Are you having the right type of protein?

This year I am getting serious about reversing the damage I experiencing and not only regaining my lost inches but also growing some additional ones. I know people rave about hair potions and other growth aids which they religiously rub into their scalp, but unfortunately I have never been one for rubbing things on my scalp. I have seen progress pictures, but I really don't like it and therefore I don't have the motivation to do it.

I need to make some changes to my reggie though. Instead of adding complicated steps to it (after all, my hair can't control my life), I am just going to try to make them more effective. I have decided to reintroduce hot oil treatments to my hair. When I first started my journey I did them as pre-poos to protect my hair from the sulphates shampoos I was using at that time. Once I switched over to sulphate free, I stopped using them and I think that was a mistake. Oils which can penetrate the hair shaft are always a good idea in a hair regimen.

Now that I have started a new regimen, I am attempting two hot oil treatments a week. One will be a rosemary infused coconut oil hot oil treatment or coconut oil deep condition (however you wish to refer to it), the 2nd one will be a basil infused olive oil hot oil.

Rosemary and basil are important for hair growth and health. Rosemary is known to stimulate the hair follicles and prevents against premature balding. Basil improves circulation in the scalp which can promote hair growth. Since I have never come across these essential oils in my homeland of Trinidad, I will be using the dried leaves and soaking them in the oil.

I will be starting next week as I need to go out and purchase my supplies. I will show you how I make the oils in another blog post next week.

Herbal Hair care: Basil infused olive oil and rosemary infused coconut oil

This year I am getting serious about reversing the damage I experiencing and not only regaining my lost inches but also growing some additional ones. I know people rave about hair potions and other growth aids which they religiously rub into their scalp, but unfortunately I have never been one for rubbing things on my scalp. I have seen progress pictures, but I really don't like it and therefore I don't have the motivation to do it.

I need to make some changes to my reggie though. Instead of adding complicated steps to it (after all, my hair can't control my life), I am just going to try to make them more effective. I have decided to reintroduce hot oil treatments to my hair. When I first started my journey I did them as pre-poos to protect my hair from the sulphates shampoos I was using at that time. Once I switched over to sulphate free, I stopped using them and I think that was a mistake. Oils which can penetrate the hair shaft are always a good idea in a hair regimen.

Now that I have started a new regimen, I am attempting two hot oil treatments a week. One will be a rosemary infused coconut oil hot oil treatment or coconut oil deep condition (however you wish to refer to it), the 2nd one will be a basil infused olive oil hot oil.

Rosemary and basil are important for hair growth and health. Rosemary is known to stimulate the hair follicles and prevents against premature balding. Basil improves circulation in the scalp which can promote hair growth. Since I have never come across these essential oils in my homeland of Trinidad, I will be using the dried leaves and soaking them in the oil.

I will be starting next week as I need to go out and purchase my supplies. I will show you how I make the oils in another blog post next week.

Reforming product junkie

I headed out today to get some jumbo rollers. I live in Trinidad so these were not easy to find. I was advised to visit a certain store where someone had seen them. Upon announcing my intention to visit this store to my family I got "the look" which expresses their concern that I am going to spend way too much money on my hair.

It is true, during the past two years since I have been on my journey, I have bought a lot of hair products, too many in my opinion. Some have been dumped, others sit on a shelf collecting dust. I am currently unemployed and once again a student, so money is important and can't be flushed down the drain which is what I do when I toss an unwanted setting lotion in the washbasin.

My intention today was just to purchase the jumbo rollers. Did I get them? Yes. Did I purchase more than I intended? Yes. Were my purchases necessary? YES!!!! LOL. I did purchase two additional items but they are useful. Not a hair product I was interested in trying out. I did feast my eyes a bit in the store, but all I came away with were the rollers and two wraps for my hair. I purchased a velcro satin wrap and a mesh wrap for when I do my cross wraps.

I roller set my hair when I returned home but it was sort of a fail as I needed more than the 12 rollers I purchased. Unfortunately the store only had 12. I need about 4 more. I cross wrapped my hair and put on the mesh wrap. I will leave it on until tomorrow and see what my wrap looks like. What I liked about the wraps was that they come in different colours. You are not limited to the basic black. I bought a wine coloured mesh wrap and a red satin wrap.

Eating my way to longer hair

I am a firm believer that you are what you eat, or at least since this year I have been converted into that way of thinking. After battling adult, late onset acne for almost 8 years, I was finally able to regain control of my skin through diet. If you are interested in seeing how I ate my way to clear skin, then check out my Beautiful Skin Bloghere.

Today I went to a health food store to purchase shea butter for my Mom and came across Organic Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa). I have been hearing how good it is and since it fits into my dietary restrictions I decided to purchase a packet. I have now been doing some research on this seed and I discovered that quinoa is a pretty good source of the non-essential amino acid cysteine.

Cysteine is non-essential as your body can do without it, but if you are on a hair journey then it becomes very essential. Cysteine is the magic amino acid for hair. Hair is basically made up of cysteine and some other amino acids, but cysteine is the major one. It is also known to increase the rate at which hair grows. I have read that it can even double hair growth!!!! I'll take that one with a pinch of salt, but even if I get just a wee bit of an increase in my growth rate I would be thrilled.

I am definitely excited to make some. I have been googling recipes and will make something soon and include photos.

This is the brand of Quinoa that I purchased. According to the pack quinoa was a staple of the ancient Incas and means "the mother grain."

UPDATE: I can no longer eat quinoa as it broke me out. I suffer from skin which is so prone to breakouts and so frustrating at times. I did a post on my skincare blog talking about my experience. http://thebeautifulskinblog.blog.com/2011/10/08/setback-did-quinoa-break-me-out/

Why waist length hair?

I am one of those people who watches the Miss Universe Pageant every year if possible. During the pageant I am always blown away by the hair on those ladies. I know sometimes it is not theirs as both black and white add extensions to give that thick, flowing head of hair look, but it doesn't prevent me from looking at those manes with longing. What can I say? I love long hair.

Leila Lopes, the current Miss Universe is absolutely gorgeous and I am very happy that she won, but I can't help but look at the mane on Miss Ukraine. Oh to have hair that long!

Before I had ever heard of the term "Hair Journey" and came across pictures and videos from ladies such as Sunshyne of Hairlista and Traycee from KISS, I never thought that all black women could have long hair. I really believed you had to have a looser kink for your hair to grow long. I thought that I was destined to always have neck length hair and secretly wished and even prayed that it would at least grow to my shoulders!

Growing my hair long is not a challenge for me. It is not sometime I am doing just to prove others wrong. I am doing it because I love long, luscious locks. That's why I know once I reach my goal, I will not be cutting my hair as I see some ladies doing. To each their own, but me personally, I will be loving myself and my long hair. I will be rocking Miss Ukraine's do. I will deserve it by the time I get there as that is going to take the commitment of several years.

The importance of tracking the progress of your hair

My camera died in December 2010 and I didn't replace it until April 2011. I was unable to take length check pics of my hair after my January 2011 texlax and when I did replace my camera, I was in the midst of a 6 months stretch and did not properly document my hair's progress.

I recently discovered that my hair was experiencing major set backs as I looked back at my photos while creating this blog. I know that things were going well up until December 2010 as I have photographic evidence. I remember being pleased with my January 2011 texlax but I have no photos to look back at so I have to rely on my memory.

I don't have many pictures of my January to July 6 month stretch. I believe this is when I had my setback and didn't realise it. I was extremely disappointed with my July results especially since I had been stretching for 6 months. I really believed that I had reached terminal length until I looked back at my photos and realised that my hair in July 2011 was shorter than it had been in October 2010. It had also lost some thickness.

I have learnt a few lessons from this experience. I don't think I will stretch for 6 months again and I will be doing frequent length checks and taking progress pics. I lost a lot of length during that period and I have no pictures to identify when the breakage occurred. I also was not keeping track of the changes to my regimen. This is the reason for this blog. I need to be able to track what I am doing to my hair and how it is responding.

A girl on a mission: WL hair by December 2012

I'm on a mission. I want waist length hair by December 2012. I have been on my hair journey since January 2009 and had great success up until October 2009 when I hit grazing APL. Since then my hair has not significantly changed in length. I continue to be somewhere between APL and BSL. I deep condition regularly and I protective style all the time, but I am disappointed with my results. I will be turning 30 in May 2012 and would like to be BSL by then. Based on my body's proportions, I have a 3" span between BSL/MBL and WL, so if I make it to BSL/MBL for my 30th, I will be well on my way to WL hair.

Update: I experienced a major set back and I am now back at just above APL. My WL by December 2012 is not possible. I am hoping for BSB by May 2012 and MBL by December 2012 instead.