Week 8 Check In

I thought I was too cute with my 18inches lol

Actually I am officially 9 weeks post but we'll just go with it lol. So at 7 weeks post I did something that I am kicking my butt for! I allowed a friend of mine to do a quick weave for the 4th of July holiday. I mentioned earlier that I would probably try out a new shop to straighten my hair, but the weave sounded easier. Well she didn't use a cap because we didn't have one, but she convinced me of another option. We used a protective serum that is supposed to create a barrier between your hair and the glue. Long story short I spent the weekend washing and re-washing my hair to remove all the glue smh! My fingers were literally wrinkled from all the washing. I lost soo much hair from trying to comb it out, and once again my hair is noticeably thinner.
For the time being my hair is under a wig until I feel up to evaluating the damage. I am thinking about getting a pretty serious trim with my next relaxer since my ends will be even thinner now. That way I can start fresh with blunt ends and begin babying my hair again. Sew-ins will be the death of my hair journey lol... I need to just stick to my wigs. I know more than anybody that they are no shortcuts in this journey.
Besides all of that my hair was growing beautifully. I had a huge air-dried bun that I was wearing about 90% of the time. My new growth was more manageable from the increase in co-washes which I realize my hair really loves. According to my ticker factory my next relaxer is just 22 days away :). This is my last professional relaxer before I take on the challenge of self relaxing, which I am super excited. I can finally have my hair texlaxed to my liking.  I start my last year of undergrad in exactly a month, but I do plan to get back to my weekly posts.

Hair Chat

      This summer it has been buns buns and more buns! Since my relaxer, I am currently going on 6 weeks posts, I haven't had much to blog about. I've mentioned before that I am on call 7 days a week so it is hard to set aside time to do anything creative with my hair. My regimen this summer is moisturizing and sealing daily, and cowashing every 3-4 days. After day 4 my hair is usually pretty done after all the sweating I during my daily workouts. I have been drinking at least 64oz of water everyday as well. Also, *I think it's time to throw in the towel for Biotin* I am going to stop using it for a month to see if my skin clears up a bit. I do not want to sacrifice clear skin for a faster growing rate, this is not a race anyway lol. I will continue to take my prenatal vitamins and use castor oil occasionally but that is all I'm taking for hair purposes anyway.
       Over the break for the holiday I am thinking about using a heat pass (gulp) and allowing someone to straighten out my hair and style it. I figure since I am not doing any low manipulation styles or anything besides buns, then I could afford to style my hair. There is a shop near my house that claims to support "healthy hair", so I am going to have to check it out. Until next time.

4 week check in

Woah time has flown! So yeah I've skipped a few wash days this stretch but I'm not even gonna trip over it. I even have a few of them in my draft folder but they were pretty uneventful. This summer has been crazy, so much so that I find myself longing to be in a long term protective style. So far my hair has been so good to me, and I've been kinda half doing stuff. I even slept without a scarf one night smh. This is only the beginning but this first month has been great I've been doing a lot of braidout and buns about 95% of the time. I thought I would be doing a lot more styling this summer but it doesn't look like ill have the time. In the meantime I've been looking up styles to wear this fall. 

Today I cowashed my hair, something I do every 3-4 days religiously, because my hair thrives from frequent cowashes. It's about 50% dry in the pics but it's soo fluffy and soft I'm loving it! This stretch I will focus on getting these edges together as opposed I my growth rate. I am already feeling coils coming in 😁 

Wash Day 3.1

Closer to fully texlaxed

           It feels like it has been forever since I posted anything about my hair. Since my relaxer update I have done a few cowashes, and I finally washed my hair this past week after putting it off. I was so happy to see the amount of texture that was left in my hair after this past relaxer, even though I thought my stylist did not. False alarm people lol.

      Pre-pooed my hair while I worked out with grapeseed oil, castor oil, and V05 Clarifying Conditioner under a plastic cap.
Washed with Organix Awapuhi Ginger Shampoo.
I made a fresh batch of black tea rinse and let it steep for about 2 hours this week. I applied to the tea to my hair in the shower and let it sit on my hair for 30 minutes.
On top of the black tea rinse I applied the Vanilla Silk Cream Moisture Dream for an hour without heat underneath my plastic cap.
After deep conditioning I applied my Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Daily Treatment for a few minutes while I showered.
T-shirt dried for 30 minutes then put my leave-ins S-curl & Aphogee Keratin Green Tea Leave in before detangling in 4 sections.

Hair slightly damp, texture left from relaxer

Slowly getting away from my bone straight ends

I decided to do a simple braidout with a row of 3 braids on the bottom, and a row 3 braids on the top. I used water, eco-styler gel, and Shea Moisture's Curl & Style Milk. Then I sealed that with grapeseed oil and castor oil. I took a nap for about 4 hours and removed my braids before going to work. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the braid out :/ but I am still getting used to my super busy summer schedule. I gotta get my life together man lol

Relaxer Update 2

After relaxer & trim

      This past Friday I relaxed my hair at 13 weeks post. I had my regular beautician do the job for me but I prepped my hair by detangling and saturating my relaxed ends in grapeseed oil. When I got to the shop my relaxing process went pretty smooth. She based my scalp with some type of petroleum based product and she used Affirm to relax my hair. I have been using Affirm ever since I got a relaxer back when I was 13.
          A few things I noticed when she did my relaxer were that she proceeded to talk with other clients and accept phone calls while she applied my relaxer!!! That really bugged me and I'm pretty sure there was not enough texture left in my hair :/ The good thing is I did not have any scalp burns or any major problems with the relaxer itself. The whole process just made me more anxious to try self-relaxing/getting a new beautician.  As of right now the plan is to start self-relaxing in November, but it may happen sooner than that if I can talk myself into it. After my relaxer I sat under the steamer to deep condition, then she blow dried, flat ironed, and trimmed my hair. My trim put me back at right above APL in my opinion, but my hair looks a lot better as far as fullness and uniformity is concerned.

I have officially been on my Healthy Hair Journey for a full year on May 15th!!! I bought myself a real length check shirt to celebrate from justgrowalready.com . My hair is slowing but surely changing for the better and I am sooo glad to be on this journey. I love seeing all my hair work paying off, and I am looking forward to seeing where I will be next year on my HHJ anniversary.

New Length Check Shirt

My next stretch will be 100% heat-free with lots of protective styling I have got to retain some length this stretch!

Wash Day 2.12 Relaxer Prep

     

This NG is outta control lol

This week has been crazy, but I somehow managed to squeeze in a wash day while finishing finals, packing etc. At the end of the week I am going to be relaxing my hair so I needed to do a protein treatment and clarify.

Pre-poo- "Protein treatment" and I say that lightly because honestly I just threw some stuff together. My mix consisted of greek yogurt, Proclaim Intensive Strengthening conditioner, small amount of honey, EVOO, EVCO, and Castor Oil. I left this on for 30 minutes under a plastic cap.

Wash- I clarified my hair with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo in 2 sections. I then followed that up with the Kera Care Hydrating Detangling Shampoo, which I have been loving late into my stretch.

BTR for 30 minutes

Deep condition- This week I used my Kera Care Humecto for 90 minutes, 30 spent under my hooded dryer. I would be hurt if this product discontinued lol

Clear Rinse- It's been 5 weeks since my last clear rinse so I decided it was time to do another. I left it on for 25 minutes under a plastic cap. I love how smooth and maneable the rinse makes my hair feel.

Smoothing Conditioner- Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Daily Treatment left on for 5 minutes while in shower.

T-shirt dried about 15 minutes, applied leave-ins Aphogee Green Tea & Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny Serum & detangled.

Let air dry then put in a bun.

Weeks 4-8-12. I'm going to start using the flash from now on.

Look Back part II

So here's what been going on yal lol/ 2 weeks post

Today I am officially 12 weeks post! Over the past year I have been relaxing at either 12 or 13 weeks post. Nowadays 12 weeks is a breeze since when I first decided to start a hair journey I dove in head first. I went from relaxing every 6 weeks to automatically relaxing at 12!! Anyways lol
This stretch I focused on heatless styles from BKO's, flexi-rods, and numberous braidouts, and I had so much  fun with my hair. I have even gotten some of my friends to join the healthy hair train.
The funny thing about heatless styles is they turn out so differently every time.

4 weeks post- loving the thickness

Here's a few random braidouts/bko's that were not in previous posts.

BKO 6wks post

What was different about this stretch?

I love the pout #guilty 11wks post rained out BKO

1. I absolutely love the Paul Mitchell products I added to my regimen. They both save me so much time with drying, and I love how much smoother my hair is afterwards.
2. I have started to do clear rinses which really help with tangles and shine.
3. I'm loving my Vanilla Silk Creme Moisture Dream deep conditioner by Silk Dreams :) It's almost time to reorder
4. Castor oil was applied daily to my edges
5. Consistent exercise
6. Better diet/water intake- see my skin glowing right? haha


I'll be prepping for my relaxer on tuesday (protein/clarifying) and ending my stretch on friday, which will be 13 weeks post. Look Back from 12 weeks ago...