The Big Chop: Why I Chose To Do It

I know it's been a while since I've posted about my hair...or anything in that matter. But a month ago, I decided to finally do something I had been wanting to do since late summer 2014. I chopped it all off!

I've been asked why, and I wish I had some cool spontaneous story about how I was just bored, and just went to the shop, and voila! But, that's not quite how my story went. It's true, I was bored with my hair. But I also was going through a growth rough patch. I didn't think my hair was growing anymore. I consulted with a couple people, my boyfriend being a persuading factor, decided I would give my hair a few more weeks and then think about it again.

Well January 2015 hit, and in pure "new year, new me" fashion, the need for this hair cut was just eating at me. I couldn't shake this feeling, that although, I've never cut my hair nearly as short as what I was going for, I need absolutely needed to this. 

Again, my hair wasn't growing. It was uneven due to infrequent trimmings, and just not straightening my hair at all. Also, my hair didn't feel clean. I wore wash -n- go's, as my scalp is really sensitive and builds up quickly, and no matter whether I cowashed or washed with purifying shampoo, it just didn't feel clean. It was nasty!

So I cut it....

And it's been a month long journey lol. I'm still getting used not being able to hide behind my hair. Not being able to try different styles. I will say, I'm so in love with the low maintenance of it so far. And oddly enough, I get a compliment almost every day. Listen to this, every day! I can't style it. I can only wear wash -n- go's, and somehow my confidence in this cut has gone up day by day.

Have you been contemplating getting the Big Chop? What's holding you back?

Post Wash & Detox Day

Morning Curlys! So last post I recently expressed me starting a new health week. Sunday started this week for me of course. Which was great since it's also my Wash Day. In the morning after drinking my morning tea, I drank two 16 oz bottles of water in my Mason Jar with sliced cucumbers, oranges, and lemons. The reason I used these fruits and vegetables are for the health benefits they give. 

• Cucumbers-Have a great deal of health benefits for hair, skin, and internal organs. They help reduce the risk of many cancers, help promote urination from your kidneys, and contain dietary fibers which help the elimination of toxins in your body.
• Lemons-Also a Power Fruit, helps boost your immune system. Helps with cleansing your body, and contains many nutrients like Vitamin C and Potassium. Also for is a great aid to losing weight and cutting out the consumption of caffeine. 
• Oranges-Have pretty much the same benefits as Lemons. They help promote weight lost, contains Vitamin C, and with the antioxidants in oranges they help keep the balance in your nutrition. This fruit also helps with the prevention of Cancer. And controls your heartbeat and blood sugar.

Sunday was the only day I drank this water with the cucumbers, but I am still only drinking water with orange and lemon slices. And so far I have not had anything else to drink but water! This is a big deal for me. I can drink water, but of course I prefer other drinks. I read that most people drink more calories than they eat. I definitely believe I am one of these people. So this is the start to a great week!

Detox Water

Close shot of washed curls

Now Sunday is also my Wash Day and boy what a Wash Day it was. I detangled with the coconut oil and honey mix that I used on Mackenzie's hair, I also added a bit of Olive Oil to help lock in some moisture. I then washed of course with my cleansing wash. After my regular wash and condition routine. I used Mixed Chicks Deep Conditioner and let it sit for 30 mins. After rinsing, I used my go to Carol's Daughter Leave-In and SheaMoisture's Enhancing Smoothie on my flat twist. I then sealed the ends with the oil mix I made. Needless to say, when I took my hair out in the morning, my hair was super moisturized. I didn't get to take a picture of my flat twist yesterday during my morning rush. But I refreshed this morning and today you can see how much moisture my hair kept.

Flat Twist (don't mind puddie back there)

Day 2

Mackenzie Summer's Hair

My last post I stated I would be prepooing with Coconut Oil and Honey. Well I didn't actually do any of that to my hair, figured I'd wait til my wash day. But I did try it with my daughter's hair. Her texture is very soft, however, her hair type and curl pattern is different from mine.

 

I also cowashed her hair with Carol's Daughter's Hair Milk Conditioner. Once washed I used Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Leave-in and SheaMoisture's Smoothie. She got 8 braids and this was the ending results.

Puddie's Braid Out

My wash day is coming up soon so I will be trying this on my hair as well. However, let me give you the line up of my great hair week. Monday-WashnGo Tuesday-Day 2 of WashnGo Wendesday-French Crown Thursday-French Crown half-way let out Friday-Complete Braid Out.

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Hola Chicas!

So I've been doing some more research on better ways to moisturize my hair and just some other articles on other curly girls. I've decided I'm going to try a Hair Mask with my Virgin Coconut Oil and Honey. The article I read on NaturallyCurly had the ingredients of Olive Oil and Honey. But since my budget is pretty much spent and my pockets are running low(last week was the first of the month), I'm going to use what I got.

I recently did a WashnGo yesterday morning. I really wanted to do an actual Wash Day on Sunday but the day just didn't go as planned and a WashnGo seemed more appropriate since I still needed to wash this head of mine. WashnGo's used to be my go to regimen, definitely was during the summer and I probably will go back to it this summer. 

I also feel the need to really get better with drinking more water. Of course everyone knows by now that drinking the necessary amounts of water will help not just with your hair but your body all around. So this is my water pledge, I'm down to my last bit of coffee creamer at my job. It'll probably last me til Friday. So come this weekend, I won't be drinking anything but WATER! Yay me!

Since my budget is what it is right now. I am making my list for to add to my budget to upgrade some of my Hair Products and Supplies. My list includes:

• Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner
  
  
  
• Miss Jessie's Pillow Soft Curls

• Satin Pillow Cases(yes I've been lacking for a while now)

I plan on trying out this Coconut Oil and Honey thing tonight so stay tuned. In the meantime, check out Day 2 of my WashnGo!

Day 2 of WashnGo

Bantu Knot Results

Yesterday was my wash day. I started really late. I really wanted to prepoo with some Virgin Coconut Oil (from Trader Joe's), but I couldn't get the jar open. So I just did a regular wash with Pantene Pro-V Purifying Shampoo and Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Conditioner. I have a very sensitive scalp, so cowash's only work for me when I'm doing a wash-n-go. I will cowash every two days with wash-n-go's but for twist outs or Bantu Knots, by the weeks end, I have to wash again with a purifying shampoo.

(Got this for I believe 4.99)    

 (Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Conditioner)

        

(My freshly washed hair)

I decided I wanted to try Bantu Knots again. I have never gotten the results I've wanted with this, but I wanted to try it again. As they say, practice makes perfect. To detangle and moisturize, I used Carol's Daughter Hair Milk Leave-In and SheaMoistures Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I have very fine hair, so I did the Bantu Knot in large sections because I wanted a larger curl than tight curls.

Large Section Bantu Knot

The results I got still weren't what I was looking for. I had major shrinkage, I think mainly since when I took it out my hair wasn't fully dry. I only got the curl definition I was looking for was in the front and the back still has small tight curls. I will be trying this again, maybe in smaller sections.

Morning Results

The Start of Something NEW

I guess first I should start by telling you a little about my personal hair journey. I decided to stop getting perms in 2007, so I guess you can say I've been a natural for about 7 years now. However, in that time I've probably done so much damage to my hair that I kind of started over when I became pregnant.

To clarify, when I stopped getting perms, it wasn't because I wanted to embark on this journey. I simply didn't like how my hair and scalp felt after getting a perm. In 2006, I waited as long as I could without getting a touch-up (so about 6-7 months) and all I did was wash my hair every week, take the 45 mins it took to blow dry my hair, and straighten with a flat iron. I loved it. I got the same results a perm would do without actually getting one. I would've never known that my hair could straighten, maybe not as easily, but would straighten nonetheless without getting some creamy crack on it. 

Even though I was no longer getting a perm and was just straightening my hair myself. My hair was so damaged, I just got tired of looking at it. So in 2007, I went to my stylist and told her I wanted to cut my hair. At that time I was probably about 18. Her knowing how afraid I was of actually cutting my lovely locks, she said "how about we cut off all the damaged ends first and see where we land). That's exactly what happened, we landed here

.

I actually really liked this hair cut. It was so easy to manage and now with my hair no longer having any perm or damaged ends, it started growing really fast. 

I kept this up, not getting a perm, but just washing and blow drying every week for a while til I had to start over. 

I had to cut my hair again. And even after that I'm still wearing my hair straight all the time. 

Then one day in June 2011 I found out I was pregnant. Shouldn't be a problem for my hair since I don't get perms right...wrong. I refused to take 45 mins to blow dry my hair while I was pregnant. So I had to figure something out. That's when I started researching and researching and finding all of these different blogs and YouTube videos with girls with natural curls. And I guess I could have started this a long time ago, but I really didn't like how short my hair looked when in curls. I was so used to feeling my hair on my shoulders, on the top of my back, I couldn't fathom the idea of wearing my wild unruly curls out. 

Well here I am today, going through this journey for the last year. Still having a bit of hiccups but enjoying my curls just a bit more.