One Inch In One Week: Inversion Method Results!

So I promised myself that I would never have to play catch up on this blog again but looks where we are... Catch up time! This time I'm not as behind as I have been but it's still bad enough, blame it on the laziness that came upon me one day and quite simply refused to be shaken off. Not that I was trying very hard, laziness would do that to you. Lol.

On to today's post, the first thing we should catch up on is my last hair post! As you might remember I mentioned that I'd be trying the Inversion Method and I was supposed to post my results up like a week ago... *awkward*. Well you'd be happy to know that I still did all the measurements I was supposed to like a good little blogger but then yeah... Procrastination happened. Anyways, a few mentions before I show you the before pictures of the inversion method. First, you're supposed to do it for 7 days in a row, Reni J did it for just 5! Lol. I completely forgot on day 2 and then on day 6 there was just too much going on, I literally had no time, nope, not even four minutes to hang my head upside down. Lol. Also, my method of inverting was by sitting leaning forward like I was painting my toes for most of the days. On the other days I just hung my head off the edge of the bed. Lol.

As you can tell there was a lot of inconsistency in my one week living life on the flipside! However! There were still some decent results! Here's the before pictures just to remind you.

Top Left: Back left, 8 inches. Top Right: Back Right, 8 inches. Bottom Left: Front, 7 inches. Bottom Right: Edges, 5 inches.

And now, for the moment you've allll been waiting for *drumroll please*.... 

(is this enough suspense??)

(okay surely this does it!)

The After Pictures!

Top Left: Back left, 9 inches. Top Right: Back Right, 8 inches. Bottom Left: Front, 8 inches. Bottom Right: Edges, 6 inches.

So there you have it! My hair did actually grow an inch everywhere and I only did it for 5 of the recommended 7 days! That's pretty impressive considering the fact it would usually take up to two months to grow an inch! For some weird reason though, the right side of my nape didn't seem to grow.... Tres strange. I always used to blame the hairdresser for not trimming in a straight line but perhaps it was never really their fault... I shall be investigating this more soon.

Well, what do you guys think? Would you be trying the inversion method? Or have you already tried it and got results? Let me know in the comments box :)

Reni xx

Ouu see those fun looking icons below? Click on them and watch the magic happen! Lol. The g+ one is actually bloglovin.... Don't ask.

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

Blisters, Chips and Creamy Crack!

Wow, where the heck is March going?? And how on earth was the last time I posted on the 1st of March, I really hate when life gets in the way of my blog lovin. Now I don't even know where to start... Last time I was here it was the day of the Manchester Bogle, well those of you that have me on Facebook know by now that after approximately 13 hours of walking I had only completed 35 of the 55 miles and ended up with blistered feet and a swollen ankle for the better part of the next week! It was crazy intense, I used to think Oxford Road was long but my goodness has anyone tried walking the length of Oldham Road? Of course you haven't, you're not crazy. If anything can break a mans' spirit it's walking down a never ending road, I was going straight for about 2 hours or more! I almost cried! Lol. It was such an experience, a part of me still regrets not finishing but hey! Better luck next time.

Tomi & Super Saiyen Afam

Bogle Survival Kit! Check all the food!

Now on to Insanity, well because of the stupid Bogle! (Only stupid because I didn't finish) I didn't do any insanity the week before the Bogle like I was meant to because we were told not to do any intense exercising and then after the Bogle my ankle was so sore that if I even so much as attempted a jumping jack I would have probably broken it! So that was yet another week off Insanity! I'm so annoyed because I should be starting my final week now but here I am, just about to start Month 2, Week 2. The second month of Insanity is crazy intense, with 60 minute workouts instead of 45 minutes, those extra 15 minutes can really do some damage! I'd put up the results of my last fit test soon! Unfortunately during my 2 week break before month 2 I was really bad with my diet and ate a whole lot of junk, McDonalds and Portland Chippy and the like, I felt so gross! But it wasn't my fault, blame it on engineering! I was basically living at university, going home to sleep for just 4 hours if not less to try and meet a massive deadline. Life was soo messed up at that point, I remember trying to attend a 3 hour lecture after sleeping about 3 hours the night before, ha! Joke of life, I pretty much slept through the whole thing! The worst part is the lecturer is my dissertation supervisor. So awkward! Anyways yesterday I finally went to Asda and stocked up on some REAL food! Abs are made in the kitchen after all! So now I'm meal prepping like a boss!

Last but not least, on Friday after almost 21 weeks, I finally texturised my hair, during the stretch I really really considered going natural! I had already made up my mind to go natural actually but in the last week my hair was frustrating me so much and making me go crazy so I just whipped out the creamy crack and got to texturising. I also air dried my hair for the first time! It didn't turn out half as frizzy as I expected it to be, and I really like that my curl pattern is still defined, I didn't have time to do a length check yet but I'd straighten my hair soon and also update y'all on that. Okay so that's just a quick update on the last 2 weeks. I'd probably go into some more detail on Insanity and my hair status soon but I was tired of missing you guys so I wanted to get this all out.

Ta ta for now,

Reni x

Hair Journey: February Goals

When I wrote this it was actually called "January Goals" but seeing as it's the end of the month I might as well make it February Goals! Lol. My biggest hair goal right now is to safely and effectively stretch my texturisers. First I must say, please forgive me if I mix up the terms relaxing and texturising. I always mean texturising if the post is about my hair right now. If it’s a story from the past I mean relaxing, lol. I’d try and be more careful about my choice of words. After reading countless hair blogs and forums I think I’ve theoretically learned a thing or two about my hair. One of these has been the benefits of stretching the time in between relaxers/texturisers. Although I didn’t know it was called stretching then, I usually stretch my texturisers for 3 months; this is because my hair is actually quite soft.

Side note: I remember when I was younger, hairdressers used to love to wash my hair and comment on how soft and babylike it was but at the same time resented having to cornrow it because they could never hold on tight enough without me screaming. I used to hate having my hair cornrowed! ‘Iya Segun’ would put me on a small stool and place my head between her knees and pin me there to keep me still. **sniff sniff**

But now that I’m all grown up there’s no more ‘Iya Segun’ to pin me down, thank goodness. Anyways, so I usually stretch my texturiser for 3 months, this time for the first time I’ve decided that I want to extend the length of my stretch. My hair is currently 14 weeks post with my last texturiser being on the 21^st of October 2012. I wish I could show you pictures of my new growth and maybe even the three textures but my hair is currently in braids (How else did you think I’d stretch?!! Haha!), I decided to use braids as my protective style (since 12 weeks post) and I plan on stretching for 5 months (20 weeks) so that would be till the 10^th of March 2013. I’m not sure how this is going to go, as I’d have never had so much new growth to deal with all my life! Disclaimer: If after I take out my braids (in approximately 4 weeks) my stretch is doing more harm than good to my hair, I would definitely texturise! But for now I’m excited! The biggest challenge for me right now is to still keep my hair moisturised while in the braids and not neglecting it like I usually would. Because I’ve been working out a lot (Check out my post on Insanity here) I’ve felt like I need to wash my braids more often than the 2 weeks or so. (I’d be honest, before this install I has NEVER washed my braids before!) But the build up of sweat can’t be doing any wonders for growth and health! I’d do a post soon on how I moisturise my braids and also how I washed them.

For now, you can enjoy some pictures of the different styles I’ve tried! I can't wait to get my hair out of these braids so I can see my new growth.

Ta ta for now.

Reni x

Journey to Healthy Hair!

Hey guys!

This is a repost from my other blog, I feel like it's a bit too personal to be there! No idea why though, anyways... Enjoy!

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to take better care of my hair. Yes, I jumped on the healthy hair journey (HHJ) bandwagon, to be honest I started my journey this time last year but I can’t say I really stuck with it for long enough. I DID start to incorporate little things like moisturising and sealing as well as using less heat but that’s about all that stuck. Sometimes it’s just so much easier to throw all you know out the window and put your hair in a weave, not even so much as moisturising it for 6 weeks! But enough is enough! I think this decision came from the fact that my hair actually did grow! It also became much thicker and everyone who has known me all my life with my short, wispy hair was pretty impressed! My mum especially! I think she might be joining me on this journey, whoop whoop.

So here are a few facts about my hair:

I believe I’m a type 4b, but really and truly, I’m not sure. I just know I have ‘regular’ afro kinky hair.

I don’t relax my hair anymore, only texturise. BUT as a result my hair currently has three textures; relaxed ends (which I’m chopping off inch by inch), texturised in the middle, and then fully natural new growth. It’s a mess really!

I’ve done a big chop (B.C) before; it was after an AWFUL relaxer experience at the salon. More details on that later, trust me; the experience is worthy of a whole post to itself.

Hmmm, what else can I add... Oh yeah! Pictures of my hair since I started my journey:

 December 2011:

December 2011

December 2012:

December 2012

Although there was growth, I went from neck to almost shoulder length, the ends of my hair are in pretty bad shape. Truthfully I know exactly what happened, this picture is the reason why I will never again take out a weave, texturise my hair then install a new weave in the space of three days again! I’ve had some bad experiences with chemicals in my hair, one would think I’d just go natural, but I can’t. Not yet. I’m not giving up on my texturised hair yet! So anyways I had to go to the salon and get a cut/trim to tidy up my ends a little bit. Looking at the picture below I wonder if i should have let the hairdresser take off a bit more maybe? I'd decide on my next texturiser.

So January 2013, we are resuming the hair journey, this time actively taking care of my hair! And my main goal is thickness!

January 2013

Who else is on a journey for healthier, longer, thicker hair? Join me! Join me! Join me! Hehe.

P.S: I apologise for the poor quality of some of the pictures, they were not taken with the intention of being part of a hair journey portfolio!

Reni x