Hey Hey,

Just coming on here to do a super quick post on a little founding I made today!

Please watch this video... I can definitely say its helped me in my current hair health and growth Journey.

-Kisses

p.s. YES she is NATURAL/ has VIRGIN hair - Hair free from CHEMICAL relaxers.

Mini Twistin' , Protective Stylin'

MINI TWISTIN' , PROTECTIVE STYLIN'

Hey hey, 

As you can gather from my last post, I am on a healthy hair/ hair growth challenge and so all day today, I thought I'd try being a tad productive and make a list of all the things I need to bare in mind if I hope to be at all successful!

Off to youtube I went (as we all do whenever and if ever we need an answer to any mind-boggling natural hair question). I stumbled upon a video by a youtuber who goes by the username of "shlinda1" called "My Healthy Hair Care Tips for 2013 and Length Retention". Now, before I begin to comment on this video, I need to disclaim that YES her hair is TEXLAXED and YES I do realise that this blog is for NATURAL hair-ers(?) HOWEVER, all -  apart from one of her points, can be applied to both relaxed and natural hair!.. One point that REALLY stuck to me was her point on PROTECTIVE HAIR STYLES.

When I first made the conscious decision to go natural, I was the protective hair styling Queen! My hair was hardly everrr out and my ends were forever tucked into something! Now, I've got to admit that this was HUGELY because of the fact that whilst I was transitioning, I absolutely HATED having to deal with the two textures of my hair; The Natural-regrowth area, and the been relaxed area. This was because I just felt that these two areas were asking two completely different things from me - my natural hair was forever in need of moisture and my relaxed, in need of protein.. ANYHOW, I opted for protective hair styles to disguise this problem.

I literally alternated between chunky braids and jumbo twists throughout the 8months in transition- both, using hair extentions. My ends were tucked away and I was hardly manipulating my hair.

My hair barely saw the light of day. I would clean my scalp moisturise and oil up the braids/twists and leave my hair the heck alone. I did this until one day I think I errr snapped and just got rid of my relaxed ends. Enough was enough!

Please excuse the lighting in this pic. I filmed my whole entire  two-days big chop experience and simply forgot to adjust my blinds in my room!

Despite my utter dedication to protective hair styling before my big chop, since Ive been 100% natural I have I have made little to no effort in continuing to do so. I have done a total of three protective hair styles in ONE YEAR and FIVE MONTHS. AND to make matters worse, I only managed to make each style last no more than two weeks!

Sooo... I have decided to go back to the begining with this natural hair stuff and totally BANG out protective hair styles!

After the disgusting failure of my recent twist out endeavour, I thought, well theres no time like the present, so, I mastered myself some.. 

...MINI-TWISTS!! 

(with some added help of hair extentions for those oh-so-precious hair tips!)

**sidenote**
[Looking after your ends and being extra care in their manipulation helps in hair length retention. This as, being the eldest parts of our hair, our tips are more prone to breakage. What happens to most afro hair is that the tips are being neglected and so just.. falk off. We have to remember that because our hair is curly, it takes longer for the natural oils from the scalp to reach and then nourish our tips. Thata why it is important to manually apply natural oils unto our tips and do so carefully. Its also the reason why it takes longer for our hair to get greasy hence the long periods between wash dates.. those natural oils from our scalp take too dam long! Both blessings and a curse!]

For this style:

I simply two stranded my hair into fairly small twists. I did not feel the need to re-moisturise my strands as I had already done so for my twist-our failure

I then grabbed my favourite turn-to afro textured extentions, grabbed two dread sections at a time and twisted them together. 

When I was done with this step I was left with 15 faux twists. I then split this to the ratio of 8:7 and put a metal-less hairband through each bundle of faux twists. I coated the faux twists with some good ol' Extra Virgin Olive Oil so that they were not too drying on my natural hair. Our natural hair is in constant need of moisture and most things become a threat to this moisture when in direct proximity of our hair!

For the next step, I parted my hair down the middle to create two sections of m mini twists. I then attached and secured a bundle of faux twists to each section using the metal-less hairbands that I put through each bundle. I twisted each section down, making sure my own mini twists were secured within the twists then twisted each section around itself to create a bun

AND VOILA.... MINI TWISTS GALORE!

**After Care**

I will TRY to take out my faux twists and moisturise then seal my mini twists every night before I place on my satin scarf and go to bed. I am finding that my hair is not soaking up all the moisture every night and that when I take out the faux twists my mini twists are moisturised to high heavens! I will make sure I look into it but for now I am only having to moisturise my mini twists every 3days.

-Kisses

**NEW CHALLENGE ALERT**


Hey hey,
Its Zee here. I wanted to announce my healthy hair/ hair growth challenge that I have decided to take part in as of today (13th March 2013).

1st thing is first: My current hair length is just under APL (Armpit Length)

                        This here is my NATURAL hair, freshly straightened with a straightener.


I am giving myself 6months from today to reach BSL (Bra-strap Length) - the length my hair was just before my big chop after transitioning for 8months:

This here is my RELAXED hair freshly straightened with a straightener.

The reason I have decided to go on this challenge is because of the CRAZY level of breakage and shedding that I have been experiencing as of late. Without even touching my hair, these little curls just fall (below).

Imagine this times 20! (no exaggeration!!) Its slightly worrying. The fact that its so constant is more than alarming. YES I am aware that light shedding of the hair is perfectly healthy but with what I am experiencing, I genuinely fear that I may go Bald! and seriously, its no wonder! last year alone, I think my hair went through 5 make shift colouring and highlighting: From Redish-Brown to Chestnut-ginger to God-only-knows-what-mix to blond and then back to black.

So yaaa.... I'm retiring lol. To get me started I thought why not actually decide on a couple staple products for a .... wait for it, ...... 

HAIR REGIMENT!!!

LOL

I have never everrrr everrrr had one. Seriously since going natural the only thing my hair has regularly seen from time to time is my trusted Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some good ol' H20. Sure I've run into a couple of hair products here and there but as far as an actual strict-ish regiment goes, I have none...and so I thought that would be a good place to start. My scalp/hair has been soo good to me in that it hardly ever gets dirty so my wash routine has always been once a month or twice a month in the months where I would go product crazy and experiment on a few. I do however feel as though this routine is likely to change just because I know that having a regiment consists of applying actual products on a regular basis on to my hair, which of course will cause product build-up and then consequently mean I would need to wash my hair much more frequent than I currently do... Well that's my theory on it anyway, but I shall update this blog if that's not the case and I am still only having to wash my hair once a month :).

Anyhow... Moving on to the line I have chosen to use for my brand new regiment is the KeraCare by Avlon. 

1. Intensive Restorative Masque - £15.99 - PAKS hair shop (for monthly deep conditioning)
2. Humecto Creme Conditioner - £12.99 - PAKS hair shop (for whenever my hair needs a wash)
3. Butter Cream - £8.69 - PAKS hair shop (for whenever my hair is in need of moisture and for twist outs etc)
4. High Sheen Glossifier - £5.49 - PAKS hair shop - for sheen on glamorous - going out hairstyles.

AND of course my bestie Extra-Virgin Olive Oil will forever be in the mix for sealing and what not.

Also I wanted to put in there that I will be choosing an alternative bunch of products to alternative with my KeraCare ones just so my hair doesn't become too accustomed to the properties in them to the point that they lose their effectiveness on my hair! (Wow what I bloody mouthful, I know!) Hopefully I will have the monies to afford the Moroccan Oil line. FYI I am fully aware that both lines are on the pricier side of things but I personally have been feeling as though I owed it to myself to invest in a good hair regiment. However I do maintain that you could probably achieve the same results with cheaper substitutes, hell, I've done so for the last year and 5months! 

Lastly, below are some pics I took today to kind-a explain to you what the application process was for me and how I "plan" for it to be in the next 6 months on this hair challenge towards BSL

I will make sure to do a 3month (halfway point) update to see what, if any, progress I have!

-Kisses

To begin with I sprayed my hair lightly with water and then I just HAD to apply this AMAZEBALLS hair masque to put back all the moisture lost from the last 2weeks of having straightened hair! This is because, as most of you know, straightened hair + moisture = revert aka TOTAL WASTE OF TIME STRAIGHTENING THE DAMNED THING IN THE 1ST PLACE :/
After applying the mask I put on a generous layer of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and detangled using... MY HANDS (Yes I forgot to say that I will be giving up combs an brushes during this challenge as the breakage caused to my hair from these tools is a mother...)
I then twisted, pinned up my hair then placed a plastic cap over my hair for 3hours. On the tub it does say to sit with the masque for 30mins but the LAWD knows I needed more time... my hair needed more time! - All together, I had 4 sections.

I then washed out the masque using this conditioner. Just so you guys know, I do not use shampoos UNLESS I am about to apply some major heat unto my hair - which in that case I use the Tresemme Thermal Recovery shampoo and conditioner (both  -£5.49 - Superdrug - for 750ml) and the Tresemme Keratin smooth Heat Protectant spray. I don't plan on using heat on my hair during this challenge as, as you can see from the picture above, I have some major heat damage as a result of many months of abusing heat WITHOUT using heat styling tools such as a heat protectants during the early months of my natural hair journey.

I just wanted to take some time to show you guys the TWO textures of hair that I have to deal with day in and day out despite having 100% natural hair. On the left side of the picture is how my hair is from the middle of my head to the front (3b-c). On the right side of the picture is how my hair is from the middle of my head to the back (4a-b). I can safely say this is an on going struggle for me! I CANNOT do a good looking wash and go to save my life. the shrinkage I get at the back of my head is UNREAL!

Lastly, after blotting my hair to 60% dry with an old t-shirt of mine (to avoid unnecessary frizz caused my towels). I then parted four sections within the four sections I already had when conditioning my hair, applied the butter creme to those sections, sealed with the glossifier, then two-strand twisted it. After doing so I would bundle the four two-strand twists from each of the four big sections, twist then bantu knot them all in one and secure with a bobby pin (I hope that was even REMOTELY understandable LOL! Before I go to bed, I will place my satin scarf on and then I will untwist all the two-strands in the morning before I go to work for a twist out do. This process will be my standard monthly regimen for the next 6months. WISH ME LUCK... also for those of you who are on challenges of your own, sharing is caring(?) looooool... something like that

**[For a more detailed review of these products, please click on the link below]**

http://thatfrochick.blogspot.co.uk/p/challenges.html