september relaxer

so i finally relaxed last tuesday. i know this blog is a little late, but i had to catch up on my school work. so i the longest portion of my hair is at an inch from APL. i am excited. but i am also nervous because when i take my shirt and do a bare back check, it looks like i am a long ways away from APL, it can be as far away as three inches it appears. i get a little discouraged. but the relaxer did really well except that i started to burn really bad so i didn't get to bone straight relax my hair in the front. but i still love my hair. its healthy and its getting longer. one side is a little longer but i will work on it. i am going to use my castor oil like its no tomorrow. hopefully i will have pictures up soon so you can see the difference.

third wash in september

so just updating that i washed my hair for the third time last night. after my hair completely dried, my hair was so soft. i can't wait until my relaxer. i decided to relax tomorrow instead of friday because i do not think that i can last with all of the bad shedding that i am doing. i am losing alot of hair. lol. sometimes i think that if i go too long with out a relaxer, i may wake up bald. isn't that crazy, lol?

nine months into my hair journey

ok. how in the world did i forget to talk about yesterday was my ninth month into my healthy hair journey. i guess because i was in the hospital. oh well. the truth still remains that i am nine months in and the point is that i am really disappointed at where i am as far as length. i felt like i should have been a little longer than where i am, but the past is the past and i have nothing to show for it but health, which is very important. at least i got the health. by december i want my hair to be the healthiest its ever been.

in december i am so excited because it marks a year for me. also i may have APL hair and i believe that my hair will be at is healthiest. so so excited.

i may have another hair anniversary: september 1, 2009. i am not sure yet. i may celebrate them both. december 9, 2008 was the beginning of everything, so of course i have to celebrate that one. but on the first of this month this year, i realized that my hair like the more simpler things. i decided to dumb down my regimen a lot and start very simple: shampoo, conditioner/DC, leave in, castor oil, sealing oil and moisturizer. this is it. this is all i am doing, i know until the end of the year.

so, here in september i have been using the herbal essences hydralicious moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. the shampoo gets my scalp really clean and the conditioner does a great job of softening my hair. i use the HE LTR as my leave in and i seal the leave in with african best oil mixed with castor oil. its only been two washes and its been going great. i love it so much. right now i have thick NG and so when i am detangling i lose a lot of hair. i try to make sure that i am treating my hair like silk, lol. braid outs on dry hair and rollersets on wet hair has been working for me being nappy near the roots. seven weeks post tomorrow, this stretch went by pretty fast, but i am two weeks earlier than i usually relaxing at. but thats ok. these last two stretchs of the year will also be about seven or eight weeks, by me wanting a fresh relaxer in time for christmas.

next month i am switching it up to another shampoo and conditioner, suave daily clarifier and suave humectant. i love the humectant but i haven't tried the clarifier. also i am going to use the HE LTR as my leave in. i actually am thinking about using the september method in october and maybe until the end of the year, lol. i just love what i am using a lot and i wold hate to stop using it and try something that may decide not to work for me. i will have my mind made up about what i am going to do before october.

i am going to use this simpler method, i said around about march, but now i am thinking about the end of next summer, unless something dire comes up. my hair gets really dry and i could really use this extra moisture that i am getting from the leave in and the moisturizer and the oils. i have been worried about a protein. i am going to buy my protein, which i have decided will be mane and tail mixed with a little HE hello hydration moisturizing condtioner because my hair cannot handle alot of protein. i will only use the protein when my hair is limp. other than that, i won't use it. i think that i won't have to use a protein no more than once a month. i am afraid that the clarifying shampoos that i will be using will strip my hair of the moisture and have my hair dry again, but my scalp needs the cleaning because i have been getting a bad case of dandruff since i started doing this simpler method. i was hoping to only have to wash my hair once a week but i am already up to twice a week. hopefully i can cut down the dandruff without adding another product into my regimen. after a month, i MAY incorporate a pre-poo to help add a little more moisture IF NEEDED.

a little look into my relaxer prep:
since i washed my hair tuesday night, i am hoping that i won't have to wash my hair until i am rinsing out the relaxer. i hope. lol. but i doubt, so the only time that i will allow myself to wash is only monday, no later. starting this sunday, i will oil my scalp and hair every day, hopefully twice a day to prevent burns. i will also moisturize and seal my hair everyday to prevent my hair from over processing.
the day of my relaxer will be friday. the night before i will oil my scalp with vaseline. friday morning i will go over my scalp again only on the places where my scalp is dry. friday afternoon i will relax my hair, base my scalp and ends. i plan to buy coconut oil for my ends. i am hoping to be an inch from APL.
after my hair is rinsed, i am going to DC with my CON. hopefully i can do thirty minutes with heat. i plan to DC for an hour and a half to two hours. after rinsing my DC, i will apply my leave in, HE LTR with my oil, africans best without the castor or kemi oil, which ever i have available. i will only airdry and flat iron my hair on the lowest setting on completely airdried hair.

and thats about it.

Wash 2 of September

ok. so i decided to wash my hair because my hair was so dirty. i did and i followed the shampoo with the conditioner. i left it in for about six hours, way more than i wanted to, blame it on my nap, lol. so i washed the conditioner out. hair was so freaking soft!!! i added my leave in and i sealed my leave in with my african's best oil mixed with castor oil, a 60:40 ratio. it was really thick when i was applying it. but i woke this morning to find that my hair was not weighed down and for the most part, my hair is really soft. i am so excited. i am discovered this and its really working for me, at the moment. i have a little over three months to get my hair to APL and i am seriously on a mission to get my hair down my back. friday will make me seven weeks post. i am trying to decide whether i am going to relax next friday or two weeks later.

ps - roller sets are really working for my NG.

New Regimen into play : first day update

so, i am washing my hair with herbal essenses hydralicious moisturizing shampoo and conditioner. first i washed my hair with the shampoo. after only concentrating on my scalp and rinsing, my scalp was so clean. after that i let my conditioner sit in as a DC for about two hours. after rinsing in cold water, my hair was so soft. my next step was to add my HE LTR. i applied it and sealed it with african best herbal oil. i roller set my hair and sat under the hood dryer from 30 to 40 minutes. after i removed my rollers, my curls were so SOFT. i loved it. they were bouncy. my hair was moisturized just right. my hair was loving the attention. before i broke the curls, i added a little moisturizer to my hair because i was going to a college football game and i didn't want my hair to frizz or dry out in the 98 degree weather. so i did and i broke my curls and it was so cute and it lasted all day through the heat and the humid and the sweat. i love this so much and i will continue to do this when my NG is plenty. i am less than two weeks post and i can't wait until i get a relaxer.

Shedding horribly

usually i do not shed until the days leading up to a relaxer after a ten week stretch. but for some reason i am losing alot of hair. every time i put my hands in my hair, i am losing AT LEAST ten strands, this can be tripled throught out the day because i am finding more and more hair on my shirt, even if my hair is bunned.

i am six weeks post (officially tomorrow) and my hair has a little fro around the scalp, lol. my NG is thick, but no long. nonetheless, its there and i am pleased because it didn't seem like i was going to get any growth for a while. two more weeks until relaxer.

hope i can make it.

p.s. - castor oil gots my head itchy than a mug, lol.

wore my hair down today

so i decided to straighten my hair and wrap it. when worn down today, i realized that my hair is growing some. i saw that i may have to trim it to help even it. i will be six weeks this friday and my hair is really thick. tomorrow starts the fall challenge. i am so excited about that because i am so ready. i want to be APL by christmas. i will do everything in my power to get me there. three months to get there and i am about two inches away. not to mention that i have this relaxer to give me a little boost on the 18th.

my goal is to:
-incorporate more castor oil into my reg, application every other day (three to four days a week)
and to add castor oil into my DCs
-another thing is to keep my scalp cleaner by incorporating a shampoo into my reg
-seal after EACH moisturizing
-less manipulation when hair is wet
-more roller sets

ooh...tomorrow is the day!!!