Wow! Okay it's been well over a month since my last blog entry, to say the summer season has been busy would be the understatement of the century. Between my job, my family, my friends, my church and just trying to squeeze some type of summeresque activities in, I've been a bit inundated.
Alot has happened since my last entry. My hair is growing oh...so...slooooowwwwwlyyyy it makes me want to scream. However, my sister keeps me sane and well-balanced (this is has been her role literally ALL of my life) and keeps reminding me "a watched pot never boils". Whatever man, I'm ready to rock some headbands and twistouts and funky afros and flat twists and...well you get the picture. My hair is still uneven, no I refuse to even it out as you can't tell it's uneven unless I point it out. However, now it is THICK which I like and I remember from my days as a child. My hair has always been thick (to the point of breaking combs) but since I abused it constantly by overprocessing, under nourishing, tugging and weaveing it to literally an inch of it's life, my strands became stringy and lifeless. The fact that is is thickening nicely leads me to believe it's becoming more healthy which brings me to the first thing I've learned:
- The Importance of Detangling!
Okay so my current regimen is to co-wash everyday, then apply Kinky Curly Knot Today, followed by Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding and/or Oyin Handmade Honey Dew, then seal with my homemade oil concoction. Now this had been working for me for about 3 months or so. My hair was soft and moisturized all day. However, somewhere towards the end of June, I realized it was becoming more difficult getting a comb through my TWA resulting in lots of hairs in the comb or on the sink. Naturally I thought this was due to my prior abusive behavior and my hair was still recovering but I did think to myself, "goodness, when will the breakage stop already!" Then one night I had a "EUREKA!" moment while browsing one of the many natural haircare sites and reading about the proper care of natural hair AND the importance of detangling. "Could it be?" I thought to myself. So I tried it the very next morning and wouldn't you know I had enough hair on my head that I actually needed to DETANGLE my strands?! Yay!! So, I inserted another step in my daily regimen...detangling while cowashing and I can tell the difference. I now experience a significant reduction in breakage AND now when I comb my hair I hear a whole lot less of that telltale "snap, crackle, pop". Whoo hoo! Go me! Hopefully with the introduction of detangling with the results of less breakage will actually allow me to finally see some evidence of hair growth other than the thickening of my strands. I am ready for length baby!!
Sooo as you can tell from my last update, I am bored with my hair right now and my extremely limited styling options with my 2 inch TWA. So I came up with the rather brilliant idea of changing my hair color, of course I didn't want to do anything that would be too harsh for my fragile hair so the typical color-from-a-box was NOT an option for me. So I thought BAQ henna would be a wonderful alternative that could actually be pretty beneficial to my hair. I'm sure it would have been beneficial if I didn't go overboard with it...it was extremely drying to my hair and it didn't help that I did 2 back-to-back treatments. The end result? Lovely color (that everyone else could see but me) but dry, brittle hair that lead to.....breakage. I did deep condition each time I did it but it took it's toll on my precious strands. I will possibly try henna again as I love the idea of it's hair-strengthening qualities but since I'm in serious length-retention mode, I'll be staying away for a while until I can figure out why it dried my hair out so much.
So I tend to go overboard a bit when I get really interested or excited about something. Since my natural-hair journey began I've been doing quite a bit of research on all things "natural-hair". I've learned about moisture, sealing, co-washing, detangling, essential oils, etc, etc, etc and in my excitement to learn about my hair in it's God-given state I have come to realize I expected EVERYONE to be as excited as I am. Now my natural sisters and I have been gabbing quite a bit about what works, what doesn't, what to stay away from and what we plan to try next and they truly share my joy. However, there are others in the world who don't necessarily share my level of enthusiasm. Namely, my darling husband.
My hubby is a good guy, a patient guy, a supportive of my dreams and endeavors kind of guy. However, he is still just that...a GUY. He could care less about my oils, my products, my angst-ridden rants about hair length (or lack thereof) and truthfully, he really isn't gung-ho about my decision to become natural. He loves me so he supports me but he's a "longhairdownyourbacktoyourbutt" kind of guy. He also is trying to catch up with me regarding the love of all things "natural-hair" and sometimes he's a bit slow catching my enthusiastic fever. We recently had quite a fight because he didn't like a flower I tried to rock in my hair and I internalized that to mean he didn't like my hair, which meant he didn't like the REAL me, which meant he didn't know me, which meant he couldn't appreciate my efforts and struggles, which surely meant he couldn't possible LOVE me! Yes, I had a crazy woman moment and I'm not proud of it but I am learning from it. I'm working on not being quite so sensitive to every remark/question/comment from my beau regarding my, or other women's hair. He's actually been very involved in the process by trying to educate himself about natural hair, the different styles and the process of caring for natural hair. I have since reminded myself I embarked on this journey for ME in order to regain the health of my hair, not for the approval of others. Not everyone loves or appreciates my decision and that is fine by me, what's important is I'm learning to embrace my natural hair and am now quite comfortable with my decision and loving (mostly) every minute of it.
- How to care for my daughter's natural hair
My lil diva was born with a head full of thick, jet black hair. Caring for her hair had always been a daunting task; a task I was formerly ill-equipped to deal with. Since I've been educating myself on the proper way to care for natural hair, my lil diva has certainly reaped the benefits. Her thick, curly, mid-back length (when stretched) strands are no longer dry, crunchy and tangled but rather soft, moist, tangle-free and oh-so easy to manage. I've learned how to properly wash and detangle her hair to avoid breakage and how to use protective styling to protect her ends and encourage healthy growth and length retention. Since my journey began, she has certainly been a happier camper during our weekly wash and style sessions and I am excited to see her hair transform under my care.
So since this journey began back in January, I've learned a lot and I know I've really only just scratched the surface. I can't wait for my hair to also show progress as I continually learn how to care for it and to avoid the pitfalls that occur due to lack of patience or knowledge.
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