Tuesday, April 24, 2012

First successful braidout

Ever since I embarked upon a hair journey, I have had so many failed attempts at a braidout that I had actually given up and then, accidentally, I stumbled across the best method for me.

It's actually quite simple. I moisturise and seal my hair in sections with S-Curl Activator/Moisturiser and seal with coconut oil. I then cornrow my hair and do a bantu knot. Next morning, I have curls. I am going to keep playing with it until I figure out the perfect size and positioning of the cornrows. Hopefully I can get the hang of it so I can eventually rock this style.

The positioning on my airdried texlaxed hair:





The results


 
The front: (Sorry about the blanked out face, but I looked crazy lol.)

  

The side





Thursday, April 19, 2012

Giving S-Curl another chance

Back in 2009 when I began my hair journey I started off with the glycerine based moisturisers. The first one I tried was Wave Nouveau and then after I moved onto S-Curl. My issue with this moisturisers were that they made my hair feel gummy. I believe my problem was that I was too heavy handed with my products.

This past week I was thinking about my current moisturisers which, although water based, tend to have a lot of oils in them which cannot really penetrate the hair strand. After a couple days of just moisturising and sealing on a nightly basis, my hair becomes oily and really weighed down. I remembered that I had a huge bottle of S-Curl sitting in my cupboard and decided to give it a try once more.

The result? I love it. I divided my hair into 10 sections and I used a squirt per section and then I sealed with coconut oil. My hair was happy. I remember when I first started my journey this product really helped me to retain my length. I was a religious S-Curl user when I first hit grazing BSL back in 2010. I now moisturise and seal morning and night and I am loving my hair. No greasy build up. No residue. Just soft, well moisturised hair. Yup, I'm back to using S-Curl and loving it.


Quick update

I texlaxed today! I did it early this morning, however, I neither roller set my hair nor flat ironed. I air dried in 4 braids. When my hair was wet I noticed that it was definitely APL but as it dried and shrinkage set it, it got shorter. I was going to hold off on the length check, but I just have to know. I will probably be washing my hair again on Sunday or Monday, so if I have time I will flat iron my hair and take length check photos.

Did you have long hair as a child?

I stumbled across a video on Youtube today and in the comments there was a debate about whether ALL girls of African can actually grow their hair long. One of the persons was arguing that when you look at the girls who grow their hair to BSL onwards they usually had long hair as children. Their hair was short later on in life due to poor hair care but they were genetically wired to having long hair.

In my case I never had long hair. Shoulder length hair was a dream for me back in the day so to have hair that is past my shoulders is a miracle. Here is a picture of me as a child showing my hair. It's not very clear but it's one of the few I have scanned.


So my question is, did you ladies have long hair as children or were you not even EL as I was?

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I bought mesh rollers!

After seeing Ebony from Longing 4 Length and Jeni from Just Grow Already rave about their mesh rollers, I had them in the back of my mind and so when I happened to see them today, I just had to get them. I bought the Goody brand rollers. One pack has 20 rollers which includes 8 medium sized rollers and 12 small ones. I decided to get 2 packs. They were so inexpensive; I paid $9.95 per pack in my currency which comes out to just a little over US $1.50. I just could not pass up on it. I may even buy a third pack just in case I need a few more when roller setting my hair. My rollers are smaller than what the other ladies have been using, so I will end up with a tighter curl.

This is what they look like:


I promise to actually take photos of my results when using the rollers. I tend to really be bad with adding photos to my blog posts.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cutting my stretch short: Quick Update

I am going to be texlaxing next week at 10 weeks post. I just can't handle the two textures anymore. This is the shortest stretch I have ever done since I started my journey some three years ago but it is just not working right now. I am in the middle of preparation for really important exams but I am still going to take a few hours and get it done. I will just texlax, deep condition and airdry. This means no length check which will kill me but I can't afford to devote an entire day to the relaxer process and then flat iron on top of it. It is quite a process! Once my exams are over, I will be 2 weeks post but I can easily flat iron and try out a new hair appliance I received yesterday and then I will length check.


Monday, April 9, 2012

Comparison between ORS HAIRepair Nourishing Conditioner and ORS Replenishing Conditioner

I tried the ORS HAIRepair Nourishing Conditioner about two weeks ago and I loved it but I was not quite sure how it would fit into my hair regimen and whether it should replace my 1st love which is my Replenishing conditioner. My game plan was part my hair down the middle and apply each conditioner to one side and then do a comparison to figure out which one I prefer.

This time around I opted not to add any additional oils to the conditioner as is my usual practice and I applied to hair that was about 80 percent dry.

SCENT: I really have to say the banana scent is just a wee bit too strong for me. I really wish it were just a bit milder. On the other hand, I just love the citrus undertones of the Replenishing Conditioner.

SLIP: The HAIRepair was the definite winner when it came to slip. After applying the conditioner from root to tip, I ran my rake comb through my hair and it just glided through my hair. The Replenishing Conditioner also has slip but I would give it a 7 out of 10, whereas the HAIRepair gets a 10 out of 10.

ABSORPTION: I felt like the HAIRepair was more immediately absorbed into my hair whereas the Replenishing Conditioner sat on top of my hair. I am not sure if it is because the Replenishing Conditioner has a thicker, more waxy feeling to it as opposed to the more liquid, almost pudding-esque consistency of the HAIRepair. However, after deep conditioning with heat for 15 minutes and letting it remain for a hour after that, I really did feel like my hair had absorbed both of the conditioners.

EFFECTS ON MY NEW GROWTH: I am a stretcher and my stretches can last anywhere from 12 to 24 weeks, so it is absolutely essential that any conditioner I use my soften my new growth, moisturise it and help me to easily detangle it. Well, I have to say that both these products are amazing. They work on both my texlaxed ends and my new growth. I love their effect on my new growth. Detangling was a breeze and my new growth was left soft and fluffy.

After rinsing the conditioner out of my hair I roller set my hair and I had amazing results on either side. I found that the products were equally amazing. If there was a difference in how my hair felt, it was a very small difference.

So which one would I choose? I am really not sure. Both of the products worked really well on my hair and I feel like they could be used as perfect substitutes and give the same wonderful results. For now though, I think I will stick to the Replenishing Conditioner for the simple reason that I have two unused bottles in my stash. I will say though, if ORS were to bring out a bottle version of the HAIRepair, I'd buy it and alternate my usage of it.

I love ORS, now if only they could make a mineral oil free version of their Olive Oil lotion then I would be such a happy camper!


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Hair of the Day

I love protective styles and cannot wait until my hair is MBL so I can do some really cute ones. Until that day I try to work with what I've got. This is one of my favourite styles.




This is my attempt on hair that is in between SL and APL. I didn't French Braid as she did in the video. I did a Dutch Braid instead. I did the hairstyle from memory as I had seen the video a while back. Next time I will definitely do the French Braid as I think it adds to the look.




Sunday, April 1, 2012

March 2012 (not really a length check)

I have decided I need to get a tripod so I can do length check shots when I want to and not have to depend on someone to take a photo of my hair.

Last night I flat ironed my hair and had several failed attempts to take a photo of the back of my hair. At least I ended up getting a decent side shot.

 My current length as of March 31st, 2012. I flat ironed my hair and then cross wrapped it in the night. I still cannot, for the life of me, cross wrap without ending up with dents.
Where I used to be in 2010. I'm not going to get depressed when I look at this photo and focus on my heartbreaking setback. Instead I am inspired. If I grew it to this length once, I can definitely do it again. At least I know my hair can be long. When I started my journey I wasn't entirely sure I could do it. Let's see where I will be by December 2012.