Merry Christmas !!!

Enjoy this holiday season with your family and loved ones.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate !!

2 Years Relaxer Free !!! Happy 2 Year Anniversary to Me !!!

Last week on December 15th, I made it to YEAR 2 of my Healthy Hair Journey !!! I can't believe how quickly the last 2 years have flown right by. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was watching Lorraine's rollersetting tutorials, Ateeya's half wig videos, and Bronzeg's amazing relaxed hair journey. I really do hate to sound cliche, but the time did FLY, it only feels like I've been on my journey for a few months.

December 15th 2008 was also my last relaxer date. I had been without a relaxer for almost 6 months at that point, so I had a bit of NG. I wore weaves the entire time. Unfortunately, I was gluing in those weaves and using a flat iron to blend everyday. My hair was left thin and broken. The stylist did a great job of getting my hair straight, but she left the relaxer in WAY too long. I don't have pics from that day, but I do have pics that I took 2 weeks later. Do you ladies see why I began researching growing african american hair ???



Well, 2 years later, I am back to my length before the big chop and now I feel as though I'm ready to grow my hair out to all sorts of unbelievable lengths. I will be doing my last flat iron of the year a few days after Christmas (My Mom bought me an FHI flat iron, but I have to wait until then to use it). I can't wait to show you ladies that update picture. Hopefully I'll have a new camera by then also :)

2010 Hair Journey Goals Revisited

Going into this year, I decided to keep my HJ goals very simple. I made ONE set of goals for the year, which I tried to adhere to the entire time. Of course certain things needed to be tweaked along the way (detangling process, rollersetting techniques, braid and twistout styling, etc) but I MADE SURE that I always did everything in accordance to meeting these goals. Now that the end of the year is approaching, it's time I give myself a personal evaluation =)

Here were my goals for this year:

2010 GOALS

- Gain Thicker, Stronger Hair. MAINTAIN HEALTHY HAIR - Make a Nice, Full Natural Ponytail
- Master the art of Rollersetting my Natural Hair !
- Retain All Length
- Use Castor Oil & MN to regrow my damaged nape and thicken up edges
- Protect & Nourish My Ends
- Deep Condition w/ Heat for Better Penetration and Manageability
- Continue to Moisturize & Seal Regularly to Prevent Dryness & Breakage
Continue to leave my hair alone for optimal growth !

Overall, I feel I met all of the goals I set, however I feel I could have placed stronger emphasis on a few. Those goals include using castor oil & MN to regrow my nape/edges, deep conditioning with heat, and protecting and nourishing my ends.

I haven't been using anything on my poor edges to try to re-grow them. My goal in 2011 is to oil my edges EVERY other day... that's 3 to 4 times a week. I really know I can do it, and I'm committing myself to doing this.

As for deep conditioning, I think we all love our DC's with heat in the winter, but we slack off once spring/summertime rolls around and go back to cowashing. Sadly, even once the weather became cold, I still continued to wash as if the weather were warm. Prepoos overnight are great, but not enough. This winter is supposed to be extremely cold. Time to break out the dryer and probably invest in a steamer as well. I am committing to deep conditioning with heat at least every other wash, but I will try to make this EVERY wash for the duration of the winter and early spring. I also committ to DC-ing with heat as soon as the summer heat passes, and not waiting until it's winter.

As for nourishing my ends, I did a pretty good job with this task. I always remembered to moisturize and seal. In fact it's so innate that I don't have to remember to do it, I just do everynight before bed. I like to braid my hair into loose braids at night, and I dont do them w/o using a moisturizer first. However, I do feel I could do a better job of baggying my hair. I am committing to baggying my ends at least twice a week in 2011. I like to baggy for about 30 mins only, anything else would be too much and leave my hair over moisturized.

So there is my list...It's pretty simple and very realistic. I don't want to make outrageous goals that I know I can't possibly oblige to. I encourage you to make your own very basic haircare goals this year, in addition to your length goals. Your haircare will determine how much length you retain, so don't be so quick to overlook the small details ;)

HHJ Everyone. May all your hair dreams come true in 2011 !!!!

Better Late Than Never...

Here are just some quick updates from the time I was gone. I did make sure to update my fotki in my absence, so you can check that out for a bunch of pics !!!

1. I did a blowout on my hair in November:





2. I did another rollerset & flat iron in November :





3. I did a flexirod set using Miss Jessie's Curly Meringue in early December. I rolled with Annie brand rods, the 5/8 diameter rods.







4.I finally decided to purchase a length check shirt. That's a big one, now I don't have to take anymore pics in my bra.



That's pretty much everything in a nutshell :) I'll be back later on today with more updates for everyone. Thank you as always for reading !!!

Beautiful Braidouts

I've finally figured how to do the perfect braidouts on my hair texture !! I'll keep this blog short and sweet :)

1. I section the hair off, or just keep an idea of how many braids I want and finger comb them as I go through the hair.

2. I spritz my hair lightly with water and apply some shea butter,like I normally do when I moisturize.

3. I seal the section of hair with Eco Styler Olive Oil gel, using the rake and smooth method.

4. I immediately braid the hair after applying gel, either loosely or in a cornrow. I use in between 5 and 8 braids. Here are typical braid patterns I use :







5. The result is nicely shaped hair that I can wear down, in a 'fro, in a puff, or any other style you like to do !!

Here are various braidout results I've gotten using this method..Try it and tell me if it works for you !!! I will post a Youtube video on this as soon as I get a new camera ( my camera broke, so I'm limited to my phone for pics now).

I'm Back !

Sorry I've been gone for so long ladies, but it's good to be home =)

Although I've been gone from Youtube and this blog, I have been playing catch up on my fotki album !!! It is up to date =)

Please stop by if you can't wait another minute for my updates LOL...

I Love You all and thank you for all the kind messages and comments. I will have a bunch of updates this week and this holiday season will be a blast for us !!!

Back to Gray Rollers !!! * Happy Dance Again*

My hair can fit on gray rollers !!!I haven't used them since I was relaxed. Do you have any idea how excited I was to see that ?!?!?!?! TOO EXCITED !! hehehehehehehe !!

I hadn't done a rollerset on large rollers since March or April of 2009. I had a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when they were in. After more than a year of waiting, I'm able to pick back up where I left off.

Let me tell you, I would have never known that my hair could fit because whenever my hair is wet, there is alot of shrinkage. I started off saying to myself, "let's try and get a gray one in to see how much longer of a wait I have...." I put the roller in the very center front of my forehead. Well to my surprise, it worked !! I could wrap the hair around 1 and half times LOL... that was enough though !! The front of my hair is the shortest, I constantly dust my hair there because of the difference in textures. I need to stop though because there aren't any problems such as breakage or splits. I don't know why I like to snip so much.


Once I saw that first roller could fit securely, it was a WRAP... I knew I could do the rest of my hair too !!



I rolled my hair up and sat under the dryer. My boss called me in and so I had to cut my dry session short. I was upset, but money trumps a rollerset for right now!!!! lol... Here was the results after taking the rollers out too soon...(they didn't look that bad though)




I just wrapped my hair and wore a wig to work. The whole time I was at work, I kept thinking how excited I was to get home and finish though !!!

The next morning I did a saran wrap treatment under my hood dryer....



.... and then I asked my grandmom to press my hair out. Here are my results !!! I was super happy by them. Please check out the youtube video I made!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gql7l-FdWV0


Oh and before I forget, here is a quick comparison again.




This is a 7 month time period. I'm very pleased !! You can reference the blog on the February flat iron by clicking here

THANK YOU AS ALWAYS LADIES !!

Braidout on Stretched Hair

I did a braidout on my previously blow dried hair !!



I only used some of my leftover Mango Butter by Elasta QP to do it =). I did a side to side cornrow pattern in the back of my head, and in the front I used some straight back cornrows. I was pleased with my results ! The youtube videos I made do this style better justice than what you see in this video though. I am on the hunt for some more curling products to experiment with over time. For now I'm still in love with my vanilla mint serum & green tea shea butter combo for great braidouts that are very moisturized !!

Here are some pics of it :





Here is the braid pattern that I did and the link to the youtube video on it :




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzIZlvtVdJM

Thank you so much for reading ladies !!!

The 2nd Blowout Pics !

I forgot to post pics of my second blowout !! Sorry Ladies =)

I made 2 Youtube video documenting the whole process if you would like to see it :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2jZvHKPab0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8JMZmSGjnY

I did a pre-poo, shampoo, protein treatment, deep condition follow up, and then I used some heat protectant serum on damp hair and blew it out !! I LOVED it this time ! My hair was stretched further than last time because I cornrowed my hair first which added length, then I blowdried hair that was already elongated. I got that tip from 1mits1 on Youtube !!! I LOVE her method and I will always use it in the future.

Here are the results of it !!






Thank you for reading Everyone =)

I Wore My Real Hair Out Yesterday....

...for the first time. I LOVED IT !

I made a youtube video about how I wanted to do it, and I expressed that I was nervous to see if I got any rude comments or stares. Noone payed me any attention, LOL... if they said anything good or bad, they didn't do or say it to my face. That's a good thing! I am very sensitive, sometimes =)

I took a few pics of how my hair looked. It was just a big huge 2 week old braidout I guess you could say, because I had worn my wig for 2 weeks straight and just took the cornrows out the night before. I can't wait to start wearing my hair out even more =) I don't know why I was shy !!! I guess I just had to feel comfortable, and now that I have enough hair on my neck I don't feel as bothered by the length ! I'm excited to wear my real hair to work too so that my coworkers can actually see that I'm growing it out. I will play it subtle at first and stick to my ponytail, but after they get used to that I'm rocking all sorts of rollersets, afro puffs, flexirod sets, twist outs, perm rod sets, braidouts, bantu knot outs, ALL THAT JAZZ !!! LOL

thank you for reading everyone !!

The Blowout & Flat Iron

I did it on Monday, August 23 to measure my length, and I'm pleased. I think next time, I'll let a salon do the flat ironing though !! My iron is just not warm enough to completely straighten my hair. That's okay though!! lol... I really don't like seeing my real hair straightened completely anyways. I just like to have an idea of where I'm at =)

Anyways, here was my fro after taking my cornrows out:



and here I am after my prepoo, shampoo, protein treatment, and my moisturizing deep conditioning treatment. (LOVE THIS FRO TOO LOL)



and here is my hair after blowing it out and LIGHTLY flat ironing it !!! Excuse my ends, but I don't wear my hair straight so I wasn't worried about them looking perfect LOL




Even though I straightened, I ended up just wearing my wigs to work anyways lol... I just wrapped my hair underneath. Wrapping gave it a nice little bend on the ends, it almost looked as if I did it on purpose !! I was going to rock the wig again today (sunday the 29th of august), but honestly I love my ponytail now, I wore that out!! It's really pretty. I've come a long way since last year =)



I will have a video on this entire process very soon !! Right now my house is too crowded to make a video lol.. I tried ya'll, but someone always barged in and it got annoying. Once we all get off of vacation and go back to work and school, I'll have the house to my self and be able to record uninterrupted lol. Thank you for reading as always !!!

Another One Year Comparison Pic *Everyone Rolls Eyes* LOL

Yes, yet another comparison !!! But I have to say, I don't do it to pat myself on the back or make myself feel good. I know and I can tell my hair is growing and I'm blessed =)

I do post the comparisons because there are SOOOO many women who recently BC-ed and tell me how much the comparisons and videos keep them motivated to stay natural or continue transitioning. I agree... I love to look at fotki's and Hair board albums of women who have documented the journey for over a year's time. I personally just enjoy keeping my HJ documented. I don't think I would have BC-ed if I had not seen Maria G's fotki which documents her journey from the BC until now, about 3 years later. Her fotki was my favorite, among plenty of others. I also enjoy Sera's fotki too, her hip length hair is beautiful and to think she started off with a fade !!! Beautiful type 4 hair.

Oops I got off track.. Where was I? lol

Just Kidding ! Here is another comparison... This is a 1 year ( well more like 11 months, 3 weeks lol) comparison of my chunky 2 strand twists done on wet hair. In August 09 after the BC, I could wrap my twists around about 3 to 5 times max. Now I have twists that hang !!! WOOOO HOOOOOO !!






....HAPPY DANCE TIME !!!

Did I Just Ruin My Edges?!?

I've decided to go back to MN. My nape and edges seem as if they have thinned from the wearing of my lace front, so enough is enough. I don't want to risk any damage. I am going to try some protective styles on my real hair and wear them from now on. I'm thinking rollersets and afro puffs again =).

Since I am challenged when it comes to styling my own hair, I plan to visit a local salon that specializes in natural hair. I hope they can give me styling choices to look cute with and still look professional and polished!! It will be my first time going to a salon since my last relaxer back in December of 2008. I hope to visit it by the beginning of next week.

I was going to keep this a surprise, but I can't hold it in when I'm this excited. I finally want to color my hair !! I am thinking of getting some highlights only in the front of my hair to start off slowly and gradually lighten as time goes on. I want to monitor my hair to see if it becomes damaged at all. I really don't think it will though. I've been wanting highlights on the top for the longest time now, since I did my BC. I think I'm going to ask the stylist to give me a Keri Hilson -like color service like her hair is here :




.... I really like her color there. I just want something small and subtle, yet cute. This look is perfect to me to achieve those kind of results. I won't be risking too much damage by starting small. Wish me luck !!! =)

**** I don't normally moderate comments, but I understand alot of people are against MN. I don't mind disagreements, but I will monitor this thread in case someone decides to disrespectfully bash my decision !! I know that won't happen though. I Love You all !! Thank you for reading =)

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TODAY IS? IT'S MY ANNIVERSARY !!!

That's right... one year ago, I did the BC !!!! I was happy then, and I'm happy now. I got alot of growth, found some excellent products and developed an excellent routine, and there is nothing more I can really say besides enjoy the pics !!

I'm Blessed !!!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER WRITTEN A COMMENT, A MESSAGE, DID A YOUTUBE VIDEO, WATCHED MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS, SUBSCRIBED TO ME, BEFRIENDED ME ON THE HAIR BOARDS/TWITTER/FOTKI, ANY AND EVERYTHING !!! I LOVE EVERYONE AND COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT THE LOVE AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF MY (ONLINE) FRIENDS !!!


.... that was then......




.....and this is NOW !!......







I think I have excellent growth, even with my shrinkage....I can't wait to do a one year flat iron comparison in September next !!!

Thank you for reading everyone !!! =D