Winter Hair Regimen

So this weekend I'm going to switch up my wash day regimen for the Winter to try and combat dryness and retain some moisture. Here is what I plan on doing:

1. Wash hair with Carol Daughters Black Vanilla Shampoo (this is sulfate free, although it does sud like crazy)..I love it. While shampoo is in my hair I start my "finger" detangling.
2. Rinse out Shampoo, Apply Tresseme Naturals Moisturizing Conditioner - leave in for about 10 minutes while I continue to detangle using fingers and wide tooth comb. Wash out
3. Deep Condition - So I'm going to amp up my deep conditioner. I use the Carol Daughters Black Vanilla Smoothie, and now I'm going to add to it some castor oil and coconut oil before applying to my slightly damp hair, making sure I get it good into the roots and ends of my hair. After working it in thoroughly I will apply my Hair Therapy Heat Wrap (love this thing!) for about 45 min. I will leave the DC in my hair overnight (bag it and put on bonnet). I like leaving in my DC overnight, my hair responds better to this. I did this even when I was transitioning.

 NEXT DAY

1. Wash Out DC - soak out excess water with my cotton t-shirt
2. Spray hair with my Aloe Vera Juice/Rosewater-Glycerine/Bottle Water Mix, massage into hair
3. Apply my Paul Mitchell "The Conditioner" leave-in
4. Apply one of my oil concoctions (not sure which one) to seal in all that good moisture
5. Finger Coil my hair using my Eco Styler Gel (Clear) and let my hair air dry

I will leave the coils in for a few days and then unravel them probably on day 3. Each morning and night spritz hair with Aloe Vera Juice mix for moisture.

Week #2 as a New Natural

Happy Friday, My Natural Sistah's. Well I just finished week 2 of being 100% Natural, and I must say it was sweet. I guess each day I'm waiting to feel something different, hate my hair, or burst out in tears because I know longer have my Creamy Crack. But surprisingly, this week I fell deeper in love with my locks. I woke each morning loving my hair and ready to "conquer" the world and whoever else had something to say.

It was interesting that my "white" co-workers are LOVING and even Envious of my hair. They all keep saying "I wish my hair did that"....at first I was like do what? Then I realized they wish their hair could LOOK BEAUTIFUL, THICK, HEALTHY, KINKY and CURLY!! Yes I'm doing beautiful!

I even started this week experimenting with some natural oils and made up a few concoctions that I plan on testing out on my hair to see what happens. I am noticing that my hair is sucking up moisture like crazy, by the end of the day it is dry. So I gotta be more proactive about locking in that hair moisture. This weekend I plan on washing, and doing a deep conditioner and trying to get some moisture locked in.

So I'm trying a new spritz that consists of: Bottled Water, Rose Water/Glycerin Mix and Aloe Vera Juice (equal amounts of each in a spray bottle). I put some on my hair last night before I went to bed, and then bagged it (slept in a plastic cap, covered by my hair bonnet). Woke up this morning and can you say WOW! my hair looked sparkly (is that a word..umm) and moist. Oh yeah, I also applied one of my oil concoctions after I spritzed my hair.

So what are the concoctions I made, here they are (now I did not measure these out, I just eye balled it, but I did not use a lot of Castor Oil because its very thick):

Mix #1 - Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Almond Oil, Jojoba Oil
Mix #2 - Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Almond Oil, Olive Oil
Mix #3 - Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, Peppermint Oil
Mix #4 - Olive Oil, Almond Oil, Coconut Oil
Mix #5 - Castor Oil, Rosemary Oil, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil

I did some reading on the different carrier oils and essential oils and plan on experimenting with these to see if I have growth, moisture, or whatever else they may bring...

As far as styling my hair, it seems like right now I'm just rocking a wash n go, or I finger coil it and then unravel it. Until I get more length I'll hold off on trying to two strand twist it.  Here are some pictures of my hair this week. Enjoy! Have a Super Natural Woman Weekend!

Today! Rocking a Mo/Fro (my version)

Bought  I Flower Pin from CVS - Rocking that!

Rocking a Feather HeadBand

Had played in my hair all day finger coiling it! My Currly BeeBees

THE BOMB.COM

Well here is my report back on the following products I tried this weekend:

• Paul Mitchell's THE CONDITIONER - this is a leave-in conditioner - Can I say this stuff is the BOMB...No it's not an all natural product, and its commonly used in our Caucasian sisters salons, but this stuff made my hair incredibly soft and shiny. The moment it touched my hair, it felt like silk, I was able to detangle my hair without using any combs or brushes, just my fingers. It is blue in color and has a creamy consistency. So for now I love it, and my hair loves it..and it will be on my list of KEEPERS. 
• Paul Mitchell's Foaming Pomade - this is a foamy pomade, that you can use for a wash-n-go. So after washing my hair with my Tresseme Naturals Conditioner, and applying THE CONDITIONER (Paul Mitchell), I applied the foaming pomade. Applying it seemed really weird because it foams and turns white so you think that you are putting too much, but that's what its supposed to do. After applying it in sections, I let my hair air dry and WOW! You talking about curls poppin. They were so tight, so coily, pretty, shiny, and super uber defined! But, the next day my hair looked, dry and brittle. Now I'm not saying this isn't good, but I think it is only one day good, unless your hair is short enough to apply it everyday. So its a keeper, and I will use it maybe when I want to have a curly fro for a day. Not sure what it will do on longer length hair so when my hair grows out to maybe pass my ear I will give it a try. So this will be on my list of KEEPERS.

So after washing out my hair on Monday night I used the BOMB.COM mix. I co-washed, and then applied  Paul Mitchell THE CONDITIONER, along with the clear ECO STYLER GEL. I finger coiled my hair and then let it  dry over night. The next morning (yesterday) I separated the coils only once and can you say HOT DOG, my hair looked amazing. Not only did it have shine, but the curl definition was off the chain. The gel did not flake, and did not leave  my hair hard it was very soft and fluffy. I am on day two of this mix and it is still looking Good. Last night I put some jojoba oil on my hair and scalp and slept in my silk bonnet. I woke up this morning and misted my hair lightly with Rosewater/Glycerin and fluffed - BAM!! This mix is definitely a KEEPER. This will probably be my go to style until my hair starts to grow out some, cause the two strand twist are cute, but on my short hair take a long time. It took me only 30 min to finger coil my hair.

That's my update for now...

My First Week All Naturaal!

Wow, what a week. I spent my first week as  a fully new natural, and can I say it was SUPER AMAZING!! I rocked a twist out all week, and it was "fierce". What really made it amazing, was the fact that EVERYONE I came in contact with this week actually LOVED (some even envied) my hair. I two strand twisted it, and then took out the twists.

Here are my looks for this week:

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

There was not ONE negative comment, not that I would care anyway. But the big kicker was how much I fell in love with my new natural tresses. I found myself every morning as I was oiling my hair (with my homemade concoction), telling myself "I Love You Hair".  I really do love my hair, she is so beautiful and she looks so very happy. So, what can I say.....I feel awesome, I feel amazing, I feel sexy, I feel beautiful and I feel so FREE.

Yeah my relaxed hair, overall was pretty healthy and pretty happy...she served me well. But I would have to say that SHE is history. I am relaxer free and I'm embracing my God Given tresses. I won't go back, I can't go back - to the way it used to be. We are moving forward and I'm looking forward to the journey ahead.

So now about that concoction I made. Oh yeah, I started using Rose Water/Glycerine on my hair and my hair LOVES LOVES THIS STUFF. I got it at my local Whole Foods. The smell is divine, the smell of sweet roses. Every night before bed I spritz my hair with it. AWESOME!

Ok so here is what I used to make my own oil mix:

• Castor Oil (not a lot it is super thick)
• Almond Oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Olive Oil (not a lot, a bit greasy for me)
• Coconut Oil (not a lot, a bit greasy for me)
• Peppermint (just a few drops)

This weekend I am going to try a wash n go using: Paul Mitchell "The Conditioner", and Paul Mitchell "Foaming Pomade".  So I will keep you posted on how it works (fingers crossed).

Then I plan on trying this mix also at some point: Paul Mitchell "The Conditioner" and Eco Styler Gel (clear, that's all I have right now).

MY BIG CHOP!

MY HAIR

AFTER MY BIG CHOP

So this morning started like any other Saturday morning. Today is my wash day. So my husband and I headed out to the gym for our Saturday Raquetball, Whirlpool, and Swimmimg Pool workout. It was great! I got back home and started washing my hair, all is going well. Then it was Tim to condition and detangle and that's when all hell broke loose.

My hair was talking smack to me and was not cooperating AT ALL. It was saying you know what I'm sick of you and this natural hair journey, we want our creamy crack, we want to be smooth and silky, we want to go to the hair salon and sit in there for 5 hours! And as a black momma who can't stand when a child talks back, I pulled out my scissors and I shut her mouth!

That's right I just finished my very own Big Chop! As you can see from the pictures below, I cut about 5 inches of the relaxer off and now I'm officially on day one of my 100% Natural Hair journey

I told y'all I was getting impatient with the two textures and was over it already so I took the plunge after 6 months of transitioning. Now how do I feel? I don't know yet. I thought I would be scared and I wasn't, I thought I would be nervous and I wasn't. I feel somewhat free as if the relaxer was keeping me in bondage. Now what will I feel like after my husband finally sees it? That is the big question. He has never seen me with short hair in the 6 years we have been together.

So right now I'm deep conditioning it and I have no clue what I'm going to do to it in terms of styling it cause it so short, but I guess I'll figure that out like I did everything else during my transition.

So here I go part two of y journey. .... To be continued.

1st Day at Work with My BIG CHOP

Mini Twists - NOT!

Well Happy Monday! What an awesome, quiet, relaxing weekend. Didn't do much besides work on my hair, clean the house, do some laundry and lounge around - THAT IS THE LIFE.

Anyway, I told you last week that I was going to attempt to put "mini twists" in my hair, well I did attempt and it was a "FAIL". Why? these dern relaxed ends of mine (curses). No matter what I did, what product I tried, the relaxed ends would not hold, they kept coming unraveled. So after about 30 minutes of attempting, and dern near crying - I decided to do what I always do. I put in my small twists and rolled the ends on perm rollers (curses - I hate rolling).  I realized this weekend, that I'm so "over" my relaxed ends. I'm ready to be all natural. I promised my husband that I would wait until December, but I really want to go right now, sit in somebody chair and tell them to have at it. I'm tired of working with the two textures, its like I'm doing two styles. I want to be able to TWISTS and Be done with it.

So anyway, for  now I just keep telling myself only 2 more months, only 2 more months and it will be all over.  I am leaving the twists in for the rest of this week, because I need to get back to running, I miss it. Hopefully my twists will play nice and let me get a good workout in this week. We shall see.

I really thought transitioning would be easy, and please don't get me wrong it's been fun, but I'm ready to get those scissors in my head. I have no emotional attachment to my hair, or its length I just want to be FREE!!