Mmmm ... Should I loc my hair one day?

I've been playing around with this idea to loc my hair especially after staring at sisterlocs all night long (AB2 Fotki album). Paulette does sisterlocs here near Detroit which is really cool. I was really starting to doubt that anyone here was doing anything natural to their hair. Well anyways I've thought about it and I'm still going to continue to think about it as I add this to my list of goals. Here are my hair goals.

1. Maintain Healthy Hair. (which means no excessive heat nor any harsh chemicals)
2. Grow Hair to BSL or MBL before BC (I'm leaning more towards the BSL, not sure if I can handle the two textures that long)
3. Grow Natural Hair to MBL stretched and consider locs.
4. Grow Hair to MBL unstretched and loc if not loc'd already.

Here's the logic behind my four goals. 1. There is really no way to have beautiful hair without it being healthy. People can tell when you have over processed hair, split ends, and dry heat damaged hair. Its really not a good look and sometimes no amount of oil sheen or doctor miracles can help that.


2. My growth hair goals are defined by fully even hair at that length (not including the layers in the front) but definitely the back. I posted my pic (Taken last weekend) and it can be clearly seen that my hair grows in the inverted V pattern. But the one thing I can say is that I am completely past shoulder length and my hair is fuller. I don't have see through hair. Its a beautiful thing. Also this growth goal that I have before I big chop I just put in to play. I've been thinking about going another year once June hits. I'll only have a small window of time to big chop from June to August because I really don't want to Big Chop in the fall or winter months. But its really only a thought.

3. I really want to see what my natural 4a curls look like when they are really long which is another reason why I want to wait so long before I big chop. Speaking of which I actually caught myself this morning thinking about perming my hair again. Which is crazy I think this is what led to me thinking about locing my hair. I vowed to myself that I would loc my hair before I ever perm my hair again. I have seen a fair share of fotki albums of naturals who after three to six years of growing or more they just perm it like the journey was never taken. I don't know maybe its because I've been growing my hair for so long this time (officially ten months now, I have a 3 to 4 inch afro in some places under my relaxed hair) This journey is already long especially considering that I may go a total of 2 years and a half of transitioning (30 months which means I would have 20 more to go). Now that I think about it, it really might not happen. By that time I might be to my loc goal. Back to the subject though, perms aren't for me and I realize that now. I thought about it for a second and then I thought of limp lifeless hair, dry flaky scalp and breakage because the only reason I would perm my hair is to wear my hair down all the time and not worry about it tangling obsessively I guess.

Picture taken yesterday morning (10 months post no conditioner, freshly washed and air dried)

4. I figure by the time my natural hair unstretched reaches MBL I probably will have already loc'd my hair because I have a lot of thick hair, but its never super thick when its braided. I might start my locs with small braids or interlocs it depends on if I'm knowingly locing or if I just wanted to keep my hands out my hair for a while and it just ends up getting left that way. I decided to wait for the MBL unstretched so that when its time for shrinkage I won't really have to worry about my hair being really short. I guess as you can probably tell by now I have a personal problem with short hair. It doesn't fit my face or me for that matter.

Also I wanted to clear up the different textures. Last week I put a color showers rinse in my hair and as I was putting it in I started to notice my texture again, but it seemed to have more of a consistency. I guess now that I have my braids fully out and my hair has been washed a couple of times I can really tell what my true texture is. I'm definitely a 4a mostly all over. The only thing that changes is the grade, my hair is really fine in the back (why I believed it to be 3c) and a little course in the front except at the top and very course in the middle. Very weird hunh? I saw the curls again when I deep conditioned my hair yesterday but I saw it really really really well and it has to be because of the conditioner I used. I swayed away from moisturizing VO5 to Tresseme Flawless Curls. My curls underneath my relaxer were bangin'. I swear I would have big chopped if my natural hair were longer it was so pretty. Next time I'll take a picture. I think this may be my new fav conditioner. I'll just use VO5 for co-washing.

One more thing and then I'm going to watch tv. (Sunday means The Simpsons.)This is the second time I have ever steered away from the super cheap products and black hair care line and come out with something amazing for my TRUE, REAL, NATURAL hair. Especially those that say "for curly hair". Please if your transitioning or natural don't be afraid to venture to a new product because trust me the old ones are not working like they used to. Don't be in denial like I was.

October 11, Post - My Hair Is Driving Me Crazy!!!!

Okay, I have to confess I absolutely love my hair. I'm obsessed. I can't keep my hands out my hair nor my eyes off of youtube searching for ideas of what to do with my hair. I honestly have been fighting with the idea of doing the BC (big chop) fairly soon. But because I want to do my hair a certain way for christmas and my so's birthday and I dont want to achieve it with weave, I'm going to hold out. Which is a good thing because I really don't want to chop until June 17. Especially considering that the cold winter months are here and I need to do everything I possibly can to protect my hair. I mean what's the point of doing the BC if your not going to show it off. Well anyways I figured the summer time would be a good time to do it. And hopefully my hair will be shoulder length.

I noticed something really weird about my hair today. I know I shouldn't be hair typing myself because its a little too early, but hey I stay in my hair. Because I was extremely curious about if I was ready for a big chop I cut a few relaxed strands off of two sections of hair. The piece I cut on my front right temple showed hair that was like a really small coil like it was wrapped around a little small coffee stirrer straw. But then I cut a little piece on the opposite side above my ear and it acted like it didn't want to curl. For the most part it just stayed straight and then with a little more water it got wavy and then with some conditioner it actually curled a little. Which is the same way it happened for the front except it started with small waves and then with a little water the waves clumped together a little bit and then with conditioner it curled. But the curl above my ear was a little bit bigger than the size of a regular straw. And finally the back of my hair. It always breaks off back there, especially when I was perming it. I think my hair is really fragile back there. Well anyways I put a little water on the hair in the back and it curled right up with no problem and with extra shine. The curl was the about the same size of the curl above my ear, (if not a little smaller). This confuses me a lot because whenever I have shed hair the curly part of the shed hair has a small coil like the hair near my front temple. I mean I know I'm suppose to have different curl patterns in my head, but I feel like its going to look weird. I'll have really tight curls in the front on the sides and big curls at the top and at the nape of my neck? God makes no mistakes so I really shouldn't even be questioning this. I'm just a little anxious and scared is all.

I'm trying very hard not to flat iron my hair. I really want to wait until Christmas to do that. I hate what heat does to the ends of my hair. I swear they just constantly break off and all my ends are on my shirt and no longer on my head.

August 29, 2008 Post - What's happened since April

Since April I have been lurking LHCF and Youtube and I have learned a lot of things about my hair and just African American hair in general. I feel like this is what I have been doing all summer. Oh wait, this IS what I have been doing all summer. Its sad I know, but I think I am truly obsessed with hair. During the summer I kind of neglected my hair a little bit. I think I even may have went two and a half weeks without cowashing. Even worse I went two months without clarifying my hair. I went crazy!

I guess you can say I got lazy and stopped cowashing everyday. So instead I just made sure I moisturized my hair and scalp with warm water and tea tree oil. While I didn't cowash I did atleast run my hair/braids under a hot shower once a week. And then it finally caught on that it wouldn't take but a few more minutes to massage my scalp with conditioner. Boy was I wrong. I honestly don't think you can tell in the pictures, but I have a lot of hair and its thick. Now it may not be as long as others, but its super thick. It always amazes me what a little manipulation and heat can do to my hair.

As you can probably guess my regimen has changed. Currently I am using a growth aid and am on three challenges that coincide with each other somewhat, well, two do for sure. I have decided to take my cowashes down from nearly everyday to once a week which will be on Wednesdays (no classes). Coming this Wednesday I'm going to sally's to purchase some curlformers and a hard hooded dryer. And I will be doing these every week for awhile. Everyday I will be "megasagging" my scalp and wearing some type of updo,braidout, or twistout. I'm not quite sure how well these curlformers will work on my hair, but I'm hoping better than my regular rollersets because I only get three day hair out of it then I end up doing a braidout or twistout on stretched hair, which works, but I don't like manipulating my hair that much.

Anyways, thats the update for now. I may give another small little update between October and Novemeber to tell you how the challenges are coming along. I'm so excited about them I'm praying that I'll have APL by Christmas so I can go to the dinner swangin' my hair in front of everybody lol. I'm trying to transition to the point where I don't have to do a Big Chop, but I think one day I'm just going to have enough of the relaxed hair and chop it off. Then again I've been looking at the Brazilian Keratin Treatments, but a part of me is just like what makes embalming fluid or ether better than lye or no-lye relaxers??? The only difference is that you MIGHT get your texture back from one.???!! so its really questionable.

O just a quick comparison of straight hair pics both taken after a fresh roller set and saran wrap.
<-This was taken in May (5 Months Post)

This was taken in August (8 Months Post)->

April 19, 2008 Post- Beginning Hair Regimen

(Just posting some info of what was going on when I first started documenting)

<-- My new growth four months without a perm with conditioner in it.

My last perm was on December 14, 2007. So it has been a total of four months. I have an average length of an inch and a half of new growth so my hair is probably about an inch and a half past my shoulders because I cut my hair even a week after new years which made it shoulder length. I only did it because I had these two tails in the front that were two inches past my shoulder but the back of my hair was still at shoulder length (Not pretty). A week later I put my hair in some tyzillions and kept those in for about a month.

Then, I let my hair stay out of braids for about two weeks and I put some kinky twist in about a week before easter. Which brings us up to now. Yesterday I took out my twists and I washed my hair with a sls shampoo which I had no business doing, but I wanted to make sure my hair was clean (could have done the same thing with baking soda, but I wasn't sure if it would really get it super clean). I deep conditioned for about an hour and a half after shampooing, but my hair was still hard after it dried and I didn't retain moisture until I cowashed this morning with VO5 moisturizing strawberries and cream.

My hair has been so soft all day. I love it. When I finished with the cw I put some bonner brothers growth oil over my hair and a lot on my ends to keep them from getting dry. I pulled it back into a ponytail being sure to tuck the ends under. My first official wash and go. I'm a little proud.

I think there may be a few reasons why my hair was so dry yesterday though. The ultimate one being the sls shampoo. The second being I deep conditioned with moisturizing conditioners that contained protein. I'm not sure if this could be a causing factor but I will definitely find out the next time I wash which will be with baking soda and water. The third reason may be that I was impatient for my hair to dry and I sat under a heating cap for about a half an hour trying to rush my hair to dry. Which was not good for my scalp.

I am currently following the crown and glory technique off of growafrohairlong.com. My hair absolutely loves cw. I dont know what it is, but it loves it. So I'll be cw everyday with VO5 strengthening conditioner (mainly for my ends). I have a clarifying conditioner from the same company. I tried it when I had my twists in and it did make my scalp feel cleaner than when I used the moisturizing conditioner. So I guess I may actually clarify my scalp with baking soda every two to three weeks.

After I cw I would spray a water, bb growth oil, and tea tree oil (essential) mix on my hair but mostly on my scalp. I have a really dry scalp normally but since I've been using this mix and cw my scalp hasn't been dry and flaky as it normally is. O and it also leaves my hair shiny and silky looking. But my ends are another story. I looked at them after taking the ponytail out and they are truely fragile. I think tomorrow I will probably try putting some unrefined shea butter on my ends to see how that works.

I'm trying to stick with the idea that less is more as far as products are concerned I do have some IC fantasia gel with the sparklites for color treated hair, but I don't really like it unless its a small amount and mixed with water. It makes my hair super hard. O! that could also be a reason why my hair was so hard the other day.



(Edited for clarity)

Reasons Why I Decided to Go Natural

For five years I have been wanting to go natural (I've been a relaxed head for six years now), but didn't have the guts to because I was scared of what other people would think. But, now only my happiness and health are important when it comes to my appearance and especially my hair. Plus, life is way too short to not do something because of what someone may think. Besides they are not the one living with my or your decision.

Another reason for going natural was the influence of a few of my friends who had already started their journey. I think this has really helped to give me a base of support. Then IT happened! I watched a documentary called "zeigeist" which led to another documentary titled "the secret gate to eden" which led to "The Modern Racist Paradigm". OMG! These truly opened my eyes to a completely different world and I wanted to know more. "The Modern Racist Paradigm" included the doll test that was conducted again recently and it is shocking that even more than fifty years later our black youth are still choosing the white doll over the black doll!? WTH! Thats when I started thinking more culturally.

I want to be a role model for my family so they can know that they don't have to alter themselves to be considered beautiful. I'm not knocking relaxers they just don't work for me, but in addition its one thing to style your hair straight and its another to permanently alter it to stay in that one style. Our hair is extremely versatile and we can do so many more styles when our hair is natural than when its permanently straight especially when that new growth comes in. So I've decided to embrace my naps and be a role model. I think this became my number one reason.

The last reason on the list is that I want my hair to be long like it once was when I was in middle school right before I started going to high school. I had bsl in middle school and it was so thick and healthy ;-(

O, two more important factors about my hair history. They both go hand and hand. Scissors and ends, ends and scissors. Since I've been giving my own perms I've been giving self trims. I've been doing my self trims so long now that I can give myself a super even cut all the way around or even layers all the way around. Crazy I know, but some of it has a little to do with my cosmetology training. Well anyways. I think I tend to get scissor happy because every time I run my fingers over my ends I always get a piece of a split end in between my fingers or it lands on something where I am. I absolutely hate this so a lot of times when I go in to trim I come out with a cut. I feel this is another factor that goes into why I can't get my hair to grow farther than an inch past my shoulders. especially in the back. This always makes my trim turn into a bob cut. For the rest of this year every 6-8 weeks I'm going to try to limit my self to dusting so that there will be no cutting, but I can't promise because if it gets crazy and I see nothing but split ends on the bathroom floor I'm probably going to cut.

Some History About My Hair

I became a member of longhaircareforum.com in early April of this year and some great advice was given about tracking your progress as you grow your hair. I thought this was a great idea so I finally got a fotki account after snooping around and enjoying everyone else photo albums. I'm a little excited about sharing my experiences and actually being able to see how I get from point A to B.

Here's some history about my hair:
I've always done my own hair since I was about 10 and i seriously worked my natural hair into styles like braids and so on. One thing that forced me to do my own hair was that I am tender headed and everyone that did my hair would always pull or yank at my hair to the point where I would cry. I had enough and asked for a blow dryer and a flat iron and the rest is history. It wasn't until I reached my junior year of high school that someone suggested that I get a perm. While my hair had always been manageable to me, I had the feeling that thick hair is bad. I already knew that too much heat to your hair can be damaging and I was sold on the idea that after I perm my hair the only thing I would have to do is wash, blow dry, and go. (Which was a lye the only perm that I was ever able to do this with was Parnevu, everything else like African Pride, Dark and Lovely, and Pink Moisturizers did not do the miracle job.) After a year of perming I was ready to go back to my natural hair, but it was senior year and well thats when I found Parnevu. So for the following four years I had been hooked on the creamy crack and permanent light brown hair colors.

I guess I would have been okay with the stuff if my ends didn't break off so much from being over processed. And for some odd strange reason only the back of my hair breaks off tremendously ( I finally figured out this is because my hair is really fine in the back). This is the only reason why i did not color the back of my hair plus I wanted to get the two tone effect. After reading growafrohairlong.com I realized that my ends break off so much in the back partly because they're always rubbing against my shirts. ( I always wore my hair in a wrap after I started getting perms.) When I was in middle school I always wore my hair in a bun, I would always get teased about it because it would be so big like a huge button, but my hair was to the middle of my back then. Anyways I think I may go back to wearing buns in fact I even bought some new earrings today so that I can put this style into effect. (Not a big earring fan, but I feel naked when i don't wear my hair down.)

(Some comments in this post were originally written on April 19, 2008 on fotki.com)

I've been thinking....

I have been sitting back wondering exactly what it is I would like to talk about on this blog. I ugess it finally came to me that this would be my online journal for everything.

I think this will be a great place to keep all my thoughts including my thoughts about my hair and my progress. Which will be better than having a seperate fotki account, which is where I keep another journal. I'll probably post those entries here along with my pics and close that account. I must warn you that the entries are pretty long. Well enjoy the new combined blog of everything and anything, but probably mostly just hair.