June 2012 Curl Kit

I signed up for Curl Kit, which is a $20 monthly subscription and it contains some samples of hair care products. To me this is an excellent way to get some samples of products to try without having to commit to purchasing items that will not work for my hair. Again the subscription is $20 monthly and its auto billed but you can cancel at any time. If you are interested in getting a subscription visit the website at www.curlkit.com.

This months kit is called "Creme of the Crop" and it contained:

Samples of:

MJ's Baby Butter creme, Curly Butter creme, and Curly Pudding.

Nice & Curly Wind Down Gel.

Hair Rules Hydrating Finishing Creme.

Jamaican Mango & Lime Locking Gel.

Full Size:

Ampro Honey Beez Stylin' Beez Wax.

Ampro Vitamin E Oil

Twisted Sista De-frizz Conditioner.

I have tried the Beez Wax and it has done a good job of keeping my edges smoothed dow without a heavy build up feeling. I would buy this.

MJ's Curly Pudding which is very thick but it did not work too well on my hair. My hair felt heavy and when it dried my hair was hard I wound up washing it out after a day because I just didn't like the feel of it on my hair. This is a product that I will not purchase.

As I try more products from this kit I will add to this post. I just receive confirmation for my July kit so I'm already looking forward to that one as well and I will post that kit when it comes in too.

I have also did a subscription to Curl Box and I should be receiving my first one of those next month and I will show that box also.

MJ's Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo

So I decided to try Miss Jessie's Super Slip Sudsy Shampoo because it says it is the best darn detangling shampoo period. The texture was ok very creamy and a little goes a long way but it was the worst on my hair. My hair became immediately matted and tangled. I couldn't even work with my hair. I had to rinse it out and add a ton of conditioner and even then it was very difficult to detangle my hair. It took me about an hour to get it completely detangled. So this product was a total fail for me and I will not be trying it again. I hate that I spent the money on the product because MJ's is not cheap.(8oz bottle cost $14) Lesson learned...

New Regimine

So lately I have been only using conditioner on my hair. I put a moisturizing conditioner on my dry hair and I leave that on for a few hours or overnight. When I put it on I massage it into my hair and scalp and I detangle during this process. Before I jump in the shower I will finger detangle again. When I start rinse my hair I almost don't have to detangle any more because the water seems like it is detangling it. I rinse the deep conditioning completely out of my hair and then I add some Tresseme Naturals as a leave in. I must say for me following that simple routine is working wonders on my hair. So I will continue to do this until my hair doesn't respond to it any longer. On another note when I detangle my hair, I've noticed that my natural hair is easier to detangle than my relaxed ends. I really think it is time for the relaxed ends to go but I think I am going to hold out until September which will put me at one year of transitioning. Don't know why except I just don't think I want short hair.

Breakage

In my "Random Thoughts" comment, I stated that I was experiencing some breakage after my hair trim. After my Dominican Blowout, I also experienced some breakage so it got me thinking about the two procedures. The only common denominator for the two procedures was that direct heat was applied to my hair via hand held blow dryer set to high heat. With that being said I am going to listen to my hair and not apply any direct heat to it while I an in transition. I may try to heat again once I am completely natural and see is I get the same results. I am a firm believer in listening to my hair and paying attention to how it behaves with various styles and products. Since I did the blowout, I have been paying extra attention to conditioning my hair and keeping it well hydrated. It seems to be working and my hair is not breaking like it was right after the blowout. I will definitely have to update this when I get all the way natural because I want to have options with my hair whether its straight or curly but not at the expense of my hair breaking off. I always said that I will transition my hair for as long as it is not breaking so its on to the next chapter.

Dominican Blowout

I have some cousins in Atlanta that swear by Dominican Blowouts so I decided to give it a try. I went yesterday to Bonita's in Colonial Heights, VA and paid $45. Apparently they charge extra to do natural hair and since this is my first time, I am not sure if that is normal or a good price. Anyway, the process started with a wash and condition followed by a roller set and about 1.5 hours under the dryer. After she took the rollers out, I almost told her to leave the curls as they were cause they were big and bouncy but I decided to follow the procedure to the end. Next my hair was blowed dried again using a hand held dryer and a small tooth comb. I must say the dryer was very hot and it caused me to jump a few times. Finally, my hair was flat ironed with some sort of heat protectant, I just don't remember what it was called. The final result was my hair was very straight and had great movement. I think this process worked better than when I was getting relaxers. I did put some curlers in my hair and was able to create some big bouncy curls and they looked great. So all in all it was a good experience but it is one that I will not do too often just because of the intense heat that was used but a couple times a year would not be a bad thing. I will say that I took my daughter, who is relaxed, there and her hair is doing much better health wise. Her hair was breaking off very badly but after two visits, her hair is shedding normally now with no breakage at all. For those who are looking for straight hair without the relaxer this would be a great option. However, I'm not sure what this is going to look like after I work out and start sweating. As a side note, I am very lazy with my hair and my arms get tired when I try to flat iron it myself so if you are like me in that aspect, this would be a great alternative.

Random Thought

So I went to the beauty shop couple weeks ago to get a much needed trim and every since then my hair has been breaking off like crazy. I have had to redouble my moisturizing efforts in order to get it under control. So it is doing much better now but I am perplexed as to why this happened. She used Design Essentials products on my hair and I hear it is a good product line so I wasn't concerned when she put it on my hair. Now I am concerned about going back for follow up trims that I know I will need. I don't have the right hand to cut my own hair but I have a few weeks to think about it so I guess I will come up with something.

Small Growth Check

11 December and I cut the perm out of a small section of hair in the front. I will track the progress of this one section and determine when I will cut the rest of the perm out of my hair. I don’t think I would be comfortable with this short of hair so I will continue to wait. I will check this small patch once a month to track my growth progress.

17 Feb 2012 and I just did a second check on my small patch of hair that I cut. It has grown out some which I am judging by where my finger is located at the end of the hair. I did not do any measurements so I am not sure how much growth I have but it is enough to let me know I am making progress.

I am still experimenting with all different types of products and I think it is more difficult to pin point it down because I am dealing with two different hair types. It has been about 7 months since my last relaxer and I am really committed to sticking with the transition. :)

Last photo taken 15 May 2012 and my bang is about 4" long. Making some progress.