I'm Engaged!!!

Hi Friends,

Happy holiday's everyone!!! As you can tell from the title, I GOT ENGAGED last night!!!! I am so over the moon and feel like the LUCKIEST girl in the world. Naturally there is a hair component to this story, lol.

So my fiance (can't believe I'm saying that) and my family planned an amazing proposal and engagement party. As you guys know, I got my hair relaxed 3 weeks ago, and I haven't done much to it since then. I've just been wearing it out and straight down. Earlier this week my older sister asked me about getting my hair done, but I said I didn't think I could fit it into my schedule. I ended up wearing my hair in a pony tail while my BF and I ran errands earlier in the day. That night I knew we were going to dinner and I planned to wear my hair in a pony tail, but my BF suggested that I wear my hair down to show off my hard work (he's so sweet). I put some bantu knots in my hair in order to try to get soft waves, but that didn't work so well since I had too much oil from M&S'ing over the last 3 weeks. I still wore it out since my BF requested it and just tried to make the best of it.

By the time we got to the engagement party, my hair looked less than desirable, but it didn't matter because I was soooo happy!!!! In hindsight I definitely wish I would have gotten my hair done, but it's all good. We haven't set a date as we're still basking in engagement land, but I already know how I want to wear my hair for wedding day. I'll show you guys once I finalize the details.

Happy holidays and new year to you all!

Back to Braids

I made a rash decision about 3 weeks ago to get my hair braided again. I relaxed at the end of August and planned to start exercising again, 2 weeks after my relaxer. Well I stuck to the plan and after one week decided that I didn't have it in me to go back into my wig, which is my normal routine when exercising.

I wore my hair in a braid and curl, which always started out cute, but would look a bit wild and crazy by the end of the week after exercising for 6 days and sweating heavily. After the first week of this, I made an appointment to get box braids. The month of October is going to be really crazy for me with traveling, working, and a few other events, so my hair is the LAST thing I want to be bothered with. 

Also, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm over wearing wigs. That's not to say that I'll never wear one again, but I think taking the 3 month break over the summer to actually enjoy my hair made me not want to "hide" my hair again. This has created quite the dilemma because I probably won't get braids again after this (side note: just when I was about to get my braids done, I decided I am too old to have braids and will not be getting them done anymore), but I don't want to wear a wig. What will my protective style be?

Fortunately I'm planning to keep my braids for 8 weeks, so I have some time to devise a plan. I believe I'll go back to wearing a wig, but it sure has been nice not to wear one.

Aside from buns, what other protective styles do you guys wear? I'm all about keeping my ends hidden.

Braids, braids, braids!!!

Hi friends! As promised, I wanted to write a quick post about my box braids.

I got them done on Monday, March 25, so I've had them for exactly 3 weeks tomorrow. I LOVE them! My stylist did them and it took roughly 5 hours. She actually started out braiding hair before she moved to becoming a stylist focused on hair health. I love the fact that I have one stop shopping with her because she knows my hair and is gentle with it. It took less than a week for them to loosen. They weren't too tight to begin with, and after the fourth day I had really good movement with them that wasn't uncomfortable. That was a BIG relief.

I have been caring for them just as a I would my normal hair. I moisturize and seal them daily, wash them weekly with my normal products (including my normal oil pre-treatment and protein leave-in). So it's business as usual even though I have braids. The other great benefit is although I follow the same process, it takes about an hour (if that) for my wash day because I don't have to detangle!!!

I would like to take more photos, but here is one that I posted on Instagram (they are pretty long...about waist length and I'm 5'7 for reference):

Until next time!

2 Year Hairversary!!!

3/31/13 marked 2 years ago that I started my long, hair journey. Boy how quickly time flies! Looking back, I've realized that the first year was a year of hiccups and lots of experimentation while this last year I truly got the hang of things.

I was natural for the first 5 months of my hair journey (I had been natural for a little less than 2 years before beginning my hair journey) and then realized that I love straight hair and straight hair styles, but I couldn't achieve and maintain them with natural hair. This was the case primarily because I work out daily. Natural hair + a desire to wear straight hair styles + daily sweat sessions do not work well. Three months after beginning my journey I got a brazilian keratin treatment (June 2011), and then two months later I decided to get a texturizer (August 2011). This was the perfect solution for my hair, but it took a few months and some trial and error to get there.

After I got the texturizer, I committed to washing and doing my hair myself weekly, but this was definitely new for me. Then life took over and I ended up back in my stylist's chair every week, getting my hair corn rowed because I had started wearing wigs. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I didn't feel like I was making much progress in terms of length. Nonetheless, I stuck with this routine and figured I needed to be patient.

Fast forward to March of 2012 when I had a bad texturizer experience and that was it. I decided that I needed to make time to care for my hair myself because I hated the last experience I had and I thought after one year into my journey, I should be able to do my hair myself. Thank God for that experience because between March 2012 and my next texturizer in June 2012, I retained the most length since beginning my hair journey. It was almost like a growth spurt, but I know better, it was just good ol' length retention!

Since March 2012, I've been doing my hair myself with the exception of my quarterly texturizer and trim. I have no desire to be a DIYer with chemicals, or scissors...that's where I draw the line, lol! With the exception of my recent almost set back, I have retained length and feel like I FINALLY understand what my hair needs and how to maximize length retention. It took 2 years, which seems like a long time, but I'm glad I was forced to truly understand how my hair thrives.

Following are a few things that I've learned:

• Patience, patience, patience! 
• When experimenting with products, try to change only one product at a time and take note of when you introduce the new product. For example, I have my staples, and I only introduce new products or experiment with changing things after a relaxer. This helps me track/ monitor the effects on my hair.
• Focus on learning your hair and the length will follow!

Finally, this post wouldn't be complete without progress photos! 

Left: 3/31/11; Middle: 3/31/12; Right: 3/31/13

South Africa!: Part 1

This post is so overdue, but I figured better late than never! Where do I begin....?

For any new readers (waving hi!), my family and I traveled to South African and Kenya at the end of 2012 for one of my closest friends' wedding.

I had the honor of being in the wedding, but as any hair enthusiast, I was a bit nervous about how my hair would be handled since I, nor my stylist would be doing it for the wedding. Fortunately, after a little negotiation, I allowed my friends' stylist to do my hair. The stylist did not have Phyto products, which is what I normally use in my hair, but he did carry Paul Mitchell, so fortunately good products were used. The woman who ended up doing my hair did a really good job - she gave me a nice wash and scalp massage and she was gentle. I was definitely anxious about the blow out because this is the part in the process that can go extremely wrong. I was pleasantly surprised though - she coated my hair really well with a heat protectant and used a round brush. Even with the round brush, she didn't pull my hair through like the Dominican's do, she used minimal heat (just to dry my hair, not to straighten) and she was gentle. So overall, I have no complaints.

On the morning of the wedding, I had my hair done by the head stylist and he went with spiral curls. He used the old school barrel curling irons, which I wasn't that thrilled about just because I know the technology in flat irons is better for hair. Aside from that, the experience was much better than I anticipated it would be, and my friend was happy with the outcome, which was most important! Also, my hair ended up working really well with the fascinator that I wore for the big day. Following are a few pictures. I'll come back with Part II! HHG

Relaxer Weekend

Hi friends! I will be texturizing my hair this weekend at 11 weeks post. I typically texturize every 12 weeks at minimum, but I decided to do so one week early because my stylist couldn't fit me in next week, so my options were to texturize one week early or one week late. My hair seems to have grown a bit faster, or thicker since my last texturizer, and I'm over dealing with it right now, so I'm more than happy to get it done this weekend. As I mentioned in my last post, I anticipate having to get a deeper trim than normal due to my breakage issue, so we'll see how that goes. At this point though, I just want my old hair back that was breakage free and thriving, so length is not much of a concern.

In other news, I decided that I want to start to enjoy my hair a bit more. For those of you who don't know, I wear wigs 100% of the time because I exercise daily and like to wear my hair straight. This has worked well for me over the last two years, but it has made me SUPER lazy and not interested in doing much with my hair. When I was in South Africa (I know I'm lame and still need to fill you guys in on the trip), I wore my hair out for the first 10 days or so and LOVED every minute of it! It was so nice/ fun to have my hair blowing in the wind, and brushing on my shoulders....

But on the flip side, I started to freak out and think that damage would ensue because I'm not used to wearing my hair out and didn't want my ends to be compromised. I think I'm a little off and just need to find a balance. So I'm going to force myself to wear my hair out after my June relaxer. At that point the weather should be consistently warm again and I won't have to worry as much about my hair rubbing on different materials.

Leading up to my June relaxer, I want to get my hair braided. My stylist did beautiful box braids on a young lady who I saw the last time I was at the hairdresser. I haven't had braids in probably 6+ years and want to bring them back! I would like to get them half way through my next stretch, so that's about 6 weeks from now. After that, I'm going to step away from the wigs...or a least try to ;-)

Hair Inspiration: Angela Simmons

Happy MLK Day!

I'm not sure if anyone else is as addicted to Instagram as I am, but I follow Ms. Angela Simmons and hhooonnneeeyyyy...her natural hair seems to get better by the sew-in. I didn't know how else to get this photo aside from taking a screenshot on my phone, but I have included the source below (both she and her stylist posted the same photo):

 Source

Also notice that she has beautiful highlights. Can we say new hair inspiration??? 

De-Solv-It

Hey friends! I don't know about you, but when I started my hair journey, I noticed that I was ruining A LOT of stuff with my overuse of oils! Seriously - I can't tell you how many shirts, sweatshirts, pillow cases, other linen, etc. that I've stained with my oil shenanigans!

Anyway, long story short, I work in the Energy industry with oil refineries. I visited a refinery and one of the guys suggested the below product as one that removes everything from oil to the residue that's left on stuff when you remove a tag, to other random crap. By the way when the guy mentioned oil, he was talking about crude oil, the heavy stuff that comes out of the ground!

So I got this and used it on one of my coats that I had stained with oil from my hair wrap that I wear under my wig. I have to admit that I decided to use the product the way that I wanted to and not completely as instructed. So the product seemed to ruin my jacket at first, but in the end it actually did take the oil stains out. I also used this on one of my blouses that had slight stains and it took those stains out as well without ruining my blouse. My Mom used this on a few things around the house and was less than thrilled with the results, which was a bit disappointing because I had such high hopes for the universal application of this product.

Overall, I would recommend this for clothing that you care about, but caution you to use as stated in the directions. In other words, don't be like me and spray a bunch on your clothes and let it sit for 30 minutes instead of 3 because you want it to work extra hard - you will just be playing yourself! Until next time...

Scared...

Hi Ladies!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and will enjoy the additional day off (assuming you get it)!

I wanted to check in quickly because I am scheduled to get a relaxer next week and I'm sure this sounds weird, but I'm actually scared that my hair didn't grow since my last relaxer. I'm sure you think I'm crazy considering we all know that for the most part everyone's hair grows, it's more so a matter of retaining length. So I don't really think that my hair didn't grow, but I don't think that I will see as much length this relaxer as did after my last relaxer.

I didn't change much in how I took care of my hair since my last relaxer, but before my last treatment, I could literally tell that my hair had grown because I would feel my hair on my shoulders and back in different places when I was washing it that I didn't feel before. This time, there doesn't seem to be much difference in the length. To make matters worse, I feel like I've been seeing more breakage during my wash days. I typically don't freak out about breakage because I think it's inevitable, but since I feel like there's been an increase, that definitely has me nervous.

I guess I'll see for sure on Friday, but as I visit some of my favorite hair blogs and look at progress pics, there are ladies who get and maintain every inch, after every relaxer, and that's certainly what I aspire to do. So, I'll keep you guys posted, but just needed to vent a little...

WOW! It has been so long

Hi friends! It has been so long since I posted that I don't know where to begin. I hope you all have had a fabulous summer and are ready for the quickly approaching fall (I can't believe how quickly the summer passed).

Although I haven't been blogging, I have been taking pictures of new hair products and other "stuff" that I want to share. I will post these random items and share my thoughts when I have a chance.

Just a quick hair update - I have been really busy with personal things, hence the long blog hiatus, and quite honestly this is going to continue through the end of the year. With that, I have been keeping it extremely simple with my hair. After my last relaxer, I enjoyed my hair for about 2 days and then it was  chaos. As most of you know, I exercise daily in the morning, so once I sweat my hair is done. As a result, I wore my hair in random creative, big styles (like the twist and curl in my profile pic) for about one month before I returned to braids and my wig. I have been wigging since and plan to do so until my relaxer on 9/9 @ 11 weeks.

Here is my most recent wig - I got her in June. I like the way she looks, but she sheds A TON and I don't like that at all.

I have been experimenting quite a bit with how to care for my hair...ok, not that much, but it feels like it since I've been changing things up. To start, since I sweat daily and my hair is already super dry, I actually started rinsing my hair in the shower daily. Since my hair is braided, I just let the water run over my braids, if I feel like it I'll add a little conditioner and let it sit while I do my thang, and then I'll rinse at the end (I guess you can say I co-wash). I wrap my head in a t-shirt to soak up the excess water while I get dressed and by the time I'm finished, my hair is just damp. At that point I'll seal with my oil mixture because I'm basically using the water in my hair as a moisturizer (not sure if that makes sense to you guys). I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and I could definitely tell the difference in my last wash day - it was waaay easier to manage my hair! 

I decided to give this method a try because I haven't had much success finding a moisturizer that I like and that actually works, and I've read about a lot of naturals using good ol' water to moisturize their hair! Again, for my new readers, I was natural up until my texturizer 1 year ago, but my hair is still very similar to how it was when it was natural.

Ok - this update turned out waaay longer than planned, so I'm going to wrap it up and plan to come back soon!

One Lovely Blog Award

The beautiful Jeni form Just Grow Already has awarded me the One Lovely Blog Award (unfortunately I'm not saavy enough to know how to include the image in this post...SMH...how old am I?). Thank you Jeni!!!

In accepting, I must share 7 things about myself and pass this on to 15 fellow bloggers!

1. I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes
2. I'm sort of a health & fitness nut, so I workout daily and basically only drink water (~96+ oz per day)
3. I once did an online commercial for my company
4. Although natural, sneezing is really gross to me and freaks me out because of all of the germs that are released (I'm a germaphobe)
5. I am the youngest of 3 (I have a sister and a brother)
6. My sister's wedding was featured on Essence.com in the Bridal Bliss section
7. I am an Alpha Kappa Alpha woman!

Other Lovely Bloggers...

6 Foot Long Hair

Blutiful Blaq Hair

The other lovely bloggers I follow have already been tagged, so be sure to check out their responses!

APL by 12/31/12?

My sister and I embarked on our hair journey together beginning in March 2011. As expected, we have stalked followed other women on their journeys and paid particular attention to those who started around the same time that we did. Although this is not a competition, my sister and I have noticed that we have not experienced as much length as our counterparts (here are a few examples: She started around Feb '11, She started around June '11, and the list goes on).

I refuse to believe that either of us are slow growers - at worse we are likely average (thank God we have never had trouble growing our hair, we've both gotten short hair cuts on a number of occassions and grown back to SL within a little over a year), BUT I think our stylists may be trimming cutting our hair too much and too often. We go to different salons, but my sister mentioned being frustrated about the frequency of "trims" that she seems to get on a MONTHLY basis. How can you expect to see the fruits of your labor if you're constantly trimming? I can even see dusting frequently, but all out trims negate length retention. Since I went back to relaxing, I get my hair trimmed with each relaxer (3-4 months), but I did notice that my last trim seemed to take off at least an inch or more in some sections.

So how do we fix this? While doing an impromptu length check today, my sister noticed that she has a section that's close to APL, so she thinks she can get there by December. Of course I jumped on the bandwagon! We decided that we are going to hold off on getting trims through the end of the year. I feel like this is a bit drastic and I'm REALLY nervous because if there is one thing that turns my stomach more, it's seeing some long, straggly, thin, ends with a smiling face next to it claiming APL, BSL, etc. - not cute, at all! But, in all honesty, at this point I protective style 100% of the time, M&S daily, wash weekly, and use direct heat on relaxer days only (4X/ year) so in theory there is no reason for me to have bad ends. After my June relaxer I was planning to wear my hair out over the summer, but if I'm trying not to trim, I may just keep it wigged up to avoid needing a trim.

Anyway, the point is, although it's best to focus on health before length, we had the health part down pre-journey, so we're long overdue for length! I guess we'll see how this turns out in December! HHG.

Happy 1 Year Hairversary

I can't believe it's been one year already, but it's true friends. I started this journey 1 year ago today and feel like I have barely scratched the surface.

It's interesting how much things can change in one year. This whole thing started when I searched online for natural hairstyle options and after one click lead to another, I landed on Ms. Kibibi's site. The rest is history. 

The interesting thing about this as well is that I started this journey natural. Just in case you haven't read my hair story (which is pretty lengthy, so I would likely skip it too), I got my first relaxer at 2 and in 2009 decided that I wanted to go natural. I stopped getting relaxers and was 100% natural after about a year and a half. I liked that I didn't have any chemical in my hair, but because I exercise daily and like straight hair, the two were a recipe for disaster. After starting my hair journey and seeing all of the gorgeous relaxed heads, I decided that I could have a nice head of relaxed hair that was long too (I was one of those people who thought that letting go of the chemicals would result in longer hair...not in my case).

So to make a long story short, following are some of the takeaways from my first year:

1. I can actually do my own hair! It's still a struggle, but I'm much more comfortable with handling my hair myself than I was one year ago (you couldn't pay me to do it)
2. My hair likes to be wet when being manipulated - it's more pliable
3. I don't have to saturate my hair in oils in order to moisturize it
4. Coconut oil is my friend
5. This is a journey...

I definitely underestimated how much work and PATIENCE required on this journey. However, I'm glad I decided to embark upon it and hope that next year's update is more exciting, including longer length!

HHJ

Rusk Hair Products

Hi ladies - happy Friday!

Quick random post - so I'm actually in Houston, TX this weekend for a conference. I don't know anyone here, so I decided to hang in the lobby/ bar area and meet some of the attendees. So myself and about four other women with beautiful hair were sitting in the lobby and a woman approached us from Rusk Hair products and said that Rusk was in town doing a hair event and wanted to know if we would be interested in modeling for the show. I think she also mentioned something about a hair cut - so not happening!

Anyway, we all declined the invitation because the weekend is jammed packed (each day legitimately begins at 7:00 AM and goes until 9:00 at a minimum...need I say more?), but me being secretly obsessed with all things hair, I wanted to inquire about this hair event and understand more about exactly what was taking place. But alas - I'm away for business, so gotta stay focused!

Also...super, extra random, there was a guy with the rep who asked us to model and he looked weirdly familiar, but not as if I knew him personally. Anyway, I think the guy was from Chris Rock's movie Good Hair. He was the chocolate coach with long dreads who worked with the girl who cut hair upside down in the Bronner Brothers hair show. Do you remember what I'm talking about?

So Ready for my Relaxer

Next week this time I will be writing a relaxer update post and I can't wait! I am sort of torn when it comes to wearing my wig and keeping my hair braided because it's a great style for low maintenance and manipulation, but I actually think I'm tired of it. I'm tired of walking around the house looking like a mix between a furby and a WNBA player. It's just not cute.

So I'm happy that I'll get a relaxer and wear my hair out for a few weeks (although I'll still wear my wig to work during the week). I am planning to continue my wig regimen through my June relaxer, and then wear my hair out for the summer.

I think the reality for me is that I still dread don't enjoy doing my hair because it's really time consuming and difficult to manage. So if I stick to my wig, then I don't have to deal with it. Perhaps things will be a little easier when I start doing it again because I'll have a little more experience under my belt from last year. We'll see...

ORS Herbal Cleanse

So ladies - I went ahead and tried it. I purchased ORS Herbal Cleanse and dry shampooed my hair. This stuff is basically just alcohol with a few essential oils (lavender and basil). The consistency is similar to hand sanitizer (it's basically a gel in the bottle, but when applied, it turns into a liquid). I followed the instructions and applied a generous amount to my scalp, let it sit for a little over a minute, and then took a warm, damp cloth and wiped it off of my scalp. 

It was nice to feel like I was cleaning my scalp, but I definitely miss running water through my hair and cleaning my hair and scalp by lathering shampoo. I didn't add any oil to my scalp right away because I like to let my scalp breathe for a bit before slathering stuff on it again. BUT - my scalp itched quite a bit after I used this. I'm not sure if it's because it dried my scalp out a little, but I definitely had heightened itching. 

In addition to cleaning your scalp, you can also apply a generous amount of this to your actual braids, cover your head with a warm, damp towel for a few minutes, and then wipe your braids off to remove the residue. I would like to try this, but because the primary ingredient in the cleanse is alcohol, I'm not sure if it will be a bit too drying for my hair. 

Overall, I think I will use this again in order to avoid washing my braids with water, and hopefully minimize the potential for tangling.

How Long Did it Take?

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I have been thinking recently - with my length check impending on my one year hair anniversary, I'm not really getting my hopes up for long, lucious, locks...I just don't see it. I'm trying to keep a level mind because the reality is, I know my hair has grown since last year. However, when my sister and I first started our journey, we were all pumped (as most newbies are) and had LOFTY goals!

We were thinking that because we both had shoulder length hair already, it would be reasonable to hit full shoulder length within 6 months (i.e. September of 2011) and then be on our way to APL (arm pit length) by our one year mark. Point. Blank. Period!

Well fast forward to today: my sister has struggled with her hair journey and is trying to get back on board, and I have been very committed, but a little curious about whether or not all of this M&S'ing, and wig wearing have paid off?

So that brings me to the point of this post...how long did it take you lovely ladies to see some real progress? As I continue to read different blogs, etc. it seems to take about two years for the length to start kicking in strong for many people. That's just my observation, but I could be psyching myself out to try and feel better, lol. Anyway, I'm committed regardless, but I want to know when the fruit of my labor will be apparent?

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday! Shout out to all of the Aquarian's and those who have birthdays during February :-)

SOOOO Excited!!!!!

One of my closest friends got engaged in July 2011 and she just set the date for her wedding. She will be getting married in December 2012 in SOUTH AFRICA!!!!!!!

So just to give a little background - my girl and I have been friends for more than 20 years. We went to school together until we were 13, which is when she moved to South Africa with her family. Her mother is South African and her father is American. She attended high school in South Africa and returned to the US for college. During the time she was in South Africa, we maintained our friendship, writing letters to each other (you can tell this was a long time ago...letters vs. e-mail and Skype...really? lol). We would also see each other during the summer when she would come to the US. 

Long story short, when she came back for college, we picked up where we left off. We interned together for a few summers while in college and literally had the BEST summers ever - doing everything from eating lunch together daily, to shopping, and partying (I'm so reliving one of those summers in my head right now). A few years later, she lived in NYC and I lived about 45 minutes away in Connecticut so we would get together on the weekend and live it up! 

When she first got engaged, I knew there was a good chance that the wedding would be in South Africa because she and her fiance moved back there in July. Her fiance is Kenyan, so there was a good chance that there would be a ceremony in South Africa and one in Kenya. So far she has only confirmed the one in South Africa, so I have marked my calendar for two weeks and I cannot be more excited. Our mother's are very close friends and her family has been inviting/ demanding (with love of course) us to come visit since we were 13, so this trip is waaayyy overdue!

So when she confirmed the date for me, you can only guess the second thing I did after we spoke about colors, and looked at a few bridesmaids dresses? Started planning my relaxer schedule for the entire year so that I will be two weeks post on the day of the wedding! I had to alter my relaxer calendar a little, but overall I have it set. It may have to change slightly depending on whether or not I get some tracks added.

Although I would love to have hair significantly longer than what she's ever seen me with, or I've ever had (i.e. APL), I don't want to set ambitious length goals and over stress the whole situation. So I'm just going to continue on my hair journey and hope that my hair is healthy and beautiful on her special day!

I'll keep you guys posted on the planning and other fun details as they arise!

Lesson Learned!

I guess it's not called a hair journey for nothing.

I went to my hairdresser to get my oil + steam treatment, shampoo, etc. and hair re-braided. In preparation for the visit I decided to take my cornrows out myself so that I could do a little detangling and release the shed hairs since my hair has been braided for 4 weeks.

I wanted to take my braids out myself as an experiment to see if it would reduce the amount of tangling that I have when I get my hair braided at the salon (I don't have a lot of tangling, but I don't want any!). The long and short of the story is, when I go to the salon, my stylist does not comb my hair, at all. Which is a good thing for the most part, but by not combing my hair and depending on the shampoo and finger combing to get the shed hairs out, I wonder if she's getting them all? Any shed hair left in my head hangs onto the "good" hair and creates knots. So that's why I'm trying to experiment on what the best approach is - me detangling at home first, or going to the salon and following her process.

I'm glad I decided to do my hair myself because I learned a few lessons:

1. My hair is DRY! Don't ask my how/ why because this was baffling to me. I did not M&S before taking out my hair, but I would think the fact that I do heavy M&Sing on a daily basis would mean something? Not so much. The only part of my hair that wasn't dry were the end of my braids and back of my hair where the oil collects (gravity at work), and the part closest to the root because I oil my scalp daily. I mentioned in an earlier post that I didn't love the moisturizer that I was using and this just confirmed that I need to find a new one because it's not moisturizing anything!
2. Aloe Vera Juice (AVJ) did not save the day for me. I have heard so many great things about AVJ so I was really excited to use it during this process. I have been mixing AVJ with African Braid Spray and using this as my daily moisturizer. When I started using this mix, I assumed it was the African Braid Spray that was throwing the moisture off, but after using AVJ by itself yesterday to try to detangle, I noticed that this is what's making my hair feel weird and dry after I use the moisturizer. I will give the AVJ another try just to make sure that I'm correct, but I think I may have to write this off once I finish using what I have.
3. My hair NEEDS to be damp when detangling. I NEVER detangle my hair when it's dry, so why did I think it was a good idea this time? Instead of a light bulb going off in my head to empty the spray bottle of AVJ and add water instead to help detangle my hair, I decided to try the AVJ for two braids, slap on some Amla & Olive Heavy Cream, spray some grapeseed oil and hope that somewhere along the way my hair would soften up enough to successfully comb out - EPIC FAIL! By the time I got to the last two braids, I sprayed my hair with water to dampen it and the comb just glided through. 
4. I think I may have caused some breakage by combing my hair while dry. Initially I was only seeing shed hair which is to be expected. But by the last few braids, I started seeing breakage, but I think that's because my hair was bone dry and I was trying to comb it out. After I dampened my hair, there were no more small pieces. I hope I don't pay for this mishap by having to get a deeper trim in April when I relax again.
5. When I actually got my hair done, the proof was in the pudding...my stylist has such a hard time braiding my hair because it was so tangled! She had to work A LOT harder than usual to braid my hair. 

So the key takeaways are that I MUST find a better moisturizer to use with my braids and I will not be "detangling" my hair again at home before getting it done. The most I will do is unbraid my hair, but no combing. I caused more harm than good in the end. I wouldn't have known the outcome had I not tried it, but lesson learned!