It’s Been Quite Some Time…

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But I’m back. And with news! 😃 First, I have been natural for a full 14 YEARS! I can’t believe that. I got my last relaxer April 30, 2005. Never looked back. I started my Locs in August of the same year. I think August 27,2005. They were freeformed and grew to great glory. 👍🏽

Then about 5 years in, I felt it was time to free them, so I took them down. And started my loose journey. And it’s been PRETTY good. I was totally in love with my hair for YEARS. It was nice. I learned so much about it….

Then about 2 years ago, I just got tired of it. Every style was the same, my hair works with VERY few products. And I was just tired of it all together. I wanted to shave my head it got so bad!! I stopped taking care of it, neglected it, just didn’t want much to do with it. 😕

Things started looking up a little when I decided to buy a straightening brush. It didn’t even get my hair straight, but it got it big. It was longer than I thought, but I was very pissed because my hair wouldn’t get straight enough. So I bought a flat iron. THAT got it bone straight. 😅 It was nice. My hair was soft and silky and shiny…

And shedding, and getting shorter… And weaker… But I kept it up for about 6 months maybe. Remember I was ready to shave my head anyway. The only thing that stopped me was my fat ass face and my husband’s objections. 😒 So I really didn’t care if it all fell out. I was just done.

But then…. I started missing my hair… I wanted long hair again. But… My hair will never be long. It breaks off easily, and the texture of it, by the time it was long wouldn’t even show it. 😒 So back to my now twa length fro. I trimmed it up. It was a nice little puff… But I was just as unhappy with it. 😔 🥺

Then it hit me…. When was I the most in love with my hair? 🤔

When I had my LOCS! It was simple, easy, LONG, and just really great. But was I really ready to go through that process again? My patience isn’t what it was in my 20’s. I was all spiritual and crap back then. 🤔 But I’m pretty spiritual these days too. 🤔🤔🤔 More so even. I still like Locs just as I did then. As I recall I didn’t even hate my hair when I freed them. I just wanted a change. I was worshipping Jah back then, now I’ve moved to Lord Mahadev- both are said to have Locs. 🤔 Hmmmm…. Maybe this was it.

So I finally flew it past the hubs, and to my surprise he was on board. I think mostly because he misses my long, attention grabbing Locs, and he was still scared I was just gonna buzz it off one day. 😅

So, as of November 23,2019 I have installed my starter Locs. I started them with plaits. I would have started them the way I did the first time- just let them form completely freeformed. But I’ve gotten older and I don’t think I’d look right at this point. I BARELY pulled it off in my 20’s. BUT what I’ve decided to do it basically keep them covered as they form. Partially because it’s just easier and I don’t have to deal with questions, and weird looks in the beginning. My mind is not where it was the first time. And I’m not TRYING to include all these folks in my journey this time. At least not the beginning of it anyway. ( I’ll post updates here, but honestly I’d say for the first 6 months to a year my journey will be mostly private as far as social media and the public at large.)

So, general public is out. I’ll blog my progress. 🙂

Ok, so that’s pretty much it as far as my return to blogging. Look forward to updates soon. 👍🏽

Thanks for reading. 😃

~J

11:11

Back After a LONG Break!

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Well, I’ve been gone for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve been a good little Naturalista. I’ve moved into a new home (first time home owner! Yay!!) Which is a LOT of work. The house itself needs a lot of work, plus actually moving, and just general busyness.. Long story short, my hair is a MESS!! Not to mention weight that I did NOT need to gain! LoL! But right now, we’ll stick to the hair. 🙂

 

Since I’ve been busy with everything from mowing a very tall, very THICK, very LARGE yard, doing electrical, scheduling repairs, traveling back and forward between the new place and the old one, getting all the mail moved (FYI, small town postal service SUCKS in this day and age..) I’ve been wearing my hair in a puff or a fluffy fro. Well, it started out cute. I began with my regular curly “bob”, then the puff, then a nice big fro.. And it slowly over the last month transformed itself into a tangled, matted, DRY mess!! I mean, I assumed I was going to have to shave my HEAD at one point!! But I was able to get some of the mats out, not all yet, but I’m picking through them as I find one. And let me tell ya, these are some BIG MATS!! I was locking again!! It’s just pretty horrible right now. It looks a little better, but I’m far from back..

 

So, what to do? Well… First off I know I’m going to lose a lot of length. That is a given. My hair is so tangled that I’m going to tear a good portion out once I get all the way through it. I’ll likely trim it even if necessary. Yeah. I know.. Losing all those years of length. But you do the crime, you have to do the time. 🙂

 

So step one is getting all the matted hair out. I did some yesterday, but I was in a rush, so it was pretty half assed. I just cowashed and finger detangled as best I could with the time I had. I have to actually let the conditioner soak in and little by little comb the mats out. I know it is going to take HOURS, but I think I’ll survive it. After that assess how damaged it is and decide whether or not it needs trimming. I HOPE not, but if it does I won’t hesitate. And that will take care of the first steps to a healthy head of hair..

 

Next thing, I am going on a growth mission. Or rather a healthy hair mission. Well, actually a healthy SELF mission, but again that is another story. Just the hair.. I am going to do the whole nine- co washing and detangling WEEKLY, shampooing once a month, deep conditioning at least once a month, more often if necessary, being extra EXTRA gentle while detangling. I’m not a protective styling type of person, but I may even give that a shot. Moisturizing regularly, which I pretty much do anyway. I wet my hair daily to get it to act right, so that’s moisture and I do seal occasionally. I’m low porosity, so as long as I get the moisture in, it pretty much stays there and oils and creams just sit on top of my hair, so they don’t do any good anyway. I have to use clear products or very thin products for them to actually do any good, so activator is likely to be my best friend these days. My routine is simple and it always has been and I don’t see a reason to spend money on stuff that doesn’t work, however I may purchase a good deep conditioner at least in the beginning. I am already taking vitamins daily, and I MAY actually try a hair supplement. Do they work? Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt anything to try.

 

My goals. Well, I just really want healthy hair first off, but let’s keep it real. We all want that long hair. And my goal is at least waist length. I’m 35 years old now. I don’t need to be waiting until I’m 50 to see that dream fulfilled. Ain’t nobody got time… Well.. You know the saying.. 🙂

 

More as it unravels..

 

~ J

Back and Trying All KINDS of NEW Stuff!!!

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Well, not really.. Yall know I ain’t got dimes for that. :p

But I have been playing with my hair more.

One thing most natural know is after a time.. Your hair get boring…

Really… REALLLLLY boring!! I mean..tedious even!! I have gotten to a state where I don’t even want to wash or detangle or.. NOTHING my hair!  I DO occassionaly cowash my hair nowadays, so I was able to make that work… But most often when I cowash, I don’t bother to detangle..

Now some will say, well thatl’s good. You’re not manipulating your hair much. Helps with length retention.  But I’m pretty sure I end up breaking more hair when I DO comb it out because it gets tangled… But then again… It does seem to be longer… So.. Maybe my laziness is actually helping  me reach my length goals.

But enough of my laziness…  No I will not perm or cut my hair so it ain’t that kinda party. I had a friend suggest my hair would be so BEAUTIFUL flat ironed. And I was like girl.. just bye… LoL! So I still love my natural hair, but with Winter and dry forced heat, my hair is dry and crispy more often than not and my curls aren’t always plump and juicy unless they are wet, and honestly I’m sick of walkiing around with wet Jheri curl ass hair! LoL! So, with more length comes options..

And in comes banding.. Bands, will not ONLY make her dance, but they will stretch your fro out to  new lengths! I actually tried the banding as mini pineapples, but my hair isn’t long enough to really do it right. So instead of preserving my curls, it just made my hair really  REALLY big!! I  got more complements than I ever have because of that giant ass hair! Loved it.. My hair was soft and fluffy..

But the next week, I did my cowash and didn’t detangle and it wasn’t as big and as the days and weeks went on it just looked nappy (In a BAD unkept way.) and I was desperate.. I ACTUALLY tried a petroleum ladened product that I hate and twisted my hair with it.

And it wasn’t bad.. I mean that product still sucks, but the twists came out pretty good…

So in comes TWISTNG.. Which is what I’ve done this week.

But first.. My hair was dry.. Hard… Crunchy.. And that wasn’t the EcoStyler talking either!! My hair needed some moisture and TLC. Tresemme Naturals is great, but honestly I just needed something more moisturizing..

In comes products I don’t like..

PLus oil…

I mixed my Tresemme Moisture Rich Conditioner,  some Hello Hydration, vegeteble oil in my jar of  Soft n Free Milk Protein and Olive Oil. (There was still a little of it in the jar.) Once mixed I shampooed with my Loreal EverCReme, and applied Tresemme naturals to my freshly washed hair. I just felt I should get SOME moisture in there before I added this oil and silicone ladened mixture. I’m sorry I just don’t like cones. LoL! But to use up that stuff I’d risk it.. A little.

Well, at first it felt kinda bad.. So I was like.. OK.. This was a complete waste of my damn time. But since it was in there now, may as well settle in and let it work..

AND WORK IT DID!! When I rinsed it out, my hair was light and soft and felt really moisturized. So I was happy with that.

I decided I was going to twist my hair up this week. Not so much for a “twist out” but just to preserve and stretch my curls out a little. So right now, I sit in twists.

To twist, I used my trusty Long Aid Activator gel as a moisturizer, and Eco krystal for hold and definition. I haven’t added any oils yet, as on day one I never do. I actually can’t wait to see how my first “twist out” comes out.

I know this isn’t very interesting, but hopefully I’ll have some new products soon. I’ve been hearing about this Aunt Jackie stuff and it’s affordable AND available at get this… THE DOLLAR STORE!! Not sure if it’s around these parts yet, but I can’t wait to try it. Unlike Miss Jessie’s it is PETROLEUM FREE!! And just about 5-10 bucks a jar/bottle. I’m still not crazy about creamy stylers, but if I’m gonna be twisting now, I am willig to give a good Vaseline free product a fair shot. 🙂

I’ll upload some photos in a seperate post, as for SOME reason, I can’t do it here.. Seriously?

Anyway, photos to come. 🙂

Giving Co Washing a Second Try…

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Yes, I know.. Last time it was a HOT ass mess, but this time I’m using a different conditioner and I don’t plan on doing it exclusively. I will still be shampooing when I feel I need it. But with the cooler weather and dry heat all around, I figure a little extra moisture couldn’t hurt.

 

When did all this start? Well, I got lazy actually. LoL! I went the whole weekend and did SQUAT to my hair. Come Monday, my hair was dirty and needed redoing. So having like an hour to get ready, I decided to just rinse with some conditioner and slather up with gel as best I could. Well, I got several compliments!! And I had a pretty good and easy hair week. Most days I just spritzed and maybe added a little oil and went. I was shocked every time I got a compliment!!

 

So, after watching one of those irksome Wen commercials,  I’m trying it out again. This time instead of using a cone filled conditioner like Aussie, I’m using my Tresemme Naturals which to my best knowledge is cone free. Plus I don’t use as many products as I did in the beginning. I was kind of worried about the Ecostyler not getting completely washed away, but it seems to be working pretty well. And my hair feels way more moisturized, obviously, than it did with even the WONDERFULLY perfect L’Oreal EverCreme shampoo. I think winter is the perfect time to try this again. So hopefully this will end well. 🙂

 

And product reviews!! I have tried a few more products! Some I reviewed on YouTube, but not on here, so look for those in the near future. Among the products I’ve been using I finally tried Eco Styler and fell in LOVE with it!! I’m also on ,as mentioned above, Tresemme Naturals and L’Oreal EverCreme shampoo. Both have been working wonders for my hair. I’ve examined my hair texture and came up with some interesting discoveries. Well, one discovery and came to a very peaceful conclusion. 🙂 So look for all those posts to come. 🙂

 

But for now, I am done. Thanks for Reading. 🙂

 

Jen

Couldn’t Hardly Wait!

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  And I’m glad I DIDN’T!! That could have been a DISASTER!

 

 What am I going on about, you may ask… I decided to try the My DNA Honeybee Leave In tonight… I rinsed out my conditioner that had sat over night.. I was good as moisturized… So I said, “What the hay? It’s just a watery leave in, what harm can it do…”

  Well… I spritzed my little Rebel up good… And this stuff started LATHERING!!! Yes, soap! Foam!! Stripping soapy FOAM!! My hair balled up in a matted knot! I made a video with the stuff in my hair, but I’m not sure if I’ll air it. (Translation: I was looking ROUGH!!!! LoL!) But it looked and felt, even SOUNDED like shampoo in my hair! It was the weirdest thing. And the way my hair felt, I was honestly SCARED that it had some how DAMAGED my hair! Oh yes.. It was that MAJOR!! There was no slip, no moisture, just… extreme matting of my hair

 

So, I had to rinse it out and cowash my hair to try and get some of the moisture back into my hair. I did this with my Tresemme and PRAYED my hair would feel ok after. And it feel just that.. “OK”. Nothing special. Normally my hair is super soft after an overnight condition, but that stuff just stripped all that right back out. It made my hair feel like the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Shampoo n Conditioner 2 in 1. Now to be fair, the conditioner didn’t make my hair hard. I used it as my pre poo and I noticed my hair was actually pretty soft, which makes me wanna try it. It does have protein in it, so… I don’t know. Well, actually it has Corn Silk which I ASSUME is protein. That may have actually been the issue with the Honeybee Leave In, it may be high in protein. That would explain the hardness, but not the lather.

 

  My hair actually feels pretty soft NOW after washing that product out of my hair so it didn’t do any damage I guess, but I obviously won’t use it again. A common complaint about the rest of the products is that being for curly/wavy/kinky hair, they have zero slip and aren’t moisturizing enough.Any product for those hair types- Especially for tightly curled hair have to be MOISTURIZING. We need all we can get. And that slip has to be there. No ifs ands or buts about it.

 

  I’m sure these products work for someone, just not for ME. I still have yet to try the other 2 products they sent me, but as of now I am in no hurry. I know I won’t try them if I’m going somewhere. I have an appointment tomorrow.. Imagine if I’d tried this at the LAST MINUTE… Disaster. 

 

  So, I’ve gotten my first review out of the way, and it is not good. Which is a shame because these products were generously sent to me for free by the company and I was hoping I’d be able to give them a glowing review instead of this not so stellar one, but honesty is best. And honestly… I’m scared to try the other two products. LoL!

 

A little about my hair. My hair is 4a/3c if that matters at ALL. (Not really.) I’m low porosity.. VERY low porosity. LoL! Stuff will literally just sit on my hair, which may be why this product lathered. It says you can use it on wet or dry hair. I’m scared to try it again on dry hair. 😦 I can’t handle protein. If these products are high in protein (I won’t know because they didn’t include an ingredients list. Which also annoyed me. You know how we naturals are. We like to know. I searched the site up and down (http://mydnaisuniversal.com)  and I found NOTHING. The ingredients are on the full sized products, but.. Obviously.. Not buying that.

 

  So, in short this product didn’t work for me at all. It may work for you. I’d try for a free sample if possible. The products aren’t SUPER expensive but they aren’t cheap either. This leave in is $14.99 for 8oz. Honestly this is too rich for my blood. When water works great as my leave in, I can’t see spending nearly $15 for a liquidy spray unless this stuff was the pure-T JUNK! And.. Just.. NO.. Not for me. But it may work for you. If you’re feeling brave hit them up and give it a go. Who knows? You may find your new favorite product.

 

That is all..

 

11:11

 

Jen 😀