Relaxer Day!!!

Today was relaxer day and I learned a few things today:

1) I will never, ever ,ever ,ever ,ever ,ever stretch that long again! I was 24 weeks and 1 day post and oh em gee. It was ridiculous. I self relax and let me tell you that getting through all that new growth was definitely a task. Yeah...I think in the future, stretching for 17 weeks may be the upper limit of stretching. SMH

2) It took me 4 hours to do my hair from start to finish. 4 HOURS!! What the heck!?! I see that I have a lot of hair and the longer it gets, the longer it takes to actually do it. For a moment, I was wishing for the days where it took an hour, hour and a half to do my hair. That short cut spoiled me. I didn't think doing my hair would that 4 hours worth of effort.

3) It's flippin' hot in Alabama. It's been 90+ degrees but the heat index makes it feel like it's in the 100s. So yes, my hair is out of braids and all that but I surely will not wear it out everyday. I'm gonna have to bun until September because straightening my hair everyday is not an option.

Aside from all of that.......

It felt so good to get back into my routine! I relaxed using the Silk Elements Mild Lye Relaxer ( I use Mild because it doesn't make my hair bone straight), neutralized, DCed with ORS Replenishing Conditioner (because I was too lazy to drive out to Whole Foods to get my Aubrey Organics DCs), dried, and flat ironed. As far as progress, my hair pretty much looks how it did in June....maybe just an itty bit longer. Even though I don't have a pic, my sides are growing steadily too which is great!

Well I know you guys want to see how my hair looks so, here you go!






See...I told you that there wasn't much difference from June (but it's only been 4 weeks. I wasn't expecting insane growth anyway lol)

Can You Retain Your Length Without Protective Styling?

This is something I have been toying with for awhile.

When I first cut my hair, I said "Man, when my hair gets to shoulder length I'm gonna wear it out all the time! Surely you can grow your hair without wearing a bun all the time." Well....as you guys saw, the minute I was grazing SL my hair has been hidden. I rarely straighten it and I surely do not wear it out.

But....

Now I am bored with the protective styling. I want to wear it out just a little bit (maybe 2 or 3 days out of the week) but I don't want to suffer a setback. I suppose that in order to do this, I would have to make sure that my ends are really really moisturized but it's scary. However, next relaxer I'm gonna try wearing my hair out 3 days out of the week and up the rest of the time and see how that turns out. Wish me luck.

Speaking of relaxers, I am relaxing my hair this weekend. When I took my cornrows out, I was met with a bunch of hair to get through. OMG it was insane! Even with the best of the best deep conditioning, my hair was just rebelling. The last time that my hair did this was at the start of my journey. My hair was so damaged back then, I didn't put a relaxer in my hair for 8 months and I kept my hair braided up then too. Anyway, I will probably do a real length check (ends trimmed and all) too. I can't wait!

Using the Weather to Help Me Protective Style

I am sitting here under my heat cap deep conditioning my hair. I took my cornrows down today and thought that it would be cool if I straighten my hair since I don't really wear my hair down...like ever. Then I saw the news..

WHY THE HECK IS IT GONNA BE OVER 100 DEGREES TOMORROW!?!

I swear that is one of the drawbacks to living in the South. Just hot for no reason. Anyway, that shut that whole hair straightening thing down real quick. My hair is going into a phony pony and that's gonna be that.

This whole episode made me think of something. Ever since I got serious about protective styling, I have been using the weather to my advantage. Let me elaborate. My hair started grazing SL in the winter and began wearing protective styles like a freaking maniac. My logic was "it's cold. the cold may dry out my ends. my ends will break off. perpetual SL" Now of course, this is my scary thinking but the point is that I'm using the weather to help me do what is right for my hair. Even now, my hair is up because I think it's too hot to keep it down.

Well, those are just my musings as I sit under this heat cap. My hair is growing and retaining quite nicely and shrinkage is ridiculous. Otherwise, I'm pretty pleased with my hair and ready to do a real length check once I relax.

Taking the Cornrows Out

It has been a fun 3 weeks but the cornrows must go. They are starting to fuzz and get build-up. It's good that I'm taking my cornrows out now so that I can let my hair recover before I relax it. I'm debating on if I should straighten it but I will probably put it into a phony pony.

I decided that I will relax my hair early next month around the time of my birthday (Aug. 6). What better way to bring in the big 2-5 than by showing off my beautiful hair? It has also come a very long way from where it was this time last year so I'm happy about that. Also, it will probably be the last of the braids for awhile. With autumn around the corner, I'll probably start wearing more buns and phony ponies. Hopefully I reach my goal of APL soon so that I can ease up a little bit on the protective styling. I would love to wear my hair out more often but I'm so scared of a setback that I just choose to keep it up.

Anyway, that's it for now. Just wanted to post an update.

To Relax or Not to Relax.....

Wow you guys it has been awhile since I last posted! I have been crazy busy with school...stressing out about presentations and everything. Plus my hair is in cornrows-which is pretty low maintenance so I haven't been experimenting with hair stuff as much.

Anyway, I have been debating if I should relax my hair after I take this set of cornrows out or wait until I take my next set out. I can't call it. I feel like I'm ready for one. If I do it, it will probably be done early to mid August and I will be six months post. I definitely feel like that is a long enough stretch. Plus, my hair has been in protective styles since April. I kinda want a break so that I can wear my hair down for 1 day.

I dunno. Who would've thought that deciding to get a relaxer would be so difficult!

It Was Fun But....

I am back in braids! After a week and a half break, I have gotten my hair cornrowed! They took about 2 hours to complete and they look like this:

Top



Side




Back





I love my cornrows! However, my only issue is that the braider braided a wee bit too tight. So, I spent last night with a can of oil sheen and a rattail comb loosening them suckers up! Next time I'm gonna have to tell her not to braid so tight (which is odd since it didn't feel tight when she was braiding....)

Anywho....

My braid regimen is still the same. I will continue to keep my scalp clean and moisturize my hair. I'm still using Hawaiian Silky 14 in 1 but I am also using a product by a local vendor. It's called Nahbila's Essentials Hair and Skin moisturizer. It contains: distilled water, aloe vera, glycerin, peppermint and rosemary extracts, virgin olive, almond, soybean, kukui nut oil, vitamin E, and fragrance. So far, I like it. It is very light and does moisturize my hair. It's also inexpensive! I paid $4 for it! Either way, I'll be alternating between those 2 moisturizers. I can keep cornrows in for up to 4 weeks so I will probably be taking these out at the end of the month and getting another set put in during the month of August.

That's all for now, just wanted to update you guys!