A Change...

So today is the last day of our Thanksgiving vacation and in my boredom I started sifting through my hair bookmarks. I came across an awesome YouTube channel called ThomasAdriann :). Let me just say her feathered weaves are gorgeous!!!!! I buckled down and finally bought some hair. The hope is that I get my hair in enough time to make a wig for our holiday party.

I also decided to try stretching my perm until the summer (Apr/May of 2013). Why? I can already see the new growth on my hair and I desperately want THICKER hair...the only way I see to do that safely is to stretch out my relaxers. With the combination of wigs which will prevent me from wanting to flat iron my hair and my weekly protective bun I see great things in my hair's future.

(Picture of my last flat iron...severely damaged ends)

Why I Love To Air Dry

This is the second time I air dried my hair this this month and I have to say...my hair loves it!!!! My hair is so soft & conditioned I can't believe how I ever lived without it. True, I had been 'air drying' but not with my hair hanging. This method is so much better for my hair, my shedding has decreased, my hair actually gets a chance to dry, and I have to use less product.

After Wash & DC

Air Dry Results

Let me start by saying I LOOOOOOOVE IT!!! My hair feels thicker than normal and doesn't feel weighed down. :)

Air Drying Using Scarf Method

So I'm doing a trial run on my hair for this coming up weekend. Trying to make a statement ;)! The look I'm going for is 'romantic' and I plan on using my Caruso Steam Rollers for a soft, bouncy curl. Usually I do spiral curls with my steam rollers but I've never really tried big loose curls without wearing a headband...first attempt lol. I watched some YouTube videos from some of my favs but kinda don't know how I feel about trying it on my length (my hair is not as long or as thick). Hopefully it turns out ok.

I cowashed my hair with HairOne. Even though it can be used as both a conditioner & shampoo (most use it as a mild shampoo) I used it because I looooove the slip it provides while detangling. Although I'm only 3 weeks post relaxer my hair always has issues with detangling. While detangling I experienced minimal shedding, not sure if this is because I upped my garlic supplement dosage or not...either way I'm glad :)! I also changed my method of applying my leave-in and moisturizer and the way I air dry. I applied 2 dollops of Neutrogena leave-in focusing on ends then applying what was left on the length of my hair, I did the same with my moisturizer. Instead of air drying in one big twist I decided to try the scarf method again, tying my ends down and leaving the back out.

I think maybe I was applying a lil too much coconut oil to my hair. Why? When I would touch my hair it would have a slight greasy feel, like I could see it on my hands. Smh. I plan on sealing my hair with very little oil in the same way I applied leave-in and moisturizer.

This is the dress I picked for this Saturday and my shoe choices:

I WANT THICKER HAIR!

Had a good long conversation with my aunt yesterday and one of the topics was my real hair texture and color. She used the words "mousey" to describe my hair...didn't really understand at first. Was she talking about my texture or color? lol Either way it made me laugh. Turns out she was talking about my natural hair color which is a dull, kinda ash brown UGH! One thing I always wondered was if my hair had always been on the thin side?? Between me and my sister, I was never the one known for having thick hair. If I had to put my hair in a category I'd say it was thin/normal thickness. According to my aunt I never really had thin hair but it wasn't as thick as my sister's.

This made me curious and I started second guessing my decision to continue relaxing my hair. And I made a couple of new decisions:

1. Stretching current relaxer for a
minimal of 6 months
2. Sticking with light protein treat-
ments 1x/week with heat
3. Applying JBCO to scalp in sections
every other day
4. DC'ing with EVOO and honey with
heat once/week and with steam/
week
5. Prepooing with JB Red Pimento
Oil on scalp and Burt's Bees
Avocado Pre-Shampoo Treatment
to length of hair and coat hair with
coconut oil
6. Blow drying with cool hair only
without comb attachment
7. Cowashing once/week
8. Wash after prepoo
9. Baggy hair and ends twice/week


Hope I'm not forgetting anything. One thing for sure...I need to research ways to deal with all that new growth in going to have lol!

03 Jan 11 START OF MY JOURNEY

03 Jan 11 Start of my journey

1st Prepoo!!!!

Today was the first day of prepooing. I can tell my hair likes the JB Red Pimento Oil so why not prepoo with it lol.

Products & Application:
- Applied JB Red Pimento Oil to scalp and length of hair, concentrating on ends; massaged scalp
- Prepoo mix (Burt's Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Hair Treatment, little AtOne Moisturizing 
  Reconstructor, veg glycerin a little V05 Moisture Milk)
- Sat under steamer for full 30 mins
- Rinsed
- Cowashed with Aussie Moist
- Moisturized with spritz (see previous post for recipe) & sealed w/ coconut oil
- Applied JBCO to scalp in sections
- Air dried to 75% in four sections
- Finished air drying in one big twist

Results:
First let me say I DO NOT LIKE AUSSIE MOIST 3 MIN MIRACLE!!!!!! This my second try with this conditioner as a cowash and BOTH times this conditioner provided absolutely NO slip. In fact, quite the opposite...it actually made my hair hard. So hard that I had immediate flashbacks of my protein overload. I tried HairOne to soften it up but it didn't work so I washed (and it's not even my freaking wash day!) with Kenra Moisturizing Shampoo and conditioned with GVP Tea Tree Conditioner.

I'll never use Aussie again lol. As for the prepoo treatment we'll see in the next couple days. I know everyone raves about JBCO but I'm still not sure. I don't like the way my hair feels when I apply it to my scalp, it makes my hair tangly which doesn't help when I'm tryna air dry. Maybe I need to try applying it once my hair is dry.

Aussie Moist 3 Min Miracle Deeeeep Treatment

After prepooing w/ steam

1. After rinse 2. Moisturizing & sealing.

Burt's Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Hair Treatment

Applying JBCO to scalp

Regimen

First let me begin by saying I am a TRUE product junkie lol. And I kind of think that's an understatement. Below is my current regimen:

Tuesday
- Prepoo w/ JB Red Pimento Oil & cheapie conditioner using steam
- Cowash w/ cheapie conditioner
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil
- Apply JBCO to scalp
- Air Dry w/ scarf method

Wednesday
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil

Thursday
- Prepoo w/ JB Red Pimento Oil & cheapie conditioner using steam
- Cowash w/ cheapie conditioner
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil
- Apply JBCO to scalp
- Air Dry w/ scarf method

Friday
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil

Saturday
- Prepoo w/ JB Red Pimento Oil & cheapie conditioner using steam
- Wash w/ moisturizing shampoo
- DC (moisturizing conditioner, light protein, vegetable glycerin, and macadamia oil) w/ steam
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil
- Apply JBCO to scalp
- Air Dry w/ scarf method

Sunday
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil

Monday
- Moisturize w/ spritz & seal w/ coconut oil
- Apply JBCO to scalp

As you can see from the regimen I've built, I intend on doing regular light protein treatments w/ my DC's. Because I'm relaxed my hair needs regular protein and the safest way I see to do it is while I'm adding moisture...still a little gun shy from the recent protein overload.

I want to start using my Burt's Bee Pre-Shampoo Treatment in my prepoo, maybe I'll try it tomorrow.

Question Of The Day...To Prepoo Or Not?

So I'm wide awake and can't sleep for some reason smh. Decided to do a little research on possible reasons for my itchy scalp. Turns out Jamaican Black Red PIMENTO Oil (yes! I've been calling it something else lol) makes your hair itch, supposedly because it's trying to remove toxins from the scalp. I never bothered reading the instructions and have been using it the same way as regular castor oil. After reading a few Hairlista and K.I.S.S. blogs and watching some YouTube videos on the subject I decided to actually follow the directions. Tomorrow before I cowash I will incorporate a prepoo.

Prepoo:
- 3 tsp Jamaican Black Red Pimento
Oil
- 4 tsp Herbal Essence Hello Hydration
(blue bottle)

Before applying my prepoo I'll apply JB Red Pimento oil to my scalp in sections and massage it in for about 3-5 minutes then apply a little to the length of my hair. I'll prepoo with steam (30 mins) until I receive my Pibbs dryer :).

Update On New Moisturizing Spritz

ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! My hair feels so moisturized! :)

Question though?? Has anyone else experienced heavy itching on the scalp when applying JB Palmetto Oil??? My scalp is unusually itchy lately...this has never been the case before I started applying castor oil to my scalp. I'm
not going to stop using it, I'm already starting to see positive changes in my hair...new growth at post 2 weeks relaxer. My hair seems to love it.

Still shedding a lot...as mentioned a couple posts ago, I upped my dosage of garlic supplements to 2 pills/day. Hope this works! I know my hair is supposed to naturally shed but I'm not sure of the amount is normal. I plan on purchasing fish oil pills to help with healthy hair grow...hopefully I won't have fishy burps lol.

So as I detangled today I realized I am about 2 inches away from true APL, should reach that goal by January 2013. When I reach BSL I plan on trimming back to APL. Why? I don't want to lose length but I'm in desperate need of a trim lol.

REVISION!!!!

I know my most recent hair length check LOOKS like I'm APL but I'm not lol. My length is actually just ABOVE my shoulder blades...still making progress tho.

Decided to make a new moisturizer because I didn't like how 'wet' the aloe vera moisturizing formula on K.I.S.S. made my hair feel...my hair was always soaked, damp at the very least smh. Plus it was hard 4 me to apply...was using the spray bottle recommended method, spraying my hair also made my neck and shoulders wet because this formula consists of ONLY liquid (aloe vera juice, rose water, and water). I did like the moisturizing effect. Decided to add a thicker substance to the mix, mainly to stop the 'drip' effect.

My Moisturizing Spritz:
- aloe vera juice
- rose water
- S-Curl moisturizer

I just applied it for the first time. So far so good :). No dripping on my clothes or shoulders and my hair doesn't feel 'wet' at all, just moisturized. I still used a spray bottle and applied in 4 sections, separating each of the four sections into individual sections to make sure each strand was receiving moisture. I sealed in the moisture w/ my coconut oil, using a lot less than normal and twisted strands into two sections, pinning the ends up. Hope this works. I'm not seeing any breakage but at the same time I'm definitely not seeing the amount of progress I expected at this point in my journey. I'm still noticing damaged areas (frizzy areas that don't retain moisture as easily) and shedding but absolutely no breakage...seems my hair has hit a plateau. My shedding seems to have minimized, I noticed this when I detangled. I've done a lot if research on possible causes of shedding but I don't remember a cause related to hair dampness...this is something I'm going to continue to monitor.

Still learning how to grooooow! :)

YAAAAAAAY!!! New Growth!!

Only 2 weeks post relaxer and I'm already seeing new growth...maybe the biotin pills ARE working :).

I've been having some issues with itchy scalp lately. I washed my hair yesterday but my scalp was still itchy so I decided to wash it again...I knoooooow, two washes in one week? What was I thinking? lol Trust me, it had to be done and I made sure I put my moisture back in.

Products & Application:
- Kenra Moisturizing Shampoo
- Kenra Moisturizing Conditioner
- Neutrogena Leave-In
- Bee Mine Deja's Milk (moisturizer)
- Coconut Oil (sealant)
- Oiled Jamaican Black Red Palmetto
Oil in sections
- Air dried until hair was about 80% dry
- Blow dried on cool air until about
90% dry

I made especially sure that I rinsed my scalp clean by massaging my scalp while I rinsed and combing with my shower comb to make sure the water had complete access to the scalp.

My scalp feels soooo much better now! :) No scratching, no itching.

I also did a length check and from
my picture it looks like I'm just barely APL. Personally I don't buy it smh. If it is then my strands just barely reach it. Either way my ends are so thin, not more than usual but just thin :(. I'm holding out on trimming my ends...maybe in Jan after I grow a few inches more. If I had to pick a length I'd say I'm at the top of my shoulder blades. Think I'll do a length check every month...

10 Nov 12 HAIR LENGTH CHECK

10 Nov 12: Length check.  I wouldn't say that I am full APL due to the scraggly ends but I am definitely well on my way :)

2012 HAIR PICS

10 Jan 12 Flat iron and clipped ends

11 Nov 11 Flat Iron

12 Jan 12 Flat Iron

12 Jan 12 Flat Iron Pt 2

01 Sep 12 Light pressing & flat iron

24 Oct 12 AFTER RELAXER

24 Oct 12 after relaxer, too thin...priority = THICKNESS

06 Oct 12 HAIR LENGTH CHECK

Hair length check 06 Oct 12 after blow drying...as you can see, I have a few damaged areas

OKI NIGHTS 03 Nov 12

03 Nov 12 Night out in Okinawa, Japan @ Barflyz...used Caruso steam rollers to create this loose spiral curl.  I actually used a blow dryer to dry my hair smh, only use a maximum of once/month so I don't think I'm creating much damage if at all.

TRIP HOME 25 Aug 12

Early Sept 2012 after a flat iron...3 months post relaxer y'all!

08 Nov 12 Wash

My scalp was unusually dirty this morning so I decided to wash. 

Products & Application:
- Washed w/ Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo
- DC'd (GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm, Joico K-Pak Moisture Intense Hydrator, AtOne Botanical
  Reconstructor Conditioner, V05 Moisture Milk, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, & macadamia oil) w/
  steam for 20 mins
- Rinsed
- Applied Neutrogena Leave-In
- Moisturized w/ Bee Mine Deja's Milk
- Sealed w/ coconut oil

I'm still having issues w/ what I think is considerable shedding.  To be honest, I can't really say if the amount of shedding is normal or excessive because I never really paid much attention to hairs that weren't breakage.  One thing I do know is that because I want to acquire more thickness I can't have my hair shedding like it does.  I shed when I wash, I shed when I condition, I shed when I detangle, and I shed when I style...what is going on?  Currently I am taking garlic supplements (1000 mg) to slow down the shedding and biotin (5000 mg) to help w/ growth.  I have been taking those supplements for almost a month and a half and can't say that I've seen much progress in the slowing of my shedding but the biotin seems to be working...my body hair and nails are growing at an increased rate.  As to the rate of hair growth on my head...I can't really assess that until I start seeing new growth.  I upped my garlic supplement dosage to 2000 mg/day and hoping this finally slows down the shedding.  Wish me luck!

02 Nov 12 Could I Have Possibly Overloaded Hair W/ Moisture???

It was time to clarify my hair after the many co-washes and DC's...I decided to use Ion Clarifying Shampoo.

Products & Application:
- Ion Clarifying Shampoo
- DC'd (GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioner Balm, Joico K-Pak Moisture Intense Hydrator, AtOne Botantical
   Reconstructor Conditioner, V05 Moisture Milk, vegetable glycerin & macadamia oil) w/ steam for 30 mins
- Rinsed
- Applied Neutrogena Leave-In
- Moisturized w/ Bee Mine Deja's Milk
- Sealed w/ coconut oil

As you can tell from my list of products used, I decided to use a light protein treatment in my moisturizing DC.  The reason behind this decision is after reading a lot more blogs it became more than likely that while trying to correct my hair from my early Oct protein overload I actually pushed my hair more towards the moisture side while totally neglecting my hair's protein needs, especially important after a recent relaxer.  Funny thing is, I think this has been an ongoing issue w/ my hair and maybe I just didn't recognize it.  Maybe this is one of the reasons I am not reaching my hair length goals as soon as I expected.  My hair usually feels limp & mush, but I didn't know that was a symptom of over moisturized hair...I didn't even know that 'over' moisturized hair was even a problem! lol  From now on I'm incorporating a little light protein in my DC every week until I can tell what my personal protein needs are and how much protein my hair can actually handle. 

Another concern...my hair is never completely dry when I bun my hair, is that an issue?  Should I stop bunning until my hair is completely dry?

24 Oct 12 Relaxer Time!!!!!

Usually I stretch my relaxers for at least three months but I just couldn't wait lol I relaxed at about 8 weeks. 

Products & Application:
- ORS Normal Relaxer
- Elasta QP Neutralizing Shampoo (about 4-5 washes)
- Kenra Moisturizing Shampoo
- Aphogee 2-Min Reconstructor (light protein treatment) 
- DC'd (GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm, vegetable glycerin & macadamia oil) w/ steam for 20 mins
- Rinsed
- Neutrogena Leave-In
- Bee Mine Deja's Milk (moisturizer)
- Sealed w/ coconut oil
- Applied JB Red Palmetto oil to scalp in sections

I used my new Splush relaxer applicator I bought from Amazon and I absolutely LOVE it!  It's a lot easier to apply relaxer to sections and to smooth trouble areas.  I highly recommend! 

Important things to note...because I was very afraid of over processing my already processed hair I applied a considerable amount of coconut oil to the strands that I did not intend to relax.  This minimizes any damage from possible overlapping while applying relaxer and minimizes damage caused from runoff while rinsing relaxer from the hair.  I did this by sectioning my hair into approximately 8-10 sections and applying coconut oil from the end of my new growth sections to the ends of my hair (making sure to concentrate on my ends).  I also started applying the relaxer from the back to the front.  I usually start w/ the first 2 sections but after doing some research I realized that was actually bad for my hair. 

After applying the DC and rinsing I noticed that my hair was straighter than I actually wanted.  In the back of my head within the back two sections I had areas that were almost 75% natural and were causing me problems when detangling so I wanted to relax those areas which would normally not be processed, causing me to relax outside of my normal four sections.  Although it made my hair easier to manage while detangling it also caused my hair to look thinner than usual...

Things to consider for next relaxer...I think I am going to do my best to wait the full 3 months before I relax.  Additionally, I am considering getting my relaxer professionally done....the only issue I see with that is a stylist would not take all the necessary precautions I take to ensure I don't create more, avoidable damage to my hair.  Currently doing research on things I can do to thicken my hair, I am retaining length but my number #2 goal has always been THICKNESS.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

A year into my journey and I'm still learning :)

04 October 2012 Protein Overload???

After work I decided to do my normal routine of co-washing and DC'ing.  I decided to use an old favorite of mine for a DC...biggest mistake!  Up to this point I had been solely working on a trial-and-error basis, trying new products and making a determination as to whether my hair actually responded in a positive basis only after already applying the product...another mistake!  I co-washed my hair w/ HairOne Olive Oil cleanser (which my hair actually LOVES! this product provides soooooo much slip when detangling in the shower) and DC'd w/ a mixture of ingredients.

DC Mixture:

- Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner
- 1 tsp of vegetable glycerin
- 1 tsp of castor oil,
- 1 tsp of pure honey
- a shot of V05 Moisture Milk

After co-washing and applying my DC mixture in sections (I use four sections and apply the DC from root to tip, twisting each section w/ ends clipped and pointing towards the top of my head) I sat under a table hair dryer for 20 minutes, alternating between high-low heat.  I chose to alternate between heat settings after noticing that my dryer had significant areas of concentrated "hot" spots and I feared that I would create a new problem--heat damage--if ignored.

I chose the ORS Conditioner because I had used this product plenty of time...but there were a few things I failed to consider or even take the time to acknowledge: 1.) I had never used this product w/ heat and 2.) I wasn't fully aware of where this product stood on the moisturize-protein spectrum.  I had never had problems using this product before but all of my uses involved DC'ing without any heat sources. 

After co-washing my hair felt wonderful!  I thought I was on the right path and things could only get better w/ the addition of DC'ing.  My two months post relaxer hair felt great even after I applied the DC mixture...until I washed it out.  While rinsing I immediately noticed that my hair was unmanageable, hard, and tangled.  I couldn't comb thru my hair even under water w/ my shower comb.  I was literally freaking out!  That's when I recognized that I might have overloaded my hair w/ protein but this was still only a theory since I hadn't even read the ingredients on the back of the ORS Conditioner bottle.  I tried to counteract whatever was happening to my hair by co-washing again w/ my HairOne Olive Oil Cleanser.  This had minimum effect. 

After reading the ingredients I realized that ORS Conditioner contains protein and is more on the protein side of the moisture-protein spectrum.  I immediately started reading reviews and hair blogs (thanks Hairlista and K.I.S.S. for all the help!) and realized that protein overloads, depending on the severity, cannot be corrected immediately.  Realizing that there was nothing I could do at the present moment to reverse the damage I had already done I went on w/ my normal routine...applied my Neutrogena Leave-In, S-Curl Moisturizer, sealed w/ coconut oil and applied JBCO to scalp in sections and finished w/ a damp bun. 

The next day I noticed a few short strands of breakage which were very easily distinguished from the normal strands of shedded hair I normally see.  This only exasperated my fears. Touching my dry hair I could tell my hair did not like all that protein...it felt a little hard, definitely did not feel soft to the touch and I had a ton of spots that were frizzy. 

This mistake forced me to take ALL my hair products and build a product ingredient dictionary so that I can access exactly what side of the moisture-protein spectrum my products REALLY were on and to build a database to categorize my products so I'll know right away which product to use for which purpose. I'm still working on this product and will post as soon as it is finished.  More importantly though, this brought up a whole new issue...even w/ the many, many products I have, I didn't have a true moisturizing shampoo or conditioner.  No wonder my hair seems to not be making much progress compared to the beginning of my journey. 

Lessons learned! :)