Hmmm, yes, it's high time to start detangling the hair. I've got a couple of small knots in the back, and my number of fairy knots has just gone through the roof. Hopefully some water and conditioner will get them out. I think the glycerine doesn't help either, as it's slightly - tacky - and thus attracts lint, and if my hair has something to twine around, it will. Hrrmmm - I think that just means I HAVE to do daily rinses - whether in the morning or at night, to be sure that the glycerine doesn't hold onto any lint - cuz my hair DOES love my mister mix - gylcerine, jojoba, tiny bit of TTO, and a splush of HoneyHemp, and water. Ooh, I added some rosewater too this last go around, to sweeten up the smell of the TTO. Man, but that stuff (TTO) is strong!

I haven't used any Lenzi's all week - I realized that would be WAY too much manipulation of my loose hair, and I would regret it come the end of the week. However - since skipping the Lenzi's, I've noticed that my scalp doesn't itch AT ALL. So - is the Lenzi's too heavy for my scalp, or am I just too heavyhanded with it? I think I'll try to lighten up on the Lenzi's a little - still use it, but use much less.

I think I might henna tonight - though - I HAVE said that I don't wanna sleep on Henna. I might jsut have to bring the old pillows to bed. Hrm, no - I take that back. I'm going to Amla/Shikaiki/Conditioner my hair tonight, Henna tomorrow, practice yarn twists tomorrow night, leave it alone Saturday, and then do the yarn twists Saturday night and Sunday and Monday.... That SHOULD give me enough time to finish before I go back to work on Tuesday, along with everything else I plan on doing.

I'm switching up my henna recipe this go around, after a question/thought was raised on LHCF about mixing coconut milk, lime, and henna together - the ultimate natural decurler. I don't THINK it'll do much - but I'm willing to try. I actually have some of the coconut/lime mix in my freezer left over from last time. I think it has some conditioner in it, and some honey too - so that'll be a perfect mix to add my FNWL henna to. I'll use the leftover C/L stuff as the liquid (I'm not going to heat it up - I'll jsut leave the henna on the porch - it's warm enough for that again!), and make my usual thick as all get out mix. Then mix in extra condish to make it hair worthy, and freeze the rest again. I've also promised (Hi Just_Isabel!!! :lol:) pictures of my head wrapped in saran wrap, so I think that I'm going to do a photo montage of my hennatype adventures - have to remind DH to leave the camera home.

Hrrmmm. It's taken me almost an hour to write this, as I take pauses to work, read other forums, play in my hair (the breakage is still close to NOTHING - I get a few, but they are either red, or obvious splits, so I'm happy - shedding is about 4-5 caught a day.... I'm sure it's a whole HORDE of shed hairs waiting for me) - but it's almsot time to go home.

I'm sure I'll be back. :lol:

Hairsta la Vista!

Lazy Weekend....

I had a really lazy weekend, and totally did NOT feel like combing my hair - so I didn't. I'm rocking the same wee fro that I've had all weekend - and I'm actually kinda liking it. I didn't take pictures of my products either. I didn't use the amla/shikakia either. :lol: I clarified with some BS & conditioner - though really, I used it to get my hair as curly as possible.

My mullet is more or less gone in the back - I can FEEL that the hair is two different textures, but it's at least shrunk up about to its limit. Interestingly enough, I also have mulletworthy hair on the sides, right above/behind my ears. I can pull that behind my ears (thankfully), but it likes to puff out. In general though, shrinkage is AMAZING. My hair looks like it's about 3/4 of an inch long - prompting several of my coworkers to ask me how I liked my new hair cut. :lol:

I'm playing in my hair, of course, and I'm VERY VERY pleased with how it feels and how much hair is coming out.
I've switched up my mister already - water, a tiny bit of TTO, glycerine, Humectress, and some jojoba :oops:. Yeah, there was some tucked in my cabinet too. I like how my hair feels - it's smooth and soft, but not too soft. And when I pull it straight, it boings right back into place. And it's DENSE - dear god, is this dense. Talk about a fabulous sunscreen. I've got this funky cool little patch of red hair right at the front top of my hair too - it's interesting. Looks like I did highlights, but I didn't, actually.

I'm debating leaving my hair like this all week - kind of a reward for having gotten so far with it, as well as to give my hair some 'breathing' time before I do the yarn twists. Also, I'm lazy. :lol:

hrm. I thought there was something else, but I can't think of it, so oh well.

I'm insane, really I am.

I just added a RIDICULOUSLY long intro section to my first entry. Am I going to keep up with it? We shall see. I always love it when I go to people's diaries, and they have those sort of things there - if I can ever get some good pictures of my texture, I'll add them there too. It's a CliffNotes to the madness that is me.

And ya know, I think that I will always be public....because I want (so not about to be humble here) I want to be an inspiration to other black women who are trying to grow their natural hair - whether they are members here or not. I'm hoping to have hair down to my ass one day, and this journal will be the record of how it got there. *grins* I want to give back whatNymphe gave to me.
Hm. That reminds me, I need to back this journal up.

In less self-centered, more hair-related news - it's FRIDAY!!! :hollie: Which of course means, that the hair is out. Seriously, by Friday, my hair is BEGGING to be set free. I realized this evening as I was slowly picking out my twists, that locs would drive me INSANE right now - just - *shudder* crazy. Not because they were bound together, but because I KNEW I couldn't take them apart.

Okay. I'll talk about this weekend's plans first.

So! It's Clarifying weekend! I was planning on doing my usual baking soda/citric acid two step, but then, as I was rooting around for SOMETHING in my cabinent, I stumbled across a box of Amla, and a box of Shikakai! Mind you, I thought I had used both of them all up in the CASH oil, but noooo!
I've been thinking about something herbal, to give a little 'boost' to the cleaning action - esp. since I'm actually using some sort of product EVERY day (cone/petro free or not) - and it's starting to get warm - so I might need a little something extra.
Then, I saw a thread - not sure if it was here or at LHCF (I think it was there), where they talked about mixing the herbs with CONDITIONER. Now, doesn't that just sound RIGHT up my alley? So - I think I might do that this weekend. I'm going to Ostara Ritual tomorrow, and I think I'm going to rock a wee, not pushed back fro, and then wash my hair when I come home afterwards.

Also - speaking of finding lost herbs, I'm going to finally take pictures of ALL the hair stuff I have. :oops: *hangs head in shame* You see, I collected all this stuff over a long period of time and well.... well, you'll see. I'll take the pictures tomorrow when DH isn't here - he's already ribbing me on my 'mild' hair obsession - I don't need to give him anymore ammunition! :lol:

Urm.

I'm seeing a BIT more breakage this week than last - I'm thinking that my decision to not follow up with a moisturizing conditioner after the protien was a bad one - next go around, I'm definitely going to finish it off right. However! Still WAY less than before, and still a healthy number of shed strands vs. broken ones, so I'm still content. I've noticed though, that the roots of the shed strands look lighter COLORED - almost blond. Am I going gray? Wouldn't that ROCK!??! I would have the reddest.hair.EVER. :hollie:

One thing that DID drive me batty this week was the shrinkage! My hair literally SHRUNK it's way out of the twists (esp. after I got it all nice and wet) and I had to redo one on the side (which saved it) but the back was a lost cause. I'm thinking about shifting the 'hair rinse' to THURSDAY morn, that way, I'll only have to get through one more day. But - I think my scalp would be screaming by Wednesday - esp. with the weather changing. Hmm. I can live with a severe case of the fuzzies on Friday - esp as since, as it gets longer it should hold together better.
I'll leave it on Wednesday, for now.

Also, I'm thinking about tweaking my misters. I've got the one with the strong TTO, conditioner and water - that one will stay the same - and I might even take out the conditioner and add some jojoba oil (which I really DO think I'm out of - but I could be wrong. :oops: ) since that mister main focus is the scalp. Or... ooooh. I wonder if I could use a lil MTG? I wonder what that would SMELL like though - ugh. More pondering required there - I'll stick with replacing it with jojoba oil next bottle.
The moisturizing one though - I'm thinking of doing 1/3 water, 1/3 glycerin, 1/3 conditioner - maybe the Oyin, and a fre DROPS of TTO (more for the anti-bac aspect) to use to soak my hair at night. It's starting to get warmer again, and I'm driving with the windows down, and I need someting a lil more intensely moisturizing on a daily basis. And :oops: I'm seriously starting to think about taking something to work with me, to give my hair a lil refresher in the midday. I'm not saying I WILL - I'm just - considering it, is all.



Sooo!!

I had originally taken next Friday and Monday after next off so that me & DH could go someplace Smmoopppy and LovelyDovely for our anniversary but *fondglare* he has to work. I'm not really ALL that upset, as it's just one less reason to spend money we really don't need to be spending ANYWAY. :lol:
However, I've already put in (and been approved) for vacation, so um, yeah. I'll have a 4 day weekend!!
And I'm seriously considering spending a good portion of it putting in some yarn twists. The weekend was already clear, because I planned on being laid up in some hotel room somewhere. In fact.... *sh* you guys are the only ones who know that we AREN'T going somewhere - it's going to be WONDERFUL (as if I'm really that popular! :lol: )
I said I wanted to do this once I had all the red out, and - well it's a 4 day weekend that I plan on spending at home (garden, house, hair - esp. garden as I'm taking my seeds in to be blessed at tomorrows Rit!) - so I can do the twists in bits and pieces over four days. My main concern was whether I would be able to continue with my moisture regimen - and apparently, that's one of the main reasons that you HAVE to use acrylic yarn - so that it doesn't soak up moisture like a natural yarn would, and wick it away from your hair.

Soooooo.... :smirk: I might be doing that next weekend.

And really, I think this forever long entry (number 2 of 2 tonight) is finally DONE.

Sheesh.

Yum,yum, yumyumyumyuymmmmmm

Remember the cartoon doggie? The one, that when you gave him a treat, he would shoot straight up in the air, then come floating down like a leaf to land in a puddle of utmost contentment?

My hair is that dog.

Okay.

To start with, I took my hair down on Thursday - I was taking Friday off, so I got a little start on the hair playing. And. Omgs! My hair was - soft, supple, smooth, strong, and barely breaking.

It was - lovely. I actually wore it OUT in a shake & go pushed back with a headband most of Friday, and all I did to it was mist it twice - and - it was LOVELY. Tight little soft curls, so moist - not breaking - and - curly! I mean - truly, tight, curls.

My hair is LOVELY! It's really going to be amazing long - and finally, because I've figured out how to stop the breakage (it was really bad ya'll) - I'm actually going to RETAIN all the hair I grow. *happy dance* Wooot!

Friday night, I bestirred myself, and put on the Remedi Protien mix - it smelled sooo good. Like - bananas and coconuts mixed. Yum. I slapped it in, and left it in for far, far, far too long. I rinsed it out Saturday and - my hair was STILL dreamy. I was able to comb it out in the shower - and - STILL barely any breakage. I mean - the amount of hair (shed & broken) that I've seen ALLL weekend is less than the amount of hair that would come out after fingercombing it as I was taking it down last month - heck, two weeks ago!

I was considering putting a moisturizing conditioner on top, but it felt SOOO good, that I didn't think it needed it. I made my usual fat twists, using the CoN ND (I really think this helped A LOT in making my hair so moisture-retentive through the week), and tied it all up while I worked on the kitchen.

So - things are going SOOO well, up on top of my head. Well. Almost everything. I have a thin layer of - gunk on my scalp. VERY thin, and I have to scratch pretty hard at it for it to even come up. I can't see it in the mirror, and when I look under my nails, it's a creamy white - stuff. Is that sebum, I wonder? I'm thinking it might be buildup from the mister/Lenzi's request - but, next week is clarifying week, so if that is it, I'll clean that up quickly.

I realized, that really, I only 'wash' my hair once a month - when I clarify. The protein treatment isn't cleansing. The moisturizing treatment is KINDA cleansing - assuming I don't add honey to it. Ooooooh - I've GOT to add honey to it next time, oh, that'll be FABULOUS. I might start adding honey to everything again - except the henna! *thinks*


What I'm trying to do is lighten my hair, and use henna at the same time to give a more obvious red tint to my hair. So, I'm thinking that if I take advantage of the lightening effects of honey all the time (hmm, honey in the mister?) EXCEPT when I'm hennaing, that might acomplish that. So..... that would change my mixes a little, but not really how I do things. Hrmm. I think I'll go one more month with this set of products, and then add back in the honey.


The moisturizing treatment is KINDA cleansing - assuming I don't add honey to it. The henna is kind of cleansing - but that is the week after the clarifying treament, so I doubt there is much to cleanse at that point.

I'm kind of interested in maybe trying something different for clarifying - I'm doing baking soda + cheapie condish + humectress now.... I've been thinking about maybe going with some herbs. *LOL* I love having a framework! I realize that just because I know what works, doesn't mean I always have to use the same thing. *wiggles nose* So. I might do a search for that later.

Oooh! I got my box from FNWL - tea tree oil, rosemary EO, shealoe butter, and TWO POUNDS of henna!! :hollie: *contented sigh*
The Rosemary EO is going in the mister - I LOVE the smell of rosemary, and - heck, it stimulates the scalp too, which is a nice side effect. And it's strong enough that I can use just a TINY bit so I avoid the risk of side effects. The henna - well, that's obvious. FNWL's henna is the - it's damn good. It's *grins* almost snotty. It hangs together VERY nicely with just water in it, and it rinses out like a DREAM and the color release happens in like 1/2 hour.... *strokes bags of henna*

I have no clue what I'm going to do with the shealoe butter, but it was on sale, and I've heard such great things about it, that I said What the Heck! The TTO is going into my mister - it's a good antifungal, and I figure if I'm going to be keeping my scalp damp 1/2 the time, that might be a good idea.

That's another reason I would like to find something herbal that cleans the scalp - I'd LOVE to have some of that handy to mix into my mister.

*forlornly tugs on a twist*

My hair is SO. SHORT. But then, at the same time, I know it's getting longer, because it's doing new things.

Like - the little sideburn thingys? They go almost to my jaw now. When I have my hair out, and I'm sitting on the couch, I can feel it brush against the nape of my neck - it tickles. There is hair all along my hairline that sticks out in these long stretched out curls when my hair is wet.

Oh!

(My, but I'm chatty tonight.....)

Something else I was thinking of while I was getting in the shower to rinse out the Remedi - how much my perception of my hair has changed. Or - is it how much my hair has changed?

If you would have told me back in 2000 that I would be in love with my natural hair (not just tolerate it because I refused the other options, but really LOVE it), I would have laughed in your face. I endured my hair, natural, because I hated the look of jherri curls, I hated the smell of pressing combs & relaxers, and I hated the price of extensions. So, by default, my hair was natural. It was the same default that ended up with me being in dreads, but that's another branch of the same story.

Anyhow. I wasn't fond of my hair. It was dry, and hard, and tangled, and was dull and bleh looking and really didn't suit my face at all. It took too much time to do, and it still felt - not quite - natural - I felt like it didn't suit me, but I did it because I had no other choice.

Now - I still don't have a choice - well, I could always go back to dreads - but - I'm okay with that, now. Because even if I DID have a choice, I'd chose (now, that is) what's authentically growing out of my head. Maybe it's a matter of age, and growing more comfortable with who I am. Maybe my hair HAS changed, through a combination of supplements and products. Maybe my hair is actually healthy for the first time - ever - and this wondrous crown is what I've ALWAYS had, hidden under neglect like a secret garden.

It's a delightful adventure I'm on - with myself! With a part of myself that - that was so sorely neglected and - dismissed - because I didn't know how to actually take care of MY hair.

Oops, I forgot to warn ya'll bout the rambling, again. I've been thinking about hair alot lately (obviously) and just haven't seemed to have the chance to sit down and write it all out - this is what happens when I don't journal for a week at a time. :lol:

Urm.

I think I'm actually done.


:wannabe:

Good hair times, Good hair times.

*happy dance*

So - I left work, and went to the BSS. I wanted some more deep conditioner and I had'nt been to the BSS up the street from me yet.

I spent an hour in that place, picking up bottles, reading the ingredients, hitting the words 'mineral oil' or 'petrolatum' or my personal favorite 'parafidum liquidum', sighing and putting the bottle back on the shelf.

I mean, really - if I wanted to put a mix of mineral oil, vaseline, and water in my hair, I could whip that up at home.

The ones that passed the petrol exam, usually failed dismally at the cone-free test. I figure it this way - I KNOW that I have exceptionally dry hair. I'm looking for an exceptionally moisturizing conditioner - but if I get one that has cones in it - my hair isn't going to be able to be fully moisturized throughout the week - and well, that defeats the bloody purpose!

So - I walked out of there with two conditioners (after an HOUR), one moisturizing conditioner (Elasta QP Intense Fortifying Hair Conditioner), one protien rich conditioner (Remedi Hi-Potentcy Protien Moisturizing Conditioner), a hair creme (Cream of Nature Nature's Design Mositruizing Creme Hairdress with Carrot Oil and Vitamin E), and a 12 oz container of gylcerin.

Okay. The protien stuff I got, because - well, I'm sick of the coconut milk mix. It's too damn thin, and it's drippy, and it gets EVERYWHERE, and it attracts ants. So, if my hair likes this stuff, it's going to take the place of that on the 3rd week.

Despite the fact that my hair doesn't seem to like glycerin (it HATED StaSofFro and wasn't all that fond of Greg Juice), but I think I might like to add a bit of it into my nightly misting spray - I think that it will help my hair suck that 'moist' air from around my head into my hair. I rubbed a bit of it into my hair in the store, and my hair seemed to like it, so we'll see.

The hairdress I got is because I don't think that the whipped pudding alone is quite as moisturizing as it should be - so I'm thinking about using this stuff on my wet hair, then putting the WP on top of it. It'll be interesting to see what my hair thinks of it.


Then, I came home, and started detangling my hair....well, really, I started detangling my hair on my way home (playing with my hair in the car is a fabulous thing).

And MUCH to my delightful suprise, I had little breakage. I don't think I've ever really explained JUST how much breakage I could get. I would touch my hair, and tiny piece would come off in my fingers - detangling my hair would leave me with a HUGE pile of hair - and most of it was broken pieces. I wanted to cry sometimes - seriously, that's what put me on this crazy moisturemoisturemoisture kick. Half the time, I didn't even SHE shed hairs - I think they just crumbled into wee pieces.
Yesterday - I was getting MUCH fewer strands of hair, and they were LONG pieces, too - many of the with the bulb still on! :hollie
So - that makes me VERY excited. With the amount of breakage that I had, I was seriously worried about preserving my ends - now that I actually want to KEEP these ends!!

I'm gonna calculate my yearly growth rate in TWO months!! (Yet another reason I want to preserve my ends!).

Interestingly enough, my hair is more - consistent, now? It's - really fabulous. I'm not loosing any curl - it's still as nappy as it's always been - but it's - it's working WITH itself. I'm actually able to rock a really cool, pretty, natural looking shake & go now - it actually just - settles. It's really amazing the difference that having the color in my hair made - I LIKE my hair. Now, I jsut wanna get it long.

I know this is a BOOK. :lol: So I'll stop now.

Oooh! I haven't posted for a while!

Well - I henna'd last weekend, and while it wasn't a TOTAL disaster it was - interesting. I used some henna I found in the local Halal shop - and - ew. It was full of twigs and sticks, and took FOREVER to release dye - though, it WAS very conditioning. So I guess I can't complain TOO much - but I'll be tossing the rest of it. I just placed an order with FNWL for more henna (2lbs this time!), some shealoe butter, some rosemary and tea tree oil, and I think that's it.

I took the new set of hairline comparison pics as well.....Here's the originals...



And here's a month later



Hmmm... not too bad. I think that the fronthairline is filling in NICELY - the sides are still *waggles hand* I've been thinking about using the MTG - but I don't know. That stuff IS stinky. I'm thinking that maybe some Vatki Oil would be better. *thinks* I don't THINK anything is rubbing my sides moreso than the front....but then, my scarf has to go behind my ears, and I don't know how much that pulls. If that's the problem, I might just have to accept that the side will always be a little thinner, as I can NOT have my ears pinned down. *shudder*

Hrm. I'll have to think about it.

Let's see, what else? I talked about the icky henna - oh! I have to find another deep treatment. I'm seriously thinking about going through ALL the hair stuff I have in the cabinent, and coming up with something - but at the same time, knowing what I know about different kinds of conditioners - I think it might be worthwhile just going and buying a real DC. I only use it once a month - so...... *sigh* It's just a PAIN in my rear finding one that has no petroluem products or cones. I liked the Silk Elements stuff I had before - but it smells so dang chemically, and - well, after the twig adventure last week, I'm really not trying to deal with anything that has little bits and pieces of random organic material in it.

I'm really happy with my hair in general, despite my worries that I'm balding and that I'm breaking it all off and that fungus is going to grow on my scalp from me trying to keep it moist - which, really, is all linked.

I swear - I think if I had a Jherri Curl, my hair would be down to my behind - my hair is TERMINALLY dry. It doesn't really matter what I put in it - I have to do it EVERYDAY in order to keep the moisture level high enough. I've started sleeping every night with my freshly misted hair under a showercap, so that I'm giving myself little 'saunas' all week long. The mister usually has water + some sort of conditioner that is okay as a leave in - I'm alternating the Humectress and the Honey Hemp. The oils I ordered from FNWL are going to go into the mister - rosemary for stimulation (just in case I AM going bald) and tea tree oil as a antifungal/antibacterial/general keeping stuff in check.

OHMI! Speaking of going bald! I had this dream this morning - a bunch of unhair related stuff was going on, then I passed a mirror, and literally did a triple take. My hair was SHORT (like Rosemary's Baby), STRAIGHT (relaxer for DAYS) and a hideous brassy blonde color. Even WORSE - I had HUGE shiny bald patches scattered all through my hair. Normally/awake, my hair is dense enough that I don't care HOW I part it, I can't put my finger on bare/hairfree scalp (I can almost do it right at the top of my head, but it's still not hairfree). In the dream, I had shiny patches as big as my thumb that I could rub - totally hairfree. I was oddly calm about it - sorta sad, but not NEARLY as freaked out as I was when I woke up. Very strange. I haven't had straight hair in a dream in - a very, very, LONG time.

But anyhow, as I was saying before that side trip into the wonders of my subconsious, I'm misting my hair everynight....on Tue/Thur, I'm doing Lenzi's first, then misting, and the rest of the week, I'm just misting. As the weather gets warmer (and more humid!) I think that my moisture issues will ease up some - but - it's REALLY an uphill battle, and I think that my hairs' dryness is a MAJOR cause of the breakage that I get. It's so saddening, all the little half curls of hair that I'm left with - and it doesn't matter HOW gentle I am with my hair (though I MUST get better with using HH on my dry hair before touching it with a comb), it get breakage. It's a combo of the fineness of my hair, as well as all my lovely little tiny curls.

Ah! Speaking of which - very bored with a camera after a detangling session left me with this avant art picture....



I did nothing to my hair to make it do this, by the way, this is just what came out onto my hands as I was taking out my flattwists.... *sigh*

And then, here is a lovely picture of a split hair - notice the secondary partial split close to the bottom? *sigh*



Anyhow!! Those are why I'm trying to figure out how to keep my hair constantly hydrated. If I wore a wig, I could wear a showercap underneath. But, it's rally not that crucial.

And - now that all of my red (or most of it - I still have a fine fringe of red, but it's pretty insginicant - it's a really pretty highlight on my flattwists though, so I'm not going to trim it off) is gone, I'm thinking about doing yarn twists again...and I'm wondering what the thin line is of being damp/being mildewy. *makes ew face*

I think I'm going to take next Friday off, so I might try then. Or, I could stop being a wuss and at least experiment this weekend. It might be easier than I think.

Maybe.

We'll see.

Okay.

I think I'm done!