Hair Talk: Embracing the Afro Puff

Hey hey guys,

So it's been a couple of months since I did a hair post and that's mainly because after noticing the nasty "W" I had in my hair, I've more or less kept it wrapped up in braids and weaves since then.  If you didn't see the "W" then go to "Hair Talk: Going Natural" to find it. The sight of my hair was driving me up the wall and I really just wanted to chop it all off, in theory. So anyways, I thought I'd drop a little update about how things have been going since then.

Ever since I decided to go natural sometime last year, I've been less focused on the length of my hair and more focused on the health, especially since I've been trying to combat my problem areas. As a result, I've been trimming/cutting my hair A LOT more frequently. Let me just say, I used to be that girl that would trim literally once a year, if that. But in the last 6 months I've trimmed my hair twice already, which is a lot for me. It does however mean that my hair looks like it hasn't grown at all, am i destined to be stuck with 'almost' shoulder length hair for the rest of my life? I hope not.

No more W!

And very non-see-through!

My hair is doing A LOT better now though, just look at it! The "W" is more or less gone and the "see-throughness" is disappearing slowly but surely. I really think this has to do with my decision to go natural, honestly I do. And also the low manipulation of my protective styles meant there was no unnecessary playing with my hair every day. I just seem to be unable to resist trying out this style or that! If you look closely to my February picture, you'd notice that it does look a little scraggly in some places with some really long strands, the stylist really should have suggested a trim to get rid of those but  honestly, he seemed pretty incompetent on basic hair care. For instance, you've just taken out my braids and my hair has only been lightly finger detangles, what part of "You need to detangle my hair before you wash it." is so hard to understand? It was partly my fault for allowing him to go ahead with it and then he spent half an hour complaining about how my hair was tangled... I was so mad at him that I just wanted to be out of there fast, I didn't even assess my hair till I got home. I would definitely be trimming those ends soon.

So after my stint with hating my hair and wanting to hide it away, I started missing it because oddly enough, I do really like having my hair out. I feel more in control, lol. When I washed it I must say the natural roots now far outweigh the permed ends and I think I'm literally one or two more trims away from being fully natural. So much for my 18 month transition! Haha. It's been out all of about 4 days and I've been practising a few hairstyles already, a lot of them have turned out to be huge fails. Lol. But I did really like this flat twist headband, it was only my second attempt so there's definitely still room for improvement.

And also my "Bisi, daughter of the River" style, as my mum called it after she finished braiding it. Don't ask.

And of course, my afro puffs! Which was taken off of my snapchat. Lol

Can you tell I was feeling myself? Lol

I'm quite interested to see what the rest of this journey has in store for me. Who's with me?

Also if you have any blogs/ Youtube channels or whatever that you go to for style inspiration then please let me know in the comments section!

Reni xx

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

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

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