Braids: Life saver or inhibitor?

I apologize for not posting my braid regimen yet. Something is wrong with my yahoo account. I can't seem to access it through my computer at home. So I'll probably post that tomorrow morning while I'm at school.

I was just thinking about why I love my braids so much and I've kind of been questioning if I've just been putting them in to avoid doing the Big Chop (BC). I always tend to put them in when I feel like I'm playing in my hair too much or if I feel a little more breakage than what I'm used to. I think if I didn't know how to braid my own hair I probably would have BC'ed by now.

Do you remember when I talked about my hair growing in the inverted V? Well, I figured out part of the problem was because of the constant breakage back there. I'm extremely concerned now. Especially after braiding my hair last time. (One pro to braiding my own hair is that I can feel whats dry, brittle, and/or has broken off and I always have this one problem area.) Lately its just constantly been on my mind whenever I do something to my hair.

"What am I going to do when I take these braids out?"

I mean, I already know the first thing I have to do is a protein treatment with a major concentration on the line of demarcation and my permed ends. That's if I really want to make it through the holidays with my permed hair. Besides, I'm not ready to cut and I want to wait until my birthday. This will be my birthday gift to myself. It wouldn't be good as a Christmas gift because I wouldn't get to play with my hair until the spring and it gets brutally cold here between late January and the early part of April. Four months that I should keep my hair in braids or whatever protective styles I can get my hands on and a Wash n Go is definitely not one of them.

Anyways back to the plan of action once I take the braids down I'll do a protein treatment and a deep moisturizing treatment. The first style out of braids will probably be a flat twist out. I am not and I repeat I WILL NOT flat iron my hair for the holidays. Only roller sets, flat twist outs, and braids will be allowed and the only heat I will use is from my hard bonnet dryer and on the low setting. Even if that means I have to sit under that thing for five hours until it dries. So be it. NO MORE DAMAGE.

I think the problem area of my hair became damaged from the gelling and flat ironing I was doing shortly before I braided my hair. Then on top of that I wet bunned my hair without properly detangling that back section. SO. YEAH. Word to the wise, DONT DO THAT! Its a recipe for disaster. I just hope its not too late for me to save it.

I've been moisturizing my hair everyday since then and I've also been co-washing my braids with the VO5 moisturizing milks with protein in it. I hope it helps. AND if all else fails, yes I'm going to say it. These are coming out:



Ok, so they don't really look that intimidating. But please don't be surprised if I come back after Christmas, New Years, or Valentines Day with a new hair cut. Yeah i said it. It probably won't be the BC, but I guarantee you that the back of my hair will be all natural, but then again who am I kidding I get scissor happy.

I was so proud of myself the last time I dusted my ends. It was just a regularly dusting of the old ends, but this time, which will be as soon as the braids come out, I don't know if the scissors will be so forgiving. Its like they have a mind of their own. Wish me luck and look out for my braid regimen tomorrow.

Peace and No Hair Grease

Cool weather forecaster

Thanks CurlyNikki!

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!

Its no longer a dream Martin Luther King it is now life as we know it. No one believed it would happen for centuries to come, but it has. Its wonderful that now young african american boys can say when they are young, "I want to be president when I grow up." No longer a fairy tale or an unattainable goal. Anything is possible!

Tears of joy were shared all across the world as America made its voice heard and said, "Its time for change."

Clarify and Moisturizing Treatment

Please excuse this post because it is not completely documented with pics of the progress like I want it to be, but o well. So this is the question at hand. How'd I go from this:
To this wonderful pic right here:
Well let me tell you it wasn't as simple and easy it as it seems. Well the first part was kind of simple. So, lets start from the beginning. It all started with a flat twist out puff.
I took it down when I got home to get the first pic in this post. The small curls on the ends were acheived with the second to smallest perm rod rollers I could find at the Beauty Supply Store.
The next step involved one tablespoon baking soda and four cups of water to clarify my hair. I didn't use a comb or brush before rinsing the clear substance through my hair. I massaged it through my scalp for 60 seconds to break up any build up I may have had and immediately rinsed out for several minutes to be sure the mixture was all out.
Clean hair with a tangled mess.

Next came the moisturizing treatment. I took some tips from Traycee off of www.k-i-s-s.info and her prepoo. Since I've already clarified I won't be shampooing. I pulled out my wonderful Tresemme flawless curls and put 5 oz in my tint bowl and added .5 oz of jojoba oil and another .5 oz of Bonner Brothers Growth Oil (trying to stretch my jojoba oil its time for a new bottle other wise it would have been 1 oz. jojoba oil). Then I added 1/4 teaspoon peppermint essential oil and 1/4 teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil ( I got this idea from Traycee). I mixed it up together using a folding technique where I fold the oil into the conditioner. Just a heads up the essential oils are very strong. Use according to your own tolerance. This is the mixture I got when I finished mixing everything up.I separated my hair into four sections and applied the conditioner to my hair as I would a relaxer focusing on my natural hair and the line of demarcation <--very important especially for transitioners. (The line of demarcation is a stress point and it can easily be broken if not given enough attention and carefully handled. The last thing we want is breakage and damaged natural hair when we finally decide to big chop. Also this damage can cause us to end our transition sooner than we hoped to.) After applying it to the natural hair and line of demarcation I worked the excess product down into the relaxed hair and lightly detangled each section with a wide tooth comb. After the applicationI covered my hair with saran wrap, a shower cap, and a scarf and went to sleep. I awoke at four a.m. with a tingling and cold head from the peppermint and eucalyptus essential oils. It was time to rinse. This is when I do my final detangle. While I rinse out the conditioner from each section I brush through it with my conair (wannabe denman) brush. I keep my sections separated so that my hair can stay detangled. I leave my hair in these four sections to air dry. I keep my hair up with hair roller pins in case you were wondering.

Thats what I do when I clarify my hair. Normally when I'm just gonna do a cowash I will do the moisturizing treatment as a prepoo and then after I rinse out the conditioner I would use VO5 moisturizing conditioner (moisture milks) to clean my scalp and give my hair a little boost of protein. I will post my protein treatment regimen next month when I take my braids down for Christmas.

After the treatment I decided that I needed to braid my hair especially considering that I have midterms and finals coming very soon. Which means I need to spend more time studying and less time playing in my hair trying to style every three days and what not. So I installed some micro braids and curled them using Curlformers and hot water. Next week I'll post how I care for my braids and wash them. I love my braids.