Wash Day!

Hey there! I got around to washing my hair  today, although a few days late. I felt like my hair needed a protein treatment so I gave it one. Nothing major. I just whipped up an egg and let it sit in my hair for about twenty minutes. Then I rinsed it out with cool water (didn't want scrambled eggs in my hair) and proceeded to wash it. I used my normal products, herbal essences shampoo and suave conditioner. After deep conditioning, I roller set my hair and sat under the dryer for forty minutes. Once my hair was dry, I took out the rollers, applied some coconut oil, and wrapped it. This week, instead of flat ironing it I decided to try the Saran Wrap method. Let's just say that was a fail. Not an epic fail, but still a fail. So right now my hair looks like it normally does. I may or may not decide to flat iron it. We'll see how the week goes!

Major Problem Area

Hey! So today I figured I would put my hair in a bun since it is a protective style. I kept some hair from when my hair was braided and made a ponytail out of it. After I was done I decided to take a picture to make sure everything was in place. This is what I found... 

I have a huge patch of hair missing! This is a major problem for me. And the worst part is that I can't be mad at anyone but myself. When I had cornrows a couple of weeks ago I knew they were too tight and I should have taken them out. Instead, since it was a protective style, I kept them in for two weeks. Clearly they did more harm than good. 

So now I have to take extra special care of my nape and hope that it grows back nicely. I'll be doing lots of scalp massages with JBCO in that area. We'll see how it goes!

The Importance of trimming.

Current Wrap

Last night, I was wrapping my hair for bed and it made me think about the state my hair was in prior to going natural. There were times when I would wrap my hair and no matter how much i brushed it, the ends just would not lay down. I would brush like crazy then quickly tie it up before they jumped out of place again. In the morning the hairs would be laying in place, but was it smooth? Definitely not. 

These were the days before I knew (or cared) about split ends. And don't even bother asking me to get a trim! All I knew was that my hair was a decent length and I wasn't cutting it. Shame on me. In this case, ignorance was not bliss. 

I, like many people, didn't understand the importance of trimming my ends.  My hair was the same length for what seems like forever but I didn't think anything of it. Now, I hear people say "Why won't my hair grow?", and my answer to that is this. Your hair is growing every day. If it was not, there would be no new growth to relax. The problem is that the hair is breaking off at the same rate it's growing so you can't see the progress. The solution would be to take care of your ends. Regular trims can make all the difference in the world. Couple that with moisturizing and sealing, some protective styling, and you'll be just fine! Until next time...

Update on Imani's Hair

Hey! Back in November, I mentioned that myself and my one year old daughter would begin using JBCO. It has definitely made a change in both of our hair. 

At the time you could look right at Imani's scalp without even touching her hair. This is what it looks like now. 

I don't have any direct top shots, but you can clearly see that her hair has thickened up. You can't see the length of it because of shrinkage, but it's gotten longer as well. 

I don't really use the JBCO as much for her hair but I do moisturize and seal it every day. That seems to work for her. So that's about it, I just wanted to give a quick update... Eight months later lol. Until next time!

Relaxer Day!

Today is the day! I finally sat down and relaxed my hair. I used Africa's Best again and once again, I am not disappointed. My hair looks and feels amazing just like the last time I used this brand.

This is what my hair was looking like before I got started. Luckily, it looks worse than it felt. Thanks to moisturizing and sealing my new growth was nice and soft. I had to include the picture of this shed hair. I was looking at the hairs in my comb (like I always do) and I came across this one. I know what my natural curl pattern looks like so I knew that this hair was pretty much all new growth. The picture on the bottom is of me and my son stretching it so see just how long it was. I thought it was pretty interesting.

01/24/14

07/16/14

Here are my results! The picture on the left is my relaxer in January and the one on the right is from today. I am EXTREMELY happy! I did do a minor trim and fortunately there wasn't much that needed to come off. The picture below shows what I trimmed off. There is more hair there than it looks like, it just looks like less because I had already started gathering it when I remembered to take the picture.  

I really can't complain at all about this progress. The pictures of the back of my hair show a significant amount of growth over the last six months. 

I took the same steps I always take when I do a relaxer. I parted my hair in four sections before applying it, rinsed it out, deep conditioned for fifteen minutes under the dryer, rinsed again, roller set my hair on my purple rollers (my hair is long enough for them again!), and flat ironed. After I deep conditioned, I applied my Creme of Nature Argan Oil leave in conditioner, moisturizer, and some grape seed oil. After sitting under the dryer for 45 minutes on medium heat, I flat ironed and trimmed my hair. I used my Babyliss Pro flat iron on 15 (310 degrees). After it was all said and done, I just wrapped my hair and covered it with my silk scarf. 

Now that my relaxer is done, I can definitely say that my 25 week stretch was a success. I'm not sure if I'll be going a full six months again but I know for sure that I won't be doing another relaxer until at least November 7th (16 weeks). Either way, I hope I continue to retain everything I grow!

I **think** I have an obsession...

... With nail polish!! The first two rows are all new, bought within the last two weeks. Now I know there are people with sooo many more but I'm buying like five bottles a week! Anyway, this post has absolutely no relevance at all but I was excited :).

Why My Six Month Stretch Was a Success

Hey! As you all know, it has been six months (or 25 weeks) since my last relaxer. Someone asked me how I made it so long without the creamy crack. My answer to that is protective styling. That has been the absolute biggest help during this stretch. I've had box braids, Senegalese twists, cornrows, and of course my trusty wig. All I had to do was moisturize and seal every day, oil my scalp, and wash my hair every other week. It's great to know that I can still baby my hair and protect it at the same time. 

Another reason this stretch was a success is because I limited my heat usage. In fact, I didn't use heat at all for four of those six months. It might make your hair slightly less easy to manage, but the benefits outweigh that by far. 

When I say this was a success, I don't say that because I made it this long without relaxing. Because if you think about it, you can go six months without a relaxer and not retain a bit of hair (trust me, I see it all the time). So to me, I was successful because I retained what I grew, my hair feels moisturized, and it feels healthy in general. That is my main concern. So for anyone who wants to do a stretch, do it! It's not as hard as it may seem. 

Regimen

Here it is guys! I finally sat down and wrote one up instead of keeping it all in my head. I have to give the credit for this one to my little sister. She's decided to go on a healthy hair journey  and I told her I would show her my regimen. Anyway, it's pretty basic. Not much has changed other than the length of time between my relaxers. As for trims, I have every six months because that's what works for ME. Everything won't work for everybody so this is just my personal preference. I know people who trim every time they get a relaxer and I just don't get it. That's basically cutting off the hair you just grew. Oh well. So for me it will be every six months or as needed. 

For my relaxers, as you can see, I have a minimum of every 16 weeks. Right now I'm going on 25 weeks. I think I'll see a nice amount of growth since I spent a lot of that time doing protective styles. As much as I wanted to stretch through the whole summer, I don't think it's going to happen. I went to Walgreens and picked up a relaxer yesterday (along with the biotin). I didn't do it yet but I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I MAY do a tiny trim, and I may not. I saw a few split ends and I want them gone. It's definitely not like it was last time I did a trim and I don't want to get to that point. On top of that, it's been six months. So we'll see. Like I said, it won't be anything major. If I do decide to do it, it will be done tomorrow since I'll be home all day. 

So there's my regimen! I'm excited to finally have it all mapped out. Now all I have to do is stick to it! Until next time...

Biotin!

Hey! Today I decided to go and pick up some biotin. I've been planning to get it ever since my bottle of hairfinity went missing. Anyway, I think it's about time I give it a try. I have read mixed reviews so I figured I would start off with the 1000mcg tablets. Since the bottle has 100 tablets in it, I'll be documenting my progress. Think of it as a biotin challenge. I have to say, I'm excited! Anything that promotes healthy hair is good in my book. I started taking it today so hopefully we see a good change in 100 days!

One year later

You guys! Can you imagine how happy this makes me??? This obviously doesn't show my complete length because it's not relaxed or straightened  but look how much my hair has grown since 07/04/13! This is one year after cutting and 24 weeks post relaxer and trim. I am definitely pleased with my progress. The last year has been major learning experience and I'm so glad I got back on this hair journey. Otherwise who knows what condition my hair would be in. 

My last protective style was the cornrows. I literally just took them out right before this post. I liked the look of them but they were extremely tight. To the point where I have a few scabs in my head. For the health of my hair and my peace of mind, I had to take them out. My worst nightmare (hair wise) is not having any edges. I'm not about that life lol. I'm not sure what my next style will be. I did take some of the hair from the braids and made a ponytail. That will come in handy on the days where it's just ok hot for my wig. Let's face it, in the middle of July that will be almost every day. When I go down to the city I will probably go and get a wash and set just so I can really see the length of my hair. I don't feel like I need a trim right now, my ends seem to be in pretty good condition. As far as a relaxer, I want one and I don't. At 24 weeks post, this is the longest stretch I've done since I natural. The good thing is that my hair isn't at a place where I just can't manage it. So we'll see how that goes. 

Over the next year, I would like my hair to continue thriving. I KNOW I can make it to shoulder length by 7/04/15. So I want to challenge myself to make it to APL. It will definitely take some dedication. I want to limit direct heat, which shouldn't be a problem for me. I haven't used a flat iron or blow dryer since March so it's not a new concept to me. It will be much easier for me now that I have a little bit of length again. My main problem when I first cut my hair was that I didn't know how to manage it. I had never had hair so short so it was completely foreign. I thought it would be easy and it turned out to be the opposite. As far as my current length, I've been here before. This is a little bit longer than my hair was when I got my last relaxer before going natural (02/2011). The difference is that y hair was so damaged then. I was constantly coloring it so it was always dry and seemed much thinner and brittle. So I'm already doing better. 

I used to stick to a regimen. Perhaps I should start doing that again. Things always seem to work better for me when I have a routine. I'm just excited to see what the next year brings. Until next time!