So I've been noticing whenever I touch my hair, there seems to be hair left behind somewhere. When I co-wash...there's hair on the shower floor. When I moisturize...there's hair on my hands and sink. When I comb through it ever-so-gently with conditioner or sopping wet...there's hair in the comb. So I wonder, what the heck is going on?
I also can't help but notice, my hair growth seems rather stunted. Now mind you, to say my hair was extremely damaged when I first cut it all off in the first place would be a MAJOR understatement. My tresses were so fried, so abused, so mis-used, I really thought it would not recover. The bald patches were abundant and the ends just felt fragile, weak, crispy. However, my hair IS recovering with not one bald patch in sight 5 months later. In fact, it is now much thicker, smoother, softer and the ends no longer snap off like a dead tree branch caught in the wind.
Saying all that, I still feel like my hair growth is rather stunted. Why? Because it's been 5 months and at the longest hair (at my crown) is about 2 1/2 inches the rest of my hair fluctuates between less than an inch to 1.5 inches. WTH???? So whenever I start freaking out about the fact that it's been 5 months and I can't even so much as put a headband on my head without looking ridiculous, I look at my pics of when I first cut everything off and realize I've come a ways but personally I think I should be further along.
Then I finally used my noggin and but 2 and 2 together. Could it be all the hairs all over the place is acutally connected to my stunted hair growth? Now, I know that we all shed hairs every day, however, the hairs I saw aren't shed hairs with the little white tip but rather pieces of hairs which indicates breakage. A problem I'd been plagued with since my relaxer days. So why is it, now that I'm natural is my hair still breaking? Then if I really do have a breakage problem, that means I also have a length retention problem. So what to do? I thought back to the inital months after my big chop and realized I stopped doing something that really worked for my hair...the honey/olive oil prepoo!
The honey/olive oil prepoo is a recipe I found on the web while browsing for natural products which heal and strengthen hair. The recipe and process is quite simple and the results for me was softer hair. Honey is a humectant which means it attracts and retains moisture. Olive oil has essential fatty acids which benefits the hair leaving it soft and manageable. However, I had stopped doing this rather simple but clearly beneficial treatment for my hair. The reason I stopped was because it was messy with oil dripping everywhere. The constant "drip-drip" just got on my nerves but clearly my hair loved it and responded well to it because I didn't have any breakage issues back then. In fact, my hair flourished!
So for the last 2 Saturdays, I have done this rather simple hair treatment and the results? Signficantly LESS BREAKAGE! I now have less hair on my shower floor, in my comb, on the sink, everywhere. Just goes to show, I hadn't been listening to my hair. So moving forward every Saturday morning shall be Honey/Olive Oil Saturday morning and hopefully my hair will respond with additional growth as well. So here's my adjusted recipe:
Honey/Olive Oil recipe
1/3 cup EVOO
4.5 tbs of honey
Warm the mixture in the microwave, then apply to hair and scalp as a hot oil treatment. Cover with shower cap. I leave mine on for at least one hour. Shampoo hair as usual. Style.
Apparently I was using too much oil in my previous applications as I always had a runny mess which is why I quit doing it. However, now I simply added more honey and there is a lot less dripping/staining. I also kept the shower cap on while doing errands around the house. This past Saturday I left it on for 1.5 hours as I lost track of time but my hair was absolutely fine. Then again, my hair LOVES honey. I noticed the reduction in breakage last week when I resumed this procedure and even less this week so far. In fact, there was absolutely NO hair in my comb and five strands on the bathroom sink this morning, yes I counted the hairs on my sink this morning...please don't judge me.
If you haven't already tried this, give it a try and let me know your thoughts.
Showing posts with label natural hair journey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label natural hair journey. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
I henna'ed...again
So yesterday I used some more Henna on my hair. I had tried it a couple weeks ago and enjoyed it even though everyone can see the color in my hair except me. Henna is a permanent color deposit meaning, it will leave color in your hair but will NOT lift the color in your hair; that means the change will be subtle unless you are completely gray or blonde.
While waiting for my hair to grow more than 2 inches, I'm becoming a bit bored with it...that's just the way I am. Once I get used to something, I crave the excitement of discovering something else. Thus, I wanted to color my hair, of course that's an absurd idea since my hair is still recovering from the years of chemical abuse I subjected it to resulting in the need for a big chop in the first place. So, I started researching Henna. Body Art Quality Henna is 100% natural thereby making it the perfect choice for me as I needed something, anything new to try with my hair. I spent a couple days doing a bit of research and placed an order for 1 box of henna online from Mehandi.com. The order came within a few days and I tried it and liked it so much I decided to order a couple more boxes (each has 100g of product) and tried it again last night.
The trick I've learned with Henna from my online research is making sure to deep condition after the Henna is washed out as it acts like a protein treatment and can be drying. This will ensure your hair does not feel and look like straw, also I tweaked my recipe a bit for the second Henna application and the result was super-soft hair.
Here is my Henna recipe (I only used 50g of Henna since I only have 2 inches of hair on a rather small head):
50g BAQ Henna
3/4 cup cooled green tea (you need an acidic liquid to aid in dye deposit; you can also use any acidic juice like lemon juice. I also brewed 3 green tea bags)
Small squeeze of moisturizing conditioner
2 tbs of extra virgin coconut oil
I mixed the contents to the consistency of pudding, covered and left it overnight so the dye could release.
The next day I co-washed then just before I applied the Henna to my hair, I added 2 tbs of honey to the mixture. I applied using gloves and covered my hair with saran wrap and a plastic cap for 4 hours.
To rinse I let the spray from my shower do the work and used an ultra moisturizing conditioner to wash out all traces of the Henna from hair (this can take up to 4 washes, more if your hair is longer than mine). Once the water runs clear, then you MUST deep condition preferably with heat. Here is what I used to deep condition:
Oyin Honey-Hemp Conditioner
2 tbs EVCO
1 1/2 tbs EVOO
1 teaspoon Avocado Oil
This mixture was applied to my hair and because I don't currently own a hood dryer, I wrapped my hair in sara wrap and covered with 3 plastic caps then drank a cup of hot tea to get the heat going. I left this on for 45 minutes then rinsed. My hair felt like a newborn baby's....S-O-F-T!!!
I've read Henna can make your hair stronger and thicker. I'm all for thick,strong hair so I think I'll keep doing this until there's a reason to stop. The color I get can only be seen outside or indoors under bright lights, I've gotten pretty good responses from my friends, family and even a few admirers on the public transportation to work. I think Henna and I will be friends for a good long time.
While waiting for my hair to grow more than 2 inches, I'm becoming a bit bored with it...that's just the way I am. Once I get used to something, I crave the excitement of discovering something else. Thus, I wanted to color my hair, of course that's an absurd idea since my hair is still recovering from the years of chemical abuse I subjected it to resulting in the need for a big chop in the first place. So, I started researching Henna. Body Art Quality Henna is 100% natural thereby making it the perfect choice for me as I needed something, anything new to try with my hair. I spent a couple days doing a bit of research and placed an order for 1 box of henna online from Mehandi.com. The order came within a few days and I tried it and liked it so much I decided to order a couple more boxes (each has 100g of product) and tried it again last night.
The trick I've learned with Henna from my online research is making sure to deep condition after the Henna is washed out as it acts like a protein treatment and can be drying. This will ensure your hair does not feel and look like straw, also I tweaked my recipe a bit for the second Henna application and the result was super-soft hair.
Here is my Henna recipe (I only used 50g of Henna since I only have 2 inches of hair on a rather small head):
50g BAQ Henna
3/4 cup cooled green tea (you need an acidic liquid to aid in dye deposit; you can also use any acidic juice like lemon juice. I also brewed 3 green tea bags)
Small squeeze of moisturizing conditioner
2 tbs of extra virgin coconut oil
The next day I co-washed then just before I applied the Henna to my hair, I added 2 tbs of honey to the mixture. I applied using gloves and covered my hair with saran wrap and a plastic cap for 4 hours.
To rinse I let the spray from my shower do the work and used an ultra moisturizing conditioner to wash out all traces of the Henna from hair (this can take up to 4 washes, more if your hair is longer than mine). Once the water runs clear, then you MUST deep condition preferably with heat. Here is what I used to deep condition:
Oyin Honey-Hemp Conditioner
2 tbs EVCO
1 1/2 tbs EVOO
1 teaspoon Avocado Oil
This mixture was applied to my hair and because I don't currently own a hood dryer, I wrapped my hair in sara wrap and covered with 3 plastic caps then drank a cup of hot tea to get the heat going. I left this on for 45 minutes then rinsed. My hair felt like a newborn baby's....S-O-F-T!!!
I've read Henna can make your hair stronger and thicker. I'm all for thick,strong hair so I think I'll keep doing this until there's a reason to stop. The color I get can only be seen outside or indoors under bright lights, I've gotten pretty good responses from my friends, family and even a few admirers on the public transportation to work. I think Henna and I will be friends for a good long time.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
I think I figured it out!
So my last post talked about my search for moisture for my seemingly EVER-thirsty strands. Well, I think I've figured out a moisture regimen that actually works for my hair. I have been using Oyin Handmade products for a few months now, specifically their Honey Hemp Conditioner. This conditioner is in a word, AWESOME!! I love it and most importantly, my hair loves it. The ingredients are all natural, the consistency is creamy and leaves my hair feeling oh-so-soft. I've been using this to co-wash and one day while reading the list of ingredients to my sister I realized it can also be used as a leave-in. I thought "hmmmm".
I also use the Kinky-Curly Knot Today leave-in in my daughter's hair. My daughter's hair is extremely thick and seems to swell when wet. While her hair is not coarse, it tangles mercilessly leaving us with a painful detangling session with her asking me "mommy, why do you always hurt me?" while I'm detangling. The Knot Today has been a life-saver on her weekly wash days as it has really great "slip" allowing the comb to literally glide through her hair. I swear it has shaved a good 30 minutes off of my daughter's hair washing session. One day I tried Knot Today in my own hair and thought it was okay but after my hair dried, my hair felt a little stiff so I figured I'd leave it alone or use it with a creamy moisturizer whenever I found one that did the trick.
Last week I decided to combine the two after my shower and it worked so well, I've been doing it every day. So here's my new daily regimen:
*co-wash with Honey-Hemp conditioner
*while hair is damp add small amount of Knot Today
*add small amount of Honey-Hemp as a leave-in
*seal with organic coconut oil
My hair is unbeliveably soft and remains that way even after it dries!! Holy cow! I've finally found a way to keep my hair moisturized!!
I also use the Kinky-Curly Knot Today leave-in in my daughter's hair. My daughter's hair is extremely thick and seems to swell when wet. While her hair is not coarse, it tangles mercilessly leaving us with a painful detangling session with her asking me "mommy, why do you always hurt me?" while I'm detangling. The Knot Today has been a life-saver on her weekly wash days as it has really great "slip" allowing the comb to literally glide through her hair. I swear it has shaved a good 30 minutes off of my daughter's hair washing session. One day I tried Knot Today in my own hair and thought it was okay but after my hair dried, my hair felt a little stiff so I figured I'd leave it alone or use it with a creamy moisturizer whenever I found one that did the trick.
Last week I decided to combine the two after my shower and it worked so well, I've been doing it every day. So here's my new daily regimen:
*co-wash with Honey-Hemp conditioner
*while hair is damp add small amount of Knot Today
*add small amount of Honey-Hemp as a leave-in
*seal with organic coconut oil
My hair is unbeliveably soft and remains that way even after it dries!! Holy cow! I've finally found a way to keep my hair moisturized!!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Moisture-free zone!
Okay, now that I'm no longer covered up under hair that is not mine, I've realized my own strands are thirsty! My regime is fairly simple in the morning:
*co-wash with a moisturizing conditioner
*apply some sort of leave-in
*apply some sort of moisturizing agent
*seal it with a bit of oil
Then it's off to work I go. My total time for shower, hair and face is now about 30 minutes, the other 30 minutes is spent in my closet trying to figure out what on earth to wear that day. My issue is dryness during my work day. What should I do? I have had several recommendations to take a small spritz bottle to work with me and spritz my hair a couple times at the office....I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. I have a couple spritz bottles at home but never think to take them to the office.
I have a natural girlfriend who swears by glycerin/water mix. I tried the glycerin route once but it didn't really work for me. Then again, it was winter time when I tried it and have since found out when it's cold and dry outside is not the best time to use a humectant. Since it feels a whole lot like summer outside lately, perhaps I'll try the glycerin mix again. I think I'll whip me up a batch today and see if I like the results.
*co-wash with a moisturizing conditioner
*apply some sort of leave-in
*apply some sort of moisturizing agent
*seal it with a bit of oil
Then it's off to work I go. My total time for shower, hair and face is now about 30 minutes, the other 30 minutes is spent in my closet trying to figure out what on earth to wear that day. My issue is dryness during my work day. What should I do? I have had several recommendations to take a small spritz bottle to work with me and spritz my hair a couple times at the office....I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. I have a couple spritz bottles at home but never think to take them to the office.
I have a natural girlfriend who swears by glycerin/water mix. I tried the glycerin route once but it didn't really work for me. Then again, it was winter time when I tried it and have since found out when it's cold and dry outside is not the best time to use a humectant. Since it feels a whole lot like summer outside lately, perhaps I'll try the glycerin mix again. I think I'll whip me up a batch today and see if I like the results.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
How did this happen?
I was sick and tired, frustrated and a little bit angry but mostly...worried. What the heck is going on with my hair?? Why won't my precious strands just stay on my head??? Why. Won't. It. GROW???!! It was horribly depressing but this low point in my hair life is what has brought me to this new, exciting, sometimes unnerving journey.
I am in my mid-thirties and I simply cannot recall what my hair looks like in it's natural state. I believe my first relaxer was at about age 10. I was in standard 5 (or fifth grade-the US equivalent) and I remember going to school with a head full of beautiful, brown, bouncy curls. I just knew I was Miss Thang! I was born in Trinidad, a beautiful country in the Caribbean and my mom I guess just got tired of having to tackle both my and my sister's hair every Sunday. Trust me, it was no picnic for me either. You see, my hair back then was long, thick and unruly. It took my mom a whole lot of time to try to tame my naps add to that I had the AUDACITY to be tender-headed. I didn't look forward to Sundays after lunch, it just meant pain for me and exhaustion for my mom.
So she made the decision to relax my naps away. I loved it, she loved it, my whole family (I suppose) loved it. She took me to my aunt's salon and the rest is history. Fast forward a few years later to the present and my hair struggles was just that....a struggle. I was in this horrible, abusive cycle of hair grows a teeny bit, hair breaks off a whole lot. No matter how many hair, skin and nails vitamins I took, no matter how many deep conditions, no matter what I did, I just could not keep my hair on my head. What used to be a big, thick, voluminous mass on my head was now a limp, scraggly, patchy mess. So what did I do? Weaved that bad boy up!!
So for years I rocked various weaves, shoulder length, mid-back length, curly, wavy, bone straight but the hair that grew out of my scalp just continued to suffer. One day, while getting ready to head out on the town with my hubby, I parted my tracks to reveal...nothing! No hair! All gone!! The "part" between my tracks had become about twice the width of a cornrow!! WTH?? My hairline, the inside of my hair, the back of my head-just bald patches everywhere. I quietly wept.
I went to my hairstylist who just shook her head, and said "everyone's hair grows in a weave except yours!" Then she simply relaxed my hair, deep conditioned and slapped that weave right back in because now I didn't have any hair at all to just stop wearing the weaves. My hair was uneven in every possible spot, it just didn't make sense what was happening to me. I researched vitamin deficiency, female pattern baldness, traction alopecia, stress all to try to determine why my hair just kept falling out in clumps. You may ask, "did it ever occur to you to just stop relaxing your hair?" The answer to that question is a resounding "YES" but I simply was not strong enough.
Remember that thick, luxurious, untameable hair I was talking about earlier that I remember from my childhood? Well I also remember several family members saying things like "you have bad hair", "where'd you get that hair?!", "humph, you got your daddy's family hair, not our hair", "girl you have to fix those grains at the back of your head". In other words, I grew up believing I have "bad hair", the type of hair you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy...well maybe your very worst. :-) I was taught to believe I could only be pretty if my hair was bone straight, nevermind it was also dull, limp and lifeless. I couldn't sweat, swim or get caught in the rain. I didn't have "wash and go" hair. So that meant, I would have relax my hair until Jesus called me home. Not relaxing my hair was simply not an option and I would just have to live with the damage and maybe the three strands of hair left on my head.
My "hair psychosis" as I refer to it, was so deep that upon learning I would be having a girl 5 1/2 years ago, I prayed fervently to my Heavenly Father that my baby girl would not have my hair. That she would instead have the type of hair that bounces. The type of hair that while curly is still silky, that she would not have to worry about those buckshots in her kitchen, that she would be beautiful. Yes, I am ashamed at these thoughts and I was ashamed back then when I had them but it didn't stop me from praying every single day until my first contraction. Aftert her birth, I counted her fingers, toes, eyes, ears, marveled at her beauty and thanked God for answering my prayers...my baby had "good hair". Yup, I have issues!
My sister is a natural beauty, literally. She is beautiful AND she is natural and has worn her hair in it's natural state for about 10 years. She has always tried to convince me to "go natural" but I resisted as though she was offering me poisoned fruit. My response to her was always the same, "my hair is too bad to be go natural" then she would just kind of give me a look that said "there's something wrong with you" and we'd go about our day. Then one day I had the bright idea to simply change stylists. The stylist I had was also my aunt who'd been doing my hair since I was a child. My decision to change stylists was not an easy one but a necessary one as I hadn't been happy with my hair at her hands for months if not years. My hubby certainly was not happy either but he left the decision to make the change up to me (though he did not remain quiet on the topic). So a friend of mine recommended someone and I simply went to the salon to let her do my 'do.
What happened next? Check out my next installment...
I am in my mid-thirties and I simply cannot recall what my hair looks like in it's natural state. I believe my first relaxer was at about age 10. I was in standard 5 (or fifth grade-the US equivalent) and I remember going to school with a head full of beautiful, brown, bouncy curls. I just knew I was Miss Thang! I was born in Trinidad, a beautiful country in the Caribbean and my mom I guess just got tired of having to tackle both my and my sister's hair every Sunday. Trust me, it was no picnic for me either. You see, my hair back then was long, thick and unruly. It took my mom a whole lot of time to try to tame my naps add to that I had the AUDACITY to be tender-headed. I didn't look forward to Sundays after lunch, it just meant pain for me and exhaustion for my mom.
So she made the decision to relax my naps away. I loved it, she loved it, my whole family (I suppose) loved it. She took me to my aunt's salon and the rest is history. Fast forward a few years later to the present and my hair struggles was just that....a struggle. I was in this horrible, abusive cycle of hair grows a teeny bit, hair breaks off a whole lot. No matter how many hair, skin and nails vitamins I took, no matter how many deep conditions, no matter what I did, I just could not keep my hair on my head. What used to be a big, thick, voluminous mass on my head was now a limp, scraggly, patchy mess. So what did I do? Weaved that bad boy up!!
So for years I rocked various weaves, shoulder length, mid-back length, curly, wavy, bone straight but the hair that grew out of my scalp just continued to suffer. One day, while getting ready to head out on the town with my hubby, I parted my tracks to reveal...nothing! No hair! All gone!! The "part" between my tracks had become about twice the width of a cornrow!! WTH?? My hairline, the inside of my hair, the back of my head-just bald patches everywhere. I quietly wept.
I went to my hairstylist who just shook her head, and said "everyone's hair grows in a weave except yours!" Then she simply relaxed my hair, deep conditioned and slapped that weave right back in because now I didn't have any hair at all to just stop wearing the weaves. My hair was uneven in every possible spot, it just didn't make sense what was happening to me. I researched vitamin deficiency, female pattern baldness, traction alopecia, stress all to try to determine why my hair just kept falling out in clumps. You may ask, "did it ever occur to you to just stop relaxing your hair?" The answer to that question is a resounding "YES" but I simply was not strong enough.
Remember that thick, luxurious, untameable hair I was talking about earlier that I remember from my childhood? Well I also remember several family members saying things like "you have bad hair", "where'd you get that hair?!", "humph, you got your daddy's family hair, not our hair", "girl you have to fix those grains at the back of your head". In other words, I grew up believing I have "bad hair", the type of hair you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy...well maybe your very worst. :-) I was taught to believe I could only be pretty if my hair was bone straight, nevermind it was also dull, limp and lifeless. I couldn't sweat, swim or get caught in the rain. I didn't have "wash and go" hair. So that meant, I would have relax my hair until Jesus called me home. Not relaxing my hair was simply not an option and I would just have to live with the damage and maybe the three strands of hair left on my head.
My "hair psychosis" as I refer to it, was so deep that upon learning I would be having a girl 5 1/2 years ago, I prayed fervently to my Heavenly Father that my baby girl would not have my hair. That she would instead have the type of hair that bounces. The type of hair that while curly is still silky, that she would not have to worry about those buckshots in her kitchen, that she would be beautiful. Yes, I am ashamed at these thoughts and I was ashamed back then when I had them but it didn't stop me from praying every single day until my first contraction. Aftert her birth, I counted her fingers, toes, eyes, ears, marveled at her beauty and thanked God for answering my prayers...my baby had "good hair". Yup, I have issues!
My sister is a natural beauty, literally. She is beautiful AND she is natural and has worn her hair in it's natural state for about 10 years. She has always tried to convince me to "go natural" but I resisted as though she was offering me poisoned fruit. My response to her was always the same, "my hair is too bad to be go natural" then she would just kind of give me a look that said "there's something wrong with you" and we'd go about our day. Then one day I had the bright idea to simply change stylists. The stylist I had was also my aunt who'd been doing my hair since I was a child. My decision to change stylists was not an easy one but a necessary one as I hadn't been happy with my hair at her hands for months if not years. My hubby certainly was not happy either but he left the decision to make the change up to me (though he did not remain quiet on the topic). So a friend of mine recommended someone and I simply went to the salon to let her do my 'do.
What happened next? Check out my next installment...
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