners strip the hair of moisture and dry it out, which is just a sign that the hair is really  being cleansed but on the other hand, its not good  for natural hair or any hair in particular because the hair needs the moisture. Pre-Pooing provides the hair with additional moisture, so the shampoo takes off the added oil instead of the hair's natural oil(sebum).

Lol, so now lets get to the  buisness of  the day:D

CAYENNE PEPPER OIL?
 I am sure when you saw this, you were like "these natural hair people have come again.."lol yes we have....but this is gna be interesting, wait for it^_^
Cayenne pepper/Red Pepper is a natural stimulant. It contains 0.1 to 1% of capsicum. Capsicum is the component that gives it its heat/burning sensation. It contains thirty to fifty thousand heat units. Cayenne pepper causes a lot of tingling sensation in the scalp.
Remember that virgin hair cream in a white tube and yellow cover our mothers used to use on our hair when we were younger? Remember that feeling it left on our hair? Yes! That's s tingling sensation.
Tingling sensation is an electric signal to the hair root. Cayenne pepper jump starts blood flow from the hair root which contains blood vessels. This movement transmits nutrient rich blood which feeds the hair causing hair growth. Too much science?-_____-
In summary, it stimulates blood circulation on the scalp which causes hair growth.

HOW DO I USE IT?
Cayenne pepper is mixed  with any favorite oil of your choice and let to sit for a while..so the particles can go to the bottom, then the mixture is filtered to reveal a vibrant red oil.

APPLICATION AND MY EXPERIENCE WITH CAYENNE PEPPER OIL.
So yesterday was wash day, really don't have a particular day of the week I wash my hair anymore. When I first became natural, wash day was Saturday/Sunday, but well been super lazy recently so I just wash when I feel my hair needs it, but not so often and I make sure not to go too long without it either. My hair had been in cornrows for two weeks or more I think, so I was ready to give it a treat.
Lol, didn't notice until I took d picture that I was starting to have dirt accumulate in my hair.

so i went ahead to loosen each cornrow with my fingers, making sure not to tuck too hard or use any comb or cutting comb except to loosen the ends as they were abit  too tight.

once i had loosened the cornrows, my hair looked like this..dirty, dry but not too dry and crusty...at least i wasnt having iron sponge hair day:). i started to dry finger detangle my hair  and then i seperated it in four sections and secured each section with a hair band. 

                                       
                                                       eyebrows on fleek^.^

 i can see length retention baby^.^.. the hurr is growing:D

all in all, i tink i lost this much hair during detangling..guess dry detangling is a hit..would I be ditching wet detangling anytime soon? dont know?..maybe?..might not?, wait for it:)

lol, forgive the nails yall..
now to the reason why we are here..lol, the cayenne pepper oil application...

1. I got  bowl and a plastic spoon. its is usually advisable to use plastic spoon to mix anything for your hair or wooden..no metal. you can use a straw or your fingers if you dont have any of these.
2.I poured the desired amount into the bowl, i did not measure this..just used my eye to determine the amount my hair would need. The shaker was bringing the pepper out too slow and it was spilling everywhere so i didnt have that patience, but you can measure with the spoon if you are not like me..:)

3. Then, i added olive oil to the mixture first and stirred, also added coconut oil( still didnt measure the amount) since i have other oils i use to pre-poo, although i use them with conditioner...i decided to add a little of those to the mixture. I used glycerin(which is a natural humectant, meaning it draws moisture to the hair), i also added wheat germ oil which prevents excessive hair shedding and castor oil which is also good for stimulating hair growth

                when i was done, the mixture looked like this..

it had some little particles in it, i was supposed to let it sit for a while so the particles go to the bottom and then i filter it, lol but yall know how my patience is set up, and i wasnt mixing it for everyday application, i was going to wash it out eitherways..so i just poured the mixture into an applicator bottle for easier application.

since its been a while i did a hot oil treatment(been lazy) and i was tryna kill two birds with one stone, i decided to hit this up and give my scalp a treat. I put it in the microwave and set the timer for 45secs which was actually a big mistake..

 lol, my decent looking applicator bottle melted. 45secs was actually too much..so if you dont want to end up like this, keep the timer at 15secs or just put water in a pot and put the bottle in to heat up a bit.
4. Using the same four sections, i drenched the hair from root to tips concentrating more on the ends as it is the oldest part of the hair..i slightly finger detangled and finger combed through my hair then i massaged the oil through my hair for about 5mins.

5.Twisted each section and wrapped it like a bantu knot, then clipped it with my butterfly clamps, covered the hair with a plastic bag, and tied a scarf around it for added heat

i left the oil in for about 30 mins or more, cant remember because i was watching something on my laptop and then slept off. By the time i woke up, my hair was literally on fire, and since its oil.. it had started to drip through the plastic bag but not to my face tho..

THE WASH.

I got into the bathroom and washed in sections as i usually do, washing was a breeze yall.. as the water touched my scalp, it gave off a soothing tingling feeling..
When washing, BE CAREFUL, i repeat(using microphone) BE ((((CAREFUL)))) not to get any of this into your eyes..it would sting badly. I wish somebody told me this..the lather from washing the hair got on top of my eyelid, not even into my eye and i had to use ice block on that eye for about 5mins..
The water from the rinse also got into my nose(lol i dont know why i had to go through all this) but you wouldnt want to be me at that time, it really did hurt.
Also, application can be really messy, so i advice you do this in an old t-shirt or shirt you would wash immediately. I did this in a white t-shirt and i didnt have the best of experience(clearly, the odds werent in my favor)..it stained red..like palm oil:(

But overall, it left my hair feeling really soft..(also major thanks to my hair soap) and it had so much shine to it which is the main essence of pre-pooing..

                                                    look at that shrinkage guys:(

                                            lol, where did all that hair go? (shrinkage).

The cayenne pepper oil reminded me alot of when i used to use palm oil to pre-poo(way back in Nigeria) but "Palm oil dey cost for here, so i dont pre-poo with it nomore".
WOULD I BE TRYING THIS AGAIN? yes!!! for as long as i get tired(which might be never)..my hair loved it, cayenne pepper is here to stay.

Thanks for stopping by guys
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and always remember Jesus loves you.
Check back soon^_^
have a nice day

Ada Alumonah..xoxo