Eco Chic Hair

I achieved 2 day hair!!

I'm so thrilled, as the title of this post indicates, I achieved 2 day hair. This is something every Youtuber/Vlogger that I watch, seems to achieve with such ease and grace! I tried it once and looked a hot mess! 

I have major deadlines coming up, but promise to post on this soon. I just got super excited, so wanted to document it on my blog! I'll be attempting this again tomorrow, to see if I can achieve 3 day hair. I achieved 2 day hair without twists or braids and it took me 10 minutes to style my hair!

While I'm here other things I am testing out on the guinea pig (aka myself) are: 

-Reduced tangling (1 - 2 times per week)

• Interested in seeing if this helps in length retention. My theory is the less time spent bothering and manipulating my curls, the better. I hope it reduce breakage and increases curl definition. I notice when I comb my hair my curls tend to loose definition. I plan on detangling on wash day and then mid week. If tangling gets to be too much of course I'll go back to my every other day routine.

-No sealing. 

• I'm convinced sealing is a bad thing for my low porosity hair. I haven't sealed in one week and my hair has never felt this soft and build-up free, since going natural.

-Pre pooing

•  I did this when I was transitioning and didn't notice a difference. I did this last week and my hair was SO soft, so I'll continue using my oils for this instead of sealing.

Xoxo,

Annabel

Protein-Moisture Balance

While the idea of using protein has always made me a little apprehensive. I've always felt a little protein was necessary. The reason being, too much conditioner (for my hair) can't always be a good thing. I notice when I condition and deep condition on a regular basis, my hair is soft and supple, but it's also more prone to breakage. The goal for me is soft hair that is coily and springy and doesn't snap or break off. I don't think I need to do protein treatments consistently, but I don't want to write them off all together. 

I found this really interesting article, which in my opinion, explains the protein-moisture balance very accurately. The author suggests a moisturizing protein treatment that I will try, maybe next month, depending on how my hair feels. You use a small amount of protein treatment and mix it in with a lot of moisturizing conditioners. This is basically a deep conditioner that provides a small amount of protein.




Feel free to share your personal experience with or thoughts on protein treatments (relaxed or natural). Do you use protein? 


xoxo
Annabel

P.S. - I've added a new tab: Regimen that includes my current regimen. This is what works for me at my current length, I guess it will evolve over time.

Carpe Diem: 9 month update

 

First and foremost, Happy New Year Everyone!! I hope you are having a wonderful start in 2012 and are enjoying keeping up with your resolutions! I for one can already feel spring approaching as the days gradually grow longer. I can't wait, it's my second favorite season next to fall! Can't wait to leave my house and not worry about my hair being damp and it being too cold outside. 

My resolutions for 2012 are:

• To finish my thesis.
• Find a permanent job after I finish my thesis.
• Take a fun class with my husband (we've decided on tango, hope I don't break any toes).
• Exercise at least 3 xs per week.
• Continue eating healthy and to learn a bit about herbal remedies. I've recently started making my own tea using ginger, honey and cloves-- it's great for digestion and circulation (my fingers and toes are always cold and I've noticed results already)!
• Do things I love and do them often!
• Learn to keep an orchid alive, I've killed 2 in a matter of months!

I'm really enjoying my short natural hair! At first when I transition chopped I was so caught up on my hair growing that I almost forgot to enjoy rocking my new cut! The other day I thought to myself, long hair will be so lovely, but boy oh boy is it going to be a big hassle when it comes to washing. So my new motto is "rock what I've got". Besides, my hair can only grow down from here! Well, I guess it can also grow upwards and horizontally too, lol! I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's growing everyday and it's healthy so I shouldn't worry about the length, just let it do its thing.

I really love my curls. I like how they spring back every time I pull them out or how I can twirl my finger around my curl and watch it curl up even more. I really enjoy when my husband leans over and smells my hair and enjoys the scent of my product. I know it's cheesy, but these are the things I enjoy. 

On another note, I realize the other day that although my last relaxer was March 5th that does not make me 10 months natural. Since my new growth didn't normally start to grow/reveal itself until about 6 weeks post relaxer. I will estimate that I am currently 9 months natural. Not very important, but just thought this estimate was more accurate. 

My new regimen is working wonderfully! I've added a bit of an extreme deep conditioner to my regimen, will report more later! Shampooing once a week has also been amazing, it's just what my hair needed! I am going to make one of those little regimen calendars to post it to the blog soon. So yay for good hair news!

Here are some pictures comparing my hair from the beginning of December up until now:

December

            

January

December

January (poofy and loving it)

"March to the Beat of My Own Drum" Regimen

The internet, being my main source of information for everything I do, is a blessing, but it can also be a curse! If I have a slight fever and headache, I often find myself visiting Dr. Google and suddenly I could be dying of meningitis. Once I was really sick and went to the emergency room with a print out of my diagnosis in hand!! Shaking my head at myself, just thinking about it!

Since I started my hair journey, I've found there is a plethora of information on methods on how to care for naturally curly hair. Today, I've reached my point of exhaustion! I'm sick of treating my hair as if it is a universal mystery that requires laborious hours of research and sometimes chemistry experiments! Most of the information I find out there are from people who have put in a lot time and effort. However, there is so much conflicting information that sometimes I just don't know what to follow! I've tried so many products and changed my regimen a million times. I've tried the no Poo and Curly Girl Method and these made my hair feel dirty, oily and weighed down. I've tried eliminating cones, but my hair loves them so I'm welcoming them back into my routine. I've tried sealing with shea butter, castor and coconut oil-- horrible end results! I'm also a true believer that an avocado in my stomach does 100x more for my hair than an avocado on my head. If I wash my hair with water everyday but don't drink enough water, my hair would suffer, thus it's what goes into your body that creates a healthy head of hair.

So today, I've decided to go back to a routine I used prior to transitioning. I will try it out for 1 month to see how my hair responds and report back towards the end of January with results.

This was my routine I used when I relaxed my hair every 3 months. My hair was full and healthy and responded well to this routine.

*1 x week: shampoo (I will use a non-sulfate shampoo)

*every other week: light protein treatment Update: only when necessary... have noticed that the front of my hair loves protein, while the back turns into a dry, tangled mess. So I'm going to back away from the protein for a while.

*1 - per week:  deep conditioner (winter: moisturizing conditioner, jojoba or olive oil + heat) (summer: moisturizing conditioner, jojoba or olive oil + honey + heat)

*every other day: co-wash, every day: wet/mist for styling

*use a leave-in conditioner, moisturize with a small amount of light oil (my hair doesn't seem to like heavy oils), and style with a small amount of gel

If this works, for my natural hair, then I've found my regimen, if not try and try until I succeed!

Peace & Love,

Annabel