Thanks to a mini informal meet up with a couple of naturals one Saturday morning in Johannesburg, I learnt there was this Maximum Hydration Method aka MHM and the Cherry Lola Treatment for low porosity hair. My hair was feeling quite dry and lacked vibrancy. I will thank winter blues for that. Anyways, when I heard about it, I once again availed myself to try it. Of course I did a bit more research on it and I resolved to trying it out. Not the proper way though and you will find out why in a bit.
What is the MHM and how does it benefit kinky hair?
Well, briefly, it is a way of attaining as much moisture as possible through opening the hair cuticles to let moisture in and closing them up again as much as possible to retain moisture for longer. We all know moisture is gained from water and the other products attract water to our hair to keep it moisturised for longer or seal the moisture that is inside our strands already. So that’s the whole of it. Some of us have low porosity hair and thus are unable to deposit enough water inside the hair shaft making our hair moisturised topically but thirsting inside. This results in limp hair that breaks easily. Done correctly, it is possible to have moisturised strands which retain moisture for longer and have real curls that clump together even on type 4 hair. This method purports to do just that thereby giving you the perfect curl even for 4C hair.
What I did.
On a Tuesday, I applied the ACV mix to my hair and left it on for 20 minutes. Rinsed it out and then applied warm conditioner with a little Grape seed oil to my hair and put a plastic cap on and left it on for a further 30 minutes. I loved this so much. Applying warm conditioner is just so therapeutic I think because it felt soooo gooooood. I detangled my hair while rinsing the conditioner out which was also my co-wash. And then, I applied Bentonite Clay Wash to my hair. Left this on for 15 minutes before rinsing out. I applied a leave in conditioner, Shea butter, Castor oil and then gel. My curls popped very well especial close to my nape.Very excited? Sort of but not blown away. My crown was still some fuzzy looking patch with hair that is kind of undecided on what it really wants to do. I took it as the first day and should not expect too much. By the way, for the first week, the MHM’s 4 steps need to be done every day until maximum hydration of the strands is attained and there after, every other day but not more than 3 days. For work the next day, I wore my hair in a wash n go. When I got home home later that evening, I seriously did not have time for washing my hair AGAIN so I skipped. Besides since my hair was in a big puff, some of my hair was not fully dry yet.
So the next wash day was on Thursday. I repeated the whole 4 steps. Decided not to pull my hair into a big puff. Mistake. My hair was not looking so well the next morning. I had to prop up my curls a lot to style and ended up only being able to wear it as shown below. So, Friday I was not having a great hair day. The reason why I did not want to sleep with my hair in a pulled state again is I realised the amount of tension my hair had to deal with is pulled back wet and left to dry like that. Hair stretches much readily when wet and when it dries in that state, there is so much tension when the hair tries to go back to its actual dry length and this may lead to an overly tight style that can give one a head ache or worse, traction alopecia if done very frequently. So I did not want to put up with that.
On Friday, I decided to look for the Liquid Aminos so I could do the Cherry Lola treatment. I seriously think my fuzzy crown is because of low porosity. The place where I thought I would get my Liquid Aminos was Dischem and unfortunately, they had never heard of them. Determined, I did the treatment anyway the following day, Saturday with a few tweaks. Liquid Amino are a great source of protein and I sure could find substitutes easily. And I did. But I also did not have molasses and Avocado. Anyway, I ended up doing my own version of the Cherry Lola treatment and these were the results. Washing my hair took half of my Saturday. Seriously, who has time for that?
This time around, I let me hair dry in twists though. For me, wash n go are just not my thing. I will surely do them again but I am no big fan. I prefer my hair stretched in twists or braids.
What Say I?
The whole MHM is really great and I could feel a big change in the way my hair retained moisture, the curl formation (my crown actually did form some curls after doing the modified Cherry Lola treatment) and the overall health. Even though I wore my hair in wash n go’s the whole week, my hair was not a tangled mess and detangling it was very easy. Talk about dry ends being the main cause of Single strand knots, crazy tangling and matting of hair. My hair felt hydrated and so healthy even though I had done it for 3 days in a week instead of the 7 days. My main problem is the time, time and time. The process just takes too long and right now, I do not have time for that. Given the many benefits, I am one to usually persevere but uum, not now. It takes quite a long time to do especially if you are doing all the steps the same day. Breaking the steps into 2 parts and doing the first 2 at night and the last 2 in the morning will help but it’s still quite a long process. May try doing that some time later in the year when I have finished my studies, otherwise, I ain’t got time for that right now. For step by step information on this method, you can go here where the Cherry Lola Treatment is also explained. What do you think about the MHM? Have you tried it? Will you try it? Just a reminder, the birthday giveaway competition closes today so if you are interested in entering, do so now. Many blessings to you and yours
7 comments
[…] treatment with a moisturising aspect, most hair types should benefit from it. You can check out this post for the rest of the things that I did to my hair besides applying this […]
So glad you decided to try this out Ruth! I am currently on Day 4 of the mhm and still going strong although I gave myself a day off after Day 3. I am motivated to soldier on because I am already coming across fully clumped sections root to tip scattered all over my scalp. My crown area like yours is the stubbornest and frizziest. I still have not done the Cherry Lola treatment though because although Shireen pointed me to Braggs Liquid Aminos they are just too expensive for me. I am thinking of substituting them with Soy sauce or tamari sauce. What did you substitute the Braggs with?
Wow! great Tafara. Am glad you are doing it. Pictures please! where can we find them? I tweaked the formula a bit to suit what I had. At first I just added some olive oil, it just felt right *wink* and the second time I used 2 eggs instead of 1. Worked just fine both times. I can’t wait until I have more time on my hands to go all out on it. I loved it.
This was the first time I see this kind of treatment, and I’ve been reading about it for the past few days. I must say, it is a lot of work but I want to do it, just not yet; I’m thinking I will do it early next year as I will have time on my hands and it will give me some time to collect all the ingredients :)! Once I start doing it I will sure let you know. And since it is made for my type of hair (4C), I hope I will start seeing my curl pattern much better. I will keep you posted :).
It is indeed a lot of work my dear. I have also shelved it until further notice. You are so awesome. Yes! yes please do keep me posted
I am going to do this as soon as I take out my braids. I am still trying to collect the ingredients though please explain in detail what you used. 🙂
Hi Kholiswa. Thanks for reading and commenting. For the Apple Cider Vinegar I got from Dischem. And then for the conditioner I used Tresseme naturals conditioner mixed with grape seed oil (tsp) and warm water but I also warmed the conditioner further in the microwave. I then used Bentonite clay wash I got from http://www.natmoisture.co.za and then I used my remaining conditioner as a leave in conditioner. After that I applied some Shea butter then some castor oil to seal, then applied gel. For Shea butter I used Twist & Shine from http://www.natmoisture.co.za and castor oil I used Umera Black Castor oil. The gel I used Revlon firm hold.
As for the modified Cherry Lola treatment, I did a video of the prep here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQknZeL1caI&list=UUe7Dw4Whj_q-V4lQi05uQUA
Comments are closed.