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).

One of my new favs!

Elasta QP Mango Butter Moisturizer. I had been wanting some for a while but was having the hardest time finding. Not sure why. I finally found some and I was super excited to try it. I co-washed immediately so I could use it on fresh hair. The smell is divine!!!! Everyone in my house was oohing and ahhing over the smell (mainly b/c I was pushing it under their noses saying "smell this!).

It's really thick which is something I and my hair absolutely love. The thick moisturizers work so much better for me. I was already aware that EQMB has silk protein so I was worried about using it. My hair doesn't require a lot of protein and will quickly feel rough from the application of it. On the ingredient list, silk was pretty close to the bottom so I felt a little bit safer. There's probably not that much in it. I still only used a small amount and followed that with the shea/softsheen carson mix that I made before (hoping to offset any protein overload). Then, I sealed with castor oil.

I did this for a couple of days before realizing using all 3 of these was too much. My hair was feeling really good. Well moisturized and strong and soft but...it was too much product. You could feel it on my hair when you touched it. So I washed with poo to clarify and tried again. This time I used shea to seal (shea doesn't moisturize my hair) but still used both moisturizers (still have this protein fear). It was lighter with the shea instead of castor oil but I still felt it was too much. I cut back on moisturizing though. I normally have to do it every day. Esp in this cold weather. But with this combo, every other day or two was working perfectly.

I'm going to be brave and try just using the EQMB and shea and see how that works. Either way, I love this stuff and will be keeping it in supply. I love the smell and it really does make my hair feel silky smooth. (lol...silky smooth...so corny!)

As I said before, I was finally able to get a deep conditioner for my hair. My beloved Elsta QP DRP-11. I tried a slightly different mixture and my hair loved it.

I mixed DRP-11 with Creme of Nature conditioner, salt, honey and EVOO. The mixture felt more whipped than creamy and that may have made the difference. I usually use HEHH instead of CON and I rarely add salt. The new mixture is going to be the one I use from now on. My hair felt so soft and moisturized.

As for new products, I ran out of HEHH and wanted to try HE Totally Twisted. I've been hearing a lot of naturalistas of every hair type saying how much they love that stuff. I used it for a co-wash a few days after I dc. Right now, I don't have a solid opinion of it. It is very creamy, even more than HEHH. I really liked that. I felt like I used less of it when detangling. My hair was well moisturized and felt great. As far as the w-n-g...it wasn't the greatest. A lot of strands were looking straight. It was weird but this happened to me before when I wore my hair in stretched out styles for a long time and the did a w-n-g. I think after I wash a few more times, I'll be able to better tell how it works. So far, I like it though.

Next post will be about a new moisturizer I got.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

My hair was so mad a me a couple of weeks ago. I ran out of deep condish and due to lack of extra funds, couldn't purchase anymore. My hair has gotten used to the weekly dc routine and was feeling dry and nothing was keeping me moisturized. I had also discovered that wearing protective styles caused my hair to dry out more than when I wore w-n-g's. Stretched hair means less of the natural oils my scalp produced was making it to my ends (due to gravity) thus leading to more dryness.

I attempted to give myself a couple of different dc treatments that turned out horribly! First I attempted oil using melted shea butter and evoo. I guess I used too much b/c it was running down my face and was just a big mess. I also don't have a dryer so I was just hoping for penetration w/o the use of heat. I didn't notice any results but I know I did it incorrectly.

Second, I tried a mixture. I mixed Creme of Nauture condish with honey and the rest of the shea/evoo mixture. In an attempt to incorporate heat, I wet a hand towel with extremely hot water and wrapped that around my head which was covered in a shower cap. I rewet with the hot water when it cooled off. It worked okay but just didn't give what my hair needed.

In the meantime, I wore protective styles and moisturized daily. When I realized my hair seemed much dryer as it stretched more, I switched to w-n-g's daily. I was finally able to get more dc and another product I was exited to try. More on those things in my next post.

Surprise, surprise

Okay, so you may remember my post on how irritated and disappointed I have been with a friend who was saying negative things about my hair and commenting on how "lucky" white girls are because of their hair texture. She calls me this weekend and announces that she has decided to transition. Apparently, a woman at her job has been natural for a few yrs and after seeing this woman's hair (I believe it was straightened) she has decided to grow out her perm.

She asked her co-worker for help and all she did was send her a link to a hair forum. She only said I just grew out my hair and I joined this forum. I'm thinking...really? That's all the info and encouragement you can give someone who's just starting their journey?

I have to admit, when she first asked me for help, I didn't want to. I was thinking of the stupid shit she's said about my hair and was like eff it, she can learn on her own. But then I thought about it. If I had to go through this alone, I wouldn't have even know what to do or even where to begin. So I agreed to help her as much as I can, including going to the store with her this weekend to help her pick out products. I sent her the links to a few of the sites I love and I'll just be one of the people in her support system as she goes through this transition. Hopefully she'll make it.

I just hope now she stop all that "white girls are lucky" crap and embrace her own hair.

And I'm still off topic...

I'm excited about a venture I'm calling 30/30. What I'm working on right now is a challenge but not a very hard one. Either I do it or I don't. I've planned to write and post 30 short stories in the next 30 days for erotica website The House of Blerotica.

I'm off to a good start. I posted 2 stories tonight and hope to do another before work tomorrow night. Since these are shorts, I can write them fairly quickly and I've made a list of topics so I don't waste time struggling to come up with concepts. That's pretty good for me b/c planning ahead when I write isn't something I normally do. (yeah, I know that bad but that's just me.)

I'm pretty excited about doing this and hope that with this and some marketing, I can bring more readers to my site. Consistent vistors would be great too.

I've just created a Facebook page for THOB which I've already started using to let readers know about 30/30. I'm also going to be posting "status" updates on all social networks I belong to to attract readers that way. And of course, word of mouth so I'll just be telling a lot of pple. Hope this works out well.