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*

Shea Moisture Hold & Shine Moisture Mist

With Target selling products for natural hair and my hair being dry, I figured I'd check out the selection. Of course, they had Ms. Jessie's but that's out of my price range. I looked at the Shea Moisture brand and saw they have moisturizing spritz. This line claims to be organic but like many others, it's just mostly organic. One of them actually had alcohol in it so I clearly didn't pick that one. I didn't want to contribute to the drying issue.

The one I selected says it's for thick, curly hair. The bottle says: Our all-natural moisture mist eliminates frizz, while hydrating hair and creating brilliant shine and curl control.

I really love the smell. It's got that coconut smell but not too strong. It's light weight and actually helps add shine to my hair. I guess my curl pattern does not promote shine but this definitely gives it a bit of shine. I've applied it to wet and dry hair, getting great results each time. It keeps my hair moisturized and helps it stay soft. I normally use it after I used water to fluff out my wash n go. I love the fact that it's not really greasy also.

This is will stay in rotation for me.

Suave's Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Conditioner

After reading MSatch's review of Suave's Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Conditioner, I had to run out and buy me a bottle. I was just about out of conditioner anyway.

Product Description: Salon proven to moisturize your hair as well as Aveda® Dry Remedy® shampoo and conditioner. Infused with 100% natural almond and shea butter, which are known for their rich emollients. The shampoo and conditioner system replenishes lost moisture, leaving your hair well-nourished and beautiful. (I straight jacked this whole section from MSatch's blog! lol!)

First, I love the way it smells! It's sooo yummy. I really wanted to lick it off my fingers. It's nice and creamy which Jessi Rose loves and the slip is great. I've used it 3 times I think and it has made detangling really easy. I do have to use a lot of it though. More than any of the Herbal Essence conditioners. And did I mention I love the smell!

Although it smells good and is nice and creamy, I don't think it works well for JR. I've had it for about 2 weeks and am not pleased with how it leaves my hair. When I wng, I leave some in for hold. This products isn't holding anything. My hair ends up frizzy and curls undefined as if I washed all the condish out. I even added a little extra after I rinsed yesterday and ended up with the same results. And the worse part is, I think it's sucking the moisture out of my hair. I always end up with rough feeling and dried out hair by the time it's dry. I applied more Elasta QP mango butter than I normally do and it still ended up really dry. The only time I retained moisture is when I had my hair in two strand twist. But about an hour after my twist out it was dry and dull again.

So despite the great things, I won't continue to use it. I'll be making a trip to the store for some of that good 'ole Herbal Essence. I'll probably get the Hello Hydration. I miss that stuff and I know JR loves it! (And MSatch, this is another condish I'll be passing on to you and the girls next month!)

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.

Just because

And just because I took about a million pictures, I'm going to share some pictures of the wng, turned blown out puff, turned twistout, turned twisted out puff. These are of the twist out and twisted out puff.

Twist it up

I finally have enough length to do a style that I love seeing on other naturals: Two strand twists. And not just twisting and then taking out before I leave the house for a twist out. No...I mean twists that I wore for almost a week! I was so excited. I loved how they would hang and curl at the bottoms after I spritzed them with a bit of water.

I twisted on dry hair that I stretched out a little bit for some length. I did learn that doing a blow out would make the twist appear longer so that will be my method for future twist. I don't use a lot of products so I only had Elasta QP Mango Butter and the Hollywood Olive Oil Creme/Shea butter mixture in my hair.

The resulting twist out was awesome! I loved it! I just got bigger and better every day. The last day I wore it, it was big and fluffy. I wish I had gotten a picture. Some of the curl definition was gone but that just made it even better. I didn't retwist the entire time I wore them. Normally with twist outs I retwist every other day but I didn't when I did these and I'm glad that I didn't. I've done the style twice and gotten major compliments each time. I continued to use Elasta QP and Shea mix to moisturize my hair.

Renpure Organics Conditioner

Again, the one in the green bottle: i love my hair! body &shine conditioner with hydrolyzed soy and wheat proteins, and chamomile flower extract.


I'm on the fence about this conditioner. I liked it the first time I used it but I also used all those dc mixtures so the results may have been from those, not this condish. The 2nd time I used it, was for a cowash. The slip is really good and made detangling really easy. I don't remember why, but I ended up using HETT for the leave-in when I did a wng that day. 


I used this for the 3rd time and hated it. The slip was still good but the wng was horrible. My hair was frizzy and didn't even have close to the definition that I get with Herbal Essence. When I do wng styles, I don't completely rinse the condish out. Once my hair is dry, this condish leaves my hair feeling crunchy. It has done this every time I used it as a leave-in. I don't like crunchy hair. I love when my hair feels soft to the touch. 


It's really interesting to me how Jessi Rose loves the poo but isn't fond of the condish. I'm thinking I'll use the rest of this bottle since the slip is good but probably won't purchase again after that. Guess as far as condish goes, I'll be sticking with Herbal Essence for now. Also crazy that she loved HE condish but hates the poo. lol! 

Renpure Organics Shampoo

I got the one in the green bottle: i love my hair! body and shine shampoo with hydrolyzed soy, wheat protein & chamomile flower extract.

I am not fond of the smell. It's sort of reminds me of a cleaning products. And unfortunately, the condish and deep penetrating reconstructor all have this smell.

Happily, that is the only thing I do not love about this product. Though I didn't think it possible, Jessi Rose has fallen in love with a shampoo! Normally, she's completely pissed after being poo'd. Curls completely gone, feeling wiry and rough. It would take a few days of extra moisturizing to get back on track. Even doing a wng after poo was a disaster. I have used this twice and for the first time after shampooing, my hair didn't feel completely stripped and lifeless. It felt moisturized and soft! I was shocked!

The first time I used it, I had a lot of product build up from playing around with different styles. I poo'd without using a prepoo and my hair felt great. 2nd time the same. No prepoo and my hair was soft and moisturized. This is a keeper! Love Love Love Love Love it!

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.

Hollywood Olive Oil Creme

In my last post, I talked about all of the products I purchased at Walgreen's. I'm going to start doing reviews on them. First up: Hollywood Olive Oil Creme (HOOC). I purchased this to use as a sealant. When I opened the jar, it was really creamy (hence the name but I had a duh moment. lol!) I was worried that with it being so creamy, it wouldn't seal in the moisture. I immediately decided to whip it with shea. I have tons of shea that I wasn't really using because I didn't like how it made my hair feel coated. I actually thought I was the only one with that problem but I have found out that some peoples hair just doesn't like oils. Their hair works better with creamier products. I knew this from using products too watery but didn't make the connection to oils until just recently.

Anyway, I whipped the entire container with a a little less than equal parts shea butter. I also added 2 tbsps of olive oil but I just did that because I felt like I should be adding something to the mix. I'm sure it didn't need it. It came out really fluffy and creamy. When I scoop it out, it looks like whipped cream!

I used this to seal after applying Elasta QP Mango Butter. The combination was perfect! The HOOC mix didn't leave my hair feeling coated and oily like most sealants do. When I touched my hair, it felt smooth and moisturizer, not oily. I kept touching my hair, expecting to pull back oily fingers but nope! None greasy moisturizer hair. The only thing I don't like is the smell. YUCK! It smells like Cholesterol Deep Condish from Lustrasilk or any other cholesterol dc. Those smells remind me of perms and always make me nervous when I use them. I keep thinking I'm going to rinse and end up with permed hair. lol! The mango butter and shea balance out the smell a bit but not enough for me. I'm going to have to get some type of EO to mix in there asap! But I love it despite the scent.

4 more products reviews to come. Stay tuned!

24hr Walgreen's

Headed to Walgreen's to satisfy the pj in me when I got off work. To say this was a GREAT experience is an understatement. First, I only went to purchase two products: Renpure Organics poo and condish. I was initially disappointed because I wanted the moisturizing set but the tops were broken on all of them. I settled for the "I Love My Hair!" body and shine duo. Then, I was thinking about the fact that I haven't done a dc in forever so I grabbed Renpure Organics Amazing Miracle Deep Penetrating Reconstructor (with aloe, kukui & silk protein). Remembering that I needed something to seal and I'm out of Castor oil and not loving Shea right now, I turned around and grabbed Hollywood Beauty Olive Creme (smells like a perm though :-( yuck!). But I picked it up because it had a free container of Olive Cholesterol deep conditioning creme. Then, I saw Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Paks (grabbed 2 for $1.39 each). And as I walked down the aisle, I saw shower caps (needed one for my dc as I just had to throw away the one I had) and black headbands (all black ones are broken). So, this long list of products cost me LESS than $25. The Renpure Organics was buy one get one free and all 3 of them have mail in rebates. So really, after I mail them in, I'll have spent $13!

All this for less than $13 after mail-in rebates

When I was checking out, the clerk told me how beautiful my hair was and said her granddaughter had natural hair down to her waist. She had been having trouble finding products to use on the child and asked my advise. I told her for detangling, I use HEHH or HETT. Upon her request, I showed her the two products, explained how I detangled and showed her a few other products I'd tried or heard were good. She was so happy! She told me again how beautiful my hair was and that she was so happy she was at work tonight so that she could meet me. She said that God sends angels when we least expect it and on this night, I was her angel. That was about 30 min ago and I'm still smiling. I almost went to Walgreen's last night but changed my mind and went tonight instead. There was obviously a reason why. I feel really good.

Monday and Tuesday, I wore my hair in a w-n-g. I wanted to twist my hair on Monday night for big, wild hair but had an interview and went for a more subdued look. On Wednesday, my want for big hair hadn't gone away. I decided to try and wear my hair in a puff. I knew it wouldn't be long enough while curly so I did a quick blow out. I wet my hair with water and used a little bit of Palmer's Coconut hair milk. I detangled with a wide tooth comb and then blew it out. I used tons of IC Fantasia gel to slather my hair down and then picked out my puff.

Everyone seemed to really love my hair. I was called everything from Lady of Rage to Cleopatra Jones. I just laughed at these comparisons. It was crazy because I felt pretty sexy with my hair in a simple puff. So I put of the plans I had for my hair and I'm going to keep rocking the puff.

To preserve it, I kept my hair up and two strand twisted the puff. I'll be taking it out soon and fixing it up a bit for work tonight.

What to do with the left overs

I was perusing a hair blog that I like and saw something interesting in the comments. A woman said she used conditioners she no longer uses/likes as shaving cream. She claimed to have smoother skin for it. I just so happen to have a bottle of HH Longterm Relationship that I'm not using. I wasn't too pleased with it and only really used it as a leave in when I was styling.

I shaved with soap under one arm and used the condish on the other. I have very sensitive skin and am easily irritated when shaving. The side with soap was irritated as usual. The side with condish, little to no irritation. The little I felt wasn't enough to bother me. If it weren't for the fact that I was being very conscious about it, I probably wouldn't have noticed. I tried my bikini area and same results. Just haven't done my legs yet.

This works better than shaving cream in my opinion! Guess this is what I'll be doing when I run low on condish. Instead of trying to squeeze out the last few drops for my hair (esp since it doesn't even do anything for my hair anyway since it's not enough) I'll use those drops to shave.

It's all in a name

Across the hair boards, there a posts where naturals play the "Name your 'Fro" game. It's always cute and funny. Ladies select their name and explain why. I love it when I see something really original that actually has some type of significance. I tend to role my eyes at the ones saying they name their fro "Sasha Fierce" because it so fierce and they love Beyonce. Yuck! What does that really have to do with you?

I thought about it and decided I would do name my fro. She is official dubbed Jessi Rose. The reasons are as follows: My favorite romance/erotic writer is Beverly Jenkins. She writes a series of novels based in the 1800s about black men and women who accomplish great things. They range from deputies, conductors in the Undergroud Railroad, slaves, business moguels, doctors, lawyers, cowboys, train robbers, madams at brothels and the list goes on. They usually overcome so obstacle and do something for the greater good of thier towns and the black community. She also incorporates historicaly facts into every book. Jessi Rose comes from the book "The Taming of Jessi Rose." Jessi Rose is a woman who is confident, unafraid of what anyone says/thinks of her, unconventional and a bit on the wild side on the days she chose not to be tamed. Those are characteristics that people who know me well have described me as and I fell that my hair is the same way. My hair shows my confidence and gives me more. Although I did care at first, I no longer care of other people's opinions of my hair (although I do love to hear them if they are positive). Natural hair is unconventional. Natural hair can be wild or tamed, just depends on the day.

So, all of that to say, my 'fro is Jessi Rose, whether she be tamed or wild!

Detangling

My hair is getting longer and with that, detangling sessions are getting longer. W-n-g's aren't so quick anymore but are still one of the styles I mainly wear. I've been getting fairy knots for the past month or two. I officialy despise those things! I'm also getting more tangled and knotted hair. They are easy enough to get out but still I worry about breakage and splits because of it.

Currently, I detangle using just my fingers. I prefer that to a wide toothe comb because right now, it's easier and it works. I did use a comb one day and felt like I was breaking off a bunch of my hair. It shed the same amount but I just didn't like it. Plus, I felt like it seperated my curls a little too much and gave me a jheri curl type of look. Lol! I love chunky curls. (Guess I won't be investing in a Denman after all.)

I shed a lot so I'm going to continue to detangle a couple of times a week. Stretching detangling sessions would probably be horrific. I'm going to stick with HE conditioners for detangling sessions. The slip they have is awesome. I'll only stray from this line when I go organic (meaning when I have more $$$$). I will continue to use my fingers as I am most comfortable and less scared about breakage as I have more control over what's happening to my strands. I will reincorporate monthly deep protein condish into my regimen because I'm noticing a lot of elasticity when detangling. My hair has too much moisture and very little strength. Gotta get over that protein fear because my hair is telling me she needs it. I will listen!

Keep it simple

I was reading some hair site, not sure which one, and there was a woman with a fierce w-n-g. She wrote instructions on how she acheived hers. She had a long list of steps that were too much for a w-n-g in my opinion. To me, it's real simple: cowash, shake, moisturize and seal.

One good thing while reading her list was I remembered that my w-n-g turns out soooooo much better if I leave a little of the condish in when I cowash. So, using HETT, I did a cowash. I shook my head (I tend to use a washrag to cover my face so the condish doesn't get on my face). Moisturized with SoftSheen Carson Roots of Nature and sealed with castor oil. I let my hair drip dry so I wrap an old tshirt around my shoulders when I do whatever else I need to do. I've gotten to the point where I don't even blot my hair with the tshirt or a towel. It seems to work better for me that way because my texture easily gets frizzy. But to keep it from dripping too long, I do shake my hair for at least a minute to get rid of as much excess water as possible.

I immediately loved the results. My hair looked like it did when I just get out of the shower. Perfect curls with practically no frizz. And the curls were so well defined. I love it. A couple of people asked if I did a strawset. I've done it a 3-4 times with the same results.

One thing I can say, I don't like how my hair hangs down when it's dry. I fluff when it's 75% dry. I also think it's funny that the front seems to hang down like bangs if I don't fluff it a lot.  

Other random things

Here's a few other random things that happened while my hair was straight.

It rained Tuesday. I forgot that I needed a hood or umbrella. There is an umbrella somewhere in my Jeep. Not sure where. I was literally lol-ing as I ran throught the rain to my Jeep. Luckily, my hair didn't revert.

My supervisor (black woman) is always asking me when I'm going to loc my hair. I tell her at least once a month that I'm not. Apparently one of her relatives when natural via locs and she has it set in her head that I am too. When I straightened, she commented that it looked nice but she preferred my hair the other way. She said that it suits me and shows the amount of confidence I posess to wear it that way. I don't require anyone's approval to wear my hair any particular way but it pleased me that she likes it.

After the bantu knot out, I needed to dc, poo and do a w-n-g before work. I used my new favorite dc mix and let that sit for an hour. One thing I found interesting was the amount of dc I needed to use. My hair was straight and dry when I applied it. I used less than half what I normally use. I was shocked and it felt weird. But the dc took very well and my hair was soft and moisturized as always.

I got tons of happy compliments from family and friends once my hair was curly again. Also got a few request to never straighten my hair again because my natural is so becoming on me and it makes me, me. A few people who really pay attention to my hair commented that my hair seemed even curlier after that first w-n-g. It actually did. Not sure why.

Unexpected

Well, I got some interesting reactions to my straight hair. No one like it. Well except for this black woman at my job but she always gives me the side eye when my hair is in it's natural state. Have to love the side eye. lol!

Everyone else, however, responded with "ooooh....you straightened you hair. Wow. It's long. So...when are you going to wash it and make it curly again." I confided in one coworker that I wasn't too thrilled with it myself and she responded with "good, wash it when you get home tonight. The natural hair had to grow on my at first but now I'm used to you with curly hair. I don't like it straight." I love my coworkers for their honesty. They had me cracking up laughing all night.

The next day, I was still wearing straight hair and was again questioned about how long my hair was going to stay this way. I told them I wouldn't be washing it because it took so long to do but I agreed to compromise and make it somewhat curly.
I orginially wanted to do pin curls because MSatch did some and they looked so great on her. But I tried a couple and wasn't really getting the hang of it. Enter the bantu knot!

This only took a few minutes and was fairly easy to do since I'm used to bantu knotting my single strand twist. Some of them didn't come out to well so the left side was tigher and looked way better than the right. The front right was real funky looking so I had to pin it up a little bit.

Wore this for one day but the curls had fallen a lot by the end of the night. I washed the next day.

Time on my hands

I got bored and decided to straighten my hair. I used low heat to blow dry, Palmer's Coconut Oil Hair Milk to moisturize (and strengthen as it has a lot of protein) and pure shea to seal. The shea butter seemed to really help with straightening. It got a lot straight the first time around, not looking very frizzy.

One thing that I found interesting, I was less than half-way through flat ironing when I decided I didn't like it. The only reason I kept going was because I'd already put so much work into it. I did love the bangs however. I've always loved bangs and mine were long and hanging in my eyes. For some reason, I like that.

Picture time! Oh, and please excuse the pissed off expression in the picts. Someone was annoying the hell out of me and wasn't getting the hint that I wanted them to go away. lol!

WTF was I thinking?!?!?!?!?!

Just a quick post to say I was in the shower doing what was supposed to be a quick w-n-g that turned into a damn-near 30 min detangling sessionon my TWA. Why? Because crazy me decided to sleep on a w-n-g for 2 days without any type of scarf to protect my hair. This lead to a horribly matted and tangled mess. Oh, and I was having a severe case of HIH (hand in hair) syndrome which I tend to get whenever I do a w-n-g so I was playing in my hair for 3 days.

I was so mad at myself this morning. But in that seriously horrible detangling session, I realized that I needed a protein dc because my hair was feeling really stretchy (meaning too much moisture and not enough strength).