Hot oil treatment+Wash day

Tonight I'm gonna do my first ever hot oil treatment.

Ok its unbelievable right? I should have been incorporating this step for my hair a long time ago.

So I headed off to google to find out exactly how its done. It seems like there is nothing really to it, all you need to do is:

• get your favorite oil
• heat it up in the microwave till its warm enough
• put some in your hands and work through the hair (don't ever put it directly on your hair)
• put on a plastic cap and wrap a warm towel around your head and let it sit for maybe 20- 45 mins (I like 45 mins better), if you are using heat then I'm guessing you wouldn't need the warm towel just use a hooded dryer

 In my mixture I used EV olive oil, coconut oil and a little shea butter (kinda looks nasty lol)

After I do this I'm going to do a co-wash and then do my weekly deep condition..

oh that reminds me..I just bought some ORS Replenishing Conditioner, it's just the bottled version of the Replenishing Pak I regularly use when I'm in the US. This is what I will use as my deep conditioner tonight.

I also got the VO5 moisture milks that people on youtube seem to love.

I think I'm slowly becoming a product junkie, but I'm sort of still a newbie to this hair stuff and still trying to figure out what my hair likes....so don't judge me :D

Lets see how my hot oil treatment goes!



Thanks for reading!

I've become a recipe maker!

Hey!

Now I may not be a pro at this hair stuff yet but I think I have become a little versed in what products should go in my hair.

I am now totally out of my main staple products. My ORS hair lotion, my HE long term relationship and my carrot oil are finished. :( I do not have any deep conditioner that doesn't have protein either. Obviously the hair store needs to see me.

So last night I decided to make my own deep conditioner out of what I had left. Before you think "eww  that sounds nasty", consider all the benefits in my concoction.

Here are my ingredients:

yogurt
extra virgin olive oil
coconut oil
the last of my carrot oil
avocado oil
aloe vera juice
mayonnaise
moisture max hair mayonnaise
VO5 moisturizing conditioner

I slept with the mixture on my hair with a plastic cap, then I did a co-wash in the morning and added the last of my leave-ins.

My hair feels so strong, it's awesome! I have combed my hair out after I air dried and maybe 3 strands of hair came out.
That's really good in my eyes!

Thanks for reading.

The good part of the Journey and a little ancient wisdom

So today, while doing my regular routine of moisturizing and sealing, I began to think about the immense changes that have been taking place with my hair.

• My hair is now thicker :)
• It's a little longer (Yep...but I'm not where I wanna be just yet)
• my hair isn't so fragile anymore (when I just started my journey I was afraid to touch my hair because it would just break off as soon as my fingers came in contact with it)                                   

New growth is now an exciting thing and no longer a bother. I don't get scared or lackadaisical with my hair, I have now taken the whole process into my own hands...

And I must say I wish I had started this earlier, I wish I had known all the things about hair care and retention a long time ago. I am very happy that I know now!


                                                             Ancient Wisdom:                                                                          

I was reading about how indian women took care of their hair back in the day and I found info from a lady, who when this was written, was 57 years old. She said this is how she massaged her scalp:

"The real secret is not in what you use but how you use it.

Begin by pouring the oil of your choice on your head. And I mean pour! My mother describes how her aunt would fill the palm of her hand with as much oil as it could hold and then pour the oil on the top of the head of the person she was oiling.

A dab of oil acts like a dust trap and probably does more harm than good. The oil has to soak into the scalp. Only then does it reach the follicles!

You must then distribute the oil by using the tips of your fingers to massage your scalp. Use small circular, clockwise movements from the forehead to the nape and then from ear to ear. Try to move the scalp rather than the hair itself. Finally, pick up small strands of hair and give them gentle tugs!"

http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Holistic-Approach-to-Hair-Care

Read more here

Thanks for reading!

What u mean "what will people say"? Just do u!!

Hi guys!


This post has nothing really to do with hair but can still apply to your hair journey. I was really inspired to do this blogpost after having a little email "chatting session" with  my friend, Aqila, who I used to go to High school with. She seems to exude confidence and wears/does whatever she thinks is right for her, she has also started an accessories line. Check it out and like it on Facebook-->Elephant: Vintage & Soul

Anyway, we were just talking about eyebrow piercing stuff which lead to how people were reacting to our piercings. She said:


"its my life, and my eyebrow, so people can kiss my ass, and ma people cool with it too so who cares.... people were EXTREMELY shocked when I did it, and had lots to say and exclaim about. they really just need to mind their own business." 


Well I hope she won't be mad I put a piece of her message out there, but what she said really stuck with me. why do we care what anybody has to say about what do with ourselves.

my piercing

This is how it applies to our hair :)


Why let other people's judgement/opinions affect us so much that we decide not to start a hair journey or if we start it we let others dictate what we should be doing. 


We do this when we allow others to tell us when to get a relaxer or to go natural or whatever it is we get told. If u read my last post you would know that I'm being pressured to get my relaxer done. People can say whatever they want about my hair looking all nappy or in Jamaican terms, like kiyah.  Pshhh I just brush that off my shoulder now.


Generally speaking now, I have completely decided to not care what anybody will say when selecting things for myself. Whether those things are for my hair care/style, or if they are for my sense of fashion or anything. As long as it pertains to me I will do what I want to do...


I mean, come on, I'm 21 for cryin' out loud lol. 


If I wanna wear a scarf, a tam, a maxi dress, an afro or even a weave lol, its my business and I'll do what I please. :)


With that said....


Make sure to do what you think is best for you, advice can be given and heard but never let it drown out the sound of your own opinion.


Thanks for reading! :)  remember to check out Aqila's page!

New Growth- 6 1/2 weeks post

Hi, Its been a while since I did a blogpost, honestly I've been away because of pure laziness.

So this one is gonna be a quick update about my new growth.

It was March 25th, 2011 when I did my last relaxer, so that makes it approximately 6 1/2 weeks since my last relaxer.

I'm thinking given the amount of new growth that I have, that my hair and scalp are behaving like I was hoping they would. *big smile*

I have been using the messed up concoction I tried to make based on OhValerieMonCherie's black castor oil potion. I say "messed up" because as I said in a previous post I did a horrible job of following the instructions and tried to make up for it by googling some other stuff about properly infusing cayenne pepper. I don't think I did it right because my scalp did not tingle like she said it would.

(Please note I'm saying it was my fault that the potion didn't come out right, any complaint made by me has nothing to do with discrediting Ms. Valerie's mixture.)

OK, I definitely was not going to waste the castor oil that I bought, so I still use the mixture and i don't know if it has anything to do with my growth.

So here are some pictures of my 6-ish week progress of new growth

So since it looks like this, I'm beginning to get a lot of pressure from people around me, to get a touch up NOW.

But I'm not listening, I'm stretching as long as I can, which means I may have to revise my relaxer date. I planned to relax on the 18th of June but if I can go longer I'm gonna try.

Lets see!!

Thank you for reading! :)

I Think Olive oil makes my hair hard -_-

After my wash day yesterday, moisturized Herbal Essences LTR and sealed with the olive oil. I put my hair in a few braids so that I could have a braidout. I must say my braidout turned out better than how I described my previous one(s) in other blogposts on here, but the olive oil made my hair so crunchy and dry-ish. I may have to just use coconut oil next time I moisturize and seal.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics of my braidout.

Thanks for reading!

Hey, today was another wash day and let me tell you, today has been a looonnngggg day. I've been doing my hair since 2:00pm and it is now a few minutes to 6:00pm.

I've been reading up on natural or readily accessible products (like stuff you would find in your kitchen) for hair because products are not cheap in Jamaica, and my stash is running out.

I bought some mayonnaise, olive oil, yogurt, and eggs.

Mayonnaise contains eggs and oil, which add shine, body and strength to your hair, leaving it silky soft.

Read more: What Happens if You Put Mayonnaise in Your Hair? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4569502_what-happens-put-mayonnaise-hair.html#ixzz1LbtYEeVT


My mother used to use olive oil in my hair when I was younger, but recently since I started my journey, I've been faithful to my coconut oil. Olive oil is known to nourish, condition and improve the strength and elasticity of hair.

Yogurt has lactic acid that help to shine and smooth hair, making it softer and easier to comb. I read on a black hair car forum that the yogurt loosened the curl pattern of the women who participated in the discussion. My hair is still wet so I'm not yet able to say whether or not that was true.

We all know that eggs provide protein. When I mixed all the ingredients (except the olive oil) together it came out a little more watery than a paste and it smelled horrible, I mean, there was a raw egg in the mix uugghh!!!

I let that sit on my hair with a plastic cap for about 45 mins. This was, of course after I shampooed and conditioned my hair.

Right now I'm sitting with the Creme of Nature argan oil deep conditioner on my hair with a plastic cap. I decide to include this because my hair was a little bit hard after the mayo mix.

This should be the end of the process, all I have to do next is rinse argan stuff out then spritz with aloe vera juice (I just added this to my regimen) and seal with some olive oil.

then rest :)

 I really wish I could roller set my hair because I'm tired of rocking natural ends, but my ends won't straighten without heat and I'm not using heat on my hair except for my relaxer day... *sigh*
The pains of having two textures...and I'm NOT cutting my natural ends off because that would be a large amount of hair gone...talk about setback ..uh uh! not doing that.

That was really random lol

If my hair likes this treatment I'll continue doing it

thanks for reading!

p.s. Has anyone ever tried putting mayo or yogurt on hair? If yes, how did it work out? 

Hair knowledge and a little rant

As I have previously stated in my blogposts, I am definitely the one to be continuously browsing other blogs, many youtube channels and my trusty friend Google. Well today I was feeling like my hair isn't growing as fast as I would like it to. Sometimes I feel like I'm putting so much into this journey and Its not where I want it to be yet? I know my journey is not going to be swift and patience is the key blahx3.....

(here goes my rant)
That doesn't mean that I wanna wait for ages. I just feel like its been 2 months (cue "girl please its only 2 months" speech) and I just wanna be apl already. Its just frustrating when people say negative things to me about my journey, I don't know how other people on their hair journey put up with it but I absolutely hate it. People and their myths about black hair not growing long really upset me, especially when this negativity is coming from people who should be in your corner.
(whew...ok I'm done)

 So I was doing another search for more people who had long hair and I came across kimmaytube. Kim Love'sYouTube channel contains all the information you could ever need about the structure of your hair, the ph level your hair should be on, and more. she kinda made me want to try going natural again for just a couple of minutes. lol

What I learned:

•  relaxers are alkaline and takes your hair on a ph roller coaster because your hair is acidic. for all of us who probably did at least intro to chemistry, we should know that alkalines are on the opposite side of acids. Here's a chart to clarify:

(source- richardanderson.me.uk)

The pH indicates how acid or alkaline a substance is. The scale ranges from 0 to 14 with 0 being a very strong acid and 14 being a very strong alkali (aka a base). Both strong acids and alkalis should be avoided as they will burn skin. (haircrazy.info)

• Water has a ph of 7, our hair is naturally between 4.5 and 5.5 in the acidity level. A lye relaxer is between 12 and 14 and a no-lye is between 9 and 11.  So when we apply a relaxer our hair is forced to an alkaline level, then quickly neutralized and then returned to its acidic level with certain products. that can be very damaging.

• An alkali will open your cuticle while an acid will flatten it/close it, thus making your hair shiny.

• Hair is not a living structure and hence, cannot be healthy. It can only be preserved to make it stay on your head.

• In order to not have dry hair the cuticle layer of your hair must be kept closed.
• Heat and  can cause the cuticle layer to lift and cause dryness.
• aloe vera juice is a great hair acidifier and is therefore good as a leave-in.

I have a new leave-in to try from Kimmaytube. She mixes her favorite oils with aloe vera juice to create her own leave-in conditioner.

Learning this much is great because now I know so much more about what is good for my hair and what's not.

If you have anymore tips to add, please comment :)

Thanks for reading!