Clarify and Moisturizing Treatment

Please excuse this post because it is not completely documented with pics of the progress like I want it to be, but o well. So this is the question at hand. How'd I go from this:
To this wonderful pic right here:
Well let me tell you it wasn't as simple and easy it as it seems. Well the first part was kind of simple. So, lets start from the beginning. It all started with a flat twist out puff.
I took it down when I got home to get the first pic in this post. The small curls on the ends were acheived with the second to smallest perm rod rollers I could find at the Beauty Supply Store.
The next step involved one tablespoon baking soda and four cups of water to clarify my hair. I didn't use a comb or brush before rinsing the clear substance through my hair. I massaged it through my scalp for 60 seconds to break up any build up I may have had and immediately rinsed out for several minutes to be sure the mixture was all out.
Clean hair with a tangled mess.

Next came the moisturizing treatment. I took some tips from Traycee off of www.k-i-s-s.info and her prepoo. Since I've already clarified I won't be shampooing. I pulled out my wonderful Tresemme flawless curls and put 5 oz in my tint bowl and added .5 oz of jojoba oil and another .5 oz of Bonner Brothers Growth Oil (trying to stretch my jojoba oil its time for a new bottle other wise it would have been 1 oz. jojoba oil). Then I added 1/4 teaspoon peppermint essential oil and 1/4 teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil ( I got this idea from Traycee). I mixed it up together using a folding technique where I fold the oil into the conditioner. Just a heads up the essential oils are very strong. Use according to your own tolerance. This is the mixture I got when I finished mixing everything up.I separated my hair into four sections and applied the conditioner to my hair as I would a relaxer focusing on my natural hair and the line of demarcation <--very important especially for transitioners. (The line of demarcation is a stress point and it can easily be broken if not given enough attention and carefully handled. The last thing we want is breakage and damaged natural hair when we finally decide to big chop. Also this damage can cause us to end our transition sooner than we hoped to.) After applying it to the natural hair and line of demarcation I worked the excess product down into the relaxed hair and lightly detangled each section with a wide tooth comb. After the applicationI covered my hair with saran wrap, a shower cap, and a scarf and went to sleep. I awoke at four a.m. with a tingling and cold head from the peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils. It was time to rinse. This is when I do my final detangle. While I rinse out the conditioner from each section I brush through it with my conair (wannabe denman) brush. I keep my sections separated so that my hair can stay detangled. I leave my hair in these four sections to air dry. I keep my hair up with hair roller pins in case you were wondering.

Thats what I do when I clarify my hair. Normally when I'm just gonna do a cowash I will do the moisturizing treatment as a prepoo and then after I rinse out the conditioner I would use VO5 moisturizing conditioner (moisture milks) to clean my scalp and give my hair a little boost of protein. I will post my protein treatment regimen next month when I take my braids down for Christmas.

After the treatment I decided that I needed to braid my hair especially considering that I have midterms and finals coming very soon. Which means I need to spend more time studying and less time playing in my hair trying to style every three days and what not. So I installed some micro braids and curled them using Curlformers and hot water. Next week I'll post how I care for my braids and wash them. I love my braids.