Hair Diary # 2

Hello everyone so this post will be another hair diary of whats going on with my hair right now, and what i'm doing with it. Well my main thing to do this week was for me to trim my ends. WHEW.....!!! those things needed to be seriously done lol. I think it's been over like 6 months since the last time I've done them. I know bad right? I know I told you guys that I started a 20 week protective styling challenge in May and it just ended the first week of October. What I should of done was trimmed my ends before I started. That's the smart thing to do right? Yea so I had a dumb moment.

So just by thinking about how long my ends hadn't been clipped and remember I said over 6 months. I could definitely tell it was time to get rid of those babies. Mostly because they felt horrible, pretty much hard. I was also starting to get more Ssk's (Single strand knots). I hardly ever get those things, if I do it's mostly because I had my hair in kinky twists, Senegalese twists etc for 2 months. It would basically be in the spot where my hair met up with the braiding/twisting hair. I have a video on Youtube showing how to easily take care of these I will post it below.

 

Also normally when the months start to get colder my hair sheds more than normal so I am currently rinsing my hair with black tea to see how the results will be. So currently I am keeping track of this I've been doing it for 2 weeks now. If this does help out with shedding it will be something I keep in my regimen. I will talk more about this after it has been a month. That should be close to enough if not enough time to see a real difference.

Onto deep conditioners now I started applying my DC (deep conditioners) while my hair is dry again. A few months after I became natural I was doing this until about a year ago. I don't know why I stopped but I just did. It's not a huge difference but your hair takes a certain amount of nutrients each day. Since i'm applying the homemade DC while my hair is dry my hair is sure to suck up all of everything it needs. After about 4 or 5 hours with the DC in my hair I co-washed it out.

Then I put my hair into about 12 twists put my turban microfiber wrap on my hair to dry a little faster so when I trimmed my hair it wouldn't be soaking wet, and I fell asleep lol (not intentionally) Since I fell asleep with the turban on my hair completely dried. So the following day I spritz a little water into each section of my hair (splitting my twists into 2). Even though I am doing the CG method I used my wide tooth comb to detangle my hair some more. Since I was trimming my hair in it's natural state I wanted to make sure my hair was very detangled to get an accurate cut.

pic of hair trimmed off 

Then I put my favorite leave in conditoner Knot Today (Kinky Curly Knot Today) and coconut oil into each section and twisted them up again. I stretched them by braiding the twists back. For a few days following I will re-twist or braid to get the hair as stretched as I want. Currently my hair is braided at the moment. Until next time you guys. :)

Natural Hair Tip: Maintain Moisture in hair

Curly hair is more prone to being dry. It is easier for straight hair to maintain moisture because the moisture only has to travel straight down the hair shaft. When dealing with curly, coily and kinky hair the hairs have certain patterns like S, O, or Z’s. Having these patterns makes it hard for the moisture to flow down each strand. So if you have these types of hair you may notice that your hair will get dry easily if you don’t put anything in it, some more than others.  It is also easier to see on hair in its natural curly, coily and kinky state.

Now I’ve read statuses on facebook, twitter and have even heard some guys out loud talk about how they didn’t like natural hair because the girls hair looked and felt dry. So I’m going to help some of you newly naturals and or old naturals that are struggling with this situation. This is something that I am really big on which is keeping moisture in my hair. Luckily I don’t have the driest of hair but it can still get dry.

Water is the BEST moisturizer for your hair. It is also so very important, so important that when buying new products you should make sure that the very first ingredient on the label should is WATER. Now on to fixing the problem of having dry hair. Every morning & night you should spritz your hair with water. You can add any oils you would like to your water as long as the majority is water. This should help you with your dry hair problem.

Another option is to spritz your hair with a little bit of water before bed (make sure your hair isn't soaking wet). Put a shower cap on and tie your hair up as you would normally and go to sleep. I would advise if you are to choose this step that your hair is in a style that won’t get ruined like a wash – n –go or  a bun etc.

 If those two don’t work for you another option would be to co-wash (Conditioner only wash) in between your regular washing schedule. For an example I wash my hair every Sunday, so if I wanted more moisture on my hair I would co-wash my hair around Thursday. I hope these tips help for you. If you have any questions make sure to comment below, until next time. 

Transitioners Tip #1

Hello everyone I'm back again. This time it's to help out the relaxed women transitioning over to natural hair. My #1 tip is to stop treating your hair like it is relaxed and now treat it as though it is already fully natural. That means a little more work in taking more time with detangling.

Here is a picture of a semi long term transitioner. Since now you are treating your hair as if it is already natural. That means washing your hair with less harsh shampoos and/or conditioners. You will deal with a good amount of tangles.

A way to avoid breakage and a lot of shedding is not to start detangling where the relaxed hair starts. BAD IDEA you should still detangle from the ends of your hair sectioning your hair if you need to. Hold the hair taunt with your fingers while detangling and work your way up slowly to the natural hair.

 I advise having the hair FULLY covered in which ever conditioner you prefer. This will allow slippage of the tangles or knots and make it easier for you to glide your comb through. Hope this helps you!! Good Luck on your Transition!!!

Hair Diary # 1

 Okay now that I have told you guys about CG method I will tell you how I just recently did my hair. First off I will mention I haven’t used shampoos since after being natural for 6 months before I found out about CG. I found out that your hair can get just as clean by washing with only conditioner or sulfate free shampoo without losing all the natural oils and leaving your hair too dry. The reason shampoo was invented was to totally strip everything (dirt, oils, moisture) from your hair so you can get the “squeaky” clean feel. Conditioners were invented to help put back the moisture and nutrients (life) back into your hair. 

Conditioner only wash (Co-Wash) can clean your hair just as good without fully stripping it. I have sulfate free shampoos that I use on my hair maybe 4 times a year. That’s mostly because I bought it so I’m trying to finish it off lol.

Anyways……. Back to how I did my hair so I Co- washed my hair with TRESemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner with Aloe Vera & Avocado.  Then I put my hair into 4 sections and with the conditioner still fully in my hair I detangled each section.  I then rinse a little of the conditioner out each section and put in my deep conditioner.  I made a homemade deep conditioner containing.

Deep Conditioner:

-1 whole Avocado

-¼ c. plain yogurt

- 4 drops of avocado oil (you can use any type of oils you want)

- ¼ bag of Hesh Amla Powder   

Most of the time I will let my deep conditioner sit in my hair over night and wash it out in the morning, but I was in a rush so I let it sit in my hair for about an hour. If you have a hooded dryer you could cut that time in half. After I washed the deep conditioner out of my hair and put a little more of my TRESemme in my hair as a leave in and started to style my hair. Below I have pictures of my hair after it was completely dry. Enjoy!!

Curly Girl Method

Okay   you guys I’m back. So like in the post I told you my 20 week challenge was ending the next day.  Well it ended and I spent at least half of the day treating my hair. Now I told you guys I was doing the Curly Girl method (CG)  for 5 months now and said I would explain it to you. This method was established by Lorraine Massey.

Since shampoos can become drying to curly, coily and kinky hair. Lots of Shampoos contain sulfates even the most common or popular brands. Sulfates contain harsh chemicals that strip the hair of natural oils and moisture. They cause the hair to frizz up because of the lost of moisture. The better options are cleaning with a sulfate free shampoo and or either a silicone free conditioner alone. It is also encouraged to use the conditioners as a leave in as well. Silicone free is preferred because Silicones repel water and form a barrier around each strand of hair and prevents moisture from entering the hair.

During the CG method you are also to avoid using any styling tools (Combs, brushes etc.) Your fingers should be your one and only styling tool. Now if you have a serious knot or something in your hair and for some reason you can’t get it out with your fingers, a wide tooth comb can be used. Massey states that to protect and form the curls of the hair from the daily elements (wind, heat etc) that gel is a very important product in a CG’s hair.

 

If you are interested in trying this method they have a "cheat sheet" type of websites that will help you find out certain products to use without having to go out and sit there and read the labels one by one I will link it below.

http://afrolatinaisbeautiful.blogspot.com/p/list-of-drugstore-curly-girl-approved.html

My Story!!

Hello and welcome to my first blog Hairitude. (Hair + Attitude) I chose this name because my hair has attitude lol and I love hair in general with attitude. You know that hair or style that just has so much confidence that you just stop and stare? Or you say to yourself "I want that hair" or "I want my hair like that." Yes that's the hair I'm talking about. We have all seen it, have it or trying to get it that way. Anyways onto another subject let me tell you my HAIRstory and then what's going on with my hair currently.

So back in 2007 around the beginning of October while I was away at school. I called my Beautician from home  to set up an appointment to relax my hair the upcoming weekend. For some odd reason I just could not get up with her, and once I did she was completely booked. I was just going to find another time but then thought to myself "What am I doing?" "Why am I still trying to relax my hair i'm 19 now?" I had been wanting to go natural since I was around 16. I asked my mom if  I could and she told me I could when I turned 18 because I had too much hair and would tear up the kitchen when she tried to wash it, and since I didn't know how to do my hair she wasn't going to do it. I'm guessing she was hoping by the time I turned 18 I would.

Hair Relaxed:

Okay now back to the subject after that day I decided I wanted to go natural. I didn't know where to start or what to do. Back then there were barely any women talking about natural hair on YouTube like we have today. So I googled how to go from relaxed hair to natural hair without having to cut all my hair off. I never had short hair before and was scared of the thought of having to do that. Especially since so many people were telling me that was the 1 and only way to go natural. I found a website specifically on transitioning and followed it COMPLETELY. Sadly that website is no longer up.

Transitioned hair consisted of braids,twists &styles. The 2nd pic is bantu knots I took out:

 

To make a long story short I transitioned for 9 months practicing on my hair, and treating my hair as if it was already natural. During this time I got my hair cut 2 times, cutting off at least 3 inches of hair. I finally became natural on August 7th, 2008 cutting off between 4-5 inches give or take. I wish I had the courage to cut my hair myself because she cut too much of it off. I still loved it though I rocked my fro for a whole week before I even styled it. I was so happy with my decision on going natural and thankfully I didn't have a whole lot of back lashing or negativity trying to keep me from doing it. When I washed my hair for the first time being completely natural it was such a breeze for me since I was already treating and taking care of my hair as if I was already natural.  I recommend that if you do not know how to do hair or your in the process of learning, to transition first and become acquainted with your hair before taking such a big step. It will save you the frustration.

1st cut, 2nd cut, puffed right before my final cut and final cut:

 

     

Now that you know a little bit of my hair's past, lets move on to my hair now. Okay so now I have been natural for 4yrs now and am finishing off a 20 week protective challenge that I started for myself and a few other naturals on Curlynikki forums in May 2012. Tomorrow will make week 20. The challenge is to help keep my hair protected and to see how much hair I could grow in the challenge. I am also doing the Curly Girl method (CG) I will go more in depths in another post. If you have any questions or want me to speak on any particular thing just let me know. Also just to let it be known this is my first blog and post ever so don't judge me yet lol I know its long. Until next time......