That damn dry itchy scalp

Its no secret that I have an issue with dry scalp. It itches like mad. At one point before I started my current shampooing situation my scalp was so dry and flaky it was white. My scalp was a huge mess and completely angry with me. 

Everyone keeps saying did you put enough grease on your scalp and I have to tell them grease don't always help with dryness. It especially didn't help with the type of dryness I was experiencing. Heat would cause a lot of itching. My scalp would be sore from the scratching. At one point I had to ice my scalp is one particular section because it hurt so bad.  I was at a point where I wanted to cut all of my hair off and cry.  It might not seem like a big thing to other people but I was in hell. It was so hard living in Florida there is tons of heat and heat seemed to be like the lighter fluid that started the fire of itchiness in my scalp. 

I was shopping at the body shop and found ginger shampoo. Ginger has many healing properties and let me tell you that soothing scalp is one of them. It can help with digestion, nausea, the common cold and the flu. Ginger also helps with muscle pain and soreness, it can reduce chances of heart disease, and helps with cramping. I will add a website link that shows all of the uses of ginger at the bottom as well as pictures of the ginger shampoo as well as the tea tree and peppermint shampoo.

I actually mixed the two but I have to let you all know that the ginger shampoo is NOT sulfate free. My scalp stopped itching so I really don't care that it isn't sulfate free. I still have some dryness that I'm working out but my scalp isn't sore any more and it doesn't itch half as much. My favorite part is I don't have flakes every where just because I move my head. I've only used this shampoo concoction twice and each time it gets better. 

I got the peppermint tea tree shampoo from Walmart but not every wally world has one. My particular store stopped selling it so I have to go to Sally's Beauty Supply. As usual I hope this helps someone somewhere.  I will add the links to the shampoos as well just in case you don't have easy access to the products. Any questions feel free to ask

Ginger Benefits
https://authoritynutrition.com/11-proven-benefits-of-ginger/

Ginger shampoo
http://www.thebodyshop-usa.com/hair-care-products/hair-top-rated/ginger-scalp-care-shampoo.aspx

Eden Products tea tree and peppermint shampoo
http://www.sallybeauty.com/peppermint-hair-oil/SBS-649350,default,pd.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=SHO&cm_mmc=google-_-SHO-_-cpc-_-keyword&gclid=CjwKEAjwq8y8BRCstYTm8qeT9mwSJACZGjUkZGyJz21mI5WuAMRAI7kXytwnGiheEWEznQo728AU_xoC6efw_wcB

GHE and the Baggy Method

I've been reading on the GHE or Green House Effect for hair growth. I have to admit I'm a little bit intrigued. I thought to myself all I have to do is add a little oil and a shower cap at night and my hair will grow faster? I had to take a deeper look into this thing before I decided to give it a try.

Everyone knows I want longer hair. I want waist length hair at least once in my life and then I can let that go. I'm well on my way this time but I'm wondering will this help me get there a little faster. I will post a few links for sites that I went to if you want more information. I was cruising on pinterest when I saw something and I googled one thing which led to another. I read and learned about the GHE which is done on freshly washed hair. Some of the articles I read have conflicting information. I came across one article that actually breaks down the differences and I have to admit I'm a little excited to try the baggy method.

I have to admit that I'm in need of the baggy method because I have a huge issue with moisture retention and from what I read that is one of the main results when using this. The best part is you don't have to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. It also doesn't require you to do a whole lot which is also a plus. I'm going to post the links in the order I read them. I'm sure some of you have already given this a shot or at least know about it. This may be nothing new for you but I'm a little behind the curve when it comes to some of these methods.

I hope this helps someone. With all of the craziness around us these days its nice to worry about something as trivial as hair to take you mind off the really tough stuff. Every stay safe and please try and spread some love!

http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/08/the-greenhouse-effect-ghe-a-method-to-promote-hair-growth-and-restore-moisture/

http://www.lishaunaturals.com/haircare/real-queens-green-house-effect-regimen/

A short rant

Me being a woman I sometimes just don't understand some other women's motives. What motivates you to be mean and hateful towards another woman's hair. I just don't understand. I'm pretty impartial but I have to admit that it drives me nuts when women have long beautiful hair but hide it behind weaves. I understand why some my do it but it annoys me. I don't go around talking trash about that woman (you know who you are).

In the grocery store just recently one woman complimented me on my hair I said thank you and just as I was about to move on to get what else I needed I hear a snarky comment saying its really hard trying to look beautiful with such short hair. I turned smiled and said "That just goes to show how much you know about your own texture because if you knew anything you would understand shrinkage." I pulled one of my curls down to just past my shoulder turned and then left. I could have called her out because she was wearing a weave but its not my mission to shame a woman for her hair choices.

Why can't we as a community build each other up? We see it all the time on tv. Influential women kicking, punching, biting and slinging drinks at each other. I just don't get it. If you are struggling with your hair be it natural, relaxed or weaved I want you to feel like you can read the crazy crap that I rant about and feel ok about you. In the words of Steve Harvey We are the prize. Women. I don't care if your hair is straight, wavy, curly, or nappy just celebrate the best you.

Just remember you need no ones approval for how you wear your hair. If you love it then I love it. If you decided to shave it off tomorrow then do it. We only get one go around with this thing called life and you don't want something as simple as hair to hold you back. It can and will grow back.

My rant is over and I know I was all over the place but forgive me, its my first day back to work after vacation and things went to hell and hour into my shift.

Thoughts about Protective Styles

Why do you protective style? I do it because I don't want to have to do my hair every day. I'm lazy that way and I'm ok with it. I got together with some girlfriends and hair as usual came up and the topic was protective styling. We discussed if it was necessary for hair growth because some many blogs and websites are saying no. 

One of my friends like me is just lazy. We don't want to do our hair every day and so we do styles that last longer. My go to is 2 strand twists. I love them. It takes me about 4 hours to do my hair myself but in the end it's worth it. My lazy friend wears a lot of braids. She wears it up for 1-2 months and then takes it down and let's her hair breath for a while and then back up again. 

One of my friends believes it's truly the only way her hair will grow. She wears her own hair in braids for maybe a month. I don't know how she does it because the frizz would drive me nuts. Her hair never looks frizzy though and I hate her for it but not really. She has beautiful hair and it's about shoulder length now.

My final friend has beautiful healthy hair that she keeps about medium length because she doesn't want long hair and I respect her for that. Not every one wants long hair remember my sister loves her fade and it looks great on her. Anyway my friend has gorgeous curls and doesn't protective style at all. She feels no need to  because her hair continues to grow and she keeps it  cut to the length she likes.

It's all about your preferences.

I will be posting my before and after pictures from my first month of exercise and hair grow challenge.  I'm looking slimmer and my hair is a little longer. I had to make adjustments to my hair growth options which will be explained another time

Natural hair vs Relaxers vs Weaves

I'm going to ask that whoever reads this gets all the way to the bottom before getting angry with me. I'm a pretty neutral person when it comes to hair and whatever you want to do who am I to say otherwise. I will do each section individually and state my experience and opinion.

I will start this with a quote I saw while watching the Steve Harvey show. This woman say you have to love the base you before all of the embellishment. I completely agree with that. "One of my favorite quotes is I'm beautiful in my way because God makes no mistakes."  Unknown. If you don't believe in the same God I do then that's fine as well you understand the basics of what I'm saying.

I'm going to start with relaxers because I don't remember much of my hair before that and what I do remember will go in the natural hair section. I got my first relaxer in 1997. I was 12 years old. I was the last of my cousins in that age range to get one (more detail in natural section). I thought my hair was beautiful, it  was finally straight and I could wear it down. My hair touched my shoulders and I was so excited. The burning pain was worth it in the end. Over the years I'd spent only God knows how much money to maintain it.

I'd burned my hair and had to get it cut 3 times in the 16 years I had the relaxer.  There was heat and color damage, in the end my scalp truly hated me. I itched all of the time, I had horrible dry scalp and no matter what I put on it nothing worked. My scalp was white from all of the flaky dry skin. If I put too much on it the build up was crazy. It didn't end well for me but for a long time it worked great for me and I really did love it. If someone loves getting relaxers then I'm happy for them, it just stopped working for me. I went to stylists and one was able to do something that worked but she was so dang expensive that I said forget it. I cut my hair off for the final time in 2012.

I'm going to natural hair now. When I was a little girl my mom would take down my hair Friday night and wash it every 3 weeks on a Saturday, and every Sunday evening she would braid it for the week. That was my routine until I got old enough to wash my own hair and then I was doing that part up until the summer of 1997. I got picked on a lot by my cousins and people at school and I gave into peer pressure. People said some really mean things to me, I was called a slave, or told to go back and pick cotton, the usual nappy head, and some other things. What's interesting is it was only black people who put me down.

Fast forward to 2013 and I decide I'm done. No more relaxers! My first steps were to stop my scalp from itching and to get it healthy again. I didn't realize that everyone from my cousins to a grandmother and people at school actually peer pressured me into getting a relaxer. I saw the documentary Dark Girls and it was an eye opener. One thing that struck me and I remember is when one of the ladies said, "I had been taught that straight was right." I can't say if that is an accurate quote but that's what I got from it. It made me think what does my natural hair look like? I don't remember it, was it curly? was it wavy? was it nappy? I really didn't remember. I said Ok, I'm going to give this one year and see if I can do it. I started to transition in May 2013 and here I am 3 years later still going. I officially went back to the natural do in Feb 2014.

Its a lot of work and its not at the same time. I think you have to be prepared to do it and not just get mad and cut off all of your hair because that will lead to depression and regret. I say think about it and research about it and make sure its what you want to do. Personally I wish I'd gone back natural years before I actually did.

Now for the weaves. I'm talking braids, twists and sew ins. Anything that is a way of adding hair with out it being a wig. I use to love weaves so much. I wore them all and with no problem. Now I think I might hurt someone if they mention me wearing a weave ever again. I just wore box braids for a month and I felt like I was being driven insane from the itching and dryness. I had a lot of issues. I either don't have a healthy scalp or I'm allergic to the hair. I can't get to my scalp the way I want to and it annoys the heck out of me.

It truly amazes me how women can wear weaves for long periods of time and not miss touching their scalp. I need to run my fingers through my own dang hair. What concerns me about the weaves is hearing women say they aren't beautiful without it. I'm hearing girls (under 18) say they don't love their hair and that they need a weave to be beautiful. I'm not saying weaves are bad, I'm saying love you before AND after the weave.

I don't hate any particular style. There are just styles I personally wont wear. I see women getting put down for stupid things like hair and make up and we should be building each other up and not slapping each other down. As long as you love you at your most basic then it doesn't matter what's on your head

Hair Growth

I've been reading a lot of articles about stimulating hair growth and I've read a lot of different things. This post is going to explain the things I've read and what I'm actually going to try and for how long.

The thing I hear about the most is taking pills. The hairfinity or the biotin pills. Less just face it hairfinity is just more expensive biotin and other vitamins put together. I personally don't like biotin. I looked like I was just reaching puberty with the amount of acne I got. I was told to increase my water intake and I did and nothing changed. I didn't really notice a difference in my hair but my skin was not happy. If this works for you then keep it up but it didn't work for me.

The next thing would be drinking more water. This one is hard for me because I do a lot of driving. I'm a field service tech so I'm driving from place to place and you don't want to use just any bathroom. I did need to increase my water intake because I started working out again. If you are driving a lot like I do (500+ miles a week) then you need to find dedicated restrooms that you know will be clean because you will be peeing A LOT. I try to at minimum get the recommended 8 cups a day. I don't always do it and I don't expect everyone to be able to do it either but I say give it shot. I will.

To piggy back off what I just said about the water I'm increasing my exercise. I'm 5 ft 4 inches and I weigh 172 pounds.  I'm considered overweight border line obese. I read an article that said increasing exercise will increase blood flow which includes to the scalp which stimulates hair growth. I'm not trying to get back to 120 pounds, I think I want to cap it around 150 which means I have 22 pounds to go. I'm going to start off slow because I have a foot thing and blah blah blah.

There's always the usual stuff like less manipulation, trimming the ends, and working in sections. I already do those things and will continue to do them. I only get the ends trimmed once a year. I feel that's all I really need. My cousin goes every 6 months. These are just suggestions because you know your hair better than anyone. If you don't know your hair then check with a stylist you trust. You can't just go to anyone. I've spoke to stylists who are afraid of natural hair so remember to ask questions.

The last thing I got for you is using oils for your hair. All of my friends know that I'm crazy about using pumpkin seed oil. Its my go to oil. It works best for me. I read where women say they do scalp massages with warm coconut oil once a week about 45 mins before a wash. I find that interesting because I just did the hair detox from shea butter and such. I was never a coconut oil user so I'm not really sure if it works. I think I'm going to give this one a shot for 3 months and see if there is a difference.

I'm going to do this starting June 4th to Sept 3rd. On that day I will post before and after photos. I'm going to do full body shots to give myself more motivation to actually work out because I'm lazy. The next topic will be on a debate I saw on tv regarding natural hair vs relaxers vs weaves. I'm going to express my opinion openly and if anyone feels any different let me know.

Braids and other weaves

For the past month I have been wearing braids. I've learned one very important thing my scalp hates me when I wear any extra hair. For a long time I had no issues but now my scalp itches like crazy. No one could say that I didn't moisturize my hair because I did and often but my scalp was inflamed and unhappy. 

You name it I used it. I did manage to get a half inch of new growth out of the deal but still the trauma my scalp went through was nuts. I know trauma is a very dramatic word but almost every day was torture. My scalp was constantly itching and red and nothing made it better with the exception of just regular water. I even washed the hair before use and it didn't help at all. My hair is getting longer so I guess I can do without the extra hair anyways. 

The other thing I can't deal with anymore is sew ins. I learned how to do them myself about 5 years ago with a lot of practice and now I do them for my mom every now and again. I can't deal with it, I need access to my scalp. When my hair is done in these protective styles with additional hair its just painful. I've officially decided to give up on it. I'm thinking I might be allergic to the hair. I've tried human hair and synthetic hair and its all a pain in the ass. 

I'm not saying this to discourage anyone I'm just sharing my experience. I'm all for protective styling but there's a limit for me. I wish anyone the best of luck

Coloring with natural ingredients

Ok so many of you will probably laugh at this but I attempted to lighten my hair with ingredients in the kitchen. I have to say that some of the spots were lightened but I think I need to use  more of the mixture.

The ingredients are cinnamon, honey, olive oil, conditioner, and water. Cinnamon is so hard to wash out that's why they said to add a little conditioner. I had to put the shampoo in my hair and rub back and forth almost scrubbing my hair. It was crazy, I had cinnamon everywhere. I smelled liked a cinnamon graham cracker, it was so funny.

I wish I could share some pictures but the camera isn't catching the difference in color. I made a mistake in the before and after photos by not using the same lighting.  I think I will give this another shot but this time I will use more of it and focus it one section of hair to see if there is a difference.

I did this because if I can lighten my hair without bleach then I can get color to take. My main goal is to not bleach. I did it once and my hair broke horribly. Not matter what I did to it I couldn't stop the breakage. Some people bleach and have no issues and the rest of us aren't so lucky. If you know your hair can take the bleach then I say go for it but I'm just looking for alternatives. 

Good Hair?

Since I was a young girl I was constantly being told that I have good hair. I've always wondered what that meant. I never understood it. I now can see why my hair was so different than some of my cousins.

Thinking back on my childhood some of my cousins had a bit of a raw deal. Their hair never had a chance. My aunts were beer drinkers and when using that awful medieval torture device (the hot comb) it would burn out their hair. My cousins had burned out hair and burned out scalps and at Easter time any hair that was grown was eventually damaged with the traditional candy curls.

I was having a conversation with 2 of my cousins who complained that their hair never grew. We were talking and they asked what my secret was and when I laid it out for them they didn't believe me. We set up a challenge of where I had full control over their hair for 6 months and they couldn't do anything without talking to me first. I gave them 2 hairstyles to alternate between and told them if it didn't work then I would pay them back for all of the hair products I had them buy.

The first two months had them discouraged. The problem is you just can't reverse damage and I had to make them realize this. We started with a trim, we had to get the dead ends off. When I say dead ends I mean all the damaged hair and there was a lot of it. By the time we got ready to start their hair maybe reached the ears and I boxed up almost all of their hair products. We finished the six months in January and in 6 months their hair had grown a few inches. They could see a difference and they were very excited. They have been keeping up the hair routine but adding a few new styles here and their. I wish they would let me post pictures but they were uncomfortable with it so I didn't push.

There are many myths but black hair does grow. All hair grows it just depends on how you take care of it. Moisture is one of the keys. There are no mysteries and I like to believe that all hair is good hair but its all different. One person may have beautiful wavy locks and another might have another tight set of curls. We have been taught to believe that our hair is nappy and I don't know about you but the people who made me believe my natural hair was wrong have all been black people. Next time I will post about my reasons for getting a relaxer and how I came to the conclusion that returning to natural was best for me.

Hair Challenge Over

Okay. I'm done with the hair challenge. During the process I had mixed feelings. Some days I hated it and some days I loved it. I've come to the conclusion that I will continue with parts of it. I will lay off the shea butter a little bit. While it make my hair shine it also weighs it down and I've notice while I haven't been using it my wash and gos have been more successful. While I was using the shea butter my hair would look like a mess of tangled knots.

I never use coconut oil but I do use coconut milk so this one wasn't too much of a problem for me. I prefer pumpkin seed oil. It was funny how that worked out. So how my oils got mixed up while I was sick so I couldn't smell anything so for almost 2 weeks I was using pumpkin seed oil which I sometimes use for cooking and the results were great. My hair had shine and it feels healthier. I'm just glad I didn't cook with what I thought was the pumpkin seed oil.

I do use the eco styler gel but I don't use it often enough for it to be a problem. If I have something special going on I will attempt to tighten up my edges with a little gel but that's it. I don't use it for my twists or braids. It takes me a good 8 months to go through a container. I try to stay away from gel in general.

As for the castor oil I like the Jamaican black castor oil. I was using it quite a bit but I think I will use it sparingly to see how that goes. The peppermint oil infused in the castor oil does wonder for my scalp. I've been using a peppermint shampoo for a while and that seems to help but lately my scalp has been dryer than usual. I need to find a healthy combination to make sure my scalp gets healthier.

These are just my results and it may be different for someone else. I say give it a try to see. Stay tuned because this is a twofer. I will be posting about proving to some of my cousins that black hair can grow.

The use of heat

 We hear so many things about heat and hair. Don't do this and don't do that. It seems like everything is don't. I've heard only use heat very little or not at all. I've also heard hair burns at 425-450 degrees. I hear the curl pattern will be destroyed if you use heat and so much more. Well I blow dry my hair. There is so much advice out there and it all seems to contradict what another is saying. Do I always blow dry my hair? No.

What are the different types of heat your ask? I only use the flatiron maybe twice a year because I don't want to deal with it. I do stay away from straightening combs though. You couldn't pay me to sit for a straightening comb. I had enough of that as a child. I also don't like the fact that I can't control the temperature of the comb. They also have the electric brush which I have yet to use. One of my cousins have one and she loves it.

Like I said I do blow dry my hair but I don't do it all of the time and again that is just personal preference. I know what my hair can and can't take and that's my point I know what I can do with my hair. When you are just starting over with your natural do its ok to experiment because your hair is short and if its damaged from anything you do it doesn't take much to start over. I started using low heat when I was transitioning on my hair dryer. Since I had two different textures I noticed high heat would break off the relaxed hair. My hair reacts differently now that I'm back to natural. Notice I said back to natural, I didn't go natural because I was born with this type of hair. I went to a relaxed style and now I'm back to natural. You've probably heard me say it and I will probably say it again.

Now I'm not saying go and do whatever and damage your hair but what I am saying is feel free to experiment. Hair grows. I know people say black hair doesn't grow and that's a lie, it does grow. The problem is people don't know how to take care of it but that's my next topic of discussion.

My next posts will focus on me speaking to a group of young ladies convinced that black hair can't grow and how in 6 months I changed their minds. At some point I will talk about hair color. Someone requested that I speak about a particular subject but I need to gather my thoughts on that instead of just rambling.

Hair Challenge

I'm finishing up my 3rd week of the hair challenge and I have to say I have a few mixed reviews to report. My hair does feel lighter and  softer but I'm dealing with dry scalp. Its something I've always had an issue with but it lets me know my scalp isn't get enough moisture.

I've also experienced more shrinkage than usual. My hair when stretched reaches pas my shoulder, I've been wearing 2 strand twists since last friday. I usually get a good 3 days before it looks crazy but this time I was able to get 5 days and then I retwisted them. My twists normally stop at the shoulders but this time it looks like I'm rocking a short bob and my hair is stopping just past my ears.

I do still have some build up but I think its mostly dry flaky skin from my scalp. I realized I need to step of my moisture game if I'm going to continue on with this. I like trying all of these different things but I try to keep using the same products. I don't want 8 different kinds of shampoo and conditioners in my bathroom. I mean really who has that kind of space.

I have noticed that if I don't actively moisturized my hair it looses its shine. I have to pay more attention to my hair than I thought I would. I'm still not sure how I feel about it but I'm going to until the 28th. I want to do the full 30 days to get an honest opinion. I came into this with and open mind and want to finish it with an opinion one way or the other.

My Henna Adventure as well as the Max Hydration Method

I read about Henna treatments in Better Than Good Hair. Its a book by Curly Nikki. I thought it was an interesting read and I wanted to try it so one night when I didn't have to work the next day I did it. It smelled awful. I can't think of anything that has ever smelled so bad in my life.

I followed the instructions to a T. My curl pattern didn't change at all but there was a brown tint to my hair when I was out in the sun.  My hair had a beautiful shine to it and over all my hair felt healthier. In the end it was worth it because it did great things too my hair. I did the henna treatments once a month for about 6 months. I had to stop it because at some point I do want to color my hair and you can't mix hair color and henna. One hair stylist said it looked like the hair was melting from her clients head so be careful with that.

Max Hydration Method.

I had a lot of fun with this although it took a lot of time. I really liked the results and my curls were beautiful. I would definitely do it again if I were able to keep up with it. In order to keep the beautiful curls you have to repeat part of the instructions every 3 days until your hair maintains enough moisture that you can do it every 5 days.

My curls were really crunchy like because of the curling custard I used. Everyone loved the style on me but I just couldn't keep it up. If you are going to color your hair consider waiting until you maintain enough moisture so you aren't rinsing your hair every few days.

The max hydration method took me maybe 24 hours to do every step. Some of the time includes sleeping in conditioner. I wasn't doing my hair every hour of the 24 hours. 

Annoying things people say about natural hair

I know I said I would make my next post about Henna but something recently happened that made me a little angry. This is still a hair post. I know some will say that's no reason to get mad and I wasn't really mad just a little angry. Emotions are a little complicated for me. I range from really damn mad, to pissed off, to angry, to a little angry, then ticked off. So when I say a little angry its not a lot.

These things usually happen when I'm at work. I'm a field technician which means I go around fixing things. The one particular day a guy strikes up a conversation about my hair. He said its very "afro centric" I simply asked, "What do you mean by that?' He said, "How you want to pay homage you your roots. I really respect that." I looked at him confused because I had no idea what he meant. He asked why I was looking so strange and I told him because I was trying to understand his comment. I wanted to know what made him think I'm a natural because of anyone else but me. In the end he looked sheepish and got highly offended. I'm so glad I wasn't interested in him because that would have sucked. 

Another time a family member asked my why would I do something so stupid as to cut all of my hair off and start all over again. I will post a picture of my hair from about 9 years ago. When I cut my hair it was about 4 inches longer than in the picture. Anyways, we discussed it because she really wanted to know. I had to tell her the relaxers were doing horrible things to my scalp. My reaction to heat was a mess. If I got into a hot car or stood in the sun my scalp would get really itchy and felt like it was burning. My hair was beautiful but my scalp was unhealthy. I had to do something about and I did a lot of research. In the end she understood and realized I wasn't just following a trend.

I've had women who are pro relaxer bash me and I don't think that's fair because they don't know me or my situation. As women we should all stand together and not let petty things separate us but that's another topic for a different day. I personally don't like to wear sew ins. I can do them very well but I hate them. I don't go around bashing anyone who wants to wear one. Just because someone doesn't see themselves as natural doesn't mean its not right for another person. If you are trying to decided if you want to go natural then do it for yourself. If you've seen the movie Empire Records everyone knows the 2nd best line in the movie is Damn the man! To me the man is the relaxer or depending on the day humidity but to someone else the man might be natural hair.

Next time you find yourself getting annoyed about the stupid things people say go have a margarita and say damn the man. Smile while you are drinking it because none of the crap they said will have an effect on you. If you don't drink alcohol then have a tea or something. Remember DON'T drink and drive!

This picture is my dad and I when he got deployed about 8 or 9 years ago. In November 2012 I cut my hair off and my hair almost reached my bra strap. I got my last relaxer in April 2013.

Hair challenge week 1

So I've survived a week of the hair challenge and I happy to say that I do have less frizz. My twist outs lasted longer and I'm wearing my hair in plaits this week so I'm excited to see how that goes. My hair also feels less heavy and I don't have as much build up on my scalp. I can understand more when I read the article and it said Shea butter and castor oil is very heavy.

I think my favorite part about this is less frizz. I live in Florida and its humid a lot. When I wear my hair in twists or plaits I usually get 2 good days before frizz starts taking over. Over the weekend I wore my hair in bantu knots which I haven't done since I started transitioning at the end of 2013. What the hell was I thinking? How did I let that simple hair style escape me? I took the knots down today and have braids because I will be going back to work tomorrow.

The lack of build up is making me very happy. Before I could scratch and itch, pull my hand back and oil and stuff would be under my nails. Now if I feel the need to scratch I'm not pulling that back. My hair also has a shine to it. My hair is looking darker than usual and its generally staying moisturized. I've been spraying my conditioner water on it in the morning because the best way to add moisture is water.

So far so good. My next post will be about my experiences with henna last year

Big Chop Feelings

I've recently read a post about the big chop and how this woman felt as if it was the biggest mistake of her life. She said she was all excited about it and when it happened she didn't get that feeling of relief that so many naturals were talking about. 

My own experience was a little different. I started to transition in May 2013 and got my first cut in November 2013. I was excited but also a little disappointed because we couldn't cut more because my hair was so short. I wore that until about February/March 2014 and then I cut the rest myself. I'd asked my roommate who was a hairstylist but she refused saying she didn't want me mad at her if I regretted my decision. After I cut my hair I did actually feel relief, I felt free. Not to long after that it went to what the hell did I do and then back to I'm ok with this. I wore my hair in two strand twists a lot and I still do. At that point my hair maybe touched my ears and the back was just mid way down my neck if that. 

As things kept going on I realized I have two curl patterns, I have tighter curls on the sides and back while I have loose curls on top. I'm guessing this is because at one point I had the sides and back shaved. Anyways my sister didn't have this experience she is a member of the women with shaved heads community. Currently she wants to grow her hair out and we are working on it. 

Everyone has different feelings about this. My cousin went through a medical nightmare where they shaved her locs. Her hair had been growing for years and reached past her shoulders when this happened. After she recovered from this nightmare half of her head was shaved and she made the decision to start over. She was given a new chance at life and she said cutting her hair felt liberating but she was a little upset at starting over again. 

I'm saying all of this to say if you want to transition for 2 years then do it, there's nothing wrong with that. If you want to big chop then do that too but what I don't want you to do is jump on the band wagon. Have you ever been told if everyone else jumps off a bridge will you too? The same can be said with your hair. It may sound superficial but your feelings can be tied to your hair. If you are unhappy with your hair you can be unhappy in general.

I'm going to leave you with this thought. How do you feel on bad hair days?

30 Day Hair Detox

I've recently read about this challenge, it seems to be every where lately so I had to read up on it and see what it was all about. The link is posted at the bottom.

I use both shea butter and castor oil in my hair so I thought why not see what all of the hoopla was about. They made a lot of great points in this article and there were also things I hadn't thought about. My hair is very frizzy at times and it has me wondering if the problem could be the shea butter or castor oil. I figured there's only one was to figure it out. Challenge accepted!!!

I won't hurt anything to stop using certain products. During this challenge you are suppose to stop using coconut oil, shea butter, castor oil, or eco styler gel. This is going to be interesting. I do use the gel but not really that often. It took me almost a year to go through the container. I'm really interested to see how this work and I'm going in truly unbiased. If this can help to get the kind of hair I want then I will try it. I will try to remember to update on how its going and also will take a before and after picture so you can help me see if there is really a difference.

I know this is a short post but I just got off work and it is wash day.

http://blackdoctor.org/470909/7-reasons-to-stop-using-coconut-oil-and-shea-butter-on-your-hair/

Hair in General while sick

It doesn't matter what kind of hair you have natural, relaxed, or even if you aren't black when you get sick your hair suffers. The thing is when you are sick you aren't thinking about your hair. 

 I was disgustingly sick last month, so much so that I miss four days of works. I had my hair in twists. I did the crochet thing and I was good to go. I got sick and during that time I felt I needed to take my hair down towards the end because in my mind every time I coughed the hair caught some of the germs. Its ok to wash your hair when you are sick, in fact I recommend it. When you are sick your body is sucking up every bit a nutrients you have in order to get better and this includes water. You hair might look dull and/or dingy while you are sick and you have to think about where all the water is actually going while you are sick. Your is probably the last place for water to travel so when sick I suggest drink more water. While I was sick this last time I just stood under the shower and let the water hit my head and I felt a little better. 

If you hair is in a weave protective style I would use one of those bottles with the nozzle thing and fill it with water and conditioner as well as one of your favorite oils and lightly moisturize your scalp. Being sick with a protective style is so much easier but if you don't have a weave then I would use a spray bottle. Now if you have pneumonia don't say I read this blog that said its ok to get my hair wet. You have to judge your own level of sickness. 

I know its not typical sickness that people think of but consider cramping. When I wash my hair during the cycle I get horrible stomach cramps. I learned this in high school and after I made the connection I planned getting my hair done. I was also rocking relaxed hair back then. This may not be for all women but this is true for me. I have to take ibuprofen about 30 mins before I wash my hair. 

Different things work for different women. If you find that this doesn't work for you then at least you know what doesn't work. Some people think because they don't know what works for them then there is a problem. I don't believe that's the case, its better to know something isn't working than to be clueless altogether. 

hair stretching photos

I had someone take photos for my because I'm just not that flexible. I like to pull my hair tighter but for the purposes of this post I did it loose so you could see how it looks. After the pictures I pulled the twists tighter to actually stretch the hair.

Another example of hair stretching is getting scrunchies without the metal clasp and lining them up on the hair until the end and letting the hair dry. You have to be careful when removing the scrunchies because it can and will pull out your hair. I would suggest using an oil on you fingers and then remove them. I don't want to buy scrunchies so I use this method. In another post I will talk about the different oils I've tried and when I use them most. If you want me to talk about something specific please let me know

Hair Stretching Described

I'm just here to share my experiences with my hair. I'm in no way trying to encourage anyone to do what I do.

 That being said, I live in FL and we have a lot of humidity here and I've been struggling to combat this major issue. I've been lucky the past few weeks and its been chilly and that has zapped the humidity out of the air. With humidity comes the dreaded shrinkage. I said I would explain hair stretching and as I'm deep conditioning my hair tonight (remember once a week) I will try to take some pictures so that it makes sense.

Tonight I will be shampooing my hair with a clarifying shampoo, this I do once a month. Some of my friends like Kinky Curly Come Clean shampoo this is a little too tough on my hair but if you use it I've heard that diluting it will help. I prefer Eden Products Peppermint and Tea Tree shampoo. Depending on where you live you can get it from Walmart but its most Sally's Beauty Supply.

Since I deep condition every week I still pre poo but I cowash instead of shampooing the rest of the time. The keep is keeping moisture in your hair especially the ends. After all is said and done with pre pooing, shampooing (cowashing), deep conditioning, and leave in. Its time to stretch you hair.

I personally like to section my hair into 4 sections. This is done with the hair still wet. Each section you will do a large twist and you will pin them front to back and back to front. To break it down even more on the right side you will take the twist from the back and pull the hair as far as you can without hurting yourself or pulling hair out and pin it to the front of the head or as far as it will go. You will then take the front twist and pin it as far to the back as it will go on the same side. You will then do the same to the left side. Let you hair dry over night and you will have some of the length you want.

The next day is when I will then do two strand twists, or do a perm rod set. I will also do medium size plaits in my hair and wear for a week for a braid out. I will try to remember to take pictures and post them this evening or tomorrow. I'm very forgetful and tomorrow is national margarita day so that's a good reason to forget.

Newer hair photos

I'm going to start with the most recent photos of me. All of these photos were within the last year. I started this at the end of 2013 so this year will be 3 years and boy has it been interesting. If you have any questions please let me know.

sorry for the long break

Many things have happened with with my hair since my long break. My hair has gotten healthier, longer,  and shinier. I didn't realize I'd been away from here for so long until my cousin said I should youtube my hair success and failures. I don't like the idea of youtube there are millions if not billions of videos on there already so nothing I say or do will make a difference but at least this way I can express myself and be ok with out potentially negative comments.

I stopped using the term going natural a long time ago. I was born with this kind of hair so I'm not going natural, I'm returning to my form of natural. I didn't decide to do this as some tribute to my culture, I did this for me. I hated what the relaxers were doing to my hair and I decided only I could change what was happening to my head.

Right after this I'm going to be posting pictures of what my hair looks like now and some pictures of it along the way. Do I have this down pact? No, but I know what works for my hair  and what doesn't. Some of my friends love Shea Moisture products and I do think they are great but my scalp is so dry after using it. I liked beautiful textures as well but didn't want to deal with the sulfates. I know shampoo my hair once a month but I pre poo and condition once a week. Remember water is the best moisturizer, if you find a product that says moisturizer you need to make sure water is the first ingredient.

I make my own pre poo. I use 8 oz. coconut milk, 1 tbl spn each of the following oils, olive oil, jamaican black castor oil with peppermint infused, pumpkin seed oil (i found this at wholefoods). I leave it on for an hour, its very messy so be prepared.  I always put my hair in sections and then rinse in sections that way my hair stays detangled.

I make my own leaving in conditioner. I use 8 oz plain yogurt, 1 tbl spn honey, 1 tbl spn  molasses, 1 large egg, 2 tbl spn liquid aminos (or coconut oil), and 1 over ripe banana (or avocado). I leave it in for about 30 mins and rinse out. I then use a leave in conditioner, personally I prefer Kinky Kurly Knot Today but again what ever works best for you. I then use shea butter. I've been opting to stretch my hair over night and then style the next day. I don't use a lot of heat on my hair.

If you want pictures of the stuff I use from my kitchen let me know in a comment or message or whatever works on here and I will gladly post pictures of the products I use.

I was told only listen to people with the same hair goals as you and make sure some of those people have the hair you want. If you decide I'm not the one to listen to that's fine but don't listen to someone who's hair isn't growing because its damaged.

Pictures next