Yippeee!

Let me apologize for being slow with my posts.  I hurt my back and as some of you may know, back pain is terrible!

But on a brighter note, my hair is still bone straight and looking fabulous!  I have been wrapping my hair at night using avocado oil to keep it nice and soft and moisturized.  My hair doesn't feel dry at all and it has a nice sheen to it.  This morning was the first day I had to break out the flat iron, but I only bumped a few straight pieces; I spent less than 5 minutes doing my hair this morning.  My bus stop buddy recommended using Fantasia IC Hair Polisher Heat Protector straightening serum to help repel the humidity.  I used some this morning and really like it.  Some straightening serums leave your hair feeling crispy and crunchy after applying heat, but my hair feels great. I now realize how much I have missed my straight hair.  I am very curious to see if I can manage to keep it straight until I hit up the salon again next Friday.  I'll be sure to post pictures when I get home tonight.

Also, I added a new supplement to my vitamin regimen.  Since my hair is particularly dry during the colder months, I thought I would try taking an Omega 3-6-9 supplement.  I will let you all know if I noticed a difference in my hair and skin in a few weeks.

Update: Okay I am the worse!  But forgive me.  Here are the pictures from Wednesday.  I tried to keep it straight until this coming Friday, but my hair was filthy so I had to wash and go back to the naps!

Another salon review soon to come...

Hi all my beautiful nappy followers!

So I am going to a wedding in about 2 weeks and I really want to rock a sleek, straight look since my dress is sleek and sassy.  So one of my "bus stop friends" told me about an Ethiopian shop up the street from me that does natural hair (roller set, blow out, and flat iron) for $40.  She has been taking her daughter for a while who has a beautiful hair of natural, thick hair that she always wears straight.  I am going to give this place a trial run tomorrow morning instead of waiting to the day before the wedding.  Wish me luck.  You all know that I have been trying to find an affordable salon so if this works out, I will have not only an affordable but close (probably not even 3 miles from my home) salon.  The idea of going to a salon really makes me nervous, but I have heard good things about this place so hopefully everything will be okay.

Stay tuned!

Update:  So I am back from the salon.  I rate my experience about a 6 out of 10.  My hair washed, conditioned and then set on rollers.  I sat under the dryer for about 30 minutes and then the styling began.  This shop used a ton of heat!  She pressed my hair then trimmed the ends and then use a flat iron to bump the ends.  I was a bit skeptical at first because she kept telling me how "hard" it was to get my hair straight, but the finished product was nice.  My hair was soft, the ends look neat and it was only $50.  I wouldn't go to this shop all the time because of the heat, but for a special occassion, I would probably go.  I was thinking about putting another dark brown rinse in my hair before the wedding, but I LOVE how my color looks with some heat on it.  Before my next visit I plan on doing some serious deep conditioning as well as a deep condition at the shop.  Pictures are below:

Overnight Pre-Poo

So when I was transitioning, I used to pre-poo (condition before shampooing) with a protein conditioner every time I washed (well just about every time). For some reason, once I went completely natural, I stopped pre-pooing. Well since I have hit a dry spell, I decided to revisit this. I've read a lot about pre-pooing overnight and have never done it b/c I am a wild sleeper and I can just imagine waking up with a bed full of hair products! Many naturals swear by pre-pooing whether it is with oils or conditioners they are trying to get rid of. So tonight, I have decided to pre-poo with various oils - castor oil, some of my leftover Carol's Daughter oils, and Better Braids Herbal Growth Oil (I highly reccommend this herbal growth oil).

I mixed all the oils together and used my color brush to apply the oil all over. I smushed it all in and put a plastic cap on my head and then my scarf. I am praying I don't wake up with oil all over my sheets.

Tomorrow I need to put another dark brown rinse in followed by a DC under the dryer. Ladies, I am starting to get very frustrated with my hair. It seems that the more it grows, the tighter it curls so it really looks shorter. Ugh! I need a pep talk!

Update: So after I cowashed my hair the next day, I still wasn't convinced that the overnight oil prepoo did much for me. But after the color rinse and a deep conditioner with Elasta QP DPR-11 Remoisturizer (which I LOVE), my hair did feel noticably softer. So I think I am on the right track with the overnight prepooing, but I might try using a conditioner the next time I wash my hair this week.

Colder weather = more deep conditioning!

So the weather is getting colder and my hair is getting drier.  I usually cowash/condition my hair once a week, but I think I will have to start doing my hair twice a week.  My hair needs the extra moisture.  I usually deep condition weekly without heat, but I think I am going to start adding heat to my regimen.  Tonight I cowashed and deep conditioned with a mixture of my favorite conditioners (Aveda Dry Remedy, Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recover Hair Mask, Aubrey Organics Conditioner Honeysuckle Rose, and some left over Aloe conditioner made by E'tae).  I sat under the dryer for about 15 or 20 min and then styled as usual.

Since I have run out of my Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercreme, I picked up a shea butter pomade by Kemi and I really like it.  I'll let you know if I can replace the Baby Buttercreme with this.  That would really help my wallet too!  I haven't put another rinse in my hair because the dark brown is holding up pretty well.  Granted my hair isn't as dark as it was a couple weeks ago, but it is still a dark reddish-brown.

I am debating trying the E'tae products again now that I am natural... I am not sure yet though.  My hair is in need of a trim and I think I am going to get it straightened and trimmed for my company holiday party at the beginning of December.  I'll keep you posted!

And then there was... brown?

Hello all of my beautiful and nappy (or soon to be nappy) folks!  As I am sitting here getting ready to watch the much anticipated presidential debate, I thought I would whip up an update post.  Well as yall have probably figured out (if you didn't already know this about me), I am random and may change at the drop of a dime.  So after a couple months of the red, I opted for a dark brown rinse to tone down the red.  Why?  Because I felt like it.  Hell, I was PMSing - nuff said.  So in the sunlight my hair still has a lot of red shining through, but in normal light, my hair is a nice deep brown.

I'm digging the dark brown.

I haven't had any issues with my hair being dry.  I am still cowashing it about once a week, maybe twice a week.  As the cold weather comes along, I may have to opt for some heavy duty conditioners as my hair tends to get dryer in the fall and winter months.

I am sure that I am due for a trim soon, so I'm going to start thinking about that sooner rather than later.  But all in all I really can't complain.

It's official - I am awful at getting my hair straight!

So I had this great idea to straighten my hair since it's not as humid anymore - boy was I wrong.  So I washed my hair with Hello Hydration shampoo by Herbal Essences (it was on sale and I had a coupon - as far as shampoos go, it's pretty gentle).  I conditioned my hair using my BioSilk conditioner and combed through my hair with the Knot Today detangler/leave in.  I heard great things about Paul Mitchell's Straight Works which is like a gel that helps keep wavy and curly hair straight, longer.  So I used about a quarter size of the gel and blew my hair dry on the warm setting.  So far so good - my hair feels nice and soft.

Next step - the straightening comb (calm down, it's an electric one).  So I took small sections and sprayed on a heat protectant by Motions.  I actually like their heat protectant.  It smells great and my hair was super soft.  I find that a lot of heat protectants leave you hair crunchy.  So below are some pictures of my hair only after the straigtening comb.

 

As you can see my hair still is pretty poofy.  So next step - the Chi flat iron.  I sprayed a little more of the heat protectant and then flat ironed each section.  Mind you it is around 12 a.m. at this point.  Below is the result of the flat ironing.

I still wasn't thrilled, but I told myself I would add some Baby Buttercreme and then wrap it and see what I ended up with in the morning.  So the next morning, I bumped the ends and got the below result.

 

It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great lol.  So it's official - I am awful at straightening my own hair and I will leave it to the professionals!!!!  I clipped some of it up before I went to work, because as soon as I went outside, all hell broke loose!  So that night, I braid my hair in 3 big cornrows and this morning I just wore it big and kinda wavy.  Now I just have to find someone inexpensive to straighten my hair for me.  HELP! :)

Time to be straight?

So one of my favorite people convinced me to try and straighten my hair. She has a gorgeous hair full of natural hair that she straights every one and a half weeks. Please pray my hair turns out okay. I will be mad if I spend 2 hours trying to get it straight and it looks like poo tomorrow.

Any advice from anyone? I already have gotten some good tips but I need more. Her hair is trained so she can get it straight with a blow dryer and flat iron. I think I will need to use my electric comb because I swear my hair won't want to go straight!

Wish me luck! I have much to catch you guys up on! Pictures of the straight hair will follow soon!

Update: This was a big mistake. I feel like one big, red, poofy, hot mess! I will try to blog about this experience tonight or tomorrow. I hate humidity. Before I left my house, my hair looked great! The minute I stepped outside - POOF!

Roots already!

So after 3 weeks I already have roots. Granted no one else can see them, but I know they are there! I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't even get a good picture of my roots, so maybe I'm trippin! Days like this I am glad to be natural. Since my hair is so big, no one can really see what is going on with my roots! But before I get it straightened in the fall I'll have to take care of that. Ugh! Color is definitely high maintenance - so anyone thinking about taking the color plunge please be ready for some extra work. This weekend I am thinking about putting in a rinse just to liven up the color. Red is the hardest color to keep from fading, so until I color it again, rinses will have to do! Jazzing has two colors called Spiced Cognac and Red Hot. I've used Red Hot before and it's definitely red hot, so we'll see. I need something to brighten it back up. As always I will post pictures this weekend.

Curly ain't cuttin' it for me right now!

I re-discovered how much I like Pantene's Hydrating Curls conditioner! I used it for my co-wash and my "deep" conditioner on Saturday. Here are the next steps I followed:

1. Knot Today as a leave in. I found that I didn't have to use as much after using the Pantene conditioner. My hair was very soft after my co-wash.
   
2. Wet Set Pudding. This product didn't elongate my curls at all (not sure if it was supposed to). I like the consistency and texture and I can't really say if it defined my curls either.
3. Kinky Curly Custard. I applied this as I normally do basically using the shingling technique.
4. Air dried for an hour or so and then used a blow dryer to speed up the drying process. I think the combination of the Wet Set Pudding and the Kinky Curly Custard did make my curls hang better when they were wet but once it dried, I feel like my hair looked and felt the same.
   

And then after it dried...Don't get me wrong, it's cute and curly but I just wish my hair was longer so the curls would hang. So after a day of that look, I opted for the fro again. I re-washed my hair and blew it out. I'm excited for the fall/winter weather because I am going to try to get my hair straightened more often. My LS gets her hair done (she's relaxed) at the Hair Cuttery and her stylist does natural hair. So I'm going to give her a try in a few weeks and see what happens.

Natural Hair + Salt Water, Chlorine & Sun = Crunchy Hair

Hey everyone! So I am back and somewhat back on track. Mexico was great - the weather was perfect, food was awesome and the margaritas were yummy! I had high hopes of a low maintenance hair trip, but I was quickly shown that that wasn't the case. I tried to keep my hair dry for as long as possible because the minute it got wet and started to dry in the hot sun, it got crunchy and shrunk. I HATE that I have a hair shrinkage issue. UGH! I was able to keep it moisturized thanks to the Aveda Dry Remedy conditioner and Baby Buttercreme. After a day at the pool and the beach I washed my hair with tea tree shampoo and conditioned with a mix of the Aveda Dry Remedy and Paul Mitchell Tea Tree conditioner and then I blew out the fro. My fro was big and cute while I was in my room, but the minute I stepped outside, the humidity took over and my hair curled up.

So for a bit of a change and a break from the blow dryer, I am going to rock the curly look for a few days. I am going to try to use the Wet Set Hair Pudding (that I haven't used yet) and the Kinky Curly Custard. This time I am going to let it air dry for just an hour or so and then finish it off with a blow dryer so I can shape the curls. I'm curious to see how my color looks curly! So I'm off to cowash, deep condition and be curly! I'll be sure to post pictures!