I'm so smart

SO I finally figured out how to record on my mac (yeah not the smartest cookie), so i will so videos from time to time! So I am washing my hair tomorrow or tonight, not sure yet, so I will show how I pre-poo.  It is different from other videos I saw but I do it similar to how some people do their deep conditioners, should be interesting, my first video :)

So I said I wanted to try some new things when I wash my hair this time. I was going to try having it braided and wear a braid out but I remembered those dont last mainly bcause I sleep hard on my head and flatten it out and with the length it may look worse. So instead I am going to try blowing out my roots if I can find my dryer....it disappeared in my room...weird. Like I said, I have around a half inch of new growth in some areas and I want to see how well that will work out as opposed to flat ironing it all out because I was really tired after doing that and I just want to try diffrent things to see how well stuff works on short hair since most blogs are aimed at longer hair.

I am beginning to get a little tired of the shortness because less hair does not equal less maintaance so anything to make it quicker while keeping it healthy is great. The major problem is the fact that it is literally half curly half straight....and not on the same strands. there are areas that are all curly (the previously mentioned broken sections along with the areas that are half and half....weirdness. 

Still searching for other thing I can try to do, mainly to blend my hair without straightening before tonight/tomorrow so I know what I am going to try.

Looking forward to making my video!

A week later...

I am really glad that I was able to straighten my hair with the flat iron.  It has been really humid and semi-rainy the last few days and my hair still looks good. 

I have noticed I am starting to have dandruff again....I had it semibad before even though I keep my hair moisturized.  My fav shampoo for that used to be DooGro Dandruff Shampoo but sometime last year I guess they changed it and it became dandruff AND growth shampoo. I learned a longtime ago anything to stimulator growth does not work for me.  It makes my hair grow even more like it should but that makes it very itchy and with more itching came WAYYYYYYY more dandruff. It was pretty counteractive so I stopped using it. I am thinking about using it again since I want fast growth but I am very worried about the itching. It was pretty extreme....if you have ever had a tattoo done, when it is healing and it gets to the crazy flaking itching stage where you wanna claw (my left shoulder blade) off because it is so bad....it was just like that if not more. 

I forgot to measure my hair, but I am washing it Sunday so I will measure it with the new growth more visible so I can have a much more accurate number from a few main areas. Again my goals are around my ears by December....meaning somewhere between touching them to covering them. And by that I mean a section from the top of my head reaches down that far. I also want it to be soft yet strong. By then I think my color may be cut off, if it is, I will be getting a new color. I am thinking the color I had before because it was pretty bright and I like bright colors. It was a orangy red color and really nice on my skin because of my orange undertones. That sums up my year end goals. By this time next year, I hope to have shoulder length hair at least. 

I am trying something new this week, so I will have a post on that after Sunday.

Yea!!!!!

So yesterday I was able to use my 1" flat iron to straighten my hair!!!!!!

Before that, this week I bought my Olive Oil and had been using it. So when I did my pre-poo I used the LaKair, ORS Lotion, Olive Oil, ORS carrot oil (for my ends), and some left over conditioner from one of my colors.  It was really soft, and long.....

Like I said my hair grows fast, I knew one side of my head had alot of damage and was really short but I realized just how much was when it dried.  I let it airdry, so it is kind of whatever happens happens. So, since my relaxer on June 28th, I have over .5" of new growth in most areas in the top and middle and sides. I cannot see the back but it is at least .5" because I was able to grip it enough to flat iron and the edges, like in the front a little less. So that is a great sign.  

The issue was that beccause of all the damage I had NO idea so much had broken off and now I see even more damage was done that I thought. I had never had color issues so now I am a little concerned about anymore coloring.  I will definitely wait until all the current color is cut out before I add a new one. It won't be blonde so I am not too concerned about doing it on my own. 

I would be more happy if I didn't find so much breakage had occured but I am happy that it is showing signs of improvement. The new growth in those areas in thick and soft just like the new growth in the areas that was still healthy.

Since I was able to use my flat iron, my hair is much less "up?" so I was able to lay it down...THINK Mia Farrow in Rosemary's baby. Oddly enough when I straightened it that was the look I wanted.....ironic.

I do not recall if I mentioned but a dime amount to a nickel should be enough Olive Oil.  Too much and it will kind of sit there like a big shiny glob but in small amounts it leaves shine without the gloppy look. I forgot how much that stuff came running out the bottle.

On the 28th, I will measure my hair and my new growth seperate so I can give an accurate average on my new growth and progress!!! I am really excited about it!

My Routine

Currently, this is my routine:

-Pre-poo

-Wash in shower

-Apply leave in conditioner

-let air dry

-straighten with hot comb

As soon as my hair is long enough to flat iron, I will. I hate using the hot comb, mainly because I cannot curl it (but I hate curling irons) and also it is not ceramic (neither are my curling irons that I hate. Both my flat irons are ceramic and work amazing. 

What does that word even mean!

Before I straightened my hair, I did alot of research....it was like a whole new world was discovered while i was "gone"! Pre-pooing, cowashing, saran wrap treatments, etc. When I left off there were ceramic flat irons becoming popular....I felt lost.

So in finding out these terms, I had to go to 20 different places to figure out what things meant, and it was REALLY frustrating. For that reason, I figured I would just quickly put them all in ONE posting together. And I will include info about texlaxing. Not an expert, so this is my understanding of all the processes.

Texlaxing-using a texturizer to loosen curl pattern (texturizers are weak relaxers)

using a relaxer either half the time, without smoothing, and/or adding conditioner to relaxer.  The most popular addition I found was EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), the amount to add varied.  Basically by reducing times and smoothing, and adding conditioners you are able to reduce the harshness of them chemical.  Also, the conditioners help condition your hair while you relax it.  

I didn't do that the first time but I will next time (found that tidbit after the fact). I used to use EVOO in my hair anyway, the only reason I stopped was because when I would go to Italian restaurants or eat anything with EVOO in it, i felt like I had hair in my throat because that was my association.....weird but true. However, despite that it works wonders.  I used it just as a moisturizer (use a dime amount and just rub it through your hair). 

Personally, I think texlaxing may work better on longer hair....before my fiasco it was fine, but with it shorter, it is way too much texture and hard to get it to lay down.

Pre-pooing (pre-shampooing)-putting a mixture of conditionering products on your hair dry before you wash it. Then covering with a plastic cap and letting it sit.  The time depends on a few things.  If you use a hot towel you can do like 20 minutes...I guess a dryer would be the same time (don't quote me). And if no heat at all, around an hour I read works.  I personally do a hot towel for 30 minutes because I have to reheat it. 

Most people say conditioners but I found that it is a mixture so stuff. Most ppl use products that they want to get rid of anyway, conditioners that are okay or just a cheap one along with other moisturizers they dont really use.  In addition, you can use honey, olive oil, joboba oil, coconut oil (I plan to research those more). Currently, I an using a mixture of LeKair Cholesterol Plus (have a new conditioner that works better), ORS Moisturizing Lotion (since I really dont have olive oil right now), and some ORS Carrot Oil. I use both because I bought a ton of moisturizers and it is good for protecting ends. My hair is short so i use my hands, but you can also use a brush like the one for a relaxer to apply it.  Think of applying it like a relaxer to virgin hair. Like get it ALLLLLLLLLLLLL over your hair, make sure you get those ends!!! Then, I put on the cap. The first time I did not reheat the towel so it didnt do anything. But last time, I put a slightly damp towel in the microwave for 3 minutes, put it on for 15 minutes, reheated and put it back on for 15 more minutes. And my hair came out REALLLYYYY good! It was shiny, and soft and not dry at all!

After all that I wash it....I use Cream of Nature, it is in an orange bottle, will look up the name. and start adding pictures soon! I go to Great Clips to get my ends clipped and they have a fortifying conditioner by Biolage (will look that name up too). I let me hair air dry with Garnier Fruictise Leave In Sleek and Shine Conditioner......I didn't mean to use so many different brands but some is what I had when I went unnatural soooooo for now I am keeping them.  I have always used "nonmatching" products and have never had a problem with them.  I loved Fruictise before and it works well, and it still does.

Co-washing- Conditioner washing....use conditioner in place of shampoo. Pretty simple.  I used to do it before, I have not done it with my hair straight yet. Maybe Sunday I will.

Saran Wrap Treatment-After you flat iron your hair, you wrap it then wrap saran wrap around it, put a heat protectant on it and then sit under the dryer for 20 minutes. I HAVE NOT DONE THIS, mainly because I do not have a dryer right now and I dont think it would work for me. But I do plan to try it. It is supposed to help "flatten" your hair (from the fresh washed puffyness) as well as give it sheen.  From what I saw in Vlogs, it works great....on long hair. I will add pictures of that when I try it too, should be next week.

Hope that was helpful!

Before the relaxer!

So, I decided to talk about something I now know about. Before the first new relaxer!!!!

I mentioned in the about me, that I had 2 colors on top of each other. When my hair was natural, I kept it colored, and there was never a problem. When I had it done, I got my ends clipped and everything was fine. But when I washed it, there was trouble. 

The first color was done in February, the second in April. All the hair that was there since February was BRITTLE, DRY, SCRAGGLY, HORRID looking. I could not comb it, it was hard and just depressing. I did not know what I had done wrong, especially considering that my roots all the way down to the hair with the april color were straight, soft, and gorgeous. I went to have it fixed and was informed that it was due to the colors. Being natural, there was no problem, but once the relaxer was added, it was pretty much over.

So, if you were a habitual colorer like me, beware, you may lose that length. 

Aside from that, everything went well. I researched tons of relaxers and settled on ORS (Organic Root Stimulator), I actually had a friend do it, because I dont know how to. And she did the whole process in half the time. One difference I will try next time is adding the olive oil in to the perm. But I chose that one because it had a TON of great ratings including by people who texlax, and I will continue to use it.

Something else I made sure to do was to be sure I would have the time to make that change. I am in grad school, so I didn't want to add a ton of extra stress to my life. I actually did it during a break so that i would have time to adjust before school started back. That was a very good idea! You can see how much time you need, what works what doesnt, so it is very helpful.

That's all I have for today. I am going to try to do this maybe twice a week to chart my progress and add anything new I learn.

****Remember it is hair...it will grow back****

A little about me!!!!!

As stated in the description, I was relaxed from 4-19, natural from 19-22...and now I am texlaxed.

I AM BY FAR NOT A HAIRSTYLIST, I am learning as I go, because honestly, I cannot afford one right now :)

I will add pictures as soon as I find some (new computer so most were lost on old one a longgggg time ago), that way I can show my hair before it was cut off, after, and now. 

Currently, it is around 1.5" long, I am semi confused on the whole 4a/b all that jazz so when I post pictures, somebody let me know! All I know is it is THICK! I had my first texlax on June 28, 2008 and I am planning on the next one in either September or October (if not December). 

It was longer when I intially got it done, but thanks to my excessive coloring when it was natural, all the length that had 2 colors on top of each other (first actual entry will discuss that learning experience) had to be cut off. 

My hair always grew fairly fast, so my true concerns are on being sure it is healthy. I ready to make actual goals for what healthy means to you. So mine are currently to have hair that is shiny and moisturized since i have a very dry scalp usually.

Enjoy!