Regimen Building

This post is designed for me to contain my PJism. I have so many hair products that I do not know what to do. I decided that if I focused on a regimen, I can see what products works for me and which ones do not. This will take some time as I have to get use to certain products that my hair loves in order to compare it to other products- hence the purpose of a hair journey anyway!

Here are a few questions to consider when building a good hair regimen (I am not sure where I got these questions from-if you know, please leave a comment so that I can reference them. Special thanks though).

1. How often do you wash your hair?
I have been washing my hair between one to three times a week- Sometimes I'll use shampoo and conditioner and other times I'll just co-wash my hair.

2. How often do you deep condition?
I know I should deep condition with every wash- but I don't. On the weekends, I'll deep condition by pre-pooing overnight using conditioner and oils. During the week, I'll deep condition without heat for at least 15 minutes. I am working on DCing with heat twice a month. [Last DC was yesterday and the time before that was Nov. 11th so I completed by 2 DC's this month].

3. How often do you do protein treatments?
When I was relaxed, I did regular protein treatments which was at least every two weeks, before relaxing, and after relaxing. Now that I am natural I, I have done a protein treatment because I am trying to maintain moisture in my hair...guess I should really do one soon.

4. How often to you clarify?
This is an easy question. Once a month- I clarify at the beginning of each month to give my hair a fresh start.

5. How do you style your hair to retain the most length?
Since being natural, I have not styled my hair to retain length because my hair is too short. While relaxed, I use to do updo's and buns to keep my hair off of my shoulders. With my TWA, my next style to help me retain length will be box braids or kinky twists.

6. How often do you trim your hair?
I use to have a fear of scissors and rarely trimmed my hair. My big chop was October 7, 2012. I do not think I will trim my hair until April 2013 which will be when I am six months natural. My hair will remain textured/kinky and not flat ironed when trimmed, since I do not plan on wearing my hair straight.

7. How often do you do a hot oil treatment?
I do not do hot oil treatments. Shame on me I know. I will try to incorporate hot oil treatments into my regimen.

8. How often do you rotate your shampoos and conditioners?
As a product junkie, I rotate my shampoos and conditioners all of the time because I want to try this one or that one. This is not good because as I mentioned above, I do not know what products my hair likes or does not like. I cannot tell when my hair does not like something, because I do not know when it likes something. I plan on rotating my shampoo and conditioners every other week (for conditioners) and every other shampoo/ month (for shampoo- depending on when I shampoo).

Now that I have reviewed and answered these questions, I am one step closure in building my hair regimen. I plan on using other products such as moisturizers and styling products on a monthly basis to see how my hair reacts to them- of course that is once I have at least three inches of hair to braid, twist, and style.

Answering these questions will help me to continue to track down or journal my hair journey so that I'll know what worked well, what did not work at all, and what products work well together.

HHJ

~Danie~

Hair Recipe: Whipped Shea Butter

I am not one to experiment with mixing products nor do I enjoy being in the kitchen cooking, but yesterday, for some strange reason I felt the urge to make some Whipped Shea Butter. Why? Well, I have had an 8oz tube of 100% African Shea Butter since I started by hair journey in 2009, and I only used the thing about once or twice. I did not like the smell of it, and I was use to using other products. I said to myself that I have to start using up products to see whether I like them or not; if I like them, they can be repurchased, if I do not like them, then I can say that I tried it and x, y, and z are the reasons I didn't like it and move on. I also noticed that my shea butter, which was once yellow in color was changing to a white color and I was not sure why (has this happened to you before?).

I stumbled across two videos of natural haired youtubers: Fusionofcultures and Naptural85 who have created homemade receipe's using their Shea Butters, (here are their links: Fusionofcultures Shea Butter and Naptural85 Shea Butter) and I decided that mixing my shea butter will help me to rid of it faster. Both recipe's were similar in nature, however, I was guided by Naptural85's version.

Products Use:
100% African Shea Butter, purchased from a natural food place
Coconut Oil
Jojoba Oil
Sweet Almond Oil
Hand Blender
Measuring Spoons
Icing knife
Empty Plastic Jar
Glass Bowl for mixing

I used about a half of the Shea Butter, 1 tablespoon of Coconut Oil, and 1 teaspoon each of Jojoba Oil and Sweet Almond Oil. I mixed the ingredients with my hand blender in the bowl until there were no visible lumps and the mix appeared fluffy. I then used the icing knife to place the whipped shea butter into my plastic container and that was it- Very Simple.

The whole process took about ten minutes with me getting my products and everything together. Since my hair is long enough for me to do small two strand twists, this is what I will used the Whipped Shea Butter for and see how my hair likes it. At least I'll know that my hair is being moisturized when I use the Whipped Shea Butter.

HHJ

~Danie~

One Month Post BC

I have been natural for one whole month and I am so excited to watch my hair grow. So far, I have ran into a few minor challenges regarding my TWA...

1. Dryness- After my BC, I noticed that my natural hair was pretty dry. After researching and watching youtube videos, I learned that my hair may be dry as it is still in shock of the loss of the relaxed ends. I also learned that my hair is in the healing process from all of the chemical processing my hair has gone through over the years.

2. Styles- Due to me only transitioning for four months, I only had about two inches of new growth. My hair is very tightly coiled and the shrinkage is no joke. The way the barber cut my hair, I have more hair at the front top part of my hair then in the back or the sides. While I am able to brush back the front for a tiny puff, the sides, which are so short, do not compliment this look. As a result, I have just been wearing my hair in a TWA or teenie weenie afro, without the use of any accessories.

3. Growth- Believe it or not my 1/4 of an inch of growth is a challenge. This is because all of my hair is not growing at the same rate. When I pick out my hair in the morning, my TWA likes to lean to the right. I do not pay too much attention to it as I want my hair to continue to grow out. As long as I don't start looking like Gumby, then I'm fine (LOL).

4. Products- This has been a challenge for me only because I am a product junkie and feel that I have to use every natural product in my house on my hair for every wash day. I wash my hair three times a week which has meant three different shampoos/conditioners/leave ins/gels, and whatever else I decide to put into my hair. Because my hair is still short, I have not founds the right product that has made me say "WOW, I DEFINITELY HAVE TO USE THIS AGAIN", nor have I found something to make my curls "pop" as I hear other youtuber's say. I know that this is terrible, my PJism that is, and must be corrected!

Since I gave four challenges, let me talk about the good things I like with my hair:
1. Low Maintenance- I love the fact that some water, a little oil, maybe a leave in, and my pick is all I have to do to style my hair in the morning. It takes me about 5 minutes to do my hair, which means more time to sleep!!!

2. Shower/Wash Day- I love not having to  run away from the water while I am in the shower. I have temporarily retired my shower cap and have no problem letting the water run over my hair. It is a great feeling. Washing my hair is a breeze as well!

3. My Coils/Naps- I no longer feel that the term "nappy" is negative. My hair has curl definition in some places and not others but I cannot seems to get my hands out of my hair. This gives me an opportunity to feel my texture, do scalp massages, and practice two strand twists!!!( As I am doing this blog, I just rubbed the tips of my fingers (not my nails) on my scalp and it felt so good!!!- now my hands are greasy).

4. Simplicity- My nighttime routine is just as smooth as my morning routine. At night, I'll either apply some JBCO and a shower cap for a GHE overnight, or I'll apply some leave in conditioner and don my bonet for bed.

5. Growth- Its a good feeling to see that my hair is growing. This gives me hope that I will not be in the TWA stage forever!

All in all, I am happy that I made the decision to go natural and cannot wait to see what is in stall for my hair over the next few months!!! My goal is to be able to do an afro puff by the time I am six months post BC!

My Big Chop Video

Here it is, I was finally able to upload the video of my big chop. Enjoy!