Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas !!!


Enjoy this holiday season with your family and loved ones.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate !!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

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).