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I lied...

Nursing school, nursing school, nursing school. If it ain't nursing school, it's sleep.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to post a blog with all the pictures and thoughts I want to share, but keep me in your prayers and HHG everybody :)

SA

An update is coming soon...


It's been a minute since I've updated. I took a lot of pics but then I misplaced my camera which put me behind a little. Updates are coming over the weekend, nothing big, but just to show some new things I'm learning and some new products in the mix!

Be Blessed,

Sunshine.anytime

Who wants to get free hair products?!



So, thanks to a lovely young fellow hair journey-er, I was turned on to Swagbucks.com It's basically a way to earn free money for doing what you do anyways --- search the Internet. It's powered by Google and Ask.com, so you're getting paid to search just as you do anyhow.

I signed up last week and I have 14 swagbucks. Swagbucks are like "points" and once you get enough you can either 1) trade them in for gift cards to places like Amazon.com, Paypal.com (i.e. Ebay), or AmericaRx.com, all of which sell wonderful hair products. I'm saving up for Nexxus products and hair oils (avocado, etc).

I generally get about 3 swagbucks a day, one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night.

If that's too slow-paced for you, you can sign up for the Swagbucks blog, newsletter, twitter or facebook. Here, they place swagcodes for instant swagbucks. Yesterday, for Halloween, they had a code for 1 swagbuck --- just to celebrate the holiday.

I was skeptical at first but signing up is free, quick and easy! It's not a scam, I promise! From another hair sister to another, try it out!

Simply click on this link to get started!


Changing the name of my blog

SAHairJourney

is the name of the new blog. I changed it merely for privacy issues, I don't want to get stalked!

"SA" stands for SunshineAnytime, which I've been using as a social media name for awhile now. I know this might cause some confusion since Hairlicious is operated by the lovely Sunshyne but I honestly don't have any other ideas for blog names!

Any other suggestions for me?

No more T-shirt Drying



It's funny how something that you think is going to mess you up helps you!

I deep-conditioned today with Silk Elements Mega Cholesterol, 30 minutes with heat, with oils and honey. I hopped out of the shower and towel-dried my hair and then wrapped my hair up to do the T-shirt drying method. I first heard about it on Hairlicious and I've been doing it for most of this year now.

Then, I remembered I had to go do laundry. I was obviously not going to walk around with a T-shirt on my head, lol, so on my still dampened hair, I put on my normal leave-ins: Motions Leave-In conditioner, diluted V05 conditioner and Phytoorganics Humectant conditioner and then sealed with oils. I combed to detangle, pinned my hair, and rushed out.

Three hours later my hair is still 20% wet. :( But my hair is laying down so flat and smooth, and I barely had to moisturize it. I don't know why I ever traded in this way of airdrying. I guess, it is annoying when you need to be somewhere and your hair's still wet (it only takes my hair 2 hours total to airdry with the Tshirt method).

Here's my version of the T-shirt method: Wash hair; towel dry; put T-shirt on hair; leave T-shirt on for 1 hour or until 40-50% dry; apply leave ins; pin hair up and airdry until 80% dry; moisturize and seal with daily moisturizer.

A lot huh?

Here's my old way of airdrying, the way I did it tonight: wash hair, towel dry; apply leave-ins; pin hair up until scalp is dry; apply moisturizer and seal as needed.

Way easier to do the second method. Only problem is, I can remember waking up with wet hair if I did the old method after washing. That would be a problem if I'm doing a braid out/twist out that requires a fully dry head. I guess I could just sit under the dryer for a few minutes in the morning like I do anyway.

Thought my laundry trip was going to be a waste of a D/C day. Turned out to be one of my smoothest hair days since I started the journey.

"Loosen up, it's just hair!" :)

P.S. Check out P4cm.com, Passion for Christ Movement. They make great shirts (see picture), videos and resources for those wanting to devote themselves to Jesus!

Paraffin Oil = Mineral Oil

The beauty companies did it again! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

One of my favorite products has mineral oil in it! Smh...

Hollywood Beauty Castor Oil Treatment
(my eyes are tearing up as I type this LOL) has paraffin oil in it. I was looking at the reviews on Walgreens.com and the reviewers were complaining about the paraffin oil being the same as mineral oil. They said this was basically expensive hair grease.

Gross!


I googled paraffin oil and sure enough ... mineral oil! I was just gonna hit up Walgreens on my way home from clinicals tomorrow to pick some up. I love the smell and I love sealing with something creamy!

Until I find a creamy, mineral-oil free oil product, guess I'll pick up Africa's Best Herbal oil (only $2 at DG, and mineral-oil free!)

How was I blinded for so long? *Sigh*

R.I.P. HBCOT. It was good while it lasted, but I'm moving on...

NEXT!

One Year Anniversary!

Yay! October 17th was my one year hair journey anniversary.

I've learned a lot, made some mistakes but overall seen some growth and thickness! Exactly what I wanted. I actually was hoping to have longer hair, but a beautician chopped an inch off and I've had some breakage issues. Most say healthy hair growth is 0.5 inches a month. All in all, I've gained 6 inches of thick, healthy hair, so I'm technically on track.

I'm officially SL and my hair has swang (thank you Roux Porosity)!

October 2008


October 2009





NEW HAIR GOALS
APL by May 2010
Full APL by August 2010
BSL by October 2010
Eliminate "crispy" ends
Get a corrective relaxer by a professional
Use half-wigs to hide hair from January - April
Stretch relaxers to at least 10 weeks
Apply MN mixture faithfully 1x day after 3 weeks post. Follow with 2 hr baggy.
Grow "problem area" on crown to 5 inches by March.
Comb only on wash days. Fingercomb other wise.

BEST ASSETS TO MY HAIR

Thorough and daily moisturizing.
Using Roux Porosity 1x week (lots of moisture and less tangling!)
Deep conditioning once week
2x week or more co-washing
Using Motions Leave-in
THE BEST ASSET: Hiding my hair with a half-wig (wore one for 5 months straight for low manipulation!)

September Update

CORRECTIVE RELAXER

I never came back and updated, but I did do a corrective relaxer 6 weeks ago, only after waiting 2 weeks after the unsuccessful relaxer. I used a really cheap box perm from Wal-Mart, which didn't help. My hair is still underprocessed really badly on the ends.

STRETCHING

I'm 6 weeks post right now and can hopefully wait till December before my next relaxer. That would make my stretch 16 weeks long --- the longest stretch I've ever done. Pray for me :)

PROTECTIVE STYLES


I found a really cute synthetic half wig for $15.99 right before classes started. I'm braiding my hair underneath the wig and trying to moisturize daily with Wave Nouveau and sealing with castor or coconut oil.

CASTOR OIL


I found some Indian castor oil right down the street from me for $2.99 (8 oz)! So much better than the Wal-Mart brand of castor oil. It's thicker and has this unique smell. So I'm back to the castor oil challenge: Apply castor oil to scalp after every wash.

MN


Starting this week, (September 12), I've been using my MN mix daily except for wash days. I love how curly it makes my new growth.

ROUX POROSITY CONTROL


Thank you to Traycee for posting a blog about porosity. I always heard people talking about porosity but never quite understood what they were talking about. I did a porosity test Sunday and my hair failed (it sunk). I bought a trial bottle of Roux Porosity Control Conditioner from Sally's.

Yesterday,
1. I shampooed with my diluted KeraCare dry and itchy,
2. used Apoghee 2 min reconstructor with shower cap for 2 min,
3. applied ALOT of Roux PC from root to tip,
4. Let Roux PC sit on for about a minute and rinsed,
5. Used PhytoOrganics Humectin with cap for 2 min.
6. Rinsed, t-shirt dry, leave-ins, moisturized when 80% dry.

*** LOVED ROUX PC!

My hair has never been this soft AND stayed soft. And after I moisturized and sealed, I could actually feel the oil sitting on my hair (sealing) just like it's supposed to do. I always wondered why we "seal" with oil, because it never really sealed for me, my hair just absorbed it. My hair was still crunchy in some places, but this morning, after the moisturizer had dried, it was so soft and actually felt like hair ... if that makes sense! lol

I've been reading the hair boards, and it looks like a lot of people use Roux PC as a final rinse after a shampoo and after a DC. Some used it weekly for a month before they noticed total correction.

I think this post on LHCF will be my inspiration.

Re: Roux Porosity Control Cond. a staple???
It took me about a Month using it Faithfully Each Week after Each DC Treatment, before I felt I had sufficiently dealt with my Overly Porous Hair. I've been using it now for about 6 months weekly and it has totally transformed My Dry, Brittle, Chemically Shocked, Overly Porous Hair.

Cowashes = Thickness!

I started nursing school a few weeks ago! *Yay!*

My schedule has been hectic and I'm just now adjusting to it. A hectic schedule means my hair priorities were definitely put on a hold. I've lost some length in the past few weeks :( But one thing I definitely hated was how thing my ends were becoming, it was pretty bad!

So for the last three weeks, I've light-proteining, shampooing and then deep conditioning with the normal products on Sunday. I airdry and braid, and then half wig my hair for the rest of the week. I was able to moisturize maybe twice the entire week and no co-washes at all! My hair was dry tangled and brittle by the next deep condition. And it was shedding everywhere.

I started moisturizing and sealing with castor oil but my hair was still thin. So, this week, I was able to co-wash on Wednesday night. I was amazed by how much cleaner my scalp looked, and how healthier and thicker my hair was ... with just one co-wash! My hair still shedded some but now until it dried and then it wasn't as much as before.

I flat ironed my hair today (two days after my co-wash) and my hair has still retained it's thickness.

You never know what you have until you live without it! True about many things, instead of co-washing. I used to believe co-washes weren't all that necessary for good hair growth but now I see it's definitely causing more benefit than harm (no harm, just the hassle of doing it!)

I'm still using my MN mix, but only once or twice a week and then I baggy!

Happy labor day weekend

I made it to Shoulder Length hair! and Corrective Relaxers

Yes, you read correctly! Finally, as of June 24th (12 weeks past my initial goal of May 1), I'm a SL-lady! It took 9 months to get from just below ear length to shoulder length. It actually would've taken me 6 months if my beautician wouldn't have chopped an inch off in May... but whatever LOL.

I have my Sulfur-MN mix to thank! Thank you, baby! I used it faithfully from about week 6 post-relax to right about the 11th week or so. Every other day. I ended up adding another tube of MN to my mix, (so 2 total), and it was the Family Dollar store brand, not the Wal-Mart brand. I have to say, the ladies on the hair boards were right... Family Dollar's brand is magically better. But, Wal-Mart's brand makes my new-growth coils prettier and tighter. Whatever though, lol, I got the growth I needed to push me over the edge. Wait till you see the before/after pics from the mix... (coming soon).

I also have the normal regimen to thank. The DC's, the co-washes, the NTM silk touch leave-in, rediscovering a great moisturizer (Wave Nouveau), etc. Oh, and the biggie, hiding my hair for most of the last 9 months. I relaxed last week and it feels so weird leaving my hair out but I deserve it.

As I said, I relaxed last week. I used Silk Touch, Regular, no-lye. I like the relaxer, HATE the neutralizing shampoo. It totally stripped my hair... completely. Even a 30 minute DC didn't correct my hair. I've been moisturizing my hair back to health the last few days and it's looking good, except...

I've noticed, since about February, that parts of my hair are severely underprocessed. After a perm, my roots will of course be straight, and then about a inch up, will be thick-gritty-coarse-wirelike hair, and then my ends will be straight. The reason: I think the beauticians and myself underestimated the crazy amount of new growth I have when it's time to relax. Also, some of the boards have me so scared of "overprocessing" my hair that I'd rather under-do it than over-do it.

I figured there was nothing I could do about it. I got curious and googled "Relaxing underprocessed hair" which eventually led me to the subject of "Corrective Relaxers" on the hair boards. I was going to rush out and buy a relaxer tonight and get to work until I noticed that some people didn't have good results and that most waited weeks. :(

If I've been dealing with this hair since February, I can wait 6 more weeks. :( I don't want to over process my roots, which means I'll need some new-growth action real quick like. So I guess it's back to half-wigs and the MN mix for me. :( I'm going to research the corrective relaxers more and spit you all my game plan.

Pictures coming as soon as I get my USB cord... might be a few weeks. Sorry!

Wish List and Product Haul

I went shopping this past weekend. Isn't that what all girls do? :)

I went to JCPenney's to return my Keracare Dry and Itchy Poo because I'm just getting sick of sulfate shampoo's! I didn't have a receipt so they gave me a merchandise credit --- but for TWICE as much I paid for the shampoo. I tried to explain to the cashier that this was too much of a refund but she just said, "The computer does whatever it wants too."

Well, thank you "computer" for my free bottle of PhytoOrganics Humectin Extreme Moisturizing Conditioner! The ingredients look so great: honey, glycerin, vitamins and coconut milk. It does have mineral oil also. I haven't tried it yet though --- we'll update later. It smells heavenly though!

Afterward, I went to Sally's because the Silk Elements Mega Cholesterol Treatment was on sale for $3.49 and I've been wanting to try it. It smells so good. I DCed with oils and honey with it on Sunday and man-oh-man my hair was smooth like butter! I haven't found a great leave-in routine yet so my hair was still dry after I air dried but not as bad as usual.

I also bought the Olive Creme Hairdressing by Hollywood Beauty at Walgreens. It was only $3 with a trial container of their Deep Conditioner. I really wanted to buy the Castor Oil complex because I'm almost out and I love the texture and smell. It's a great sealant. But this Walgreen's didn't have it. I sealed with the rose-smelling creme on Saturday. I don't really like the smell but it retained moisture better than the Castor Oil when I unwrapped my hair the next day! I was impressed! It does leave a bit of a white film on the hands and hair.

MY WISH LIST:
- Gold N Hot Hood Dryer: My friend bought it for me; Problem is she lives 3 hrs away!
- Dr. Bronner's 2 oz Soap (Target): Will buy when I run out of poo. Only $1.69!
- Motions Leave-In conditioner: My old stand by
- Herbal Essences LTR Leave-In: All the 4a/4bs rave about it!

Sulfur MN Mix

I couldn't help myself. :) I know I said I would do no more challenges or jump on any bandwagons in an effort to keep it simple, but I'm getting greedy.

Doing a sulfur-MN mix has been on my mind for awhile after I read something about it on some of the boards. I finally researched it and went out to Wal-Mart and Sally's, here's the mix I came up with it.

SULFUR 8 & MN MIX

What you need:
1/2 can of regular Sulfur 8
1 tube of MN
2 oz of your moisturizer of choice
2 tsp of coconut oil, optional
2 tsp of castor oil, optional
1 tsp of olive oil, optional
1 empty container
1 comb/ applicator brush
Few drops of peppermint oil, optional
Few cap-fulls of vanilla flavoring, optional

Directions:
1. Take a can of Sulfur 8 and microwave it for 30 seconds or until the grease has turned into a liquid.
2. Pour half of the melted Sulfur 8 into your empty container. It will harden a bit but don't worry.
3. Cut the square end of the MN tube. Peel back the tube to expose and the MN and squeeze half of the MN into your container. DO NOT HEAT
4. Melt your choice of oils in the microwave for 30 seconds until melted.
5. Add the oils and moisturizer into your container.
6. Blend all of the above ingredients; the texture should remind you of pudding.
7. Smell the mix and determine how much flavoring/peppermint oil should be used.
(I add a half cap of vanilla flavoring, blend, and then sniff again to see if I need to add more).
8. Once you've reached a good scent, apply to scalp in 6 sections.


My mix comes out really creamy like pudding
. It looks so yummy, but don't eat it! LOL






Based on my research, I can use 10% sulfur safely 1x - 3x times daily. Since Sulfur 8 has only 2% Sulfur, I'm safe. According to this website, sulfur has no side effects that would affect me personally. However, if you're using acne medication, breast feeding or curious, you should take a look.

I've used MN in the past with no bad experiences or side effects.

So, of course, I had to come up with a new regimen. A lot of girls on the hair board noticed that sulfur is a little drying on the hair. So I'm officially increasing my co-washes and I'm baggying for 2 hours after the Sulfur-MN mix is applied. For right now, I'm just applying it 1x day and we'll see how it goes from here. This regimen will also show the recent Protein Challenge I've joined.

UPDATED REGIMEN AND PRODUCTS:

REGIMEN:
Shampoo 1x Sunday
Cowash 2x Tuesday and Friday
Moisturizing Pre-Poo/DC 2x Sunday and Friday
Protein Treatment 1x Tuesday

+Moisturize and seal daily.
+Leave-in after every wash.
+Baggy with NTM and SulfurMN mix daily for 2 hours.

PRODUCTS:
Shampoo -Kera Care Dry and Itchy Shampoo *NEW*
Cowash -Silken Child Conditioner
DC -VO5 Conditioner, Aloe Vera Gel, Honey, Coconut/Castor/EVOO, Salt
-or Fantasia Protein DC
Moisture -Africa's Best Kid's Organic Conditioner Lotion with Shea Butter and EVOO
Leave-In -Motion's Leave-In
Detangler - Aussie's Leave-In
Seal -Hollywood's Castor Oil Treatment or EVOO


USEFUL LINKS REGARDING SULFUR-MN MIX:


- Salicylic Acid and Sulfur (Topical)
- 10% Sulfur soap is used 1-3 times daily
- LHCF
user's Sulfur-MN updates

- LHCF thread on suggestions for making your own Sulfur-MN mix

Hey Protein, wanna be my friend?

First off, I want to say I've been on a moisture rollercoaster! So much fun. lol

Before the journey (and even during), my friends & fam know my hair is dry... always and forever. When I first started the hair journey, I read about baggy-ing, and gave it a try. My hair loved the extra moisture.

Somehow, I forgot all about baggying. My hair has been pretty dry since my last relaxer in May, even though I co-washed 1-2x a week and moisturized frequently. Then randomly I remembered baggying! I looked it up on one of the hairboards to make sure I had the info right and got to it.

I mostly do full-head baggy's. I apply a dime-sized amount of NTM Leave-in throughout my hair and cover with a baggy. The only rule I have is that I only baggy previously moisturized hair. The reason I baggy is not to moisturize my hair but to maintain the moisture. I love to leave the baggy on for 2 hours during the day when I'm at home. Leaving it on overnight is just too much, considering that I do 2x a week pre-poo's as well. After the 2 hours is over, I take the baggy off and my hair is usually damp. I seal with extra virgin coconut oil and wrap with my silk scarf.

So, all this moisture has been wonderful. My hair is soft to the touch and glowing.

But, it got me thinking... is my hair balanced (moisture vs. protein). It hadn't gotten to the point where my hair was mushy (a common side effect of imbalanced hair) but it was breaking off just as bad as when my hair was dry.

I was reading Sunshyne's blog about the Protein BFF challenge. Now, I'm currently trying not to join challenges in an effort to keep it simple. But it seemed as if that's exactly what my hair needed... some good ol' protein.

So I joined :)

1. Must condition with a protein 1x a week.

Simple, right? Well, because I've had bad protein experiences in the past, I was kind of hesitant.

Last night, I prepooed with VO5 Moisture Milks Conditioner, 1 tsp honey, 2 tsps of coconut oil, 1 cap of EVOO, 1 cap of castor oil (oils were warmed in microwave). When I woke up, I rinsed the pre-poo out, I shampooed my scalp 1x with Keracare dry and itchy poo. I then used my Fantasia IC Deep Penetrating Creme Moisturizer. I left it on for 5-10 minutes (per instructions) while I showered.

When I rinsed it out... ahhhhhhhh! My hair had definition again! I had gotten so used to the soft, undefined hair that I've been rockin' for the past few weeks.

I dried my hair off, used Aussie Leave-in as a detangler (hate it as a leave-in) and detangled my hair. There was still a lot of breakage and shedding but 1/3 as much as I've been experiencing in the past few weeks. I then applied NTM Silk Leave-in and EVOO and currently airdrying under my scarf!

So, protein, you think we can make this a long term thing? :)

Silk scarfs and Unrefined coconut oil!

Silk scarfs.

I've been trying to get one since for ever. Even a few years back, before I even know about KISS and hair journey's, I had a feeling the scarf's from the local beauty stores weren't the real deal. Of course, the package says "100% silk" but those scarves have always seemed to dry my hair out. And the fact that anytime I saw 100% silk at the department stores they always cost alot more than the $2.99 price at the BSS.

So, I just moved to a big city in Florida, and they have so many thrift stores! They're everywhere *I'm in a college student's fashion heaven* I sifted through the junk and found some cute tops and an incense holder (my roomie bought me some incense).

On the way home, I remembered that I should've looked for some silk! A girl on www.k-i-s-s.biz site said to look for 100% silk at Wal-mart in the fabric section, etc. Well, I've tried that before with no luck and I thought I might as well hit up the thrift store.

I went straight to the men's aisle because I figured men's dress shirts are made out of silk more than women's. No luck. All I found was a silk-cotton blend and a bunch of polyester fakes!

I strolled over to the tie section and... silk heaven! Lots of 100% silk ties. Maybe they would make good headbands but I need a full scarf!

After about 15 more minutes of looking through the lingerie and kid's section, I was about to give up and head home. I decided I'd try one more aisle. Old women's jump suits and business suit. DING DING DING! Silk jackpot! lol I found 2 women's jumpsuits that looked like they were straight from the 90s.

It was originally $5.50, but because it was Saturday, the price was cut in half... $2.75. The guy who checked me out was crackin' up when I brought that bright blue mess up to the counter. I explained the situation and he said I should try to sell the scarves... lol Here's the pics:





UNREFINED COCONUT OIL

I have so many essential things like bills that I need to be spending my money on, but I couldn't resist. I've been trying to use up a 16 oz jar of Spectrum's refined coconut oil that I've been using for over 6 months (16 oz goes a long way). Today, I went to the Indian store (saw Parachute coconut oil but didn't know if it was refined or not), natural foods store (overpriced products & BAD customer service=NO business from me!), and finally the Vitamin Shoppe.

The VS's price was $8.99 for a 15 oz of unrefined. So, I got it! LOVES IT! I opened the bottle as soon as I got home lol It smelled sooooo good! A big difference from the refined oil. I prepooed for two hours with VO5 co, rosemary mint, honey, aloe vera gel, and coconut oil. I co-washed with silken child conditioner, applied leave-ins, sealed with coconut oil, and then wrapped with my pretty new scarf!

I took off my scarf after about an hour of air drying just to check on my hair and it looks so smooth! We'll know the final verdict tomorrow!

Ciao!

Tweak the regimen

I've been doing the "basics" for the last week and enjoying it!

I tried something new on Tuesday. I prepooed with V05 and coconut oil. Then I co-washed with Silken Child conditioner (it's usually the other way around). And went on with the regular routine.

Usually, my hair is somewhat dry, even right after a wash. But my hair is so soft and retaining moisture so much better! I'm contributing it to the Silken Child's co-wash. So I'm going to change my regimen slightly and see how it works.

Also, I have to give a shout out to the Kera Care shampoo. My hair hasn't been "clean" in so long. Even after a shampoo, my scalp would be flaky, my strands greasy, and my hair just wouldn't absorb products... even after using Suave clarifying shampoo AND regular shampoo. I'm going to try to incorporate high-quality products into my regimen as my budget allows. There really is a difference. I had been using Mizani Lavishing Shampoo for the past two years. Side note: I did read somewhere online that shampoo's should be switched regularly, so maybe it was past time to switch poo's.

REGIMEN:
Shampoo 1x Fridays
Cowash 1x Tuesdays
DC 1x Fridays
Prepoo 2x Tues., Fri.

+Moisturize and seal daily.
+Leave-in after every wash.
+Castor oil on scalp after every wash.
+Protein as needed.

PRODUCTS:
Shampoo -Kera Care Dry and Itchy Shampoo *NEW*
Cowash -Silken Child Conditioner
DC -VO5 Conditioner, Aloe Vera Gel, Honey, Coconut/Castor/EVOO, Salt
-or Fantasia Protein DC
Moisture -Africa's Best Kid's Organic Conditioner with EVOO *NEW*
Leave-In -Motion's Leave-In
Seal -Hollywood's Castor Oil Treatment or EVOO

Back to the Basics...

Hey World,

It's been a minute. I've been reading through my past posts and I noticed something.

About two months into my hair journey (December 2008), I started jumping on so many bandwagons. Trying new products, new techniques, etc.

I had experienced some good growth during that time and got greedy. I wanted more!

Now, it's May. I have some good news. I REACHED SHOULDER LENGTH BY MY MAY 2009 GOAL!

Whoo-hoo!

Now, bad news. My stylist chopped an inch off ("You have damaged ends."). It was the day before my graduation and my usual stylist had mis-scheduled me for the week before so I had to find somebody... QUICK! The only place was JCPenney's. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on the relaxer and trim... but, hey, I wanted to look cute for my graduation and it was last minute!

So, now I'm about a half inch about my shoulders... and I'm going back to the basics. No bandwagons, no extra products and techniques.

GOALS:

Shoulder Length - by June 21, 2009 ( a month from today).
APL - January 2010

REGIMEN:
Shampoo 1x Fridays
Cowash 1x Tuesdays
DC 1x Fridays
Prepoo 2x Tues., Fri.

+Moisturize and seal daily.
+Leave-in after every wash.
+Castor oil on scalp after every wash.
+Protein as needed.

PRODUCTS:
Shampoo -Kera Care Dry and Itchy Shampoo *NEW*
Cowash -VO5 Passion fruit smoothie Conditioner
DC -Silken Child Conditioner, Aloe Vera Gel, Honey, Coconut/Castor/EVOO, Salt
-or Fantasia Protein DC
Moisture -Africa's Best Kid's Organic Conditioner with EVOO *NEW*
Leave-In -Motion's Leave-In
Seal -Hollywood's Castor Oil Treatment or EVOO


No challenges, no MN, no special drying techniques!

Keeping it simple for real!


Picture of me "hurting" my friend at my graduation party. That's me on the left.

Tips for Stretching your Relaxer


I'm nearing the end of an 8 week stretch. Before I first started the hair journey in October 2008, I would relax every 6 weeks. Sometimes I couldn't wait that long! I had no idea how to tame new growth, especially the new growth near the crown of my hair, which is usually under-processed. Since the hair journey, I'm vowing to stretch to 8 weeks. Personally, I don't want be looking rough much longer than that. The first stretch was HARD, no lie! But, you pick up things as you go along and this current stretch has been relatively easy. So, without further adieu, here are my non-researched, PERSONAL-OPINION tips for stretching your relaxer. I advise you to listen to your own hair and do your research as well.

TIP #1: PROTECTIVE STYLES. A good protective style is a great investment. It can help to keep your ends protected and keep you looking fresh! Many ladies try bantu knots, roller sets, and (my favorite) half-wigs. I personally don't really like bantu knots & roller sets because they take a lot of work compared to just throwing on a half-wig! Don't neglect the hair under your half-wig! It's easy to throw a wig on over dry, tangled hair... but moisturize and seal that hair, and preferably use corn-row braids under the half-wig to further protect!

TIP #2: LEAVE-INS. Leave-ins are essential for bringing back moisture and elements that are stripped from the hair during the washing process. I personally mix a cheapie conditioner with water, aloe vera gel and oil. Others use glycerin, rosewater, etc. Leave-ins help my new-growth to lay down and soften.

TIP #3: FREQUENT DCs. My first stretch I didn't DC at all and my hair was always tangled and somewhat dry. This stretch, I DCed 1x-2x week after I was 4 weeks post. I mix Lekair cholesterol, honey, oil, a tablespoon of salt, place a shower cap on, and let it sit on for 2-3 hours at the most.

TIP #4: ACCESSORIZE. Scarves, cute pins, bobby pin updos ... be creative while stretching!

TIP #5: MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE, MOISTURIZE! I notice that as the weeks add up, my hair craves more and more moisture! Remember to moisturize often (and understand the balance between Moisture and Protein!

HAPPY HAIR STRETCHING!!!

3 Month Update

I'm 7 weeks post today :) Today, I deep conditioned with Lekair's Cholesterol Plus, honey, oil and a tbs. salt. My hair has been over-moisturized lately (can't believe I can actually say that! LOL) I've been using Maxi Professional detangler. The first two ingredients are water & glycerin (yes) and the rest are herbal extracts. I LOVE it as a moisturizer, but it doesn't do a great job of detangling. If my hair is dry, I spritz my hair w/this stuff, seal it, and baggy for an hour or so. Brush my hair back, wrap it and go to sleep... the next morning my hair is VERY soft and moisturized.

So, with all this moisture, I've been trying to make sure to balance with protein. Using protein SCARES me... I've had so many overloads in the past. Anyway, I've upped my co-washes to every 3 days (Mon, Thurs, Sun... etc) so now I use Aphogee 2 min. or Fantasia IC deep treatment with some of the co-washes (depends how my hair is feeling!)
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I've also jumped on the vitamin bandwagon! I've been taking daily supplements on/off for the last year but am pledging to stay committed this year. I was also able to buy BIOTIN 1000 mg and GARLIC pills for $1.50 a bottle! :) They were on sale for $3 each at Publix and I had a $3.00 off coupon... Yes!

I didn't get the odorless garlic :( but they haven't been THAT bad, I usually try to take them with food (bananas are great at masking that taste). The BIOTIN has made me break out a little (I've been taking the 1000 mg 1x day for 4 days now). I put on some acne cream (the generic kind from Wal-Mart) and the pimples are already going away. If the acne becomes too much, I'll only use the BIOTIN on the weekdays and give my face a break for the weekend. I have noticed that my sideburns are growing :/ which is kind of weird, don't wanna look like Elvis. Hopefully my hair is growing.
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Because I was finally able to get my hands on some garlic pills, I gave megatek another chance. I applied it 2 nights ago (2 nights after I started taking the garlic pills). VERY LITTLE SHEDDING/BREAKAGE IN THE SHOWER TODAY! I had been having a lot of breakage the last few weeks, but today was there way less and most of it was white-bulb shedding. so the garlic pill hype is true!
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I'm almost out of antifungals :( I have no idea where my MN is, probably left it in my hometown. And have just a wee bit left of Tolnaftate. I don't think my Walmart has the generic MN up here and Big Lots is so far away (to get the Tolnaftate). I want to stay consistent with the antifungals I use, I don't wanna put everything and anything on my hair. I was at the Dollar Tree today and was tempted to get some other antifungal (Clotrinzole?) but naw...
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My hair is GROWING! When I DCed today, I noticed that most of my hair is "officially" nape length, and some are mid-neck. I think I should definitely be at full SL by May *crosses fingers*
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I tried Bantu Knots in December and with a little more practice they'll come out right.
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I want to relax this upcoming Thursday (ending and 8 week stretch).
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Having trouble with my Fotki so pics TBA...

Holiday Update #3 - Kiya Fizzie, MN, DCs

Final Update from the break...

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Man oh man... I have a lot of updates. This break from school has allowed me to have a lot of free time that I don't normally have … so I've been experimenting different things.

I've been braiding my hair (as usual) and wearing the half-wig. I moisturized 2x a day (for the most part... lol).

I read about the “Kiya Fizzie” on some of the boards and decided to try it. I got confused though. I thought the chick Kiya was mixing citric acid, baking soda and salt together. I used vinegar as my citric, we had baking powder (not soda) and added some salt. I mixed this with Lustrasilk's Tea Tree Cholesterol conditioner, honey, coconut oil and DC with a cap for about 3 hours.

I used an applicator brush to apply the mix. I usually apply the DC directly to my new growth first with the brush and then use my hands to put the DC on my ends. I noticed that as soon as I put this mix on my new growth, my ENDS were soft and laying down... it was so weird. I thought this was the sign of a wonderful mix....

NOT! My hair was soft in the shower but there was just something weird about my hair. I conditioned with my lovely Vo5 Moisture Milks “Passion fruit smoothie” and followed with leave-ins and coconut oil. After my soft hair dried, it was a hot mess. Hard, rough, crunchy, thin and stripped. It was like this for 3 days until I DC and co-washed again. No matter how many times I moisturized, baggied, etc... my hair would instantly return to this dry, rough state. It felt like my hair had holes in it... just rough. I have to say that the mix did straighten my hair out a bit. No “after-relaxer” results but definitely something for my new growth, since I was 5 weeks post-relaxer. Still wasn't worth the rough hair.

I re-braided my hair and just tried not to deal with it too much until my next co-wash. (Maybe I should try letting the mix stay on my hair for 5 min. compared to 3 hours).

My next DC and co-wash was so nice. I mixed honey, a tablespoon of table salt (the real Kiya Fizzie), aloe vera gel, a little of the Ego Trip Invigorate Conditioner, coconut oil, and the Tea Tree Cholesterol. With the salt in the mix, the conditioner was really creamy. Let that sit on my hair for 2 or 3 hours. My mom has the Silk Therapy Moisturizing Conditioner. I've heard rave reviews about it so I wanted to co-wash with it. I looked at the ingredients list before I used it and wasn't impressed. I decided to give it a try anyway. NO SIR! It didn't do anything for my hair, actually made it a little drier than the DC. It's not “bad” but I just wouldn't spend any amount of money buying such a blah conditioner (and I've seen it at Sally's for $5-6). I followed up with my Vo5 Moisture Milks (that cost me $1) and … ah!!! Soft, lovely hair. The salt definitely straightened my hair a bit and might be the reason for my soft hair... I'll need a few more DC's to prove it!!

3 words. Refined coconut oil. :( I've been using this oil for a few months now and it's been pretty good to me. But I was reading around online and saw that unrefined oils are best because they retain the vitamins and nutrients. Ah well... I'm about ½ way finished with this jar of oil anyway.

My next relaxer date is set for January 15th (a few days shy of 8 weeks).

In review,
No vinegar/baking powder mixes.
Salt is benefiting in my DC's.
Unrefined oils, not refined.
No Silk Moisturizing Therapy Co.

Holiday Update #2 - MN

One of my unposted updates from the holiday break.

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MN Update

I found some generic MN at Wally World since I've been home. $4 for 45 g. It goes really fast though. I've been applying it 2x a day and I'm already almost finished with the tube. I've decreased the applications to 1x a day and only where my hair is struggling to grow. How much fungus could possibly be on your hair, anyway, where you would need to apply 2x a day?

I want to do some research on hair. There's some word for hair fungus – dermatitis or something like that. I want to see what treatments they use to make the hair grow. Somebody made an interesting point on one of the boards: MN is specifically made to be used on the fungus in your vagina... is that fungus going to be on your hair? But from what I've seen already, the same antifungal is used for different areas on the body (just go check out the antifungals at Wal-Mart... you'll see what I'm talking about).

I've experienced NO side effects whatsoever --- headaches, shedding, dry scalp, etc --- except for new growth! LOL It's DEFINITELY made my nape grow. The rest of my head is inconsistent; I have very little growth on my front hair line, but the middle/crown area of my head (where I need it the most) is definitely seeing some growth. I have almost 2 inches of new growth on my crown. I find it easy to apply to wet hair.

The new growth is coming in so pretty, too. Curly and soft. I'm tempted to transition to natural hair. So many people have had something negative to say about my hair. I remember telling my friends a year ago that I wanted to go natural and they crushed those thoughts... quickly LOL “Some people can't do natural, Gaela.” LOL It was said in love... but still. Now that I'm learning to manage my new growth and it's soft and moisturized... natural hair is an option. I could always perm and flat iron... we'll see though.

MN has also made my hair REALLY thick. Where I live, “good hair” is defined as straight, long, and somewhat thin hair. Once people see my textured, short, thick hair, I'm immediately told about it. “Girl, your hair is so thick.” But, in this week that I've been using MN, my hair is 2x as thick, if not 3 times. I flat-ironed my hair on Christmas day, and my mom noticed how thick it was. When I braid my hair under the half-wig, it's pretty thin. But these braids I have in now are so wide and thick. So, I guess MN is like mega-tek.. thicker hair more than longer hair.

So, in review:


No side-effects from MN.
New growth but not consistent for my whole head.
Should only apply 1x a day.
Apply preferably to wet hair.
Thick hair, fast.

Holiday Update #1 - Ego Trips Invigorate Conditioner

Big Lots – yeah!

So, I was able to go to the Big Lots in my hometown. The “big conditioner” aisle was nowhere to be found like last time. But I did find this conditioner:

Ego Trips Invigorate Conditioner (Retail: $4.99) Conditioner for men.

It has ginseng, tea tree oil, peppermint oil, rosemary extract, biotin, camphor, panthenol and vitamin E.

A great replacement for my Aveda Rosemary Mint conditioner (which I've used up now). I got the 8.5 oz bottle for $1.80! The Aveda 8.5 oz would have cost me $10. The only thing I don't like about the conditioner is that it's really thick and creamy so it's hard to dilute it so it will spray from my homemade leave-in bottle. I'll figure it out though for $1.80 LOL. Also, if I leave it on the ends of hair, it makes them really thin and fragile. So, it's definitely just a new growth/scalp treatment for me.

In review:
Love Ego Trips!
Thick consistency should be diluted little by little.
Don't use Ego as a leave-in on ends of hair.