Guess What I did?

So on April 16th,  after a long day at work, I decided to go ahead and chop off my relaxed ends.  Yup, I finally did it. I must say that I did not have a huge reaction, there were no water works, or weight lifted from my shoulders. It took a while to settle in, and when I touch my hair I still don't feel like its mine. Maybe because it really is quite coilier (is that a word) than I thought it would be. I've received mixed reactions, but no one has said they hate it (not that this would matter very much). I do feel a little insecure at times, but I'm pretty sure this is due to the fact that I'm used to relying on my long hair to make me feel more attractive and I'm still learning what to do with what I have right now.

All in all I adore it, the only issue I have is shrinkage. Don't get me wrong, I knew it would shrink up like crazy, my issue is that it takes on a weird shape when it shrinks up because not all of it shrinks. The "type 3" sections don't shrink up very much (which is to be expected), but then there are the sections above my ears that are definitely "type 4" but they don't like to shrink up at all. So I just look crazy when shrinkage sets in. Not Cool.

This is my hair soaking wet with Knot Today on it, I was about to do a "wash n go" with KCCC. There were still a few straight pieces left that I'm still working on getting rid of.  That "wash n go" did not work out and I turned it into a coil out (kinda, sorry no pic)

This is my first twist out, I loooooved it, and even as it got frizzy I still loved it. I tried to do another one on dry hair and it was not good. Right now my hair is in twists and I like the ease of it, but wouldn't mind having my halo of hair back. 

So this might be my last post, I know, I know,  no need for tears ; ). I'll be starting grad school in the fall and I plan to spend the summer re-modeling my living space. And on top of that my crazy a** schedule at work is getting to me (as you can tell from the lack of updates). I just don't have time for much of anything other than work these days and I suspect it will only get worse with the addition of school.  

Anyhooo, until next time, (maybe?)

My One Year Transitioniversary

So I made it through one year of transitioning!!! It almost passed without me even noticing it. I still had my hair in the box braids on the actual date, so I didn't do anything special to it. I've decided (tentatively) that I will continue to transition. I know, I'm so indecisive, but I really do plan to continue. After I took my braids out, I did my usual braid out, and I was so in love with how much hair I had. It was so big, and long too. Maybe I just missed my hair because it was it was braided away for two weeks and before that it was hidden away in a bun. But either way, I was happy to see my hair with so much volume and length, so I decided that the saga must continue even though I cut some of it off.

My new growth is still a bit short, specifically the really kinky areas, so I don't wanna BC quite yet. The other thing that made me change my mind is my Tangle Teezer. Boy oh boy, that thing is simply wonderful, not to mention the fact that I finally got it through my head that I needed to detangle in smaller sections. Before the Tangle Teezer, I could never get my fingers through my hair from root to tip, and I mean NEVER. No wide tooth comb ever did that for me.

Wash day has been a dreadful experience for about the last 5 months or so, but the last few times I washed my hair I practically enjoyed it. I was shocked! Now when I finish detangling, I don't want to chop it all off or rip it out. So detangling and wash day are no longer obstacles in my transitioning journey. The only issue is styling at this point, and I can always fall back on bunning when that begins to annoy me. I haven't set a date for when I will end my journey, because it could be any time. I would like to go for another year (or two lol), but quite frankly I don't know if I'll last that long. So I will begin my search for a natural hair stylist to do my BC and once I find her (and it gets warm) I'll just let the spirit move me and BC when I feel like it ; )

Until Next time, deuces

Straight Hair and a Cut

So I finally got around to cutting my hair. First I blew my hair out on medium with my Denman D31, which gave me super fluffy and soft hair. I would have just worn my hair blown out like that, but I knew it would have to be straight for my stylist to trim it. I then straightened with my Instyler, two passes on my new growth and one pass on my relaxed ends.

It came out quite well, and I loved the fluffy texture of my new growth much better than the stick straightness of my relaxed ends. I couldn't believe how long my hair had gotten and I came really close to only getting a small trim.

However, I got in the chair at the salon, threw caution to the wind and told her to take off at least four inches. Her mouth dropped open and she said I had no reason to take off that much because my hair wasn't breaking at the LOD. However, she did end up giving in and she cut off a good amount (not sure how many inches). I'm back to APL and I have layers again, and the longest layer is only about 1 or 2 inches from BSL, all of which I love.


So the straight hair only lasted about a week. I was eager to get back to my braid outs and to see the new length with my go-to style. I was pretty happy with it, and doing my hair seemed a bit easier (probably because of the Tangle Teezer) so I decided to try cornbraids again and I loved the look, but my ends still fell flat after the third day, so I bunned for the rest of the week (as usual). The only difference is that on the first day my hair got really big. I lost some definition in the front so I had to improvise, I usually walk around with a headband in my handbag, but it looks like it was in there too long. I finally found it at the bottom of my bag, but the elastic in it had....melted? It was horrible and sticky, but luckily one of my coworkers had a hair pin. So I did manage to tame it. My roots may have lasted longer if I had kept the braids in for a few days, but time doesn't always allow for that. Anyway here's a pic:

Detangling Tools and Saving my Transition

Over the past year of my hair journey, I've searched high and low, far and wide for the best tool to detangle my hair with.

Initially my hair journey started as a relaxed healthy hair journey and I already had a wide tooth comb, so I used that only and stayed away from my tail comb except for parting. Anyway, after my decision to stop relaxing my hair, my old wide tooth comb didn't seem to quite cut it anymore. At this point I purchased the Jilbere shower comb and then another Sally's brand wide tooth comb. I then tried out the famous Denman brand and finally a Tangle Teezer brush.

The Wide Tooth Comb:

This comb did an okay job of detangling my hair when I barely had any new growth. But as my hair grew out more, it became more difficult to comb through my hair with it. I then decided to get a comb with even wider set teeth. It seemed to do the trick initially, I would start with my ends and work my way up the root combing out tangles (after some finger detangling). However, after my hair was combed out I was unable to comb from root to tip, and then trying to braid was a nightmare. It was like I detangled, but my hair was still tangled. Bottom line, it felt kind of pointless at times. 

Denman D31:

So I continued to use my comb and I just assumed it was detangling my hair the best way possible. However, as the little relaxer free sections got longer, I began to see that those ends were not fully combed out*. I would twist those sections separately and the ends felt horrible and did not curl up or smooth down at all. So after much deliberation and flip flopping, I finally decided to purchase the D31. There was NO WAY I was gonna get the D3, I mean come on those bristles are sooo close together so that's why I decided on the D31. I wanted something with even wider set bristles, but the paddle brushes had balls at the ends and for some reason I think my hair would get caught on them. Anyway, the Denman D31 was not good for detangling my hair overall. Don't get me wrong, it detangles quite well, but I could hear my hair breaking and see it coming out. I would have to detangle with a comb first and then go through in TINY sections to keep my hair from breaking off. So in the end it doesn't seem worth it as a detangling tool for me. However, I used it to blow out my hair and it was absolutely perfect, my old round brush couldn't hold a candle to it. And I also used it to get every tangle out of my hair when I did my box braids, and I think it helped to keep my hair tangle free for the take down almost two weeks later. So the Denman D31 is a good styler for me. 

Tangle Teezer:

I saw the Tangle Teezer get reviewed by someone whose hair was nothing like mine and it seemed to work for her, but I didn't pay it much attention. I went to Sally's one day for something else and I happened to see it there, so I did a little inspection. I was not impressed. I thought, "those tiny little bristles are supposed to detangle my hair without yanking it out of my scalp, that's a joke." So I left it. The following day (literally) I saw a review on CurlyNikki with a girl who had hair similar to mine. My wheels began to turn because it did amazing things for her, so I looked up a few more reviews and I was sold. By the end of the week I had my very own Tangle Teezer. I must say it's the best detangling tool I've used so far. I decided that I needed to use smaller sections in general to detangle with because it was obvious that my head of hair could not be detangled in six sections. So I'm up to about 12-14 sections and detangling actually goes faster now. The Tangle Teezer detangles my hair and keeps it detangled, and I don't hear as much snapping or feel any pulling like I did with the Denman D31. However, I'm used to losing only a little hair, like I did with the comb, so seeing the amount of hair that comes out with the Tangle Teezer is a bit unnerving. However, for me the pros outweigh the cons, and I actually like wash day now. I used to despise detangling, but it's almost an enjoyable experience now. Yes I said enjoyable (almost anyway) so I'll stick with it right now unless something better comes along. 

Overall, I feel that what makes the Tangle Teezer different is the fact that the bristles are soooo pliable, and yet they are well cemented into the base which is not pliable at all. The Denman D31 has a pliable base, but the bristles are pretty hard and have a very small amount of flexibility. So when the Tangle Teezer bristles will graze the tangles in my hair, the Denman D31 bristles will end up pulling through them, leading to more breakage. 

However, the bristles in my Tangle Teezer are so pliable that they look like they won't last very long, so I'm actually already on the hunt to find a back up, Sally's is already sold out and I'm not a fan of paying for shipping so I'll just have to wait and see if they ever come back in stock. To sum up, the Tangle Teezer pretty much saved my transition : )

*Sidenote: I cut the relaxed ends off of two very small sections a while back to see what my shrinkage and texture would be like once I BC. 

Adventures in the Land of Henna

So I did a henna treatment again. This time I used store bought henna and well..... I won't be doing that again. When I opened the package it was in a plastic bag and the inside of the box was different than the other one I used before. Both were Jamila henna and had the same exact picture on the outside, but this one had 'henna for hair' written all over the inside of the box. I was a little concerned, so I did a strand test (well actually it was more of a hair clump test on shed hair). The hair came out just fine, so I decided to go for it.

The henna itself was fine, however I found a few pieces of plastic in it. Yes!!! Plastic!!! in my henna!!! Oh and it wasn't from the plastic bag that it came in, it was simply random pieces of plastic. Initially I thought, "oh, leaves" but then I rinsed them off and saw that they were plastic. SMDH. So no more buying from that store and it's the only one in my area, so back to online vendors for me.

I left out the oils and conditioner in hopes of getting the full effects of the dye release. And I also left the henna on for an extra hour, but everything else was done pretty much the same way. In the end, my hair looked almost no different from the first time I did it. The results were almost identical, the color was only a little more noticeable than the last time, but detangling didn't seem any different and my hair still didn't feel stronger. I'm starting to think that the time it takes to do a henna treatment is just not worth the outcome. 

I will try again though (glutten for punishment that I am), but next time no Jamila. I will probably purchase from Mehandi.com, they have a pretty good looking henna selection, so we'll see. I think two more tries and if the results aren't any better then no more henna at all.

Until next time, Deuces ; )

Hair Break Update

So....

Remember when I posted that I would be taking a REAL break from my hair? Well I tried and it was only partly successful. 

Style 1:

Wet Bunning = Super Tangles

I wet bunned for a full week with quite a bit of gel, mid week I cowashed the gel out of my hair and re-did the bunning process. At the end of the week I did my deep conditioning process and then I tried to detangle my hair. OMG, I've never seen tangles that big in my hair, at one point I actually contemplated cutting them out.  Even though it looked pretty good and it was simple, I'll NEVER be doing that again. Well, at least not for a full week.

wet buns look better to me now that I have more new growth

Style 2:

Stretched Hair Bun = Fail + Hat

I detangled my hair and then re-braided into the same detangling sections and tried to put my hair in a bun. That was a big fat JOKE. I could not get my hair into a ponytail for the life of me (I'm assuming the braids were probably not tight enough). So I saw that my ends were pretty wavy, and decided to throw on a hat. I wore a hat all week, which is no biggie with my current job : ).

Style 3:

Small braids = Mixed emotions

I took a night and a day and did some box braids without the boxes. I did not part my hair, I simply pulled small sections out and braided with a soft hold gel. I started with the back and ended up doing them too big, so I did the front in smaller sections, but I wasn't going to go back and do the bigger sections over again. The first week I did small flat twists in the front, but I didn't like it, so the second week I took them out and did box braids instead. 

It was great not having to really do anything to my hair mid week, no restyling was required whatsoever, yay. I did curl the ends to hold the braids better, but I wore buns and french braids for the most part. I only wore it down once and with a hat. I also co-washed on wednesday of the second week in tight braids, because my scalp was acting up. I liked the fact that I could get to my scalp, and I left the braids in so I got a nice braid out effect. 

I did not like the fact that so much of my scalp was visible. I thought the roots would look thick and the ends would look thin, but all of it looked thin. I have a massive head of hair, and to see it look so thin was not a pleasant experience. There was no volume no matter what I did, so even though it gave me a break I don't think I'll be doing it again. Next time I want a break like this, I will most likely do twists.

I'm currently taking them out, and I'm not experiencing much tangling at all, so that's a major plus. I think this may be due to the gel that made my hair feel super soft, and the fact that after I detangled I used a Denman D31 to smooth (more on that experience later).

you can see that the ones in the back are bigger

close-up showing the visible scalp

Hiatus

Hello Readers,

Please excuse my absence, I've been trying to get my life together. I'm applying to grad school and getting used to my schedule at my new job, so at this point I'm definitely feeling pretty overwhelmed. I do have quite a few updates as far as my hair goes though:

1. New Ultimate DC recipe
2. 2nd Henna experience
3. My one year Transitioniversary (I really like making up words), and other transition updates
4. Possible Tangle Teezer Review (I will not be one to do a lot reviews, but this might be worth writing about)

So, please stay tuned.

Lacquer Addiction

I went nuts again. I wore........ are you ready for this....blue.

Rimmel Midnight Blue, the deepest darkest, navy blue with blue shimmer (see totally nuts) that I could find. For some reason I went on a hunt for an almost black navy blue, I think it's because I fell in love with the almost black purple that I bought at the end of the summer, MAC Dark Angel, and I wanted the same effect but with a different color. I saw this blue and fell in love instantly, in the bottle anyway. It's still growing on me though as a full manicure. Initially I hated it, and my mom said it makes my nails look like I was poisoned or I'm not getting enough oxygen (lol). I think it screams vixen, but it's also a little goth, which I like and I don't like. Anyway, the formula was great, it's the first Rimmel polish I've ever used and I was pleased to find that it only took two coats for full coverage and the brush is the perfect size for my nails; a little wide, but not too crazy. I will certainly be buying more from this brand, I just wish there was more color variety.

Lacquer Addiction

So I totally went off the deep end and completely lost my mind. I wore GLITTER for a full week!!! Oh yeah and I think I'm in love, go figure. So this manicure was done for Christmas, I know I know the pic is super mega ultra late, but *drumroll* I got a new camera and I just figured out how to use it. Anyhoo, back to the manicure, I used OPI Oh So Glam which is a milky white with really fine gold shimmer. I then used a sponge to literally dab on Orly Luxe which is a gold foil (that I absolutely adore) and then one final coat on top with Orly Hair band which is just a gold glitter polish. I'm sorry for the picture quality, like I said I'm still working on the camera.

I was going for a gradient effect and I think I did pretty well for my first time. In real life, you can see the   fading effect a lot better


Below is a tutorial that I followed from one of my favorite nail polish bloggers, hope you enjoy:

Transitioning Your Mind?

So when I first started my journey, I heard (and read) other women saying that you have to transition your mind while you are transitioning to natural hair. What??? I mean transition my mind? is it that serious? I already like the way natural hair looks on other women, what's the big deal? Geez these people need to chill, what are they even talking about? It's just hair, so there's no way I'll have to put that type of effort into it, right?

Well knock me over with a feather, turns out they were right. I've learned along the way that you will have to change your perception of what is acceptable and attractive on you. For most of us with curly, kinky, natural, nappy, etc. hair.... it will frizz and that is a fact. As a transitioner (or woman with natural hair) you have to embrace your halo of frizz, it comes with the territory. However, when you spend years of your life with pin straight relaxed (or pressed) hair, you become accustomed to perfectly smoothed down or tamed hair. If your hair isn't perfectly in place you know it's time for a touch up and feel like crap because the whole point in relaxing your hair is to make it look smooth and tame. When I was still relaxing, I would get so jealous of girls (usually the ones on TV) who never looked like they needed a touch up, but I almost always did. My hair would only lay perfectly for about three weeks. By week 4, I was in hell because my hair simply refused to lay flat and there was no way I was going to relax every four weeks, so I just suffered in silence (well actually I wasn't silent, I complained constantly). And I know I'm not the only one, because I know women who would never let their hair go for more than 4 weeks without a touch up (even though it clearly states 6-8 weeks on the box) and they would practically go into a depression if they couldn't get it done. And lets face it, for most of us if we don't like the way our hair looks we are NOT HAPPY.

Taming our hair when we were still relaxing usually equaled wrap and go, flat iron to death, or easy ponytail. Now, you can weigh your hair down with product and plaster on the gel, or continue to flat iron to death while your transitioning to re-create this look your used to, but your hair will NOT behave the same way. If you don't change the way that you think of your hair then your transition will not be successful and you will most likely go back to a relaxer or heat damage your hair to smithereens. It's not easy by any means, but over time you will learn to embrace your frizz halo and even take pride in it.

One night early on in my transition I tried to wear my hair half up and half down on an old bantu knot out, but the front wasn't laying down no matter what I did. I ended up throwing on a hat and telling myself (out loud, yes I talk to myself out loud at times lol) to accept the fact that my hair would never lay down like it used to. And don't get me wrong, that one little heart to heart didn't do the trick all on it's own, but it was a pretty good start. So the point is, in order to transition successfully you have to accept your new hair on a mental level.


I hope my rambling will shed a little light and spark a little hope in someone who is having a hard time understanding why their transition isn't going well.
Until next time, deuces ; )

I Relaxed My Hair!!!! and Other Updates

In a dream that is lol

Ok, so I finally had the infamous relaxer dream a few nights ago and well it wasn't all that terrifying. In the dream I ended up relaxing my hair myself (which is something I would never do). I texlaxed my entire head and when I was done I wanted to pee my pants because I realized that all of my relaxed hair would probably fall out due to the over-processing. Surprisingly though, I didn't get any burns and I was actually happy with the way it looked. However, in the morning I was even happier to wake up and find that my hair was still in transition mode. Or am I? 

The truth is I am SICK OF TRANSITIONING!! My hair is breaking (a little), it's VERY difficult to detangle and I KNOW it's because of the relaxed portion, no style will last for more than a day and I have to manipulate it all the time to make it look halfway decent. But on the flip side, I love the way my new growth looks, I love the way my hair looks after it's styled and I love my current length. So I just can't seem to decide whether or not it's worth all the trouble to keep transitioning. I know if I BC at my one year mark 1/22/11, I will not be happy. One year's worth of new growth is just too short for me. I guess I'm still pretty hung up on length after all, because the thought of having a TWA is simply unappealing (which is completely nuts, because I love seeing it on other girls). And at the same time, I'm starting to think that it is not possible to transition for very long with my hair texture and thickness, because the relaxed and natural hair are just TOO different to exist at the same time. The youtube channels that I watch and blogs that I visit with long term transitioners with "type 4" hair are very helpful for tips and advice but they all seem to have "4a/3c" hair. I didn't realize that even though our hair looks similar or just because a girl may describe her hair the same way that I do doesn't mean that it will behave the same. I don't think they are experiencing the same type of issues that I am, because only about half of my head has the same "hair type" as theirs and the middle back portion is VERY tightly coiled and always presents problems when I want to detangle and/or style. 

So I guess when I really think about it what I need to do is; stop looking at other's videos for certain tips  (specifically detangling), be more patient and focus on MY hair's needs not necessarily someone else's advice. Many times when I ask for tips on the forums that I visit, people regurgitate the same info, and it simply doesn't do much for me. I've tried almost everything that's out there, so maybe it's time I just sit down patiently and focus on what my hair seems to respond to. I think I'll have to let my PJism come out again and maybe even start mixing again, because the usual way of doing things just isn't working. And maybe the techniques will work but they won't allow me to detangle in 30 minutes, maybe my hair simply takes more time to detangle. Anyway, as a result of all of this, I've decided to take a break from my hair, a real break. I plan to wear a hat to work for the next few weeks and wigs if I plan to go anywhere. No braidouts for a while, I will only try to stretch my new growth and keep my relaxed ends as tangle free as possible (hence my braidout fast). I will also try to bun on dry stretched hair a few times. However, I seriously doubt it will work, I think I can only bun my hair when it's wet but it wouldn't hurt to at least give it a try. Hopefully this break will last until my one year mark when I plan to straighten my hair. I'll keep you posted.

Until next time, deuces ; )

Nail Lacquer Addiction (second only to chocolate)

This week I wore another color that I've worn before, which is very much unlike me. But I think it's because of the season, this is only my second winter since the affair began and I'm so particular about the colors I'll wear that I haven't ventured out much into wearing seasonally appropriate colors. I prefer bright and/or light colors, and so last winter I was not necessarily interested in wearing dark colors just because it was cold outside. In my experience, sometimes looking at a bright nail color can brighten up your day, especially when its dark and dreary for days on end.

ALSO, for some reason I have been getting into darker colors lately. I think this is due to the fact that manufacturers are coming out with different shades of deep colors, so there's more of a range for me to fall in love with. So last winter I mixed it up a little, with dark and bright colors, but mainly I stayed away from the dark ones (mostly because I didn't really own any until this summer). Anyhoo, this week I wore another  OPI color called No Spain, No Gain. This is one of my favorite colors, because I think I can wear it anywhere. It's not so dark as to make anyone wonder if I'm gothic, and not too bright so that anyone wonders why I'm wearing this color to work.

It looks a lot brighter in the pics but I'm neither a lighting nor photography expert so forgive me. In normal lighting (i.e. without flash) it is a very deep berry color. I could imagine myself wearing a lipstick this color and feeling s-e-x-y, if I wore lipstick that is. It is definitely one of my favorites now that I've worn it for a second time because it's so versatile. It isn't too attention grabbing, but it's far from boring The first time I wore it, I was too scared of deep colors, and in my mind's eye it made my hands look old (it's funny how I don't see that anymore). This pic was taken about six days after the initial application and as you can see there's only some tipwear and a small chip on my thumb (and it does look worn down a bit) but very good overall. Gotta love OPI

Until next time, deuces ; )

Awesomeness: Failed Attempt to Salvage a Failed Attempt

So, I decided to try a large, dry flexi rod set this past week. I got the idea from fgrogan on Youtube, she's not transitioning but she did do a year long stretch, so I've been watching some of her videos lately. She did hers at about 7 or 8 months post, so even though I'm a bit further along now that she was when she did it, I thought it might work. Well, I was wrong.

I was expecting that I might be able to sort of hide my new growth with a head band or something and that I would have huge curls but.....I wasn't quite expecting it to be THIS big. I don't think the pics capture just how big my hair was, I'm talking @ least 4 inches high.

BTW I am NOT leaning my head forward in this pic the hair was just that big

I guess it wasn't that bad in retrospect, but I couldn't handle it, how would one even begin to put all of that in a ponytail to bun it. Anyhoo, I decided to try to twist the sections in about 2-3 twists and set them on flexi rods. And I'm not sure why but (as you can see) my hair was pretty dry so I took the opportunity to put some moisturizer on my new growth. I also added some Giovanni mousse because it's the lightest one I have and I didn't want the twists to stick together too much.

This is the result at my attempt to salvage the original failed set. As you can see the height has diminished, but I still don't like it. It isn't horrible, but I don't like my hair to be wavy and curly @ the same time. It needs to be one or the other for me to like it. However, I wore it to work and it really wasn't all that bad, I actually got a compliment on it.
I think I might even just wear it like this all week : O

Why you say? Why would I wear it all week if I think it failed, well I'm a glutton for punishment. But seriously, I wanna give it a chance to grow on me, mainly because it was really easy to do, and it's something that I could do over nightly.

So because of this experience, I decided that I will have to do the one thing that I have been trying to avoid like poison, like the plague, like a perm! I decided a long time ago that I would do everything in my power to get around this one thing. I have been experimenting with different products and styles just to avoid it. But it finally caught up with me, I will do my hair over EVERY NIGHT!!! *passes out dramatically and hits the floor*

I've come to this decision because I'm really liking the freshly done look. And because I don't do my hair over at night I'm forced to bun pretty much everyday and I'm just exceptionally bored with it. I'm going to seek out a style that won't require more than an hour of nightly re-setting, that won't cause too much pulling and tugging and doesn't require combing. But I will still take breaks from the manipulation and bun in between, not sure how often though.

Well until next time, deuces ; )

Transitioning Troubles- The Two Texture Battle

So, I think I figured out why detangling transitioning hair is so difficult. For the last few months, detangling has been a huge obstacle during my transition. I've tried several conditioners and detanglers, with slippery ingredients like silicones and/or behentrimonium methosulfate (trying saying that five times fast) with little improvement. I can hear my hair snapping every time I detangle, and I see little pieces on my clothes. Don't get me wrong when I was frying my hair with heat styling tools there was at least about 10x more (at least being the key term), so I'm not terrified but it's still cause for concern.

Anyway, today as I was detangling I noticed that the more detangling product I put on my new growth, the easier it was to comb through, but the more product I put on my relaxed hair the more difficult it was to comb through. WTH, how is that possible? Well my theory is that relaxed hair really shouldn't be combed wet because the straight strands are more likely to tangle and stick together and because they're a bit weaker than my natural hair, they are easier to break. So while the comb is almost gliding through my saturated coils, it gets caught on my saturated relaxed hair (@ the LOD). And then on the other hand, when I don't saturate my hair with product, my new growth becomes the issue and the tangles from there travel down with the comb into my relaxed hair, slowing down the detangling process and resulting in some snappage also.

Normally, this small amount of breakage wouldn't bother me. But, I know that there are women who are transitioning who experience no breakage at all, and I want to continue my transition as long as possible so I would rather stop the breakage altogether. Now that I've figured out the issue maybe I can take steps to make the process easier. I used to think that when it came to detangling the more product I put all over the better, but I guess that's just not the case. Just like with moisturizing, more product is not required for my relaxed hair. Go figure.

Until next time, Deuces

Bad Hair Week!

This past week, I did my usual plait/cornrow braid out. I wore my hair half up and half down on Monday, and then wore some sort of bun for the rest of the work week. I will have to get used to working an extra day every week now that I'm working full time, and my hair is reflecting that.

I flat twisted the front a few nights before bed in order to keep definition, and because it is easier and faster than braiding. Well ummm, that did not work out very well. For some reason the hair did not want to stay down, so I put on a headband thinking that would help, but it was like putting an ill fitting band aid on a gaping wound. So my hair was sticking up from Tuesday to Thursday, awesome right. Anyway, I gave up on Friday and gelled down my edges and nape with a small hump in the front. It is by far NOT my best bun, but it came out okay considering what it looked like before. I spritzed with water, put on some leave-in and then put on some gel (not too much, maybe just a teaspoon full), and finally put a scarf on to hold everything in place. So here are the results, I think it's really just another band aid, but it seemed to at least be the appropriate size this time.

So, I will be washing my hair today, and trying a new style. Fingers crossed, but if it sucks I'll find a way to just bun it. I'll be sure to post pics, too.

Until next time, Deuces ; )

Nail Lacquer Addiction (second only to chocolate)

Hello all, this week I started a new job (finally *huge cheese* while I pat myself on the back), so I wanted to do a very work safe color for this week's manicure. I think it is important for every woman to have safe colors for work and job interviews. It's okay to use just plain clear polish, but there are definitely colors that are okay for work. It's also important to pay attention to the atmosphere; how lenient management is, and the colors that your new co-workers wear. I decided to wear Dulce de Leche by OPI, which is one of my favorite colors, ever. I gave it away to my aunt (after a brief struggle) and then I went out and bought another one, because I felt like I couldn't live without it.

 I consider it a "white lady nude", because I think it is meant to be a nude, but lets be frank most nudes are not meant for us women of color, hence the above description. Anyway, nudes are definitely on the list of colors that are safe for work, they add sophistication without catching too much attention or being distracting. I have no idea why, but I love these colors against my skin tone, they don't match but they go with my skin color (in my head anyway) so I think they're perfect.

I would describe this color as a nude for a tan woman, with pink undertones. The wear on most OPI polishes is wonderful, and this one did not disappoint. It has been about five or six days and I barely have any tip wear and one tiiiny chip. It took about three coats because it was a bit streaky, but I don't mind doing three coats. It appears more pink on me in the pic than it does in real life and most lighting, but in general it looks more like the color of the inside of my hand. So without further ado, here's this week's manicure right after it was done:

Oh and while at work, I made sure to pay attention to the nails of the ladies around me, and I found a fellow addict who was wearing black polish, so I definitely think I will be taking more color risks (super excited).

Until next time, Deuces

This Week's Regimen

This past wash day, I was feeling pretty lazy so I shortened my process and I must say that I had a positive experience and I might do this from now on. I put plain detangling conditioner onto my hair after doing some dry finger detangling (very little) and sectioned my hair into six braids. I slathered some honey on top and a few minutes later, I rinsed it out. I co-washed with one of my other regular conditioners and then used a T-shirt to dry my hair. When my hair was about 85% dry, I used another conditioner (Aussie Moist) as a leave in sealed with coconut oil, detangled my hair and then put it in braids.

This took less time overall, and I like the idea of only detangling once. Initially I was afraid to only detangle after my hair had been washed because adding water to my hair curls it up (obviously) and that can create tangles. So I would try to detangle about 60% before I let my hair get soaking wet. But the tangles weren't much worse than usual (this may be due to the Aussie Moist being used like a leave in, but I can't be sure). Next wash day I will do a similar process, but I will use my regular DC mixture. So there won't be much of a difference other than I won't detangle before I wash my hair and I will put conditioner in as a leave in on mostly dry hair and then detangle and style from there.

I'll try this regimen for a few weeks and see how it works for me before I make a final decision to change my regimen. It's important to try things out a few times before coming to a final verdict, but the fact of the matter is......I have no patience. In my head if something is good it should work immediately. But despite my impatience, I will continue to try this regimen. However, I would like to try a different style though, my messy braidout bun is getting on my nerves, but we'll see.

Deuces ; )

Nail Lacquer Addiction (second only to chocolate)

Ok so I'm pretty obsessed with nail polish, I visit nail blogs on a daily basis, I can't go into a store without checking out their nail polish selection and there have been times when I spend my last on a color that I've fallen in love with. I am very picky about the colors I am willing to wear though; I'm not a fan of green, blue, red, black, glitter, shimmer or frost. I love cremes and I'm always on the hunt for a new unique color that compliments my skin tone. I do a full manicure once a week and rarely wear the same color twice --- not because I don't want to but because there's always a color that I have been waiting to try and if I'm going to do my manicure over I might as well use a new color. Pedicures are a different story, if my polish isn't chipped I'll go 3-4 weeks without changing it. Pedis are a lot of work so I normally do them bi-weekly if I have the time. Right now I currently have 96 colors that I've been collecting since last summer (and I've given a few away too), yeah it's kind of a problem.

So anyway, here's this week's manicure, Revlon Hot for Chocolate a very very deep dark brown. It looks like the ultimate chocolate brown in the bottle but unfortunately it looks pretty black once it's on. However, I was surprised to find that I actually still liked it. I wasn't quite devoid of ummmmm light (?) like black nail polish is, it doesn't look anywhere near as harsh against my skin. Revlon is one of my favorite brands because you get great wear and they have a pretty good range of colors for the price. I don't have a single chip even after wearing it for 6 days, I only have some tip wear. Anyway here's a pic of the manicure right after I did it.

Henna Time! (MC Hammer Style)

I finally did a henna treatment last weekend (yay me right?). I used green tea, coconut milk, and conditioner to mix my henna, let it sit over night for dye release. Then the next day I put it on my hair and let it sit for a little over 4 hours. It was weird, my hair was still dripping orange water after several co-washes and a shampoo. I would rinse my hair out until the water ran clear, but then I would add conditioner and try to rinse again and the water would be orange again, so I assume that the dye was still releasing (Idk, maybe I should research that more, too late now lol). 

Anyway, my hair is a really dark brown, but most people might think it's black from a far. For visual reference, 1B hair (weave) tends to be a bit too dark for me. Anyway, I thought the henna would replace my brown with a deep and dark red, but it didn't. My hair just looks almost black now, and the ends (the lightest part) look like they just barely got a red tint and still have some of its original brown. I did take pics but you can't see the difference (good luck guessing which is before and which is after). 

I did not experience easier detangling nor a feeling of increased strength. Not cool. But there is hope yet, many have said that the more you use henna the better it works on your hair, so I will definitely use it again, probably early January before I decide that it simply doesn't work for me. ALSO, I used the Jamila Henna 2010 crop (http://www.butters-n-bars.com/index.html), and I read that different crops will give you a slightly different effect, so I may consider trying a different crop next time, perhaps the 2009 or something other than the Jamila. AND I can always try not adding conditioner, which is said to dilute the effects (less dye uptake, less positive effects). Eh, we'll see. 

Oh, and by the way, I am also considering altering my weekly regimen. I know I just posted it, but I'm learning that as my hair gets longer I have to switch things up to keep me from hacking away at the stuff, and I really am leaning towards holding on to some length for a while.

Anyway, I'm outta here.

Homemade Recipes

In the beginning of my hair journey, I had aspirations of becoming a mixtress but they were soon dispelled.  I was too lazy to bother with the research and work it would take to find the right recipes. However, I do have a shea butter whip recipe and I add extra ingredients to my deep conditioner. There are a few recipes that I have tried and others that I still intend to try though.


Shea Butter Whip:
8 oz shea butter (softened but not melted)
2 TBSP aloe vera gel
1/2 cup coconut oil (use 1 cup to stretch the batch)
20 drops of favorite EO (I use tangerine oil for the scent)
Put all ingredients in a bowl and use hand mixer to blend, the more you mix the fluffier it will get, and the less lumps you'll have. My mixture comes out like really fluffy frosting.

Deep Conditioner:
I don't measure the amount of each ingredient I put in this mixture, I eyeball it. First, I put the amount  of conditioner I think I will need into a small bowl, I add about a tablespoon of honey and then add about an ounce or so of olive and coconut oil, mix everything up and apply. First I detangle with a watered down sprayable version of my DC, and then I apply the undiluted remnants to my hair, focusing on the line of demarcation as well as my ends. Finally, I apply a handful of honey to all of my hair and sit under  a hooded dryer for 15-30 minutes (depending on my mood). The honey makes my hair super soft, but I find that if I put too much in my DC mix, my hair is difficult to detangle. So I decided to add the honey as a last step and I get great results.

I've made my own DC from scratch as well, I blended an avocado, 1/2 can of coconut milk, 1Tbsp honey, and a few ounces of olive/coconut oil. This was just as good as any other store bought conditioner but not better, so I don't use it anymore. Honestly, I thought it would make my hair easier to detangle, but it did no such thing, so I decided it wasn't worth the process of blending, etc. But if one has the patience/time then its a good DC.


Overall mixing is ok, but I don't like it enough to look for the proper emollients, preservatives, etc to make my own products. I'll leave it mainly to the professionals and only mix things that I can't find in a store for a reasonable price.