Hair Journey

From salon visit: July 10, 2012.

Other side view.

Swirly back! I love it. :)

Curl pattern from a braid out.

Drinking almond milk & loving the twists.

Getting a little big.

Feeling fro-tastic!

A wink for the masses!

July 21, 2012. Taking down of braids that were in for almost 2 weeks.

After 1st time washing hair with karite soap, feels squeaky clean, & look- length is coming!

A great etsy shop for vegan natural hair products here: Vital Goods

Team Natural! Woot! Now off to do the olive oil treatment. It's an every other night thing.

7/22/2012: Curlier twisties....

Enjoyed with a Black Cherry Almond Clif Bar! Yum!!! :D

7/30/2012: Wash day. Trying to look gorgeous. Not working....

8/1/2012: Play sleeping. One never lays down without a scarf wrapped tightly.

8/3/2012: First Friday night fro! Why yes, I did put on tights. Never leave without them. :D

8/13/2012: Healthy twists!

9/6/2012: Hair wash day.

9/8/2012: Clean hair parted and braided in a simple twin Grecian style.

It's my favorite hairstyle obviously.

But I'll get better with these. Braiding takes a lot of time & finger patience.

9/16/2012: Hair wash day pout face. Personally love this photo...

Ready to be washed.

9/17/2012: Miracle homemade cream! A blend of raw shea & cocoa butters mixed with olive & coconut oils.

9/29/2012: Shameless workout progress insertion! Always keep my sweaty hair covered.

10/10/2012: Continuing to experiment with braiding creativity. Not very easy.

Raising my hand for aide!

More progress coming soon! :D

It is December 9, 2012 and here's my look for the Dayton Society Of Painters & Sculptors Christmas Party attire- a $2 olive green top from the Village Outlet, a $3.99 lace topped tank top from Clash Consignments, & a cute purple bow jumper dress from Goodwill for $4.99.

Hair style- twisties that were curled up in hair rollers after last night's shampoo & conditioner. Added a bit of my raw shea & cocoa butter, olive & coconut oil hair concoction for a touch of shine & softness. 

A texture close up.

Frotastic!

I just love, LOVE this whole entire look! It's quite festive.

12/15/2012: Making myself vintage.

With a touch of nerdy appeal!

Looking subdued. A twist out with two messy fat braids on the sides.

12/17/2012: A full on twist out! Love these curls, but alas, it is a Shampoo/Conditioner Day!

Pre pick out. 

December 28, 2012: Looking the quirky artist tonight in side braids, bold red lipstick and yellow ducky tie, floral printed blouse, black/gray cardigan, & patterned denim skirt!

Professional!

The tie is awesome.

Natural love.....

January 9, 2013: Using a spray bottle to keep hair moisturized.

Happiness face!

Hair Confidence? Yes!

* I now put all the latest hair pics at the top. For some reason Blogger won't let me edit....
Oh well. Feel free to scroll down and walk throw hair memory lane...

Circa 2005: Hairdressers loved giving me relaxers and "Halle Berry" cut.

Circa 2007: Kinky braids to coincide with natural journey.

Unbraided most of it and hid badly itchy scalp under a hat!

A wig.

2008: Straight backs with extensions. Not a good idea.

Fall of 2008: First and last sew in.

Another wig.

March 5, 2009: Strange straight back extensions for Paris trip.

2009: Sure thought I was something.

I love this owl shirt. That is all.

May 15, 2010: Had a lot of new growth after braids were taken out...

May 15, 2010: Unfortunately due to hair shame, I went and got these terrible braids for graduation.
(pictured below)

June 2010: More braided extensions for 3 months in Denver.

After the braids more covered hair shame for rest of the year.

As of right now, I still only wear my hair out at home.

My hair has always been a secret for years to people.
Natural since 2007 and never sticking to one proper formula, I have made a lot of unfortunate mistakes and experiments along the way.
The above pics illustrate what I've done wrong.
Starting off with one of my last relaxers first of all....
Hidden underneath hats, scarves, cotton bandannas (bad! bad! bad!), wigs, braids, and sew ins, it took me quite a while to realize why the length of it never grew out how I wanted.
It was always a bit behind the ears.
Never farther than that.
Back to back extended braids are never a good idea, especially when they are super duper tight, but I kept going back to the African braider because I liked how they looked. Though she complained, always saying, "you need to get this nappy hair straightened."
Oh well.
Thankfully, I no longer visit her.
The braids I am giving up on for the time being.
Though they did make it grow out a lot!
In between rounds of trying to cover up dry, damaged locks that broke off like crazy, I wore a bandanna or hat to cover the shame.
This year, I'm going to change all of that.  
So far personal olive oil treatments have been helping my badly damaged locks.
I'm seeing a hair dresser soon!
Hopefully she'll allow me to take pictures! :)

Circa October 2010: Awesome fro right?
Picked out and massaged with oil, I thought I was well on my way somewhere- you know, towards the world's biggest fro?
Sadly, I'm still at the same length.
Likely due to cotton bandannas and wearing hats for twenty four hours a day.

For the time being, I'll just stare at this picture of Aevin Dugas, the current Guinness Book of World Record owner for world's biggest afro! Thanks to my sweet Twitter pal, Sarah, I have found the inspiration needed to keep my hair healthy, natural, and free-spirited just the way God intended me to be.

As of right now, still rocking a short look.
Just started a new regiment of shampooing, adding an apple vinegar diluted with water rinse, and then conditioning. After t-shirt drying, I rubbed in olive and coconut oils and made tiny twists!
Feels incredibly soft and moist like cake!
Though, I need to work on the smell. Hahaha!

Great news! Hair appointment is booked for Friday morning and I'll be sure to post pics of the big blowout. As for the actual style, I'm getting braids and my hairline remedied finally! (insert happy face).

February 10, 2012: Salon Visit

I absolutely love it!!!!
Got my hair shampooed, conditioned, and cornrowed this morning using Carol's Daughter products (which I am running very low on!). A soft, smell good fro updo that I hope will last for a week or so.
Didn't get a big blow out, but maybe that's for the next visit!
Also, had more hair than originally thought.

It's been up a couple of days and I may leave it longer because the cornrows still look relatively nice and lovely. I turned the little fro into mini twisties. Heehee!
My daily routine: massaging and gently brushing in pure coconut oil twice a day on the stray baby hairs and around the scalp to keep it softened, shiny, and itch free and having a satin cap on at night for bed.
I do plan on taking them down before next Friday and looking forward to showing off a new style.(Praying hairdresser will give me a blow out!)
Stay tuned! :)

Alas, it got itchy and needed to be taken down.
Bad news: there were like 30 tiny black rubber bands in there. DO you know what that means?
Lots of hair breakage and ugly end knots! Boo!!!
Ugh, the back is growing towards the center of my neck, but the rest is still up top, with the middle being the thickness supreme.

I got too tired to pick it out, lol.
Sheesh, those rubber bands got me hot, angry, and filled with anxiety man.
But I did wash, condition, and coconut oil this sucker!

It shrank! I swear it did!
Maybe that's just my imagination....
Back to twisties- no harm, no foul and thankfully- no rubber bands!
I'll curl these up with hair rollers for Monday's hairband day.
But braids for the next time. No cornrows, I'm hoping......

Instead of twisties, I braided random sections of hair and have worn these for two weeks now. Using raw, unrefined shea butter has been much more beneficial than pure coconut oil alone. The baby hairs are much smoother and softer to touch as well as my whole head. It's wonderful.
I actually like this style more because for one thing- takes less time!
Leaving these in until tomorrow.
Shampooing and conditioning- may make fatter braids?
Until then, psyched for my upcoming art show on April 6th- hairdresser day, I suppose. I'm drawing up a special hairstyle for that.....

After shampoo and conditioning on a Saturday night, I attempted the Grecian cornrow around the head. This took me several attempts to get this even almost right! Never said I was a professional hairdresser- hahaha!
Kind of okay isn't it?
I should have taken her advice and waited for the hair to stretch out a bit more, it's harder to grip tightly curled hair that's clean and a bit too moist.
Still. A fun do to try!
It'll be better next time......
Here's the tutorial from xxbeechbarbeexx's channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY3YiC1RdhI&feature=related
*goes back to study more natural Youtube video gals*

April 6, 2012: Salon Visit

After a shampoo and condition, got my hair beautifully cornrowed into lovely twin plaits on each side with an awesomely crafted part on Friday for Dayton's First Friday events and a girl's night out!
Seeing that these pics are taken five days later, this hairstyle can last me a good few more weeks or so.
I've appreciated every last compliment on the streets!
It's so sophisticated and elegant! :D

May 4, 2012 Cutesy Mini Twists!

Salon Visit: May 18, 2012

This sketch was all Lynette went on and she rendered it perfectly!

When I came in today, my sweet hairdresser, Lynette mentioned that I had a bit of growth and asked me the routine- oiling twists with shea butter, coconut and olive oils of course!
After a shampoo, got a deep conditioned treatment of conditioner mixed with olive oil and sat under dryer for ten minutes. Hadn't gotten one of these since last year and hair felt even softer!
Always a nice plus if you ask me.
The idea for the style was for front, sides, and back to be braided up into one thick braid.

End results: such an elegant updo if I say so!
The back is so very beautifully crafted, especially with the addition of bobby pins holding thick Grecian inspired braid in place.
A perfect wedding style too.
I could stare at this all day...

Ma's Do- May 24, 2012

Mom didn't exactly enjoy the scraggly, stray hairs and wanted to redo them.
How could I say no?
It was her birthday. 

Awesomesauce!!!
Now while she was doing my hair, I didn't have any hair oil or creamdress on handy, but she kept saying that it was much too dry. I have been putting shea butter, coconut oil, and/or olive oil from day to day.
Sounds like my hair may need more than that and more often too.
Plus the reason for stray hairs and loosened braids was due to my scarf not being on too tightly while I slept. Yes, I admit there were nights when it slipped off and I was too tired to put it back on....
Solemnly promise to take better care of my scalp and tendrils.
They are too lovely to keep destroying.
My beautiful hair and I- we're going to continue on this enlightening path of healthy gracefulness together!

May 30, 2012

Pouty due to irritating itchy sensation. Burns like a bad perm.

But it's kind of cute.

The middle grows faster than the sides as apparent here...

Freshly washed, conditioned shrunken violet.

The gentle stretch pull....

Not feeling simply fantastic.

Yes! I am the curly fantastic.

It only held up for five days.
I suppose that's a while, but according to a close friend of mine braids are usually supposed to last up to three weeks.
The longest I've held so far- a week tops.
Last night, took them down due to extreme scalp irritation- hurts as painful as a relaxer and causes my fingers to rub excessively hard to keep from scratching.
Believe me- a decent night's sleep didn't occur. :(

Hair Goodies with one missing product.

Regiment this morning- using remainder of Carol's Daughter Dry And Damaged Black Vanilla Shampoo (which does not really seem to work at all for me and can't wait to find a new shampoo, preferably vegan of course!), sat on scalp for five minutes vegan Jamaican Coconut Milk Conditioner from etsy shop Vital Goods (formulated for locs though it states that it's good for most hair types), and Carol's Daughter Hair Milk (almost out of this too! Thank heaven.)/coconut oil/shea butter for styling.
An hour later- hair though not itchy, is not as moist as it should. At least it's shiny.
Now coconut oil is fine.
Shea butter kind.
Yet it's olive oil that usually has my hair softer than its ever been (used it as a replacement for conditioner a few weeks ago & hair felt incredible!).
Sadly, I happened to use the last few drops on Monday and must add it to this week's grocery.
As of right now, strands feel somewhat manageable and a bit oily.
Gonna have to fix this dryness issue ASAP.... :(

 A part and bobby pin.

May 31, 2012

Yes!!!! I received olive oil.

June 1, 2012 Twin braids on the side plus part and happy for olive oil softness! :)

June 3, 2012:

Took out the two braids and had fun experimenting with finger curls using Carol's Daughter Healthy Hair Butter Protective Cream Hair Dress. Almost out of this too and still searching for a vegan replacement to this. Or perhaps I should make my own because these vegan ingredients- shea and cocoa butters, jojoba, olive, sweet almond, and coconut oils, rosemary, lemongrass, and orange, and lavender oils are easy enough to come by. It's just all in the chemistry of blending them all together to create a lasting, perfect hair product!
But look at that shine, that great texture, and softness in these curls. Loving it so much right now!