7 Months Natural: Progress Check!!

Hello lovelies!

The last time that I checked in, I informed all of you that I was fully natural. Then I disappeared again lol. I have to admit, I am spending a LOT of time trying to figure out what works best for my hair and really trying to nail down styles that I can do. Due to my hectic schedule this past summer, that style was a wash and go puff. Unfortunately for y'all, that means there really isn't much for me to report (sucks I know!).

However, last weekend I wore my hair out and free and I noticed that my hair is much bigger than it was when I first BCed. Being natural, it's really hard to discern progress (without straightening) because my hair still doesn't touch my shoulders when it is in a fro so I didn't really do any type of length check. Last weekend changed all of that. At 7 months post, I have a big afro! I was floored.

So clearly, my hair grows OUT before it grows DOWN (hmmm.....I think I noticed that when I was relaxed too!). As further proof of my progress, I stretched my hair and saw that the longest portions of my hair are APLish (compared to the CL it was when I first did the big chop). Additionally (and this is perhaps the most important finding), I can do my twist outs using a flat twist with a bantu knot at the end (the same way I did them when I was transitioning). When I first chopped, I could not do this AT ALL and doing 2 strand twist outs on my hair are always a fail. Either way, I am excited about my progress and I am amazed that how I was able to achieve that progress so quickly. Shoot, it took me a year to reach APL from SL when I was relaxed.


So what have I been doing? What have I learned in the past 7 months?

1) Washing and DCing my hair 1x a week works best for my hair. Washing daily makes my hair revolt something terrible.

2) Shea butter? I use that s**t for everything. My hair loves any product that has it.

3) Finger detangling is done every time I wash my hair. I rarely use combs.

4) Low manipulation works. I think I have retained so much by wearing a weekly puff, putting my hair in twists, and/or wearing head wraps ( I have been slowly accumulating pretty head wraps for this purpose).



Those are the 4 main things that I have done. Product wise, I'm still all over the place. Thus far, my hair loves Camille Rose products (the shampoo, the deep conditioner, the hair milk, and the curl maker gel); Kinky Curly Leave In and Curling Custard; Oyin Hair Dew, Whipped Pudding and Burnt Sugar Pomade;and Kandy Kurls Peppermint Cowash and Hair Masque. I've had some products that didn't live up to the hype for my hair (ex: Mielle Organics Cowash and the Babassu DC). All and all, I'm still figuring this all out. I am aiming to get my hair straightened in February (which will mark 1 year of being fully natural) but I am terrified of heat damage! Either way, I'll figure something out. I know that thus far, I am loving this natural hair journey!

My Natural Regimen/Products I Use

Hi lovelies!

Even though the products I use for my natural hair are still a work in progress, I figured that I would post what I use at this particular moment in time. These products are the ones that I will consistently re-up on ( and not the ones that I am experimenting with)



Shampoo: Camille Rose Naturals Sweet Ginger Cleansing Rinse

Conditioning Cleanser: Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Co-Wash/ Miss Jessie's Co-Wash

Rinse Out Conditioner: Aussie Moist 3 Minute Miracle

Deep Conditioner: Camille Rose Naturals Algae Renew Deep Conditioning Mask

Leave-In: Kinky Curly Knot Today/ Oyin Juices N Berries

Moisturizer: Oyin Hair Dew/ Oyin Whipped Pudding

Gels: Olive Oil Eco-Styler ( for slicking my hair into a puff)/ Kinky Curly Curling Custard/ Miss Jessie's Coily Custard


I currently wash my hair with shampoo or a conditioning cleanser about once a week and I follow that up with a DC using my heat cap for 30 minutes. From there, I rinse the DC out, completely saturate my hair with water and apply my Kinky Curly Curling Custard (sometimes I'll apply Kinky Curly Knot Today before this step). Afterwards, I will either leave my hair out or put it in a puff and let my hair air dry.

Two to three times a week, I repeat this process but instead of using a shampoo or conditioning cleanser, I use a regular degular conditioner. I moisturize my hair as needed with water or a little bit of leave in

That's it!! This whole process does not take up my entire day and it seems that my hair is thriving from it. I am sure once winter rolls around, I will be sitting under a dryer to get my hair dry before I step outside.

My Hair Goals for 2015

Happy Saturday lovelies!!

Well I have some time to spare before I get on the road to Raleigh and I figured that I would make a post to answer a great question that KLP from Saving Our Strands asked me following my last post: What are your hair goals for 2015?

Since I'm getting back into the swing of things hair care and blog wise, I totally forgot to even give this question some thought! But now that it has been put into my mind, I realize that I do have a few goals that I'm trying to achieve this year.

--Get back on a consistent hair regimen.

2014 was just erratic for me in terms of hair care. I was washing my hair whenever I felt like it (usually every 2 weeks, sometimes 3), not doing much in terms of styling (just wearing Celie braids under a half wig usually), and I wasn't following a set plan. In the past, my wash days were usually set: one wash day would be moisture based, the next would be protein based, and so on. Last year, my wash days only met 2 requirements: is my hair clean and did I deep condition? That's it. Fortunately, I didn't have any setbacks following that plan but I didn't have any retention either. This year, I want to get back to the regimen that I know works for my hair with a few tweaks here and there. My regimen for this year is as follows:

-Wash hair weekly with sulfate free shampoo (Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo/Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo/KeraCare Sulfate-Free Hydrating Shampoo)
-Light protein treatment with Aphogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructing Treatment with heat
-Deep condition with moisturizing DC (Silicon Mix/Aubrey Organics White Camellia/ any other moisturizing DC I feel like trying) with heat
-Apply leave in conditioners and style! Styles may range from straightening to prepping hair for various protective styles
**I will also clarify my hair as needed, especially during the wash following the straightening of my hair.**


--Incorporate way more protein into my regimen

I learned in 2013 that my hair needs protein just like it needs moisture. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that as a relaxed head (well as a relaxed head with my type of hair), my hair needs just as much protein as it needs moisture. I can't go too much in either direction or my hair just doesn't react well to it. When I finally hopped onto the protein bandwagon, I was doing a light protein treatment every other week. My hair held on to moisture much better that way and I was able to have some retention. However, I feel like my hair needs more of a protein boost.So, this year, I plan to use a light protein treatment every wash followed by a moisturizing DC. As of right now, my protein treatment of choice is the Aphogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructing treatment. I feel that it is light enough to use on a weekly basis. I've also ordered Komaza Protein Strengthener after hearing great things about it on LHCF. I can't wait to try it an review it here!


--Get my hair to full MBL

This goal is really tied into my first goal. Towards the end of 2013/beginning of 2014, the 'tail' of my hair was at MBL with the rest of my hair catching up. And this is where my hair is now. This year, I want to get my hair to full MBL and I believe that by consistently meeting my first two goals, along with protective styling (you guys know that I am good for not manipulating my hair too often) this can happen. After MBL, I may try for WL but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

--Minimizing direct heat use.

This is pretty self explanatory. While I don't use direct heat often ( I really have to be in the mood to straighten my hair nowadays), I tend to use a blow dryer AND the flat iron when I straighten. That has to stop. On the days that I do straighten, I will use an indirect form of heat (my hooded dryer with my hair wet wrapped) and flat iron. I'm also making it a priority to leave the heat alone the further I get into my stretch.



There you have it. Those are my goals. I guess you can say that this year is my 'reset' year in terms of hair care. I got off track for a bit but now I have my focus back and I expect to see great things during the course of this year!

Wash Day: March 23, 2013

Or "The Wash Day With No Set Style" or "The Wash Day Where I Tried A New Product AND A New Technique"

Yeah. You read that right. With my wash day on Saturday, I knew that I had to wash my hair because my scalp was itching like crazy but I had no idea how I wanted to style my hair. Seriously, I didn't know. But that's ok because I eventually figured it out (read: I bunned lol).

As always, I washed my hair with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo. However, this wash, I tried out a new deep conditioner ( and no it isn't an ORS deep conditioner)! This wash I tried out Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Moist Deeeeep Conditioner- which I absolutely loved! You guys can check the review I wrote for it on Wednesday but let me just say that I didn't expect a product that costs so little to be such a solid product. It has definitely earned a place in my 'If I'm Strapped for Cash' rotation. Following that I detangled my hair with a sample pack of Taliah Waajid The Great Detangler because I couldn't find my bottle of it. Seriously, how did I misplace an entire bottle of product!?! I'm pretty mad about that. I'm going to have to get a new bottle sometime this week. I then gathered my hair into a ponytail, placed some Hawaiian Silky 14 in 1 and Kemi Oyl on my ends and baggied my ends in an effort to get more moisture to them (you can read how I plan to baby my ends here). On Sunday, I found out that whole baggy method actually works! I'm definitely going to include it in my regimen from here on out.



The stars of this wash day: Aussie 3 Minute Miracle and Hawaiian Silky 14 in 1

That was it, that was my wash day. I tried a new product and a new method and it turns out that they work. So this wash day wasn't a complete waste....I just don't have a new style to show you guys lol. How did your last wash days go?

Mission [Im] Possible: Babying My Ends...

The other day, I did a search and destroy on my hair since I had straightened my hair during my last wash. Thankfully, I didn't have too many splits to get rid of. That in and of itself proved to me that all that blowdrying I was doing last year really did a number on my hair. Now I know for certain that for my hair, I have to keep blowdrying to the absolute minimum. However, I did notice that I still have splits and caused me to really re-evaluate what I have been doing.

And then it hit me: I'm probably still being too rough with my ends.


Let me explain. Throughout your hair journey, you're told that if you want long hair that you have to protect your ends, stay away from heat, etc. So you do that...and your hair grows. And that is fantastic. Until your growth stalls and you can't figure out why you're still at APL or BSL or MBL even though you're doing the same things that you have always done. Your hair growth is probably stalling because you're being too rough with your now fragile ends. I have found that during my hair journey, no one ever tells you that once you hit these great lengths of growth that you have to modify your regimen to ensure that your ends don't break off. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck at one length. In my case, the ends of my hair have been growing with me since 2009. They're pretty old and weak now. As a result, they really can't take too much direct heat (as I found out) and I think that they are constantly being snagged by the combs that I currently own (all of which have seams). Additionally, I don't really make a focused effort to moisturize my ends. All of these factors combined have kept me at full BSL for a year. It is time to make some changes.

Starting today, I am making some serious modifications to my regimen so that I can give my ends the TLC that they need.

1) I will start using bone combs. On Friday, I ordered two bone combs from Hairsense. These combs are supposed to be really good for your hair because they do not have the seams in the teeth of the combs that can lead to snagging and breakage. I am really excited about these combs and I think that they will keep my hair from splitting and help me retain my length.


2) I will start ponytail baggying. For some reason, I have always overlooked this technique. I just thought it wasn't necessary. However, now I see that baggying may just be the thing to get some extra moisture to my ends. For those unfamiliar, ponytail baggying just requires you to put a small amount of water based moisturizer on your ponytail, seal with your favorite oil, and cover that ponytail with a plastic cap for a period of time (some do it for 2 hours while others do it overnight). I just tried it last night and I have to say that it works! Right now, I am moisturizing my ends with Hawaiian Silky 14 in 1 and sealing with Kemi Oyl. However, on Friday I ordered Hairveda Whipped Creme. As soon as I receive that (and it may take awhile), I will begin moisturizing with that and sealing with Kemi Oyl. To prevent moisture overload, I will only baggy once or twice a week.


3) I will continue my '1 form of direct heat' rule. When I straighten my hair, the only form of direct heat that I use is my flat iron. Every other form of heat that I use is indirect (via my hooded dryer). My hair simply cannot handle 2 forms of direct heat.

4) I will continue to protective style. This is self explanatory. Of course I'm not going to go months at a stretch PSing (since I am trying to enjoy my hair more) but it will continue to be a central part of my regimen.


I'm hoping with these changes to my regimen, I can get to full MBL within the next few months (I'm grazing it now...and yes I know, 'pics or it didn't happen' lol). Ultimately, I hope to get to WL (something I decided a few days ago). What do you guys think?

Twists Are Out!!!

Happy Sunday!

As you know, last weekend I put some really cute mini twists in my hair. Well, I found out that I can only keep them in my hair for a week max. I began to notice that shed hair was beginning to accumulate at the ends and form knots (which could up my chances for a potential setback). I also began to notice some product accumulation at my roots. So, on Friday, I took my twists down and detangled my hair using HE Hello Hydration. I then clarified my hair using ORS Creamy Aloe and followed up with Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo.

* My 'naked' hair. My mom doesn't call it a lions mane for nothing! *

I also DCed with Silicon Mix. Now that I'm 12 weeks (well 13 weeks this Tuesday) post, I have to definitely make sure that I'm getting enough conditioner on the line of demarcation. For that reason, I have been applying my DC the same way that I would apply a relaxer. I find that it keeps my new growth soft and moisturized. However, on Friday, I was feeling particularly lazy so I DCed overnight. My hair felt so soft! I may have to do it more often. Saturday morning I washed the DC out, sprayed on Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Restructurizer , and some One N Only Argan Oil and air dried using the scarf method. When my hair was about 80% dry, I put my hair into plaits for a braid out. Since I didn't go anywhere today, my hair remains in plaits and will be taken out tomorrow morning.

I still have no clue when I'm gonna relax. I don't want to push it to 20 weeks because relaxing my hair will take more effort than usual to do (lesson learned from last summer). However, I'm not really feeling the urge to relax just yet. I do know that I want to straighten my hair for my birthday so I will be getting my hair flat ironed for that.

I'm also on a mission to curb my PJism. I'm doing pretty good with that so far in that I'm trying to use up products that I haven't finished up yet. For example, I'm using the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque as a styling aid (because I wasn't impressed with it as a deep conditioner--it has absolutely ZERO slip!) for my braidouts. I think I like it a little bit better now.

My PJism isn't completely curbed though. Last week I ordered a sample from Qhemet Biologics. I'm looking for a moisturizer that has no protein in it and they offer that. So stay tuned for my review on that!

Well...I've chattered enough for one evening. Good night lovelies! :)

My Super Fantastic Regimen!

Ok...so maybe the title is a little over the top (sorry). After a year of tweaking my regimen, I finally have something that works for me.

-My hair is 4a/b, coarse, and relaxed.

-Relax every 13 weeks w/ Design Essentials Lye Relaxer

-Wash weekly with Elasta QP Creme Conditoning Shampoo

-Deep condition with Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner or ORS Replenishing Conditioner 1x/week

-Rinse with Roux Porosity Control after deep condition

-Add Giovanni Direct Leave-In and wet set hair

Yeah....so that is pretty much it. Nothing complex....a little time consuming but simple. However, you might be wondering " how the heck does she relax every 13 weeks when her hair is short?" Well my dears, stay tuned because that will be covered very soon!