Protection

I realized that nearly after every wash (which is quite often) I would blowdry my hair. Basically because I was into my afro looks and stretched styles without major curl. Sinc ethat meant I had been blowdrying every week I decided to go into protective mode to avoid doing it further.

Last monday I completed single box braids in my hair. Left the ends loose as I always doo (cuz burning the ends n whatnot is so oldschool to me. Reminds me of moesha or something) . So I left the ends loose and dipped themm in boiling water when I was done. I hope to stay protected until April on my 1 year anniversary. I say this, and I this is my intention, but at the same time, i am so lazy with braiding my own hair. It's ridiculous. I have to have an interesting show on t.v for me to get it done.

This time, I braided while the NFC championship was on. And therefore I was braiding, texting my Boyfriend about the game and who should win on overtime, and tweeting my reactions and emotions AND braiding. I ended up only getting the back section of my hair done. Bad idea, I'm way too into football to even begin to dedicate that time to braiding my hair.

Next day I finished. it took all day because nothing was on television. I think I finished somewhere between Secret Life of the American Teenager and Make it or Break it. Nothing's ever on television on Mondays. haha.

I plan to keep these braids in for as long as possible. I haven't gone any longer than a month with braids in because my real hair tends to get fuzzy during that time frame. So maybe these will last a month, and I'll redo them end of February or Beginning of March and keep them in till April.

Do a Length Check and progress pic from April 10, 2009 - April 10, 2010 and put it back into some sort of protective style. perhaps real hair twists or a weave if i get lucky. weaves last longer for me. I can usually wear one fore 2-3 months if I don't miss my hair too much. Back when I relaxed, I never ever missed my hair haha.

Nowadays as a natural, I tend to get tired of dealing with my hair all the stretching n stuff and shrinkage but as soon as i put my hair away, i miss it like crazy.

Trim

Sooooo it's been about 3 months since i last trimmed. i believe i trimmed back in october the same time i dyed my hair. but i've noticed alot of single strand knots and snags in my hair. lots of fly aways when i finger combed. just extra bullshit.

so i gave myself a pretty deep trim. about an inch of hair i took off. i did it by twisting my hair and when i felt my ends starting to feel rough and disgustin/seeing the flyaways, i went ahead and snipped snipped. everything looks so much better.

I've been thinking about adopting a blowdrying regimen since myhair is sooooo kinky. To avoid all the single strand knots, alot of people with my texture seem to wash their hair and blowdry it afterwards to keep the hair from coiling up on itself to retain more length by avoiding the blasted knots.

Thing is, the people who do this regimen, wash their hair once a month, blow dry it straight (not bone straight of course but enough so that it won't be curly) and they don't wash their hair for the rest of the month. They keep clean hair by avoiding product. They just put oils on their hair, no store bought products.

i've been considering this and after i put in a protective style for a month or two, maybe i will adopt this regimen. I still have a lil researching before i make up my mind. I tried it for a month but i couldn't do it. I ended up washing and blowdrying twice in a month and that'll be a killa on my hair and patience.

so, if i do it, I'll probably end up

washing on the first of the month, blowdrying, wearing my hair in a blowout for as long as i can, then as soon as it reverts, twist it up and then wear a twist out for the rest of the month.

I'll write it down once i make up my mind though.

Product switch progress

Got the Trader Joes Nourish Spa Conditoner

again i won't try it till im done with all my unatural shit.
I'll get another one soon just to stock up.

I'm out of the essentials too

(extra virgin coconut oil, shea butter)

i can live without the shea but the coconut oil is somethin i pride my hair on. i think its the reason i've retained so much length. its like food for my hair. Literaly. I putit on and my hair sucks it all up. beautiful. and its all soft and lusciouz.

mmm.

Product Switchez

I have decided to try a couple of new things with my hair. Being that I am not a product junkie (i hate clutter), Once I use every single product I have I will switch over to "more natural" products. And when I say every product, i mean everything right down to the Beyond the Zone Noodle head and Sexy Styling sauce that i have 3 bottles full of. I decided to do this because i think that with my hair getting longer and requiring more attention, using products with a million ingredients and synthetics are taking it's toll on my sensitive skin.

example: after my condition cleared up, i still notice i have lingering bumps and dry patches along the back of my neck and sides of my nec where my h air is longer and along my forehear where my bangs hang over every once in a while.

not good.
It has to be something I'm using right? I don't use much though besides conditioner. So, in order to start fresh I've decided to go more natural.

I will let the Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Leave-in keep it's place in my heart though, and my Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing conditioner...but everything else will be more natural.

I'm leaning towards the Giovanni line because it worked and i don't have to pay for shipping and 16 dollars for a bottle. ridiculous. i can get a big bottle for 12.99 and be set for a few months of conditioning and co-washes.

shampoos, i may use the Giovanni or order shampoo bars online.

Moisture and stylin gi may end up using Afroveda or Curls just because i always wanted to try it. As far as styling aids i don't have to order, i haven't found any yet... any natural ones at least.

I'll keep ya posted and if u have any store bought natural moisturizers other than shea butter to recommend, post it up! :)

I have a few ways to go before i'm out of shampoo/ conditoner/ styling aids so i have a couple months before i make this move.

woop woop Video Time. Hope ya'll enjoy

Yes of course its me in the vid haha

Hair Inspiration/ Tips/ growth

On this post i will not put up pictures because If i did, it'll be the same as the last post. I want to talk about hair inspiration though. Once going natural or going upon a hair journey at all we all aspire to have hair like someone else's. Not in a bad way, but we use anothers success to put gas into our engine. Like yea, she achieved it! it only means i can. And when i feel like giving up, i'll remember that picture and realize that thats the person i want to be.

When I shaved my head for my big chop, i was nobody's inspiration. looking back on it, I realize that since I did shave my hair, i should've been a humongous inspiration. How many women are able to do that and wear their hair out? Ya know? People transition, let it grow out. I got up one morning and took the scissors to my head out of pure spotanaeity. Isn't that inspiration?! haha.

But, now that my hair is longer (see 8 month picture in last post) i am told i am inspiration. Like I am proof that hair grows or something. It's odd to me. It's flattering, but I also am not in understanding of it. Like I am inspiration because my hair grows? but ... everyone's hair grows doesn't it? I take it as it's inspiration to stay on the journey though. Like I inspire people to keep up with their goals because they aspire to have hair like mine in a short while...flattering since I am still on my very own journey. hasn't been long at all. a mere 8 months and indeed i see that my hair has seem to grow either faster or i retained more length than girls who shaved their head around the same time as I did.

It bugs me when i get accused to doing something extra to get my hair to grow. or to have achieved this length this fast. Thing is, it's the last thing I expect out of peoples mouths/fingers (typing) because im like... what could i possibly do to grow my hair? what other additives are there? wouldn't i have like... near arm pit length hair if i added a growth aid? not a mere neck length in 8 months... c'mon now.

I don't know what i do. it just grows. i can't afford those fancy all natural products like afroveda and oyin like i want to use. I use drug store names. I don't eat healthy really.... i live off of taco bell. I guess i have a balanced diet...im not sure, but i don't eat my leafs n fruits as often as i should. I don't exercise I haven't been drinking water like i should. i been drinking a lot of root beer and creme soda. lots of pizza, hotwings etc.

I have been taking the same multivitamin i've been taking since age 16 or so.

I youtubed fast hair growth once to see if someone had some type of answer. I saw that average hair growth is usually around a quarter inch to half an inch per month. which means one inch of hair growth every two months

when broken down, thats like.... 4-6 inches per year of hair growth at most.

I do not measure my hair but i know dang well i don't have 6 inches of hair in that year. its only been 8 months but i don't even think i will achieve 6 inches by april. iuno. I may have 3 or 4 inches of hair.... So i think my hair grows...okay. I think i'm on track with the growth amount in months. I think i'm pretty average to be so unhealthy in diet and lifestyle.

comments like that make me curious about growth aids. i googled it slightly skeptical that growth aids are actually growth aids. i dont really think anything makes hair grow faster but i guess it does. like that michonizol nitrate or whatever that chemical is in monistate... coochie cream people slap on their scalps to force more growth. that seems entirely unsafe and unnatural to me haha.

but it made me curious like if i did try using that for about 3 months i wonder what would happen to my growth. I wonder if it'll even help my scalp condition or worsen it. people get headaches off that stuff too but they torture themselves for longer hair.

I say, do like i do, sit and ignore it. Give it the basics.

Deep Condition once a week with an actual deep conditioner. not V05, not any Herbal Essences conditioners. i'm talking about a deep conditioner that actually says "deep conditioner" on the bottle because the other ones if it says rinse out in 5 minutes, chances are after that 5 minutes it's not going to penetrate any further. Deep conditioners usually say rinse after ...hmm.. maybe 15 to 45 mins. I use Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing conditoner and i follow the directions to the T... i put it on and sit with a plastic cap for 45 minutes since i don't have a dryer to add heat. and I rinse. I do that once a week.

protective styling to add length. i only do it for maybe 2 weeks out the month on the months i do do it. i haven't had a protective style since about October or so. this is twists, braids, wigs, etc.
sometimes i'll twist my hair, leave it in for a week, wear a twistout for a couple days, repeat.

Just something that insures me i don't haave to wash n style every day.
that's really all i do.

i think the more you do to your hair, the less length you will retain. hair grows on its own, you don't have to do anything "extra" to make it happen. just leave it alone.

8 months of length

big chop. april 2009.

2010 beginnings with hair

So, I hope that in december my hair will be twice as long as it was this december. By that I mean I should at least be Arm pit length by the end of this year.

However, I may not reach that goal. I decided that after having my hair straight for that week, i enjoyed the feeling of it.

So i may straighten it again today. yup. more heat. pssssh who cares, its my hair, i'll do what I wanna. I think we should all have that attitude.

I brought in the new year hair-wish with a mayonnaise protein treatment done on dry straightened hair in order to put protein in it before I got surprised with heat damage i may or may not have and concentrated it on my ends. I see that my hair is stronger than I believed. every single last curl came right back, tight as ever as if it had never seen heat in its life. Like it wasn't just straight 3 seconds ago.

Beautiful.

So after the wash, i conditioned it, banded it and put on a heat protectant. Now I'm going to blow it out and keep it that way for awhile. I'll probably do this whenever I wash, but if i do decide to do that, I'll either blowdry once every 2 weeks or once a month. It seems like my hair stays cleaner while straightened than it does/feels while curly so I don't feel the need to wash as often as I do while curly.

My regimen hasn't changed... wait.. i don't have a regimen. I should say my products havent changed much.

I still use anti-dandruff shampoo when I use a shampoo.

I still use extra virgin coconut oil as my conditioner

Still using herbal essences long-term relationship leave-in

still using Cantu Shea Butter leave-in (although i may discontinue it once the jar is used up.)

and i still deep condition once a week with Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner for 45mins to an hour.

And I recently added Herbal Essences long-term relationship conditioner into the mix as my co-washer + shampoo follow-up. I haven't used the bottle though yet because I believe in using what I already began before opening and trying something new so once the rest of my suave humectants condish is used up (which it almost is) i'll begin with HE.

so yea, i still keep it simple.

to me, hair is hair, no matter what type of hair you have no matter your race no matter the length. hair is hair. Everyone's hair likes the same thing despite it all having different needs at different times.

winter i noticed Its good for me to not wash as often. not only because of the cold weather + sickness but because my hair seemed crazy dry. So, to wash it once every week and a half has been great. Wash, moisturize with twists or braids, leave those twists or braids in for a week, the wear a twistout or braid out till its time to wash away the build up. Repeat.

or, I straighten and its good for a week or two.

Simple is better.

Ending the year

i

I'm ending the year with hair longer than it was on this same day last year. My hair wasn't really neck length last year before i big chopped. As u can see (and already have seen) my hair was in my fabulous cartoon pixie cut . long bangs and spikey in the back.

Now, my hair is not all one length. it is still slightly layer because i big chopped on my own.It is now way way longer than that picture. My bangs, however, are still shorter than the picture by aboutan inch or so :(. loved my bangs back then.

my hair is about neck length now, almost shoulder length. And this is less than a year after I shaved all that hair off thats in the picture. so i went from bald to now, longer than before i chopped it off...less that a year. I'm excited for april 2010 to see how my hair will look length wise. then December 2010 my hair should be at least twice as long as it is right now.

2 days ago i straightened my hair so i have a lot of reverse damage control to do being that i colored my hair a couple months ago then straightened it and curled it these last two days. Before washing it, i'ma put mayonnaise (stank :(...) on dry hair and let it marinate for awhile and soake up all the protein so i'll be able to strengthen to really damaged areas (if any) instead of being shocked by hella straight peices after washing. then i'll follow up with a moisture deep conditioning and pray for my curls to return full force.

Winter Moisturization : Killing my Breakage

EFF! so i made the wrong impulsive decision in October to dye my hair. I dyed it burgundy on October 10th 2009 and it was beautiful. now, however, it is a light brown. I've gained about an inch of growth since then, says my roots.

thats fine. half an inch per month. thats great.

However, since its cold out and since i have dye in my hair, i have to up my hair care game. its dry now, its been breaking. not excessively but it's breaking. there's still shedding from my scalp condition.

I've been on the hunt to find a way to moisturize my hair. I moistruized after every wash with just coconut oil and a leave in. but its not enough, especially if i leave it in a fro. it's dry as hay haha.


So here's what i've found that works.

Monday night, i went through my product stash and found a moisturizing shea butter creme by Silk Elements i never used because of the dimethicone and the scent. and brought it into the bathroom

I got in the shower, shampooed and conditioned my hair. Wrapped a towel around it till i got dress and let the water soak up.


So with damp hair, not sopping wet, i began.

I started with my conditioner of choice : Extra Virgin coconut oil

then I added my leave in : Herbal essences long term relationship leave-in cream

then I added the silk elements mega-silk moisturizing creme.

then I coated it all with Castor Oil. Regular cheap castor oil, not JBCO (too expensive for sealing).

Mind you. I parted my hair into sections and did this to each section started application from the bottom up to make sure my ends got extra love. application , for me, has to be in this order.

EVCO for hair penetration
HELTR leave-in for hair strand protection
Moistuizing creme to add extra umph in sealin in the water
and Castor oil nice and thick enough to hold all of it in.

Each section, I twisted. This works with flat two strand twists, flat twists, or regular two strand twists. If i leave my hair in an afro with all the moisture, it'll be gon by the time i wake.

by twisting its adding another element of moisture hold.

Took the twists down for a twist out the next morning, moisture for daaayyyyz. wasn't greasy or anything like that. just soft and moist and luxuurrrrious (katt williams)

I''ve decided to do that about once a week until the weather warms up again.

however, i need a protective style to maintain length for the next couple of months because the breakage is ridiculous. i still am seeing growth but i may as well nip this in the bud now.