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 ; )