Be Careful What You Wish For...

Remember my last post asking where my new growth is? It has appeared thick and fast :s
On Monday I was combing my (dry) hair and realised it was so tough to comb through. So basically this is what I will be doing to deal with my new growth at 7 weeks post:

• Only detangling with a wide tooth comb on my wash days (Mondays and Thursdays)
• Low manipulation styles like buns
• Avoiding direct heat- I will try to not flat iron my new growth more than once
• When applying my moisturiser and DC I will massage into my new growth a lot more- this aids my detangling process
• Hot oil rinses - this really helps my new growth soft- I did one yesterday using olive oil, coconut oil and vatika oil microwaved for 30 seconds yesterday and plan to do another one in a fortnight.

So I Took My Weave Down *sigh*

And I shed so much guys! SO much! I did a protein deep conditioner and I clarified, here is a picture of my shed hair:

I almost cried in the shower :(. I googled for advice and found that shedding after being in a weave is pretty normal because it is all the shed hair that has not been manipulated/combed for the time hair has been in a weave. I had my weave in for 6 weeks, maybe it is the shock of seeing all the shed hair at the same time- I'm not sure, either way I feel a bit bad about it. I keep racking my brain what did I do wrong :(
I detangled when my hair was wet, maybe I should have pre pooed? Maybe I didn't moisturise my real hair enough when it was in the weave? Did I oil my scalp enough? I thought I did everything right, maybe I am overreacting I am just not sure.

I took a picture of what my hair looked like when the weave came out, it was just one huge braidout:

Took a close up picture to show some of my hair is really brown now - not sure why, I know relaxer can lighten your hair, but considering my last relaxer was in January, I'm slightly confused. I may do a black rinse using Dark & Lovely Reviving Colors I'm not sure.

I see a little bit of growth, but to be honest I'm so disappointed in my shed hair, I'm not satisfied with it. APL is my goal and I'm still not there yet, not sure whether I may self-trim in August.

23 MARCH 2011

31ST MAY 2011

I see about an inch of growth if that, the ends are very thin at the moment so I may trim them. An inch seems about right for 2 months.

By the time I finished washing my hair I was shedding a lot less which is something. After washing I applied my leave-in conditioner (Herbal Essences LTR) and did four plaits to air dry overnight. This morning I moisturised and sealed each section. My strategy for the next week is moisture, moisture, moisture! I'm going to do a moisturising DC on Friday and co-wash and air dry overnight. Saturday I want to wear my clip-ins, but want to avoid heat so hmm not sure how I'm going to do that yet. I am planning to relax next week- yes admittedly I am back to the creamy crack. When I am ready to go natural I am going to have to big chop I just cannot cope with the two textures. I do miss my natural hair but honestly the daily maintenance just does not appeal to me. I really wish to self-relax but with this much growth I am unsure whether I can. It is just way too expensive to go to the salon £35 (around $52). If I bought a relaxer myself it would be £3.70 (just over $5). I already have my tools from the last attempt at self-relaxing  so I may just practice this weekend with my moisturising DC. I've got two items on my wishlist: a Wahl pro pik dryer (for my monthly heat pass) and coconut oil (I love and miss this oil soo much). Anyway HHJ I'll update you on my hair plans

Transitioning Blues aka Random Hair Babble

So I am over 2 and a half months post and I've self-installed some kinky twists and I am not a happy bunny
:(  The hair is massive and I think it's because I am not used to fake hair being on my head. Apart from clip-in extensions I have not had any braid or extension on my head in almost a year! So does this mean I am better transitioning without any braids/weaves/wigs? How am I going to do that? Won't my hair look ugly? How am I going to do this without using heat? Is it worth doing a long-term transition versus a big chop? Honestly these are all the questions going through my head, this journey is really hard and I'm not even 3 months in :( . I am definitely transitioning to more natural products but I feel I am not mentally ready to transition to natural hair, yet. Honestly I am so tempted to get a relaxer next week and continue on my relaxed hair journey to BSL. I guess the end seems so far I can't even see the end to justify the means. If you know what I mean anyway this is a random hair babble, a result will be posted here soon- either relaxed or transitioning....

The Weekend...

I relaxed my mum's hair with Organic Root Stimulator No-Lye relaxer in normal. Why couldn't my hair turn out like this? :( I based her hairline with vaseline before hand, detangled and seperated into four quandrats using hair sectioning clips, started the timer and began applying the relaxer. After we neutralized about 4 times, applied a protein treatment and blow dried.

My mum did ask part way 'why have I not applied the relaxer all the way to the ends of her hair?' I love my mum but smh. NEVER apply relaxer to already processed hair especially if you're self-relaxing. I tried my Caruso roller set just as a trial.

(my undeprocessed roots :( )

Good results but the curls lasted about 30 minutes , so obviously I need a holding spray. The set was very easy to use! Next time, I'll use the smaller rollers to get a better effect.

My next post will most likely be about my corrective relaxer on Friday 28th January!

I just HAD to do it I had to...

Flat iron my new growth! It's the first time I've done this since the first week of December so it's not too bad. First use of direct heat in 2011. It's a jungle in there...

I actually did a good job compared to the last time, I used my Tresemme Heat Protectant and GHD Salon Styler to straighten. Here's a comparison of the new growth and flat ironed hair

My hair's so thick! (type 4A/4B)

Believe me I'm counting down the days till my corrective relaxer, 15 days and counting! I just received my Caruso roller set in the post today so look out for a future post on that!