An unexpected (though logical) side effect of my hair vitamins regime has been - well, my hair has been growing - EVERYWHERE.
I'm a mildly hairy woman - arms, legs, line below the belly button, and one stubborn hair on my chin (besides the other areas that us adults usually have hair). Lately though, I've been noticed hair growing in other places, as well as my normal hair being longer. For instance!
A few weeks ago, I was in some meeting, playing with my wedding set, and noticed hair growing out of my FINGERS. Very fine, very soft, pitchblack hair. EEEP!
A week or so after that, I was rubbing my chin deep in thought, and found that my usual chin hair had somehow managed to grow in two inches and THICK before I found it and plucked it as I have been doing for years.
Today, I was at a lunch banquet for work, in a FREEZING room, and noticed that the hair on my arms was EXCEPTIONALLY long. Now, usually, sometimes I'll shave my arms - but my arm hair has NEVER been this long. Once again, it was pretty thin, but LONG. Seeing that prompted me to check my chin - and lo & behold! The hair had grown back - about a 1/4 inch long - AND a second one has joined it.
*checks underarms* Yup - I shaved Sunday, and I've already got a nice bit of stubble there - where as usually, I could go for at least a week before FEELING any hair, much less SEEING it.
It's really cool seeing these signs that my regime is working - the hair on my HEAD is so wild and wooly, that most of the time, I can't tell WHAT's going on in my scalp. Though - I have noticed 'tingling' up there in the mornings after I take my MSM. I don't know if it's a mind trip (which, it could be) or if I'm really feeling my scalp - do stuff. I plan on adding biotin - I'm going to order it tomorrow after I get paid, so I'll most likely start using it next week, and from what I've heard - it REALLY gives you the tingles. I've been keeping an eye on my hairline - I've been focusing the SS oil there mainly, because that is the thinnest area of my hair. I know that part of it is because I have 'baby' hair there - super fine, barely wavy, and did I mention super fine? - but I know that should grow in too with time.
I was feeling rather down on myself earlier, because I KNOW that I have not been taking proper care of myself - we aren't even going to TALK about my diet - but seeing these sort of things tells me that my body is functioning rather well - otherwisde it wouldn't be wasting energy on something as pointless as HAIR.
Wild Woman
Okay - let's catch up here.
I rinsed the henna out Sunday morning, as usual, and put the koHumectress in. I LIKED the smell, and it was really, really, thick, which is something that I've missed in the cheapie ones. I let it sit for about two hours, and then rinsed & tried to comb out.
Well. I'm not sure if the koHumctress is one of those kinds of conditioners that if you let stay on too long, it starts pulling moisture out of your hair or what, but - it was NOT pleasant. I rinsed it all out, mixed some V05 & honey together, and put that in my head.
Then, hubby called from work and said that he wanted to go out to eat - so I had to figure out what to do with my hair. I had been thinking about combing gel through my hair so see if I could hold onto the curls without them shrinking away to nothingness, and I figured - what better time? So, I mixed up some ORS L&T gel, a touch of olive oil and some HH, and slapped it into my hair, and combed it out. I have to say - I used a little bit too much, and I was worried about my hair drying in time to go out!! When I went to Sally's, I also got four large hair clips - two black and two white. I pulled out the black ones, and worked on making a semi-cute style sith my hair pullled back on either side, then a lil funky bang-type thing in the front.
I can't WAIT for my hair to get longer - it ALMOST worked, but my hair is still to 'choppy' lengthwise for it to look really nice. So, I just slapped it into a pufro, plucked out the edges, and let it dry. It looked really cute - all my curls were happily in tight lil spirals - nanoslinkyhead, as hubby called me.
I slept on it, and the next morning - YOUCH!! The gel had dried nice and crunchy, and my hair was SOOOO not feeling being combed out - so I just got it soaking wet, pulled it out as much as I could, and rocked another pufro. I knew that I wanted to twist on Monday night, so I wasn't too worried about it. I tossed a scarf over my head for my drive in to work, as I drive with the windows down, and didn't want the wind to force my wet hair to dry into a half high fro.
Interestingly enough, my hair was WET almost all day long - it didn't fully dry out until the ride HOME at the end of the day.
I knew that I was going to have to use some conditioner - to wash the gel out of my hair, as well as to give me enough slip to comb through it, so I figured I would give the koHumctress another chance. This time - it worked WONDERFULLY. I just got my hair really wet, tried to rinse out as much of the gel as I could, then squished the koHumectress into my hair. It was almost instantly soft, and the tangles loosened enough that I was able to comb through with almost no problems. My hair is still too short (on my poor, roughed up left side) to get a good grasp on to comb out the ends without tugging the roots, but the koHumectress did a pretty good job - gave me plenty of slip, and definitely cleaned all the gel out of my hair.
I rinsed it out, combed out my hair once more, then sat down to do some twists. I'm thinking it took about two and a half hours - comb/part/WP/Gel/twist. They are - medium size, I suppose, rather than my usual TINY ones. I'm working to be sure that I get used to making larger twists, so that I cna keep the twisting time to around two hours - anything longer starts to irk me - and I don't know WHAT I was tripping on with the 5-6 hour long twisting. I really think that combing my hair out WELL before I start twisting helps a lot - it makes the parting process ever so much easier.
I'm going out of town this weekend, so I think that I'm going to have to *weeps* skip a henna session....but wait! I'm taking the Labor Day holiday and a couple of days after that off - so I'll just henna late! Yesaah!!
Speaking of henna - my roots still laugh in the face of henna, so I better enjoy these red tips I have, cuz once they are gone, I'm back to my natural hair color. Ah well, I've got a year (or more) to get used to it, so I'll be fine. I simply REFUSE to bleach my hair again, so I'm going to have to work with the color that comes out o my head.
I've really gotten to like using stuff on my head that is edible. It makes SOO much sense to me - why would I want to use stuff on the OUTSIDE of me that would be POSIONOUS to the inside? I mean really, that can't POSSIBILY be healthy.
I've been thinking about trying to make a homemade conditioner - honey, powdered milk, olive oil and maybe some aloe vera..... Isn't that almost SMT? Hmm, I might need to look at that thread again.
Shopping on Sunday......
I had to go to Sally's today to get another applicator, as I forgot to get it Friday, and while there, of course, I had to drift through the aisles and see if anything looked interesting.
I considered buying some Humectress, considering all the RAVE reviews I have been hearing, but decided to NOT drop 18 bucks on 20 oz of conditioner that I KNOW I'm going to fly through. On another hair board I'm on, someone was asking whether the knock off stuff worked as well as the real thing. I'm waiting (patiently, patiently!) for my free sample of Humectress to show up in the mail, but figured while I was waiting - why not scoop up a 5 buck bottle of the knockoff stuff, and see how it worked? I also figured that it would be easier to tell a difference if I used the real thing AFTER I used the fake stuff. I would expect to see an OBVIOUS difference once I use the real stuff if they are really different. If I don't see much of a difference - or it's worse for my hair, then I know that the real deal isn't worth the money.
I plan on using it tomorrow once the henna comes off as a DT, bu t my debate is whether or not to add honey to it. I'm thinking that since it's supposed to be SUCH high class stuff, I won't. In fact, I definitely think I won't - I want to see how well it works (at 5 bucks for 16 oz) compared to the cheapo stuff (0.89 for 18 oz) plus honey. Once again, if I don't see an impressive difference - I know it's not worth it.
*nods* sounds like a plan.
So - Henna #5 is currently working it magic on my head.
I clarified before doing it - a mix of honey and baking soda and some water that I put in my hair, and let sit while I was taking a shower, then rinsed it out. I think I've figured out my personal 'siganl' that a clarification is needed. Firstly, my scalp starts to itch (though, I'm STILL wondering if that was the pectin) and secondly (and really, most importantly) my hair takes a while to actually get 'wet'. I mean, it'll be wet, but not really WET, and I have to work my hair under the water for a while before it acts right and feels really - moist. So - I left that in, and rinsed it out before doing the henna, and when I got out the shower, I noticed that my hair looks REDDER wet. I've kinda noticed it before, but it was really distinctive this time.
This henna contains
1 henna bag
The rest of the paprika
Honey
White Rain Conditioner.
Pretty basic, in other words - *LOL* except for the paprika, it's basically the mixture that I started with.
Anyhow, applied the henna firstly with lines against my scalp, then glooped the rest onto it. The usual, ya know? It's earlier (but not really by much, as I usually henna when I get home, and it was 5pm when I did it) in the day than I usually do it - but I was out with friends last night and REALLY didn't feel like dealing with it.
It amazes me just how STEAMY my head gets with the saran wrap and henna and all - I left the edge of the shower cap, and can feel the warm, moist, henna-scented air drifting out.
Fast Fingers
So, largely because I'm impatient as all get out, but also because I wanted to see if it would come out as good after I slept on it, I un-twisted my hair tonight in a twist-out.
I definitely need longer hair to pull this off right - right now, my hair looks like a mushroom - not soft enough to be limp, but not long enough to hang nicely.
Though - the twistouts I had during camp looked REALLY good - I think it was because they had shrunk up more. I figure, if it looks a hot mess in the morning, I'll just get it good and wet, and tie a PHHB around it, and be done with it.
After I took my twists out, I massed some SS oil in, and then firmly told myself to keep my fingers out of my hair, as the twist out is the easiest hair style to mess up - play in it too much, and you loose all the twist definition you had originally.
Which, is one of the reasons I'm writing this, as keeping my hands busy is the only way to keep them out of my head.
Henna tommorow! *yay*
I love henna'ing - it's messy, and it's goopy, but dang, it's FUN. And I get many lovely results - I need to take a picture outside in the sun so that I can try to get an accurate picture of the color - it's GLORIOUS. I'm not sure if it's more red, or more brown - it's - interesting, really. It's SUCH a natural color that it changes depending on what I'm wearing, the lighting, and the amount of makeup I have on. And the way it changes from FIRST rinsing the henna out to the day afterwards - it's - impressive really.
I know that some people worry about it going to 'dark' but.... *sigh* considering how DARK my natural hair color is, I figure that the darker it gets, the less obvious the demarcation will be.
Last day of twists...
...as tomorrow is a twistout!!
So - this week. My twists have been VERY fuzzy. I don't know if it's because I didn't use enough gel - and I even regelled them Tuesday night! - or if it's because I didn't use as much WP this time - but it's fuzzy as all GET out. I've got quite a few sections of hair where full length strands of hair has escaped the twist - and I wasn't even rubbing my head all that much. My scalp has also been suprisingly itchy too this week - I'm thinking it might be time for a bit of a clarifier on my scalp. I wonder if it might be a side effect of the pectin?
I plan on doing a twist-out tomorrow, and then henna'ing - though, I'm supposed to be running some errands and going over a friends house tomorrow, so - I might not get home in enough time to really do henna.........okay, yeah, who am I fooling? I'lll most likely do it tomorrow night! *LOL*
I'm pretty convinced that the vitamins are working - I cut my nails last weekend, and they are already starting to extend over my fingertips again. I have this one STUBBORN chin hair that usally is very thin and only grows to be about 3/4 of an inch, and I was looking in the mirror a few days ago, and the damn thing was SUPER thick and about 2 inches long!!!!!!!! Plus - and this is really creepy - the hair on my fingers in coming back - super fine, black hair. I used to have this before, when I was in college, but I haven't seen it for YEARS - now, they are showing back up. Yes, yes, me thinks my body is getting all it needs to grow, grow, grow!
I still seem to be shedding a healthy bit - I'm actually *gasp* considering getting a BRUSH to insure that I get all the shed hairs out. I know, I know - I think that it's insane to even TRY to use a brush on nappy hair, but then, not too long ago, I also didn't know that cones were the debbil on my hair. Maybe.
I'm debating on stopping cutting my hair for a few months - maybe from now until late October (which is when our housewarming is) just to see how much length I gain. I think I've most likely cut off at LEAST 3 inches by now, but my hair still looks the same length - which would make sense, as I figure that I grow about 3/4 of an inch a month normally - so an inch a month (because of the vitamins/nutrition) would make sense. Also - the really short patch I had in the back of my head - I'm thinking that maybe I DIDN'T break it off, but that I cut it off when I cut out a loc to to a dye test on. It's close enough to my back hairline for that to have been possible - and that piece of hair has gotten almost twice as long now - it's in a twist mostly by itself, and I can feel the thicker bottom section before the twist goes really thin - so that's a VGT!
I need to pick up a new applicator bottle tomorrow, and another set of measuring spoons (I cut the end off of one before checking that it would fit in the bottle, and it's a pain in the patootie digging it out of the bottle now) and some more paprika. Other than that - I don't think that I'll be getting any hair stuff - I've got plenty of conditioner and baking soda.
Length note: middle of the forehead twist goes to the middle of the bride of my nose - about even with my eyes.
Ahhh...
I had so much FUN playing with my hair. After I DT'd it, I broke it into about 8 fat twists, and put WP on each one. Then, I let them dry out completely. Then, I untwisted, combed out, put MORE WP on them, and retwisted. Then, I untwisted, massaged with SS oil, and retwisted. Then, I untwisted, and retwisted with L&T gel into itsy bitsy twists - and it only took me two and a half hours!!
Well, I did do another snipsnip - when I did the fat twists, I had a little 'end' bit that was TINY - maybe a 1/4 size of the rest of the twists. I snipped off those 'thin' ends, (which did feel rough as well), and twisted the rest.
During the whole twist/retwist/blow out process - I took a picture of my hair, 'blown' out.
Ummm - if I ever doubted the fact that I have thick hair, I just need to look at that picture, and return to sanity. Yes, I have a SHITELOAD of hair.
So yes, I definitely have thick hair. Sheesh. And I have a LOT of it too.
Umm. In other odd news - I've been saving my hair. I have a little bottle that used to ahve boullion in it, that I use to tuck in the strands of hair that I find when I do massages or when I comb my hair out. Hubby asked me WHY I'm saving my hair, and honestly, I don't know.... it just feels right.
It's a nice little routine I have, when I get home from work and get mostly settled in.
I leave the bottle of SS oil in the living room next to 'my' chair, so once I sit down and get comfy, I open it, and first dab the really thinning areas - my hairline right in front of my ears, and my 'recceding' bit. Neither are REALLY in any trouble (I don't think) but - that is where my 'baby' hair grows and I would love for it to be thicker.
Then, I take the dropper, and get it about half full, and just dabdabdabdab it all over the upper half of my head. Massage that in. Ahhhhhh. Another half dripper, and the crown, and the back of my head get dabbed and massaged. AAHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh!! By the time I'm done, my hairline has started to tingle, and slowly - everything just warms up, and my head feels like it's HUMMING. I'm usually reading or watching tv by now (or surfing TLHC) and I'll occasionally pause and massage my scalp a bit more.
Am I noticing anything? I'm not sure - I still see a bit of shedding, and yeah - I do think it's less, and I suspect that's more the oil than the vitamins, as I'm not really expecting to get any results from the vitamans for at LEAST a month - possibly two. I HAVE noticed that most of the hairs coming out seem to be very very very fine. Like - lint fine, almost - and it's DEFINITELY hair, not lint. Whereas, on the rare occasion that I pull one out (usually in the process of detangling) the hair looks - thick. I hope that means my scalp is keeping the healthiest hair, and letting the weaker ones shed.
I love how I'm using things that give me results in different time frames. I get INSTANT results from henna. I get slightly slower results from the oil. The vitamins show up the latest.....but at least I have little suprises for myself along the way.
Speaking of henna (you knew I was going to talk about henna EVENTUALLY, right?) I went to the grocery store and picked up some pectin today - this weekend is the official 'How will my hair do with NO conditioner' try-outs.
I was worried for a bit that the water I used for the pectin would thin out the henna - but then I figured that whatever water I use in the pectin, it won't make the henna any thinner, because it'll all gel up. I was considering using some red zinger tea as the water - but opted not to. I want to change just ONE thing at a time (substituting pectin for conditioner) to see how my hair reacts - that's the easiest way to experiment.
I have no CLUE how much water/pectin is needed. I bought two of the little, Jello sized boxes - I hope to only use a wee bit out of one though....I think my mix is going to be - enough pectin to make it REALLY thick, and then enough honey to thin it down again. I need to make it thinner because - well, I still don't think my roots are getting red, but then, I don't know how much henna is ACTUALLY getting to my roots - no matter how thin it is. I really need to get an applicator - this glop-it-on-top-and-hope-it-sinks-in stuff is just NOT going to work for my hair.
*pauses to rub head again* *checks out hairs* *realllly thin ones*
*sigh*
My twists have this IRKSOME habit of leaving one or three of the 'central' hairs in the twist 'stretched' out, so that they hang longer than the rest of the happily curled about itself twist. *glares at hair* I hoped that getting them wet would cause all of the hairs to 'shrink' up equally, but nope. So, in order to give them a chance to 'squish in' (and so that I can see what a twist-out of the fat twists look like) I'm gonna untwist it tomorrow - assuming I get up early enough, of course. But - they are getting a wee bit fuzzy too, so that needs to be done anyhow. And of COURSE - tomorrow night is HENNA NIGHT!!
I'm getting better at taking my vitamins. Daily Vitamin before I leave the house, MSM and O369 with breakfast, another O369 at (or right after) lunch, and another dose of MSM and O369 at night. I'm going to pick up a measuring spoon that I can jsut leave in each bottle of MSM, so that I can get a more accurate dose. Yes, I plan on doubling up (ie, taking the full dosage both times), but since MSM is water soluble, I figure, no harm. Hmmm... I know that you body excretes the excess MSM after 12 hours - Breakfast is usually around 9, and bedtime is usually around 11 - maybe I should start taking it at LUNCH instead, to insure I evenly cover the full 24 hours. Hmmm - yes, and it'll be a lot easier to stuck that stuff down in the AFTERNOON, rather than in the morning with my yogurt. I mix the MSM in with a little pink lemonade crystal light type stuff, and I think that is the PERFECT flavor - the tartness of the lemon perfectly conceals the bitterness of the MSM - it's rather nice, actually. But, it'll be nicer NOT follwed up with a fruity, creamy, slightly tart yogurt.
I think that's about it, hair wise. *grins* Hanging around here (*laughs* I initially wrote 'hair'!) has me planning on doing stuff to OTHER parts of me though..... so see the next entry for my first Skin & Nails BlahBlahBlah........
Natural Seepage
Lately, I've been checking out black womens hair on TV.
I've noticed that a LOT of them seem to have 'natural' looking hair - as in relatively tight curls, rather than straight hair. I just saw one commercial, where the woman had lovely full curls, but when they went close-up, you could see that her roots were almost bone straight.
And then, there was a commercial for some Madea movie, where Madea had to adopt the little bad ass girl, and I noticed how tore up her hair was. It was like they purposely made her hair look as 'nappy' as possible, to accentuate her poverty/despair/abandonment. I immeadiately thought how nice her hair (which was very long) would look in double twists.
And then, there was the liutenent in Law And Order - who had thick boxbraids, which at first, I looked at and was like - What the HELL is that on her head? But then, after a few seconds, I liked it. Her hair was pretty thick, relatively long - and it looked good.
In other news......
I twisted my hair Monday night, but did it in thick twists to see a) how they looked and b) how long it would take me. They look - okay. I think that my hair needs to be longer in order to look really GOOD in a thick twist. It took me about - 2 hours to do it. I debated, and debated whether to wear them, but figured - hey - why not!
Now, after seeing the above mentioned woman in box braids, I'm like - hell yeah! It's - interesting, expanding my personal comfort limits when it comes to what looks 'right' in my hair and on me. I think they are going to make some GORGEOUS twist outs though! Considering how nice the tiny ones looked, I suspect these are going to look AMAZING.
I used a lot of whipped pudding, and a lot of gel on them this time, and since I was working from a semi-dry (used some of the spray stuff) smushed fro, I didn't comb it out as well as I should have. Hmmm - that's going to make this weekend's henna rather interesting. I used so much of both, because I wanted to make my hair as soft as possible. I'm considering combing the whipped pudding and gel through my hair, and drying it loose - just to see what it looks like - I suspect it'll be a loose fuzzy fro - I doubt that I'll end up with curls, but it'll be cool to see what is DOES end up looking like. I don't like that it starts out sticky, but it feels SO nice after a day or two, it's wonderful.
So - went camping this weekend, and rocked a twistout the whole weekend - and can I say it looked FABULOUS!!! I was - kinda shocked by how - appropriate it looked on me - even on the second day after dousing my hair to get rid of any bits of pieces of STUFF that might have been in my head. And my hair felt GOOD all weekend - I think that the combination of the WP I did the twists with, as well as the SS oil I had used - 3 or 4 days last week - really made a difference.
I got HORIBBLY lost coming home (I seriously thought at one point I was going to have to pull over and have a good, frustration releasing cry), so I got home MUCH later (2 hours!) and MUCH hotter than I planned on, and I said - screw the twists.
However! Because I'm addicted, I did NOT say - Screw the henna. I was in the house for MAYBE 10 minutes, and one of my henna packs was already out and sitting in a cup of water to defrost. I took a quick shower (to clean grime off, yes, but more to get my hair wet) and mixed the henna with a wee bit of honey and a BOATLOAD of conditioner. It seemed REALLY thick, so I added a bit of water, then a bit more.
As I began to put it on my head, I swiftly realized that it was so thick because there were still slightly frozen bits, and as soon as they hit my head, they started melting, and I had drips, drips, DRIPS for days. Messy, that was - looked like someone had an explosive accident all over the bathroom sink and the floor. Luckily, it wiped up well.
It only took me about 30 minutes - mixing, applying, saraning, papertoweling, shower cap and scarfing it - to have it all in my head. I sat with a towel on my shoulder to catch the drips that insisted on escaping.
I had PLANNED on rinsing it out before bed (because of the drips) but by the time I went to bed, they had mostly stopped (and I was EXHAUSTED) so, I just went straight to bed.
I got up especially early this morning, rinsed out the henna (once again, green only and SUPER easy) and - this here is the shocker - I combed through my hair with NO conditioner. True - there was conditioner in the henna, and true - it was on for a long time - but STILL! Also - as I sit here and play with it (yes, I'm playing in it - but I'm not pulling, I'm not tugging, and I'm rather anally checking my shoulders and very strand of hair that comes out to be sure it's SHED, not broken - so far, so good) I don't have a lot of the knots and tight tangles I had before. Now, I'm not saying it's not tangling - because it is, and it's going to be interesting 'untangling' it this evening so I can put the twists in, BUT - the tangles are coming apart much easier - I can only imagine how they would act if I had put some oil in my hair this morning.
I just used a bit of HH and put my hair into a puffro after getting out the shower - I'm DEFINITELY going to twist it tonight - even though I'm being gentle with it, I'm worried about being rough with it.
The color is gradually getting darker - still reddish/oragnish/brownish/goldenish color - I don't think there is a word for this color, but I LOVE it. The conditioning effects are definitely seen - I'm not seeing much more loosening of the curl (which is fine), and I think I'm actually seeing more - definition! The shed hairs that I'm seeing tend to be in tight, tight circles, that resist being mashed flat rather vigourously - so, I'm thrillllled about that.
What else is new, hair related?
Ah! I'm going to go home and make some cayenne oil tonight - I noticed a few 'bare' patchs in my hair line this morning (the spots where my locs were too thin and pulled the hair out at the roots - I hope I haven't ruined them) and I'd like to dab a lil oil right on top of both of those spots to stimulate them to grow, grow, grow!
I'm currently jabbering on another hair board about the politics and perceptions and desires of black women for long hair.
I SWEAR, my hair is longer. Seriously.....it's - amazing. I need to take another picture of me pulling down the front of my hair again - jsut to see if I'm really deluded.
I'm getting some liquid pectin at some point this week - I want to try to henna without any conditioner, and I think that the combo of pectin/honey/henna might work wonders. Or - I could do the henna/yogurt combo...... I've heard really good things about that - and I wouldn't have to buy anything new. But..... I don't know if my hair likes/needs/wants protien, and I'd hate to mess up a good thing. I think I'll try the pectin this week, and the yogurt next week.
Bugger, just broke a hair.
Okay, off to run errands now!
I finally updated my fotki with my henna pictures, and realized that I have neglected to take any good, post-oxidation pictures - I need to take pictures of my twists as the are now (the oil makes them look even darker), and then also take pictures of my loose hair - so I can see growth, as well as to check out what color my roots are.
I'm slowly beginning to accept the fact that no matter how much henna I use, I'll most likely not be able to get anything redder than a dark auburn on my hair - but ya know what? For the length, I'm willing to go for that. And then of course, I've still got just a TINY smidgen of hope that my hair will actually look even vaguely reddish for a while. *grins* Both me and my husband love me with 'tips' of a different color, so I'll definitely leave the dyed bits on til they just fall off on their own.
I tried to cornrow my hair after I posted the previous entry, and HAH! HAH! I say. I could get about to my ear on both sides, and then the combo of big head/short hair caused me to give up, and I just braided it into three outwards pointing braids on either side of my part. So, I suppose that makes my 'starting' length like - zero? *LOL*
Then, for SOME possesed reason, I tried to comb it out dry the next day. *sigh* you would think I would learn, at some point, that no matter how tight I might pull my braids, the ends WILL tangle - and I CANNOT comb through them dry without breakage. I finally broke down, and used a bit of my spritizer, and some WP, and managed to comb through it enough to put the twists in with some ORS Lock & Twist Gel. My hair was still pretty stretched out though, so it was easy putting the twists in - it took about 3.5 hours. I think that next time I should try for bigger twists - but I honestly don't know how to do them - my hands just automatically select a clump of hair that leaves me with rather small twists. I think that I'm worried about looking like I have 'dooky' twists - esp with my hair this short. But - I suppose a good compromise would be to make them bigger as my hair gets longer - that way, I SHOULD be able to keep my twisting rate around 4 hours for a while.
I've been taking the MSM and O369 every day since Monday (*LOL*) and the MSM is officially nasty, but mixing it with a little faux Crystal Light makes it edible - and I have a little coffee cup (paper) on my desk that I use basically as a shot glass to squeeze down the MSM and the O369 every morning. I take one O369 at breakfast, along with my badly measured MSM (I need to get a measuring spoon to leave at work). I take another O369 around lunch time, and I haven't been taking the dinnertime one yet - I want to see how my body acts with jsut these two.
Okay - it's almost time to go home, so I'm done.
They look really good - not nearly as fuzzy as they were last time, and I've gone two whole DAYS without putting any water in my head. I've given my scalp a good rubdown with the SS oil (that I added more rosemary and cedarwood EO too) every night, and they are still looking tight - I will DEFINITELY have to use gel in my hair to do twists from now on - which makes sense, considering how soft and flyaway my hair is - it needs something to keep it in check.
I just had a vision of what I want my hair to look like - the 'style' that I am reaching for is the perfect possible world. This is the star I am shooting for.
Last night, after I had tied my scarf over the henna hair, the end of the scarf hit me right at my tailbone - and I realized THAT is how long I want my hair to be - in a braid. I was thinking a little more about it today, and I don't want it to be that long in ONE braid - I want it to be that long from TWO braids - one on either side of my head. That way, I can bind them together at the bottom like they are one braid, and it would be an attractive (and simple) style to maintain.
Then, I thought about what it would look like out - would it be a pillow of hair? That's bigger than a halo - it would be like - HUGE. Oh my god, the size of that amount of hair - I don't know if it's possible. I have seen one black woman with hair that long - but only one. *grins* And sexy!!! Sheessshhh - just.... *nods* Yes Ma'am hot.
So - now I can actually measure, and see what length I'm shooting for. *smiles* I'm excited - I've got a GOAL now. And - I can measure my progress not by LENGTH of my loose hair (which, I've already figured out, is close to impossible to measure accurately) and instead measure by length of my BRAID. Right now, I don't think I would even make two cornrows - it's not long enough. So - that's my FIRST hair goal - getting my hair long enough to actually make two cornrows. Then, I can measure the length of how the cornrow changes every month. *grins*
Very happy, am I. Even if I only manage to reach the moon - it'll be SOMEWHERE. :)
So - left the henna in REALLY long this time - I stayed up late last night, and slept in late this morning - rinsed it out (came out like a dream again), and let it dry. I oiled my hair with SS oil and QHS oil, and put a little HH in it. I wanted to see how my hair would act WITHOUT the post-henna conditioning that I did last time.
After about 4 hours, I realized that um, no - I need to condition. My hair wasn't dry so much, as it was - tangly. I had knots all over the place - something that my hair DEFINITELY didn't do last time. So, I whipped up a quick mix of 2pts conditioner, one part honey, and heaped it in my head. I figure that after two hours, my hair should be good to go.
So - this has DEFINITELY let me know that I can't do WO until I finish my henna cycle - because the henna - and true, I DID use a bit of the leftover high-acid henna from last time, so that might make a difference - but the henna is strong enough to strip my hair of it's oils, so - I'll have to wait. Not that I mind, because I'm only washing/conditioning my hair once a week still - but, anyhow - WO will have to be put on hold.
The color - it's definitely darker, and my roots are starting to get a 'glow' almost. Still DEFINITELY not red - but - warmer, if anything. I have noticed some hairs at the very front that SEEM to be red all the way to the root - but I doubt that - unless I have some hairs that haven't grown at all since I dyed my hair, and were still bleached/red to the root.
I got my Omega 3-6-9 and MSM in the mail on Friday - I haven't used either yet- I'm considering using them only Mon-Fri, and just taking my regular vitamin on S/S. I opened the MSM powder and took a sniff - I've heard people say that it was yack-worthy - but it actually smelled - yummy. Protien powder like. I still didn't try it, but at least it doesn't SMELL bad. I didn't take a look at the size of the O369 pills, but - ugh. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
So - let's review.
1) Encouraging Growth:
Henna - to keep the scalp healthy.
Oils - to stimulate and condition the scalp.
Vitamins - Daily, MSM, O369
2) Retaining Length
Henna - to make the ends stronger and smoother
Twists - to protect the ends
Daily Leave-In - to keep the damaged ends moisturized.
3) Reducing Shedding
Henna - to improve the condition of the scalp
Vitamins - to strengthen the follicles.
Oils - SS Oil is supposed to help stop shedding - so I'm excited about that.
I need to look up what rosemary oil is supposed to be good for in hair. For some reason, I think it helps stop shedding, and if that's the case, I'll add a few more drops of it to the SS oil.
One downside to using honey in my conditioner - it drips on my neck and makes it sticky. One upside - I smell like clover all week. Ooooooohhh - I should put some ylang-ylang in it next time - I bet that would smell DIVINE.
Hmmm..... I'm supposed to be going camping next weekend. I should - since I have the henna pre-mixed - be able to henna, condition, and twist, all in the same day - Sunday, it would have to be. I mean - I KNOW that I'm going to have to retwist my hair at the very least - so why not add a couple of extra hours, and henna on schedule? I'll think about it - and see what my hair looks like - maybe I won't have to retwist it.
*sighs* Conditioner's been in for one hour. My scalp is tingling - it's a good feeling - like tiny tapdancers in my roots.
Henna #2 is in my head - things I've learned.
1) Henna is messy. Making large amounts of henna is messier.
2) It's a good idea to wear gloves at all times.
3) Paper towels really DO stop the drippies.
I used the following henna mix
400g Henna
1 cup red wine
5 cups water
Mixed it, let it stand til the henna released. Put most of it into ziplocs bags and stuck them in the freezer. Took the rest, plus the henna I had leftover from last time mixed it with a BUNCH of conditioner and a wee bit of honey, and slapped it in the head. I did that around 8:30ish....
About my hair......I untwisted it today, and - it's interesting. Some parts were really smooth and silky, over parts were still kinda - frizzy type ish. Might have been the oils, might have been the henna. It still felt good. I didn't pick it out to see the various lengths - I didn't want to comb it dry - so I'll do it tomorrow, and trim further as needed. I've more or less accepted the fact that I will be losing more hair tomorrow - not happy, but I've accepted it. Honestly though, I think there MIGHT be about a half inch difference, and if it's relaly that small, I won't be cutting it.
So - suprise suprise!! I get home tonight and what's waiting for me??? My Sweet Success oil! I didn't recognize the name on the box, and it was bigger than I expected, so when I opened it I was all thrilled and excited.
I sat down, put a drop on four fingers, and then rubbed that into my head. I figure I did that about five times - once on the left, once on the right, once in the middle front, once in the middle back, and the last time I paid special attention to my hairline.
I'm sitting here, and the top of my head is tingling a little, and I feel like something is stuffing up my nose *sniffs fingers* but, it's okay. My fingers, by the way, smell lovely. Like hair and herbs.
I've realized that there is no WAY my twists are going to last a week. I think it might be because I used WP instead of my usual gel, but it's the fuzz to end ALL fuzz now.
Ohhh - the top of my head is throbbing a bit now, I think I might need to massage a little more. *rubs head*
Ohh - that's the other thing, my hair feels different now.....or maybe it's my fingers. Something feels a little - tacky - sticky.
Ohhhhh... even MORE of my head is tingling now.... it feels REALLY nice. *rubs head some more*
Also, considering my hair is in twists, all this rubbing isn't helping either.
*pauses*
I had to go and rub on hubby's head - this feels SOOO good. His hair is shorter, so I only used 8 drops on him. My hair is tingling a little more now, it's almost imppossible to NOT rub it. *strokes hair* Hmmm... feels LOVELY. I really tried to focus a good bit of the oil (on my first rub) in the spot where my hair is about an inch long - I figure if I keep doing that, I'll see the most growth here and it'll catch up.
I don't wanna type, I wanna rub my fingers on my head. Excuse me, please.
Okay, so I HAD to break down and get the Queen Helene Oils that I saw yesterday. The 'Brand' name is: Good To Gro (why can't they spell ANYTHING right - I mean, MUST all black hair care products have at least ONE purposefully misspelling on the label??) and the oils are a 'Thickening Oil' and a 'Stimulating Oil'.
I looked at (and up) the ingredients, and basically, what they are is:
Thickening Oil
Soybean Oil
Methyl Soyate (a natural solvent and oil that absorbs deeply )
Olive Oil
Avacado Oil
Fragrance
Shea Butter
Brassica Camperstris/Aleurites Fordi Oil Copolymer (rapeseed and tung tree oil copolymer - antimircobials)
Vitamin A Oil
Vitamin D Oil
Corn Oil
Grapeseed Extract
Vitamin E Oil
Tea Tree Oil
Nettle Extract
Biotin
Thyme Extract
Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract (Pot Marigold)
Equisetum Giganteum Extract (Giant Horsetail)
Propylparaben (Preservative)
Sweet Almond Oil
Stimulating Oil
Soybean Oil
Methyl Soyate (methyl soyate, a natural solvent and oil that absorbs deeply )
Coconut Oil
Jojoba Oil
Wheat Germ Oil
Shea Butter
Linolenic Acid (Unsaturated fatty acid used as an emollient and thickening agent)
Linoleic Acid (Unsaturated fatty acid used as an emollient and thickening agent)
Peppermint Oil
Oil of Wintergreen
Grapeseed Extract
Vitamin E Oil
Tea Tree Oil
Vitamin A Oil
Biotin
Henna Extract
Menthol
Rosemary Extract
Propylparaben (Preservative)
Sweet Almond Oil
Vitamin D Oil
Sage Extract
Wild Cherry Extract
They are both suprisingly 'clean' ingredient wise - though, I wonder how much of this 6oz bottle is other fun stuff, and how much of it is soybean oil. I think I'm going to post over on the products board, and ask folx what they think of it. I think that I'll try them out while I'm waiting to get my Sweet Success Oil.
I know, I know, I said that I'm not a PJ, and I'm not - but - it was so CHEAP!! 2 bucks for each bottle (I do so love BigLots!) and I figure - if worst comes to worst and I hate it, I'll have two henna applicator bottles!! :) :D
So! What's new?
My hair is still in something RESEMBLING twists - they are fuzzy as all get out though. I planned on untwisting them this morning and going to work in a twist out, but somehow I slept through the alarm clock and didn't get up until 8am - so, no time for the twistout. I just did my cool water rinse, and rubbed some HH through my hair.
My hair is still sleek, shiny, strong. I think that the oils are helping it stay supple too - the couple of twists that I've pulled apart and retwisted detangled in my fingers with no knots. I'm REALLLY looking forward to taking my hair out - I twisted it as soon as the henna came out, so I haven't had a chance to see/play in my texture.
It's funny - just having my hair twisted for this little bit of time has DEFINITELY convinced me that a) I need to keep my hair in protective styles to keep me fingers out of it and b) I will NOT be locing anytime soon. I sit at work and stroke the roots of my hair - where it's loose - just to feel the lovely bumpy texture.
And while I KNOW it's just plain not possible, I SWEAR that my twists look longer now than they did at the start of the week. My hair really does grow fast, I know that, but it can't possibly grow THAT fast.
I'm going to use the henna I had leftover from last week (mixed with some conditioner) and a bit of my mondo batch of henna I plan on making tonight (and freezing in individual ziploc packages - oh, must get some ziploc bags tonight!) to rehenna my hair tonight. I'm going to make it thinner, and I'm going to use a LOT less wine this time - last time I used a cup in 100g, and this time, I plan on using a cup in 400 grams - which, I think is about the ratio that I planned on using before. I'm going to freeze the henna by itself - no conditioner, no honey (I'm hoping that I get the essential oils in the mail today - I'd love to put a few drops in to flavor the henna) so that when I'm ready to do my hair, I can put those things in fresh.
What else is going on up there? Ah! The oils. So - I used a bit of the Queen Helene Stimulating oil last night after I used the SS oil, and - I really like how the QHS oil feels - it's - thinner, and jsut a touch oily, and it tingles - I think that was the menthol in it. I'm focusing with both oils on my hairline (I have a 'wavy' hairline that is populated almost solely with 'babyhair') and I would GREATLY like for that area to thicken up and grow. It's cute wet, but it NEVER stays in any style I make. I used a little more of the SS oil last night too - I broke my head into five sections, and then used a little more to hit the hairline. Even if it doesn't help my hair GROW, I love the way it makes my hair FEEL.
Speaking of good feeling hair - I'm seriously thinking about this whole WO thing, and trying to figure out how I can get it to work with the hennaing. As I was thinking about it, I realized that there is really no reason the two CAN'T work together.
Okay, true, I wouldn't be doing pure WO, because TECHNICALLY, I would be cowashing every week by using henna with conditioner in it - but is that a bad thing? I can WO during the week, and 'hennawash' on the weekend....and see what my scalp thinks. So far, nothing but water & leave in have hit my head all week, and while I can tell that it needs a GOOD rinse (with loose hair, cuz rinsing with twists in isn't the same AT ALL) - it still smells good, and it still feels good.
I'm vaguely worried (because of the proliferation of longer hair strands in the middle of my twists) that my hair is going to be all kinds of lopsided lengths when I take it out, and I'm going to need to trim it again loose, to try to get my hair to ROUGHLY the same length. I plan on checking that out and doing what's needed tonight, as my hair will be dry, and it should be mostly stretched out...so I'll be able to get a good idea of the length.
Ah yes, something else that thrills me - each time I get my hair wet, it smells like henna & honey - which is jsut such a warm, sweet, earthy smell - I crush out on myself.
So! Just to keep a record - I brought like a YEARS supply of MSM, and 2 months worth of Omega 3,6,9 pills today. I plan on taking the full dose of the MSM, but I'll most likely just start with ONE of the pills a day, and work my way up to three.
I LOVE working on getting healthier - now, if I could just get the key to the fitness center!!
Hmm... I might not make it two weeks with the twists. I don't know if it's the fact that I used WP rather than gel in my twists this time, but they are fuzzier than a bunnies bottom, and it's only TUESDAY! Plus, I'm sure that my latest trick for stopping me from pulling on my hair (massaging my scalp) isn't helping keep the fuzzies down either - nor is the daily wetting. But! If it only takes me three hours to twist my hair - humph, I'd be willing to do it every weekend. The question is - would I do the henna every week, or stick to every two weeks?
I LOVE the way my hair feels - and as I'm not doing anything unusual to it, I know it's the henna. The strands feel like silk thread - SUPER smooth and slick, strong, but with a good little bit of stretch. It's amazing. The strands also feel thicker too - like they are bigger than normal. However, I must admit, I haven't had a full, loose head of hair my NATURAL color since *thinks* 97? - and I wonder how much the color has made my hair thinner. A hair shed a few days ago (A hair! [b]A[/b] hair! *delighted giggle*) and I noticed that the black part of the hair was distinctly THICKER than the reddish part of the hair. For a while, I thought my strands looked so fine because of the color (so it wasn't showing up fully against the light) but now, I'm wondering if they looked finer because they WERE finer, because of the color. If that's the case, I'm REALLY excited to see what my natural hair looks like - I might actually have medium/coarse hair, not the super fine stuff that I think I have.
And it's SOOOO shiny. and soft. *strokes hair gently*
I saw this girl at Home Depot last night who had these really cute two strand twists (with the fake hair) and I asked her how much they were - 180.00. ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS? For some thing that lasts maybe 10 weeks? 18 bucks a week, roughly 2.50 a day - and I was so shocked, I forgot to ask her if that included the hair. Shhheeee-freaking-WEEE!!! That's a very healthy chunk of change - why did I want to get my hair braided again?? *LOL* Oh yeah, to protect it. Umph. I don't know, I don't know. Maybe cornrows, with my own hair? But, I think I'd look a bit bald....so, I don't know. I really need to teach myself how to cornrow my own hair....that would make things EVER so much easier.
As I was driving in to work this morning, I started thinking about my short left side again, and I wonder - how much effect could the fact that I ALWAYS drive with my windows down have? That's a LOT of air whipping against that side (and only that side, sunroof or not) of my hair - I wonder if that - esp, when it's out in a fro - might add to the breakage. That's - gale force winds - rushing through my hair. I don't know - I might start wearing a scarf to work and home - cuz I KNOW I'm not going to roll my windows up!
Out of next weeks allowance, I'm going to get some MSM. I'm taking a multivitamin (chewable CENTRUM!! how cool is THAT??) already, for general health reasons, and as I HATE taking pills, I figure suffering through a spoonful of MSM in the morning wouldn't be SOO bad. It's not too expensive in powder form either - and I'm really excited to see if it encourages my hair growth/keeps it going through the winter. So - as far as hair 'stuff' goes - I'm currently using:
Honey: to keep it soft
White Rain Conditioner: to keep it clean (I'm thinking about using up the last of it in my henna's, and then going WO).
Oyin's HoneyHemp: to keep it moisturized
Oyin's Whipped Pudding: to style it
Spritzer: I've made this, but I don't USE it much. It's - honey, olive oil, ACV, a touch of HH, and water. I've used it twice, but it smells too much of ACV. oooohh!! I'm going to get some EO's in a swap that I'm doing, so maybe adding a touch of rosemary and a touch of ylang-ylang to it will make it smell nicer. I would like to be able to 'refresh' my twists WITHOUT drenching them in the shower -I think that's one of the reasons they've gone fuzzy so fast - and I suspect that the spritzer would be perfect. I could use the Greg Juice, but - Ick. My hair attracts/catches all sorts of stuff NOW, the last thing I need to do is add something that would make it sticky.
Isn't that an amazingly short list of products? I'm SOOO not a product junkie - I'm too cheap, and I'm NOT a big fan of change. I'll TRY new stuff - after figuring out exactly what I need/want it to do, and the ingredients that should do so - and if it works (like the honey) I keep it. If it doesn't (like the Qhemet stuff) I swap it/sell it/give it away. I'm going to be adding (or at least trying out)
Sweet Success Oil: for scalp massages - I think I'll do one nightly once I get home from work. Oooh, I betcha hubby would like a scalp massage too *giggles*. As it gets cooler, I can see me sitting on the deck, staring at the yard, massaging my hair. *sigh* Man, I can't wait to quit. *shakeshead*
MSM: for hair growth - this stuff seems to be something that is needed in GENERAL by the body, and the fact that it makes hair grow is an EXCELLENT side effect - oh yeah!!
So.... I don't think that's too bad. I have this future image of me in my head - a scarf wrapped around my crown, and this huge, glowing, shiny BUSH of reddish brown hair escaping out the back down my back. I think I'd be THRILLED with brastrap length hair, and you couldn't tell me NOTHING if I ever get waist length hair. *LOL* My mother would fall OUT.
Man, I'm SUCH a hippe.