2 years natural as of May 2011!

I am happy to say that despite one too many hair cuts, I am finally APL (armpit length)! The greatest part is I didn't even realize it for a while. Actually, I was getting frustrated because I didn't think I had retained much length since my last cut/color in March.

The nape is apl and the front (bangs) is midneck. As soon as I get a chance, I'll post pics.

Current products: not much has changed though I do try random stuff every once in a while.
Poo: any of the Organix brand.
Condish: Herbal Essence brands (hello hydration or ltr)
Moisturizer: Shea moisture curl enhancing smoothie
sealant: Grape seed oil (love love love more on this later)
DC: DRP -11, ORS, and whatever other conditioner or oil I feel like adding

Styling: still not that big on styling but I've tried a few things and I'll make separate post about those. Still mainly wash n go. I'm going to post my wash n go routine also b/c everyone seems to have these extremely difficult or long processes and I just don't understand why. *shrug*

Random

I don't think the overnight dc caused the itchy scalp issue. I'm feeling that since my hair is longer and I wearing it in more stretched styles, not as much product is reaching my scalp. No moisturizer on the scalp obviously leads to dryness and the itchies. I'm going to incorporate some type of moisturizing spray for my scalp or "greasing" it directly while wearing two strand twist. Shea butter will act as grease.

Speaking of two stand twist. I love them. I've begun to wear them often. I knew before I did my bc I would love wearing the twist. I am surprised at how much I love twist outs as at one point, I had a strong dislike for them.

I've been wanting to wear a beanie style hat since winter. I could never find one that seemed to look right. I was at a bss and saw one. I grabbed it without even bothering to try it on. Gave myself a twist out. Let the front hang out like a bang. I loved it! I was really feeling myself and the outfit that accompanied the hat.

With the exception of when my hair is stretched from a twist out, I continue to detangle a couple of times a week. The really tight curls in the back demand it. The twist out allows me to go longer since I retwist often and sort of detangle when I do that.

There will be a product review and product mistake coming up later this week.

Deep Condition

Lately, I've been shampooing and deep conditioning with protein every 2-3 weeks. That's based off of whenever I feel that my hair needs to be shampooed. This week, I had a lot of product in my hair from doing a blowout ( I wore a wng but decided I wanted big hair. I used the Palmer's Hair Milk when I blow dry. I did a puff so I applied tons of gel. I ended up turning the blown out puff into a twist out and then into a twisted out puff. And yeah, all this was within a week. lol!)


I was really tired last night but I knew I had to do my hair. So I shampooed with Renpure and applied the protein dc mix that I previously told you about. I left that on for a few hours before rinsing. I then applied the moisturizing dc mix. I ended up putting a bonnet over my shower cap and sleeping with the dc mix in my hair. I was too tired to finish washing my hair. I put a tight headband over my bonnet to make sure it and the shower cap didn't come off over night. When I woke up, I rinsed and detangled with Renpure. I then applied a little HETT to shingle and leave in a little bit for hold. 


My hair turned out so great. It's soft and very  moisturized. My curls are tight and well defined. This was truly a great treat for my hair. I will have to do this every once in a while, especially in the winter. I took some picts and was amazed at how my curls looked. 

Renpure Organics Amazing Miracle

Okay, first let me say I'm sorry it's taking so long to review these products. My work schedule has been beyond ridiculous.

On to business. Renpure Organics Amazing Miracle deep penetrating reconstructor with aloe, kukui & silk protein. I'm not sure what the kukui nut does. I'll research and update when I have a bit  more time.

I mixed this with 1 ORS packet, some DRP-11, honey and olive oil. I let it sit with no heat for an hour or so. My hair felt sooooooo soft. I really loved what it added to my moisturizing dc. It made it a little bit thicker and my hair really liked it. The wng I did after using this was one of the best I've ever had. People who see me with wng on a weekly basis were asking what I'd done differently to my hair. Permies were asking how to get curls like mine. It was crazy. Whatever this did to my hair, I love it.

I've used the mixture twice and gotten the same results. I know I say it every time I try something new with my dc but this is going to be a permanent part of my dc mixture. It seems to be giving consistent results and that is what my hair needs.

Next 2 blogs will be the Renpure poo and condish. After those, some new hair styles! I'll try to get a bit more blogging in b/c there is so much I want to share with you guys.

2010!!!!!!!!!!!

My resolutions for my hair:

1. Improve moisture. I don't know what I need to do but I have to work on this. My hair dries out entirely to quickly. It's truly worse since it's winter but I need to figure out something to cure this before winter ends so I know what to do next winter.

2. Retain length. This hasn't been an issue thus far but I want to keep the growing going.

3. Do a slight revamp to my moisturizing dc and protein dc (as well as decide how often to use the proteing dc). I really like my current moisturizing dc but a few months ago while I was experimenting, I liked it better. I will go back and review past post to see which condish I was using that I like the most. For the protein, every one of them makes my hair feel rough for a few days. I have 2 and will find a way to incorporate them together with moisturizers and see how that works.

And, I got a new phone which has a wonderful camera on it. I'm sure I'll be able to post more of the picts I take....such as these two! lol! These are picts of wet hair with no product.

Enter the Soapbox

Let me first say, I don't have anything against a woman with a perm. I may be one of the few naturals I know, but I had a perm for a long time and loved it. Second, let me say that I have nothing at all against weave. I had a sew-in for 3 months before my BC.

I have a friend who is a weave queen. She looks fab. The colors and cuts she picks compliment her skin tome and face shape very well. She doesn't wear them until the look messed up. Every few weeks she will purchase a new one. It is extremely rare that anyone sees her real hair. The few special occasions when she is not wearing a wig/hard wrap, she has some type of hair peice added. She feels her hair is healthier than most since she hardly does any manipulation. I have to say, her hair is thick. It would probably look healthier except the weave dries it out. She claims to be growing her hair to APL and then will stop wearing weave. (I say claim because she has been saying this for years and when it gets close, she cuts it in a bob. She does have a perm.)

I always felt she was insecure about her own hair but to each her own. If she wants to rock a wig everyday for the rest of her life, it's cool. Has no affect on me. Since I've gone natural, her insecurities about her hair seem to have mutiplied. Like seeing my hair in it's natural has made her realize her fears of her own hair. She made comments about having nightmares that her hair was short and nappy, causing her to wake up and touch the silky strands of her lace front for comfort. She's told me that my freshly washed hair smells like Jheri Curl. I haven't snapped on her for those comments because I see them for what they are: fear. Right after she makes those comments, she follows them up with statements on how she would go natural but she doesn't have "good hair" like I do. And she doesn't want to cut her hair. I tell her texture doesn't really matter. She'll never know what her's is like until she's natural. And I tell her she doesn't have to BC and that I'll help her through her transition is she honestly wants to try it one day.

The above is no big deal. Just converations we frequently have. What is making me mad is her revelations that she wants hair like a white girl. She has said to me twice in the past few weeks that white girls are lucky because they don't have hair like us. And asked why can't we be lucky like them and have hair like theirs. She feels their hair is better because they don't have to get it done all the time and they can just throw it up in a ponytail whenever they want. We have to get a comb and brush and stand in the mirror to put our hair up. She's upset that even with her weave, she can't achieve a quick pony because she has to make sure the tracks don't show. According to her, it's just not fair that they have better hair.

She's always trying to get me to agree with her on these statements. I keep telling her I don't agree because I love my coarse, thick, curly, nappy, sometimes unruly hair. I love that I can do so many different things. Most white women have the option of wearing their hair up or down. If they want a particular style, it takes hours at the salon, a lot more money than black women spend, and it only last one night. I can get a style for $35 that will last about 2 weeks.

Whether permed or natural, the last thing I envy is another race's hair. I like that I have options with my hair. While hair from anyone's head is unique and beautiful, I will not spend hundreds of dollars a month and never show my hair to emulate someone else's. It makes me angry and sad to see my friend so ashamed of her hair. I used to think the naturals who preached about self-hate in relation to hair were tripping, but I see that in some cases, it really does exists.

Color

I'm going to look into finding someone to color my hair some time between Friday and next Wednesday. I'll be off work so that's as good a time as any. I've decided I want a chestnut type of color. I want to speak to whomever will do the color prior to having it done just to be sure though.

I'll be doing 2 deep moisturizing condish to prepare my hair for this. That's also why I did the protein tonight after work.

I'm hoping to go to a natual salon for the color. If I can't find one, I'll get in contact with my old stylist. I'll feel safe with her doing it because she knows my hair but at the same time, she doesn't really know my hair anymore since it's natural. When I told her I was going natural her response was "wow....good luck" said in a tone like "you have lost your mind!" Her response kept me from going to her for my BC even though I wholeheartedly trusted her with scissors. I rocked very short hair the entire time I went to her.

The shop that did my BC only had locticians. I loved the shop but I know they don't have what is really needed for my loose hair. I've heard there are some other shops around so I'll be on the look out and making calls this week.

Finally, protein success

I was informed the ORS pack I used was a moisturizing condish, not protein like I thought. So that kind of changed my prespective on it but only a little. I still like how soft my hair was but it pretty much gave the same results as the mixture I've made.

I was still wondering what to do for a deep protein condish. I had almost enough LustraSilk Cholesterol left for one use. I added the rest of the ORS pack, EVOO, honey, and some HEHH (only added because there wasn't enough of the other 2 condishs to cover my hair). I remember the condish breaking down a lot when I added salt so I didn't want it to be in the mixture too long. I mixed it in just before application. I let it set, no heat, for an hour.

As I rinsed, I was pleased that my hair didn't feel as rough as it normally does when I rinse out LustraSilk. It's not the normal softness but it felt really good. It was almost 230am by the time I rinsed and I wanted it to dry faster. Being very horrible to my hair, I rubbed a towel over my hair to absorb most of the water. My hair was poofy and curls were pretty much non-existent. I generously applied Nubian Heritage Coconut & Papaya Hair Butter. Some of my curls came back but it will require some work to look good tomorrow.

My hair is about 95% dry. It has never felt so soft after protein. I'm going to stick with LustaSilk Cholesterol as my protein. I realize now that I just have to add a really good moisturizing condish.

Oh and I had been thinking my hair was breaking off from lack of protein. When I rinsed my hair, I took the time to check out the hair I lost. Hardly any of it was broken hair, it was mostly shed hair. I saw the white bulb things on the ends so I knew there were shed. All of the strands looked really thick and strong.

3 Natural Sisters....

Not sistahs but sisters. Me and my sisters. As we know, I did my BC a little over 3 months ago. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but my oldest sister has admired my hair since my BC and is now transitioning. This has me super excited because every time I see her she is staring, touching and telling me how great my hair is. I've always looked up to her in regards to any standard of beauty so he attention and following in my footsteps is unbelievably cool. This morning, I chatted with my older sister. We don't get to talk often and she lives pretty far away. She told me she's getting her hair loced today!

My parents only had us three girls but we are so different.

Oldest sister: Her hair is naturally a light brown color. I vaguely remember her natural texture but based on her new growth, I'm thinking she'll be 3A possibly 3B.

Older sister: Her hair is dark brown, almost black. She is definitely 4A-4B. Her hair never seemed to really accept the changes a perm tried to make. Her hair is kinky but very fragile.

Youngest sister: That's me!! LOL! My hair is very dark also. I'm in the middle of my older sisters as far as curl type. I think I'm mostly 3C with some 3B in the front and 4A in the back.

It's true what they say, every curly head is not alike! Oh and it seems that this generation of women in my family have embraced the natural side. The youngest cousin (16) has never had a perm but she straightens her MBL hair. I have another cousin (19) who has just loced her hair. That leaves only 2 female cousins of this generation with perms.

My ORS experience

Okay so as I was saying earlier, I'm using the ORS protein conditioner today. I love the citrus smell. I felt like I needed to add something to it but didn't really want to use the other products I have. So, I took this opportunity to try the salt. After I mixed it, the condish became very runny. MSatch told me this happens with every condish when she adds salt. I added a little more condish straight from the pak because I didn't feel like it was coating my hair well due to it being runny. I let it sit, no heat, for an hour.

I just rinsed it out and I'm on the fence about it. I'm really pleased with the fact that my hair doesn't feel hard and rough. That is why I didn't like protein. My hair feels really soft and my curls popped! I'm very very happy with the way my hair responded to the ORS. The downside, I tried to rinse with lukewarm water but it couldn't get the stuff out of my hair. It felt coated and sticky. I had to rinse again with warmer water to get it all out. Tha't's not really a big deal though. I probably didn't need to follow this up with my moisturizing deep condish mix but I am. I want to keep with my regular routine of protein and moisture deep condish on the same days.

I like it a lot and I'll be using this on a regular basis.