Monday, March 24, 2008

:)

So I debuted my curly fro to my family and to my utter shock, amazement and surprise, they LOVED it. Even my grandmother, who has been known to throw a hissy fit in the past when I cut even an inch off of my hair, truly liked my new short do. So here are some pictures. These are after I co-washed and put Miss Jessie's Curly Meringue and sat under the dryer for like 45 minutes. I am not 100% sold on Miss Jessie's products. I don't like how they left my hair feeling 'crunchy'. But I will say I think I found a new product that I am falling in love with for my cleansing and conditioning needs. After Easter dinner, my aunt and mother took it upon themselves to wash my hair again with a product called Wen - I think it was the Fig conditioner. It's basically a cleanser/conditioner/leave-in all in one - and it's FANTASTIC. Not only did it save time, not having to put a whole bunch of crap in my hair, it left my hair feeling extremely soft. The minute I worked it through my hair, my hair just instantly softened up. After that, my mom parted and braided my hair when it was wet and it's still that way today (well underneath my wig lol). It's funny, but my hair has turned into the family project.

Oh and I just got another great suggestion to try Ouidad products (thanks Reighan) so I requested a brochure so I can learn more about their products as well.

I still really don't know what to do with my hair. I am counting down the days until I get my lace front wig! Hopefully that will solve some problems until it grows a lil bit more :). That's all for now :).

Thursday, March 20, 2008

So, now what?

Bottom line, I have no idea what to do with my hair! It's funny because when I think about it, for the past 20 years of my life, I have only had experience doing my relaxed hair, so why would I know what to do with my natural hair? Either way, I am frustrated. At night, I experiment with it but in the morning I slap on a wig and head to work. This weekend I think I am going to wash it and try out one of the Miss Jessie's products all over and see how that turns out. The other night I tried different products on different parts of my head and was happy that my hair was curling up!

Not knowing what to do with my hair is leading to more anxiety about even wearing my new natural look out in public.

I will be sure to keep everyone posted. If anyone has any suggestions about what to do with my hair, please tell!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

I DID IT!

Yes, I did it. After 8 months without a perm, I cut off all my permed ends - by MYSELF! I finished taking out my braids today and said, why not? And honestly, I didn't have that much to cut off (picture to the side). Most of what I had to cut was in the front and on the sides. I just put an order in for Miss Jessie's travel size pack so hopefully I will have that soon. My plan is to wear my super cute wig I just bought (picture to the side) until I either figure out which cremes work the best to make my curls look long or until I get my lace front wig that is in the process of being made. I would say when I pull my curls tight, I have about 2 inches (longer in some spots) of natural, soft, thick hair. And for once, it's all my natural hair color which is a nice dark to medium brown. Sadly I haven't had my natural hair color in years!

So this is what I did. After taking my braids out, I pre-poo'ed, washed my hair and let a deep conditioner sit in my hair for a few hours. I then rinsed it out and cut the ends off when it was still wet/damp. Then I wet it again and used some of the Pantene curly conditioner and rinsed most of it out, but left a lil in. I then put in some of the TRESsemme curl hydration lotion and some of my Keracare leave in conditioner. Now I am letting it air dry. Instantly as I was cutting off my ends, my curls were springing back to a tighter curl!

I am too excited and a bit shocked that I took the scissors to my own head, but it's done now. I am definitely glad that I did it, because it was time and I have no regrets. Once I get the right product in my hair, I will post the "post chop" picture and the "after product" picture.

So yeah. My natural journey is now into the next phase! How exciting!