My steamy love affair with healthier hair

Today's wash day was magnificent. Yes magnificent. As you guys already know, I'm always looking for ways to fine tune and improve my routine. Even if it involves changing only the slightest detail. Today, my focus on was on the pre-poo step. Let me first start off by declaring that I'm pretty happy as it is with my pre-poo routine. Ever since Burt's Bees came into my life, my pre-poo step has been meeting my expectations. That is until I came across this:



Ladies, let me introduce you to my new love. This thing is absolutely amazing! I am so grateful to have this in my life.

So let me back up a little and tell the story from the beginning....

O.k. so a few weeks ago, I was strolling down the aisle of my local nail supply store. For those of you who aren't fortunate enough to have one of these locally, just imagine a beauty supply store but instead of hair goodies, the place is jam packed with nail tools, equipment, accessories, and such. Now mind you, I'm not a big nail fanatic but I still find myself feeling the same level of appreciation walking down the aisles of a nail supply store as I do a Sally's or Ulta. So anyway there I was standing between economy size buffers and the paraffin wax display when my eyes just happened to land on a large box sitting high above eye level. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be a future purchase. Right away, I asked the young Asian gentleman for the price. He took the box down, showed me the price and, after seeing the cost, I didn't even flinch. The price for this product was $75.00. But I thought to myself, if it does what I'm hoping it would do, then this thing would be worth way more to me than $75.00.

So I'm standing there examining the box with a look on my face like I'm actually contemplating whether I should buy when I really just want to beeline to the register, pay for my item, and run straight home for a test spin. I couldn't wait to use this facial steamer. The reason I wanted this steamer soooooo badly was two fold. The first was to fulfill my desire to pamper my skin with yummy facials. While achieving better looking skin was important, the real reason I was so quick to pay $75.00 for this bad boy was because I knew that if the claims of "powerful steam action" were true, I would have myself a dual facial/hair steamer in one convenient little package.

The very first time I plugged my steamer in after filling it with distilled water, I was overcome with emotion. Unlike my Conair facial steamer, this thing actually produces an adequate amount of steam. The nozzle has some flexibility so I can adjust as needed. The first couple of times I used the steamer, I focused strictly on therapeutic facials and got some stellar results. All the while, I knew that the steamer's primary purpose, at least for me, was to amplify moisture levels in my hair with its potent steam producing action.

Fast forward a couple weeks and I get this brilliant idea. "What if I were to rev up my wash and set results by implementing steam in my pre-poo step?" "How amazing would that be?!" The reason why I got so excited about the thought of adding steam to my pre-poo is because I understand that just as steam has the ability to open my pores to allow for deeper cleaning, so too does the steam have the power to open up the cuticle layers of the hair allowing for deeper penetration of the nourishing products I would be applying.

Then I began my routine, first applying some Suave Milk and Honey, next Burt's Bees Avocado Pre-Poo treatment, and finally a light layer of coconut oil. I allowed the steam to work its magic. Let me just say that pre-pooing on steam dampened hair does not feel the same as pre-pooing on dry hair. Don't get me wrong, pre-pooing on dry hair is good. But pre-pooing with steam tonight was intense. When it came time to wash the hair, I felt as if I had already deep conditioned. Of course the rest is history. I washed with my favorite shampoo and repeated the steaming process with my conditioner mix (Asience,Humecto,Silicon Mix and a dab of oil).

Needless to say, my hair feels incredible right now. The moisture levels are sky high and I'm smilin' from ear to ear. You guys have to see this steamer in action. I'll probably do a video and post in the near future demonstrating the awesome amazingness* of my table top steamer. Once upon a time a hair steamer was on my list of must haves but now that I have my new toy, I don't think I need an official "hair steamer" in the original sense of the word. Don't get me wrong, I could change my mind at any time but for now, I'm pretty satisfied to say the least.

*yes I did say amazingness.