Hair Color and Hair Detox

  

So I took the plunge and got highlights put into my hair.  I feel 'comme ci, comme ca' about it. (That's French for "okay.") I wanted to go much lighter than I normally would just because I figured that its probably going to be one of my last dye jobs for a few years.

My thoughts are when my twist out becomes more of a frizz-out, then the color will help to break up the fro look. And I know that's all in my head but hey.....whatever.

 

Initially, I picked up a box of Shea Moisture's Hair Dye. I was sooooo excited to use it. Almost like a kid on Christmas Eve. 

 

It didn't provide me with the color that I desired so I set up an appointment with stylist for a professional dye job. But, I absolutely recommend it but I'll do a separate review on that later.

When I applied the Shea Moisture Hair Dye to my hair, I mainly applied it to my bang area using a highlight cap that I had bought at Sally's Beauty Supply store.

So when I met with my hair stylist, I took the box to her so that she could check the ingredients and double check that no lifting agents had been used on my hair and then she got to coloring. She used Redken Coloring Gels and set me under the dryer for 20 minutes and the result is shown in the pictures above. 

 

Even though time had passed since between the time I applied the Shea Moisture to the time I had the coloring gels applied, I still was a bit leery, so while I was under the dryer, I made sure to bend my head forward as to keep the bang area from seemingly getting hit with too much heat......just in case it were to get doubly damaged or even came out too light. Weeeeellllllllll, the bang area came out dark from not getting heat at all. Clearly the coloring gels need direct heat, not just indirect heat. {insert sad face}

Sometimes I forget the color is even in there. I mean, really who has highlights that don't frame their face?!?! Heeehhhh.

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Anyway, my next project was to detox my hair. I've been wanting to use the Terressentials Hair Wash for quite sometime, but instead of using it, I would just look at that big bottle on my counter and then go to Target and buy some Shea Moisture shampoo. Just being lazy.

I chose Left Coast Lemon but there are several kinds based on the dryness
of your hair and/or the thickness of your strands.

To be fair (to my laziness), the detox is quite the process. The detox process is recommended for those that use sulfates, other 'harsh' ingredients or have had their hair chemically altered, i.e relaxer or dye.
Getting the color helped kick my intimidation of the detox process to the curb. I do not want the color to keep me from having 'healthy hair,' but secretly, I've been wanting to do the organic hair wash thing for a while because I feel like after I had my 2nd son, my hair changed and now I don't know its identity. I'm pretty sure I have 2 different porosity levels in my hair and that is what has been keeping me from finding and maintaining the proper amount of moisture in my hair, thus continually leading to split ends and subsequent cuts.
I'm hoping the Terressentials Hair Wash will help me with moisture issues, while cutting down on having to buy shampoos and conditioners.
*If you're interested in learning more about the Terressentials Mud Wash (and you don't know who Naptural85 is), go here.

Now, even though I went through that dreaded detox, I think I may need to go through it again to rid my hair of my styler's silicones.....and of course find a new styler.
One day, I swear I'm going to get my hair right again and find out who it is.

So what do you think about my bang area with no color? Should I get that part redone? Don't worry, I'm going to detox again once I find a new styler anyway.

My New 'Do

Its about that time of year again, where I notice that my hair is growing at a snail's pace, so I chop it off!
 

I'm not really feeling, or should I say wasn't really feeling, the length in which my hair was and I have been seeing the short natural hair tapered look for months now and of course I got that 'itch.'

You know that 'itch' you get when you need a change in your look?
 

My itch usually comes every 2-3 years but sometimes it comes sooner when I'm feeling lost or stagnant in an area of my life.

Right now, I'm tired of living in an area with such a lack of diversity and I'm tired of my hair not growing.

Not to mention, I'm waiting until the end of the year to really put some money into and further develop one of my special interests. And that is definitely keeping me mentally anxious.

(By the end of he end year, I'll be able to pay for it in cash as opposed to doing any payments.)
 

Anyway, I checked out Pinterest for some inspiration and showed the picture to my stylist and voila. I'm in love.

 

Now I'm trying to convince myself not to put some highlights in there....but then again, just give me a few weeks.

 

 

 



Holiday Hair

Since moving out of my home state, I've decided that each year I'm going to have 'holiday hair.'
Holiday hair is easy to maintain or requires NO maintenance while traveling for extended weekends or week-long visits.

During the holidays, we do a lot of traveling visiting family and friends and this leaves little time for ensuring and perfecting decent-looking, self-maintained hair. Well, its generally because of the drying time needed that my hair usually doesn't get.

When my hair was longer and thicker, I would go home and do a twistout and it would either be a failed attempt or still partially damp. Its pretty impossible to fix a failed attempt when you have little ones to feed, dress and keep entertained before shuffling them off to visit family members.

Now that my hair is short [and still thick, yay!], I'm really not in the mood to worried about a failed hairstyle attempt that is much harder to fix.

Oh and exercising is a breeze with holiday hair!

Enjoying my frames, even though they're just for reading.

Holiday hair: Senegalese twists
Lipstick: Ruby Woo from the MAC store


Do you have 'holiday hair?"

Senegalese Twists!

I finally found my new and favorite protective style......SENEGALESE TWISTS!!!!!

I love them so much better than micro braids or sew-in weaves. It took forever to do; the same time that it takes to do micro braids when they're braided by just one person.

I had two braiders but I might as well only had one since the second came late AND brought her 1 y.o. daughter who cried every 10-15 minutes or so wanting to be picked up by her. Then, she talked the WHOLE time (in French) but you know what happens when you talk constantly? You add hand gestures and just stop what you're doing because you are so wrapped up into what you're saying.....or you're tending your crying 1 y.o. {sarcasm added there}

Anyway, I could go on and on about why it took so d@mn long, but once the main braider was done I liked the result so much that I let my frustration go.
By the way, it took 8 hours. EIGHT long hours but I did have a 30 minute lunch break along with the braiders.

Oh and the braids were tight but not as tight as the micro braids that I had last year because I was pretty dramatic about my extreme tender-headed nature. Like....with each braid on my hairline. I kept saying "Ouch," while whistling air in pain, lol.

I think I'll be rocking protective style twists several times this year until my hair grows back to a length that I'm happy with. And that could be 1 inch or 3 inches.

I totally recommend senegalese twists for ladies that are just growing their natural hair or transitioning and want a break from doing their own hair.

What have you been doing with your hair lately??

Short Hair - Take 2

I wasn't unhappy in that photo in my previous post...I swear, lol.

I mean, I'm pissed about my negligence to my hair health and my shit ends split ends but I really was feeling this twist-out!

And I had on a banging romper and my super cute black wedges.... summer Saturday chillin.' 

I don't even say 'super-cute'....but they really are super cute, ha ha.

Guess I should do outfit posts sometimes. {smiley face}

Natural Hair -- Back To the Basics I Go....

This is what split ends can do...

Welp, I told you this blog would be about growth ---- the ups and the downs. 

Sometimes you grow after you've been down. 

This is my journey, lol.

While everyone can 'write a book' on how to grow your natural hair long, I should be writing a book on what NOT to do when trying to grow your natural hair long. AND.......there should be a "Postpartum Natural Hair Care Practices for Dummies" book! I would be the first in line.

I mean sheesh!!!! W.T.F!

In December, I had about 4" cut off of my hair. Then another inch in January when I saw how thin my hair had become. I didn't want to just cut it down to a fade, when I probably could have or should have. Am I exaggerating a little bit? Eh, maybe, but the fact remains that I did not take good care of my hair after my second son was born. I'm assuming I had 2 years worth of postpartum shedding taking place because I got pregnant with my second son when my first son was only 4 months old.
Yep, I accidentally missed that "give your body a year to heal before getting pregnant again," and didn't prepare myself for the aftermath.

So, combining ALL of the shedding I was dealing with along with NOT taking any vitamins when I stopped nursing, yeah, I can write a book on what not to do! I was so tired of taking vitamins that I cut my body off cold turkey. Not smart.

To make matters even worse, I 'jacked' up my version of the Curly Girl Method. I still think its an awesome method, but my interpretation of it wasn't. I thought it was okay for me to wet my hair everyday......and reapply conditioner. I'm almost embarrassed----> and it took me 9 months of doing that to realize it. I was hoping that since I wasn't putting any tension on my hair that I would be rewarded with growth. I should've only been wetting my hair 1x/week, 2x max!

I've learned that I have low porosity hair and moisture has a really hard time getting into my strands so wetting it daily wasn't doing anything but causing me more damage (dryness) than just regular tension.

So, the enormous amounts of postpartum shedding, abruptly stopping vitamin intake and daily water to low porosity hair cause 1+ year's worth of split ends that probably took some innocent bystander strands with 'em.

From now on, I will be cutting my ends much more regularly and going back to what I was doing before I got hooked on youtube.  No more copying those girls, at least not until I completely understand my hair. Their luck is not my luck!

Back to the my basics I go.....

Weave Me Alone

I am sooooo excited for Saturday!!! Wonder why? Ohhhh nothing special other than I'm having my sew-in weave removed! Yay for me!!!

"Weave....its been real, but dueces!" {throws the peace sign}

Excuse the shiny forehead.

Weaves are gorgeous and I really wish I could wear mine for a full 6-8 weeks but Saturday will mark 4 weeks on the dot and I'm happy that I lasted that long.

Since I mainly perspire in my head/scalp, it has been almost impossible to keep my bangs straight without applying heat weekly and sometimes every couple of days. Not only is this not how I want to treat my hair, its definitely not how I want to spend my time.......with a curling iron. Oh and since all of my moisturizers have water as the first ingredient, my hair reverts to its natural curly coily state after applying them. It was either have dry hair or have moisturized hair and then straighten it again once dry. Between working out a few times a week, going to the park in 90 degree weather and moisturizing, this Saturday can't come quick enough! #TeamNoMoreHeat

When I get this taken out, I'll be doing more twist outs and braid outs and giving my wash 'n go's a break. I'm not seeing the growth that I would like to see and am going to go back to the method that was actually working for me. Its time consuming, but I'll just have to make the time. Sigh.

I'm not sure if I'll ever get this done again. I bought 2 packs of extensions and only used 1. We all know hair stores don't do returns. {eyeroll}

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Thanks to Faith, Nik and Arnebya for their tremendously helpful words to my blog post yesterday. It helped with my epiphany. You all are the best and I'm so glad to have y'all as blogging buddies!

My Current Hair 'Do' - Protective Style

Soooooooooo.....I think I'm completely over protective style weaves. No more braids and no more sew-ins.

As much as I love not having to 'fool' with my hair as well as having a different  and 'saucy' look, I just would much rather have good and easy access to my scalp. I want to be able scratch my scalp when it itces and wash it after buildup. Right now, my hands have to go through a maze for both of these efforts. Hehhhh. {tremendous sigh}

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the look. Matter of fact, I LOVE IT!!! This is the look I love because long length is my goal in growing my hair, not just accpeting and embracing my natural texture which actually was a goal.

Hmmm...this sounds like I will be doing another protective style weave in the future. Okay okay, I guess the saying "Never say never" was made up for a reason. But as of right now??? I won't hold my breath.

{scratches head}

But maybe I should hold on to this unused bag of weave/extensions that didn't get used, lol.

Oh and my biggest annoyance is having to straighten my bang area so often. I just hope that there's very little heat damage done since I haven't straightened since January. {fingers crossed} Then when I do straighten, the Texas huimidity blows the area to "frizzarines" and I'm walking around with 2 different textures. Now, I know its worse in my eyes than it may appear and really no one is looking that hard at my hair.....it just bothers me.

My original plan was to keep this in for 6-8 weeks, the maximum time suggested, but now I think I'll go with the minimum time suggested which is just 4 weeks.

Until then, I'll enjoy my 'saucy' look and pray for some miracle growth, ha ha!

My 'Curly Girl' Understanding

So quite some time ago, I purchased Curly Girl The Handbook by Lorraine Massey. I actually enjoyed it and took some notes here and there. It was an easy read...not too scientific and not too storyish. Well, there were a few stories, but depending on the type of reading you do or what you're looking to get out of the book, you'll skim a few of them and just look at some before and after photos.

Lorraine Massey believes in only using conditioners and gels for [curly] hair. She suggests that the conditioner (gels, pomades and glosses) you use not have silicones, parabens and obviously sulfates. In my laymen's terms and without the book in front of me, silicones coat the hair to the point of where sometimes its hard for moisture to penetrate it unless it is washed out thoroughly, sometimes being with a harsh sulfate shampoo. I personally don't really see a problem with silicones in my hair, but since I can appreciate what she's saying, I choose to use silicone-free conditioners like Garnier Fructis Pure Clean conditioner and Tresemme Naturals conditioner . 

My leave-in conditioner.

My 'washing' conditioner.

Cones...
Her method is to use a silicone-free conditioner to wash and condition your hair, thus ridding yourself of shampoo entirely. This was kind of weird to get used to but I really didn't have a choice. With my haircut being shorter than what I had hoped for and me not being able to pull it back in a ponytail since I'm trying to grow my edges out (postpartum shedding catastrophes), I have no choice but to lay off all tension and only wash and 'go.' She suggests for 2nd day wash 'n go hair, wet your whole head with water and pat dry with a t-shirt or paper towel, no conditioner added and that's it. I'm assuming this is where it helps to use a silicone-free conditioner in her eyes. If I use a gel with cones, like Fantasia IC, then I just wash with conditioner the following day and nix her 2nd day hair method, but I usually use Eco-Styler gel.
**I smooth gel on the bang and crown area -top part only- because that's where my looser texture is and it tends to frizz faster, especially in humidity.

Recipes and Videos...
She also had some directions and recipes for making your own conditioners, glosses and moisture treatments. Since I have two mobile toddlers (2 and 1), I don't have that kind of time to dedicate to becoming a mixtress and testpad but it was still good information. There were videos too--->how-to videos on scalp washing, finger combing and self-trimming. She believes in no combs or brushes. At first I was like, "say what?" but since I've been finger combing in the shower, I have had a million times less hair shedding. Its easier to comb your hair gently yet efficiently when using your fingers than with a wide tooth or denman. Please TRY IT!!!

Products Sampled...
So, the things I utilize from her book have been very helpful, time-saving and I'd like to think healthy on my hair. I did try her products, particularly the No Poo, DevaCare One Conditioner and a complimentary gel, Set Up & Above and I wasn't too impressed. I love reading product reviews from bigger named natural hair bloggers, but I am not sure how to give a review because all hair is different and reacts differently with certain products.
I did really like the DevaCare One (plus it smelled nice and flowery) but not enough for the price, like $13; especially when Garnier Pure Clean and Tresemme Naturals are so good to me and cost $4. I will probably purchase it again this summer just to switch things up a bit though.

Here's a video on finger detangling by MahoganyCurls (I truly love her):

My curls/coils are tighter than hers and it really is THAT easy! 

Haircut: 1/27/2012 - Stretched 2nd day hair

By the way, diffusers+ponytail holders=amazing!

Regrettable Haircut....

Last week, I mentioned the haircut that I had gotten. Well, now I regret it. Mainly because I miss my length in my twistouts. The cut would've been cuter to me if I hadn't already cut bangs. My rule of thumb is: bangs with longer hair and no bangs with shorter hair.
Sigh....what the heck was I thinking????
Wellllllllllll, I was completely freaked out from the damage my post partum shedding has done to my edges. My edges are very thin and when I looked at them closely in the mirror (about a month ago), I saw ends with splits!

LOTS OF SPLITS! 

So, naturally I assumed it was like that everywhere. My hair growth has been pretty consistent for the past 2.5 years since I started my chemical-free journey, but I haven't seen any growth in the back for 4-5 mos. now. That's at least a couple of inches that I could have had, that I was afraid were split.

I guess I'm done crying over my spilled milk now, but the good thing is that my ends are fresh and rid of splits. I'm starting fresh. Again.

Its just hair anyways....
....but i'll probably be sporting some sort of braids this Christmas. :-/

When pulled, it seems to form an asymmetrical bob, with the shortest area (back center) reaching near the bottom of my neck and the longest area (sides) reaching my shoulder blades.

At least my hubby was supportive. He's so cute. He's learned the right things to say!

Becoming A Curly Girl

Lorraine Massey's behind the DevaCurl products!

Maybe its because I get bored quickly or maybe its because I've had one too many hair fails lately.......or just that until my hair gets bra strap length, BSL, I need to be able to do something that takes less time effort; either way I've decided to use the CG method - curly girl method more often.

From my understanding, the 'curly girl' method is where you use mainly conditioner to style your hair as well as a gel/pomade to hold the curl, but the gel/pomade is optional. I've seen this book floating around www.naturallycurly.com, but didn't really think that I was interested in wearing my hair like this, plus I'm obsessed with wanting big twistout hair. Well, that big hair ain't happenin'....at least not yet anyway. I've had some major setbacks. I was thinking I would be roundin' the corner to BSL hair by now, but with post-partum shedding and my own stress, I haven't been really paying attention to my hair like I actually thought I was. {cue my violins}

Oh well, its a marathon not a sprint.

In the meantime, I'm gonna have some more fun doing something different. I've been really attracted to wash 'n go hair lately and now I. WANT. THAT. HAIR. After seeing how MahoganyCurls hair has grown in the past 3 years, by only using conditioner everyday, including during winter.....I've been converted. Check out more of her vids to see what I'm saying. Her hair looks so healthy, shiny and that's what I'm aiming for. To get my hair health back. I've already cut off 2" or more from just damaged ends, so I'm still at APL, arm pit length. Bleh.

Another source of serious inspiration has been Nisus, from www.itsjusthair.com. She has always had the best darn CG hair ever. She gets haircuts regularly to shape and change up the look of her curly locks. Her hair makes my jaw drop. Please visit her page and see what I'm saying! I wish my texture on top wasn't so loose but I think I will be going to a salon where they specialize in cutting curly hair next week. I'm excited! Here are some pics of me trying out the CG method:

I cut some bangs.

I didn't really know how to work with my bangs here. My curl pattern in the front of my head is so loose that it spoils the party. I plan to buy the Curly Girl Handbook and learn more about which products to use and why. In MahoganyCurls' vid about the CG method....she said that the book talks about using silicone-free conditioners. Once I read it, I'll do a review and share some more pics of my hair cut whenever I get the chance to get into the salon!

Happy Friday!

Inspiration Hairstyle

I haven't been really doing anything interesting with my hair. No big and curly styles, but checking out this video by lilithedarkmoon on youtube, I was inspired to do a simple braid to keep things simple with my baby-hectic lifestyle that I still have not become accustomed to. Some weeks I plan ahead activities and some weeks I don't. This past week has been one of those weeks. Anyway, lilithedarkmoon on youtube does not have ethnic hair but you don't always have to copy styles of people with similar hair textures. One day, I'll be bold enough to try the complete "Dutch Crown Braid" style by lilithedarkmoon.

My novice and modified version:

I think it may be easier for me to try on blown out hair so I dont have to deal with those irritating tangles. vheck out lilithedarkmoon when you get a chance. I heard about her from Shelli @ hairscapades.

Waiting for Fall Weather, Pumpkin Patch & A New Protective Hairstyle

Where Is Fall....Better Yet, Where Are the Fall Temperatures?

Soooo.....where the heck is the 80 degree weather? Its going on 2.5 straight months of triple digit heat. Can I get low 90's at least? Sigh. I have never sweated this much in my life! I grew up in the Midwest and moved there back after college. I couldn't wait to leave though, and go to a state where I wouldn't have to deal with 12" snow. When my oldest was born, it snowed 13" and that snow didn't go anywhere for about a month. Nuh huh. Goodbye to that. Well now I'm in Texas and in triple digit heat. The Texas sun HAS to be a different sun that shines on the rest of the US of A, lol. I'm just sayin'. At the beginning of summer, my son would walk down the driveway with me to check the mail and his cheeks would be red!


I can't wait for fall so I can walk/jog outside, have a comfortable play date and picnic at the park and have a great background for times of random picture-taking. I actually like wearing long-sleeved shirts and sweaters with shorts and in chillier temps, knee-length shorts. There's no need for air conditioning nor heat. We can leave the windows up in the house and ride with the windows down in the SUV. :-)  Football parties, Halloween and pumpkin patches are fun too!

Train ride boarding. The train just circled the pumpkin patch.

Train ride exit to the pumpkin patch.

His first pumpkin.

It came to me while writing this that the four seasons in Texas are still worth the move in spite of this brutal summer because winter weather is like fall too. (with snow and ice just here and there) I'm getting more and more excited as we speak! I can't wait to be able to spend a lot more time outside.





My New Favorite Protective Style

I've found a new protective style that I absolutely LOVE!!!! I saw it in this CurlyNikki post and though it is easier when done on long hair or straightened hair (straightened via rollerset or curlformers), I still managed with my neck length shrinkage twistout. This style awesome for me because it has a sleek and classy look and doesn't cause any tension on my edges like a bun would.

Back view from the best angle.

Back view from a different angle.

Front view.

What is your favorite season and why? How has your summer been? Do you have a favorite protective style?

Getting Creative with my youngin'.....

We're putting my oldest son, who turns 2 around the winter holidays, in a Mom's Day Out program. It's like a preschool/daycare type place that follows a curriculum but is only twice a week. This is my creative way of satisfying his needs for some kind of environment where he can socialize with other children and adults while still being in a structured and loving atmosphere. Its held at a church (like all are in this area) and he'll be learning Bible stories and how to play with others, singing songs and maybe even making crafts. I'm really excited but also a little nervous. I'm not one of those parents that's scared, only because I can go check on him whenever I want --they have cameras outside of the classroom-- but also because I know he needs to socialize with others more.

In just 10 months, my oldest son has moved to a whole other state where we have no family, (just a few friends) AND gone from being an only child to having to now share his parents. This kid's been through a lot of changes and he's really attached to us to the point where he doesn't like to be around family when we go home. He kinda freaks out. Then I have to hear about how I need to do this and that. I think I'm doing a pretty good job here, thank you very much....... My bad, I kinda digressed a bit. Anyway, I don't care about what my family thinks...unless I ask, BUT I do think he will enjoy making new friends at this program. So, I hope this program helps ease him out of his shell so that wherever we go he doesn't feel so attached to us, to where it looks like he's scared of others...especially family, lol.

I don't know why I'm so concerned. By his 2nd birthday, he'll probably be into everything and everyone! I'll be 'missing' his shy days. ;-)


My Long-Lasting Twist Out

I rocked my twists for a week (M-F) and then took them down on Friday afternoon for a twist out. I took it down on Friday and it was really flat because I only unraveled the twists instead of pulling them apart. I did it like this because I knew I was going to rock it during the next week. This is how I get an extra day out of it. My 2nd day hair was fluffed a bit more than I had planned, but my satin cap rounded it back to the way  I like. By the 4th and 5th days, my front was fuzzy (which is normal), so for the 4th day, I pinned all of the front bangs back with bobby pins. For the 5th day, I rolled half of my fuzzy front bangs back and pinned it behind my right ear. I patted the rest of my fuzzy bangs down and let it mix in with the rest of my hair. And voila! I'm finally start to get more creative with my hair....and this is just the beginning. Can't wait to share more styles in the coming weeks. :-)

2nd day hair

4th day hair - side

4th day hair - front

5th day hair

Have a happy weekend!

Funky Nails & Twists

I'm feeling kind of "blah." Dying my hair was fun, but I think I need to do something else.
Like I said before, going natural put me into a DIY - Do It Yourself - mentality.
I want to somehow do an animal print design....zebra to be exact....on my nails (hands and feet) but I'm starting to chicken out. I may just have to go and get that done!
I saw a girl at Old Navy with the cutest soft-colored rainbow nails. We started talking about my twist out, youtube, etc.
She said she was good at copying youtube nail designs but not hair and I told her I was the complete opposite.
Anyway, I'm really wanting black+white zebra print nails. I want them sometime in the next 2 weeks so I'll be studying youtube videos all weekend to see if I have the courage to do them myself or run to get them done.

Check out Rihanna's:

A little zebra and tiger....

love her.

 

Close-up. I love these, minus the 'bling.'

And these:

I love these! This is my goal....minus the pink.

These are cool, except for the two that look like Easter eggs. :-\

If I chicken out, i'll just try buy these and hope for the best. :-[

I'm afraid mine will look like the 'Easter egg' picture instead of the first picture, my favorite. Gosh! I gotta study this really good because I don't want to chicken out and buy the strips. ::crosses fingers:: I already have the white and dark brown. I'll buy black too and try them both out.

Absolutely none of these animal prints!

Shut the front door.

Or these-

Get out of here!

Lol.....WHAT?!?

That was too much! Can you believe these photos actually came up from google's search engine?!? Wth! They can't be serious. Two words: atrocious and hideous!



Protecting My Tangles

My edges are extremely thin...this sucks. I really don't know when or how that happened. I know I've had post-partum shedding for two years back to back. Yikes! It is noooooo joke! But from what I'm trying to remember, my edges were thin after my first baby and now thinner after my second baby. Ughhhh!

Thin - between my temple and ear. :-(

So this means no more ponytails for me for a while. It also means castor oil massages a couple times a week and henna treatments once a month. Oh and no more gel....well very little. I'm taking it back to protective style twists and twist outs. Although my ends are exposed with twist outs, my edges won't be under any tension and that's what most important for me. I've started doing some of these things but I haven't really been consistent.

Pinned up like the old style french roll.

When you feel "blah," what do you do? Are you doing anything creative to your hair (styling, coloring, etc.) or nails? Do you study youtube to learn new things you can do yourself? 

DIY - Dyer's Remorse? & Henna

A Day In The Life....Love

My Tangles Update

Nope....don't have dyer's remorse yet! I'm enjoying my new color. Actually, I'm loving it! One thing I'm enjoying about my new natural hair/DIY hair lifestyle is that I can't mess it up. So, I henna'd over the weekend. My mom was in town last week, giving me a bit of a break, and after henna'ing her gray, I jacked her for her leftover henna. Well, she gave it to me. :-) So, I went ahead and henna'd right away. My hubs said it changed my dark blonde to copper. Oh, well. I still lovethe color! A much needed, SPICY change!

Hair in wet state.

The henna really accentuated my curl pattern!

I still plan to henna more frequently, but only in the back of my head where the curl is tiiiiiiigggghhhhhtttt! This henna treatment, I didn't use any conditioner (nor did I take pictures of the mix...shame shame, I know).

My Henna Mix & Process:
Start with 50g of henna (bc I used the majority of it on the back half of my head)
Stir in 3/4 cup of green tea (cooled)
Stir in 1/4 cup of lemon juice (to speed up the color dye uptake)
~Let the mix sit for 2-3 hrs until the top 'hardened'/thickened
Add and stir in 1 tbsp of honey
For henna gloss - add a 1/2 cup of conditioner (your favorite cheap one)

I let this henna mix sit on my hair, under a shower cap for about 4 hours and caught up on Single Ladies while the Hubs took the boys out......somewhere. I texted the friend that introduced me to henna, CurlyNikki and natural hair 4 years ago and she said dye release takes 4-6 hours. I think that time is shortened when heat is applied, but who really has time for that? I mean seriously, the time commitment henna requires is why I never really stuck with it after I did my henna gloss last year, after my BC. Anywho, after rinsing out the henna, I deep condition overnight. Deep conditioning post henna is tres importante!

The differences of henna vs. henna gloss are conditioning based.....I think. Plain henna is as strong as say an ApHogee 2-Step Protein Treatment (which also means it is a tad drying), but henna is an all natural treatment and unlike ApHogee it actually accentuates your curl pattern. Too many henna applications too frequently can actually alter your hair's natural curl pattern, making the kinks looser and even straight. Yikes! Don't wanna do that!