It's getting longer

Rod Set on Natural Hair

I tried setting my hair on rod rollers.The end result was little rolls. The next day however it looked like coils. I will not rod my hair or roll it in manner again until it is much longer.

Natural Products

Yesterday I went through all of my hair products and I pulled out everything that wasn't natural. Anything that had cones, PEGs, PVP, fragrance, sulfates, you name it I got rid of it. I am unsure about the Ecostyler Gel. I did keep it because I got such great results when I used it and then of course I had to keep the Silk Elements shampoo because they say that only shampoo with sulfates can remove products with cones. I'm not sure if I will use it again.

Natural Hair PIctures May 29, 2012

Here are some pictures of my hair from May 29, 2012. The 3 strand braid out added some texture to my hair so that it didn't just look like an Afro, but I'm trying to find the method that works for my hair. As you can see it has grown quite a bit since January 2012.

Two Strand Flat Twist Out on Natural Hair

This past week I wore my wig. So the weekend before I flat twisted my hair to my scalp in rows from front to back. So my hair was done up in flat two strand twists in rows for a full week. My hair had just been washed so it was wet, I parted it in sections using a rat-tailed comb and then I added a bit of Ms. Jessies Curly Meringue (as a moisturizer) and some Eco Styler Gel (for hold). My hair was twisted beneath my wig for a full week. When I came home from work I would pull off my wig and wig cap so that my scalp and hair could breathe.Here are pictures of the products I used and the results.

 

 

I am going to try a flat twist out again this week. There will be some changes: I will use a different moisturizer and of course it will only be twisted down overnight rather than a whole week. I want to be sure that it is the styling method and not so much the product that helped me to achieve this style. This style gets two thumbs up for me! 

Shingled Natural Hair

I "shingled" my hair over the weekend. I used 1st- water, 2nd- Kinky Curly Spritz and 3rd- Eco Styler Gel.
I raked my fingers through each section of my hair to distribute each product then I let my hair air dry.

Something New

I bought me a wig. It is a 1B bob. Quite short. Just something to do something different. It was $19.95.

Kinky Twists

After doing some "research" I have decided to use braids to grow out my hair. Braids will allow me to experience length until my own natural hair is long enough. I found a technique on Youtube that works well with my hair because of the length. The video below shows the method that I used. The video is by Jacenta1. Basically you split your own hair and twist each piece around the synthetic hair to the right. Then you twist the two pieces in the opposite direction.

I did my braids on March 3, 2012 and that stayed in a week. I used one bag of hair. I did not take pictures. I took them down and washed my hair and redid the braids on March 11, 2012. I did not have time to curl the ends Sunday so I just wore it up in a bun on Sunday and Monday. Monday night I curled some pieces in the back and the front. Today I curled the remaining pieces. I used rod rollers and boiling water to curl the ends. A curling iron did not work, it only melted the hair. I worked really hard to be sure that the twists were not too tight and that I used a decent amount of hair in each twist to prevent damage to my own hair.

Here is the end result.

Roller Set on Natural Hair

I did a roller set on my hair last month to see how it would look stretched out.
February 2012

I washed my hair for the last time with Silk Elements moisturizing shampoo. I did some more research on sulfates and I learned that sulfates can cause hair loss so I will not be using Silk Elements anymore. I will stick to my natural Shea Moisturize products. I deep conditioned under the dryer with Motions and a leave in with Shea Moisturize. I used Eco Styler Gel to set my hair on the rollers under a hooded dryer with magnetic rollers. My hair stretched out pretty well. It is very short however. The curls did not last but a day. The next day my Afro was back... I will not straighten my hair again with a roller set until it is longer. I did not like the results.

One Month Post Big Chop

Well I've been 100% natural since January 23 and it will be one month February 23. So far I like the short do cause it's easy to maintain and it doesn't take long in the morning. At the same time I am unaccustomed to having short hair so I'm like I wish it would get long already. I am comfortable with my short hair, my Afro, my natural hair. I don't feel weird when I go out in public. I've been in headband and accessory city (jewelry, bangles, etc.). I've also been wearing more skirts and dresses to be sure that everyone knows that I am a girl. I'm still not into makeup. I want healthy skin, that's my goal.

I won't do another twist-out until my hair is longer. I didn't like the way this turned out.

Twist out

My hair is about shoulder length in the back, maybe 3 inches long.

 

 

This is my fro, see the pretty beaded headband?

Fro Day

 

I've found that headbands can be rather expensive so I have begun raiding the ribbon section in Wal-Mart. It's really cheap and pretty and you can make lots of decorative bands.

Coils post big chop

My Natural Hair

I am  a bit disappointed in my hair. It is not as curly as I would have liked. There are a few patches that are curly all by themselves and the rest is just a poofy afro. My hair is too short to do much with besides maybe coils (which I don't like because it greatly diminishes the length and fullness of my hair) and an afro which I'm not too fond of because it's just frizzy looking. What to do, what to do...

Bye, Bye Relaxed Ends: The Final Big Chop

Well I finally did it. 22 days after my initial kind of a big chop I have now freed myself from the remaining relaxed ends. It just looked funny to me to have the short natural coils in the back and then to have those relaxed ends half curled sitting on top of the poofy natural hair. I've been rolling it around in my head for awhile now and tonight I finally did it. I started with the edges and then just cut the rest. I wet the hair first so that I could differentiate between the natural hair and the straight hair since natural hair curls when it is wet. I have been transitioning since June of 2011. About five months shy of a year.

I'm glad I transitioned slowly to get my mind ready for cutting my hair the drastic length change. I am glad that I cut my own hair, I didn't feel violated, I felt liberated. Dealing with two textures was not horrible, however as my relaxed ends thinned in the back the more I felt a need to cut them, so I did. This made it a little weird when I stopped rolling the back and opted for twisting instead. So then I had this natural style in the back and these curls in the top. I'll wear it in coil outs and an Afro until it grows out. 

Snip Snip

It was probably about three inches of relaxed ends per section.

I used the Curling Custard to make my coils.

Bye, bye relaxed ends

100% all natural.