:)

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 :).

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!

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!

I'm back... and with a new style!

Hi everyone! So sorry for the loooooooonnnng delay. I started a new job and have been traveling as well. So drum roll please.... I got braids at the end of January. I couldn't handle the two textures any longer. The plan is to keep getting my hair braided and in between braids I plan on doing good conditioners and slowly chopping off permed ends. I have included a picture of my braids. I decided to go with lacing (aka invisible braids) because the style is versatile and I like that it looks like a weave and not necessarily braids.

Getting braids has definitely made my life much easier. I have been able to save hours of time on the weeks and just in the mornings because I don't have to slave away with my hair. I am so excited about moving closer and closer to being relaxer free. Thank you so much for all of the encouragement I have recieved thus far!

Also, thank you to everyone who has been leaving comments. I am trying to catch up and respond as fast as I can to each one.

Help! My hair is dry!

Hi everyone! My hair is sucking up any kind of moisturizer I put in it. Any suggestions for a nice, heavy moisturizing conditioner? I am still LOVING my hair cut which is a good thing, but I have to admit that I am getting bored – I really want to color my hair, but I am going to fight the urge and just wait until I am completely natural before doing that. Also, I have discovered that I can no longer roller set my hair; I have way too much new growth. I tried to do so a couple weeks ago and the result wasn’t anything to write home about. So I am back to blow drying and flat ironing it. At night I have been rolling it on hard, pink rollers and in the morning I wrap it up while I take a shower, comb it out and go. Every once and a while I have to re-flat iron the back b/c it gets pretty kinky J. So yeah that is pretty much it. Nothing else really to report. I am still truckin’ along and not really getting fed up with my hair quite yet. So stay tuned and Happy Holidays!

Update –December 5, 2007

Hey everyone! Things are going well on my hair journey. The cut definitely boosted my hair confidence. Since the back is shorter some of it is all natural which is kind of cool (and interesting to deal with). My next step is to see how my natural hair curls up. So any ideas of product suggests would be greatly appreciated—especially products that come in smaller sizes. I am still going to continue with co-washing every other week because the cold weather is doing a number on my tresses. This weekend is my company holiday party so I might try a curlier do—so I’ll try setting my shorter style and see what happens.

New Haircut –November 18, 2007

Sooooo as I mentioned in my last post, my hair desperately needed a trim and a pick me up. Well it got to the point where I couldn’t wait until I went to Philadelphia. Anyways, I called up my stylist that I have been going to on and off for the past 10+ years. I explained to her what my goal is (going natural) and she was like come on in and I can take care of you. So I went in on Saturday and let her wash, blow dry, press and curl and cut my hair and LOVE IT. I told her I wanted a bob, something kind of modern and she delivered. The only problem I have is the amount of products in my hair—it feels tacky and kinda greasy. She also told me how to fix my color issue. I had a blue-black rinse in my hair and once the color faded it left a greenish tint due to the base of the color. She told me to try a brown rinse that has a red base and the red will cancel out the green hue. So I am going to wash my hair in a few days and put the rinse in. I will update this post with those pictures as well. So things are great in terms of my hair journey and I am feeling a lot better about continuing!

The Naps Revolt! – November 13, 2007

So the naps revolted yall! I did my hair on Friday as I have been doing it using only the E’tae products and something just wasn’t right. My hair was sucking up any type of moisture I put in it and just wasn’t cooperating. So after consulting with my “coach” I decided to wash it yet again last night and try mixing up my wash routine with what I used to do. Below is what I did last night.

Co-washed: I’ve tried co-washing before so I gave it another shot since my hair has been craving moisture. I used the Suave Humecto conditioner I have in my closet and it worked well.

Deep conditioner: So I allowed the chemist side of me to come out!. I mixed up some KeraCare Humecto Creme Conditioner, Carol’s Daughter Khoret Amen hair oil, and some E’tae Aloe conditioner. I nuked it in the microwave for 10 seconds, concentrated my concoction on my roots and then through the ends, and sat under the dryer for about 30 minutes (had a cap on). This mixture smelled so good!

Roller set: I roller set my hair with KeraCare Leave-In Conditioner, water and some oil.

Blew out my roots.

Flat ironed just my roots with my Chi flat iron.

Everyone told me that my hair would grow to like different products and continually change so I guess this is to be expected. Either way, this combination definitely did the trick even thought it took a few hours. My hair is soft like it used to be and more importantly it is straight and I am no longer freaking out! Check out the pictures (my hair had more body before I left the house –rain is not my friend).

Hair Update – November 5, 2007

Hello my hair friends, Ms. Nappy is back! Sorry it’s been a while, but there really hasn’t been much to report. Business has been same as usual. One thing I have noticed is that I have split ends and it’s time for another trim. I’m not alarmed because the timing is about right. I had my last trim when I went to E’tae Salon in September. I made another appointment to get my hair done again at E’tae around Turkey Day (*gobble*) so I am excited! Here are some pics of my progress thus far. My hair is getting pretty long and all of the pieces that were breaking off are growing back so I have fly aways all over the place lol. (Yay – I’ve made it a little over three months!)

Rough Week – October 19, 2007

Hello everyone! This has been a rough hair week to say the least. My hair didn’t want to stay straight this week. Wednesday is when all hell broke loose and I really don’t understand why. Argh. Today it got so nappalicious that I had to put my hair piece in lol. I think that I will need to invest in another one now that my natural hair color is visible because it has definitely been a lifesaver. *Sigh* I must say that the natural hair gods are testing my patience this week because it has been a hard one! Hopefully next week will be better. I am praying my hair will cooperate. But other than that, things are pretty normal. I am still only using E’tae products . The breakage has stopped and now I just experience normal shedding, so that is definitely a blessing! That’s all for now. Have a great weekend!