The Kinkdom of Kiya

Okay, I went to take a shower and rinse the conditioner out of my hair, and thought of a couple of other things. I'll finish up on hair, right now. Flickr is down, so I can't do holes, just yet....

It's funny, that I'm about where I was before, right before I started with dreads, and wearing two strand twists pretty consistently was what got me into dreads. This go around however, I have no INTENTION of locking - it's amazing how much perception and intention affect your actions and your emotions. It's a treat, every two weeks to take me hair down and play with it. This time, I'm putting my hair up to protect it, not to shut it aside. I'm putting my hair up out of love, not out of despair... and thus, it's a whole nother ride.

I wonder if C thinks that I plan on relocking. Hah! I can't even imagine it - I would miss my hair FAR too much!

I was checking out the top of my journal (I had taken down the links a couple of places, since I couldn't get in - I'll have to remedy that in a couple of places. I'm SO thrilled to have my hair obsessing place back! :hug: but, as I was saying, I was checking out the front page (which I updated in Feb!) and it said that I was hoping for shoulder length stretched by MAY. MAY? I was on something, seriously! Maybe I meant May 2008, despite having written May 2007. Anyhow, the timeline picture is soothing, most days, I still think it's kinda slow.

And, I've been debating when I'll 'claim' shoulderlength (which in my mind, is the first 'real' milestone. I'm split between ear & crown. Ear (measuring with a lock of hair at the ear hairline) would give me sholderlength faster *doubles checks* actually, based on that, I'm shoulder length NOW.
Crown, on the other hand - I'm not even ear length, yet. *sigh* About 1/2 inch above my ear, I think? And I think that once my crown is actually shoulder length, it'll be REALLY full, and I can REALLY claim it. *sigh*
On the other hand, that will also mean I won't be able to claim shoulder length for about another year. At the same time, it will mean that EVERY milestone I hit will be a full, undoubted, most people would have said it was met long ago (did I mention I have a big head?)

I'm hoping for tailbone in 2017, so. Murph. This May will be a full two years since I've cut it all off, and I'm still not to shoulder length. *sigh* Murph. It's not the speed, it's the movement.

And really, I'm incredibly happy with my hair - if it was a couple of feet longer, it would be perfect. It's so soft. And strong. And curly. And full. And it's really amazing.

It's funny, reading back, I was actually TALKING about starting to use more Indian herbs - it's just that I moved towards them slowly.

I think I'm going to be really pleased though - I need to C&P my comments on my first hair washing with the herbs....

Okay - so I did my first hair 'wash' today while in twists - 1 tblsp amla, 1 tsp fo-ti powder (a powder I've had for a while, Chinese I believe, good for hair) and 2 tblsp shikakai. I mixed it into a thinnish paste with hot water and honey, then got my twists wet, and put it in.

I left it in for about an hour, then rinsed out - very well! I don't think there is any way to sift these perfectly - the grains are SO small. I rinsed for about 20 minutes.

My hair looks LOVELY - it looks smooth and shiny and darker. It feels a TINY bit dry/stripped - but I'll see how it feels tomorrow. If it's still dry, I'll drop the shikakai down to a tablespoon.

The really interesting part is how my scalp is TINGLING - it feels York peppermint patty fresh! So fresh and so clean clean, I'm telling you.... and how ya'll henna sisters fail to mention that the amla/shikaika mixture is SO much prettier than henna? Looks like chocolate pudding, rather than what's left in a diaper...

So far, I'm happy.

Oh, also - a tip for other folx using the coconut oil based oils - I melt it all down, and pour it into a widemouthed tub (I have a couple in the house left over from other stuff, but you can get something close at the dollar store) so that when it hardens back up, I can just scrape a lil off the top with my finger and apply to my scalp as I'm massaging.
Even though the amla oil doesn't solidify - I'm going to do the same.... I think that also minimizes your use of it....