Howdy!!!
Haven't been doing much with my hair, as usual - though, I have learned a new technique, that while it hasn't revolutionized how I deal with my hair - I think it's the tweak I needed to keep things on track.
Ive started (thanks to the wise suggestion of Sareca!) to condition my hair DRY - with a little bit of heat. It didn't make sense (still, doesn't, actually) but it works SOOO much better - my hair feels - richer? smoother? and definitely more moisturized. I don't actually own a hair heating device, so I'm using a warm towel on my head instead - it's the closest I'll get, and honestly, I'm not totally certain that it's needed.
Anyhow - it's shifted how I do things. Instead of taking my hair down, getting it wet, detangling, putting in conditioner, leaving it in overnight, detangling again, rinsing out, moisturizing, putting into fat braids to dry, taking down, combing again, and then putting it into my weekly style (gah, that sounds so complex) I now just - take my hair down, put in conditioner, detangle, put into fat braids, rinse out conditioner, let dry, take down, put in my weekly style. And, my hair is actually long enough that I can turn my fat braids into a style that I can wear out in public without shame.
So. Urm.
Ah! I need to take another picture of my temples - looking at those pictures from March, I really do think that they have filled in A LOT - still not as lush as I want them to be, but I think that the care I'm taking of my face (and by extension, the skin of my hairline) will make a big difference - I've managed to (FINALLY) cut down on the freaky flakies on my face, and I'm hoping it'll make a difference to the leath of my hairline. So. I'll take a new picture at the end of next month, and compare it to the pictures from March, and just see the difference.
I suspect that a lot of the thinness was just from the stress that my dreads put on my hairline - five years of tiny locs pulling (and sometimes ripping) the already amazing fine hairs of my hairline has definitely made a difference. *sigh* Have I meantioned how incredibly NOT patient I am? :laugh: And my back hairline (behind my ears and all the way back) is SOOO lovely and full and - just nice. *sigh* I can't wait for all my hair to be like that.
I also updated my hair profile thingy - I really need to change my hair type to a straight up 4a - I wish they had a 3c/4a combo, but that's okay. I changed the length to reflect TLHC's standards, even though I really think it's - skewed, as of COURSE the hair along my nape, if stretched out, and added to the size of my head, is going to make my hair 'longer' than it really is. I really think that measuring the length of the strands themselves is more accurate (esp. for someone like me who has a BIG head of strands which are generally all the same length which = layers) them measuring from hairline to bottom of the longest strand at the nape.
Let's put it this way - measuring strands of hair (which to me, is usuable hair length) is seven inches, or so. My 'TLHC' length is 17 inches - and my head is about 16 inches. See - I told you I have a big head. :laugh: I guess it's just that - heck, it seems like I should be able to make a ponytail with 17 inches of hair, but with the size of my head - that's a total no go. I'm thinking - 16 inch head, I need at least 8-9 inches of hair to be able to pull it all together (which would translate into about 20 inches) and at least 12 (24-26 inches) to really be able to start doing nice buns, etc..... but then, having just done a quick measurement check, that's about halfway between SL and APL, which, really is about the point in time that most people really ARE able to pull their hair up.
*sigh* Let's see, count bald from May 2006, and I've gotten to 16 inches in - 16 months - that's a 'virtual' inch a month, which really is AMAZING growth. In strand length, I'm at more 1/2 an inch a month. *sigh* So - that should mean that I would be at full sholder length in another 8-10 months, or so - that's not bad - in fact, that's right fair growth for two years. *stops my whinging*
*waving*
Seriously? June 19th?
Holy cow!!!!
I haven't really been doing much new with my hair - I've been hennaing every month, and HLC'ing whenever I feel like it. :lol: Urm, I haven't trimmed in a while, and it doesn't really need it, based on how it acted in twists. Still using the same products.......
I'm really boring, in other words. I'm going into the more shedding/slower growing period, and I'm considering a topical potion to charge up my temples (yes, another one) because honestly - that's the ONLY part of my hair that I'm anything less than totally pleased with.
I'd like to put my hair in yarn twists for most of the winter, but I'm being a lazy git, and not only haven't found the yarn, I also haven't praticed one bit (though I've stalked MANY a fotki).
I've been hanging around LHCF for the last few days out of boredom, and it's inspiring in me a vibe to try some new stuff, mix up some stuff out of the ingredients I already have.
I actually need to go back through my journal and IDENTIFY some stuff - I have no clue what some of my mystery mixes are.
Well, it's been a NICE little while since I last updated. As usual, I'll start with hair, and move to holes.
My hair is - it's amazing, really. It's slowly turning into something - someting wonderful. It's growing (man, is it growing!) but more importantly, it FEELS happy. I was just reading my last journal entry, and realized that this weekends henna is supposed to be a henna/coconut/lime mix - hrm, that should be interesting. I can't remember if I left any henna powdered, like I was supposed to! *slaps forehead* I'll go home tonight and check.
Okay - pictures!
February to June comparison:
I posted this in my photo journal, and several people commented that it looked thicker and shinier (and obviously longer) and it IS. It's MUCH thicker - I'm not sure if it's just as it gets longer, it 'poofs' more, or what - but it's WAY thicker than it was - but it still compresses down to about nothing. It's also shinier - that, I assume is the combination of continual henna'ing and jsut general improvement in it's overall health.
When it's wet, it's - wavy - really, and it LAYS DOWN. I'm sure KeenKitty will talk about me flashing again ( :laugh: ) but I'll have to take a fresh out of the shower picture jsut to show what I'm talking about - hrm, I think I'll do a before/after picture this weekend for the HLC treatment.
It's also gotten ALMOST long enough (if I twist right on the edge of my crown) that I can put my hair into two flattwists down either side of my head. I haven't been able to do that since I cut the last of the bleach/dyed hair out.
It's interesting, because the nape hairs don't seem INSANE long anymore - but they aren't SHORTER than they used to be, the rest of my hair has just caught up.
Hrm. I ran out of the Creme of Nature stuff that I had been using in my hair, and forgot to pic up a new container, so desparate, I broke into the Hair Souffle that I had tried before and hated. I don't remember WHY I hated it (I'll have to scan back and see if I talk about it) but it ROCKED on my hair Sunday. I have two WHOLE containers of it, and it's rich, so I only need to use a little bit, so if my hair seems happy when I take it down this weekend, I'll continue to use that.
*thinks* What else, what else? I'm starting to see breakage again, and I think it might be the MTG I was putting in my mister - so I'm stopping that once I empty out the last of this mister bottle (tomorrow or Thursday, I'm sure). The breakage isn't NEARLY as bad what I was getting before, and I've noticed that if I don't 'swish' my hair around (I take it out, comb it straight back, condition it straight back, dentangle straight back, and then twist/braid as needed) it stays MUCH less tangled, and seems happier, in general.
Or, it could be that I've skipped my protien treatments the last two months - hrm, maybe my hair is getting TOO soft. I need to read back and see my logic for determining when my next HLC treatment would be - as to me, that works as an INTENSIVE protien treatment. I think doing it every other month - even skipping the week 3 protien treatment, might be overkill. *Thinks*
Month 1 - HLC/no protien
Month 2 - henna/no protien
Month 3 - henna/protien
Month 4 - henna/no protien
Month 5 - HLC/no protien
Hrm - that's kinda spread out - I would only do a HLC twice a year on that schedule - I think I wanted to it it every 3 months..... I'd much rather do that treatment, and just totally dump the week 3 protien treatment, and replace it with something else.
Hrm. I've also been kinda 'skimping' on the clarifying on week 4 - I REALLY don't use much in my hair (though, I've started back with the Burnt Sugar this week, so I'll definitely need to clarify) - so I haven't felt the need to 'strip' my hair. If anything, I've mixed a wee bit of BS with my conditioner, and run that through my hair RIGHT before I henna.
So, if I dump the protien treatment it would be -
Week 1 - Henna
Week 2 - Deep conditioner (Still in love with the Elasta - though, I've started 'craving' something new.....)
Week 3 - ????
Week 4 - Clarifying, if needed, otherwise another DC
and
Month 1 - HLC
Month 2 - Henna
Month 3 - Henna
Month 4 - HLC
Hrmm.. moisture/protien balance is the crucial thing. I don't want to over moisturize (and shockingly enough, I think my hair is getting to the point where that MIGHT be a possibility) and I KNOW my hair gets grumpy REAL quick if I over protein. Hrrrm.
Maybe I'll start experimenting with various herb washes/treatments on Week 3 - that might be fun.
I totally stopped using the Lenzi's Request - *shrug* it jst seemed to be more of a headache than it was worth. I has started using the MTG I got in a swap - shaking up the bottle, dipping a qtip into it, and just dabbing alng my hairline. I did that for about three weeks, didn't see any change, and was like - screw it. So, that's that for the topical treatments - I'm so happy to see my hair GROWING, that the speed is - eh. It'll happen as it happens, ya know?
*LOL* I have flyaway hairs that are long enough to get into my EYES when I'm driving - not many, mainly from that odd section of hair right behind my ear, but it's throughly amazing and amusing all the same.
I thnk that about wraps it up... I'mREALLY going to try to be better about posting/hanging out here - it's just that truly - besides the CONDITION of my hair - nothing's changed. I've hit that wonderful place where stuff WORKS, and I know what to do when it DOESN'T work, and - :grouphug: I really owe MOST of that to the wonderful folx at TLHC.
Thanks ya'll, on the real.
Hair!!!!
Urmmm. Let's see - last weekend was SUPPOSED to be clarifying (it's henna time again, ALREADY??), but as I was out in the woods, dancing with the pagans, it was more of a sun-in time, and lots-of-water-time. I took it out on Saturday, as the fuzz was starting to eat my head, and I gently untangled it, got it good and wet, rubbed some HH into it, and rolled on. Since then, I've HH'd it twice, Elasta'd it once, and misted it twice daily. So, yeah. It's still out - I'm wearing a loose wild choppy fro - the one thing that DOES suprise me is the number of wavy hairs I have coated the top of my fro - there are a bunch of little flyaways.
And - I have some hair - the stuff right behind my ears - that isn't my hair. I don't know whose hair is growing out of my scalp - but um - it ain't mine. It's 3a - MAYBE - back there - possibly 2b. Which - um - huh? :lol: Soooo.... I plan on wearing it out all week, detangling, henna'ing, and - oh, going back into my usual style, I suppose. I've been thinking about maybe doing some two strand twists, but dammit, what I REALLY want are the yarnbraids.
Other good news - my breakage is still close to nil - even with me playing in my hair - I get the occasional 'clumps' of broken hair and I've got a couple of tangles that I know have broken hairs in the middle, but gentle contact/fingercombing is giving me NOTHING but shed hairs - so I'm VERY pleased with that. Tiny knots are really still my worst problem - though, my hair is getting long enough that I can SEE the knots on the ends, now. I notice that most of them are very red, still - and that I get more knots where the dyed hair is still hanging out - figures. But! Henna is starting to work - I can see a distinct reddish/orange overtone to my hair! :hollie:
Henna this weekend is going to be standard - I'm going to finally mix up a big bunch of it to freeze - thick henna + water paste. I'm going to leave a good bit still powdered, so that I can mix it with coconut milk & lime as needed (my next one should be - the June Henna, I think). Hrmmmmm. Yes, that sounds about right.
I think that my nape/hairline hairs have slowed down, and the hair in the center of my head is catching up - I don't see any changes in the overall length - but little things (like being able to see my ends) are telling me that my hair is growing. OooHH!!! It's been a year! Holy Cow! I've decided that the bleached blond hair picture is my offical starting picture - it's my version of bald. :lol: *whips out a ruler* roughly four inches in 12 months - that's what? 1/3 an inch, a month? Not too bad, not too bad at all. Slower than I hoped, but I'm cool with that - now, I can start thinking about topical potions. *wiggles eyebrows* I do still have sulfur AND MTG in my cabinent.
Picbacks...
So - this weekend was protien. I considered not doing it, since I did henna AND coconut milk - but I said no, I need to stick to my schedule, so I did the protien.
Looking back, urmh. I could have gone either way. I could imeadiately tell that my fine, fine, hair had too much protien in it, so I only left the protien in for about 2 hours, and then, put in doube moisturizing - the last of the Silk Elements (I'll never buy it again - I HATE the little grainy poppyseed sized things in it - ew!) and my love, my moisture, ElastaQP. That restored the balance nicely (thankfully). I then stretched it in the usual 2-strands with CoN....and then, I got the urge to try an old hairstyle, to see how much hair I've 'lost' by rigously trimming all of the color out of my hair.
This style:
has converted itself to this:
For one thing, it's DEFINITELY shorter. A good two inches shorter, I'd say. But! Much more importantly - it's also DEFINITELY thicker. I mean - HUGELY thicker - it's really amazing how much HAIR I have on my head - I truly cannot wait to see what it looks like as it gets longer. And it's healthier FEELING. Just looking at those two pictures - the second one looks - alive. It looks moist and rich and dense. *happy dance*
I think this is the first time I've REALLY been able to see a clear difference in the HEALTH my hair! The only real difference I was seeing was in length, and that was going the wrong direction.... but seeing this - I'm pleased.
Hrmm...
I'm in a mood to write here, but I haven't been up to much, so we'll see how far it goes.
1) Henna & Coconut Milk - I loved this - loved the result, loved the way it left my hair feeling, am a little nervous about how much curl it pulled out. I definitely think that mix will have to be a once every 3 months kind of thing - doing that everymonth would do odd things to my hair.
2) Weekend Hair Things - I didn't do much to the head this weekend - a nice deep moisturizer with the Elsta QP, and that was about it. I tried taking texture pictures again, and failed, quelle misrable. :lol: Urm. I used the CoN as the moisture this go around, and I only did two twists across the forehead, and then started going back & down. I'm considering two strand twists next time - but I don't know. What I REALLY want is braids/yarn twists, but I'm being right chicken about doing them myself, and I plain refuse to pay someone to do them, so we shall see.
Henna How-To
Have I mentioned recently just how MUCH I LOOOOVVVEEE FNWL's henna? Hrmm? I haven't? Well, let me just say - the. stuff. ROCKS.
So. This is going to be my ultra detailed, wonderfully pictorial trip down Henna Lane
I started around 3pm in the afternoon or so - setting up my ingredients so that I could let the dye release before I slapped it on. I was trying something different this go around, so my ingredients are a little unique.
From left to right we have:
1/2 cup of FNWL Henna
about a cup of leftover coconut milk/lime/conditioner/honey mix that I made 02/24 and froze what I couldn't use.
My mixing bowl (which is actually a fondue bowl - all that matters is that it's NON POROUS and NOT METAL!)
a coffee cup full of hot hot tap water.
I normally don't use that much henna - but I normally also stretch my henna by adding a cheapie conditioner to it, and I didn't do that this time, as I wanted to see the results of the coconut milk mix on it's own. Normally, I'd use a 1/4 cup of henna, an equal amount of hot water, and just dump in enough condish to make it stretch after the dye releases.
I mixed the henna & CMLHC mix together first, then slowly added water and mixed, and mixed, and mixed until it looked like this....
Generally gross, and lumpy, and very green. Hey! That's another thing about FNWL's henna - it's not as strong smelling as others I've used. Henna to me, smells like tea made out of hay. FNWL's henna has a very light haytea smell. You can see about how much water is left in the coffee cup - barely any.
Now, the henna has to sit, to let the dye release.
While I was waiting for that, I figured I would have a little fun, and clarify my hair with the last of the Shikakai I had. I mixed about - oh, it was 1/4 cup I'd say, with some water to make a paste (I didn't expect it to be that color - reddish brown, very pretty!), and then added a LOT of White Rain conditioner (most likely the Citrus Energizing one). I also added a touch of baking soda (I like my hair to be as stripped/clean as possible before I henna, so my hair can get all the goodness out of the henna), and THIS happened.
The stuff foamed up, and turned into a thick, rich, mousse type stuff. I've seen that happen before when I mix citric acid & baking soda in with conditioner - I didn't expect the shikakai to react like that. Anyhoooow. I slapped that into my hair, and wandered around the house for an hour or so, before I went back to check the henna.
Once henna's dye has released, theres a subtle change in the COLOR of the henna itself - I meant to scrape through the top so it would be more obvious in the pictures, but I forgot. You can kinda tell that the edges have gotten oranger, and that little 'scrape' in the middle is darker though. This is how I check to see if the dye has been released:
Take the palm of my hand, stick a fingertip into the henna and gob a spot of henna on my hand, walk around for 2-4 minutes, rinse my hand off. If I've got orange - the henna is ready to go!
Now, comes the fun part! First - the preparations.
Not one, but TWO latex/rubber gloves. Trust me on this. :lol: If you notice, I'm wearing a towel - that's solely for the sake of the picture. Normally, I'm nekkid, as it's easier to henna that way.
You also want about three paper towels still stuck together, and folded into thirds lengthwise( or more, if your head is bigger than mine - which is a stretch!), and a healthy bit of saran wrap - enough to wrap it all the way around your head.
And of course, the henna. :lol:
FNWL's henna is sticky, and gooey, and gloopy. These are all VERY good things.
See? It's really nasty looking, but that's okay. You don't wanna eat it, anyhow. I just stick my hand in, scoop a glob out, and squish it into my hair. Oh yeah, I rinsed the clarifying stuff out of my hair right after I tested that the dye had released - my hair is slightly damp, and that helps the henna spread a bit more.
All done! I don't care about getting henna on my skin around my hairline, as I'm dark enough that it just blends in. Lighter skinned folx - beware! You might need to put some sort of barrier - vaseline is a popular one - around your hairline to avoid looking like the orange ghost of who did what and WHY, sweet goddess, WHY??!! My hair is short (and stubborn) enough that it stands up on it's own - those with more 'floppy' hair, might have to sacrifice a couple of claw clips (if they are plastic, they are porous, and they will get stained) to hold your hair up.
This is why you want gloves. Your hands will be this color if you don't wear them, and it'll take about a week to wear off. Don't say I didn't warn you. :lol:
That's also a way to tell how 'strong' your henna is - if it doesn't dye your gloves, it might not dye your hair!
CAREFULLY take the gloves off, and toss them.
Now, it's saran wrap time!
Stick one end to your forehead, and carefully wrap the saran all around your head - this is the first step in the battle against drippies.
Once you are done, you should have a very attractive shiny cone head. Fold the top in so that it covers your hair (this also helps to hold the heat in), and cut your earholes (if you want them). I get really - squirelly if my ears are covered/bound up, so I have to do this. Just take a pair of scissors, and CAREFULLY cut a backwards angled slice into the saran wrap, and stop right below the top of your ear. You should then be able to pop your ear out, while leaving your hair covered.
Now, it's time for the paper towels - the main line of defense against drippies. Just grab, wrap so that the ends overlap in the front, bobbypin them together, and cut an earhole, and you're done!
Next, slap a showercap on top of the whole thing. I do this for two reasons - one, to help hold heat in better (that encourages ALL of the dye to release from the henna, and I need every bit I can get), and two, to catch any drippies that might escape.
Finally, so that I don't look like a crazy plasticheaded woman walking around the house, I slap my handy dandy doo-rag on top of everything, and I'm done!
Depending on how I'm feeling, sometimes I'll hop in the shower to rinse the henna off of my shoulders, but most of the time I'll just grab a (dark!!!) washcloth, and rub it off.
This whole process take a heck of a lot less time to DO than it did to write about. *LOL*
I'd say from dye release to all done takes me about 30 minutes. I don't count the dye release time, as 90% of the time, I'm not making my henna fresh - I make up a HUGE batch, put about 2-3oz into a ziploc bag, and freeze them. The morning of the day I want to henna, I pull it out the freezer, stick it in the fridge, and by the time I get home from work, it just needs to sit on the counter for 15 minutes or so, and it's ready to go.
Yes, it's cold. as. hell. But - it warms up after about 5 minutes on your head.
Silly me, I didn't take any pictures of the un-hennaing process - but with FNWL henna mixed with a little conditioner, it's stupid easy. Wait however long you can stand - the minimum is about two hours, I left this particular one on for 24 - yes, A full day. I was working around the house, so it didn't matter.
Take off the scarf and the showercap. Un-bobbypin the paper towels, and use them to pull the saran wrap off your head. Dump the whole thing in the trash (and if you don't use bags in your bathroom trashcans - don't dump it in there, unless you want an orange trashcan). Get into the shower, and rinse with warm water.
Yup. That's it. FNWL's henna is almost like rinsing out conditioner alone, it's that easy. And if it's easy to rinse out of MY curly, will-hold-onto-a-particle-of-ANYTHING-hair, it'll definitely come out of everyone elses just fine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personally? I LOVED the coconut milk/henna mix. My hair - which had been out, in a fro, for a WEEK, before this - combed out like a dream. My curls were DEFINITELY loosened (maybe a bit more than I really wanted them to be - I might be nervous about doing this regularily - but I'll have to see how it looks the end of the week), and my hair - as usual - had the lovely henna thickness and sheen.
Shhhhhhheesh. That was a BOOK.
What else did I do hair related this weekend? I think that about it. I finally took a halfway decent picture of my current style (as I don't have a SCRAP of red left in my hair, my old siggy pic was starting to bug me), and that's about it.
Oooh! Something new I've been doing - I have a BUNCH of palm kernal oil that I got from a swap on here, and since the weather has gotten warmer, it's melted. I dip my horn comb into the palm oil, and then comb through my hair with it - nicely spreading the oil all through my hair. It's wonderful - I'm using that as my two strand twist moisturizer/sealer, and then using either WP or the CoN as the final moisturizer when I actually flattwist it.
Okay.
I think I'm done now.
Seriously.
*thinks*
Yah, I'm done.
