Hair Pictures!! After trimming off the Permed hair!

This is my hair after taking it down from corn rows. I just put a deep conditioner in it. (Avacado, Mayonaise, coconut oil, and some yalang-yalang essential oil)

I'm back

Wow. A lot has happened since my last post.

I've moved to London and started studying at the University of Westminster. (Contemporary Media Practice) The program is fantastic.

That said, It's definitely been a transition for my hair.

It rains a lot in London, which is something that i am not used to in Toronto, and it also seems to stay around the same temperatures all year long. So I'm attempting to find a way to control and continue to grow my hair in my new climate.

I finally transitioned fully and chopped off my permed ends. I decided to do it when i moved into my new flat. I've been wearing a wig for the last 3 months, and before that I was natural.

The summer was difficult on my hair because I was swimming on a daily basis. I always wear a swim cap but the chlorine definitely managed to find it's way into the cap. As a result i would be co-washing my hair daily throughout the summer.

From one extreme to another, I began wearing a wig when i moved to London. Mainly because I didn't have the patience to keep up with my hair care given my situation when i first arrived. I had a lot to sort out prior to the start of school.

The wig however has been wreaking havoc on my hairline. on the two areas just above the arches of my eyebrows my hair has been thinning out. I believe it is due to the clips on the lacefront wig.

I've stopped clipping the wig to my hair and I am trying to take more care, but I'm not really sure what I'm going to do about this problem.

Other than that my hair has been doing well. I was hennaing my hair regularly throughout the summer, but i haven't at all since being in England. I probably will when i go home for Christmas (I'll be home for a month).

I've been conditioning my hair regularly (but not deep conditioning unfortunately).

Everything has changed in my hair routine and I'm just trying to keep things together.

I'll post some pictures of my natural hair. It's the first time I've had a head full of completely natural hair in ages.

Feels great.

July Length Check!

FINALLY. I have been so ridiculously busy it's taken me (God knows how many) months to update the blog with a length check!

The following are pictures of new growth as well as permed hair. 12, July 2009.This is the centre of my head. It measures at 10" in length, and 4 1/4" of au naturale hair. (2 1/2 of an inch in growth)Nape of my neck. It measures at 3 3/4" in au naturale hair.

(1 inch in growth)

This is the front of my head (hairline area). It measures at just over 3 3/4" in length. All au naturale hair.

(just over 1 1/4 inches in new growth)This is the side of my head. It's 3 3/4" in Length all in au naturale hair.

(just over 1 1/4 inches in new growth)My Hair line.

June Update

It's already June and I've been neglecting this blog... and my hair :s

To date I've done 2 henna treatments which have turned out wonderfully. I haven't been deep conditioning my hair every week, although I did yesterday. My hair has grown a lot, and has thickened a lot (if that's possible). It looks great, but I honestly haven't been caring for it the way i should be. No adverse effects have really been happening from what i can notice anyway. Anyway, I'm gonna do a length check as soon as I can. (some time this week) and post the pictures up. My pony's noticeably thicker and longer. It's pretty exciting!

xox

Update

Wow, I haven't been on here in AGES! So I missed my 3rd hair length check, so I'm gonna wait till may and do a combined two month one. My hair has grown ALOT. I'm really impressed with my progress i must say. I'm glad I'm keeping this blog so i can look back on the things I've done to get me to where i am now.

I haven't been deep conditioning every weekend, cause i ran out of conditioner while at Uni and there were no affordable black hair stores in the area. I also haven't been washing my hair regularly (everyday like i used to). I've been VERY naughty.

Anyway, i just needed to blog to remind myself of what i'm doing, and to get excited about my hair again. woo hoo. Will update soon with pictures of my length check. I'm still very pleased with my henna results. I'm thinking the next henna I do i'll video record and upload.

- peace and love

My Henna Hair Treatment

Oh. My. God.

I thought I knew soft hair when I started conditioning regularly... but I clearly didn't know from soft hair.

So I decided to do my first Henna hair treatment last week Wednesday (8th). I had purchased henna online from E-bay from a place in Vancouver (I could avoid international shipping). I was a bit nervous because I had never heard of anyone using their product on the hair care forums etc. So I took the plunge, 'cause the henna was reasonably priced. I bought 3 packs of 250g (each) Atul Herbal Henna.

It claims to be all natural henna and the only thing added to it are Amla, Katha and Shikakai herbs. (I looked them all up and they are all supposedly great for hair... I've also heard of naturals that added the above herbs to their henna separately).

So I boiled some green tea, and added it to the bag of henna. I mixed in a tiny bit of suave strawberry hair conditioner, some olive oil, some coconut oil a bit of sea salt, red wine vinegar (I didn't have apple cider vinegar hee hee) and eventually a bit of brewed coffee (I wanted a chestnut red colour). I let it sit for about 2 hours to allow the dye to release.

I slathered that into my hair and left it on for about 4 hours. I was going to sleep in it, but i was too eager to see what my hair would look like. the process wasn't messy or anything, as I've read that i could be.

The most difficult part of the process is washing the henna out of the hair. I must have been in the shower for about 2 hours. i rinsed for about 30 mins. shampooed about 3 times. rinsed some more. Conditions etc... and there was still a bit of grains in my hair, but i left them in and figured I'd be washing my hair again in a day or two so id wait till then to wash it again properly.

Initially my hair was a reddish orange brown. Then it deepened to a rouge orange brown. Then it deepened to a rouge brown. And now finally it is a rouge chestnut colour and i LOVE it.

My hair is incredibly soft... i can't keep my hands out of it. It is noticeably thicker (if that's possible), definitely stronger and as mentioned previously... a heck of a lot softer. (and it's shiny too). I am a henna believer, and I can't wait to do my next treatment in a month. I'll post some pics up when I've got a bit more time.

- Thanks.

my hur

Length Check

The following are pictures of new growth as well as permed hair. 09, March 2009.

This is the centre of my head. It measures at 10" in length, and 2 3/4" of au naturale hair. (3/4th of an inch in growth)

Nape of my neck. It measures at 4 1/2" in length. 2 3/4" in au naturale hair.
(3/4th of an inch in growth)


This is the front of my head (hairline area). It measures at just over 2 1/2" in length. All au naturale hair.
(just over 1/2 inch in new growth)

This is the side of my head. It's still 2 1/2" in Length and 2" in au naturale hair.

(I don't think it grew at all, but it is thicker.)

I deep conditioned my hair on Saturday, and it in two french braids for the weekend. This is a full picture of my head to give you a sense of the growth and over all health of my hair so far. My hair feels stronger, softer and the curls are more defined. (i took some pictures of my hair after 4 days of not combing or brushing it. I've given my hair a trim (about 1/2'). I have noticed an exceedingly less amount of breakage of my permed hair since caring for my hair.

My Hair line.

I guess my next update is April 9th.

I've been slacking recently on the caring of my hair and sticking to my regimen. (condition 4 days a week, deep condition on weekend etc.) Well i have been deep conditioning, but i haven't been co-washing as often as i had planned to. I've just been too darn busy. Anyway, I'll try and get back into the swing of things, but my hair definitely felt different when i was co-washing daily.

Length Check coming up soon!

I'm really excited about my upcoming length check. I've been measuring recently, and the crown of my head has seen a lot of growth. but the back of my head and hairline haven't. I don't think anyway. I'm starting to think i cheated a bit on the first growth check. lol. I hope not. I guess the pictures will help me figure that out.

I think my Glycerine Soap bar made my hair Shinny!

So I'm going to retrace my steps.

Okay. So last week, I was so busy that I wasn't able to wash my hair for the entire week. Friday when I returned home I decided I had to make up for the neglect and deep condition my hair.

I used Elasta QP DPR 11 (I think I blogged about it in my last post).

It left my hair feeling very thick and healthy. Not necessarily soft, but definitely full and voluminous (as if I didn't have that feeling already), and just very strong. After this deep condition (that I mixed with Suave Naturals Conditioner - Strawberry), I messaged some Suave Natural Conditioner - Tropical Coconut on my hair and let it soak into the strands. I then finished with my regular ritual of Coconut oil and Shea butter.

While my hair was damp I plait it into cornrows and let it dry.

On Sunday (yesterday) I was bored so I decided to shampoo my hair. (I never shampoo after a deep condition, but I usually shampoo once a week, and I felt like I needed to, seeing as I was bored etc. So I took out the plaits and detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb and Kids Organics Shea butter detangler and moisturiser (smells so good). Once my hair was detangled I sectioned it off into 4 parts. I popped into the shower and proceeded to rinse, Shampoo and condition each section.

I risned, shampooed one section, rinsed, then conditioned it and braided it back with the conditioner still in the hair.

When I finished I rinsed all of the conditioner out and put some more in there, and had planned to leave the shower like that. Until I remembered that I had bought a glycerine and Vitamin E bar of soap from the market. So I thought. Hmmmm, I've heard good things about glycerine and hair on the forums, maybe I should try this.

So I took the bar of soap and started to rub it into my head (yes people. I did this). I messaged it into a nice soapy lather with the conditioner in there as well. And rinsed it out. My hair felt squeaky clean and very fragile so I took extra care to be gentle. I then proceeded to smear my hair with MORE conditioner lol. rinsed off my skin and got out of the shower. (with the conditioner still in there)

When I was out of shower I let my hair air dry a bit with the conditioner in there (as I always do) Then put some Coconut oil in the hair along with some Shea butter (natural organic of both). Rubbed it into my hair and made sure to coat the ends and the new growth. I then Plait my hair into cornrows again, and put some more coconut oil on my scalp and put a plastic bag over my head for an hour.

At the time my hair felt the way it always does after a shower so I didn't pay to much attention, or take notice of any great changes...

BUT TODAY! OH-MY-GAWWWWWWD!

I don't know if it was the glycerine, or If it was the bizarre routine that I did this weekend. But my hair is SOOOO SOFT, SOOOO SHINY, SOOO HEALTHY LOOKING.

My permed ends have never looked so Amazingly strong and healthy. They are soft and moisturised without any greasy feeling or any residue on the hands. The new growth is just has shiny and soft. It's just AMAZING. I don't know what to say, but I had to blog about it so that I can remember to try it again and see If I can achieve the same results.

I'm so Happy.

Lazy Week

So I'm back at uni after my 5 days off (of which I accomplished nada). I Didn't take care of my hair AT ALL this week. I had it in cornrows for the majority of the week, then i just had it out. I moisturized it one on Wednesday, but that's about it.

I bought the Elasta QP DPR-11 deep conditioner today as well as the organic kids shea butter moisturizer which both came highly recommended by Marand313. So I'll see how that goes. I've got the deep conditioner in my hair right now, have to go wash it out and go to bed. It's 7:30, but I'm SO tired, I was up so early this morning packing, raiding the fridge and getting ready to head back to school *yawn*.

Peace

SOO TIRED

This week has been so intense. I had a theses due, grad portfolio due and two mid terms coming up. I've been up working on my portfolio website and haven't slept in almost two day. I just got off a 3 hour bus ride from London to Toronto for reading week and I'm sitting here blogging. lol. Man i need to go to sleep.

Anyway, i thought I'd post an update on my hair.

So i've been deep conditioning every weekend and co-washing mon-thurs. My hair seems to be liking it. it's feeling soft and seems to be growing (ever so slowly).

Now that i'm in Toronto i'm goning to see if i can get the products on my wish list. woo hoo.

i need to stop stressing about my hair

Since I began this journey, (well I began it unwittingly back in June, but since I committed to going natural), I have become OBSESSED with hair care and reading up about hair care and forums etc.... and it couldn't have come at a worse time. I'm in my final year of uni, in the midst of midterm exams, essays and portfolios and here I am blogging about hair.

This is not good. lol.

i don't know my hair type...

I have no clue how hair typing works and or what the relevance of it is. Whenever I'm on a hair care forum everyone lets everyone else know what there hair type is. I understand that 1 is straight 2 is wavy etc. But I don't understand the 4a 4b 4c 4d etc. I know I'm in the 4 category, but where, every hair typing board explains and qualifies it differently. So how do I figure it out. Can anybody tell what hair type I have from these pictures? Is it that important? I assume it changes your regimen and your hair care needs slightly. Anyway, if anyone comes across this blog and happens to know or wants to weigh in, i'll be eternally greatful.

Also I did the strand test, and parts of my strand are coily and parts are S shaped, thats on one strand people. My hair is hella weird!

These pictures are all of freshly co-washed hair.

Fluffy Fros

natural hair and big chop documentary

my YouTube hair idols

Here are a few of my favourite Hair care vlogs on YouYube. Click on the picture to be taken to their YouTube page.

Macheriehair
I believe her hair is relaxed, but it's healthy and she provides a lot of great tips.

ItsMsHeatherNicole
Recently came across her vlog.

CrowofHisGlory
She provides a lot of hair styling tips.

RusticBeauty
She offers natural hair care tips and has been natural for 6 years.

Marand313
She definitely has my favourite vlog. She also maintains an informative blog. She gives great product tips, hair care tips, styling tips, how to videos etc. She is fantastic, and I love her hair.

a picture paints a thousand words

The following are pictures of new growth as well as permed hair. 09, February 2009.

This is the centre of my head. It measures at 10" in length, and 2" of au naturale hair.

Nape of my neck. It measures at 4 " in length. 2" in au naturale hair.

This is the front of my head (hairline area). It measures at 2" in length. All au naturale hair.

This is the side of my head. This measures at 2 1/2" in Length. 2" in au naturale hair.

My Hair after a haphazard two-strand twist out, pulled back in a bun. This is a full picture of my head to give you a sense of the hair damage. (This picture was taken the day after a deep condition.) The hair is very soft, and the new growth is healthy. However the lengths vary due to breakage.

My Hair line.

I'll try and do a monthly picture update on the same day to give people a sense of the direction my hair is taking. Anyway, as you can see from the pictures my hair is in serious need of some TLC. You can also see why I'm considering the big chop. Because of the extreme breakage in the from of my hair, and varied lengths throughout my crown. There are really no styles that i can wear it in, except brushed into a bun. I usually wear my hair in one, or cornrow the hair and where the lacefront wig with a band around the front to secure it.