Bringing in 2014!!! Last post in 2013: Dec goals recap, Jan goals, relaxer update, goals for the new year, etc (LONG POST with PICTURES)

Hello, and happy New Year's Eve!!! I hope y'all are being safe. I am at home and in the process of washing my hair. I am going into the new year with clean hair lol. I wanted to update you on a few things.

1. My December goals were a bust. I didn't follow one goal. Lol. 

2. I have a couple of January goals: 

-use castor at least 80 percent of the month. Roughly, that's 25 days. 

-hide my hair 25 days of the month of January. 

Simple enough, right? 

3. When you click onto my blog, you will see a list of monthly goals for my hair. 

I will do my absolute best to follow this list. Overall, I am trying to retain length and keep my hands out of my hair as much as possible. 

4. I relaxed my hair a few weeks ago. The relaxer turned out ok. 

No length check was done with this relaxer, but I did not gain much length, if any. I was turned off from checking. I didn't want to be disappointed. 

5. How is my hair now? I am suffering from thinning on my left side. It is very clear when I did a length check a couple of days ago. 

One side looks closer to BSL than the other side. My goal: to grow it out without evening it. I rather allow all of my hair to grow to AT LEAST full APL before evening my hair. I am not expecting even my hair out until May or June. 

6. A hair goal of mine for 2014 is to only get 3 relaxers the entire year. I do not have a clear idea when these relaxers will take place. The reason for this goal is because I want to try to eliminate the thinness I suffer from when I relax. Which leads me to......

7. I am considering transitioning to texlaxed hair. I am despising my flat hair. I am despising straight hair. I do not want to be natural, but I am over being bone straight. I am going to have my mind made up by my next relaxer which is months from now. 

8. My mother's hair has good days and bad days. My mom refuses to nap with a bonnet on, and her edges and sides are suffering. It's like once I get it growing good, she will set herself back. It gets so frustrating and I cannot stress the importance of stop sleeping without a bonnet. But I cannot let herack of discipline weigh heavy on me, because the weight can be excruciating. My mother and I work at the same job. My mom goes to bed at night without trying to prep her hair for the next day. When she is up, I'm not up yet. We work entirely different shifts. But when I finally get to work and see how careless she is by allowing herself to go to work with her a complete disaster is heartbreaking. I try to talk to her, but it does no good. :-( 

9. A couple of months ago, I showed pix of how horrible my hair area looked in my room. Here are those pix from the past. 

Well, after months or purging and working, I was not able to get rid as many products as I would have. So, I became a tad bit more organized and bought another storage container. 

This is where ALL of my hair products are located. There are none in different spots in my room. It's all contained here. It's organized and clean. I am so proud of myself for getting a better handle on my overflowing problem. I refuse to have to buy a third one lol. 

10. Finally, I was featured!!! I submitted my hair story to Jen from Just Grow Already or JGA. I absolutely love reading her blog. I am a faithful reader, lol. I was so happy to my story on her page. Please read my featured hair story when you click this link (Meet Alexis). Thank you so much, Jen, for featuring me. I am a huge fan.

I have tons of resolutions: hair related, life related, charity related, etc. I am not sure what I am trying to accomplish in the new year. I am not sure if I will even meet a single goal and/or resolution. Something about goals and resolutions give me something to look forward to. I have not met ANY in the past, but that is no reason for me not to try again this year, and maybe next year.

I will everyone who reads this a prosperous new year. I pray that each of you gain much wealth, hair length and hair health. Lol. 2013 has been a battle. However, I am closing the chapter on another year. The first page of my new book starts tomorrow, and I am promising myself that every day-slash-page will be full of me giving my all and working my butt of for ALL of goals, not just the hair related or the school related ones.

I am wishing you all many blessing in the new year,
-Alexis

Happy New Year, hair lovers!!!

November Goals Recap + December Goals

Well, we are in the last month of 2013. This year has surely flew by. 

These were my November goals and their recaps: 

1. Hide my hair the entire month - 1/2 passed, 1/2 failed

-So, I did well the first couple of weeks of November. However, I got bored and I gave myself a few down days the last two weeks. :-( I'll do better next time. 

2. Use castor everyday - well, I did good the first three weeks of November. The last week was not so good. I couldn't even remember to do so. 

SO...I am ready for December and the goals I have set for myself: 

1. Use castor oil everyday

2. Use castor oil in every wash

3. Take vitamins everyday of this month 

4. Use up some products and show off a more organized hair product area 

My goals are not difficult ones. I am ready. 

On another note, I have bought a hair measuring Tshirt. 

I also purchased some Haifinity. 

I am ready to grow me some hair. I am ready to show off some length for Chtistmas. I am unsure about grazing BSL, but I am hoping for full BSB. 

Wish me luck!!!!

Hairfinity + convo with little brother

Yesterday I received my first package of Hairfinity supplements and started my Hairfinity challenge also on yesterday. I snapped a quick photo of my hair, even though this is an 8 week post pic and my NG is rolling. It is not an accurate picture of my growth, but I wanted a picture for when I started my challenge.

When I received my package, I was ecstatic. However, my brother rolled his eyes and went on a rant.

..:"Are you still trying to grow your hair? You have hair longer than most people around here. Isn't that enough? Why grow longer?":..

His words took me completely off guard. Here I am, I have read all of this information and I have looked through numerous Hairfinity testimonials. I was ready to give this a try again. But my brother's words screeched my entire thinking to a halt. I began to try to defend myself, lol. When I told him I was trying to grow my hair back to where it was, its longest length, between MBL and WL, he told me that it will never get that long again. My heart hurt a little bit. I became a little discouraged.  He is family, by god! I haven't heard any ill words about my hair for a long time. So hearing my brother tell me that I would never grow my hair that long again stung. At first, I began to feel unappreciative. Why am I not appreciating the length I have now, the health I have now? I am grazing BSB, should I be appreciative of what I have? Of course, I should. Just look at my before pic. I have came a long ways. It has taken me a long time to get to this point. I literally clawed my way up by watching videos after videos, changing regimens after regimens, praying, etc. My brother's  words weighed heavy on me. I stared at the bottle feeling selfish. I put the bottle down and went on to get ready for work without taking any supplements.

As I was getting ready, I just threw on some work clothes that didn't need ironing, not putting much thought into my work clothes. Then, I just threw on some shoes that matched, not putting much thought into my work shoes. However, I took time and detangled my hair with my fingers. Even though I am 8 weeks post, I had not problem with detangling, but I still like to do a good job. Next, I moisturized and sealed my hair, especially since the temperature has dropped significantly here. I wanted to make sure I took extra precautions as far as taking care of my hair from the cold. So, I pinned all my hair to my head and went to work. 

After a LONG day at work, I came home and began taking down the pins and moisturizing my hair again. Even though my hair was well moisturized before work, the cold air and wind dried it out a little bit. So, I decided to show my hair just a little be more TLC before the day ended. I put my bonnet on and started working on a few things at home.

 

Then it hit me: I appreciate the health and the length by continuing to take care of my ends. I may want to grow my hair longer, but I am taking care of it to ensure length retention. I may not show my hair, or let it hang like most people around here, but that doesn't mean I appreciate my hair any less. I love my hair; its my hair and I grew it all by myself. I am selfish, but I feel like I have a reason to be now. I was once the but of some family members jokes, that my hair was the worst of the worst and my hair would never look as good as theirs. Now the tables have turned, and I am flourishing and they are struggling. It may seem selfish to my brother, but if we are equipped with the knowledge to do better, who are we not to take advantage of it? Well, Idk if anything I just said made any sense, but I took my supplements before bed, and I will do a Hairfinity comparison pic in a month. 

 

Here is to a better day at work,

-Lexis

Wash Day @ 8 weeks post + 4 weeks in extreme growth challenge

Hello everyone. 

Today, I decided to wash my hair. I have been really bored with it. So on a whim, I decided to rinse my hair black. 

1. I prepooed my hair with warmed conditioners and oils. I pigtailed braided my hair. It sat in for about 20 minutes and I rinsed it. 

2. I shampooed my hair and rinsed. Then, I applied my hair rinse, Dark and Lovely Radiant Black. It sat on for 20 minutes and I rinsed my hair clean. 

3. I DC'ed with my Nexxus for about ten minutes and rinsed. 

4. I applied my leave ins onto my damp hair. Earlier this week, I thought I saw a trouble spot or two in my head. I decided to blow dry my hair and flat iron it straight without stretching my NG. I do not have pix taken, but I have observed 2 problem areas. My middle is thin and one side is longer than the other. 

I am not going to worry with it. I am going to continue to let my hair grow as is. I will handle bad ends, but I do no think that I am going to trim to even it. 

It's been four weeks since I decided to do whatever I can to ensure that I grow as much as I can before the end of the year. I have yet to begin taking any hair aid supplements, but I plan to do so soon. I have been stretching my hair down my back to see where I am. Even with my NG, one side of my head is Full APL. The other side still looks to be a grazing APL. I may trim with my relaxer and I may not. It truly depends on my impulsive side. 

Back to today's wash, I took a couple of pix. I wore my hair straight down for church. But when I got home, I immediately put it back in a bun. 

Wash Day @ 7 weeks post

1. I prepooed my hair with warmed detangler, oils and protein conditioner. 

2. After 30 minutes, I rinsed and used a moisturizing shampoo. 

3. I rinsed and towel dried my hair. After a few minutes, I removed my towel and applied my leave in. 

4. After I sprayed my leave in all over, I sprayed Aphogee green tea spray all over. 

5. Finally, I moisturized my hair and sealed it with castor oil. 

Today marks 7 days since I started hiding my hair. I am very excited that I am not getting bored with my pin ups and buns. After I washed my hair and it partially airdried, my hair fell at APL without stretching. This was the first time it ever did that. Once I stretched my hair, some of my hair stretch to full APL. With less than 5 weeks left in this stretch, I am hoping that I can make it to full APL stretched or longer. 

-Lexis 

Day 4 of hiding my hair

Hello.
So it is 4 days into the month of November, and I am still pinning my hair up. I plan of washing my hair tomorrow. I am trying to keep my hair clean of build up due to me constantly using castor oil, moisturizers, leave in conditioner and aloe vera. I can already tell that I am going to wash my hair a little more, just to ensure that I do not have dingy, dull hair.

If you know me and read my posts, you would know that I DESPISE buns. However, I cannot believe that I have been bunning. Let me explain: what I have been doing is that I am bunning my back while pinning my top. I can finally see myself "bunning" if I am doing it this way.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. They are getting worse and worse. Lol. At 7 weeks post, I feel like I am doing well. I am starting to get that urge to relax, as long as I keep my hair up I should be good. I am not letting up from my 12 week goal. What is a five weeks, says the girl who has rarely seen a relaxer stretch through lol. That NG feels tempting, but I am going to push through.

Until wash day,
-Lexis

Conair Hot clips rollers - experiencing them on my mother's hair

I love thrift shopping. One day I went into my favorite thrift store, Hudson's Dirt Cheap, and my mom and I stumble upon a hair appliance table. There it was, like a gift from above, a BRAND NEW box of conair hot clips. I have been wanting a set since January, but I was in no rush to get them. 

I paid only 13 dollars for this brand new appliance. The price on it says 33 bucks, but ain't nobody got time for that price. Additionally, I researched the price online. 

So, I definitely call this a STEAL!!! Nothing had been used; nothing was out of the plastic. Due to the store's no exchange/refund policy, they urge shoppers to try appliances at a testing table. Thank goodness the little red light came on. 

I immediately wanted to try them out, but I was bunning it up. Thankfully, my mother wanted to be my guinea pig. 

Sorry about the low light, but crazy me did not think about the flash. This is my mom's hair before the rollers. It's a fresh wrap, very straight. 

My mom's hair is a lot shorter and a lot thinner than my hair. For this trial experience, I only used 7 rollers. I left them in her hair only for 10 minutes. 

Here are the results:

My mom is enjoying her new curls. I plan on doin a FULL REVIEW when I use then in the future. 

I will also do an update blog on my mom's hair this month!!!

-Lexis 

Day 2 of hiding my hair

Yesterday I went to work with a pin up. It wasn't the best looking thing so I didn't take any pictures. 

Today I decided to go to a fall festival with my mom. I wanted my hair to look a tad better. So instead of an entire pin up, I binned the back and pinned up my top. 

This style was completed with a few pins, a hair tie and alittle moisturizer. 

Here's a pic of the top; it's not that great of a pic: 

Today I am 7 weeks post. My NG is manageable; it has not been a problem at all. I bought my relaxer today, due to the expiration date of a coupon. However, I have no urge to relax my hair any sooner than the five weeks I have left in this stretch. No wash day this weekend. 

Halloween pix

I was so excited about Halloween. It's the kid in me. So I wanted to dress up to pass out candy. I felt like the perfect hair would help with the outfit. 

The night before, I dampened my hair flexi rodded my hair. The next morning, I lightly pulled apart my curls for work. 

After being at work all day, I came home to get ready for the trunk-a-treat. I wanted really frizzy hair. So I pulled apart all of my curls. Then I got dressed!!!!

I am clown, for Halloween and literally!!! Lol. 

Enjoy the rest of your night!!!!

-Lexis 

October goals recap + November goals

Happy Halloween, everyone. I am so excited about this day! Nothing excites me like costumes. I guess this kid in me comes from being in a strict household as a kid and we weren't allowed to go house to house for trick or treating. This year, my town is putting on it's very first trunk or treat. It is a very safe way for kids  to dress up and trick or treat. This idea is as old as time, but our town has not experienced it until tonight. EXCITED!!! Blog and pix later tonight. 

So this blog is about my misadentures of October. 

1. Take vitamins everyday -----Failed. I started off good, but got sick on the 10th. I am on doctor orders. 

2. Warmed prepoos with every wash ----completed!!! I have found that hair takes warmed conditioners well. I believe that I will always warm my prepoos. It leaves my hair soft, especially my NG. 

3. Use castor oil every other day ----partially failed. I may used it 3 times a week. I should done better. 

November goals

1. Hide my hair the entire month of November. No days down. 

2. Use castor oil everyday. 

November is going to be a simple month. I am not quite sure if I am going to get my braids or not. I am excited about not having to deal with my hair everyday thanks to my updos. I believe that will be my November protective style. 

I am hoping to be full APL and maybe grazing BSL for Christmas. 

-Lexis

Motivation Monday

Well, I got bad news today. But it is important to continue to motivate yourself. Things may look low and grim now, but that's not where you are supposed to stay. I have received need about school that can stall my career goals an additional year. Some times these little setbacks can ensure an amazing comeback. Sometimes you have to smile and keep pushing. I want to lay in bed all day and feel sorry for myself. But I plan on getting up, like I do every morning. I am going to get ready for work. I am going to work, do my best at my job. I am going to come home and do my homework. Life and time will not stand still while you give yourself a pity party. Do yourself a favor: pull yourself out of your self misery and continue to live. I plan on doing just so. 

-Lexis

Wash Day @ 6 weeks post

So I am six weeks post and I am half way through my winter stretch. I have been evaluating my NG and it's trying to bud. It's not much. But with every wash day, I notice a few more curls. Due to the minimal amount of NG, this stretch has been manageable. 

Even though my stretch has not gotten ridiculous....yet, I plan to give my hair and mind a break by putting my hair in a protective style later this week. I am hoping that this style will last me at least 3 weeks, but I am definitely hoping for entire month of November. So with this wash, I will be prepping my hair for the braid installation this week. 

1. I pre-pooed with castor oil and grapeseed oil. After a few minutes, I rinsed my hair. 

2. I clarified my hair with suave clarifying shampoo. It felt so good to rinse my hair squeaky clean because I have been using oil everyday for a few weeks. I haven't clarified in months. 

3. After rinsing the shampoo, I DC'ed with a mix of a moisturizing conditioner, a tablespoon of hair mask and a creamy detanglers. I also added a tablespoon of mixed oils, castor, olive, almond, grapeseed and jojoba. Under a plastic cap, my hair DC'ed for an hour. Afterwards I rinsed and Bantu knotted my hair. 

New growth shot. It's very little in amount. 

Wash day was ok. 

-Lexis 

Motivation Monday

So here I sit, contemplating. Lol. My health is better. No complaints. My job is ehhh, try not to complain. Lol. Classes have resume for me and the struggle continues. But life is good. Sometimes you have to fake it before you really believe that you are happy. I haven't had to fake in a while. 

When I get down, I look at things I have overcome: SL damaged hair, bullies, deaths, troubling school. Here I stand, or sit, able to tell people that you can pull through any obstacle as long as you think positive. You also have to be a positive fortune teller. "I see success at the end of this." "This will work out in my favor." "I will overcome." Life and obstacles in it can make you feel like giving up, but if you wish well for others and yourself genuinely, you will see it through. That's my prayer for everyone in the world. Keep pushing. 

Have a great rest of the week!

I receive my message

-Lexis

Wash Day @ 5 weeks

I am five weeks post, as of yesterday. I am beginning to notice a slight amount of  NG. It's not much. 

Here is how my wash day went: 

 

1. Friday night, I applied my warmed prepoo, consisting of conditioners and mixed oils. I left this in over night Friday, all day Saturday and over night Saturday. 

Finally on Sunday, I rinsed my hair clean. 

2. I shampooed my hair with a moisturizing shampoo.

3. I DCed with a moisturizing conditioner and a protein mask. After about 15 minutes, I rinsed my hair. 

4. I Tshirt dried my hair for about an hour.

After air drying my hair, I decided to try a new product on my hair. 

This is a misty leave in. It is supposed to moisturize and hydrate hair. It is supposed to sit for 3 minutes before styling. So after applying this to my hair and letting it sit, I decided to flat iron my hair, after I applied my heat protectant of course. 

No length check, just wanted my hair straightened. I did not stretch my NG all the way. I did not want to apply stress to it and the line of demarcation. Smooth wash day. 

7 weeks until relaxer day! 

-Lexis

Relaxer coupon!!!!

Quick post!!! Ladies who use ORS relaxer kits, there is a 2 dollar off coupon on familydollar.com!!!! It expires 11/2! I was so excited and had to share!!!!! 

-Lexis

Plans to meet my goal (or get rather close) by Christmas!

Hello, people. In the back of my mind, I have been thinking of a regimen to grow my hair fast to full BSB, grazing BSL or BSL. I haven't been able to write my ideas or plans down. Finally, after much consideration, I believe that I have came up with a fast growth regimen that I will incorporate during my last 8 weeks of stretching before my relaxer on December 7th. 

1. I will use castor oil on my scalp at least 3-4 das a week. 

2. I will continue to use castor oil in my pre-poos. 

3. I will hide my hair all of November; I am trying to do very little manipulation this month. 

4. I will try my absolute best not to use a direct heat pass but only once. 

5. Moisturize and seal daily and/or when needed. 

6. I will use my pin ups as much as possible. 

7. I will resist all urges to relax early. 

8. I will baby all of my edges. 

9. I will pay special attention to my ends every night. 

10. I will take vitamins every night. 

11. I will accomplish all of these goals. 

I am serious about coming into the new year with long, thick hair. I am not picky about which goal I meet, but I plan on having longer hair than I already have. I WANT TO SEE A DIFFERENCE IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Even though I am relaxing on December 7th, my official check in won't be until December 21st, which give me ten full weeks of this fast growth regimen. 

Lol. So, follow my journey. 

Until next time,

Keep growing, 

Lexis

Wash Day - Week 4

Lol. So...if you follow me on IG, you may have seen this pic: 

Yep, that's me laid up. Here is the story: Friday, I was at wok. I helped decorated a float for my high school HC. My job, which is at an elementary school, participated in the parade. So I decorated the float as a representation for my job. Not only did I decorate that float, but I walked the 2 mile parade route. After the parade was over, I went and walked around with my family at the tailgate party. Suddenly, everything went white. I couldn't see anything and I couldn't comprehend much. Next thing I know, I became unresponsive. I remember very little. I wake up in an ambulance. Diagnosis: my doctor told me that it was a lack of blood flow in my body. When the blood flow rushed back, it caused me to pass out and vomit in my unconscious state. It's horrific, especially since i do not remember anything lol. I am a lot better. Unfortunately, this incident has caused me to miss my 5K run. That is what hurts me the most. 

When I passed out and hit the ground, I took much grass with me to the hospital. Lol. My hair was filled with grass and charcoal bits. Jokingly, I asked someone at the hospital did they have satin bonnets handy for women on HHJs. Even though I was joking, I was extremely nervous about my hair rubbing against the cotton sheets in the hospital. 

Eventually, I was discharged. I was so tired and so weak, I did not so anything to my hair. I put my bonnet on and went to bed. 

Saturday, I got up and decided to pre-poo with some warmed oils and conditioner. Feeling alittle sluggish and weak, I left the pre-poo in all day. So I went to bed Saturday with my pre-poo still in. 

Sunday, I woke up and decided to have another lazy day of recovering. I was in no rush to wash my hair. That is, until I received a phone call from my aunt. Her 4 year old grandson was there when I became unresponsive and he saw when I was loaded in the ambulance. That poor baby thinks I have passed away. So she told me that she wanted to bring him by to show him that I was still alive. That motivated me to get up and wash my hair. I wanted him to see me like he always see me: big hair and all. 

1. I rinsed out my pre-poo, and I applied shampoo to my hair. My hair was filthy from the things I picked up on the ground  as I laid passed out. It felt so good to clean my hair. I rinsed the shampoo out. 

2. I followed up with a black tea rinse. Before the incident, I had been suffering from horrific shedding. So, it was liberating to finally tea rinse my hair. After I sprayed my hair with black tea, I put a moisturizing conditioner in top of it. I left it on for about 7 minutes and rinsed. 

3. I airdried my hair until it was about 70 percent dry. I added a few drops of vegetable glycerin into my elasta qp leave in. I applied my leave in and sealed with an oil. 

I believe my boo will recognize me. 

This is what he is used to seeing lol. 

My cousin, Jayden, loves his Lexie!!!

October Goals

Hello. Once again, I spent an entire month not following my goals. I failed miserably again. I do not plan to do that this month. So here are my goals:

1. Use castor oil every other day. 

2. Warmed products for prepoo.

3. Take vitamins. 

Short blog, but it's to the point. 

Emergency Relaxer Update

If you follow me on Instagram, You will know that I relaxed my hair about ten days ago. Unfortunately, I had to cut my stretch short due to my ends. I know this sounds crazy. I had the twists in and thought I may have experienced some breakage. After I took them out, I realized that I did not, I started protective styling. Well, when I would do my weekly washes, I would see a few split ends with every wash. I would cut the few I would see, and I would go on with the wash and another week of protective style. But this was the same thing every week. I got a little worried that if I continued to search and destroy this way that I would 1) not have any progress with my upcoming relaxer and 2) I would cut myself an area that was shorter than the rest. I couldn't risk it. My ends were scaring me too bad. I felt like best way to determine this was with a relaxer. I mean straightening my hair could have been easier too, but why add more strain to my weakening ends anyway??? That was my logic. Anywho, I realized about four days before the I relaxed that I was going to. So I prepped my hair with a good wash and protein treatment. A few days later, I relaxed at 9 weeks post. No new details to mention on how I relax my hair since I am working on a regimen. However, I am pleased to announced that I retained length and my ends were treated and dealt with. Despite cutting the stretch, I regret nothing. I was in the business of saving my ends, and it proved successful. I am going to relax in December next. I plan on babying my ends until that relaxer. I would love to be grazing BSL for Christmas, but I will settle for thick hair that is at full BSB.

8 week post texture shot

At 8 weeks post, this is what I am looking at. It doesn't look like much, but believe me when I say it is rough to deal with. I can't barely comb it lol. But I have been researching detanglers and I cannot wait to fully use them. 

Nothing too lengthy, but I wanted to share!!!

Happy Hump Day! 

Motivating Myself MONDAY

Good morning.
I have decided to type a weekly motivation post. I need this, lol. I get into a rut about how my hair isn't as long as I would like it to be, especially since I have been on my HHJ for almost five years. However, my family keeps telling me that this is not my season: for my hair, for graduating, for a boyfriend (recently single), marriage, career, etc. It hasn't been my season for while now, lol. Here I am, 25 years old, and I am not where I would like to be. But I am going to have to keep my head up. A lot of inspirers (is that a word???) have said that a person has to be humble and grateful in their current situation before they are blessed to move up and upgrade. Well, I am very thankful. I am thankful for the knowledge I have gained so that I can do better by my hair. I am also thankful for the ability to complain, because some people cannot complain. Life gets tough, sometimes seem unfair. But if I keep my head up, I won't be so consumed by it not being my season. I will enjoy life, one day at a time. APL hair and single. Hopefully not for long though, lol.

Have a great week!

Wash Day and Length Check

Happy Monday folks. I have been extremely sick since September has been here. Honestly, I have been too afraid to wash my hair with fear that I get even worse. Yesterday, I washed it. 

1. First I prepooed with warmed conditioner and left it on for about 40 minutes and rinsed. 

2. Next, I shampooed my hair and rinsed. 

3. Next, I applied a new detangler I purchased Friday. I massaged my roots and ends with it, then I rinsed. 

4. Lastly, I applied heat protectant to my hair and sat under my hood dryer for 20 minutes. Pressed for time, I blow dried the back of my hair (trying to make it to church). Finally, I flat ironed my hair straight. 

I wanted to do a heat pass and a length check because I have been so worried about a setback. However, when I saw my hair in the mirror, I felt a small weight lifted. I fear thinness, breakage, setbacks,  a need of a big trim. But this pic was very comforting. 

Both pics were taken on the same day, just different mirrors. It looks like I am on my way to full APL soon. 

I have been considering ending my stretch early, but this pic makes me want to continue to stretch to see how much more length I can get before my relaxer day. I am 8 weeks post and 12 weeks from my relaxer. Hopefully, I can make it. 

The reason why I did not name products is because I am trying to get a regimen together. I am no where near naming products, but I believe that I have a system constructed. 

One day at a time. 

August Goals Recap + September Goals

Oh, August! How I was supposed to reach my predetermined goals and failed miserably. That's right!!! I didn't do anything like I was supposed to. I started off good and ended up failing miserably. There isn't even no need to specify what happened. It all fell through. It was a combo of things: starting school again, looking for a job, not finding a job, getting braid installations, taking them down shortly after they were installed. August was a very hard month for me.


I am almost 7 weeks post, and I plan on relaxing at 20 weeks post. I have 13 weeks to go, lol. Usually at 6 weeks, I would be losing my mind, but I am doing excellent. I love feeling my NG. I am not in a rush to relax my hair. I have a goal and I am trying to reach it. I have been doing a lot of research and reading, and I believe that I am on the way to a better regimen and a healthier head of hair (but that is for a different post, I promise).


I promise to be more successful with my goals in September. Here are the goals:

1) Wear my hair off my shoulders five days a week (Saturday and Sunday will be my down days)
2) 3 bottles of water will be consumed a day
3) Pre-poo with warmed conditioner and/or oils with every wash day

I will begin TOMORROW.

S/N WHY ARE MY TWISTS OUT?

Well, I was doing good with oiling my scalp, washing my hair and moisturizing my roots. However, I do not believe that the installation was a good one. I was constantly re-twisting unraveled twists. It got frustrating. When I took down the twists, I experienced horrific shedding. It filled up two hands. I was terrified that I would suffer a setback. However, I took time and went over my entire head and did not find any obvious weak spots. I did notice that my ends were looking very raggedy. I dusted my entire head, knocking off only a tad bit of hair. The difference is insignificant. When I washed my hair the first time, I still experienced a lot of shedding. After a couple days, I re-washed my hair and added my black tea in that wash. My shedding ceased, and I was so happy. Lately, I have been rocking up do's at work, mainly due to the fact that I work with children and I am always on my feet and this Alabama heat is no joke.

I am going to continue to read The Science of Black Hair and try to adjust my regimen accordingly.

Have a great Labor Day!

Current Read: The Science of Black Hair

I am sooo late, but I was browsing on my Nook and saw that I had plans to buy this book. Well, I finally purchased it on my e-reader Saturday. Honestly, I cannot believe that I am just getting this book so late. It is so hard to put it down.

I am not far into the book, may page 50, but I am taking my time reading. Additionally, I am going back over portions and sections over the book to gain a better understanding. Being a science major in college, I can appreciate the science behind hair, but I absolutely had no idea! Every time I turn the page (or tap my screen), I am learning something new. There are a few things that I have learned that has really opened my eyes thus far.
1) I have learned about how the body's state of dehydration can have an effect on the scalp. I cannot make this up.
2) I have learned about how hormones help hair in regards to growth.
3) All hair follicles and hair strands are not in the same cycle and will not go through the same cycle together.

I am taking this book to heart. I have been on a HHJ for years with very little progress as far as length. After reading these few pages, I plan on continuing to create the best regimen for my hair type. I struggle with a hair regimen horribly. Since starting my HHJ, I have never had an implanted regimen. When I think something is going to begin work, it never works out and I end up having to change it. I am hoping that this book will help guide me on a path of truly understanding my hair where I can FINALLY have what I have always wanted: a regimen.

Thanks for reading.

Wash Day - in my braids

Hello! So, last night I did my first wash with my braids in. 

The first thing I did was separate my hair into two big sections. I took my ACV in a nozzle bottle and went through my entire scalp with it. I only concentrated on my scalp. After waiting about 10 minutes, I took a spray bottle of hot water and sprayed onto my scalp and dabbed dry. After this, I made a mixture that consisted of water, setting lotion and  my CON Argan Oil Moisturizer. I mixed this up, and sprayed this onto the roots of my actual hair as my leave in. After spraying this, I took a bottle of mixed oils and spayed on to my hair. 

That's was pretty much my braid-wash routine. The entire thing may have lasted about 25 minutes. 

My braids do not look disrupted nor do they feel like they have been disrupted. I plan on using this new mixture everyday while I am in my installations. I hate that moisturizer and I hope this is my way of finally ridding myself of it. Since I plan to use this everyday on my roots, I will be using my diluted clarifying shampoo with the next wash. I plan to wash these braids every five days. It has only been four days, but my scalp was so itchy. Now, it's a drastic difference since I washed it. 

Thanks for reading! 

.:Lexis:.