So I Tried a New Regimen. . .

This is going to be a long post, I have a lot going on. LOL

So last night during a very boring American Idol (I wasn’t motivated to call in and vote for anyone) I decided I needed to DC my hair because my ends were looking raggedy and the results of that last flat twist-out were not good at all. I ended up doing something different. Instead of using my ORS Replenishing Conditioner, I decided to try mixing Herbal Essences HH and Honey since I remember seeing or reading about someone doing that. After talking to my Soror I also added a little Olive Oil. I don’t have EVOO, when I went to the store and got the OO I have, I got the “pure” olive oil. I don’t see a point in wasting it (and any OO is not cheap), so I’ll use this up and next time I’ll get some EVOO. Anywhoo, I didn’t really measure anything but the OO since my Soror told me to use about a teaspoon. I think I may have put in a BIT too much Honey because it’s smell was kinda overpowering everything else ~lol~ and I put in more HH than anything. Here’s a pic of the mixture:

So I sprayed my hair with bottled water (LOL) and then added this. I did it by sections the way I normally DC to make sure it got on everything, but I didn’t put Castor Oil underneath. Then I put on a disposable conditioning cap and my satin bonnet over that, and then I wrapped all of that in a scarf. (I was NOT trying to get that stuff on my pillow, nor did I want to hear plastic crinkling around my head all night). I did all of this around 9, I washed it out this morning around 11 after my work out, so it was in my head for about 14 hours.

This is what it looked like right before I rinsed it out:

When I washed it out I used ice cold water as I normally do, and then I co-washed with V05 Strawberries ‘n Cream Moisture Milk to make sure I got all of that honey out of my hair and to get the smell out.

Randomness. . .

So I changed the theme of my blog again. I like it. I’m still having comments issues, but I’m sure I can work them out later since I’m tired and decided earlier today (or yesterday) that I’d actually cook dinner tonight.

Also, I think I’m going to try a silk wrap this weekend. That is IF I can get some new magnetic rollers and Saran Wrap by then.

Other than that I don’t really have anything to say. LOL, told you this was random.

9 Months Relaxer Free!

I was coming on the blog today to grab a picture to post somewhere, and I saw that I’m 9 months relaxer free today! Yay me! Right now my hair is in a flat twist-out that I hate. The last time I did one, I did it on dry stretched hair. This time I did it on wet un-stretched hair and it did not come out good at all. I was going to re-flat twist it, but I really don’t feel like it. I don’t even want to take a picture to document it. LOL. I was looking at a video someone did of a silk wrap on natural hair, I may have to get some magnetic rollers and saran wrap and try that myself on Saturday, I kind of miss straight hair since I’ve been wearing it curly or in a bun for as long as I can remember. Plus, it gives me a chance to try something different. Who knows, I may actually like the roller set and just leave it like that. I do know that I will be sitting under a hair dryer because I do not want to sleep in magnetic rollers (it’s not a fun experience).

So yeah, I don’t really have anything else to say, I just wanted to acknowledge this milestone :o)

Playing with Scissors. . . Again

Soooooo, I was on CurlyNikki and there was a post about hair types. I was pretty sure I was a 4a type, but as my hair grew out the curls were looking longer to me. So, I decided to cut a small piece by my ear. I took one pic of it after wetting it letting it dry and adding just a little cream oil moisturizer, and one pic with it stretched so you (and I) can get an idea of the shrinkage I deal with when it's unstretched:


It's a REALLY small piece, but it made me a bit more excited to see what the rest of my hair will look like after I cut it.

So I still think my hair is 4a or maybe 3c.

Now I'm going to have to keep myself from playing with that little piece I cut up front, I already touch my hair too much. LOL

Best. Twist-Out. Ever!

Well, at least for me. I was going to wash my hair today, but when I took out the flat-twists, I liked my hair so much I decided to wait. I'll sleep on it and see how it holds up and wash it either tomorrow or Monday. But I had to share:

(Click for larger photos)







I do think I need to get some really cute headbands and scarves before I BC ~lol~

The Best Two-Strand Flat Twist Tutorial I've Found

So I posted a link a couple of weeks (or maybe months) ago on how to do a two strand flat twist. While that tutorial was really good and nice and short and to the point, it wasn't quite as detailed as this one. (I would embed the vid, but I don't know how the girl that did the video would feel about that, so just go watch it on YouTube :o) )

The reason why my twists weren't so hot was because I was picking up too much hair as I was going, which made my flat twists loose like the ones on the right in the video as opposed to tighter like the ones on the left. I still have to work on the back, but I got the front/top perfect:


It took me a little over an hour to do them, and they are far from perfect, but they are a vast improvement over what they looked like before. Notice how once we get to the back/bottom you can't even see the parts anymore? LOL, such is the story of my hair. I'm thinking I'm going to have looser curls in the front, really tight curls in the middle, and something between the other two in the back. I can't wait to find out in May!

My hands were killing me while I was doing this, especially when I was doing the left side (I'm right-handed) because I couldn't figure out how to put my hands, but I think practice makes perfect, so I'll keep working on them.

All I put on my hair was a spray that has mostly water a little Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, and a little Aussie Moist Conditioner. When I was finished I put a little Castor Oil on the parts since I am doing that challenge and you're supposed to use it on your scalp twice a week. Note: This was done on dry hair (outside of that spray) that had been stretched, so if I do it on wet non-stretched hair, I'm not sure I'd get the same results. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Normally, I wash on Fridays, but seeing as how I just put these in, I think I'll leave them in until either my head starts itching like crazy, or I get tired of them. I'll probably end up getting bored and decide to wash my hair on Saturday. LOL

Frustrated For the First Time in a Long Time

For the first time in months, I was really frustrated with my hair today. So yesterday I got up and put my hair in two strand twists, and used small rubber bands to hold then ends together. I hated it. The rubber bands were irritating me like all get out, plus it was hard to do anything else with the twists with those damned rubber bands on the ends. This morning after doing my workout I decided I didn't like the twists, so I was going to take them down and flat twist my hair. So I took down the flat twists, they would have made a cute twist-out I suppose, but I decided I wanted to go on and flat twist while I had the motivation.

Well the flat twisting wasn't going well, and I was getting tired of having to re-do them. For some reason my flat twists always end up loosening. If I do them damp they loosen as they dry, if I do them dry they are just loose and somehow the hair refuses to stay parted so when I get to the end there are pieces that should be in the piece that I'm working with that were in the twist next to it. After about 20 minutes I only had one twist that I didn't feel like I'd have to re-do the other two I'd done I had taken out to re-twist. Suffice it to say I finally said "forget it". While my arms are better about working with the back of my head than they were a couple of months ago, they were starting to hurt, and I wasn't making any progress.

Mind you my hair was dry, and at this point it LOOKS really dry and nasty. So I spray some water on it and finger comb out the rest of what would have been a decent twist-out if I'd wanted to wear my hair like that and decided to just put it in a bun. While I was looking at my hair I was wishing it was all natural because I would have just left it as an afro/puff and been done with it. Remember, I dried it stretched. But alas, it's not all natural, so I couldn't just leave it out. So I decided to put it in a bun, which mind you was no easy feat with 8 months worth of natural hair. In the front it would not lay down, even with the clear EcoStyler Gel. Finally I just got it pulled back (the back is finally long enough where I can put it up further without having to worry about hair falling in the back, which is nice) and put some Coconut Oil (which I don't think really does anything for my hair, but I still have it, and I'm not going to waste it) and Castor Oil on the ends and then put on a plastic baggy and put on one of my fake buns and a hairband to hold the edges down.

Suffice it to say, this is the first time in a long time I've been really frustrated by my hair. Not enough to make me wish I had a perm, but enough to make doing it a chore instead of fun. I still don't think it looks that hot, but at this point I really don't care. Maybe I'll feel like doing something else with it tomorrow, but I think I'm going to just give myself a break and leave it in the bun for the rest of the week. I should have just left the stupid twists in.

Castor Oil Challenge + Comparison Shots + New Regimen

CASTOR OIL CHALLENGE

Okay, so I'm doing a Castor Oil Challenge from the CurlyNikki.com forums. I said I was going to do it from the 6th through April 6th, but I decided to wash my hair today instead, so I'm starting on the 5th I didn't get a good length shot when I was washing, so the pic I use for the challenge will have to be taken after my hair finishes drying. As I've stated before, I already use Castor Oil to Deep Condition (DC) along with my conditioner, about 3 week ago I started using it mixed with a little Jojoba Oil for my moisture sealing routine. The rules of the challenge are that I have to use the Castor Oil directly on my scalp (something I hadn't been doing). Here are the rules for the challenge if you want to join in. I also am trying to talk one of my Sorors who has complained about how slowly her hair grows and how thin it is, so I hope she'll be joining me even though she has relaxed hair (and I don't foresee myself being able to talk her into going natural, but I'm going to keep trying! LOL)

COMPARISON SHOTS

I just realized I haven't done a comparison shot since December, I haven't been very consistent, have I? Well, here's the picture from October 13, 2009:


Here's the pic from December 2, 2009:

and Here's the pic from Today February 5, 2010:


I haven't dyed my hair, the last pic the color is more vibrant because I took the pic in different light. My hair is naturally a reddish brown color, the only coloring I've ever done is my highlights (and although I'm going to miss them when they are gone, I doubt I'll get more once they grow out/are cut off)

So you can get a bit of an idea of how my hair has been progressing, the last month or so it seems to be growing really fast to me. But I will edit this post later with a length check for the Castor oil challenge, I'll compare that to this pic from Month 6:


Ah, it seems so long ago that I was so happy about finally seeing some curls, it's like once my hair realized I'm really going to let it live without perms it started growing like crazy. I can't wait to see what it does when I finally cut off all of the permed ends since a lot of people claim that their hair started growing even FASTER after they BC'd.

And while I am getting anxious, I'm still planning on waiting until May to cut my permed ends off, and I'm about 97% sure I'll be cutting it in May, I'm already getting tired of wasting perfectly good product on hair I'm getting rid of anyway. LOL


NEW REGIMEN

So my regimen has changed a little bit since I last posted about it. A couple of weeks ago I started doing a pre-poo (or I should say pre-wash since I don't really use shampoo anymore, I think I've used it twice since last October, and I know I haven't used it at all in 2010).

Basically what I do is I take Herbal Essence's Hello Hydration (HH) and detangle my previous style (which was almost always something curly that needed to be detangled before I even dared to wash). After I detangle (usually finger combing), I twist up the back and put a clip on it. It's not like a two strand twist, it's just taking the hair and twisting it around and using a duck clip to pin it up. I then put my satin bonnet on over that to trap in more heat and leave it on for 30 minutes to an hour before washing.

For co-washing I either use my V05 Strawberries and Cream Conditioner or Aussie Moist, I haven't used the HH for a co-wash since I've started using it as a pre-poo, and wash/rinse with warm/cool/cold water. I always do the actual co-washing twice (as in scrub, rinse, repeat)

After that my routine has stayed pretty much the same. So all I really did was add that additional pre-wash step. I think my hair likes it. Other than that I've been subbing Castor Oil for the Coconut Oil. A lot of people rave about Coconut Oil, but I don't think it was really doing much for me. Maybe because I didn't have EVCO, I just had Coconut Oil. Next time I get some, I'll get the Extra Virgin kind and see if it does anything for me.

Right now I have my hair banded to stretch out my new growth, I'll probably put in some medium sized twists again (I've been crazy about twists since I got that ORS Twist n Lock Gel, that stuff is amazing!). If I actually have to leave the house, I can always just take them out and rock a twist-out, or leave them in a put them in a kinda bun.

One last thing before I end this (long) entry. Here's a shot of my head where you can kinda see what the growth is doing in the back (where my hair is SUPER thick, today it was a little tender, but I think that was because I've been scratching):


And no I'm not naked, I have on a cami. LOL

BTW, you can click on any of the pictures on my blog to see much bigger versions.