9 Weeks Post Relaxer: First Time Trying a Black Tea Rinse

I am now nine weeks post my last relaxer touch up and my stretch has been going well thus far. Minimal shedding and very little to no breakage. Also, I've been able to keep my hair moisturized including my new growth which acts like a desert floor and can't seem to get enough moisture.

For this wash day, I opted to co-wash with As I Am since I shampooed last week. To switch things up a bit I did a black tea rinse versus my normal green tea. The black tea was a free sample I got and because I don't care for the taste of black tea I saved it for a rinse. I

 had read that black tea tends to dry out the hair more than other teas so I decided to use less for my rinse than I do when I've used green tea and pump up the moisture with the other products I used.

Let's jump in and see how the wash went.

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Wash day prep

I sectioned my hair into four sections, one on each side and two in the back. Using sunflower oil I fully detangled each section.

Pre-poo

With my hair in four sections, I applied the Eden BodyWorks Jojoba Monoi Deep Conditioner, then let it sit with my Hot Head Conditioning Cap for 40 minutes.

Cleansing

For this, I used As I Am Cleansing Pudding. My hair didn't feel stripped after rinsing like it did the first time I used the cleansing pudding.

Tea rinse and condition

As mentioned above for my tea rinse this week I decided to use black tea instead of green tea for my hair rinse this week. I had read that black tea is more drying so I wanted to make sure I also used a rinse-out conditioner. I got my Suave Natural Infusions Conditioner and realized that I had pulled the anti-breakage conditioner and not the moisturizing one.

I rinsed my hair with the black tea and my hair felt kinda dry. Not that I didn't expect that I just hoped it wouldn't. Then I made the mistake of deciding to use the anti-breakage conditioner instead of getting the other one. As expected, it did nothing good for my hair.

Drying

My hair felt on the dry side so I loaded up on the Eden BodyWorks Coconut Shea Leave-in Conditioner and sunflower oil. After air-drying for an hour, I sat under my hooded dryer for 45 minutes getting my hair about 90% dry. Before cross-wrapping my hair I put more leave-in on and used coconut oil to seal.
The results In the morning my hair still felt dry, I had some strands sticking together and a few tangles. I'm not sure if that was due to the Suave conditioner, the black tea rinse, or a combination of the two.

Over the next couple of days, my moisture levels increased and the tangles lessened. I attribute this to moisturizing and sealing every day in the morning and at night.                                         

What's your favorite tea for tea rinses?