I also did a tour in Iraq, and boy did my hair suffer! I deployed with shoulder-length, thick natural African American hair. However, it came out in clumps due to the exposure to sun, poor eating habits, and time limits in the shower which kept my hair from getting the water it needed. One year later, my hair is still recovering, but definitely getting better and stronger.

Here are my recommendations, with all products available from drugstore (dot) com, which ships to APO addresses:

1) Use a moisturizing shampoo like Creme of Nature Ultra Moisturizing Shampoo. Your hair will instantly feel soft, even before you can rinse out the shampoo.

2) Load on the conditioner. Toward the end of my deployment, I learned to use at least twice as much conditioner in my hair as I did CONUS. Your hair will need the moisture. Be sure to comb it through to completely cover all the strands. If possible, put a shower cap on and let it sit in your hair for half an hour before rinsing. I used Pantene conditioner, but I would also recommend Neutrogena’s Triple Moisture Deep Conditioner. The only problem is that the Neutrogena one comes in a small container, and you really need to go overboard with the conditioner.

3) Rinse the conditioner from your hair with cool/cold water to seal the hair cuticle.

4) Use Cantu Grow Strong Strengthening Treatment as a leave-in conditioner. It’s light enough to use to style your twists.

5) After a heavy workout, rinse your hair with cold water as soon as possible to get rid of the sweat that accumulated in your scalp. Then follow with an application of the Cantu Treatment. You may have to figure out how to do it without untwisting your hair.

Finally, when you return to the States, be sure to get a professional haircut to trim your split ends to prevent breakage. Also, if your hair seems like it still needs serious recovery, use Joico’s K-Pac Reconstructor. It’s expensive, so opt for the generic brand available at Sally Beauty Supply.

Best of luck!

KH

And hopefully to answer your question: keeping your hair in twists is GREAT. Like Kcurly made some really good points (avoid glycerin, bagging, etc). I know nothing about Qhemet’s shipping, but you might be able to have a family member buy it and ship it to you if they don’t ship internationally. You can look into getting shea butter too, there are some ebay sellers that offer free shipping to anyone on a military base too!