back to it + a new challenge

so now that it's been a while, it would be nice if i posted pics of my hair as of late, huh?

i found some pictures of pin curls that i tried on my last Dominican blowout...I must say that they came out extremely nice (and i don't have to sleep on rollers anymore...yay!) i also posted pictures of my box braids on fotki...and even got around to washing them the other day! here is my wash day regimen in braids/twists...since i've never been able to keep them in long enough to HAVE a wash day:

• apply DC (ion effective care treatment diluted in a spray bottle) to length of braids; cover with shower cap and go about my business for 2-3 hours. next time i will do 45 minutes under my lovely rollabout dryer.
• squirt a bit of ORS olive oil shampoo into bottom of an empty cantu shea butter leave-in container and fill the rest with water; pour over braids
• massage scalp and rinse
• squeeze out excess water and wrap braids in a t-shirt
• apply african royale braid spray to length of braids and aloe vera gel to edges
• tie braids down with a scarf to tame the fuzzies while they airdry (again, next time i will use my rollabout dryer)

and without further a-do (haha), here is my 'do:

so my newest challenge is a personal hide-your-hair challenge...hopefully this will do a few things: one, keep me from using heat...and two, keep me away from those scissors! i have nothing against trimming, but i did it wayyyy too much last year between the two trims i gave myself at the beginning of the year (i coulda been APL before the spring) and the two i got at the end of the year (i coulda been BSL by winter). i figure if my ends are tucked away, i can't see them, which means i won't want to cut them! i've got these box braids on lock, and i also have a grip on senegalese twists, kinky twists, and i'm working on a few other styles. hopefully the months fly by, and i will be celebrating my 2nd year of being natural with BSL hair! wish me luck!

happy new year!

hey guys, it's been a while...but that means i have lots of updates! on december 5th i was in a serious car accident, and i was hospitalized for most of december...needless to say, my hair was the least of my worries. my hair became matted while i was in the hospital, and i didn't even realize it between being drugged up and not looking in a mirror for about 2 weeks...i went in with a 2 week old dominican blowout and ended up with a shrunken, matted fro. i was able to convince my parents (who pretty much took up residence in my room) to detangle and two-strand twist my hair, but even with that i am pretty sure i lost some length. at least i have my health...i am now at home recovering (and so is my hair, in box braids installed by my cousin). i did find some pictures of my hair from the end of november when i experimented with pin curls on my camera. they came out pretty decent, if you ask me!

sorry guys, but i will have to post pics later...i just got really sleepy all of a sudden. consider this a teaser post!

inching along

it may not seem like it, but my hair is still inching along towards my goal. this is a picture i took tonight...even with that trim, i can see that the u-shape has grown out some more. i know that i need trims, so i will try to stick to every 3-4 months. with that said, NO MORE CUTTING TILL MARCH!

my skin is inching along, too...i did my 2nd glycolic peel tonight. so far, i have 5 peels completed: i did the three lactics about 3 or 4 days apart, then waited a week for the first glycolic, then gave it another 4 days before doing the one i did tonight. i'm not doing another one until next monday, when i will rotate back to the lactic peel. i am glad that i read regular witch hazel can be used as a pH prep, because everyone was right: i am going through the prep solution much faster than the peel itself. i have also started pouring a tiny amount into a bowl and using a concealer brush to ensure more even application. i wonder if MUA is having a black friday sale, because i definitely want to buy a sample of the TCA peel. i may go on and get the 12.5%, but if i don't there is always the option to get the "lunchtime" 8% peel. i probably won't get anything until half of the bottles i have are gone, and i am far from that, so that gives me time to think -- you know how i am.

can't shake this feeling...

after winging it for about a month, i went back to the dominicans today and got another blowout. i went to the salon down the street looking for my favorite girl, and when i heard she was at the other one in the next city over, i high-tailed it out of the WITH THE QUICKNESS! long story short, it came out great and i met another really good stylist who herself has really nice, thick, long (ok, it's about APL) hair...not only did she not skimp on the time under the dryer with the DC in my hair, but she sprayed heat protectant on my hair without me asking -- truly a dream come true after going to those horrible women i used to let touch my hair.

since my homegirl was busy coloring some girl's hair when i came from under the dryer, the new chick blew out my hair, and i was not disappointed. when she was done, i asked for bangs -- she decided that a layered side bang would look better, and then i realized she wasn't really all that excited to cut my hair from under my chin to above my eyes. i decided to go with the flow since i'm not opposed to a side bang, and i watched as she angled those scissors and went in. the trouble came in when i closed my eyes and heard a snip IN THE BACK when i asked for bangs! all these horror stories of scissor happy stylists immediately came to mind, and i whipped around and stared at the floor, looking desperately for all the hair i just knew she had chopped off. clearly she saw the panicked/crazed look on my face, because she began reassuring me in broken english that she didn't cut all my hair off. i got up from the chair with some really cute layers in the front about 3 minutes later, but i spent much of the next two hours trying to reassure myself it was ok. however, being that i just got a trim in september, my brain was convinced she cut off all my progress since my last blowout. i even looked at the hair again when i stood up, and it was definitely a dusting, not to mention my mom was watching her the whole time she trimmed my hair and would have let me know if she aimed those scissors too high. eight hours later, i am still uneasy about the whole thing, although i realize she was trying to do me a favor: i paid for a trim so it would have been crazy to only get two snips in the front, plus i've had two blowouts (and thus a lot of heat on my head) since my last trim. i think i can still see some progress since the last set of pictures i took, but i won't be sure until tomorrow when i gather the energy to take some more pictures. smh, i am a hot mess...paranoid over trims now.

back to the subject at hand, i plan on keeping my hair straight for the next three weeks or so, then wearing it curly for a week before deciding where to go from there. i am still keeping the weave option open and added a box braids option in there sometime last week, so i honestly have no idea what i will do come the week before christmas. hopefully the solution will strike me soon.

finally!

i've been addicted to twistouts for a while now, but unfortunately they are still hit or miss. i determined at the end of last winter that 5-6 flat twists seemed to work best for me instead of a head full of smaller two-strand twists, but i decided to tweak that theory earlier this month when i was homebound with swine flu. i really had nothing but time on my hands, so i used it to play in my hair. i mean really, what else am i supposed to do with 10 days of free time quarantined in my bedroom...

although i love the simplicity of two-strand twists, mine always tend to look anorexic. i had the brilliant idea to simply make less of them so they would be chunkier, and it worked pretty well for me. after following my normal WNG routine one night, i grabbed a few large duckbill clips and parted my hair into about 7 or 8 sections and just started twisting. i was pretty happy with the thickness, and they got me through 5 days of my quarantine. one day when i got sick of laying in bed, i unraveled them and actually had a pretty decent twistout.

now that i'm better (and getting out of the house), i made a run to wal-mart's electronics department and OF COURSE made an obligatory hair products purchase. i bought a container of cantu shea butter leave-in, which as a newbie to LHCF waybackwhen was the WORST (uhh, probably because i tried it as a DC, which is far from its intended purpose), as well as one of the big $5 bottles of HE hello hydration. excited over my new leave-in scores...hey, i'm easy to please...i ran upstairs when i got home and used the hello hydration as a moisturizer on my dry hair to reset my twists for another twistout. unlike what i've been doing for the past two weeks, this time i went back to my trusty flat twists and got the best twistout this morning. it was everything i wanted: stretched, moisturized, and swangy! now that i am on this washing once a week kick, i'll use tomorrow as my opportunity to set it for the week and wear it till the wheels fall off.

tis the season...

i kind of thought it was a fluke, but now i know for certain...i shed like a small animal in the fall. thinking back to around this time last year, i tried this low-mani thing out, and not only was it an utter fail, but i experienced so much shedding that i thought my hair was falling out. however, at that particular point in time, i didn't know whether to attribute it to my lack of detangling or the change in the seasons. now that my regimen has been pretty solid for the past few weeks, not to mention the fact that i've placed 2 protein sessions with joico k-pak DPR in there, i definitely know it has something to do with the time of year and not my washing/styling habits. i am thinking about going back on those garlic supplements, since they really did seem to work, and i have already started wearing styles that require less washing and thus less of those massive hairballs in the shower. i'm currently rocking a twist n curl a la curlynikki...i may post pics as the week goes along to share how it came out. in any case, i hope it stops soon. my next paycheck (and subsequently, my order with hairsisters to get these tracks) can't come fast enough.

want it, need it, gotta have it: fall/winter edition

now that i'm putting away the flip flops and shorts in lieu of pea coats and leather boots, it's time for me to revamp some of my current products/habits until winter weather returns. here is a list of things i really need (ok, some are wants) to get me through the colder days.

PRODUCTS

• ditching the coconut oil for avocado oil
• castor oil to seal and weigh down my ends
  
• jane carter nourish and shine for straight hair weeks
  
• qhemet biologics burdock root butter cream...something to COAT those strands
• cantu shea butter leave-in for daily moisturizing
• lustrasilk cholesterol (an old favorite) for defined curls/waves and DCing
  
• hairone cleanser to clean the gunk off my hair without the tangling effect of sulfates
• more hair accessories...clips, headbands, silk scarves, bra strap headbands, ouchless bands
  
• gel: ecostyler clear, aloe vera, fantasia IC are among my choices
  

TOOLS

• FHI Runway (definitely a WANT, since my solia works fine)
• a new denman...mine is ready to cross over to the promised land
• more large magnetic rollers, perhaps of the ceramic variety
• caruso steam rollers
• bigger flexirods (i currently only have the grey ones)
• salons r us dryer to dry my hair faster
• bone combs...snagging those strands is not attractive
• shower filter
• hot air brush to cut down on styling time
  

METHODS

• more deep conditioning...more than likely i will continue using aussie moist or GVP CB
• less cowashing, more styles that last 3+ days: buns, twistouts, frohawks, chunky twists
  
• MORE STRETCHED HAIR! my ends do not get along with one another...
• stretching hair with the denman and a blow dryer
• a solid weave regimen for when the time comes
• self-installed cornrows and flat twists i won't be ashamed to wear in public!
  

SUPPLEMENTS

• fish oil
• GNC vitapaks? these look really interesting...
  

back to curly...

after wearing my hair straight for the last 4 weeks, i went back to curly yesterday. i will stick it out for a week or 2 (knowing me, probably more) before getting weaved up for the rest of the year. i actually found a really great thread by Nichi on LHCF documenting the weave she has had installed since late august and hopes to have until the first of the year. i found a lot of similarities between what she is doing and what i hope to do: she's natural 4a, is using sensationnel goddess remi (which is actually on sale right now at hairsisters for $35.99, BOGO FREE as well) and started out with it in longer layers, then had it cut to a very stylish bob after a few months. this is something like what i plan on doing...wearing it, going to a curly install (more than likely BoBraz) for a few months, then switching back to the bob. don't get me wrong, i LOVE LOVE LOVE wearing my natural hair out, but i am stuck in an APL rut now and it would be lovely to make it past that hump in time for the summer of 2010.

here is my current wash day regimen, which i will probably follow every 2 weeks or so until my install.

• prepoo with EVOO, VO5 tea tree therapy conditioner - 4 hours to overnight
  
• shampoo: motions lavish conditioning
• porosity: roux pc
• protein: joico k-pak deep penetrating reconstructor - 15 mins (1x/month)
  
• moisture: joico k-pak intense hydrator - 45 mins
  
• leave-in: PM the conditioner

i did buy the joico products, a 16 oz jar of matrix biolage conditioning balm, and a 16 oz bottle of PM the conditioner at the JCPenney sale, but i returned them in lieu of the GVP versions. since there is no GVP intense hydrator, i will substitute it with the GVP CB.

styles i plan on utilizing:

• WNG (current, but gotta get away from this)
• braidouts
• twistouts
• frohawk with the middle worn as a twistout
• blown out fro
• flexirod sets
  

moment of inspiration

i ran across this picture on the sephora website a couple of weeks ago, and fell in love (and not just because it's jordan richardson):

i had to try it out, of course, so here is what i came up with. i probably should have extended the color heavenward a little more, but it looked fabulous IMO:

(like my flexirods?)

all i used were some wet n wild shadows i had, and of course my HiP cream liner and diorshow iconic mascara. i am really torn about buying this mascara again since i am really happy with it but have also heard that lash blast is a great (and cheaper) alternative to it. to be honest, part of it probably stems from the fact that i am a label whore in training, but what can ya do...

here is one more picture of me fooling around, and trying my hardest to get another week out of this blowout. if i had stayed in the house this weekend, my roots would be just fine...

before and after: twistout and dominican blowout

so i may have mentioned that my staple style has been twistouts...but i have never posted a picture, mainly because my camera batteries were dead and my webcam photos left something to be desired. however, i recently got some new batteries from a friend (YAY!) and was able to get my camera whoring on.

PROCESS:

• cowash with aussie moist
• add leave-in (probably more aussie moist) and seal with EVCO
• 5 flat twists on damp hair; unravel in the AM
• retwist at night
  

i repeat every 2-3 days...not because it's messed up, but because i want the water on my scalp.

on the 25th, my paycheck was burning a hole in my pocket so i decided to go get a dominican blowout. the last time i had one was about a year ago, and although i was afraid the same thing would happen with an incompetent stylist and a sudden thunderstorm on the way out (it did, in fact, rain that day...again), i went for it.

i went to my former salon instead of the newer location in my hometown, hoping that would make a difference since more stylists are usually at the first location. turns out i was right -- i don't usually see the same girls on repeat visits since they shuffle them like a deck of cards, but i saw a girl at the front desk that i was pretty familiar with and took it as a good sign. not afraid of opening my mouth anymore, i looked at her and said "do you have anyone here that is good with natural hair? the girl at (the other location) messed me up the last time i went there." she chuckled a bit and motioned for me to sit, then pointed out a tall slender girl with beautiful black and fire-engine red highlighted (it's hard for me to say that without it seeming like an oxymoron, but it looked great!!!) BSL hair. i was dismayed when i realized she didn't speak much english...as a matter of fact, she sounded like the russian chick from ray-j's show...but i decided to give her a shot.

bottom line? i'm so glad i did. she began by leaving me under the dryer with DC in my hair for 30+ minutes...this was TREMENDOUS when i thought about how the last girl made me get up after 8 minutes. she happily obliged when i passed her the nexxus heat protexx i brought with me, and added some CHI silk infusion of her own to my hair prior to blowdrying it. she rolled my hair UNDER to get it straighter, and even passed the most important test -- the TRIM test. clearly i was ecstatic that it was she who trimmed my hair and not the other stylist...the one with broken off, bleached NL hair who had the nerve to make her clients wait while she got some tracks installed and rollerset. i mean, i do now feel as if it is a cardinal rule to get your hair trimmed by those with hair equally as long as (or longer than) your own, so i felt confident that she would do a great job, and she did. i was initially nervous when she cut before i was able to finish saying "i would like to see where you are going to cut before you do it", but she saw the expression on my face and said "it's ok" -- while holding out the damaged ends in her palm for me to see! by this point, i was in awe and said nothing else to her except for "please wrap my hair for me, it's raining cats and dogs out there!"

the real test to me was once i got home and unwrapped my hair. i knew it was great before i even removed the wrap pins -- i haven't been able to feel my scalp AT LEAST since the summer of 2007...and the softness was incredible! even now, three days later, my hair is so flowy and soft i can't believe it. of course the real test will be when i wash my hair, making sure there is no heat damage, but if there is none i think i will have to return to making DBs a regular part of my regimen. the one thing that seems to be hindering my length goals is this issue of raggedy ends, and the culprit still seems to be wearing my hair curly, even when i do attempt to stretch out my ends. -sigh- it's days (experiences?) like this that make me want to texturize, or at least BKT, my hair. for now i am fighting that urge, but maybe i need to go ahead and decide on what type of hair i would like for an install BEFORE this blowout runs its course.

as usual, there are more photos in my fotki.