Looks of the Weeks

As I stated in my last post, I am OVER the spirals.  So.. here's a look at how things went this week.

I brushed out the curls, combed it into a pony tail and did this bun. It was inspired by the cinnabun look on YouTube.  Mine is rather blah, but it's OK. Right?

I followed it up with these looks.  I got sick on Thanksgiving and had to skip the necessary wash.  So when I wash this Sunday, it will be long overdue.

Strange french twist/roll

I jazzed things up with a headband (at least I thought it was jazzed up)

Then I added a little flare to my bangs.  I put them in a flat twist at night, took it down and pinned until it looked like this (a man's hair piece. LOL)

I finished up the week, with a flat twist in the front and a bun in the back.

What I learned most from this stretch is that if my hair isn't pressed, it needs to be moisturized every two days.  So I really shouldn't rock any style longer than two days, although I am lazy and try to stretch it to three.

I have to admit that I am still discouraged by how long my wash days are, but I won't give up.  I like knowing that if I get caught in the rain, it's no big deal.  I can fix my hair and I didn't waste a $50 trip to the shop.  But with that said, I am going to get my hair pressed and trimmed next Saturday.  I'm supposed to take off an inch, but I'm not sure if I can handle that.  I can barely get my hair into a french twist as it is. I may only cut off a half inch.

Oh... and it's been 7.5 months since my last relaxer.

I'm About Ready To Give Up

I am freaking tired of these all day wash sessions. Is there an easy way around this?  Why yes there is.  Returning to the beauty shop!

Anyways, here's the rundown of my latest wash day.  Forget the saying "read 'em and weep."  Look at my pictures and weep. Yikes!

I decided to give my design express moisture conditioner a shot.  After washing with the anti-itch and the moisturizing shampoos, I piled on that conditioner.  My hair felt good.  For just a quick second I thought, "this is going to be awesome."  Well, I was dead wrong.  When I rinsed out that stuff, my hair was hard with no slip, which means my hair was NOT in the mood to be combed out. OMG!  Luckily, I had my suave close by.  I had to saturate my hair with that stuff and comb my hair out under a stream of water.  Things hadn't been that bad in a while.

As you could imagine I was dead tired when my hair was ready for styling.  Thank goodness my hubby turned it into a party and played some awesome songs, while I did my hair.  I used my Knot Today leave-in, coconut oil and sheamoisture smoothie to moisturize and seal my tresses.  Then I used Bee Mine curly butter to set my curlformers.

I must take this moment to say the curly butter sets and holds the curls far better than the ORS loc and twist gel. So... the gel will be resting in the back of my cabinet for a while.  Thank goodness it wasn't super expensive.

The curls came out great, but I AM. OVER. the spiral thing. I have to find some other way to stretch out my new growth. I mean that's why I love the curlformers so much, they stretch out those roots (As much as kinks can be stretched. LOL!)

So the next day, I brushed the curls into a side ponytail and left a bit out for some bangs.  Yes, I am 30+ rocking a toddler hair do.  Don't judge me.

I should add that my past impatience has cost my hair dearly as I have ripped out some hair in the crown of my head. It's looking like a bird's nest in the middle of my head. Oh well, you live, you learn and recover.

I am surfing YouTube looking for a new "french twist-roll-thing" to put my hair in for the rest of the week.

Now it's time to make a bit of a confession.  I ordered new leave-in and deep conditioners. I'm an idiot and this god awful do-it-yourself-hair has become my new obsession, hobby and burden.

So... next week I will NOT be using the design conditioner. Maybe, I'll just put my hair in medium sized braids and let it air dry, then put it in a bun or something.  We'll see. But something has got to give!!!

Oh... and no more purchases for at least three months!  Somehow, I will stick to this:-)

When Things Work, Stop Trying To Fix Them

I keep running into the same problem when it comes to my hair.  I always want to try something new when there's nothing wrong with what I'm doing at the moment.  Case in point-- my latest curlformer set.

There is only one way to get three to four days out of those curls. I have to use a goodie ouchless headband to pull the curls back, then flip my hair up and tie on a scarf to sleep at night.  This is known as the pineapple.

 Everytime I don't do it, disaster strikes.  And there was definitely a disaster on my head this morning because I did not follow the proper procedure.  I didn't have time to snap a picture because I was running late, but I was able to salvage my hair with an up 'do.  Here's a bad look at it.

I wore this "Little House on The Prairie" hairdo for four days.  It's definitely time for something new:-)

27 Weeks Post Relaxer

I'm trucking along, folks.  It's been 27 weeks since my last relaxer.  My wash day was pretty uneventful, aside from the fact that my arms were freaking sore from putting in the curlformers.

 However, I tweaked a few things.

1.  I rinsed my hair in braids in every step.  I think that helped to cut down on tangling and my general insanity.

2.  I only used Knot Today and *hangs head in shame* African Pride Hair oil as my leave-ins.  (when it came time to set the curlformers, I used the generic Chi Serum and the ORS twist and loc gel.

3. Oops! I accidentally forgot to use the Generic Chi Serum on the back of my hair as I was setting. I don't think it caused much damage.

Here are my results:

 I must say, I really felt good today. I felt like my hair liked me and the curls were awesome.  There wasn't much drama, but I'm not really sure I'll get much out of this set for the rest of the week.  The curls kind of fell throughout the day, but I will remain positive.  I hope I at least get day 2 out of these things. 

I Gave Up!

I had to let go of the curls.  They were too smooshed to go on.  So I tried something different and OMG...LOOK!

I did a french twist based off of Naptural 85's YouTube channel.  It's not the best, but it's MY best.  I've never been able to do a version of a french anything on my hair.  Yay me:-) I must admit that I went a bit buck wild with the bobbie pins and had to remove some because they were hurting my head.

Uhm... so yeah... I worked late last night and didn't have time to figure out something else to do with my hair, so it looks like I'll be rocking the french twist for as long as it will allow. I sure hope it hangs on until Saturday. Now I want to find more updos that I can do (which means they have to be VERY remedial).

Side note: Asian girl I work with says, "is that all of your hair in there?"
Me: "Yes"
Asian Girl: "That's a lot of hair."
Me: "That's my problem."

I can't believe I said that.  I guess I was trying to make her feel comfortable.  I love the thickness of my hair and it is not a bad problem to have.  I hope I didn't insult my hair.  I need it to cooperate with me.  This do-it-yourself haircare is a trip.

We're Not Holding Up

Day 2 hair was okay. I decided to modify my sleeping routine and... well... it didn't work. I smashed some of my curls

Day 3 saw the steady decline of my curls, but I'm not giving up easily. Apparently I sleep on my left side because the curls are crushed on that side.  The back is holding up pretty well.

I'm going to try to make these curls last until Thursday, but that is looking unlikely.  I think I'm going to return to using the Bee Mine curling butter to set the curls.  They seem to flatten more with the ORS twist and lock gel.  Also, I'll be glad when I get my eyebrows waxed. I'm starting to look like a wolf.

Wash Day

It has been six months since my last relaxer and a little over four months, since I started doing my own hair.

This is my hair fresh out of the curlformers. I was quite impressed, but I took a nap later and... well... I wish I could sleep standing up.

Anyways, back to wash day.  Since my hair was straight there wasn't any drama over detangling and such. I parted my hair in six sections, sprayed down each one with water and applied my Design anti-itch shampoo.  It was alright I guess. My head isn't itching like crazy right now, but it didn't make my head tingle like the Influance dandruff shampoo did.

I let that shampoo sit on my scalp for about ten minutes, then I hopped in the shower. I rinsed out the anti-itch and applied Design's moisture retention shampoo.  I don't know what moisture it retains because my hair felt squeaky clean like a clarifying shampoo.  Honestly, my hair feels a bit better after I use the SheaMoisture.  BUT this was only my first use, so I can't really give a good review.

After I rinsed out the last of the shampoo, I applied a crap load of suave conditioner to each section to soften it up. I rinsed that out, applied ORS replenishing conditioner, detangled and braided each section, then sat under my new dryer for 15 minutes,

I decided to leave the braids in when I rinsed out the deep conditioner.  I'm not sure if that was the best idea because I'm not sure I rinsed it all out.  But I lost a lot less hair.

As you can see for the pic above, I used curlformers. I used the generic version of the chi serum, coconut oil and ORS gel to set them.  I sat under my new dryer off and on for a total of three hours and the darn things dried.  My hair looked shiny when I took the curlformers out.

I'm excited to see how long these curls hold up:-)

I would like to end by saying that I love my new Thermal Ionic BaByliss hair dryer. It's like I'm in a salon. It's just that I finished setting my hair so late that I could only sit under there for about two hours Saturday night. I thought they were pretty dry, but I was scared. Curlformers are NOT your friend when the hair isn't dry. So I sat under there for another thirty minutes Sunday morning to be sure. My hair was totally dry. Like I said, I really love my new dryer.  Now.. if I could actually reach my goal of starting my hair earlier in the day.