That Moment When Your Bald Sides Grow In!

Lately, I've been wanting to give up on this hair journey. Why? Because I really don't know. Yep. don't know! Right now, I'm in protective styling mode because I just don't feel like dealing with my hair. I have noticed though, my hair grows faster when its in a protective style, so I am curious about the progress aka growth it's been doing.

I'm still sort of in this limbo stage of--should I just grow it out to natural or keep it texlaxed. Mid-way through my hair journey I changed the goal of my HJ and this blog. The original purpose of the blog was to track my tresses for one year without ANY chemicals, but mid-way through dealing with those two textures on vicious war of trying to stay alive was A. MESS. so I did a texturizer, which I lovvvved the results.

But I've been on youtube rampage lately and watching these natural girls rock out those kinky textures with fierceness. My natural girl on the inside is yelling WE CAN DO THIS! My new fav natural youtubers are BlakIZbeautyful and Iknowlee. My gawd. I'm telling you I'm almost there, like right at the edge of jumping into natural hair goodness. Until then, I'm still tracking my tresses. The daunting task of deciding which way to go is the stressing killer though. Right now, I just want to chop ALL my hair off and really start from brand spanking new. Yep, I said it. A big chop (BC) is sounding about right! I'm ready to face my hair dead on!

Anyhoo, enough of my emotional hair rant and back to the purpose of this blog post, which is to do a length check on my bald sides, which was the main reason why I wanted to started a HJ and blogging about it. I mean I am quite impressed.

Top left the beginning of my HJ, Bottom left 3 months into my HJ, right my weapons of choice: Neutrogena Triple Moisture Leave-in and Jamaican Black Castor Oil.

6 months into my HJ; freshly relaxed

9 month into my HJ, 4 months post. I'm sure if I decide to relax again it will be longer.

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty darn impressed, only because I've always struggled with thin/bald sides. My entire life. I tell you, I am diligent with taking care of them with M&S and putting extra-extra conditioner on it on wash days. The hard work is really paying off, of course, I have more to go but the point is my sides were shiny bald.

Have you had any trouble areas that you have worked hard to thrive? Please share with me. I love hairspirational stories!

I've Been Nominated & I'm Hyped! I Would Like to Thank My Mama....

Shout out to Vee at Growing in Style  for nominating my blog for the Versatile Blogger Award! I feel like I hit the lotto or something and I want to give one of those "I've made it speeches" they give at the award shows. "I would like to thank God, the author & finisher of my faith, My mama for telling I always had it in me" LOL. I, know, I'm a cheesy lame, but I do feel quite honored though *tee hee*  I had a cah-razy labor day weekend with emotional highs & lows, ups & downs but this cheered me up a great deal--adding to the highs and ups of my insane weekend.

In order to accept the award, I have to follow some rules. The rules are:

1. Thank the Blogger that nominated me. 
     -- did that! Thanks again Vee for spotting me and giving me the L.O.V.E. 'preciate!
 
2. Share 7 random facts about me. 
   --I'm sort of weirdo so get ready lol 

3. Nominate 15 bloggers who are relatively new to blogging.                                                                     -- I've become a recent blog stalker so I have a few on my list...

4. Let nominated bloggers know they have been nominated. 
    -- *drum roll* please..... 

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award to my post.         
 -- I'm so excited I feel like printing it, making a button and pinning it on my shirt. :-)

7 Random Facts about Moi!

1. I am deathly afraid of needles. My grown, rusty behind goes into a big ball of tears, just like a baby, when that itty bitty needle has to be put in my arm to draw blood. I know, I know, I'm a complete loser but I just can't deal.

2. I can veg-out watching the Food Network alllllll day. Catch me on a rainy Saturday, chile please, I will keep it locked on the Food Network and won't miss a beat. Then what happens is my Sunday dinner is Food Network inspired. lol

3. My alarm clock is set 20 minutes early than the real time and is set up across the room so I have to get out of bed to hit snooze. I thought this would benefit me somehow with getting to work on time because I have to get out of my bed to hit the alarm. However, when my alarm goes off, I know I'm 20 minutes ahead of the game and I get out of my bed to hit off to only get back in bed again the end result is I'm late for work as usual even though I have this whole preventive-routine not to be...SMH. crazyness I tell you!

4. I went to Catholic school, but I am not Catholic and NOBODY in my family is! My mother just thought I would have a better education going to catholic school than public. I went the mass services but could not receive communion.

5. I am a former thumb sucker and wore braces for three years because of it.

6. My mother put me in drama classes as a child because I was really good at imitating people. I'm still good at it until this day, but never thought of becoming an actress.

7. I have no cavities but bought multiple bags of candy as kid and ate them every single day. I still don't understand how I have all my teeth.

Ok the nominees are (in no particular order). I know this was for new bloggers but I do have a 1-2 veterans on this list only because I stalk their blogs regularly and enjoy them a lot.

1 Discovering Natural Beauty
2.  blutifulblaqhair
3. wurassecrethair
4.fancyflairlady
5. http://napturallyinspired.blogspot.com/
6. http://curlyknots.blogspot.com/
7. http://liloreochick97.blogspot.com/
8. http://beautywitchsrealm.blogspot.com/
9.http://hisocietynyc.blogspot.com/
10. http://businessaboutbeauty.blogspot.com/
11. http://jennashair.blogspot.com/
12. http://finetexturedhair.blogspot.com/
13. http://sweetcme.blogspot.com/
14. http://thehairmuse.blogspot.com/
15. http://theawkwardstage-se.blogspot.com/

5 Facts I Learned About My Hair During my 8 Month Hair Journey!

I'm 8 months in my hair journey and although I haven't achieved astonishing growth like I've seen some length check pics on www.hairlista.com and on the web. I will say, that since being on this journey, I now understand what is most important for my hair and understands what my hair needs and wants. If I had known what I know now pre-HJ. My hair would be hitting my ankles right about now. But hey, when you know better you do better.

Current state of my hair: Protective style, custom wig. I wanted to give my hair a bit of a rest. My last texturizer was June 16th so that makes me about 12 weeks post. I'm going to see how long I can go with doing protective styles and see what kind of progress my hair makes. I'm also gearing up to buy Carol's Daughter Transiting Kit to keep me going during my stretch with the hopes this can be the solution to taking me all the way to being completely natural.

5 facts I've learned about my hair:

1. My hair loves protein. What I mean when I say that is, my hair just shows-off when DC with protein. It looks healthy, feels healthy and it luxuriates. I have way less shedding, it looks fuller, every single one of my tresses shines. Anytime, I shop around for conditioners, I make sure that somewhere in the ingredients there's some protein in it.
My current conditioner I DC weekly with is Organic Root Stimulator Replenishing Conditioner. I looooooove this conditioner. My hair and this conditioner are married! It's a light protein so I get the strength and rebuilding my hair loves and I get the moisture that my hair needs. Double bonus!

2. I have bratty hair. My hair wants what it wants and if it doesn't it turns into a brat and sheds/breaks. What I mean when I say this is, my hair will shed or break, almost immediately with a product that does it no justice. It's a plus for me because I get to know what my hair hates asap, but the downside of that is it can put my hair into a bit of setback from trying to recover.

3. My hair grows slowly. When I log into hairlista and see length check pics, I'm like "hol' up her hair is down her damn back in 6 months???- What am I doing wrong?" Turns out, I'm not doing anything wrong, my hair moves at its own pace and I've already came to grips with it. So, I don't have the length that I want in my 8 months HJ but I do have the health. I'll take health over length anyday. I do give my hair a bit of assistance with growing and staying on track. I take Hairfinity vitamins twice a day and a B-complex vitamin. I still don't see fast growth but I do see less breakage and shedding than ever.

4. Pre-poo's and my hair shall never part. I wrote a post awhile back about pre-pooing and how much my hair loves it. I think this has been the secret to getting my hair in a healthy state. I will never, ever-ever skip a wash day without pre-pooing. For me, the pre-pooing process is where I focus on meeting the needs of my hair. For instance, my hair can be quite drying so I include honey, which helps attract moisture to my tresses. My hair can shed more than normal for no reason, so add garlic water, this minimizes shedding. I recently started adding Jamaican Black Castor Oil to help my thin tresses to thicken up. And of course, I also add my beloved coconut oil to the mix because it helps restore the health of the hair. Some wash days, I may add a cheap conditioner to the mix like Tresemme or Herbal Essence for an extra conditioning boost.

5. Natural ingredients are wassup. I'm not fully into using all natural products for shampooing and conditioning just yet, but I have learned that the natural ingredients I have incorporated into my hair regimen gives me better and faster results on my tresses. For my protein treatments, I started using a raw egg, olive oil, honey and a cheapie conditioner. My hair stopped all shedding and breakage asap and it snaps back to a healthy start--winning! I started using Rosewater & Glycerin to moisturize my new growth my hair seems to stay moist. Aloe vera juice (AVJ) I've added as a leave-in/detangler. Oh baby! My hair butter soft and super manageable. Just what I like!

What have you learned most about your hair on your HJ?

Going Natural? Or Stretching Your Relaxer? Try A Transitioning Kit!

Product lines are stepping up their game by creating products geared toward women that are transitioning from relaxed-to-natural. Transitioning kits are giving women the tools they needed packaged all together to combat breakage, soften new growth and maximize moisture during the grow-out phase. Most women bumped the transition phase and just go straight for the big chop (BC) instead, to prevent the frustration and the breakage that happens while transitioning.

Transitioning kits could be helpful to your hair journey (HJ). Now, if I would have found info on these two months ago, I would not have resorted to texlaxing to wean my hair out of my relaxer. Oh well. I'm still happy with the results of my hair, however, I will be trying these bad boys out and put them to the test.

I am so feeling the idea of transitioning kits! Now, I haven't tried any of them as of yet, but I'm definitely game to try one of them out and give yall a review. One thing, I've learned about my tresses is, it luxuriates best when I use products from the same product line. It needs that consistency in order to thrive, so a kit that provides a shampoo, conditioner and everything else it needs to be luxurious in it's own way, works for me. I really think my hair would do-the-damn thang, with one of these kits.

First up, we have Carol's Daughter 1-2-3 Transitioning Kit. Now, Carol's Daughter is claiming to the first-and-only hair solution kit for transitioners, but, I was able to find more transitioning kits out there, so I don't know about them being the only, but they could be the mastermind behind the transition kit. I'll have to do some research on that. Let's get down to business.

    The Carol's Daughter Transitioning Kit includes:

     Purifying Extra-Gentle Cleanser, 4 fl oz

     Renewing Scalp Spray, 4 fl oz

     Restoring Anti-Breakage Treatment, 5.5 fl oz  

Price: $40 can found purchased at Carol Daughter's stores or www.carolsdaughter.comwww.carolsdaughter.com

The promise: This easy 3-step kit offers a solution to the 3 problems transitioners face: product build-up, scarred scalp & breakage at the points of demarcation. Now big choppers, long grow-outs and protective stylers can transition from relaxed to natural hair with less shedding, a healthier scalp and softer hair.
The facts:  93% Less Shedding, Healthier Scalp & Softer Strands* *independent study results


 Shea Moisture Hair Repair & Transition Kit.

The Repair & Transition Kit includes (4 oz. each):
• Moisture Retention Shampoo – Cleanses, softens, moisturizes and helps repair damaged, over-processed hair; sulfate-free. Winner of an Allure Best of Beauty Award.
• Restorative Conditioner – Moisturizes and helps restore dry, damaged, over-processed hair. Winner of a Natural Health Beauty Award. May be used as a leave-in or rinse out conditioner.
• Reconstructive Elixir – Natural oil-based treatment intensely hydrates and repairs hair and scalp while adding sheen; acts as a sealant to lock moisture into hair.
• Deep Treatment Masque – Deeply nourishes moisturizes and rejuvenates hair and scalp. May also be used as a leave-in treatment or styling cream.

 Price: $21.99. You can find this at your local Walgreen's or Target stores and online.

The promise: SheaMoisture Repair & Transition Hair Kit, which deeply moisturizes and help heals and strengthen dry, damaged hair, provides a protective barrier from environmental elements, heat and styling aids. These all-natural formulations include raw shea butter, which moisturizes and nourishes with fatty acids and vitamins, argan oil, heralded for restoring shine and rebuilding elasticity, and sea kelp to detoxify hair follicles and scalp of impurities and residue


**FYI,I have used the Deep Treatment Masque. My girlfriend tried it on her hair and she didn't like it, so she passed it on to me to try and I was pretty satisfied with the results. How I used it was, I mixed it with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) deep conditioned on dry hair. I dampened my hair little with some Aloe Vera Juice and applied. Left it one for 1 hour with heat. My hair came out soft, moist and strong too, but I must admit, I was not absolutely in love with it.


Karen's Body Beautiful Healthy Hair Transitioning Kit

The Healthy Hair Transitioning Kit includes:

• Luscious Locks Hair Mask: Nutritious Deep Condition Treatment. Softens, Moisturizes, & Detangles 
• Mane Makeover Hair & Scalp Treatment: Promotes a healthy scalp environment that supports hair growth
• Secret Weapon Restorative Hair Treatment: A balm that strengthens, repairs and restores your tresses.     

Price: $39 can be purchased at www.karensbodybeautiful.com.The Promise: This trio can minimize breakage, stimulate hair growth and promote a healthy scalp


Curls Transitioning Diva Kit

The Transitioning Diva Kit includes:

• Curlicious Curls Cleansing Cream without worry. This super hydrating, sulfate free cleanser with gently cleanse without stripping essential nutrients.
• Curl Ecstasy Hair Tea conditioner is the deep treatment your transitioning tresses need. Formulated with natural botanicals, exotic extracts, and nourishing emollients designed to moisturize, condition, and strengthen. 
• Quenched Curls Moisturizer!Prevent breakage by restoring elasticity & keeping your tresses moisturized, daily with  This super hydrating, detangling leave in conditioner/moisturizer is now formulated with sunscreen to help protect your hair from damaging UV/UB rays.  
• Curl Souffle is the perfect product for transitioning. This rich curl cream hydrates, defines and locks in moisture required to prevent breakage during your transition. An ideal "new growth smoother" as it naturally softens and relaxes kinky hair and helps to "bridge the gap" between your natural and relaxed tresses.
• FINISHING - Formulated with certified organic coconut oil and pure Champagne & Caviar extract, Champagne & Caviar Curl Elixir imparts brilliant sheen, and repairs and moistures dry, damaged tresses. 

Price: $72 can be purchased at  http://www.curls.biz/about-curls.html

No promises for this kit!

Again, I haven't tried any of these kits, but they are definitely on my wish list. If I had to pick which one I would try first, I would go with Carol's Daughter. What attracts me to Carol's Daughter's kit is that there are only 3 products to use. Since, a wash day with transitioning  hair can be overwhelming 3 easy steps is wassup!

Have you tried a transitioning kit? Share your thoughts with me.