Wash day Bantu Knot Out

Extra fluffy Air Dried Hair

about 50% dry

This past wash day I just passed 2 weeks post and decided I wanted to really treat my hair. After wearing straight hair for 2 weeks I was ready for some textured styles. Me and my mom were very excited that our stand up hair steamer came in the mail over the weekend as well!

I pre-pooed for an hour with hemp oil under a conditioning cap. I also used tea tree oil on my scalp because it was extremely dry.

This week I clarified with my Redken Cleansing Cream, and did a slight protein treatment with Aphogee's 2 minutes Reconstructor, then t shirt dried for about 10 minutes.

Next I deep conditioned under a cap for about an hour using KeraCare's Humecto, then steamed for about 20 minutes. I loved sitting under the steamer, which is crazy because I hate sitting under the dryer lol.

I rinsed everything out and followed with Paul Mitchell's Smoothing Conditioner, for a few minutes before rinsing.

I t shirt dried for about 15 minutes then applied my leave-in, Elasta QP, Kinky Curly Knot Today, and Paul Mitchell's Skinny Serum. I allowed my hair to air dry about 85% before installing 9 bantu knots.

BKO set after work

I absolutely loved my results, and I had not realized it had been 9 months since my last set. The wigging challenge almost made me forget how much I love some of my favorite styles.

After this week I will be protecting my hair again, and I am considering installing box braids or twists!

Relaxer Update 2.2

So I may be ready to start self relaxing...

My wonderful beautician did a great job relaxing my hair today (yesterday) but she is just too scissor happy! She asked if I wanted a trim after blowing my hair out and complimenting me on how great it is growing out. Of course said no, but she assured me that I really needed it. I went ahead and obliged and assumed she would not take off too much. Sure enough I started to see 2 inch pieces falling in my lap and I'm instantly pissed. She's always cutting my hair, I've had a trim 4 times since my cut and I know my ends have not been bad. For the sake of my length progress I just think I need to stay away from her.

She also has these little habits that make me cringe like combing wet hair with a fine toothed comb, or blow drying my hair with the heat cooking my scalp. I know being on a hair journey makes you over critical about anything hair related, so I may just need to take over everything. I've always wanted to self relax but I'm afraid of messing something up. But I think it's time, what do you guys think? I spend $60 to have my hair relaxed when I can do my own for close to $10. It's really hard because I've grown very fond of my hair stylist over the years, and she still does my Mom's hair regularly, but it's time for a change.

Anyways my hair is doing great here are the results.

  

 

 My hair is still at about line 3 but this is not an accurate length check because my hair is flipped at the bottom and slightly curled. I will wait to update the relaxer update page when my hair is actually straight. p.s. my relaxer prep paid off, absolutely no burning this go round!

Relaxer Day Prep!

Finally, tomorrow I will be ending my 12 week stretch! I know to some of my fellow bloggers, 12 weeks is a breeze but I'm not at that point yet lol. However, I will say that my new growth was not totally unbearable, and I could have gone a few more weeks. Thorough detangling sessions were beginning to take up to an hour towards the end of this stretch, and ain't nobody got time for that. Anywho, on to my prep...

looks like about  an inch of ng all around

1. Last Sunday, five days before relaxing I did a protein treatment on my hair using ORS Replenishing Conditioner. This is as hard of a protein treatment as I go, for fear of protein overload. I perform light protein treatments (aphogee 2 min reconstructor) biweekly and I've never had a protein issue to my knowledge. Plus my hair absolutely loves those little yellow packets.

2. I had my mom braid my hair into my usual 4 braids that are worn undeneath my wigs to stretch my new growth.

3. No scratching, sweating, or re-wetting, all week.

Night before...

4. Removed braids and finger deranged with oil. I try to refrain from manipulating my hair too much during prep week. Even texlaxed hair has shrinkage, see below.

5. Oiled my scalp with a mineral oil/ petroleum based product. I literally found this buried, under my sink but it did the job. My December relaxer burned so badly that I take many precautions to prevent that feeling.

6. Sectioned hair into 4 and used my favorite Mane and Tail detangler & seamless comb to work through each section.  Most if the work had already been done by my fingers earlier.

7. Bantu knotted each section when done and applied castor oil to the parts.

* note tomorrow when I visit the salon I will have her base me again just to be safe.

Quick Life Update- I Graduated!

This past Saturday I was blessed to end my undergraduate career!!! After four years, I completed my Bachelors of Arts and Sciences in Communication degree from the University of Missouri. My college experience has been amazing and I have truly grown into myself. Even though I am a little scared of what lies ahead, I'm really excited to see where life takes me next.

2nd Year HHJ Anniversary- Part II

    In part one of my 2nd Year HHJ Anniversary I discussed what brought me to my journey. My hair has definitely been through a lot, and thank God it has been so forgiving. As I stated before, I'd hoped to have achieved longer lengths by now, but my July setback pushed me back on length goals. Nonetheless, I have learned so much about my hair and I know this next year will begin to show great results.

Main Things I have Learned

Aug 2012- 3 months into HHJ

• Every fad is not for everybody
• I personally do not benefit from multiple washings every week
• When it comes to styling, less is more
• Low Manipulation styles are nice but can be overdone
• There are no short cuts in this journey
• Hair bonding glue is a huge no-no
• People will always have an opinion on your hair, but at the of the day it's yours
• If you fall off, you can always cut and start back again
• Protect your ends!

To see my progress over the last two years, check out my Relaxer Updates tab. By next relaxer I should be SL or full SL. The longest my hair has ever reached on this journey is line 7 (APL) which I hope to reach by the end of the year. The wig regimen has been amazing so far which consists of 2 weeks out and 10 weeks under wigs. As my hair gets longer I plan to stretch longer and allow more time for my hair to be "out" and enjoy it. Maybe this regimen will take me all the way to WL :)

Happy Healthy Hair Journey!

ps. I'm more than excited to be graduating this Saturday!

2 Year HHJ Anniversary!! Part I

    So today marks my the end of my 2nd year of my healthy relaxed hair journey. This journey has had it's ups and downs but I really do enjoy being on a journey, and I could not imagine my hair life any other way lol. Dramatic, but true. I thought I would be well on my way to BSL by now but my journey had it's own path I guess. I thought I would reflect on how I got here :)
My Hair Story
       When I started this journey it was the end of my sophomore year of undergrad and I was fed up with the state of my hair. I got my first relaxer in the 8th grade and I had super thick APL hair. Most girls at my school considered it long, but I was not happy with how thick it was. My old school beautician refused to relax my hair bone straight, so for me a 12 year old it was still difficult to manage. I mostly kept my hair is buns or pony tails because I didn't like for it to be down. Later on I switched to a younger stylist who would relax my hair bone straight and do any crazy, stiff, hard style I desired. Who knew that years later I would be wishing I had my thick texlaxed hair back.
   

hair in h.s. had nape breakage and thinning edges

Glued in tracks for prom- with my parentals!

 In high school I kept my hair in micro braids because I played three sports all year round and I did not want to deal with my hair. The take down process was brutal and left me with breakage but I was careless and just thought of hair as just hair. Micros were also hard on my edges and to this day they are not the same. For prom I had my first experience with glue-in track and it was over, I knew I wanted to wear sew-ins.

last set of micros- kiss them goodbye!

1st sew-in... I'm 5'2 btw lol

      The first semester of college I got my last set of micros and was very disappointed in the length of my hair. I always had so much new growth, but never retained any length in that style. After that I got my first sew-in and fell in love with them. I had all this hair, who cared what my hair looked like under-neath? That summer I wore my hair out and it wasn't so bad. When I started my sophomore year it was back to sew-ins but I was not taking great care of my own hair underneath. I started to realize how the weaves were taking a toll on the health of my ends and length.

Summer before sophomore year

   March of 2012 I found KISS and Traycee from youtube, and started to stalk hair forums and youtube channels. I had unintentionally stretched my hair for 5 months under weaves and ended the stretch on May 15th 2012, the start of healthy hair journey.

crappy picture but this was the beginning

My Current Protective Style

At three weeks post I installed a new wig that I made on a sports dome cap. I am currently 5 weeks post and I have been officially loving this style. For the past six months I have been using wigs to help retain length and keep my hands out of my hair.

My wig regimen consists of...

• Weekly washdays
• Hair kept in braids 4-8
• Little to no leave out (closure)
• Moisturize and Seal braids every other day
• Co-wash wig every 3-4 days (curly hair) 
• Spray hair daily with conditioner & water, followed by Shea Moisture's Curl & Style Milk, and ending with a serum of my choice

two colors I used 14 & 17

I purchased my hair on Aliexpress by a vendor called Luvin Hair Co. The texture is Brazilian Curly in lengths (18, 20, 22, with 14 closure) but the bundles were not true to length. I ended up trimming the 22 because I received two bundles of 18, but so far that is my biggest complaint.

When I received my hair I went ahead and bleached the knots on my lace closure. I sewed the closure to the cap first, then sewed all 3 bundles of hair on the cap. Surprisingly, I used a majority of the hair with only a small amount of "22" left. After constructing the wig, I mixed to blondes together to create highlights and dimension in the hair. I left the color on for about 15 minutes before washing it out and deep conditioning it.

I am able to take the wig off everyday to cut down on tangles and matting. The hair does shed a little, but I did not seal my wefts so that is my fault. After two weeks I still really love the hair and would buy again. I will do another update on the hair in about two weeks.