It's protective styling season!

Hey all! It's been awhile but hey, it's the holiday season and we all know how that goes. Life gets in the way... of everything. Just a quick update, I've continued to wash weekly and  moisturize and seal daily using Creme of Nature Argan Oil Moisturizer and grape seed oil. I've also been applying JBCO to my scalp and massaging it in nightly. Since using JBCO my hair seems so much thicker than usual, and its always thick! I'm planning to stretch my relaxer to the end of January, and as you can see from this picture, it's feeling like I need one NOW! But since I'm trying to get my hair back in tip top shape, I won't. What will I do? Begin protective styling, of course. So this is my beginning length. It's definitely grown a lot since I cut it back in July. I can even get into a little ponytail that I'm too embarrassed to ever show you a picture of :).

It's winter, or at least it feels like it, and around this time my hair, and probably yours too, tends to be more dry than usual. By protective styling I'll be able to combat breakage because my ends won't be exposed to the harsh winds and other elements. So my first style of the season will be Patra braids (aka poetic justice braids / Solange braids / WHATEVER you wanna call them. I went to the beauty supply store and got ten packs of kanekalon hair and a pack of elastic headbands. I can't wait to put my hair in a bun again! It's been far too long.

I'll be installing them tonight and keeping them in until January 25, 2014. Speaking of which, can you believe its almost 2014?! I can't! Anyway, as far as my regimen goes, I'll still be using JBCO nightly for sure. I will NOT be washing weekly, just when I feel it's necessary. I'll be mixing a few oils and some conditioner to use as a braid spray for moisture, and sometimes I may just use my leave in conditioner. When I take them out I'll be getting a relaxer and a much needed trim. I was planning to get one when I go visit my mom for Christmas but I refuse to take these braids out after only four weeks. It works out though, because it wont be as short after my trim since I'll (hopefully) have a decent amount of growth over the next eight weeks. That's all for now. I'll be back with pictures!

Wash Day

So I finally washed my hair, four days late. I used Herbal Essences Hello Hydration and conditioned with Suave Almond and Shea Butter. My hair feels nice and soft BUT I am still having excessive shedding and breakage. I don't know what is going on but I DON'T LIKE IT. I did a protein treatment using Aphogee two step protein treatment last Sunday and it did absolutely nothing. I guess I'll just have to see what happens.

I'm still moisturizing and sealing with Creme of Nature argan oil moisturizer and grape seed oil. I have to say, I love this moisturizer! It has such a light scent and it doesn't weigh my hair down so it will definitely me a regular part of my routine. I alsi like, not love, but like JBCO. The one and only reason why I don't love it is because of the smell. I don't like it at all and my husband certainly isn't a fan of it either. However, since using it on my scalp I've noticed that the itching I was experiencing has completely stopped. At one point it was so bad that I thought I was gonna scratch my scalp away. What's crazy is that I didnt even notice the itching had stopped until I was washing my hair in the shower.

I also noticed today that I have some new growth peeking through. It's mainly in the crown of my head. It's not much but it is definitely there! Every bit of new growth excites me now because I JUST WANT MY HAIR BACK!! And on that note, I'm off to relax... The kids are asleep :)

JBCO Challenge

As I mentioned before, I'm embarking on a JBCO challenge. Mainly because I want to see if it will aid in growing my hair back and also to see if the thinner side (left side) will thicken up again. I've been applying it nightly since 11/01/13, so I'll say in about twelve weeks we'll see if there's any difference. I'll also be applying the oil to my daughter Imani's hair. She had a head full when she was born but it came out... almost all of it. Now it is growing back nicely and since I can still see her scalp I figured her growth would be easy to track. I'll only be using the JBCO in her hair 3x a week. So here is her starting pic, taken on Halloween.

This was taken at Kaylin's Fall harvest party, she enjoyed herself. You can't tell from this picture but the top and sides of her hair are about an inch long. My main goal for her is not really length, but thickness. I just want to see if it will fill back in. 

So our start date was November 1st, which will make twelve weeks from now January 24, 2014. I'll also be relaxing my hair on that date, which will be 13 weeks post. Or maybe I should say I'm planning to stretch to that date. Hopefully I make it! 

My Grape seed oil has arrived!

Yes, yes, yes! My grape seed oil came in the mail today. I forgot it at my mom's house so she sent it to me. So thank you +Tina Rhodie! Now if I could just get my dryer.... :). Anyway, I have the Bonelli brand. I got it a few months ago from a the grocery store and never (not even once) used it. I couldn't wait to use it as a sealant so I purposely waited until the package came before moisturizing and sealing. My first impression is that it is a very light oil, much like coconut oil, which is great. I loved that it didn't weigh my hair down at all. I'll wait about a week or so to see if my opinion changes but as of right now it will be thrown into rotation.

I washed my hair on Sunday so I got to put my new products to use. I did do the ApHogee protein treatment but nothing seems to have changed (bummer). I made sure to shake it before applying, used a blow dryer until it was hard, and used the balancing conditioner but still had breakage after. WTH!? Perhaps it's because I didn't do an extensive deep conditioning afterwards as I was pressed for time. Or maybe it's because my hair is SO damaged that the one treatment wasn't enough... let's hope it's not that. Either way, I'm still experiencing breakage and shedding so I've been moisturizing and sealing like crazy. 

The Creme of Nature moisturizer and leave in conditioner are great.  They smell really nice, not too strong, so I have been using it in my one year old's hair. Also, I actually blow dried my hair on Sunday, which I never do. Surprisingly my hair was REALLY soft. So that's great.

The JBCO... what can I say? I hate the smell, lol. BUT, I did do the GHE overnight with it and my hair felt lovely. So I've begun my own personal challenge. I started massaging it into my scalp daily to see what kind of progress I make. I'm particularly interested in a small section in the back that seems to be so much thinner that the other side. I guess I'll give it 8-12 weeks and see where we stand. I will also be applying a small amount of JBCO to Imani's (the one yr old) hair. She had a head full when she was born but it decided to come out and is now, FINALLY, growing back. I'll post a starting picture of her hair in another post. You can see her scalp so it shouldn't be hard to tell if there is progress :). 

One last thing! I started a new blog today. I am officially a stay at home mom, totally new to me. So it will be all about my adventures (and misadventures) as a new SAHM. You can check that out here. Anddd that's all she wrote... Literally lol. Good night!

First trip to Sally's

I took a trip to Sally's Beauty Supply store today for the first time and I have to say I was not impressed at all. The main reason for me going was to get pure coconut oil, Elasta QP, and Aphogee 2 step protein treatment. They didn't have the coconut oil or the moisturizer, and they only had these little packs of the protein treatment. Huge disappointment. What I did end up getting is a wide tooth comb, because my old one grew legs and waked away, Creme of Nature argan oil moisturizer, Creme of Nature Argan oil leave in conditioner, and the small packets of Aphogee. They didn't have any oil that I wanted so I went to another beauty supply store (which also didn't have coconut oil -__-) and got B's Jamaican Black Castor Oil. Thankfully my mom sent my HUGE bottle of grape seed oil so I can use that to seal. The second store did have the Elasta QP moisturizer but I didn't get it since I already picked up a different brand. We'll see how I like it. I'll be doing a product review on all of these sometime in the next week. 

I've been thinking alot about what I want to incorporate into my regimen. I really want need to stay on top of things like I used to. So here it is:

Wash Days

• Prepoo: either using conditioner or doing a hot oil treatment using JBCO
• Shampoo once a week using Herbal Essences Hello Hydration
• Deep condition once a week
• Protein treatment once a month using Aphogee 2 Step Treatment.
• Apply Creme of Nature Leave in conditioner

Maintenance

• Moisturize and seal nightly using Cream of Nature Argan Oil moisturizer and grape seed oil
• Wrap hair and cover with a silk scarf nightly.
• Stretch relaxers to at least 12 weeks (not sure how this will work out with this short hair)
• Apply JBCO / do scalp massages 3x a week

That's all i have for now. Nothing major, I like to keep things simple. I'd also like to throw in my first impression of a few my new products. The Creme of Nature products smell nice. It's a very light scent so it's not overpowering. The moisturizer is a little looser than what I'm used to though. The JBCO smells horrible. I took a whiff of it and choked lol. Anyway, today is wash day (hopefully) and I'll come back with an update :)