Wash Day 9 weeks Post!

This post is actually from last weekend but I'm just now finding the time to post :/. Anyways, I have 3 more weeks until I relax at 12 weeks post, and so far the Wig Challenge has been going great. I am currently rocking a wavy u-part that I installed at 8 weeks post. The wig has combs attached and I remove it at night to moisturize and seal my braids.

This week I pre-pooed overnight with coconut oil, and the night before I detangled and separated with Mane n'tail detangler using my Hercules Sagemann comb. For the first time I decided to keep my hair braided throughout the entire wash day, and  I braided my hair into 8 braids.

My "hard protein"

The next morning I kept the braids in while I "washed" my hair using and ACV and water mixture on my scalp. I'm big on recycling items in my house for other uses so I chose to use this contact solution bottle lol.

ACV water mix 1part acv 2 part H2O

I had yet to do a hard protein treatment this stretch so I decided to use the ORS Replenishing Pak for 2 hours while still in braids.


Before rinsing out my hair I un-did the braids so that i could rinse out all the products. I followed up my deep conditioner with my smoothing conditioner, Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Conditioner and left that in for about 5 minutes.

shed hair after air-drying

Once my hair was rinsed out I realized I did not like how "un-clean" my hair felt. Next time I try the ACV I will look into a "cleansing conditioner" so that I'm not using shampoo but I'm still cleaning my hair. I t-shirt dried and air dried my hair as usual. Once my hair was about 80% dry I began my braid pattern for the curly u-part wig I am currently rocking.

Wet n- wavy install

It was overall a decent wash day with very little shedding or tangles for 9 weeks post!

Ordered my Hercules Sagemannn Seamless Comb!

5580

It's has been awhile since I posted a washday post, but I was excited to share how I liked my new comb. This week I am 6 weeks post relaxer and I have 6 more weeks to go. My new growth has remained unbelievably soft due to my homemade moisturizer. The past few weeks I have kept my hair braided underneath my wigs until washday, moisturizing and sealing as needed. This regimen has proven to work so well the last couple of months, that I am going to be doing a year long wig challenge in 2014! I will be doing a whole separate post on wigs sometime this month.

DETANGLE: I started by taking down the four braids that my hair had been in since Monday. I carefully detangled my hair using my new Hercules Sagemann 5580 seamless comb. My hair was pretty damp from my hot yoga class, so I did not use any products to detangle. I lost an average amount of hair, but the process was significantly shorter and I didn't hear any breaking of strands.

PRE-POO: I separated my hair into quadrants and slathered coconut oil to each section. I used a plastic cap to cover my head while I waited around for about 30 minutes. 

WASH: I washed with Organix Awapuhi Ginger Shampoo after I rinsed out the coconut oil. I am looking to add another moisturizing shampoo because most of mine are clarifying. 

TREATMENT: Every two weeks or so I try to incorporate a light protein treatment into my regimen. Since the beginning of my journey I have been using Aphogee's 2 minute Reconstructor which I used this week after rinsing out my shampoo.

DEEP CONDITIONING: After squeezing out the the excess water from my hair, I used my favorite deep conditioner Kera Care Humecto.  I deep conditioned for about an hour while I slept for awhile.

SMOOTHING: After deep conditioning I rinsed out my hair and followed with Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Daily Treatment. I usually leave the treatment on for a few minutes while I finish my regular shower activities. (3-5 mins)

April Lace Wigs- Review coming soon

DRYING: I t-shirt dried my hair while I slept some more lol.. My workout had my so exhausted that day.. I applied my regular leave ins Aphogee Green Tea Restructorizer and Elasta QP's leave-in. I separated my hair into the same quadrants as earlier while I detangled each section with my new seamless comb. At 6 weeks post I lost very little strands and the detangling process went a lot smoother.

STYLING: Lastly, I braided my hair in 4 braids to fit underneath the wig I'm currently wearing. It's about time I either make or order a new wig, but for now it's getting the job done:)

LLL Anniversary!!!

It has officially been one year since I first started this blog!!! I have enjoyed documenting the trials of my hair journey. I am surprised by how much I enjoy blogging and I plan to make more time to blog this year. Reading hair blogs is definitely one of my guilty pleasures and enjoy sharing my trials with others.

After a year of blogging I am ready for a new clean look to begin our year. This month (January) has been spent changing the face of my blog. I have so many posts in my drafts that I am hoping to be able to share soon.

  Finally, I love interacting with you all and receiving comments.Loving my hair and looking forward to another year of blogging :)

Thanks so much for reading and following along on my journey. HHJ!

New Year's Hair Goals

Wigging on NYE 2014

I can truly say I had an amazing year in 2013. I saw a lot of personal growth and met a lot of goals that I set for my self. From school, work, skin, hair, and physically I set out goals and met them. I have learned a lot that I would like to take with me in 2014.

What's to come in 2014??

1. Makeover BLOG: A year ago this month, I started blogging and it has been a great experience. There were a few months that I barely posted, but I am aiming for 3 posts a month this year. Also this month I am going to be doing a whole makeover for LLL because it's time to freshen it up.

2. FOUR Relaxers: I relaxed in February, May, August, October, and December of 2013. This year I am aiming to relax once every 3 months. 12 weeks post is my limit and I do not want to go past that.

3. QUARTERLY TRIMS: Ever since cutting my hair in August, (Which was the best thing I did for my hair all year!) I have fallen in love with my ends. I want to maintain the health of my ends to my best ability. Who knew that people would be complementing me on my healthy ends after all the troubles I've had with them.

4. WIGGING: Since my cut I've been experimenting with wigs to help protect my hair. Wigs are so far my favorite protective style. They allow me to have access to my hair, and they still look amazing :) I am taking the plunge and wigging about 90% of the year, only wearing my hair out to relax.

5. PURCHASING: Seamless comb, Steamer, New Flat Iron?? (sedu/ babybliss)

No length goals! Just to enjoy growing my NL hair out. BTW Taraji is the short bob Queen, she just gives me sooo much life.

Liebster Blogger Award

My fellow blogger Melanie of A Desired Beauty nominated me for my first award, the Liebster Blogger Award. I appreciate this soo much Melanie and I'm glad you thought of me :). From my understanding this award is a way to promote and get to know other bloggers with a small following.

Here are the rules:

• List 11 interesting facts about yourself.
• Answer the questions presented by the blogger who nominated me.
• Paste the award on your blog.
• Nominate other deserving novice bloggers who have 200 or less followers and let the nominees know about the award by commenting on their blogs or via email.
• Make up a set of 11 questions for your nominees to answer

11 "Interesting" facts about Me:

1. I'm an only child, but I've never felt like one because we've always had external family living with us.

2. I'm always freezing cold and I drag a blanket or fuzzy robe around the house with me.

3. I will be getting my Bachelor's degree this May!

4. I always prefer music to be playing over the television, I even shower with music on.

5. On the other hand, I'm also a movie head, and if I could I would go to the movies every weekend. 

6. I definitely gained the freshman ?? lol but I eventually lost it all thank God!!

7. I really love Talenti Gelato, especially the Mediterreanean Mint & Carmel Cookie Crunch. It's kind of scary how good this stuff is lol....

8. I love a lot of vintage items and the act of thrifting itself. I'm fortunate enough to have a pretty petite Mom who saved a lot of items from the 80s that I now wear.

9. I just turned 22 and I want to own my business within the next 10 years.

10. My best friends and I got matching tattoos this summer.

11. I started doing yoga this year, and you could say that I absolutely loooove it!

Melanie's Questions...
1} What do you do? career woman, full-time student, super stay-at-home mom?? Full-time student, part-time employee, & part-time internship.
{2} What's your favorite movie? Chicago. The one with Queen Latifa, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Renee Zellweger... I could watch that movie over and over and sing along with my best friend.
{3} Why did you start blogging? I want a way to track my progress and socialize on a more personal level. I love to stalk blogs to learn new things and I want to be able to share my story.
{4} What's the best vacation you have ever taken? My junior year of high school I went on a trip to Mexico with a few classmates and it was amazing! We flew into Mexico City and traveled down to Cancun as a road trip.
{5} My closet has excess when it comes jeans and shoes. What's your fashion obsession? Girl, the exact same thing lol! I am always dressed from the waist down and I can never find a shirt.
{6} Where do you see yourself in five years? I have no idea! I'm not even sure where I'll be in 1 year, I shock myself sometimes. In five years I should be making my way towards entrepreneurship.
{7} If you could meet one person, current or historical, who would it be and why? My maternal grandfather passed before I was born and everyone else in the family has fond memories with him. I would have loved to have met him and gotten to see first hand how awesome he was.
{8} Momma's girl, Daddy's girl, or Grandma's baby? Definitely Grandma's babygirl! I am the youngest of 12 grandkids so my grandparents spoiled me and I loved/love it.
{9} What motivates you? My family motivates me so much because they have sacrificed soo much for me to get what they did not have. They have so much and now I am ready to make them proud and pay it back.
{10} Do you spend more time reading blogs or watching YouTube? I can spend hours on YouTube but I do not necessarily visit YouTube daily. I visit blogs atleast once a day.
{11} Outside of blogging, how do you like to spend your free time? Yoga, music, exercising, and shopping lol.

My Nominees:

1. Taysnotebook

2. Amber

3. Andrea

4. Special K

5. KLP

Jas Sherese's Questions:

1. If you could eat one meal for the rest of your life what would it be?

2. What are your hair goals for the New Year?

3. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

4. Mac or PC ?

5. If you could move outside of the country, where would it be?

6. Favorite cartoon growing up?

7. Your favorite black actor/actress?

8. What are your hobbies? What do you like to do for fun?

9. What was the last restaurant you visited, and what did you order?

10. Are you a cat person or a dog person?

11. What inspires you to keep going?

Relaxer Update Dec. 2013

Relaxed trimmed and "bumped"

I got my hair relaxed on Thursday the 19th at about 10 weeks post. And once again I was pretty satisfied with the results. I am full neck length now after trimming off a bit to even up my ends. The last three relaxers I have been trimming like crazy so I think I am about to go awhile without a trim. My ends look great, my hair is full, bouncy, and shiny, and my edges are filling in nicely.

from top to bottom dec
oct, aug.

This past stretch I kept my hair braided and moisturized under a few different wigs that I have yet to post about. I've realized that my hair benefits from less manipulation to retain the most length. I've actually been seriously considering wigging all of 2014 with the exception of relaxers. I am aiming to be full APL a year from now so I need to retain all the hair that I can.

I did get a small burn in the nape of my neck that was pretty painful. My scalp hates relaxers! I swear every time I get close to the end of a stretch I start getting all itchy scalp and I just can't help but scratch. This next stretch I am going to do my best to not irritate my scalp prior to getting a relaxer.

My next stretch will consist of...

1. 12 weeks long- brings me to mid March
2. 95% protective styling
3. Babying and massaging my edges to fill them in more
4. Atleast 3 overnight deep conditions
5. Purchasing a seamless comb

Product Review- Giovanni

Now that my semester is almost over, (hallelujah) I plan to do some updating to this blog. It's been way too long since I posted but I have a few items that I've been trying out since I've been gone. With the weather changing, I have to start using different products and techniques to accommodate the cooler temperatures. That being said I'm going to be reviewing 4 products for you guys!!! (well 2 right now)

First up: Giovanni's Tea Tree Triple Threat Invigorating Shampoo
I picked this product up at my local health food store for $4.99! I could not pass up on that deal. It says it's for all hair types and contains botanical oils of cooling peppermint, conditioning rosemary and clarifying eucalyptus.
CLAIMS:

• Enriched with certified organic botanicals
• No animal by-products
• Cruelty free
• Increases scalp circulation for a refreshed, renewed feeling
• Removes all traces of dirt, oil and build-up
• Alleviates dry, flaking scalp with organic peppermint botanicals
• Contains no laurel/laureth sulfate

Shampoo should clean hair.  Really good shampoo should make you tingle from head to toe.  With Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo, invigorating ingredients wash in rejuvenating while washing away the previous day.  You're left with something rich, something clean.  Something incredibly stimulating.... for hair and mind.  Think about it.

My thoughts- I really liked the way this shampoo felt on my scalp. It was a nice cooling sensation that relived the dryness and itching I had. The shampoo is clear and the consistency is similar to Dial's antibacterial hand soap. The shampoo smells amazing, they did something right with the mixture of herbs. The shampoo does have a slight lather, which I like in any of my shampoos. Overall this was a really nice product, I could see myself switching this out with my Redkin clarifying shampoo.

Second product: Giovanni's Tea Tree Triple Threat Invigorating Conditioner
This product was also 5 bucks and I got it at the health food store.

Contains organic oils of conditioning rosemary, cooling peppermint, calming eucalyptus

• Increases scalp circulation for a refreshed, renewed feel
• Strengthens hair with a three-organic-oil-blend to stimulate, condition and calm
• Alleviates dry, flaking scalp with organic tea tree botanicals
• Encourages natural shine and resilience

You expect a conditioner to moisturize, smooth and detangle. You expect it to create a silky, sexy feel. You probably don't expect it to make you tingle all over. With Tea Tree Triple Treat Invigorating Conditioner, an incredible plethora of stimulating ingredients provide all of that plus a real treat for hair: excitement. Who knew that conditioning could be so top of mind?

My thoughts- For me this conditioner felt just okay. It is definitely not a deep conditioner by any means, but my hair still felt good. My scalp actually tingled more with this product over the shampoo, which I thought was kind of weird. The consistency was creamy and watery like baby lotion, which allowed it to sink into my hair easily. The smell was identical to the shampoo which I loved, but that's about all i loved. I left the product in my hair for about 20 minutes, and when I rinsed it out I definitely wasn't wowed. In the future, I could see myself using this for a really nice co-wash.

The verdict: I think both of these products are great for dry itchy scalps and the scent is amazing. I really enjoyed the shampoo for clarifying and soothing reasons, but the conditioner is not to die for. I expect most condioners to be miraculously smoothing and softening, but that was not the case. I will continue to use both products, and I'll definitely repurchase the shampoo. (especially if it's on sale lol)