Search and Destroy

Hy Ladies!

I've noticed over time that my ends have been pretty good. They aren't thinning and split ends aren't glaring at me in the mirror. *knocks on wood* I don't want to jinx myself lol

I attribute my nice ends to my regular Search and Destroy/Dusting sessions. Aside, of course, from regular deep conditioning, protective styles and other healthy hair "do's". Yep I do a fair amount of Search and Destroy (S&D) sessions, and they help me to avoid a big trim.

I trim every six months.

S&D's are relatively easy, depending on how long your hair is. It comprises of taking hair scissors and trimming the hairs that have the dreaded splits or are broken and are about ready to fall off.

You can get good hair scissors from Ebay, Walmart or Sally's.

These ends are generally what I look for. 

If your hair is longer it will be easy to see. If its on the shorter side, maybe you can ask someone you trust. When my hair was shorter, I would strain my eyes to see the itty bitty ends till my eyes hurt.

S&D allows you to single out and cut the bad hair, that way, you avoid cutting perfectly normal neighboring hairs. 

With that said, here's how I do it:

• First I properly detangle my hair and separate it in two halves.
• I put a hair clip on one side and put my focus on the other side.
• I take tiny sections of the loose side and start searching. 
• I scan the tiny section; the ends and along the shaft.
• I look for any signs that indicate those splits displayed above.
• I make sure not to cut hairs that don't need it.
• after getting through the loose side I put i clip in that side and head to the other side repeating the aforementioned steps.

This process can take a little over an hour for me to complete because I seriously go through the hair with precision.

* Make sure to NEVER do this when you are tired. It may cause you to be lazy and cut hairs that don't need to be cut. I have done this before.

I do this when I'm bored, or if I see one split end, I just assume there must be more and I go at it again.

   Thank You for reading and I hope you find this helpful!

*How Often Do You S&D/Dust?*

Relaxer Update!!

Hey Ladies!!

Yes I did it, I may be a week earlier than planned but I just wanted to. After dealing with almost 13 weeks worth of new growth, I gave in.

I did a hard protein treatment the week before so doing it this week was perfect. Before going to the salon, I coated my ends with moisturizer and raw shea butter. I am now at my dad's house in NY so I barely had any products with me.

The lady at the salon was super rough with my hair, I had to tell her to calm down! I mean this was 13 weeks of growth but she was combing like she had never seen natural hair before.

here's what it looked like before

And a close up:

there was this old lady who came in for a touch up and I literally wanted to send her home. She had what looked like only 3 weeks of new growth and the hairdresser lady told her she badly needed a touch up. Then she coated all of the lady's strands with the relaxer! So glad I supervised my relaxer.

Anyway,  she put some  deep conditioner on and I sat under the dryer for several minutes. Then, while she was roller setting my hair, she started to rake the comb  through. I was like "Uh Oh Lady back up!" I'm joking I'm way too demure to speak to someone like that lol. But, I did ask her to comb my hair from the ends up. She seemed to be fed up with me telling her what to do with my hair, but I didn't care. 

By the way, good news! I'm now using a full head of grey rollers! yaay 

Here Is the after picture :)

This experience confirms my love hate relationship with Dominicans, I hate the process but I love the results. I'm sort of like an addict, you just can't beat the 'gorgeousness' of your after a session with them.

I don't want to do a real length check with all the lines and stuff just yet. I won't do it until the end of the year. I am excited about how full it looks though! 

New full ponytail that is super bouncy! 

I really love how my hair feels and yes I am going to go back to the Dominicans before my flight. I want the blown out, flowing in the wind look for when I see my family, Some people may have to eat a few of their words haha!

Thanks for reading!

Hair Ramblings

Hey Ladies!

This week was super stressful for me (what's new? lol). I write for my school paper and a story I just happened to come across blew up into something really big. That meant bigger story= less "me time".

Anyway, it usually takes me about 20 minutes to completely moisturize and seal my hair at night, which I still do. However, this stretch is making that turn into about an hour or more every time. I honestly don't have that much time to spare, so this is making me want to end this stretch even more.

Maybe I'm only seeking a reason to get my relaxer lol, but truth is I just want to get it done.

I still have about 2 weeks of school left, so the plan is to relax it the first week in December so I can have it straight for when I go home to Jamaica! (yaay its confirmed I bought my plane ticket!!!!)

I was also thinking that a few weeks after my relaxer, I should go to the Dominicans on the weekend of my flight to get a blow out, that way I can look extra fly when I see my boyfriend. :D
I've also been thinking about getting a black rinse. I'm so tired of brown hair, but I'm wary of the effects it may have on my hair. I don't want to affect my hair just to change a color. I just think black hair looks fuller and shinier.

I will have to be really particular about my hair when I go to the Dominicans. They sometimes rake the comb through the hair from root to ends, without detangling with a wide tooth comb.

Thanks for reading my ramble!

Aly

Stretching my Relaxer

Hey Ladies!

I went googling to find tips on how to safely stretch my relaxer.

 If you've been reading/following my blog, you would know that this isn't my first relaxer stretch, but I am preparing for the longest relaxer stretch ever. 

As I said in my last post, I don't plan on relaxing until the end of the year. Hopefully by then I'll be back in Jamaica for Christmas break! :D *fingers crossed*

It is now week 11 of my stretch and I am experiencing some breakage, but not the long strand breakage. That usually indicates breakage from the demarcation line which is where your relaxed hair and new growth meet. My breakage is the tiny pieces from the ends. To be honest, they frustrate me so much! I hate seeing the breakage and I don't know what to do to stop it.

Here are the tips I've gathered from various sources on the net.

1. Love your new growth
2. practice air drying instead of using heat
3. moisture is absolutely necessary (especially for new growth)
4. do a protein treatment when you think your hair needs it, for some its every six weeks, for others (like me) its every other week.
5. deep condition your hair
6. Use conditioners instead of shampoo or dilute your shampoo if you must use it
7. detangle your hair to prevent the "coily" new growth from causing major knots
8. use low manipulation and protective styles

I have been doing all of this even before my one week hiatus when I wasn't paying attention to my hair. I find it unlikely that my hair would be breaking that bad because of one week of neglect. I really wanted to go at least 6 weeks more but I'm not so sure anymore.   

I could probably go till the beginning of December. I don't know

Whatever I decide though, I will be sure to let you guys know.

Thanks for reading!

Hair Ramble + "Do you notice this too?"

Hey,

Lately I haven't been in the best mood, I suppose It's from being on this small campus for so long around the same people. My circle is super small. So usually how I feel is reflected in other things that I do, which unfortunately spills over into how involved with my hair I've been.

When I moisturize my hair at night, I haven't been going through it to ensure my strands get some attention. I just put one glob of moisturizer all at once and then the same with oils. Lets not even discuss the state of my roots.

I didn't wash my hair once this week, which is bad because my hair loves the regular wash thing.

So because of this neglect I've notice breakage. This is just what I DON'T need! I really would be disappointed if I didn't make it to APL by the end of the year.

I was thinking about stretching my relaxer for another few weeks. I'm already 10 weeks post and I usually relax my hair about this time (10-12 weeks). This breakage is making me think twice about it.

So my game plan is to treat my hair well for the next two weeks and then based upon its breakage rate, I'll decide if I'll stretch any further. The truth is that I don't want to relax my hair till the end of the year. That way I can do a proper length check.

So the "Aly Hair Attention for Retention" boot camp starts tonight! LOL!

I'll do a deep condition on dry hair, shampoo and condition. I will probably do a braid out or roller set, I'm not sure.



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SN: I always wonder how come some women with relaxed hair treat their hair so badly, but yet their hair won't break. But if I go for a short time without doing the "right stuff" my hair goes crazy!

I just don't get it! Have any of you ladies ever thought about that?? Or is it just me?

As always thanks for reading!

Aly