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.

Took Braids Out

18 Nov 2011...So it took me about 4 hours to take out my braids so I don’t think I will ever get them that small again. That was a pain!!! So now I am about to put on some rhasoul clay as a deep conditioner, I will leave it on over night and wash it out in the morning. I will use 1 c. clay, 1 c water, and a 50/50 mix of almond and jojoba oil on my hair. I also put some coconut oil on my hair as I was taking out my braids and combing it through. I am hoping this will make my hair more manageable and soft as I am washing it out. I washed the clay out with Suave shampoo and conditioner. My hair was very soft and I did not have too bad of a time trying to detangle it. I did lose a lot of hair from shedding but I don’t worry about that so much. As long as my hair is not breaking and thinning I’m good with it. I figure I have not combed my hair in about 3 weeks so shedding was inevitable. Besides I’ve been shedding hair since I was little so it is normal for me. Today,19th, I just put my hair in 6 twists to let it dry. So far I am enjoying my transition to natural so I will definitely be keeping it up.

Tangle Teezer

So I watch a lot of youtube videos looking for tips and I have noticed a lot of people using the Tangle Teezer. So I decided to try it out for myself. I decided to get the original Tangle Teezer and not some knock off brand that way if the results were good or bad I would know it was as a result of the actual product. I've noticed some people use different brand names and call it by the same name but if you get bad results but  you can't blame Tangle Teezer if you did not use the actual product. Anyway...today I co-washed my hair. I have started separating my hair in three sections and wash each individual section. My hair is very thick and I find it easier to wash this way. So I co-washed with Nexxus and rinsed it all out of my hair. Afterward I sprayed a watered down conditioner on my hair and used the Tangle Teezer to comb through it. I must say it passed through my thick hair with no problems and no snagging. The bristles on this brush are a soft plastic so I did not think it would penetrate to my scalp but it did. I was pleasantly surprised and I would definitely recommend the Tangle Teezer to anyone. If anyone else has used the Tangle Teezer please let me know what you think of it. I purchased mine from Amazon because Sally's ran out. So I hope this was somewhat helpful and I look forward to your comments.

Braids 1st Week

So....I washed my braids (5 Nov 11) with Suave mango mandarin shampoo and conditioner. I wouldn’t normally use Suave but a lot of youtube videos I’ve been watching show many young ladies using this product. I have been using Nexxus, Pantene, Miss Jessies’s, and other higher priced products and I have not really been too impressed with them so I decided to try something new.At $1.99 for a 22.5 fl oz bottle it is by far the best priced product. This is what it looked liked washed and dried. I put some coconut oil on the hair and scalp and African Shea Butter on the braids to try and reduce the fuzziness. I will add some more tonight and put my scarf on. I don’t think I will curl the ends this week. I’ll just let them hang. Since I am in the military, I just put my hair into a small bun in the back so it won't hang below my collar and it is working for me. Some of the braids did come loose, in the back so I just twisted them back up because I couldn't re braid them. So this style is a great option especially if need a protective style. However, it is kind of cold here in VA and I did not appreciate the cold air blowing across my scalp so I may leave the braids to the summer months.