Progress: Almost 7 months after cutting my hair.

I was just looking through some old pictures and I realized how much my hair really has grown. It's not back to where it was before I cut it obviously, but it is noticeably longer. The hair on the sides wasn't even touching my ears in the first picture. Also, the middle section of my hair was cut above my eyebrows and now it reaches my top lip. So there has definitely been progress.

I'm the type of person who, when it comes to my hair, wants to see results immediately. Then I have to remind myself that it took two years for my hair to grow from less than an inch to just about APL. It takes time for sure, but the hard work pays off in the long run. I was just complaining about how my hair was too short, and I still feel that way. But after looking at the pictures I can say that yes, it is still short, but it was much shorter less than a year ago. So I can't really complain. All I can do is hope that I'll be back at APL sooner rather than later.

Babyliss Pro Ceramix Xtreme Flat Iron Review

My flat iron finally came!! I've been practically stalking the mail man the last few days. I ordered it on Amazon.com for $29.95. So here it is.

Like the box says, it has 25 heat settings. I set mine on 15 which is 310 degrees since I wanted to see how it works on a low setting. Also, I didn't feel the need to turn it up any higher because my hair is freshly relaxed so it's pretty manageable right now. I think the highest setting I'll ever use it on is probably 20 (375 degrees). 450 just seems insanely high if you ask me.

So two things I love about this flat iron is that it has a really long swivel cord, which is great because I always had to untwist my old one when I was curling my hair. The other thing is that the plates come almost to the edge so I was able to curl even the shortest part of my hair in the back. It also heats up really fast, so be careful.

I had already flat ironed my hair once after my relaxer but I HAD to try this out. That's the only reason it got done twice this week. The next time will be when I wash my hair on Sunday and then it will only be once a week. So I used my wide tooth comb and of course my trusty grape seed oil. Like I said the flat iron was hot in no time and it only took one heat pass to curl my hair. Literally, I only went over each section once... that never happens to me!! I always have to do it at least twice to get the look I'm trying to achieve.

Overall I really like it. It got the job done in record time and I didn't feel like I was frying my hair. I give it an A+!

Combat Breakage!

Hello again. I just want to say a few things about breakage. When I decided to get back on a healthy hair journey back in November, one of my main concerns was stopping the breakage I was experiencing. It was really bad, I would even say severe, because after I got my pixie cut I completely abandoned my hair. Aside from not moisturizing and sealing, I was flat ironing daily with no heat protectant. I don't have any pictures but I'm sure you can imagine what it was looking like.

Anyway, back in November I decided to buy the ApHogee two step protein treatment. I figured that if I did that, the breakage would stop. WRONG. It did nothing... literally. I still had hands full of little broken hairs each time I touched or ran my fingers through it. At that point, I was back to moisturizing and sealing daily but it made no difference. Fast forward to this week. After taking out my patra braids I washed my hair and did the ApHogee treatment again. It seemed to help at first, but after my hair was dry and I combed it, it was back to the same thing.

After not one, but two failed protein treatments (that people swear by), I knew the only solution would be to cut all of the split and damaged ends off. I was planning to trim my hair anyway, but it was now a necessity. As you know I trimmed my hair yesterday, and after combing and wrapping it, I haven't seen any hairs in my comb at all. Now I just have to make sure I don't let it get that way again.

Some things that cause breakage:

1. Not moisturizing and sealing. Dry hair becomes brittle and breaks off. The solution? MOISTURIZE AND SEAL!
2. Using too much heat. Too much heat is very drying to your hair. Try to limit direct heat, and when you do use it, (flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers, etc.) always apply some type of heat protectant.
3. Moisture / Protein imbalance. Sometimes too much moisture is used, which leaves your hair limp and prone to breakage. In this case, you would need to do a protein treatment or use a protein leave in conditioner. On the other hand, you can have protein overload. Some people continuously do protein treatments to strengthen their hair, not realizing they may be weakening it. Too much protein is not a good thing. To correct this, you would need a moisturizing conditioner. I usually follow my protein treatments with a moisturizing deep conditioner.
4. Too much manipulation. Combing, brushing, and styling your hair too much will lead to breakage. Sometimes it just needs to be left alone. Try protective styling or low manipulation styles such as braids, buns, twist / braid outs, weaves, wigs, etc. Also remember to take care of your hair under the protective style.
5. Overlapping relaxers. Doing relaxers too close together can cause over processing and weakens the hair. Stretching between relaxers leaves you with more new growth, which makes it easier to distinguish from previously relaxed hair.
6. Split ends. Holding on to split ends because you want longer hair is not a good look. A split may start at the end, but it can travel all the way up the hair shaft and break off if it's not dealt with. So clip your ends. Besides, nobody wants long hair with stringy ends right?

There are lots of resources available for learning about healthy hair ( relaxed and natural). Hairlista.com, k-i-s-s.biz, and longhaircareforum.com are a few of my favorites. Check them out!

Relaxer / Trim results!

Let me start by saying that I will probably be using Africa's Best Relaxer from now on! I love the way my hair turned out. It's soft, shiny, and bouncy... although the trim could have something to do with that also. Anyway, I parted my hair in four sections, applied the relaxer, rinsed, applied the deep conditioner and sat under the drier for ten minutes, then rinsed.

01/24/2014

Now, I can see that I retained a nice amount of length when looking at the top right picture. But even though it did grow, there are a lot of split ends that needed to go. So after rinsing out the deep conditioner, I applied my leave in conditioner, a small amount of moisturizer, and some coconut oil. Then I roller set my hair using purple rollers (I got these when my hair was longer, I need to invest in some smaller ones now) under the dryer for 40 minutes on medium heat. When I finally came out of the sweat box, I put a small amount of Grape seed oil on my hair as a heat protector. Then the fun (not really) began!

I know that we get split ends all over our head, so I didn't only trim the base of my hair. I know people who do that and even without having done it myself, I knew that's not the way to go. So I flat ironed my hair in tiny sections and trimmed the ends as I went along. I made sure to hold my hair up as well, making sure I got it all. I won't lie, at first I was trying to hold on to as much of my length as possible, but then I just started cutting what needed to be cut. And I'm glad I did. This is what my ends were looking like. And that's not even the worst of it.

My hair feels and looks SO much better now. And it's so nice to run my hands through my hair and all of it is soft, not just the roots. You know how you get a relaxer and no trim, but you REALLY need a trim, so you end up flat ironing the hell out of your ends (and further damaging them) so they blend in with the rest of your hair? That was me for the last few relaxers. But no more! Now that I know I can trim my own hair without looking busted, I definitely will. 

This is what it looks like now. I took off a nice amount but hey, it had to go (there's more hair on the floor, this is mainly from the front). And my hair is still longer than it was after my last relaxer. So I'm happy and it's healthy! By the way, I just noticed how much clearer my skin looks. Go me!

Change of plans and new relaxer!

Well, I've changed mind about going to the salon tomorrow. I went to CVS today for a relaxer and some shears. I've been using ORS Olive Oil relaxer since 2012 but this time I'm going to try Africa's Best Relaxer. 

What made me decide to switch? Long story short, it was only $5.49. I know a lot of people who swear by this relaxer and that's almost half the price of ORS so I figured why not? As for the shears, I just grabbed what they had. They're Conair so hopefully they're decent.

Now, I have never trimmed my own hair but I'd rather do it myself than go to someone I can't even find reviews on. So, my lovely husband is going to do the back and I'm going to do the front. I've been on YouTube all day looking at different techniques so hopefully it doesn't come out too bad. I'm going to have to hide these because I know they are only to be used on hair. And I can guarantee that if I leave them out then someone is going to use them for paper. 

On another note, I'm getting a new flat iron :). I let someone use my old one and lets just say I don't want it back. SO, I'll be getting the BaByliss Pro Ceramix Xtreme Red 1" Flat iron. It should be here Monday.  I really want the BaByliss Pro Titanium Nano but that will have to wait. 

That's all for now, until next time!

The Patra braids are no more!

Yes, it's true. I took my braids out. I originally planned to take them out on January 25th but I took them out last night (January 20th). Five days won't kill me. I've decided not to get them done again in February. I liked them a lot but I get bored quickly. So basically I'll just be babying my hair and giving it the TLC it needs. I have to admit, it looks pretty crazy right now but it has definitely grown. Excuse my expression in the first pic, it was late and I was ready for bed :).

Right after removing

I had no intentions of doing anything to my hair last night, so I combed it out and tied it down with a silk scarf. 

After wash, protein treatment, and deep conditioner

This morning I washed my hair after dropping Kaylin off at school. It was definitely a process. 

- Washed with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration

- Aphogee Two Step Protein Treatment (sat under dryer for 10 minutes)

- Aphogee Balancing Conditioner
- Deep condition with Suave Almond and Shea butter conditioner (added in JBCO and EVCO)

 After all of that, I decided to just air dry. I did bring my hood dryer home so I could have done a roller set but I didn't feel like fighting with my roots.

Hair is completely dry

Now... as you can see my roots are looking pretty thick. I am going to the salon on January 24th for a relaxer and a much needed trim. I'm a little nervous because I'm not from the area so I don't really know how the salons up here are. But I have to trust them because I don't know how to trim my own hair. If  I did I'd do my own relaxer and save a bunch of money. Anyway, the main reason for the protein treatment was to strengthen my hair before the relaxer. I know a week before is ideal, but I took my braids out on a whim and I don't have a week. The good thing is that I made it to my goal of stretching my relaxer to 13 weeks. In fact I'll be getting in done on the date I originally planned to. I'm proud. I'm hoping I can get a picture of my hair before the trim so I can see how much length I retained. Honestly, after the trim my hair will probably be about the length it was when I did my last relaxer. I say this only because I haven't had a trim since I cut my hair in July and I know there are a lot of split ends. It might be a minor setback but I'll take health over length!