Styling 10-Weeks Post Hair

So I had a birthday party for my fiancé and friends to go to this weekend. I wanted my hair to be cute, neat and presentable ofcourse, but that is not always an easy task at 10 weeks post without using a fair amount of heat. So I reached for my old trusty phony pony, lol. I am actually pretty tired of wearing this ponytail but I don’t have many no heat, low manipulation, low maintenance options when I am far along in my stretch that can keep me from actually having to handle my new growth. I would love to get into wigs, the ones I can easily slip on and off and just cornrow my hair underneath but I have a problem with hair that looks “really fake.” Some women can pull it off beautifully but I cannot.  Maybe I am just not used to seeing myself with fake hair. I’ve had some short curly wigs that I liked but I only wore it once for a week and put some cornrows in the front of my head to kind of pull the style together so it would not look so “wiggy.”

Anyway, getting back on topic, so here are a few pictures of my current style with the phony pony. I rolled the hair on the top of my head to make a little hump to give the style some dimension. I slicked the sides back so they were very smooth using just my regular moisturizer and a boar bristle brush. I secured the ponytail with additional bobby pins even though it is a drawstring ponytail, just for that extra security. The result will last one week and still look pretty good, but I can definitely stretch it for two weeks if I tie it up every night to prevent the ponytail from become tangled and ratty looking.

I may relax in two weeks at 12 weeks post or I may stretch longer. I am not sure. I’ll be back again soon.

Stretching = Tangles

I will be 9-weeks post relaxer tomorrow and my new growth definitely reflects that. Since the last time I cut my hair, I have been making it a point to air dry only after I wash and condition my hair. This worked very well for the first 3-4 weeks. Recently, I have noticed that when I air dry, my hair is soft, but my new growth has dried in a manner where it is has curled around other strands of hair to a point that I could never get a comb through it (not that I would want to anyway), or my hands for that matter. And yes, I do detangle before I air dry. My roots become so tangled that last weekend when I washed and air-dried my hair, I had several knots that I had to gently remove with my hands, one of which I could not and had to cut out. Luckily, that knot was a small one and I only loss of few strands of hair in the process. 

My point is….I don’t want to encounter tangles and knots in the process of stretching my relaxers. This will lead to more damage than good. After I worked those knots out with my hands, I decided to blow dry my roots to straighten them out a bit. I did not want to flat iron them because that would be too much unnecessary direct heat, but just a few seconds of concentrated warm air from the blow dryer while gently combing through the roots will straighten them enough to where I don’t have to worry about tangles and knots all while making my hair more manageable overall.  

I think I will start letting my hair air dry first, then lightly go over the roots with a blow-dryer to relax them a little in the future when I am this far along in my stretch. I really wanted to no use heat at all except for rare special occasions but these tangles are kicking my butt. I don’t have this hair thing all figured out yet, but I think I am on the right track. I just got to keep at it. Talk to y’all again soon!

Weight Loss

Well, the weight loss blog I wanted to start is a no-go. I just figured, after I lose the weight, what really will I be able to write about that would be worth dedicating a whole blog to? So I scrapped that idea and decided I would share bits and pieces of my weight loss journey here on this blog.

Progress so far:

May 7 (Start) - 185lbs

June 20 (Today) - 172lbs

That is down a total of 13 lbs in 6 weeks

An average of 2.1lbs per week
 

I am okay with my progress so far. It is slow and steady. Here is a poem I wrote to my dear old friend WEIGHT, lol. 
 

Dear Weight,

You never wait for me to say yes you can come visit

And what room is yours to stay in

You just show up

Choosing the plop down with your luggage in areas already full

And before you know it

I am trying to find ways to get you out

Because every single time, you overstay your welcome

You seem to spread out and take up more and more space

Giving people the impression that I am lazy

When it is really you making a mess of me

Before you know it, things are out of control

And I must demand for you to leave at once

I work diligently everyday

Cleaning up the mess you have made

Putting my “rooms” back in order

Making things look nice and neat as they had before

Let me tell you, it is a lot of work

And I don’t appreciate having to do it

So please don’t visit me again anytime soon

Just call me every now and then

To remind me of what can happen

When I let you come around

So that I will never become complacent

And leave my front door open for you to walk in
 

I’ll be back with hair updates soon!!!

Beauty Break -- Fun Summer Nails!

I love hair, nails and especially make-up. I love all things girly. Girls can have so much more fun with their appearance than men can, lol. Check out my new nail look. It’s only temporary though because I change my polish every 3-4 days before it starts looking raggedy. I am excited to try something else next, I am thinking yellow nails with a leopard print accent nail. What do you think?? You probably cannot tell from the picture but the color is a bright, almost neon green.

Summer Heat

The summer heat is drying out my hair so badly. On Sunday, I deep conditioned my hair (on dry hair) with my favorite moisturizing conditioner by Giovanni. After deep conditioning with a plastic cap for about an hour, I rinsed my hair and did a co-wash with the same conditioner. My goal was to try to infuse as much moisture into my hair as possible. After co-washing, I put in my leave-ins and let my hair air dry. My hair air dried nicely, it felt moist and supple.

We decided to go a friend’s house around 1pm and just the trip to their house and back home dried out my hair so badly. The heat was intense even though we did use the air conditioner riding there and back, but before the air conditioner kicked in, it was sweltering hot. When I got home that evening my hair felt crispy and crunchy like it was dying of thirst (moisture). I detangled it with my hand ever so gently because when my hair is dried out, it gets tangled and tends to break easily if I try to comb through it. After I detangled, I moisturized my hair and sealed it with my olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil mixture. This mixture is so healing and though they are oils, seems to be so moisturizing – I like to think of them as emergency oils.

That is just one occasion but my hair gets so dry almost daily having to go outside to work, the store, etc. I normally moisturize and seal once a day, but to combat this summer heat, I have been moisturizing twice a day – in the morning when I style my hair for the day, and in the evening when I go to bed. Unless it is a special occasion, I try to wear protective styles to retain some of that moisture in my hair.

I am six weeks post and my new growth is fierce. My hair is sitting on top of my head like a helmet – you know how the hair sits out from your head a little bit before it falls straight down. It’s that gravity defying new growth that makes kinky textured hair grow out and not down. I contribute my lush new growth to the Maxi Hair vitamins I have been taking for the past three weeks but I will do a separate review on that listing the pros and the cons after my stretch is over and I can see how much length I have gained.

I am excited to grow back all the length I cut off…..quickly but keeping the health of my hair as priority.

Until next time….

Ebonee

Braid-out Success

So this past weekend I had a party to go to. I normally will curl my hair with a curling iron and wear it down for special occasions, but in my quest to use less heat and maintain my ends, I decided to do a braid-out instead. I really was not sure how this braid-out was going to turn out because the last one I did (around Christmas/New Year’s) was an epic fail. My hair was frizzy and the waves from the braid were not smooth and shiny like I am used to. Looking back, I know this was because of the many split ends I had at the time. Split ends can devastate any style.

Well, this past Friday and washed and deep conditioned my hair. I rinsed and put my leave-in conditioner throughout my hair. While my hair was still wet, I braided it in three sections -- top left, top right, and back. My hair in the back of my head has always been less dense then the rest of my head so I can get away with doing only one braid in the back. I have done braid-outs with two braids with great results as well. I put sponge rollers covered in satin on the ends of each braid so once the braid is released, the waves would have a slight curl at the ends. I slept in the braids and did not take them down until approximately 1pm the next day and my hair was still damp. Lesson learned, I won’t braid my hair soaking wet again. I will air dry my hair loose and once it is approximately 60% dry, then I will braid it and let it finish drying completely in the braid.

Nevertheless, the braid-out turned out beautifully. Sorry, I don’t have pictures. I was able to wear the braid out for three days without rebraiding or doing anything at all to it. I will say on Day 2, it looked the best. I am glad I was able to create a no heat style that looked awesome. I had my phony pony on standby just in case things did not turn out well, lol.

Maxi Hair Vitamins

I just ordered the Maxi Hair vitamins that have been on my wish list. I really hope I can remember to take them consistently everyday so that if there is improvement to be made to my hair from the vitamins, I give myself a fair chance at seeing those results. I am also interested as to how these vitamins will help my nails. I wear my nails short, square, and polished in various colors. My wish is not for the vitamins to make my nails grow long, but rather to strengthen them because for some reason they always seem to chip off on the corners so my nice square nail looks some kind funky shape and it’s too short to file back down into a nice square shape like I like it. I will do an update after a couple of months to let you know how they are working for me (or not working, lol).

 

 

Air Drying with Healthy Ends

When I had damaged hair with tons of split ends, air drying my hair was horrible. My hair always dried rough, slightly tangled at the ends, and a bit frizzy. Because of this, I would blow dry my hair most of the time, which is just a cycle of damage because although blow-drying would give my hair a smooth appearance, doing it every wash was just adding to the existing damage.

Last night, I deep conditioned on dry hair for about 45 minutes with ORS Replenishing Conditioner and a heating cap. I got in the shower and rinsed out the deep conditioner and did a co-wash with Giovanni Deeper Moisture Conditioner, and afterwards, I detangled my hair under cold running water. When I got out of the shower, I put a leave-in conditioner (Bee Mine Deja’s Hair Milk) in my hair, sealed it with Chi Silk Infusion, and tied it up with a satin scarf letting the back hang out of the scarf to air dry while I am sleep. I went to bed and woke up the next day to soft, slightly curly/wavy hair, that felt moisturized and conditioned. I normally never have this type of result when I air dry but I contribute that to the fact that my ends are now healthy.

This morning, I just clipped my hair up and went to work….no styling, combing or brushing, just a little added moisturizer to ensure my hair stays moisturized all day. By November/December time frame, my hair will have grown back to the length it was previously before the cuts and hopefully it will still be as healthy as it is now. Wish me luck on this never ending hair journey, lol.  

Diet, Exercising and Hair Growth

A fresh cut can make you fall in love with your hair all over again. Although I have not been doing anything special to my hair, the cut really brings out the beauty of my hair. It looks healthy and healthy hair has some special kind of beauty to it if you know what I mean.

I have been doing some major dieting and exercising and I wonder if it is negatively or positively impacting my hair growth. I cannot tell at this point. I know exercising is supposed to be good for hair growth because it gets your blood circulating and improves your overall health, but I am not sure how this dieting is affecting my hair. I have reduced my daily caloric intake and though I am very cautious of trying to get all the vitamins and minerals my body needs, I know that reducing the amount of food I consume reduces the about of vitamins and minerals I get and between my vital organs and nursing my daughter, my hair is not high on the list of where those vitamins and minerals go first. Yes, I take a multi-vitamin but I must admit that I am not always the best at remembering to take it. I got to do better there. Here goes another stretch, 2 weeks in and at least 10 weeks to go.

Why I Blog About Hair

Some people have asked why is it that I dedicate a whole blog to hair and beauty (mainly hair) when there are so much more meaningful topics to blog about, ones that add more value to people’s lives like religion, motherhood, education, etc. Well I do it for several reasons:

1. Because I have learned so much from other afro-textured hair bloggers and I would love to be a to share my experiences and pass on the knowledge.
2. It is a way for me to keep track of progress, setbacks, products that work well and not so well, and how particular hair routines have affected my hair.
3. It is just a hobby.

I have other things in my life that are priorities and my hair is not even in the top 10. Sometimes I will go weeks without blogging just because other more important things have occupied my time. I would love to blog about other topics, but I don’t feel like I could do them justice. I am still learning and evolving in other areas of my life and I am not at a point where I can contribute at a level where I feel proud to do so. But with that being said, I have just embarked on a weight loss journey and I would love to blog about that for the same reasons as why I blog about hair, to share my experiences and to track my progress and setbacks. That blog should be coming soon. I will post that link when it is up and running for anyone who is interested.

Talk to you again soon!

Ebonee

I Cut It...Again

So I relaxed my hair on April 28 at 12 weeks and 2 days post. I am satisfied with my stretch and I was satisfied with the amount of growth I received. It was not anything extraordinary, just my normal growth rate. My ends were tangly and coarse feeling which I knew was due to split ends, residual damage remaining from when I colored my hair a while back.  So I decided not to worry about them because you all know I cut off 2 inches the last time I relaxed and more cutting would just be taking my length shorter and shorter and shorter.

So a week went by and this past Saturday, May 5^th, my fiancé and I were going out and I decided to wear my hair down and curl it. Not really the best idea since it is now very hot in Texas and if I am feeling hot for any short period of time I will begin to sweat which causes my hair to stick to my face, neck, and any exposed skin that has sweat on it. Also, as I curled my hair, I noticed I wasn’t really getting that “look” I am used to….black, shiny, bouncy healthy looking curls. I knew it was due to the split ends. Well, I completed my style and we went out. The combination of the heat and my split ends caused me to get thoughts about cutting my hair...again. I mean cutting shorter than it has been for years.  So when I came home that evening, I went in the bathroom, grabbed my cutting shears and cut a little more than 3 inches off from the length of my hair.

Yay! Freedom from ugly tangly crunchy split ends! I really think I have cut off all the damage now. Examining my hair I believe I have a fresh start to begin growing my hair back out. My hair feels light and airy and healthy! The real test that convinced me that all the split ends are gone was washing my hair. My hair felt so silky and I had so much slip as I washed and conditioned my hair last night. My hair has not felt like this in a loonnnggg time and I thought it was due to hard water and mineral deposits building up on the shaft of my hair but I have now concluded that it was due to split ends. Split ends are the devil, lol.

So it’s back to the basics. Back to following my simple hair goals:

• Relax every 12 weeks or longer.
• Moisturize and seal hair nightly.
• Sleep with satin scarf every night.
• Scalp massages 3 times a week.
• Reach full BSL.
• Repair and maintain damaged hair in nape of neck.
• Take multi-vitamin daily and drink lots of water.
• Air dry after every wash and use heat very sparingly.

I no longer have the goal of repairing the hair in the nape of my neck because during the series of cuts over the past couple of relaxers, my hair is now even and healthy all around and there is not a short spot in the nape of my neck. I had begun to slack on moisturizing, sealing, and sleeping with a scarf as of late so I will really focus on making those things a priority because I don’t want this cut to be in vain. I don’t want to end up back in the same situation with tons of split ends due lack of care and maintenance. I also added one more goal related to heat usage. I used to not care about blow drying my hair and would do it anytime I felt like it after a wash because it gave me better results when stretching than air drying but that is a counterproductive practice that I will no longer do. I already use heat sparingly as far as curling irons, flat irons, etc. I use those kinds of styling tools maybe once every two months. Now I will cut down and hopefully completely cut out my usage of the blow dryer.

Healthy hair is sooo important, long or short, because healthy hair is beautiful hair at any length.

Happy Hair Growing y’all!