My 'FRO

So, I've learned a few more things since my last post. The less I pull and tug at my hair the better. When I take down my TnC, I've been really tugging and "fluffing" at my hair to stretch it and make it look longer, especially in the back where I think it is most delicate. I have 4b hair. I'm no 3a or 3b or really even a 4a (maybe 4a a little in the front). My hair is not going to look like this (see pic at right) It looks like and wants to be this: (see pics below) That is to say, it is not "hangy-downy" hair - LOL. At least not at the length it is now anyway, if ever. My hair doesn't grow down. it grows up and OUT! and the more I try to coax it into something that it's not, the more frustrated I get and dissappointed in the mornings with how it looks. Occassionally I get it to have that length look in the front, but the more my natural hair grows in and my permed ends phase out, the more shrinkage I'm getting. My hair is growing but doesn't look longer (and it seems to be growing very healthy and thick thanks to my treating it more gently and taking Biotin supplements. These supplements help support hair health and growth and I think it's working). But, it's not going to look longer because it's too dense and tight. It's also not going to have a super-defined curl pattern. Well, it will if I use some serious styling products and styling utensils (hard rollers) and techniques. But, I can't sleep on hard rollers and I'm becoming more and more o.k. with my FRO. I am definitely a FRO girl. I might try the more stretched styles every once in a while but, for the most part I'm going to work this fro. I'm going to keep it healthy and make it as BIG as possible - LOL because that's how my hair is...not long, BIG!

I just need to treat it with loving kindness. As much as I appreciate and love the "Curly Nikki" website, my hair is not going to look like hers. It looks like mine. And I have to use products and styling techniques that work for me. For instance, I can't do that fluff and "running your fingers through your hair from roots to ends" thing that she does after a take down. My hair's too thick and dense for that and it gets all frizzy. That's also why I can't hold my style/curls for longer than a day or so. TOO MUCH MANIPULATION. This week, I did a wet twist n curl, with my water/oil mixture, sealed with shea butter and spritzed a little Deva Care Set It Free on each twist after rolling twists TO THE SCALP (no more of that loose, hanging rolling). In the morning I took it down and just carefully massaged my scalp to blend the lines (especially in the back) and split the twists into 3,4 or even 5s for volume and style. It wasn't as big and "stretched" but I tell you what, I'm into day 4 and I still have some curl and it doesn't look all fried and frizzy. I'm really liking this and liking getting to know what my hair likes. And, my hair likes, low manipulation, water, shea butter, condish and it likes being a FRO!

I like this quote from the Curly Nikki site interview (unfortuntely, I don't remember the person's name but I'll find it and post it):

"If something doesn't work...ditch it right away! Be patient with your hair and let it tell you what it needs. Try not to get caught up in curl patterns and length(itallics added by me) There will be some days when you are a hot mess but don't be discouraged! Keep trying to find what works for you. Oh and take lots of pictures!! For my transitioning divas, don't ever let anyone pressure you into doing a BC because it "changed their life", do what works for you! I'm totally all about short hair but if you are not, that's ok. Your happiness is always more important. Find as much information as you can about how to transition properly so that you don't get a lot of breakage."

On my next post, I'll talk about all the new styles I'm learning to do with accessories. Love it!!

Ciao for now!

A Few Houskeeping Items

Well, o.k. so, I flat twisted my hair last night (15 twists in all). I started by spritzing my dry, tired hair with my concoction of water, Hot Six Oil and Suave Tropical Coconut condish. After my hair was thoroughly damp, I melted some pure shea butter in my hands and spread it all over my hair and massaged into my scalp. I then did the twists and spritzed each one a couple of times with the DeVaCurl Set It Free. It's supposed to set your hair as well as lock in moisture for up to 48 hours, control frizz and leave you with shiny, defined curls. It wasn't bad. My hair turned out good today but I don't know if it was from the DeVaCurl or a combination of all the stuff I used. I mean, it's good. My hair doesn't look all dried out - looks healthy and moisturized and not all greasy. But, I'm thinking I'd probably get the same result with my Organic Root Pudding. Plus, the pudding is MUCH cheaper and I don't know if the DeVaCurl is worth $17.95 a bottle vs. less than 5 bucks for the pudding. The DeVaCurl isn't worth $17.95, I don't think. I'll try all the other product samples this weekend and see how well they all work together. I'll let you know ;)

Thinking about doing a modified puff tomorrow with the front of my hair flat twisted in 4 twists (see pic examples of someone who is not me, LOL). I don't know. We'll see. Or, I may put it up on the sides with the new combs that I just bought.

I was also thinking about doing a wire-roller flat twist n curl this weekend instead of my usual sponge/satin curls. Gives me a looser curl like I had when I first started. Just wondering what that might look like again. Will try (I know, I know) to get pictures ;)

Ciao for now!

Getting Itchy

I'm getting really itchy to do a BC. I want to get rid of my permed ends so bad! I'll be patient, though and let my natural hair grow some more before I cut. The back of my hair is almost completely natural. This is due to the weak permed ends just pretty much shedding off. I went too long without washing or deep conditioning so when I finally did this past Saturday, I had so much shedding - it was crazy. Really shouldn't go that long without washing and deep conditioning. Don't want my new growth to start to suffer. But, I do need to do some "dusting" of my ends the next time I wash. Gotta get some hair scissors for that too.

My hair looked pretty good yesterday. Kinda like it did in my most recent picture only bigger - LOL. I put it in two puffs on each side of my head last night and covered it with my satin bonnet. When I woke up this morning, the permed ends had pretty much lost their shape. I was going to pull it back into "pompador updo" (which I may try tomorrow), but my scalp was really itchy - I think I left too much leave in when I washed Saturday, or my scalp was just really dry, so anyway, I mixed up my concoction of water, hot six oil and suave coconut condish in my water bottle and spritzed it on my head. Instantly, the itching stopped. I just about straightened all of my curl on the ends, but I liked how it looked because more of my new growth is visible and I can get an idea now of what it's going to look like when I do BC. I like it. It's bushy and springy and kinky - no real "structure to it", but I like it! I also discovered that my hair doesn't like oils (olive oil, etc.) when it's dry. It just sits there on top of my locks making them feel greasy. It does like shea "butter" though because shea absorbs into my hair. The oils I'll need to apply when my hair is damp or with water to seal in moisture so it won't just sit there being greasy.

I want to get one of these shower combs that everyone says works so great at detangling.

Oh, I also went out and splurged on some DevaCurl products yesterday - samples. Got them at Circle Center Mall. I'm excited to try them out, everybody raves about how good they are. We'll see ;)

Well, Ciao for now!

A Good Picture

Finally, a decent picture of my flat twist n curl! I was on my way to church. Washed and conditioned my hair yesterday with Olive Oil Shampoo (not too bad) co-washed with Suave tropical coconut condish, deep conditioned with Pantene Relaxed and Natural Hair Mask (my favorite!) and used HH Hello Hydration as my leave in and a little bit of pure shea butter. Styled with Organic Root Smooth and Hold Pudding. I made 11 or 12 flat twists, put on my satin bonnet and went to bed to let it dry overnight. I did the take down in the morning and moisturized with BB Castor Oil Creme moisturizer and sealed with Hot Six Oil. The result was full, well-defined shiny curls - and the style even turned out well. I like it muo muo much!

Unfortunately, it was raining and terribly humid so my hair lost some of it's definition and frizzed a little bit later in the day but I'm hoping it will hold up until tomorrow for work. We'll see.

Finally!!

Pictures of me and my hair. These aren't the best pictures, though. I'm wearing my reading glasses because I was on the computer and I have a weird look on my face because I didn't want my picture taken at the time. (one of my eyes looks "weird" too). Anyway, in these pics I'm rocking an old, tired, dry twist n curl that I pulled back with a headband. LOL. Maybe one day I'll get some pictures on here when I'm having a "good" hair day.

Ciao for now!

For a GREAT Twist out

My hair was "terrible" yesterday. I hadn't styled or twisted for several days, just went to bed with my satin bonnet on and woke up yesterday morning to flattened, dry strands of stringy,frizzy permed hair with no curl or definition at all. Just straight and bushy! UGGHHH! So, I pulled it back into a semi-puff with a headband and tucked the straight ends under in the back. It looked acceptable then so I wore that style to work.

Didn't feel like washing it when I got home yesterday evening so I decided to just restyle and was going to do curly nikki's dry braid n curl, but I decided against that because my hair was just too dry and straight. Sooo, I smoothed a generous amount shea butter all over my hair while it was still dry, made one section in the back, one above each ear, one framing each side of my face, one behind each of those one at the crown and - an one kinda funky one sorta in front of the one at the crown but to the left a bit, for a total of 9 sections.

I filled my spray bottle with water and Suave Coconut condish and sprayed each section before flat twisting (I just double-strand twisted the two near the crown of my head) rolled the ends with my satin/foam rollers. I then sprayed a bit of Hot Six Oil mist on the sections and in between on the scalp area and then went to bed. This morning, my curls were shiny, bouncy, defined and had a nice little bit of weight to them because of the conditioner. I love the way it looks. I even parted it down the middle and the way it turned out looks pretty good on me today. The only problem I had was that a couple of sections in the front were still a bit wet so I had to blow dry them a bit and then leave the rollers in until I got to work. The sections were pretty much dry then but one section right in the front was BONE straight at the ends - about an inch, soooo....I just cut the straight part off with my scissors! (It's perm anyway, would've eventually been cut off in the end). Other than that, my hair looks great! Will definitely be repeating this routine using these products again. I'm also noticing some growth in the back, where my hair is the most damaged and shortest. Lot's of new growth coming in and lengthening when I stretch it out. Getting a little itchy to cut some more perm off! Will definitely co-wash and maybe try the braid out on just washed hair tonight or tomorrow. We'll see.

ttyl!

Going Out!

I'm going out to dinner tonight, trying to decide what to do with my hair. I did try the WOC gel (sans water) on my hair this morning and it perked up my flat curls pretty good. I decided not to add the water because I just wanted to see what it would do on dry hair. Not too bad. It is pretty sticky and greasy though and I prolly used a little too much so I'll know better next time. I'm going to try it with my leave-in this weekend when I co-wash. See how my hair responds. I really want to see if I'll have product build up and need to wash with a little shampoo next time. I've co-washed the last 2-3 weeks so I'm wondering if I need to go ahead and do a shampoo wash maybe once a month. We'll see.

So, back to this evening. Do I want to:

1). Pull back one side with a clip and flower?

2). Just put a flower behind one ear?

3). Pull back just the front with a wide/decorative (sparkly) headband?

4). Pull it up on both sides?

5). -or- spritz some water on it and make it really big and puffy? ;)

Guess it'll depend which looks best with what I'm wearing. Actually, I'm not going to dress up, just gonna get out of this YMCA work shirt that I'm wearing today. Maybe wear a nice bright sweater or something.

By the way, the pic above, I'm thinking that's about how my hair will look once all the perm is out. That looks like it might be about my texture. Love it! Can't wait. I know that my hair is not going to just "hang" in ringlets from my scalp when I'm au naturel. Not this puffy 4b/c hair. But, I don't want it to. I want to rock it in all of it's Nappy glory! LOL ;)

Welll....ciao for now ;)