Haitus

As you can probably tell, I've been on a hiatus from the blog. I know it's super unprofessional not saying anything at all about it prior to. I do apologize. Between random, frequent stressors, and random frequent "personal days" I just kind of fell off. However, I did want to come through with a quick pic of my hair! I did a pony-puff the other day on a wash and go after a quick co-wash and it came out really great! Check me out!

Also, today makes me 4 months post big chop! :)

Product Review: Sabino Moisture Block

So as I said in my previous post, I've recently tried out the breakthrough product Sabino Moisture Block. First I want to warn anyone looking to buy this product about the size. Sabino is not a product meant for heavy handed users. The full size bottle is only 3 fl oz. That's very, very small when looked at in comparison to most other hair product package sizes. However, there is a method to the madness. This small 3 fl oz bottle, if used properly is probably more than enough to last just as long if not longer as your other products that come in other, much larger packages. After taking my twist set out, I used megatek as a protein treatment for about an hour under a plastic cap as I lounged around the house. My hair hadn't really seen it's usual conditioning and moisturizing methods in close to two full weeks and it was beginning to show so the protein treatment really helped out. I the used my handy dandy LeKair Cholesterol conditioner that I'm always raving about to soften my hair up and then rinsed and moved on to the Sabino. I used a little too much and my hair came out sticky and very untouchable. Needless to say I was not happy. For the simple fact that I had promised to give a review I did not immediately sprint for a wash-and-go. Instead, I wore my hair wrapped for the rest of the night, took it down and retouched in the morning and wore it out the next day. It lasted through entire graduation without a hitch which was a definite plus because I HATE being in public and having complete strangers watch my hair expand. #notokay So after graduation, I went home and decided to try out the steam test and see how my hair stood up to the challenge. I must say, my hair stayed straighter than it would have without the product but as far as it being bone straight like the ladies on the video? Negative. It may have something to do with my hair type. The women on the video seemed to have anywhere from type 1 to 3B hair, which absolutely does not apply to me. All in all, I'm still up in the air about this product. I don't really want to continue to test it out because that means using excessive heat on my hair which I absolutely do not plan to do. I'll keep you guys posted though. I hope this helps someone! Until next time ladies, Happy Healthy Hair Growing!

Twist Update

It's been 12 days since I put my twists in and I must say this has been my most successful hairstyle that I've tried out since being fully natural. My twists still look great and with minimal effort! Of course I had to retwist my front once or twice but other than that, the only upkeep maintenance I had to do was wearing a scarf every night and I didn't even do that some nights. (I am not saying it's okay not to wear a scarf, I'm just sayin my twists held it down through all of that! lol) I know I said I was going to try out different styles with my twists but so far it's been the same ole front twist style every day. I think I'd need a bit more length to play around with various styles. All in all, I love this style and I can see it being a regular, especially throughout this summer! I was initially going to go 2-3 week depending on how it held up. While my twists still look great almost two week in, I'm going to take them out and straighten my hair tonight for my University's graduation tomorrow. No, I'm not graduating, but I AM AKApella for anyone who remembers and circle stepping, skee-weeing, and hair swangin' will be in FULL EFFECT tomorrow! I will be using Sabino Moisture Block to straighten and maintain my style so you know what that means! PRODUCT REVIEW on the way! The product claims to keep hair from reverting despite the weather conditions. If you've never heard or seen the claims of the product, here's an example below:

One Year

So last Thursday marked my FIRST YEAR POST RELAXER!!! I can honestly say that it went by rather quickly! I didn't do anything special to my hair on that date but last night I decided to put my hair in a micro twist set using just my hair. I did the set on dry hair using my whipped shea butter that I made a couple months back. Between each section, I also applied megatek to my scalp. In total, it took me about 8 hours with about 2-3 5 minutes breaks in between. My arms were killing me but once I finished the first half I had no choice but to do the second. My advice to anyone attempting to do a twist set like this is to allot at least 1 full day to the process. I started my hair at around 3:30 and didn't finish until almost midnight! If it weren't Sunday, I would have just slapped a bonnet on and finished in the morning! I don't know much about how to care for them, but I do know that they make for a great protective style and I plan to keep them for as long as I can! My minimum goal is at least 2 weeks if I can keep them up for that long. So far what I love most about them is the fact that I have so many styling options. Right now I have the front twisted up and the back is out. I played around with two french braids last night and it was lookin kinda cute, maybe I'll give that a go later on this week. Well, enough wrappin...here are some pictures! Enjoy!

Hawaiian Silky

A few posts ago I told you all that I had bought a couple new products. One of which being Hawaiian Silky Miracle Worker 14-in-1. I must say that I REALLY love this product. It claims to moisturize hair, strengthen, define curls, soften, add shine, soothe dry scalp, reduce breakage for healthy braids, repair chemical damage, increase body and act as a thermal protectant. I got it at Sally's for $4.79 for a 16 Fl Oz bottle which isn't a bad price at all! The only reason this product even caught my eye is because of the previous reviews I had seen on youtube from youtuber DPrincess28 and she was NOT exaggerating. The product adds great slip and dries invisible. Although it comes in a spray bottle, it's about the consistency of a scented hand lotion from maybe Bath & Body Works.

Now I'm sure a lot of you can relate when I see it is EASY to become a product junkie when you're looking for that one product that just does EVERYTHING that you want but none seem to be able to stand up to the challenge. Well, I won't say that I've found my EVERYTHING in this product but it comes VERY close! My biggest issue used to be that I couldn't find a product that I could leave in my hair to define my curls and at the same time also leave them soft, touchable, and not STICKY! Hawaiian Silky has been all that to me and honestly, depending on the look I'm going for, it's all I need. However, it doesn't weight my hair down enough and my hair isn't long enough to weight itself down for the look that I've been doing lately so I go ahead and use my Olive Oil Eco Styler gel on top of it!

As far as the negatives, this product does have Mineral Oil listed as it's 4th ingredient which we all know isn't something that we want in our hair. I've been making sure I use a mild shampoo weekly to prevent product build up. Also, I use a sulfate shampoo about once a month to really cleanse my hair from any cones and other product build up. Since the weather outside has been pretty warm, frequent washes aren't an issue but once winter rolls back around, we'll see if/how I adjust my regimen to fit this product in. Other than that though, I am all smiles!

If you haven't been able to tell so far, Hawaiian Silky get a GIRL, YES! from me! I would highly recommend giving it a shot and at $4.79 a pop, what do you really have to lose?! Hope this helps someone! Here's a picture to help your in your search!

Length Check

I figure since I've successfully reached my first month as a natural diva that I should start doing length checks. Afterall, length is one of my ultimate goals. When I was a young girl my hair hit past my (training) bra strap and I was faaar from taking good care of it back then. Let's see how long I can grow it now that I'm armed with a plethora of knowledge and megatek! ^_^

So here's month one..I guess I'll give quarterly updates. That leaving my next length check set for July 19, 2010. Enjoy!

(for some reason it doesn't get bigger but i think you get the picture at this size)

My Hair, Everywhere!

Here are some shots of my hair 11 months post relaxer...it's actually 11 1/2 months but whatever. My last relaxer was April 29, 2009. :) slowly but surely my one year is creepin' up on us! These shots are great examples of how my texture can easily be transformed from silky LOOKIN' curls to poofy afro glory and back! I still don't know my hair type. I'll care more once it grows. For now, what you see is what you get...(depending upon the day :p) Enjoy the flix, and as always, click to enlarge!

1 Month Anniversary

Yesterday April 14, 2010 marked my FIRST month fully natural! I wore a wash-style-and-go! Why do I call it that? Well, because I washed it, styled it, and went! LOL I look at true wash-and-gos as being you literally washing or wetting your hair, popping a headband on and going on about your business. I, however, took the time to part my hair in small sections and apply Eco Styler gel in order to hold my curl pattern a little better. I discovered this look to work for me earlier this week on Sunday. Here's a picture to show you all. Hope you dig! :)

Duhh!

In my last entry I spoke of how I noticed a little bit of length and that maybe I was just trippin' since it's only been a month since my big chop. Well as I just sat here reading over my blog, checking for spelling/grammar errors and things of that nature, it hit me: MEGATEK! I've been using megatek about 3-4 times a week for the past 3 weeks! Now, the length probably isn't THAT noticeable to the eye but I definitely notice the weight and length increase while in the shower washing my hair. My regimen has been as follows:

Sunday: wash & part into small sections applying the megatek directly to the scalp

Fridays & Saturdays: these days I tend to do wash and go's at which time I try out different products and use a small amount of megatek on the actual strands of my hair.

The Week: I usually don't use megatek too much during the week but sometimes I'll add a bit to my edges in the mornings.

Checking In

"Your hair can actually be in a state of shock from the big chop alone!" -Nicole Simone

Hello all! Today is Monday April 12, 2010. I am two days away from my FIRST full month since big chopping on March 14, 2010! Yesterday when I was washing my hair I noticed that my hair felt a tad bit heavier and longer. Now, I could just be trippin' but I think that I've gotten a little bit of length! I've found myself getting a little length happy, daydreaming about what my hair will transform into over the next 11 months and what styles I'll be able to wear on my 1 year anniversary. While I know I haven't been blogging all too much lately, I've been having an absolute BLAST with my hair! I've been learning all types of new things as I play around with products and techniques. (Sidebar: I'm no longer in Product Jail. I feel as though I've recovered from my PJness and I've bought a few new products [but not in excess]. Reviews coming soon!) Part of the reason why my updates are so few and far in between is that my digital camera has officially died on me. That's right, I am without my lovely camera and it breaks my heart. No more stunning texture shots, etc. until I am able to buy a new camera.

On another note, I want to give this piece of advice to anyone who has recently big chopped or plans to big chop in the near future. If you've been following my blog, or at least read the last few updates, you'll know that my hair really had me on a roller coaster immediately after big chopping. My texture was bananas for the first week to week and a half. As I asked around trying to gain as much knowledge as possible on what I thought was my new 4b/c texture, I was informed that your hair can actually be in a state of shock from the big chop alone. My friend who had also very recently big chopped told me to just give my hair a few weeks to reveal it's true texture and in no time things would start to make a little sense. Now, that's not to say that 4b/c texture is a "bad" or "undesirable" texture to have, it's just that during my transition my hair appeared to be 3c/4a and I was simply confused. As I was saying, I immediately went to seek knowledge in order to find styles and other measures of care for the texture in order to fully embrace it. I say all that to say this: don't completely freak out if when you first big chop your hair is an unruly frizz ball. Do a couple deep treatments and most importantly give it time. Also keep in mind that as your hair grows, it's texture will eventually change and loosen as the hair's weight will pull it downward with the help of gravity.

I hope that this entry helps and keeps another head naturally beautiful. If you all have any direct questions please feel free to email me personally at DonnaJenay@aol.com. I am truly passionate about natural hair and helping other women understand the beauty that God has given us all. Nothing hurts me more than to hear a woman say "I just couldn't keep up with it". Ladies, it's really not that difficult. We're all ignorant to something...but if I can I would love to cure that ignorance with the knowledge that I've acquired on this journey.

Until next time, Happy Healthy Hair Growing!

Or Not..

I tried this treatment out and got no result whatsoever. In hindsight, my hair laughs at chemical dyes so what made me thing cinnamon would have any effect, I don't know. Maybe you all will be more successful.

#success

Okay so completely 110% scratch that statement in my last post when I said that my hair has no curl pattern. My hair totally punked me! So today I decided I would do a baking soda deep treatment. No big deal right? Well in doing so, I discovered one huge key to my hair retaining that curl that it had been showing me all throughout my transition. First of all, my denman brush? Trash! My hair does NOT like that thing! And it's crazy because all this time I thought my denman was what was giving me my definition. Wrong-o! Okay so I had already had my hair in a bantu knot out from the day before yesterday but today instead of immediately trying to detangle my hair in the shower, I just allowed it to become saturated with water and just kind of scrunching the water into my hair. So once that was done and my showerly needs were fulfilled, I got out of the shower and proceeded to do my baking soda treatment.

[measurements extremely rough]

• 4 (heaping) tablespoons of LeKair Cholesterol plus
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of EVOO
• Baking Soda

...I kinda just shook the baking soda in so I have no idea how much I used but it wasn't a little bit and it wasn't half the box...soooo, yeh..lol.

I parted my hair in my usual 4 sections and started from the back making small sections and applying the mixture from root to tip all throughout my head using the left over all over the edges and ends. I popped a plastic cap on for 40 minutes and sat under the dryer with the heat on high for the last 20 (bumping the total time up to 1 hour). When I rinsed my hair, I rinsed in warm water and then the final rinse in cold water. When I got out my curls were POPPIN! Minimal frizz and silky smooth? What?! In love! So instead of brushing through with my denman, I simply applied a little shea butter and Giovanni Direct leave in and went on abou

t my business. My curls remained in tact, and that, ladies and gentleman, is how I achieved my very first successful wash and go! :)

the first picture below shows how my hair was coming out before. in the picture it does show a slight curl pattern. a curl pattern that was not visible to the naked eye in real life lol. the pictures following are of my first successful wash and go. as always, click to enlarge!

#fail

I fail SOOOOOO hard right about now! Today is March 24, 2010. You guys are about to be soooo upset with me.......... *wait for it* ...........ten days ago, I looked in the mirror and said enough is QUITE enough. I took my shears (hair scissors) and snipped away little by little at all of my relaxed ends. Yup, March 14, 2010 yours truly ended her transitioning journey and stepped into full napturality. Below are pictures of the days following:

I can't exactly say why I didn't document my big chop. After months of writing down every little detail of my journey, why wouldn't I be snapping pictures left and right before, during and after? I'd always imagined how I would document me saying my final goodbye to the only me that I'd ever known but when the time came, it just didn't seem right. It was my time with me. I didn't text, call, tweet, facebook, or messanger pigeon anyone to warn them of what I was about to do. Not that I thought anyone would try to talk me out of my spur of the moment decision but, I just wanted to do this without any outside influences. If I were going to chop all of my length off then I was going to do it without the encouragement or discouragement of anyone else. Afterall, it's MY head. As far as next day reactions go, honestly, no one seemed to notice! My linesister however did take note that my hair was shorter than usual.

So anyway, after cutting my hair in what I will describe to be a trance like state of shock, I proceeded to wash it and see what MY hair could do. I won't lie, I was confused. After 10 months plus of transitioning and studying my new growth under a microscope I was surprised to find that my hair was not a curly texture at all, but an afro texture. It took a few to get used to it after I realized that products like Kinky Curly Curling Custard did absolutely nothing but made my hair sticky. I kinda felt like I was back at square one, thrusted into a perfectly new world of unknowns, insecurities and uncertainties. Here I go again...not knowing what looks and works best again. But I know one thing, I am never looking back.