So - here's a comparison - two weeks - the first picture was taken Feb 28th, the second was taken March 15th.
Now, I'm kicking myself for not having taken a picture of the same SIDE - I'll correct that in a bit, as I'm sitting here with a DC in my hair right now - It's been a couple of hours though, so I need to rinse it out soon. Anyhow.
Murrr. With the facial blurring, it's not as easy to see - the first picture, my finger stops about level with my nose. The second picture, my finger stops about level with my lips.
*sigh* But - it's on the wrong side, AND my hair is wet! Bugger, I didn't even notice that before. So - I'll have to take another picture, after my hair dries, AND figure out a better blur method so that I can show where things stop at.
I'm REALLY excited, personally - I think (despite my photo faux pas) that my hair is actually growing faster - and significantly so. Gooooo Mega-Tek!
So.
Let me go meddle with my hair. *sigh* I really miss the laptop.
Growth....
Changes....
I'm not on my usual computer (had a sad accident with water and keyboard), and everything looks a little off. My gods, a 19 inch screen is bloody HUGE.
Urm. Hair.
This is gonna take me a while, as I have to take breaks.
*blink*
Okay. Had to adjust the size, but it's still - off.
Hrm.
Anyhow.
Today, I've rinsed my hair (straight water), clarified my hair (baking soda and water) and hennaed my hair (henna, water, and conditioner - cheapie V05 Blueberry something or another).
I also came to terms (more or less) with the fact/concept/meme in time that I simply CANNOT allow my hair to shrink un stretched.
I've rather got the Hair Up (98% of the time) thing down pat.
I'm rather fearing that I will have to add a hair stretched 99.9% of the time challenge to it, as well.
Why?
Well.
I rinsed out my hair, and DH took this lovely in-shower shot of me.
I added baking soda and water, and shrinkage took over with a vengeance. It was rather amazing, how - powerful my shrinkage was. I got out of the shower, and chilled for a while, and my hair became - dare I say it - unmanageable Tight, strong, dense. How did I handle it? I climbed back into the shower, and let the magic of water weigh it down. Not only did it weigh it down, it ALSO made it incredibly easier to comb through.
I detangled (again), and put into two strand twists.
The shrinkage, however, would not be denied - despite the fact that I could GET my hair into those twists, my hair rapidly shrunk right out of them. It was kinda amazing, frustrating, and cool as hell, all at once. *lol* So.
Mrr.
What can you do about that, besides grow more hair?
I put the henna into each 1/4 at the same time, then split them in half, twisted, and tucked into themselves.... that way, I ended up with eight two strands twists/treeknots on my head.
So, at this point I'm in 8 sections to twist up my hair. Slowly, as my hair gets longer, I'll graduate to four, and then to two, and then to one.
I don't have Dyslla thick hair, but I think that my hair is - well, my kink makes my hair pretty impressively thick - and VERY fucking short. If I want to see the full length of my hair, I HAVE to make my hair 'thinner'. If I want my hair to be thick and luscious - I have to accept that it will also be shorter.
The were rather interesting looking, coated in baby-poo yellow as they were. The conditioner I used was blue, and ew, simply. I don't think I"ll be doing that again - I'll be sticking to yellow/pinkish conditioners, as that makes the prettiest henna ever. Hah. As if it makes a difference in the final results. *eyeroll at self*
Speaking of difference in the results, I mixed up a fresh batch of henna this time, and it stained my gloves like I'm used to FNWL henna staining my gloves. I really do think that the old mixed henna (from August, maybe) has been slowly demising all along, despite being in the freezer. *sigh* If that's the case - I don't know. I think that I will alternated - fresh henna/old ass henna/fresh henna, until I'm out of henna all together - then I can re-up on henna, and start all over again.
I'm rather excited to see what my hair looks like, since it's been getting 'redder' as it is with just the SAF - it will be interesting to see if the henna really shows up better.
It got gooky, too, which is something I haven't seen in my henna for a while. So. I'm thrilled, also, with that.
My hair - ohmigods, I also think it's growing. I got kind of depressed over the fact that I figured out my hair is ABOUT 6 inches long, which means I grow an average of 3 inches a year, which means I grow about a 1/4 inch a month - and dear me, but that's the LOW end of hair growing.
However.
I'm almost certain that my hair is distinctly longer in just two weeks of using the Mega-Tek. I'm not totally sure, as I haven't compared the pics myself - but just washing my hair, and looking at it - it FELT longer.
Sqquuueeeeeee.
If it is - ohmigods. Me and Mega-Tek will be like WHAT? WHO!
*blush* I'm shamed to admit, I was looking at some dog shampoo, and thinking of how fabulous the ingredients sounded.
It's so not a good thing. Trying to control the PJ'ism.
Speaking of which.
The conditioner chemicals I have are:
Glyceryl Sterate
Cetareth-20
Cetearyl Alcohol 30/70 NF
All from lotion crafters, so I should be able to look up their properties. Mrrr. None of them have been ones I've heard GREAT things about (though, I do know that Cetearyl Alcohol is one of the 'good' alcohols) - so, thay aren't really crushing my urger to get some Dipalmitoylethyldimonium Chloride from soapcrafters.com............... Grrr.
I've also (man, it feels like it's been a while since I've posted) come across a new forum, thanks to one of the members posting a link to the Caramel Treatment pictorial I put up. They seem to generally rock, AND they allow cussing. Which, ya know gives MAJOR bonus points to a forum, in my mind.
At HC, I've seen references to both Kinky Curls Knot Today, AND BBD Stretch - both of which are held if HIGH respect. *stomps on my inner PJ*
*sigh* Dh is almost done with dinner, so I'm not going to go and get links to EVERYTHING right now.
I'll post, and come back and edit.
I'm hungry. ;)
*unfond glare*
My hairline.
It drives me mad.
Really, all I want is a thick, solid, hairline. Not a hairline where you can see through the first 1/4 of an inch of it to bare scalp.
I've noticed that my left hairline is in better shape than my right.
I sleep on my right side, most of the time, so it's not my sleeping. My scarf, I tie in the back of my head (and I have a widows peak on the BACK of my head - we aren't even going there tonight - if it goes away bloody lower I'll have back hair!) so that's not the problem.
The only thing that I can think that I do on a regular basis (maybe) is that when I do a flat twist across the front of my head, I usually start on the right (being right handed) and finish on the left. I'm wondering if the fact that I start on the right stresses my hair enough that it breaks off/is finer on the right side.....
So. At first, I was thinking that I should start on the left after every Caramel treament. Then, I thought - well, if that's really the issue, why continue to stress the weak side at all? Why not switch to all starting on the left side until the right side catches up, and THEN start alternating sides.
Hrrm.
I dunno.
I'm going to be taking another set (triad, I suppose?) of hairline pictures this weekend (ooh, it's a henna weekend!!!!!!!!!), and I'll compare the left/right side of those... it should be interesting, if nothing else.
I'm thinking that my earlier hopes of getting my twists over this dome of a head by April 1st... well, it might have been a fools idea. I don't know. I'll have to meddle with it some.
My twists - well, it's starting to seem like the twistOUT might last better than the twist itself. I dunno.
I definitely plan on making a fresh set of henna this weekend. Hrrm, how shall I arrange this?
Friday night, I take my hair down, and give it another good Megasagging ( ;) Shimmie!), leave it be. Saturday, get up, mix the henna, clarify my hair while the dye is releasing, put the henna in, tie it up, forget about it. Rinse it out before I go to bed, coat my hair in EQ IFC, baggie it, go to bed. Sunday, get up, rinse out the IFC, fat braid with KP, let dry. Put into two strand twists with more KP (bugger, I REALLY need to get some seamless combs), massage with Mega-Tek and Amla, flat twist it up, and be done with it.
Mrrr. I think I'll time how long I'm actually doing something to my hair, and how long (comparatively) something is being done to it. If I spend more than 8 'active' hours on my hair (and no, I really don't CARE that it would only equal out to 16 hours a month - which is just a little more than 30 minutes a day) - it'll bother me.
Mrrr.
It's officially 1am, and I definitely need to be in bed. *pats hair fondly*
G'night.
Flakes and Funnies
First, a quick reference guide for natural ways to stomp on dandruff. I was poking at my hairline with a pin today (what?? I wanted to see if what looked like stubble actually was!), and had several flakes come up! *faint* I've NEVER had dandruff, and while I know that my skin has been right bitchy for the last month or so, I was hoping that my scalp might avoid that, with the protection and the TTO and all. *sigh* I'll have to add something else to my weekend washes, as well as doing a better job of 'scritching' when my hair is loose, that's all. I can't ABIDE dandruff. *shudder* My hair is too thick to even CONSIDER doing a manual scalp exfoliation, so I might try one of these, and see how it works. I've heard good things about the asprin. *nod*
Take a couple of aspirin pills, drop them in a big cup with a little bit of
water at the bottom. Let them sit there for a minute until they're soft and
break up easily. Break them into tiny pieces, add more water and a touch of
shampoo (enough to make the water slippery so it will work through your hair).
Then pour the diluted water/aspirin/shampoo mixture over your scalp, slowly
massaging into your scalp. Do NOT pile your hair on top of your head...just do
the scalp (you should never pile your hair anyway it destroys your hair, just
squeeze shampoo/water through the length). Let it sit for a few minutes...shave
your legs, wash your body, whatever you want to do...and then rinse. Shampoo and
condition as normal.
You can also add an apple cider vinegar rinse to the end of your shower
routine. Just dilute a TBSP of ACV into a cup of water (just a cup, not a
measurement) and pour over your head. You can rinse if you want, but it isn't
necessary.
Coal Tar/Pine Tar Shampoo
Thyme is a fantastic remedy for dandruff! Just get fresh or dried thyme,
pour in some boiling water and leave to steep in a glass bowl for about 30 mins.
Then strain, add some cold water and pour over your head. You should do this as
a final rinse, after your shampoo/conditioner/no poo routine. You may need to
keep doing this for a few days, but the dandruff will go away. Thyme EO is also
an option
Shikakai/Amla Hair Rinse
It just hit me that I officially have different 'stages' for my hair.
Right before I wash it, it's SUPER soft, and shiny, and usually a little grubby feeling from the dust, etc, that's clung to my hair/my mister over the week. I should take a picture of dirty hair, and then take one of clean one, too. I've been meaning to play around with single strand pictures lately, anyhow.
Right after I wash it, it's dry feeling, and very wiry. It doesn't feel BRITTLE, but - it's definitely not as elastic as I think it should be. And this is even after I've put in the Kiya Pudding.
A couple of days after I wash it - it's at it's peak - wonderfully soft, super smooth, still wonderfully fresh feeling. That's where I'm at now, and I really think it's a side effect of the honeyquat in my spray - it attracts and holds JUST the right amount of moisture to keep my hair consistently happy.
Thankfully, it always smells good - but now I understand when people talk about 2nd day hair!
I had to redo one of my flat twists in the back last night on my way home (I can ALMOST redo one at a stoplight), and *wiggles head* it feels like it's trying to wiggle it's way free, again. It DID look pretty once I redid it though - all full and fluffy instead of my usual tight & firm twist.
This is an irksome length - when my hair is JUST too short to go all the way across, but JUST too long for the 'tail' to tuck neatly. Hrrmph. So, everytime I try to 'tuck' the tail, I end up 'breaking' the twist above it. I REFUSE to leave it out (unprotected and it'll look funny), and they aren't long enough to actually 'join' together in the middle.....
Hopefully, I'll be out of this stage in a month, or so - if I grow well, that should give me the added length I need. I figure, all I really need to be able to do a single flat twist (and have it STAY) is anothe 1/2 - 3/4 inch. I should get about that in a month, and with the warm weather coming AND mega-tek? Oh, yeah, by April 1st, I should be able to wear a single flat twist down the middle of the back of my head. By May 1st, I should be able to wear one down my whole head (Dino Style, that ones called) - I THINK.
I've been CONSIDERING - maybe, maybe, MAYBE - flat ironing/pressing my hair in May, just to see how long it is, totally stretched out. Dunno.
Green Snow......
The one downside of using ayurvedics herbs - esp. in twists - is the simple fact that they ARE herbs - thus, they don't really dissolve, they just suspend themselves in liquid.
Thus, they don't always come out of my hair as well as they seem to. I just sat here and shook LOADS of fine green powder out of my hair - if it was dandruff, I would be running through the streets screaming. Thankfully, it's not, so I can just shake my dry twists well to get the powder off, and not worry about it. It bothers me that despite me rinsing, and rinsing, and rinsing, I still have dust. Though, of course, I DIDN'T fully strain out this batch (being lazy) so I guess I can't really blame it on the tea, now can I?
I just finished an amla massage since my hair was finally dry - I used the Megatek while my hair was still damp, and it felt - okay. I dunno, I think I like how it feels on dry hair MUCH better - it feels a little - tacky - once it dries. I dunno, I don't like it on wet hair. That's okay, as that just means I'll switch the order - do the amla while my hair is damp, and then the megatek once it dries.
I have to admit, my hair does feel - fuller, somehow. It will be interesting seeing how it feels once its' actually loose again. I can't say it's any longer - it'll be interesting seeing what my hairline shots look like next week, as well.
I also retwisted a BUNCH of twists - the roots were just crazy puffy, so I split some of them in half and retwisted - that way, my updo won't drive me AS crazy for the rest of the week. I don't think I'll do them quite as big next time...... or, maybe if I did more square sections, it might work better. Mrrr. I dunno. I'll have to experiement more and find out.
It's back, it's back!!
TLHC is back - and it's back as a brand new 'clean' board. My heart dropped a little when it looked like the journals were gone (they have blogs now - how ironic!), but apparently, at some point I'll be able to access them off of the archives.
It's kinda cool, having it back and new and fresh - it should be interesting.
But damn, I miss my journal. I wonder if I can pump the RSS feed of THIS blog onto that one? Or just link them together - that would SO rock.
*goes to check it out*
Hrm, no I can't. Murph. I doubt I'll be C&P'ing entries over, either, as converting from HTML to BBCode is a pain in the tushie.
Ah, well.
In hair news - I haven't done much this weekend - I'm been keeping up on the Megatek (I really want to keep track, this go around). I've used in on my hairline since I got it, so that would be Tuesday, the 4th. I used a scalp massage on Wednesday (the 5th), and today (the 7th). I plan on using SAF tonight, and letting it seep overnight, then letting my hair dry, massasing it in again, adding some alma oil on top, and twisting it back up for another week.
I think - I don't know - I don't really like the roots on these fatter twists. It's not that they look messy (I don't think, I'll have to double check), it's just - not as 'neat' as I'm used to. I have to keep reminding myself, though, that my eventual goal is to actually WEAR my hair loose - from the roots all the way up to the ends - so I should get used to the 'frizzy/fuzzy' wavy look. It's interesting.
I cropped a picture to show off my plugs, and also got an interesting shot of my loose hair on the side (the back was out, and I just had a comb pinning it up).
And - I don't know - it doesn't - it doesn't seem like that's my hair, somehow!! *lol* It's so pretty, even though it's not really that clear.
I tried to take a picture of my dry, mostly unmanipulated hair - and yeah. So not so much - I just can't get it, for some reason. Maybe I'll start a post on LHCF....
I've also noticed/realized that I'm getting a little 'lax' on my banned products - MegaTex has a cone in it (yes, water soluble, but STILL!) and the amla oil has a mineral oil base. My scalp and roots LOVE both products though - so I guess I can't complain, eh.
I have to admit, my hair didn't like the amla oil - at all. I dunno. I'm learning that my boundaries are a little more flexible than I thought they would be.
Urm. I think I'm done for right now.
I REALLY want those Mason Pearson combs, dammit.
Weekend Recaps
Ahh, the delights of a hair out weekend. I ended up doing a SAF rinse, and the caramel treatment - it was quite wonderful.
I also took a new set of comparison pics.... this is a little over two months worth of growth - Dec 26th to March 1st
About 3/4 of an inch, maybe? I got smart this time (rolls eyes at self) and held the braid down so I could actually see it's full length - it's definitely grown. I've also got my wee braid stick up over my shoulder back there - that'll give me an idea of how that hair is growing.
Let's see. I started out with the SAF - I put that in Friday night, put my hair in two 'fatwists' down the side of my head, and slept on it. Saturday, I rinsed it out, then rinsed with baking soda - I complained about my scalp feeling 'coated', and I can't remember the last time I clarified. That felt REALLY good. I then let my hair dry a bit (and played in it - I've got such happy little curls!), then put the Caramel treatment in it. I think I messed up at this point, by NOT putting it into some sort of 'stable' style while it sat. I left that in for - oh, 2-3 hours, then rinsed it out. I detangled in the shower, under running water - it was definitely harder than it had to be, and I'm almost CERTAIN it was because my hair had a chance to 'shrink' freely. *headshake* gotta put a stop to that.
Anyhow. Left those in all day Sat/most of the day Sunday, then took it all apart, and put it into two strand twists. My hair seemed to want to 'stick' together - not quite tangle, but cling - I suspect that 'feeling' is raised cuticles, and that I'll need to do a CA rinse before my henna.
I finished my twists in record time, I think - I'm making them bigger and bigger - it's far too early in the year to start getting lazy - we aren't even out of Q1!! *lol* Ah, well - I also need to learn to not wait until so dang late in the day to start messing with my hair - I didn't do my usual amla massage (hrrm, I wonder if that's why my hair feels a little 'drier' too?) because I was SO ready to go to bed. I might do that tonight, instead.
Overall, my hair feels good. A littler 'drier'/'stiffer', but I'll give it a day or so before I swear on that - esp. since I clarified AND I made it through another weekend using ALL homemade stuff, except for the Kiya Pudding. I'm REALLY quite pleased.
I've also discovered something new to drool over - Mason Pearson combs. Stttuuppiid expensive (20 bucks for a COMB!!!??) but ooooh, so pretty. And seamfree! And I realized that if I really want to keep combing my ends with a finetooth comb - I really need to be using a seamfree one. *sigh*
Let's see, what else? I realized there's no rush (really) to get new powders, as I have at least 4 or 5 more applications in my cabinet - and even assuming that I use a new formulation every week - which is doubtful - that would last me at least another month. The Mega-Tek isn't here yet - I'm hoping it gets here in time for me to use in on Wednesday.
Hrm. I think that's it, for now.
