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