Guess What!?!

The back of my hair ( and coincidentally, my longest length) is now grazing SL!!! I am so excited about this! Now I know the front of my hair is shorter. It goes from just past CL to NL but my hair has always grown like that. But the fact that I'm reaching SL in the back is such a shock for me. I did not expect my hair to grow that fast in not even a year's time!

At this rate, if I keep up with all the DCing and protective styling, I should reach APL by this time next year! :)

Bantu Knot set pics

So I did a bantu knot set yesterday and it didn't come out as nicely as I would have liked. I think this is because I was rushing so some of the ends didn't curl as much. However, I think it looks decent since I am wearing my hair pushed back.

As you can see, this set is a good protective style since it definitely keeps your ends off your shoulders and it is pretty easy to maintain during the week. I will probably be doing a set 2 to 3 times a week (unless I decide to wear some other style).

Enjoy!

P.S.--Please excuse my mean looking face!

Random

As I was talking to my mom yesterday about my hair, I realized something.

When my hair is healthy, it is thicker. I mean noticeably thicker. I went to San Diego a few weeks ago and I saw my sorority sister. One of the first things she said was "Sharday, your hair is really really thick!" It dawned on me then that aside from the length, my hair is healthy when it is thick. Prior to my journey, my hair was very thin and breaking every time air hit it. Now my hair has been restored to its former glory.

Go figure. I wonder how you guys know your hair is healthy......

Organix Coconut Milk Conditioner Review

I tried this conditioner yesterday for the first time (got my mom to buy it) since the Target I was at was clean out of the ORS Replenishing Pak and I had to deep condition.

What it does (per the back of the bottle):

Why We Love It: It's like a trip to the tropics in a bottle

Why You Want It: The luxuriously creamy, foaming, hydrating formula leaves your hair feeling clean, glowing, softly scented, and super soft

What's In It For You: Organic coconut milk and ultra whipped egg white proteins along with weightless coconut oil to hydrate and nourish your hair as gentle cleansers wash away impurities

**Note: This line is also sulfate and paraben free**

Directions:

Shampoo hair

Apply conditioner to hair and leave on for 3-5 minutes. Rinse hair thoroughly.

Price: $6.99+tax (at Target) for 13 fl oz

What I did: After washing my hair, I applied the conditioner to my sectioned hair...concentrating on the ends. I then place a plastic cap on my head and sat under a heat cap for an hour. I then rinsed out the conditioner with lukewarm water.

What I thought: The conditioner definitely smells like a coconut. If you don't like coconut or want to smell like a pina colada...this is not for you! After rinsing it out, my hair felt soft and strong...similar to the way my hair felt after using Aubrey Organics GPB. Since this conditioner has egg whites and coconut oil, this conditioner is definitely a protein conditioner. If your hair is protein sensitive, you may want to follow up this conditioner with a moisturizing conditioner. This line also has a shampoo that I have heard positive reviews about but have yet to try.

Bottom Line: A good protein conditioner, not for those who are protein sensitive or hate the smell of coconuts.

Same Hair+Different Length=Same Lessons?

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! I know I did....

Anyway, for the holidays, I went back home to Virginia and I had to change my hair regimen dramatically. As some of you may know, not only did it snow here 2 weeks ago but it is incredibly cold! So now I have to up the moisture ante so to speak for the time being. I'm also realizing that when I depart from my regimen, I don't really get the same results as before.

The first thing I did was start to pre-poo my hair again. I did this at the start of my journey but for some reason I just stopped. So before I washed my hair, I put a mixture of HE Hydralicious Reconditioning Conditioner (in the purple-ish bottle) and EVOO into my hair. I then sat under a heat cap for 30min to an hour. When I rinsed it out, my hair felt so soft! My hair really liked this extra kick of moisture. My hair still felt soft after I washed it too!

Another thing I have to do is up the protein in my hair especially when I straighten it. One thing I constantly did when I first cut my hair was deep condition. I would do a moisture DC mid-week and a protein DC on Saturday or Sunday. My hair thrived off of this and I saw very very minimal breakage despite the barrage of heat I put on my hair. As my hair grew, I got a little lax on the deep conditioning (meaning: I would still DC but only 1x a week). Now that I think of it, I think my hair thrives more with the frequent deep conditioning. It stays moisturized and strong!

Finally, I don't think I will ever air dry then flat iron again! My hair just didn't respond to it at all! My ends were just rough and terrible looking.....a definite difference from how my hair normally responds. I can air dry for anything else but this, for me, is a no go.

Well, that is it. Sorry this was a little long winded but a lot has happened! I guess the main point is: if what you are doing works, stick with it! Don't try to jazz it up or modify it...do what works! Your hair will thank you for it :)

I :HEART: Bantu Knot Sets

For the past couple of days, I have been in a cold sweat trying to figure out how I am going to protective style for the next few months. As you know, the longest part of my hair is now full neck length. My goal for 2010 is to reach full SL. To do that, I know I need to protective style like crazy so that my ends aren't constantly rubbing against my clothing. Here's the problem though: I didn't know what to do! I could do my beloved flexi-rod sets but it is so time consuming! And....I wasn't about to pay someone $60 to do something that I can do for free. I considered getting my hair braided for awhile. However, I still need to find a braider that I trust so that's out for now.

So what's a girl to do? Well I stumbled onto a bantu knot tutorial last night and I decided to try it out. I made about 18 bantu knots on my hair and went to bed. This morning, I unraveled them and lo and behold, I had curls! I wound up separating the curls and put my hair into my wanna-be puff. I love it! I can get my puff in half the time! Yes!

This is the tutorial I used to make the knots (very simple and easy to do!):

Some notes:

1) I did my set on dry hair! Earlier in my journey, I tried the set on wet hair and all I got was massive tangling and breakage. Do yourself a favor and do it on dry hair. You will still get curls.

2) You can do a knot set on relaxed hair. My hair is relaxed and it came out fine!

3) I put a small amount of Kinky Curly Spiral Spritz on my hair before I made the knot. It gives good hold without making your hair hard

4) I put rubber bands on the knot to hold it in place. If you go this route, be very careful when taking them out. You don't want to rip your hair out!

I'm still working on perfecting my set (there were a few straight pieces--nothing noticeable since my hair is in a puff) so that I can do a set and put it into a mohawk.

Protective Styling with a Phony Pony

I have been REALLY lazy with my hair lately.

Don't get me wrong. I still wash and DC weekly but after that....I don't really feel like doing much with it. So for the time being, I have decided to phony pony it up for a while. If you have looked at my progress pics, you can see that I definitely have enough hair to gather it into a small ponytail. Since I don't think my hair is long enough to just go outside wearing my little wimpy ponytail, a phony pony will have to do.

Currently, I am using a Hype Hair synthetic phony pony that I got at Walgreens 2 yrs ago. The color is 1B and I believe I paid $10.00+tax for it (sorry I couldn't find a pic for it!). I also use the Goody Ouchless Hair Ties.

Here is what I do daily:

1) Apply a bit of moisturizer to my hair

2) Brush my hair up into a ponytail (gently, course) and put on hair tie as loosely as I can.

3) Put on ponytail

4) Smooth down my edges with IC Fantasia Hair Gel+water and a brush

5) Done!

When I come home for the evening, I make sure to take my ponytail down for a few hours ( to cut down on the stress my hair is going through from being pulled back). At bedtime, I gather my hair loosely with my hair tie and cover it with a scarf.

Well that is really what I do on the day to day with my phony ponys. The great thing is that I change my hair so much that nobody seems to really notice them! :)

(Almost) 12 months of growth

Wow you guys....

Sorry for my silence lately. Things here have just been out of this world crazy. Well that, and I don't really have much to talk about. I've been kinda lazy on the hair front and I just had my mom put my hair into 2 french braids and called it a day. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to track my progress from this past year. I cut my hair last January and just took the whole hair growth thing from there. I think that I have an insane amount of growth! My longest layer is neck length now and quickly approaching collarbone (yes!). Think my hair is growing so rapidly because I do protective styling quite a bit and I tend to stick to my regimen. The real challenge will be when my hair hits shoulder length though.

Take a look at my progress from January to now!