Need to Restock

I started taking care of my hair myself in July (in terms of washing, conditioning, etc.). I was able to last until last week without needing to purchase any additional product, but now it seems I'm out of everything! I need:

1. Phytosesame Express Hydrating Conditioner 
2. Phytomist Instant Hydrating Conditioner (I love this stuff - it's my leave in and I have actually been using this to moisturize daily while wearing my wig since it's a liquid and easier to penetrate braids)
3. Huile d'Ales Pre Shampoo Intense Hydrating Oil Treatment (I use this for my oil treatments)
4. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (EVCO), this was the first product I purchased in March when I first learned about length retention and started my hair journey

I'm actually a little excited that I'm out of EVCO because now I'll try some of the other oils that I've been curious to try as a sealer. I have an unopened bottle of grapeseed oil, which I was inspired to purchased based on the beautiful locks of Just Grow Already who swears by it, and jojoba oil based on Ms. Kibibi. I am excited to experience both of these and hopefully add additional oils to my options.

I would like to restock on these items this Saturday because it is Small Business Saturday, which is a day to support small businesses. There is a lovely little posh, beauty boutique in my neighborhood that sells basically the entire Phyto line, so I can certainly get everything at once. Also, American Express is offering $25 when you support a small business on Saturday, so I'll get some money off of my purchase, which is always a good thing!

Random

Here is a picture of the front of my hair that I took from the car to text my sister...lol! We started our hair journey together so she was anxiously awaiting my results. I thought it might be fun to share on the blog since I don't have any front shots of my hair.

First Length Check: Relaxer Results

So I just returned from the salon for my much anticipated relaxer (I was actually nervous before I went - not really sure why?).

I had my stylist just flat iron my hair straight because I plan to jump right back into my wig tomorrow and wear my hair cross wrapped underneath. So here are the results (sorry for the poor quality - I still don't have a camera, so these are taken with my phone):

11.2011 Relaxer & Trim

11.2011 Relaxer & Trim

It's hard to get a sense of the growth because the damn lines on my shirt start at like APL! I think I'm going to get another shirt starting my next length check. You can check out my starting pictures here.

So regarding my actual hair appointment - everything went well for the most part. My hair has been in cornrows for the last 4 weeks since I've been wearing Mina. I got a steam treatment and a trim. My trim isn't actually jacked up although it may seem so from the photos - my BF took these and wasn't in the mood to have a photo shoot, lol! 

I don't think my stylist trimmed any more than normal, although she made a comment that I shouldn't wait as long between trims next time, which leads me to believe that she may have actually cut more than normal. Whatever the case, I decided that I really want my future long hair to look just as full and thick as my current length hair, so I'm committed to trimming with every relaxer and patiently working toward my goal.

I feel ok about my hair right now. This is the length that my hair has been most of my life (I got it cut into a bob one year ago), so it's funny because I almost feel like now is the start of my hair journey since anything significantly beyond this will be unchartered territory for me.

I usually relax every 12 weeks, but I'm thinking I will actually wait until the end of March 2012 for my next relaxer because:

1. I'm planning to wear my wig through the winter in order to keep my hair protected, which means I'll be in corn rows
2. If I go until the end of March, I'll only be adding another 6 weeks
3. The end of March marks my 1 year hair journey, so I thought it may be kind of fun to get a relaxer and have my next length check then

So that's my story for now! I'm not really sure if what I'm doing is or isn't working, but I guess time will tell!

Almost Relaxer Time!

Hi All! Hope your weekend went well and that you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep (for those who observe DST). I have been crazy busy lately with some personal matters which have required me to travel (away last weekend, this weekend, and part of the end of this coming week).

I scheduled an appointment to get my texturizer today, but ended up canceling because I have to get caught up on my life, lol! So I rescheduled to two weeks from now which will put me at 14 weeks post (that's also the week of Thanksgiving so I may wear my hair out since it's been a while). I would actually consider waiting longer for my relaxer because my hair is currently cornrowed, but I would like to get on a schedule of every 12 weeks. I don't really have a compelling reason to relax every 12 weeks except that's how often I used to relax before I went natural and it seemed to work for my hair. I think moving forward I'll take it on a case by case basis. I think the longest I would consider going between relaxers is 16 weeks which would put me at 3 relaxers and trims per year (I trim with each relaxer).

When I do relax, I'm planning to wear my hair straight so that I can do a length check with my t-shirt. I'm uuuubbbeerr nervous about the length check because I'm scared that I won't have much progress since the one I did in June. But I need to mentally prepare myself that even if I haven't grown as much as I would like, something is better than nothing and as mentioned before, what's the rush?

How Do You Know What's Working?

I often think about this question regarding my hair. As I try different items to improve my hair health and influence my hair growth, I often wonder is it working?

For example, I have been taking hair vitamins for the last year that I actually do think work. You may remember from an earlier post last month when I spoke about hair growth that I couldn't explain - I thought it may have been related to the fact that I was eating way more protein (two hard boiled eggs for breakfast daily), or the B-complex I started taking for better brain function, or the Bamboo Leaf Tea that I started drinking for the ceramide benefit. I say all this to say, although I'm adding one new item at a time, it's hard to tell what's working well and what's not?

I guess if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'll keep doing what I'm doing until I have reason to stop!

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...