Keep It Straight

I've been MIA for almost a year it looks like. Life picked me up and body slammed me into 2016 so I'm just recovering.  During that time it appears my hair decided to low key transition to natural hair. How did this happen? Well mainly 2 things 1. I don't trust anybody else apart from my former stylist (several states away) to understand this texlaxing thing. and 2. I dont trust myself to relax my own hair. Coz I don't have the patience but I'm also a perfectionist and I know the back of my hair will get no love so .... yeah Here I am...12 MONTHS post relaxer.

I'm one month post relaxer. The little growths are beginning to impede my finger combing!! I've been using hair trigger as part of my Hair Sauna Treatment and it seems to be working out fine. My poor pillow cases can only take it a couple of days in a row so I usually bag my hair on Thursday and Friday nights. Then try and wash on Saturday or Sunday. How I do it: (I was using the comb from my hair applicator thingie but it cracked *sob* ) 1. Section the hair into four. It's a lot easier to apply that way and I feel like I'm really covering my scalp. 2. Pour a little of the hair trigger onto my palm and work onto my fingers 3. Gently massage my scalp with my trigger covered fingers. Work the extra oil on my palm through the strands. 4. Apply Neutrogena triple moisture leave in to my ends 5. Wrap and seal and go to bed. So far so good. I like the way it makes my hair feel. It's so much softer.  A lot of hair grow mavens have spoken about th...

I'm so excited!! Look what I got in the mail! HAIR TRIGGER!!!! I'm excited because it's the same stuff that Jen from JustGrowAlready.com uses as her pre-poo and look at that hair!!* I haven't decided if i'm going to use it daily or just as a pre-poo. Of course main ingredient is castor oil no? so it's so heavy it'll probably be best to use it every other day....or closer to wash day. *claps hands and hops from foot to foot* And (also based on Jen's recommendations) I've got the hair applicator thingie that lets you spread oil evenly so i'm all set!   I was very impressed with the packaging. It was so well wrapped I had problems unwrapping it. Also got a lovely handwritten card and a note on the shipping invoice as well. Very nice and homey. I hope they don't lose that touch as the company grows. Will let you  know how it works out. If it works I'll start working on converting others. *Granted she's using...

Week two of Hair Sauna Treatment I think my hair is reaching a nice moisture level!! YEAH!! I've only had to moisture and seal every other day this week. I did the GHE Thursday, Friday and Saturday and left the bag on for aaaages. I didn't sweat as much this week. Probably a function of the lower temperatures here. I like the regression effect it's having on my relaxed hair. It's giving me waves which I think are kinda cute. On the Con side, It makes my ends look fuzzy and I'm not sure if they're splitting and thus dry or just fuzzy from all the moisture. I used the Neutrogena Triple Moisture (It's going really fast, I have to figure out an efficient way of using it coz at $8 a pop I can't be buying a bottle every month) and put the olive oil on my edges the first night. Then I bought Castor oil and used that on my edges the rest of the time. Funny Story: I went to CVS and asked for Castor Oil. The guy had no idea what I was talking about. So I ...

It's been a month since I decided I was going to get serious about growing my hair. It feels like years. I think if anything, this HHJ (Healthy Hair Journey) is going to teach me about patience and acceptance. Coz darn it! This hair should be grown already! lol. I have to accept it though. This first year is going to be hard. Yes I might see some growth but until I figure out what works well on my hair, until I learn how to take care of it properly...I'm not going to see the progress that I want. What Have I Learnt So Far? 1. My hair is really demanding and confused! (or maybe I'm confused) e.g. It really liked the Shea Moisture shampoo I was using, but hated the combination with the moisturizer. So I fixed the moisturizer...but then it didn't like the shampoo anymore. So I got a new moisturizing shampoo...but I think it hates the shampoo even more. Granted the new shampoo has sulphates in it. It's really funny how just weeks ago I was moaning about ...

I tried a braid out yesterday.....pretty big fail :( Method Analysis 1. I went heavy on the moisturiser yesterday because a) my hair has been feeling really dry this past two week and b) I hadn't moisturized for three days. 2. I sectioned my hair into 5 parts, did a pretty loose braid and tucked the ends into the braid. 3. I didn't braid all the way down to the tips because they've been fragile lately buuuut I also didn't have anything to curl the ends with. Will have to get on that. 4. I'm trying to protect my nape so did it up in a little cornrow. Since I was going to have my hair down nobody would see it. Result Analysis 1. The curls turned out really well (little did I know)! My ends were straight which was annoying but I tucked them away. 2. I did a little moisture and seal by just rubbing a little on my palms and kinda squishing the curls. 3. Two hours later the curls dropped. :( Verdict I was very disappointed because last time I ...

I've been using Shea Moisture Shampoo with Yucca and Baobab for three washes now. Here are my impressions so far The Good 1. Volume. My once thin hair is thick and luscious. I'm getting volume that I usually get from 3 weeks of undergrowth but all along the length so whoo whoo! And it seems to last for a long time.   Look So Pretty! 2. The texture. I'm getting used to the not obviously clean feeling ( which is actually caused by all the moisture being stripped from my hair...so that's a good thing) because it feels so soft!! The Bad 1. Shampoo seems to have ALOT of protein which is good coz I need to bulk up my strands  but my moisturising conditioner isn't strong enough to balance it out.  I might need a new conditioner. 2. Damn thing won't lather! I've read reviews about a nice soft lather but I'm just not seeing it. :( Its probably because the water here is so hard but still!! The Verdict I wanted to give this a month of was...

aka why doesn’t my sulphate-free shampoo lather ? I started using my new Shea Moisture shampoo (with Yucca and Biotin *natch*) this weekend….and quickly realized I’m going to change my entire hair washing technique. Why? No Suds! No Bubbles! No Sodium Lauryl Sulfate!?! Yup, one of the major ingredients that creates those awesome bubbles and lather is also the number one culprit for dry, rough hair. I’ve been trained to equate lather with cleaning. The convention goes "The more a shampoo lathers the cleaner my hair is going to feel" but going on this HHJ means giving up the bubbles for the sake of the length. That clean feeling = drying and dangerous for your hair. I know that. I just wish somebody had warned me that sulphate free shampoo = no bubbles.  :( :( So this new wash requires a new method. Here’s what I’ve concluded from my experience. 1. Don’t desperately keep adding more to your hair in the hopes that bubbles will show up. They won’t. You’ll ...

  JBCO = Jamaica Black Castor Oil             I’ve been fighting the good fight against split ends and breakage. They seem to be winning but I will prevail! One of the things my hairdresser suggested is a deep oil conditioning and treatment. So I went over to get my hair did. She used JBCO and this awesomely named oil mixture called Complex 5 (you can check it out HERE on Amazon). My hair feels stronger and there’s lots less shedding buuuuut I had an unfortunate reaction to one of these two oils. I suspect the JBCO because I’ve read about other people having the same reaction. My scalp began to itch! I didn’t notice at first. I just thought it was a few random itches.  But when I started scratching at work!! I wouldn’t realize it but two hours into my work day I’d go to the bathroom (drinking lots of water makes you pee lots and lots and lots) and notice that my hair wasn’t as together as it shou...

Yup It's another black girl hair blog. If you're like me, you've come across some amazing women on the interwebs doing awesome things with their hair. And the one thought going through your (and my) mind is their hair is long! Like amazingly long . Scaringly long . How are you ever going to get to that length?? If you've stumbled across this blog then it means you're trying to grow your hair out and can't figure out where to start. There aren't enough blogs out there that show women at the beginning of the Healthy Hair Journey (which is where I am) so hopefully this'll help you. Maybe we can start together?? How Did This Start?      I put on a gorgeous long weave this christmas and loved the way I looked in it. I'd been holding myself back mentally from long hair because I thought I'd sweat too much, my neck would feel uncomfortable etc. It's true that did happen, but I found that the good outweighed the bad. So I decided for my New...