Hair Talk: Going Natural

So there's this huge disaster going on on my head at the mo', my hair at the back of my head seems to be breaking constantly and consistently and I feel at a massive loss for what to do! I will eventually post a picture of the shocking mess that is the back of my head but for now I'm too distressed just looking at it to even want to put it up in this post.

I don't understand what went wrong with that part of my head during my regimen and I've been racking my brain for ages trying to figure out what is causing such crazy amounts of breakage. It's the biggest "W" I can recall ever having my whole life! When I showed my mum and cousins they all said I was exaggerating and it looked worse in the picture but I don't even ever wear my hair down because of that. Maybe I'm pulling my bun too tight? Or maybe that awful relaxer I had years ago just destroyed my hair follicles in that area forever? You're probably wondering what the awful relaxer story is about...

Before I tell you about that mess look at THIS mess! I'm so distraught!

Well basically, a few years ago, I went to a salon to get my roots retouched, the stylist did her job and I went home all happy with my new straight hair. Not too long after, chunks of hair started falling off my head, like whole strands, but all in the area around my nape. It continued like this, just falling out and creating a growing bald batch from my nape towards the centre of my head until after a few weeks I had to cut all my hair off to keep it looking even and not like I had some disease! I was so distraught that I swore off relaxers, which is how I came to start texturising my hair for the last 8 years or so. Thinking about it now I should have just gone natural then! But I truly never saw the beauty in natural hair. Well now, about 8 years on, I'm not sure if my hair is falling out of my nape again or how bad it's going to get this time but I've made a decision now. I'm going natural! For real this time.

Me after attempting a bantu knot out a few months ago!

So I'm no longer 28 weeks post relaxer/texturiser, I'm now 7 months into my transition! I'm planning on transitioning for 12 to 18 months, I think. I could change my mind later but that's the plan for me right now. My hair is in braids at the moment but as soon as I take it out it's going to be back to taking care of it and learning to work with my two textures. Business as usual.

Is anyone else transitioning to natural? Drop me a comment, let's be transitioning sisters!

Reni xx

Research is Key!: Length Check Number 2

Would you believe me if I told you I've been trying to post this since Monday? My laptop has had soo many tabs open and so many e-books due to all the dissertation research that it just refused to upload any pictures on to blogger but I couldn't shut it down and have to open all those tabs again and I couldn't do any blog posts without pictures either... *sigh* I was between a rock and a hard place until now, finally I closed everything and gave the lappie a much needed reboot and it's working perfectly again, well nearly. Lol. So I was going through my blog the other day and realised it has been a while since I did a hair related post and I've been harping on about how I will write my regimen down as well, which to be fair is probably more for my benefit than yours (I can be so forgetful!) But I did a length check the other day, the second one of the year and thought this would be a perfect time to share with you again.

I think my current regimen would be a good place to start otherwise I might forget to write it down all over again! Haha. So here goes... Actually I'm realising that this is kind of a boring post to write! Especially considering the fact that I have three yummy food posts in the works! Haha. I love blogging about food, there's just something so satisfying about reliving those moments where I bit into an amazing burger! Okay, back to hair.

I think the reason I don't really feel like writing this post is because I'm disappointed with the menial length of hair I retained this quarter of the year. I know I should be more focused on health and not length but sometimes it's so hard not to grow impatient, just the other day I was thinking of chopping it all off again and going natural, but I'm trying to be patient and give it till the end of the year at least! I've only been on this journey for 7 months you see, but hair envy is real! Lol. I just want my locks to flow already, or at least look thicker! Here's what I've been doing to my hair:

Monday's are wash days and I:
Shampoo with Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo. (I clarify once a month with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo).
Do a green tea rinse to combat shedding.
Apply ORS Hair Mayonnaise for 20 minutes because my hair loves the stuff!
Condition with ORS Replenishing Conditioner for 45mins to an hour.
Air dry my hair in a cotton t-shirt for 60 minutes
Apply my leave-in; I recently switched from Motions Nourish Leave in Conditioner to Dr Miracles Leave in Conditioner, I've been searching everywhere for Cantu Shea Butter leave-in but all the stores near me are permanently put of stock! I'm in need of a really awesome leave in.
Allow my hair to finish drying without the t-shirt.
And then depending on what time it is as I usually wash in the evenings, I either moisturise with ORS Carrot Oil and seal with Sweet Almond oil or I just tie my hair up and moisturise and seal the next morning.

This has been my regimen from the beginning of the year, the only addition being green tea rinses and also switching from ORS Carrot Oil to Kids Organics Shea Butter Detangling Moisturising Hair Lotion (goodness that name is such a mouth full!) at about 12 weeks post when my new growth needs some TLC to stop it from drying out so easily! So on to some pictures:

I'm definitely claiming proper shoulder length now! Next stop is collar bone length which looks about an inch or two away, sadly! OMG can I just stress the importance of reading up on stuff before you try it right now? So I was looking at my regimen as I wrote it down and trying to see what differences I've made between January and March where my hair grew quite a bit and March and now where it hasn't really grown at all and the only major difference was doing tea rinses. So I went to my best friend, google, for help to see the negative impacts of tea rinses and the very first thing that came up was an article from curlynikki.com, here saying that tea rinses can STUNT growth! Now I was like hold up, say what?! But as I read more I realised I had been doing some fundamental things wrong, for instance I never took the tea bags out of the bowl until I was ready to use it, which was hours sometimes, when really you're only meant to leave in the tea bag for a minute or two to get a weak brew! Lack of knowledge is no excuse as my hair showed me these last three months, but now that I've identified the problem (I think) at least I can try and correct it and see how I do in the third quarter of the year.

Hmmm, hair posts aren't that bad! I'm washing my hair right now and going to try a roller set tonight, I'd do a post on the outcome later on if it turns out nice, or even fairly acceptable. :)

Ciao ladies!
Reni x

P.S. I really need to do something about the middle of my hair, the breakage is disastrous! Look how much shorter it is! Any tips? Also I made a length check post so you can see all of my progress pictures from the beginning of the year here: Length Check Progress Pictures

Length Check, Progress Pictures

Decided to d a little post which I will update whenever I do a length check to track the growth of my hair.

December 2012, before my cut/trim:

January 2013, the start of the journey!

March 2013, length check numero uno

July 2013: Length check 2

 

Hair and Fitness Catch-Up Session and June Goals

So at the end of March, I wrote a post called April Goals and Bloglovin Love where I wrote a list of things I would like to have achieved by the end of April, then in typical me fashion, I completely forgot to come back with an update as to how things went, I just realised I never even gave a final Insanity update! Shocking behaviour really, thanks for not calling me out guys!

So let's start with the goals from April which carried all the way through till right now because honestly, life was a bit too hectic in May to think about setting any new goals! Begin with the successes shall we?

Drink at least one litre of water a day.

Yay to this one! It's weird, i now find myself actually wanting to drink water over many other things. You might not understand the severity of this because I didn't document the time i actively tried to convince one of my best friends that I was allergic to drinking water, oh dear, the silly things I've said! Overall though I find it so much easier to think of drinking 500ml two bottles of rather than half a 2 litre bottle. Weird huh?

I mean just look at how gigantic that bottle is! The 500ml is so miniature and cute in comparison!

I know I'm nowhere near the recommended daily intake but this is a massive achievement for me :)

Try a Tea Rinse/ Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse

Ouuu this was such fun, I must admit it felt extremely weird to pour tea over my hair and I was having one of those "You know you don't have to try everything you read" moments, but I'm glad I tried it because after dousing my hair in Twinnings Green Tea and doing my regular deep condition with ORS Replenishing Conditioner, my hair felt so nice and soft, yet strong and I hardly had any shedding at all! I was amazed actually, seeing as I was at least 7 weeks post by then!

Do Two Protein Treatments

This one I did and overdid and found myself face to face with the monster that is protein overload! Lord I could have cried, I'm even a bit too embarrassed to share what I did but I would anyways. So.. here goes... don't laugh! Basically, the long and short is that after I took my weave out, I washed my hair as normal then thought to go heavy on the protein because of breakage/shedding. So I mixed two types of protein treatments. Motions Protein Reconstructor and ORS Hair Mayonnaise and then deep condition. I then spray my usual leave-in by Motions as well which contains silk amino acids, read protein. By the time my hair was dry I was almost in tears from how hard/dry/crunchy it felt. After a couple of deep conditions later that week it was back to normal-ish but I'm never doing that again! Lesson learnt.

And now the not-so-fun parts, trust me I have an excuse for each one of them but I will just take them as fails for now and try harder next time!

Apply JCBO to my edges nightly and scalp every other day

I was clearly feeling extremely optimistic when I wrote this! But the real reason it didn't happen was because I got a weave.

Have a side of veggies with lunch every day

Even more optimism! Ha!

Finish Insanity by the 7th of April

Not completing this one really hurt me but my knee was starting to act up again! I got to day 57 and could never be bothered to do the last three days after I felt better :( Here's my update on how I was doing before the setback though Insanity Month 2: It's Not a Diet, It's a Lifestyle.

Start a new workout regime including Hip Hop Abs and Swimming

This only counts as a fail because I dont actually have a regime but I have been working out loads and training for Race for Life! (more on that soon). I started the Hip Hop abs and can I just say that as an avid Shaun T fan, it sucks! Ugh, it's so boring and you do the same video everyday for 6 days or something crazy! As soon as I saw the schedule I was bored, I think I made it to day 5 or so. Some very good information about engaging your core on there though with the "Tilt, Tuck, Tighten" method, if you like relatively low impact exercise (because everything after insanity is low impact!) and want to work your abs definitely look into it though!

Random view of the pool at my gym, taken from my favourite stretch spot. There's just something so calming about water.

Whoosh! That was a pretty long review, but I guess a lot has happened since I last posted any thing mainly hair/fitness related.

Now that all this catching up is done and there's only a teeny bit left to do, I thought it'd be a good idea to make some new goals for June.

Hair

Nothing fancy here really as I'm currently 11 weeks post but my hair has been in braids for about 2 weeks now.

• Complete 16 week stretch.
• Wash hair at least once every 2 weeks.
• Moisturise every other day.

Food/Fitness

• Run 5k at least twice a week in preparation for Race for Life on the 14th of July.
• Complete the 30 Day Squat Challenge (Day 12 today, whoop!)
• Be able to plank for 90 seconds (I'm currently on a measly average of about 45).
• Pole!
• Try a new recipe or two.
• Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day

Others

It's summer time and bar my dissertation I intend to have as much fun as possible!

• Become a 'yes' girl! Life is nothing but the experiences we make out of it!
• Use my proper camera more, it's so much better than the iPhone 5.
• Write a story or two to go on THAHW.
• Blog more after exams are over

What are some of your goals for the next 30 days?

P.S. My donation link for Race for Life is here, I'd do a separate post to give the details properly but just incase anyone already knows what is and all that and wants to donate :)

Reni x

NL to BSL in 12 hours or Less!

Hey hey,

I know, I know.. I did one of my famous disappearing acts again and didn't post for over 2 weeks but life has been a little less fun these days! I had a massive deadline on Tuesday and tons and tons of work to do before I go for my Grandad's funeral so I've been a busy little bunny. But I like to think that some people miss me at least a little bit! So I'm back to give a quick little update about how I went from neck length hair to bra strap length in 12 hours! Haha, here's what happened, I started my wash process at about 10.30 pm

I pre-pooed my hair with Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) on my scalp for 30 minutes.

Shampooed with Elasta QP's Creme Conditioning Shampoo and rinsed. (I ran out of this and had to get a new one and they seem to have a "new and improved" version, I'm so skeptical about trying "new and improved" things. I hope they haven't changed too much)

Did a green tea rinse!! I was so excited for this part, couldn't wait to see the benefits the tea rinse would have on my hair. It made it kind of hard like most people say it does but I opted to not rinse it out and put my deep conditioner on over it.

So I deep conditioned with ORS Replenishing Conditioner while doing an Insanity workout video so like an hour. I figured since I don't have a steamer I might as well use some body heat to 'steam' my hair! Then when I'm done I wash my hair and shower at the same time! Although I'll have to admit, it does feel quite silly sometimes jumping around with a shower cap on your head!

My hair felt really nice and soft but strong after the deep condition so my thinking is that the tea rinse worked some magic! I was then convinced by my aunt to go with her to the salon the next day, you see she sells weave and was trying out a new seller and needed a guinea pig ( a willing me!) for quality control but seeing as I really really wanted to do a length check on my next wash day I had to speed up the process and do it then instead! Side note: someone really needs to tell me what order moisturiser and heat protectant need to go on your head! It makes sense with blow drying because you just moisturise after! But with the flat iron do you moisturise, then seal, then heat protect?? Anyways that's what I did but my hair felt pretty weighed down even though I tried to be light handed... it was weird! Tips appreciated! So anyway after painstakingly flat ironing my hair, I did a length check! It's grown! I think I'm slowly graduating from neck to shoulder length! Do you think I can get a length check t-shirt now?? The bf always teases me that I'd need a special turtle neck edition :( but now I might be upgrading! Whoop whoop!

Top left: Before my hair cut in Jan '13. Bottom left: After Jan '13 hair cut. Right: March '13. 

Up close: I guess wearing a black t-shirt wasn't the smartest thing but I was just tryna rep DRB!

Now here's where the real magic happened! After waking up the next morning at the crack of dawn so we could get to the salon first, my aunt, cousin and I had a nice little stake out of the salon to make sure no-one could claim to have gotten there before us. Being first to an african salon is very important! There are no appointments, it's a girl eat girl world out there, especially at the weekend! We waited, bored and kind of hungry for over an hour before the hairdresser finally arrived at 10.30 when the shop was meant to open at 9! Bloody Africans.

Her shop is the blue one in the middle. Real professionals we were, sitting in the car and staring at every girl that passed by!

But we forgave her when she was done installing our sew-ins! I'm now full BSL *yipeeee* and my cousin got some really cute bangs! No pictures of my Aunty who was transformed into a modern day Goldilocks! (literally, her hair was blonde) but all in all it was a successful trip to the salon!

I have NO idea what I'm doing with my face. It felt natural at the time! Haha, I love the side swept bangs.

Crazy cousin! I'm not sure she likes this picture but I love it! Really shows off her personality! Hehe.

So that's it! How I went from NL to BSL! And a random little update on one of the things I've been up to these past two weeks.

Love, Reni x