Is It Really Worth It?

I was visiting Ms. Kibibi's site and came across a "throwback" picture as she calls it, of when she first started her hair journey, a little past shoulder length. In the post she shows two pictures: one of where she began her hair journey and one when she reached waist length 5 years later. She made a great point in the post, which is - it took her 5 years to make waist length, which may be be a long time, but what's the point of rushing to reach your hair goal?

When you think about things from that perspective, I think it helps to take the pressure off of reaching these amazing lengths in as fast a timeframe as possible (I clearly am talking about myself and my lofty length goals for 2012). Let's face it, we all wanted healthy, long hair yesterday, hence the reason many of us started our journey, however, the reality is, it may take a little longer to reach your length goal, but what's the rush? Time will keep going so you mind as well work toward your goals and just allow things to happen as they may.

In general, I am a pretty impatient person (I'm working on this) and I'm VERY results driven, so when I see results, I'm encouraged to keep doing something. So with my hair, I'm pretty sure committed to reaching my goal, but when I think about how long it may take, I get a little discouraged. But if I change the way I approach the time frame, I think it makes my long term goals a little easier because the reality is, regardless of whether or not I reach my goal next year, or in 3 years, what do I have to lose?

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but it was on my mind.

Meet Mina

As planned, I got my hair done on Friday (including corn rows) in order to start protective styling for the fall/ winter! I took a risk and got my hair braided without actually having a wig yet. So first thing Saturday morning, I was at the hair store!

I didn't want anything long because let's face it - my hair is shoulder length now and I want the wig to look somewhat natural. I came across Mina and decided to go with her because she was about as close as I was going to get to what I wanted and the price wasn't bad. Mina is made by Outre and she is synthetic. I was a little leery about purchasing a synthetic wig because I need it to last for a while and not get tangled, etc. But after speaking to the ladies at the hair store and reading a nice wig maintenance post by The Awkward Stage, I decided to go for it. I like how Mina looks on me, but she's a bit shiny right now and I need that to go away (i.e. she looks very fake). Whatever - I guess you have to take the good with the bad with wigs. I'll be traveling from Thursday through the weekend, so I'm glad I got this straightened out.

Now I have to work on keeping my hair moisturized - for some reason that has been a challenge since I got my hair braided on Friday. Till next time...

I Tried it Again...And it Worked!

The Greenhouse Effect that is! So I didn't even intend to do the Greenhouse Effect, but what had happened was (lol), I M&S'd my hair on Tuesday night and I used a good amount of product (I have a heavy hand). So after I M&S, I like to put on my scarf so that I keep my hands out of my hair (you know I have a problem with that based on an earlier post). I got a new pack of plastic caps last week when I went wig shopping that was sitting on my counter, so I decided to use the plastic cap, followed by my other scarves.

I did not add any type of water or anything, but the next morning the cap definitely had little beads of water and there was visible steam! When I removed the plastic cap, my hair was barely damp, but it was nice and soft and moisturized. On Wednesday night I followed the same process as the night before, only this time I didn't M&S (I M&S every other day) and I had the same results this morning...small beads of water in the plastic cap along with slightly damp, moisturized hair. I think I may continue this method especially as I start to wear my wig because the wig accessories can be drying (I wear a satin scarf over my braids and then the wig cap and wig).

Just thought I would share that I accidentally stumbled upon making the Greenhouse effect work for me since I had such a traumatic experience before! Until next time...

Headed Back to the Dark Side

I'm sure you're wondering what I mean by "the dark side" although you may have some guesses. Basically, I just don't have time to spend 5-8 hours doing my hair, so I'm going back to my bi-weekly salon visits starting this Friday. BUT don't fret! I'm still fully committed to my hair journey and my goal of MBL (although I feel like giving up sometimes)!

As I spoke about in my hair story, earlier this year I had actually started getting my hair corn rowed during my salon visits so that I could wear a wig, so I'm planning to go back to that routine. Following are the pro's and con's that I've weighed in making this decision:

                             

Pro’s	Con’s
1. I get 5-8 hours of time back on a bi-weekly basis, or 10-16 on a monthly basis	1. I will no longer have exclusive control of my hair and how gentle it’s treated
2. My stylist has a wonderful steamer, so I get to return to my oil treatments under the steamer on a bi-weekly basis = double benefit	2. My stylist is EXPENSIVE, so I’ll lose the savings of caring for my hair myself
3. I still will not be using direct heat on a regular basis because the process for my salon visits is:   a. steam + oil treatment   b. shampoo & conditioner   c. hair is cornrowed while still damp, so no direct heat	3. The last time I followed this routine of keeping my hair cornrowed, I got SOOO BORED WITH MY WIG! I may need to remedy this by investing in a few different selections vs. just one all of the time
4. I’ll still M&S on a daily or every other day basis with my hair cornrowed; I’ll also still oil my scalp with JBCO regularly with easy access to my scalp
5. This will help me keep my hands out of my hair, and more importantly my ends protected, which will help with length retention!

I think this is a good idea at this point because I need to protect my hair since fall is here and winter is right around the corner. My goal is to follow my wig regimen (I just decided to call it that) until at least February 2012, which is when I'm scheduled for my next relaxer after the one in November. If I'm able to make it to February, at that point I'll re-evaluate what the next best steps are. One thing I decided though is that I'm not going to torture myself and follow the wig regimen if I'm not really feeling it. I may consider a weave, but I'll cross that bridge if I get to it. 

The next thing I want to tighten up is what I should do with my hair between salon visits in addition to M&S'ing? Should I follow the Crown & Glory method?

I welcome any ideas/ suggestions!

OMG - Wig Shopping!

So it's getting cooler in Philadelphia, which means that it's time to cover this hair! Time is also of the essence so wearing a wig will be easier than trying to style my hair.

I went online to do a little research BEFORE going to the store so that I could try on the styles that I had pre-selected and save time. I got to the store and clearly today was national buy a new wig day (at least in Philly) because it was soooo busy! I was so overwhelmed AND annoyed with all of the people and lack of sales associates able to answer my questions that I ended up leaving (I also had to get to my much needed mani & pedi appointment).

Long story short - I didn't buy a wig today and I really needed to because I'm planning to start wearing it next weekend. I'll likely go visit a different store when I have a chance and hopefully get something good. Wish me luck!

Kreativ Blogger (Award)

Thank you Texlaxed and Things for tagging me! 

RULES

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Share 7 random things about yourself

• Favorite Song: UUUMMM....right now it's probably Adele, Someone Like You although the song is such a Debbie Downer
• Favorite Dessert: Creme Brulee
• What Pisses You Off: Rude/ No Manners people (as my Nana would say...lol)
• When You're Upset You: Go to sleep - sleep solves most things in my life
• Favorite Pet: My leopard print flats...not an animal lover
• Black or White: BLACK! I wear black just about everyday...it's my favorite color
• Biggest Fear: Not having the life I dream of
• Best Feature: My abs :-) 
• Everyday Attitude: Is it really that serious? Don't sweat the small stuff
• What is Perfection: Working as hard as you can
• Guilty Pleasure: Housewives of ATL, NJ, BH; Keeping up With the Kardashian's, ANTM 

7 Random Things:

1. My Sister and Mom are my closest friends 
2. I wake up at 5:30 am Monday - Friday to work out (my staple workouts are pilates + cardio, and P90X)
3. I am from Philadelphia and LOVE everything Philly from the Eagles, to the Phillies, to the YUMMY cheesesteaks that we're known for!
4. I studied abroad in Trinidad and Tobago for a semester during my senior year of college (shout out to Tris from Texlaxed & Things)
5. I'm a foodie, so I try new restaurants on a regular basis and enjoy exploring all different types of food
6. My best friend is 1/2 american, 1/2 South African and is getting married in South Africa next year so I'm planning my first trip there (more details to come)
7. I love to travel although I haven't been anywhere interesting in the last year

Similar to Wishful Lengths, the people who I would like to tag have been tagged already! I'll add blogs if I think of any!

Hands in My Hair

I have this HORRIBLE habit of putting my hands in my hair. Fortunately I don't really twist and play with it between my fingers, tug, or anything like that, but I do find my hands in my hair way more than I would like.

I try to justify it by saying that I'm feeling to see if it's moisturized and feels "right." I'm honestly still trying to get a sense of how often I need to M&S, what products my hair likes, how it "should" feel, etc, but I need to tone it down. The other genuine issue is that when I'm in deep thought or trying to figure something out, my hands immediately go to my hair. Some people bite their nails, others tap their feet, some scrunch their face, I play in my hair.

One way I try to combat this problem is by tying my hair up shortly after I get home in the evenings. I'll usually M&S and put JBCO on my scalp and then put on my satin bonnet. This way my hair is completely covered and out of harms way for the night.

I need to get rid of this habit if I have any hopes of reaching my aggressive length goals! Am I alone???

E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!!!!!

You all know by now that I am from Philadelphia, born and raised! I am a true Philly girl and bleed green for my Eagles (and other Philly teams - Go Phillies!). Unfortunately they haven't been playing well so far this season, but there's a lot more football left!

Beat those 9ers!

Hair Goals

I'm not sure how many of you have checked out my Progress page, but on there I state that my goal is to be APL by 8/1/2012, which is roughly one year, 5 months from the start of my long hair journey, and one year from the start of my blog. My stretch goal is to be BSL by that time if I'm able to retain the majority of my length and have everything else "go right."

I'm sure if you've checked out that page, you probably think I'm crazy for thinking I can go from SL to BSL in one year (I actually thought that was pretty ambitious once I posted it, lol) especially considering that some of the ladies whose blogs I follow show just how challenging it can be to go from APL to BSL. BUT- it can be done! In the following video Kami11213 talks about how she went from SL to BSL in about 8 months. She definitely did some aggressive protective styling, but she was able to pull it off. Maybe I'll have a similar success story? If I PS, M&S and do all of the other things that work for my hair from October - June, that will be 8 months...

I'm lazy with my hair anyway - hence the reason I wash bi-weekly and only style on wash days - so I actually think this could work for me. Maybe I'll start with baby steps and aim to try this for one month and then add on as I go along. I'll keep you posted!


Fast forward to 1:10 if you want to skip to where she talks about going from SL to BSL. Also check out her hair growth video - she has beautiful hair!