Coconut Oil & Rosemary Tea Spray April 11, 2012

Made some rosemary tea spray (brew rosemary and filtered water) and added that plus coconut oil to my hair before bed. It felt soooo soft and amazing. I need to do this more often.

I am loving my hair! It hangs down now more instead of head north. It still heads east and west though, so some days I’m rocking football shaped hair

I only plan on having it loose for about a week to a week and a half before twisting it up for a month. My goal is to try some flat twists or…maybe attempt a cornroll or two and twist the back.

I must keep in mind that my hair is WAVY not curly. It doesn’t do the cute little curlies, instead it waves with a few curls at the end. I am accepting that, since it’s hard to find hair examples like mine with tiny waves that don’t curl. It’s hard to describe, but then again, some say my hair is curly.

I am trying out banana clips instead of ponytail holders to see if they work just as well with less stress. Putting them in is hard, but with practice I’m sure I’ll get it.

Also, learned detangling/combing through my hair with my fingers is better, it clumps the curls and is gentler on my hair. I love it…except when I don’t. That’s when I really need to get rid of shed hair, I turn to my comb, but for wash and go’s, I finger comb for better clumping.

What are you loving about your hair?

PYE Week 7 and PIH February 26, 2012

Not much to update. The PYE challenge is going well, did a simple bun this week. Nothing new, no new styles or products or routines, just staying with what works. My PIH has been improving, been using AMBI and cocoa butter cream. Also the makeup has kept my hands out of my face, plus being stuck on the couch sick also helps

 

PYE Week 6 February 19, 2012

Week 6 was great. Hair is still doing well, not doing a lot to it. Found that large braids pulled into a bun is a simple, quick do that keeps my ends detangled and allows me to rinse without worrying about matting from twists. Nothing much to add. Hair is still amazing, I have been switching detangling methods. One week, I’ll finger detangle since it leaves such amazing clumpy curls, the next week I’d use a comb to detangle since my hair is very fine and I don’t want to worry about matting.

Braids have helped tremendously with matting. I am still slow with braids, so I haven’t worked myself up to making small braids, though that would be a nice hairstyle for 2-3 weeks, especially since it doesn’t seem to tangle and mat as much when I rinse my hair in braids.

Hair is nicely moisturized and I’m trying to resist the temptation to do more. Do more styles like the other challengers, do more oil treatments, mosturizer treatments, try new products, etc. My hair seems to like this plain and simple routine of wash weekly, add conditioner, install 6 big braids and pull into a bun. Repeat. My hair is amazing, honestly, the curls pop so much and they are clumping in bigger sections now, it’s like a new head of hair…though other RL issues are going on as well, so maybe that has a lot to do with it too.

Other things have been going on as well, I’ve been getting crafty a’la Jen over at BabyMakingMachine and making a cool shirt project that I can’t wait to share. Also started sewing with a friend, our next project is a baby blanket which should be fun.

PYE Week 5 February 12, 2012

Week 5 was much better. My hair has finally “rebalanced” and is soft and moisturized. I was able to keep the last braids for almost two weeks before washing them and my ends are amazing! The generous trimming has been paying off, but not in terms of length, but at least my ends are healthy and shiny and smooth like seaweed.

I wore six big braids this past week that were wrapped around each other towards the back and placed in a low bun. Flowers made the bun look a bit different each day, though I need to experiment more with scarves.

To be honest, I haven’t had my mind on my hair that much, other RL things are going on. This is probably a good thing for my hair as well, since I tend to do the braided bun and leave it alone aside from spraying my rosemary spray daily.

No length check, I plan on doing that at the end of the challenge. I have noticed that my curls are clumping more and that some of them are hanging lower than before, but nothing official yet.

PYE Week 4 Check Up & PIH February 5, 2012

Week 4! One month down, two more to go! 1/3 of the way through the challenge!!!

Pretty much the same as Week 3-braided multipony, sealed with conditioner, rosemary spritz daily or every other day. I’m not doing a length check until the end of the challenge to minimize breakage from stretching/heat. The rosemary spray is awesome, don’t know why I stopped doing it…o, I remember, I wouldn’t use the whole batch and then I’d get mold in the bottle-gotta love no preservatives Well, my hair loves that it’s back, I don’t even have to rinse my scalp as often, just spray daily and no more itch

For my PIH, I have been wearing makeup in public, which keeps my hands away from my face and the next goal is to start a backing soda & lemon facial scrub. I am trying to do more natural treatments of the acne and PIH and there is hope that if I can keep my hands away from my face and picking my scars (I know, gross) everything will fade away successfully. ow do I know that? Thanks to my nostril pimple-LOL! I got a pimple on my lower nostril where the nose meets the mouth area, it’s a hard to read place and getting a pimple there was really odd. It left the usually dark spot (bummer) but it faded really quickly, maybe four weeks. Mostly because it’s so inconvient that my fingers and hands don’t go there. So now I need to find ways to keep my hands away from my face and skin, which is a never ending battle. Any tips?

PYE Week 3 January 29, 2012

Week 2 of the PYE Challenge wasn’t that good. At all. Thankfully my hair was tucked away. Unfortunately, my hair was tucked away, so it was later in the week when I realized just how dry and “icky” my hair felt. So Week 3 of the PYE Challenge was focused on rebalancing my hair.

To help remedy that, I did a baking soda deep treatment.

Basically, I cowashed my hair.

Then I applied a baking soda-conditioner mix. 1/3 baking soda to 2/3 conditioner.

I applied the mixture to my hair and cover with a plastic bag.

After 30-45 minutes, I rinse the mixture out and follow with a light AVC rinse.

I did twelve big braids and then flat braided those braids together to go around my head and meet in the back. I then made a ponytail, braided the end and tucked the ends.

I did the multipony tail again with the big braids.

So far, much less tangles and scalp more moisturized thanks to my rosemary spritz. Next time I do the baking soda deep treatment, I don’t think I’ll follow with the ACV rinse, my hair was so soft after the DT, but then the ACV rinse made it feel “squeaky”. I almost feel like I’m relearning my hair for this challenge, which is odd since it didn’t give me any trouble in terms of moisture and dryness the entire latter part of the year and I was wearing the multipony weekly and keeping my ends tucked away. Perhaps less is more and the braided multi-pony with rosemary spritz is all I need. The whole sealing my ends with oils hasn’t worked so far and left my hair worse than before, so I’ll be returning to sealing with conditioner after I cowash. Wish me luck.

Have you tried anything new in your hair that didn’t work out as planned?

Results of Hot Oil Treatment January 11, 2012

One word: yuck

I know, I know. Hot oil treatments are like the magic spell for hair. I slowly heated some coconut oil and added a bit of honey. I added the oil mixture to my hair, loosely made four big twists and walked around the house for about an hour with a plastic cap.

When I washed it out, my hair felt yuck! It was strawlike and the hair strands felt rough.

While washing I remembered talk about porosity and how my hair has low porosity, so I did a quick internet search and discovered that other naturals with low porosity hair also have bad results with oil, which is true for me. I always thought I was doing something wrong! I also discovered that too much ACV can have the same effect, hence why after one wash with ACV and the hair is great, but after multiple rinses, not so much.

There was also good news about my baking soda and why my hair loved it. Since it opens the cuticle, it allows moisture into my hair, hence why my hair felt great after the baking soda deep treatments

Now at least I know why oil and my hair don’t really agree, but now I need to find a new method to seal my ends. Any suggestions?

Hair Length Goals 2012 December 24, 2011

I’ve been thinking about setting a hair length goal for 2012. To be honest, my hair is the least of my goals for 2012, so perhaps that’s why I haven’t thought about it much. I have trimmed the ends twice in preparation of my growth challenge for 2012, but neglected to think of any length goals.

It goes without saying that I want healthy hair first and healthy hair grows and has length. I’m not ashamed or fearful to cut my hair, in fact I think I may prefer much shorter hair, but I am trying this growth thing to see how long my hair can grow if I take care of it properly.

From Hair de la Creme

That said, my hair is currently arm pit length, I think my first goal would be bra strap length, which I am about 2″ away from meeting that goal.

My second goal would be mid-back length…maybe…

From Kibibihair

I’m not sure if I would be a fan of hair that long since when I wear wigs that long, they annoy me

I do have a few problem areas that I want to work on. I have stopped getting the back of my head “edged up”, so that’s shorter than the rest of my hair and I’m trying to make sure I don’t damage it by over manipulation. Also, the front edges are shorter as well and I’m not sure if this is due to breakage or if this is my “baby hair” since it’s the perimeter. Either way, the goal is to get the perimeter of my hair longer and healthier. Also, I notice that I am prone to single strand knots in one particular area of my head, I noticed that the hair is kinkier and wiry in that area as well, so I am monitoring to see if the knots are due to manipulation or texture so I know how to combat them.

So the loose hair length goal for 2012 is mid-back length and some improvement in the problem areas I mentioned. Wish me luck!

Growth Challenge 2012 December 10, 2011

I said that I learned a few things from my last growth challenge.

Timespan

-A year is great for a longer goal, but I need to work with monthly or quarterly goals and do check-ups after each time to keep progress moving. Otherwise I lose motivation.

Trimming

-I didn’t trim my hair at all, which wasn’t that great. I have a lot of split ends and single strand knots. This was from lots of things, mostly (I think) wearing my hair loose and trying to detangle to the last inch of life. For a while it looked like my hair had stopped growing. I will be getting a professional straightening and trim to start my next growth challenge with healthy hair and ends. I will try not to leave with an actual cut…it will be hard.

Drinking Water

-I have to work to drink liquids of any kind, so drinking water is hard for me since I visit the restroom more often as a result. Hubby has to drink more water due to his physical fitness routine, so I will try to drink more water as well.

Protective Styling and Water

-Protective styling, aka twists, were great, but rinsing them wasn’t so great. They got so tangled that I felt that I lost more hair in the detangling process than I gained in the growth process.

-Going forward I am trying large braids pulled into buns during the week, then wearing my hair loose on the weekends and finally washing/detangling and rebraiding it on Sunday. I’m hoping that this will (1) cause less single strand knots as I stretch my ends with rollers, (2) still function as protective styling since it’s bunned most of the week and (3) still allow me to wash and detangle (which should be easier since the hair was in large braids for most of the week instead of loose curly which causes more single strand knots).

Growth Challenge 2012

So this year, I will  have quarterly goals and routines that I will reevaluate monthly for progress. I don’t have a clear length in inches in mind, but I do want my hair to touch my shoulders while curly.

image from happykinksforever

Based on that and of course, healthy hair, I have set up a few quarterly routines

-Continue big braids & buns for stretched curls during the week and twist outs on weekends.

-Wash days include washing with baking soda and conditioner to cleanse my hair and open the cuticles, deep condition with coconut oil and conditioner, follow up with ACV-rosemary rinse. Monthly do protein treatment with egg and conditioner.

-Reevaluate the health of the hair after one quarter. However, reevaluate the moisture and “feel” of the hair after each wash and make adjustments as needed

-I haven’t decided if I will actually measure my hair in inches each quarter

Grow Out Challenge Progress November 22, 2011

It’s been a year since my 12 month growth challenge and let’s see how things have been:

DAILY

• Vitamins-MSM, multivitamin, calcium and biotin daily I stopped this since the biotin was causing really bad breakouts that I am still struggling to get my skin back to the way it was
• 64 fl oz water daily-add a dash of lime juice since I prefer drinking water this way. Um, not so much. Got tired of running to the bathroom during class, need to revisit this
• Keep hair under a scarf or plastic bag when in the house to keep hands out of head and playing with the curls. Really good with this one. My hair is “put away” most times

WEEKLY

• Every other night baggy with rosemary mist and shea butter on ends. Not so much since ran out of shea butter and didn’t reorder
• Rinse hair every other day to remoisture the strands Do this very often, but made my twists and protective styles tangled
• Scalp massage MWFS weekly-bonus points if talk hubby into doing this. Extra bonus points if I can get a back massage out of it as well. um…this didn’t last long at all
• Deep condition 1x week and rinse with ACV and rosemary tea pretty well with this, sometimes didn’t always deep condition or ACV rinse, but most times after taking down protective styles I followed this routine

MONTHLY

• Protein treatment 2x month (1^st/15^th)  followed with baking soda deep conditioner and ACV rinse. Not at all, the protective styles lead me to do this once a month instead
• Egg (whole egg + conditioner + oil + honey) 1^st / Yogurt (plain yogurt + conditioner + oil + honey)15^th

QUARTERLY this was with mixed results

3 month Goal + 1.5”

Personal Protective Style Challenge: twists, wigs, braids, etc.

6 month Goal +3”

Personal Protective Style Challenge ends. Protective Styles-optional weekend loose.

9 month Goal +4.5”

Protective Styles-optional weekend loose

12 month Goal +6”

Protective Styles-optional weekend loose

Overall I did ok, my hair grew quite a bit from stretched shoulder length to stretched arm-pit/bra strap length. I learned a few things which I will be putting to use with my next grow out challenge details coming soon!

A few pics

Sept 2010                                                                 Sept 2011

Length check Feb 2011