One Year Hair Anniversary!! (Tips That Helped Me)

I finally made it!! One year into my hair journey!!

Disclaimer: This post is coming four days earlier than my actual one year date. I will most likely not have the time to post this on the actual day. Since my growth from today until August 17th with not be that tremendous, I am not worried that this blog is a few days early lol

Let me start this off by saying that I will not be discussing everything. This will not be a blog giving you my entire hair story from birth lol I'm just simply here to give a broad overview of my thoughts of my first year of me EVER fully taking care of my hair. This blog has been a long time coming (1 year....365 days....8,765 hours...525,600 minutes...you get the point) I have been waiting for this day since the start of my hair journey. Now that it's here, I am both excited and thirsty for more to come.

To begin, I'm just going to give a brief overview of my hair story. To get the full details, you can read about it here. I began styling my own hair roughly three or so years prior to starting my hair journey. Before then, other individuals were taking care of my hair whether it was my mother or a hair stylist. Therefore, once I decided to quit going to the stylists because of financial reasons, I had no clue what to do with my hair. All that I knew was that I had a shampoo, conditioner, blowdryer and a flat iron at home. That's all I needed right? Because I was still hanging on to the sleek, straight hair that I would get at a hair salon, I applied a lot of heat to my hair to make sure that I received the same results. Consequently, my hair started to break off. Although I did self-relax, I knew that the relaxer wasn't causing the problem. After three years of damaging my hair and breaking it off to shoulder length, I found the wonderful youtuber ULoveMegz who introduced me to the world of healthy, relaxed hair. She posted a video about sites one can go to in order to grow there hair. From there, I found Hairlista and the rest is history.

During the beginning of my hair journey

Now, I'm not going to lie and say that this past year has been a breeze. But I will say that I haven't had any major bumps in the road, so to speak. Aside from minor breakage here and there, I haven't had any real setbacks. Yet, I've still learned so much about my hair, especially now that I am transitioning. Although I began my journey looking for length, I began to appreciate my hair for what it was and decided that health is most important. Though I still have those days where I may wish that my hair would hang a certain way or do a certain thing, I still enjoy what my hair is able to do. No, my hair isn't down my back, but it is so much more thicker and healthier than ever before.

Tip #1: Accept your imperfections!!  

In order to get your hair to its maximum potential, you must first enjoy it as it is right now. By constantly nagging about the little things and hating your hair, the way you decide to take care of it will be vastly affected. If you learn to say, "My hair may not be perfect, but I still love it!" You're telling your hair that you accept it for what it can do and you're willing to work with it to help it get better.

Tip #2: Listen to your hair.

 Yes, I said listen lol Trust me your hair does communicate with you in its own special way. For example, if you shampooed your hair with a shampoo that caused it to knot up and tangle, your hair is telling you that it doesn't like that shampoo. If your hair doesn't like that shampoo, you shouldn't use it. Little things like that can measure how successful you are in your journey. Pay attention to how your hair reacts to certain products and techniques that you use. And most importantly, learn how to give your hair a break once in a while (aka Protective Styling).

Tip #3: Don't Be a Follower

We all had those moments when we tried every technique under the sun. We search the internet and see that someone did a certain technique for months on end and we decide to try it because that woman's hair is super long. Guess what? That technique might not work for you. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, you might not even need to do that technique. So if your scalp isn't dry often, then you don't need to oil your scalp everyday. If your hair is not excessively shedding or breaking, you don't have to do Black Tea Rinses or Molasses Treatments. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!! By incorporating too many things, you cause your hair stress which leads to breakage and shedding (i.e. UNWANTED DAMAGE)

Tip #4: Keep it Simple!!

This is a tip that I CANNOT stress enough. It follows up with all of the previous tips, making it THE MOST IMPORTANT. Don't incorporate 1200 different techniques into your regimen, only do what works and what your hair tells you to do. At the beginning of my journey, I bought so many products and tried all of these different techniques just because I was advised to do it or I saw other women doing it. As I progressed in my journey, I realized that 90% of what I was doing was really unnecessary. I slowly began to cut out different things and now my regimen is perfect. I only do three things: wash/co-wash, deep condition and moisturize and seal. (Styling is a given.) That's it!! It's the most basic regimen, but yet it provides the BEST results. If you keep it simple, I guarantee that you will get your hair to its maximum potential. 

Part 2 of this tip is to focus on the health of your hair. Healthy hair guarantees your maximum length. Keep in my mind that we all have different levels of length potential. Ask yourself: Is it better to have short, thick, healthy hair or long, stringy and damaged hair?

All of these four, but very important, tips got me to get my hair from this...

...to this.

Blow Out!!!!

Yes! I did it. After about two and a half months without heat, I finally decided to blow dry my hair. And I must say that I LOVE the results. Ladies, we're told to go without heat for a reason lol

To prepare for my blow out, I usually shampoo, deep condition and co-wash my hair. I do this to add an extra boost of moisture to hair to help protect it from any heat damage. (Further details on my regimen page) This time around I was in a bit of a rush to get my hair done, so I skipped the shampoo and deep condition steps.

....Wait what?

....Yea, I know. But I had a good backup plan.

Earlier this week, I co-washed my hair with my Herbal Essence Hydrolicious Featherlight Conditioner. It was my first time really using that conditioner and I absolutely loved it. My hair was soft and moisturized so I decided to bun it. This helped to keep my hair both detangled and moisturized.

Upon taking down my bun this morning, my hair was still soft and moisturized so I felt secure about my decision to skip the shampoo and deep condition. But I still co-washed!!! That's important to note. "Before applying any heat, always condition your hair first." That's a rule that I will ALWAYS stick to. I co-washed with Tresemme Naturals, also a new love of mine. Once done, I T-shirt dried for a few minutes to remove excess water and then I blow dried my hair.

Because I never have plans to flat iron, I separated my hair into four big sections, splitting each section into three to be blow dried. I applied my heat protectant of choice, grape seed oil, to each section. I use a denman brush for tension at my roots and my hands for tension on the rest of my hair.

My hair came out nice, silky and thick. Yay! Some parts were a little to fuzzy so I did a quick pass with my FHI flatiron through out my hair. Can you tell the difference? Lol

P.S. I'm 15 weeks post. Yay!

Yay for straight new growth!

Lazy Hair Day Series Style #1 & 2

It's about that time.....to get lazy!!!! 

We all have those days or weeks even when we just don't feel like doing much to our hair at all. When that happens, we resort to the old fashioned grandma bun or simple ponytail. Well, no more!!! I've decided to begin a series showing how I style my hair when I'm feeling lazy and I just want my hair out of the way. All of the styles that will be shown are a result of some form of a twist out, whether it's fresh or days old. Twist outs are my main go to style because they are simple and easy to do. They take no time for me at all. So here goes... 

Style Number One

 

A simple pinback style with two flat twists in the front. 

To start off, you'd want to have some type of textured hair whether it's a twist out, braid out, bantu knot out, etc. This particular twist out was a result of me detangling my hair before bed. I simply divided my hair into 4 large sections. Splitting each section into halves, I spritzed my hair with water and finger detangled before twisting it back up. I applied a bit of Shea Butter to each section before twisting. To make sure my new growth stayed moisturized, I quickly moisturized my new growth as well. 

Styling...

Part your hair and separate two sections in the front for your front twists and clip the rest of the hair out of the way. Starting off with one section, simply flat twist you hair until you're about half way back. Grabbing the twist, pull it back and bobby pin into place. Repeat this process on the other side and you're done!! Now take out the rest of your hair and fluff and style until you get your desired look. 

 (Side View)

Side Note: The size of your twists can make the style look a bit different. If you want big, loose twists, simply flat twist loosely making sure to grab larger sections of hair. This allows the twist to remain a bit unraveled and loose. If you want smaller, tighter twists, then you'd want to flat twist a bit tighter (not too tight!!) and grab smaller sections for added definition. In order to make sure that the texture of the twist is noticeable, flat twist in the direction TOWARDS your face. This allows us to see the twist. (As seen below)

 

Style Number Two...

...is a simple and altered version of style number one. This time, you use a ponytail holder.

 If you've decided that you want your hair completely out of the way, but you don't want to lose the big, fluffiness of the first style, then this is for you. Just grab a ponytail holder (ouchless band) and loosely tie the ends of your hair away. The placement of the tie is completely up to your discretion. Once you're finished, grab the hair and pull lightly to loosen it up a bit and make it bigger. And that's it!!

 

So here are two simple styles, perfect for the work place and casual day out in the summer sun.

Hope you enjoyed =)

How I Keep My New Growth Moisturized: 10 Weeks Post

My hair loves water!!!!!!! That's my key moisturizer. I spritz my hair, especially my new growth, with water every night and seal it with my Shea butter mix.

 I massage both the water and Shea butter into my new growth making sure that my new growth is nicely coated. I do this process again in the morning before I style and begin my day.

Product and Regimen Re-Vamp: The Transition Beginning

Now that I've decided to transition, I figured that it was time to change things around a bit. Transitioning is a big step. It means acceptance of your true, natural hair texture. The thing about that is, your hair texture can vary from kinky to curly, silky to coarse, tightly shrunken to loose and wavy. Anything and EVERYTHING is up for grabs with transitioning. So I figured that I should also change out my products to those that I feel would work. Since I'm going natural, why not start trying all natural products. ^_^


My decision to transition during the summer time was not intentional...and it definitely comes with it's fair share of troubles. From experience with previous stretches, I know that my hair is naturally "thirsty". My new growth soaks up moisture quickly. And being surrounded by the dry summer heat doesn't make it any easier. So I've decided to experiment with more co-washes throughout the week. My hair loves water so why not give it what it likes. This also further solidifies my need to buy more Apple Cider Vinegar and to experiment with Aloe Vera Juice. Both products help to seal the hair's cuticles, therefore trapping in moisture...which is exactly what I need. 

I'm currently in the midst of doing loads of research. I already know what I need in terms of shampoos and DCs but I don't exactly know which products to try. So off to YouTube and Google I go. Hopefully I can find some overlapping products and I'll start trying out those, one by one. 

P.S. Tried Tresemme Naturals last night. My new growth loved it and that's all that matters. Gonna finish out the bottle first before I decide if it's a keeper.