Rub You The Wrong Way

Sooo I meant to post this like..last month! LOL, better late than never right?

Hey guys! My account is still jacked up...I am yet to have that problem fixed but in due time dolls, in due time! Anyway, as I was sitting in my world of music class not paying the slightest bit of attention, I thought about my outfit. I'm currently wearing an all black scarf around my neck and although I bought this last year when I wore my hair down and out (lol..no pun intended), I thought of how many people don't realize that the materials in their clothes, especially their winter clothes (mainly wool) can really destroy their ends! It's very important to keep your hair off the collars of coats that may be harmful to your hair. Hats can also mess up your hair. One winter my favorite acrylic hat jacked my edges ALL the way up! Thank God my hair grows fast! Now hats can be tricky! You kinda need them during the winter and wearing a scarf underneath may not always be an options. One of my lovely Trader Girls, however, came up with a niftly little technique! Just browse through the Trader Girl entries. They're all full of great info! I'm sure you won't feel as though you've wasted your time! Well, until next time...Happy Healthy Hair Growing! :)

Trader Girls

Merry Christmas Guys!!! This Christmas, I have a very special Trader Girls to give you all! Leslie` Nikole is back with a pictorial for you all about henna! Thank you SO MUCH Leslie`! I hope you all enjoy!

HENNA IN TEN STEPS!

1. Put down newspaper like you have a dog that isn't potty trained. Henna stains are just that serious.

2. Sift through your henna into a bowl that you aren't going to be using anymore for anything special.

3. While your sifting, put five green tea teabags in a pot of 4 cups of water to boil. Let this boil up for about ten minutes, then take it off the heat to let it cool down a bit and pour out a cup and a half of water. ( I made a mistake with mine, I used 2 and some cups and it was too watery. I ended up putting flour into the mix; I sifted it so it worked out. Damm this stuff is BLACK! It kind of looks purple-y. )

4. Then, pour in your oil of choice. I heated up a bottle of (click here) Vatika (150ml) oil and poured it in. It's made up of coconut oil, lemon oil, rosemary oil and some other stuff. It was recommended to me by a Bengali girl in my class.

5. Stir up the mixture with a plastic fork and while wearing disposable plastic gloves. Then, let it sit with nothing covering it for 15-20 minutes. While you're letting it sit, do a quick clean up of wherever you mixed your henna and then move on to your bathroom or wherever you're going to put the henna on your head and put down more newspaper on the floor, cut open a plastic bag and put it in the bath tub or over the sink. Make sure you leave a hole for draining.

6. Make sections in your hair ( I did about 12 ) and start applying! You can do this however you want, with or without gloves. If your mixture is really wet, moist or runny; try not to move your head around to much. No one likes a henna splatter. Make sure your edges and ends are well coated and then "wrap" your hair with the help of the henna.7. After your done applying, wash off your hands/take off your gloves and get rid of the newspaper and garbage bag, you shouldn't have much more clean up than that to do, but if you do, get it done. 8. Get a plastic bag without a design on it ( if it has one, flip it inside out so that the ink won't touch your hair ) and cover your hair and make sure your hair line is well covered. After that, cover it with a towel. Wipe around your ears, forehead and neck so that the stain doesn't set in.

9. If you're going to sleep with your henna, you could try cutting a wife beater in two, making a cut at the arm loops (where the back and front connect, that little seam there) and down the sides. Use one or both pieces to wrap around your neck so that if the henna runs, it won't get on your pillows.

10. When you're done, put plastic wrap over your henna and pop it in the freezer until you want to use it again! >>

FIN!

#FAIL/End Saver Challenge

"Oh, I am not playing!" -DJ

So, I know I was supposed to go 6 full months without touching those scissors/shears...but i HAD to! Yes, I know this makes me a #failure, but you all didn't see my poor end! They were horrendous! While I didn't make it to my goal of 6 months, I did go 5 which is major for me! Eh, I'm still proud! So on to the details: I snipped probably 1/2-3/4" off of dead ends last night. I can still see growth progress but not as much as I would like. Hence, the End Saver Challenge! I have 100% sucked at taking care of them and that's pretty much been my issue for the past 5 years or so. So this time...I'm going smack into an "Ends Saver Challenge". Being as though I'm home on Christmas break and have no real obligations outside of my house I play to keep my hair sealed 24/7.





*back track*





Last week i received my first order of Megatek! For those of you who don't know about Megatek, it is a very powerful (and expensive) conditioner formulated to grow back the manes and tails of horses who suffer from skin conditions and other issues that make it difficult to grow their hair. The conditioner has been deemed safe to use on humans and lots of ladies have enjoyed remarkable results. I've only used it twice as a conditioner and I really really love the coconut smell! I honestly wasn't expecting it to smell as good as it does so that was a pleasant surprise! Here's a picture of a "faithful user" of Megatek with a 2 month comparison pic. According to her, without the product she was only getting 1/8-1/4" a month of growth which is below the average 1/2" a month that most people see.

So yeah, $30 a pop is a bit steep but the results can NOT be denied!

Anyway, like I was saying. I used the product on my wet hair as a deep conditioner overnight using a shower cap and a rubber band (i don't recommend). I applied the product, put a regular plastic cap on and kept it on with a rubber band, slapped a bonnet on and said *goodnight*. I woke up with a headache due to the rubberband cutting off all circulation to my brain during my slumber. SMH, never again. Thankfully, I discovered the other way to use Megatek; on dry hair! If you've ever used Luster's Pink Lotion and liked it, you'll LOVE using Megatek dry! I put about a dime size or less in my palm, rub my hands together and distribute all throughout. I then use my denman (for no reason in particular) to get a more even distribution and use about the same amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to seal it in with, distributing the same way. In oder to avoid using heat later on in the week (i'll get into that later) I pin curl my hair all over so my hair has some sort of bump to it. Going back to the shower cap, but smarter this time, I put it on the same way but secure it tight and twist the extra slack twisting it like a bantu know and securing it with a bobby pin. That'll keep the moisture on my hair and off my pillow case, in the air, or whatever other way moisture can be stolen. Today is Monday and I do plan to keep my hair like this at least until Thursday! Oh, I am not playing! My ends WILL be healthy in 2010!

Back to what I was saying though, it's never a good idea to apply direct head (flat irons, curling irons, blow dryers etc.) more than 2-3 days after washing your hair. Think about it, have you ever looked at your hair days after washing it? Like, REALLY looked at it? There's all kinda of lint and other ungodly things from your clothes, scarves, cleaning and just your environment in general in there. You don't want to bake those things into your hair deeper. Eghk! And constant heat is always a bad thing in itself. Instead of retouching your style every morning, try bantu knots, pin curls or rollers. These things will all help in keeping your ends together.

So, did I miss anything? If so, let yourself be heard in the next edition of Trader Girls with your own tips, tricks and concotions by emailing me at donnajenay@aol.com! Until next time Happy Healthy Hair Growing!

Hold Your Fire!

Okay, so I know I've been gone for the longest, closer to forever, but I have a GREAT reason! SCHOOL!!! You all know I'm in school and this has been my most stressful semester for a whole array of reasons. SMH, but we won't dwell. Let me quickly update you all on a couple things that has taken place. We'll start with my huge semester accomplishment that I am just ITCHING to share! So, what's pretty on it's left...and pretty on it's right? What's so so pretty it can't sleep at night? What's the first AND the finest? Why, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated of course! And that's why I am a part of the Fall 2009 line to cross at my University! YAAAAY Go Donna! LOL. I am #17 and my line name is AKApella. For those of you who don't know, I sing :)

Okay so on to things you all probably care just a tad bit more to know about. This is my 33rd week post relaxer! So that's 8 months by the 4 week=a month rule and 7 months by the 29th of the month rule. I haven't put any scissors to my hair so I'm still going strong on my no scissor challege!! My next trim will be on January 30th 2010! My new growth is a lot longer now but I think my obsession with my hair has subsided thank GOD lol. The weeks were inching by when I was always in my hair and had my hair aspirations constantly on my mind. My current hair status over the past few weeks is blown out and flat ironed for two reasons. One, it's cold out and washing my hair every few days is simply not gonna happen! I can't afford to go out with my pores open and risk flu especially with things like the swine flu going around and things such as that. Also, my hair stays straighter longer with the weather being colder so I don't have to worry about applying frequent heat to maintain the style. So it's all good!

Second reason for the straight style: doing my beloved puffs and twisted styles everyday has began to take it's toll on my edges. :( While I was aware that this would happen, those style are the only ones I was comfortable wearing with my bantu knot outs. Don't be alarmed though my loves, my edges aren't bad at all! As a matter of fact, I'm the only one who noticed a change! These are just precautions! I figure, keeping my hair straight will give my edges the much needed break and allow me to switch my look up for a however long I want. Well, I'll be back soon loves! School is over, however I'm nowhere near my computer and I must be honest, I hate blogging on this laptop! I know I owe you all major so maybe I'll make a few exceptions while I'm away from school! I do have more to tell!

Until next time...Happy Healthy Hair Growing!

P.S., don't forget ladies, if you'd like to be a Trader Girl for Girl, Yes! all you have to do is send an email to donnajenay@aol.com and you will be featured on my blog telling your side of the natural story! <3