Six Months Natural- Photo Collage!

On October 7, 2012 I did the Big Chop (BC) and had my relaxed ends cut off to become 100% natural. I washed my hair and was surprised that my hair did not have a curl to it- lol.

After my BC

Next Morning- After the barber shaped me up. 

I loved rubbing my hands through my hair and would feel little coils in my head:

Twenty Day's after becoming natural, I revealed my new hair-do to my family- Not that I was avoiding them, but I did not see them until this event. Initially shocked by my new look, they liked the style on me. My mother said I remind her of my baby picture.

Me with my Brother

I would wash my hair either with shampoo or just conditioner (co-wash) every other day as an attempt to add moisture to my hair because my hair felt very dry. I would deep condition with my steamer for about 20 minutes with each wash.

Deep Conditioning with Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Mask Early November 2012

When deep conditioning, I would notice that my hair would be longer. I noticed that my hair was growing...however, no one else noticed, because once my hair was dry, it would shrink alot.

One Month Post BC

At six weeks post BC, I decided to see if I can twist my hair. I tried to flat twist it.

My flat twists were an EPIC FAIL. They started off nice, but as I started getting to the top of my head, my hair was not long enough to twist. I was a bit sad, because I wanted to wear a style for Thanksgiving which was approaching. Although these twists were a fail, in the middle of December, I was able to twist my whole head...it wasn't perfect, put it was a mini goal that I accomplished!

Although I was able to twist my hair, I was free forming them and was not comfortable going to work like this, so I tied my hair up with a head scarf and two days later, I took the twists out- another fail, but they come with successes right!

   
 While watching youtube videos of girls whose hair texture I felt best matched mine, I came across youtuber BlakIzBeautyful videos and came across her blog: KinkyCurlyCoilyMe. From the blog, I ended up joining the Winter Castor Oil Challenge which was from December 1, 2012 to March 1, 2013. I had read about and seen many reviews on Castor Oil and while relaxed, I purchased a bottle of Jamaican Black Castor Oil to stimulate my hair growth and to help my mother grow in her edges. So when I came across the Castor Oil Challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to use castor oil based on the benefits of it regenerating new hair growth, thickening the hair, and keeping the hair soft. For this challenge I was applying JBCO to my scalp three times a week.

By two month's post BC,  I was getting tired of wearing my hair in a TWA (teenie weenie afro). I was also tired of picking out my hair several times a day so that my hair would look decent and I noticed that my hair was breaking off...YIKES

So After Christmas, I had the grand idea of trying to braid my hair with synthetic Box Braids extensions. It took me a week to do, but I was able to do it- on my TWA!!

After about five weeks with my braids, I took them down. I was eager to see what my hair growth was like.

 I was also doing length checks on a monthly basis and my hair was growing at a steady rate of 1/2 an inch a month. In the middle of February, I did my next protective style of Cornrows and Kinky Twists (sorry no pictures only this video).

This style lasted for a month. I wished it would have lasted longer, but my cornrows were getting fuzzy. I joined the KinkyCurlyCoilyMe castor oil challenge for the Spring which began March 1st and ends June 1st. My hair was growing so well that I decided to twist it up one more time:

 This time it was NOT A FAIL and I was proud to where this style for a week to work! WHOO HOO...I cannot wait until my hair grows longer and I can twist up my hair.

Below is my last photo comparison from mid February to the end of March.

This was my first time blowing out my hair since my big chop. I blew it out so that I can get my hair braided at my local African Hair Braiding shop.

My hair continues to be in box braids which I will take out over memorial day weekend.

I am so excited for my hair to continue to grow. I have taken a whole lot of photos of styles I cannot wait to try. I already completed my mini goal of two strand twists, and my major goal of a two strand twist out puff (sorry no photo- only video)

So readers, continue to follow me on my Healthy Hair Journey as I continue to blog about my natural hair!

Thanks for reading

~Danie~

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~

Relaxer and Trim- June 2012