I did some research and I tried out a new deep conditioning recipe that has left my hair feeling buttery with lots of slip and easy to detangle.

All you need is your deep conditioner of choice. I used a mix of Queen Helene's cholesterol and the Ors replenishing pack. And a few tablespoons of baking soda.

Mix very well and get the conditioner into your hair. Now it will feel weird. I didn't really like how liquid the conditioners became at first but got it all into my hair, covered with one of my dollar store shower caps and let it sit for about an hour.

I also added a wee bit of olive oil to it.

I rinsed and while I'm not wild about the baking soda smell (I am weird about that kind of thing) my hair feels really moist, my shedding has slowed quite a bit. I am very impressed.

So next weekend I'm going to try using baking soda with a banana/avocado based conditioner and will share.

Since I'm still bunning I'll airdry overnight with my hair wrapped. This seems to work really well for me.

That's it.

So my relaxer stretch was ended over the weekend.

I forgot I'd done a milk protein treatment last week with coconut milk and my hair is pretty protein sensitive.

So after my relaxer I did my usual henna treatment and my hair was kind of crunchy and I thought my relaxer didn't take.

It did.

My hair is fine after some moisturizing.

So I do have some stuff to report on.

I've changed my product line up a wee tiny bit.

I ran out of Profective about a month ago and -thought- I could do without it. Nope. My hair really likes small amounts of gentle protein daily or every other day. I had some breakage. So yeah needless to say I stocked up.

Next. I bought some whipped shea butter on a whim from a seller on Ebay and OH EM GEE.

This stuff smells lovely and my hair loves it. Even more than the shea butter from Treehut I was using. And this stuff is cheaper and homemade. I could do my own whipped shea butter but I don't really wanna right now. This cuts down on my frizz factor, and even better gives my hair some necessary weight. My hair is naturally really fluffy and I like having a leave in that's weighty. Also it's great on my new growth.

I also learned that if I'm going to do long term stretches I need to invest in some good spray conditioner/detangler. I'm looking at Oyin Hand Made juices and berries. My big issue is tangling. My texlaxed hair tangles and then the new growth tangles and it's a hot mess.

So I am hoping to stretch from now until December.

Whoa.

Huge stretch.

I am really thinking if I stay consistent I can make it to APL (armpit length).

I will post some update pics this weekend. I'm going to do a super moisturizing mask, ponytail rollerset and flat iron.

For now under the cut a shot of my henna and a couple of pre relaxer shots. Also note to self make new icon.

( My air is luxurious )

Okay I just spent the whole afternoon trying to give myself yarn braids and failed spectacularly.

I took some photos.

I will be honest, I am so bad at braiding I cried a little bit. But, on the upside my hair looks really lovely.

So under the cut my afternoon in pictures.

Big pics, not dial up friendly.

( Fail...but wait. )

If you wanna skip the pics.

Braids failed but my hair is awesome.

I am going to try and continue my relaxer stretch. It's going pretty well still and it's been a little over four months. I'd like to make it to July. I will probably henna in a couple of weeks and keep doin what I'm doing. Buns, deep conditioning and glee.

Just a quick update.

I had a bit of a setback due to some breakage I was having. I wasn't consistently wearing my scarf at night so I've lost a little length.

But overall my hair is in excellent condition right now.

Good news, I finally got my soft bonnet dryer and last week did my first rollerset. It didn't come out like I wanted, I didn't use enough rollers and small enough sections and I don't think I got the right tension but I kind of got it. Since I as on a roll that day I flat ironed my hair too and almost a week later under the cut see my results.

It wasn't nearly as difficult to keep my hair straighter as I thought it would be. However, I do feel kind of weird with my hair that straight so I will probably not flat iron all the time.

I'll be hennaeing this weekend and probably relaxing my hair mid month or so.

( BLING )

So I'm out of some of my staple products and had to make some quick mixes.

Mix #1 Coconut milk/lime treatment.

I like to use this mix while stretching relaxers because it tends to keep my new growth a bit smoother. I'm not far into my stretch currently but, my hair has been a tad frizzy lately.

This is an excellent recipe for naturally curly hair, or other hair that tends towards frizz.

Most awesome thing is, this recipe costs maybe 3.50$ depending on where you live.
( Recipe #1 )

Last night after I moisturized my hair with breakfree and shea butter I parted it loosely with my fingers, made some medium fat twists. I put these into bantu knots and slept with my satin bonnet on.

This morning I undid them and finger combed my hair into some submission. The bangs were curlier earlier this morning but I still dig it. I got a lot of compliments and maaaan in the sun when it was out for a quick minute my hair was blinging. Random lady on the street stopped to tell me how pretty it is.

Pics under the cut.

Oh and also, check out that face. My milk of magnesia primer is the shit. This is proof. These pics are twelve hours after putting on my make up, I didn't blot not once today and my make up was totally rushed this morning. I'm a little shiny but nowhere near the blinding greasies that I usually get.

( Good experiment )

So happy New Years.

I forgot to take before pics but here is my starting point picture for this year. Hopefully, this day in 2010 my hair will be about APL.



That's my freshly relaxed (yesterday I'll talk more about that in a minute) finally mostly shoulder length hair. Soaking wet and just about ten minutes ago.

OKAY.

So I decided instead of relaxing the coily areas of my hair straightish, I planned to relax my hair in odd sections so I could get the zshaped kinks more of an elongated S shaped kinks. I also wanted to take care with the hair that grows almost straight towards the front of my head.

So I did the odd sections, right in the middle of the back of my head first, then the nape, then up my crown a bit, then around my face. I did this in about 3 minute increments with a total processing time of 12 minutes.

Then I used some extra thin henna. Instead of lots of conditioner I used more water and a crapton of coconut oil in it. Left that in for a few hours, rinsed and put some conditioner in my hair topped with Hot6 oil. I bunned and went to bed. Then I rinsed my hair a bit ago and put some hot6 oil in it and am air drying now.

So my routine is as follows.

I wear buns most days.

Over the weekend I overnight deep condition with cholesterol conditioner and coconut oil with my hair under a satin bonnet. Wash. DC with Replenishing packs. At least twice a month I am making a commitment to try to rollerset my hair. My dryer is on the way and I am determined to learn.

I am also stretching relaxes for about 20 weeks or at least that's my goal. So next relaxer in April/May.

Overall while I don't have as much length as I might have liked, I have retained a lot of what I got which is excellent. Also my hair is thick, healthy and strong which is awesome. So I am going to keep on doing what I'm doing.

And please don't laugh at the upcoming OMG rollersetting entries. There will probably be whining and angry crankiness ahead but I would really like to learn if for no other reason than to have some other options for how I wear my hair.

I'm sitting here and my hair is a hot tangly mess that I will be fixing tonight. I think my hair gremlins have been in there making fools of themselves. I'll be moisturizing and detangling when I get home.

I thought I'd post the links to my products and some new stuff I'm in love with.

First, I am a fool for multi use products. Top of my list for those is:

TreeHut Almond&Honey shea butter. I also have a jar of the coconut lime scent as well. I've had to wear a knit hat a lot this winter and this stuff has been a life saver. It's thick and heavy, moisturizes very well and smells nice. Also I can use it from hair to bum to feet and this is awesome. It can be kind of pricey so if you want a body butter to use look for one without mineral oil filler, a scent you like and for one of the first few ingredients to be whatever the base butter is. Check the sale section of your drugstore. Keep your eye on the fancy bath/body products. I got my Treehut from an outlet store. Keep in mind that when they change their packaging the price drops on the left overs.

You can also try a lotion if you want something lighter. Again check for mineral oil in it, and try it on a small section of your hair to see if you like how it turns out.

Another way I use this is on my ends when I baggy them at night. Works quite well.

(Warning these are my amazon affiliate links)

And I buy these two or three at a time. Profectiv Breakfree. If your hair craves both a light frequent protein and moisture this is an excellent product. It's not super thick, it has a nice scent and I find it works really well for bunning and has kept my hair from breaking. I love this stuff.

Next up coconut oil. Plain unrefined coconut oil. Multi Uses include, as a pre shampoo treatment, hot oil treatments, in your food, on rashes this shit clears up flaky dry skin (also random peeling, sore scalp) like WHOA. It's harder to use daily when it's cold but having it around for an oil treatment is great. For a non heated oil treatment, saturate your strands. Put a plastic cap on, go on about your day for a few hours, wash and deep condition and voila silky silky hotness. Dry hair will suck this stuff up and it is love. LOVE. Plus how can you not love something you can eat too? Spectrum Naturals - Coconut Oil Organic, 14 oz liquid Good stuff.

Uh.

OH I need always need elastics that don't pull or break.

I am still using that giant bottle of tresemme for dry hair shampoo. I probably use three tablespoons or so per wash. Not much at all and it's lasting forever. For ease of use I put some in an empty Hot6 oil bottle I had.

I think that's about all. I'm relaxing my hair this weekend so I will put my length check pics up and announce my plan for the year.

Happy New Years peeps!

I'm in week 16 of my relaxer stretch and I am so excited it's gone so well. I've never stretched so long without breakage or massive shedding.


I am plotting some new oil infusion moisturizing things. I've got a couple of recipes in my head that I need to work out.

Currently I need a few things so I can get to sciencing.

I need:
Candy thermometer
Amla powder
Raw bulk shea butter
Horsetail
Rooiboos tea
Fenugreek

I also need some more larger containers.

And I should set aside an area on my computer for my recipes so I make sure I remember them.

Mainly I want to customize a heavy creamy buttery moisturizer for my hair that will help with my long stretches.

That's about it.

I can't believe I forgot to post this.

The first video is my how to henna your hair tutorial. Enjoy.



And a little fun video of some of the products I use.

It's important to me that I find quality inexpensive products. My budget for hair care is pretty tight and I've done well so far.

Save for some ayurvedic stuff I have almost everything I get, I get on sale at the beauty supply or drug store. Or I order things in lots of 5-10 online for cheap prices.

The most expensive things I buy are my relaxers which are usually 8 bucks, once every 3-4 months. Coconut oil from Puritan's pride on sale. I believe I got 3 for the price of one aat about 18$, breaks down to six bucks per bucket, and each bucket lasts me upwards of three months. Longer now that it's cold out because I use it far less.



Um.

Nothing else too new.

New pics when I get my bantu knot out right.

Okay I've had a flat iron for more than a year and have used it less than five times. This is the first time it turned out beautiful and I am really happy with my results.

I overnight dc'd Friday. Washed and deep conditioned Saturday. I also coffee rinsed and had way less shedding so I'm adding that to my reggie. I let my hair air dry with a tiny bit of Hot6 oil and profectiv break free in it to detangle. I put my hair in four fat twist sections, put a scarf on and went to bed.

I used a mix of methods (I've been watching flat iron videos on youtube like whoa). I took section by section with the comb chase method. I used the Ion anti frizz, flat iron spray as my heat protectant.

( Pics and commentary under the cut )
Additional thoughts. I don't really care for my hair being so straight. It's weird and unless it's for length or trims I will probably not be doing this too often.

also, the curls from my twists were super freaking cute. Hopefully I can replicate that for the holiday party.

Um.

And yes, in case you were wondering I was buck ass naked while doing my hair and taking pics.

And it looks like my hair will be APL by mid next year which is awesome. More bunning for me.

SO I've surpassed my first big hair goal.

My hair (Except for bangs) is almost all shoulder length. The back is longer.

And my hair has gotten super thick. See pic below.



That is how my hair looks at night after I take my bun down but before I comb it. So even after being tied down all day it's still big and fluffy and fabulous.

The next shot is mid detangling. I hadn't moisturized yet. Also you can see just how much shrinkage I have which is awesome.



So yes, relaxed hair can be healthy and fabulous.

Also my care schedule has gotten refined enough that I don't use a crapload of products. And the basics are working like gangbusters for me.

The most complicated things I do these days are trying new techniques.

I am going to do a henna tutorial with pics and everything this weekend.

I will have to retry my ponytail rollerset tutorial because frankly, my pictures turned out terrible because it was spur of the moment. Also I have more rollers and pins coming in the mail from Sallys.

I think that's it. So my next update will be fairly huge and I'll probably repost at The Cheekan.

Apologies in advance.

One of my favorite hair sites is going pay and I am trying to move my hair blog entries. So if you see a crapload back dated that's why.

Sorry about that.

This is where you picture me jumping up and down and pumping my fist in the air.

I am CLAIMING SHOULDER LENGTH.

I relaxed today and my hair came out so nice. And I am claiming SL.

This will probably be my last post before I go on vacation but I wanted to share.

I also found my first gray hair and it's so pretty I was so excited about it I took a picture that I need to photoshop a little and fix up.

More pics in my hair album. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

I have finally mastered tangle free air drying.

After you wash and condition, get your favorite wide toothed comb and your leave in of choice. I use profectiv breakfree on my wet hair, it seems to help it dry faster with less frizz. This time I tried V05 Sheer weightless leave in and I'm unimpressed.

It smells weird and it's a little sticky so I used some White Rain tropical Con in my hair as well since I'm out of break free.

Then comb your hair down like so, detangle as much as you please.

Comb every now and then and voila. Air dried without tangles or too much hassle.

My hair tends towards dryness so I'll add a bit of moisture here and there as it dries. Then before bed I completely moisturize, bun, wrap my bun in plastic, wrap my head in a scarf and go to bed. The next morning my edges are nice, my hair looks straight and feels silky.

Hope this helps somebody.

Now that I am almost to my first big goal of full SL I have had a terrible want to try some new things.

I made a list of things I do well, things I can't do and things I want to be able to do with my hair.

I still can't braid. I have Braids by Breslin, I watch videos on youtube I practice and I can just about plait and that's all. I'm a little upset about that but not freaking out over it like I was.

I am not ready to try rollersetting again yet. That last experience was traumatic enough that I don't want to give it another go yet.

I can roll my hair when it's dry. So I ordered a multi pack of those satin covered sponge rollers. I used to do (years and years ago) a super cute curly style when my hair was shorter than this with foam rollers and I think I could do it again.

My main goal for the rest of the summer is to wear my hair out at least once every couple of weeks.

My hair is so dang pretty now. I love it. It's full and thick again, the henna has it such a pretty color and i feel like it's a bit of a shame to rely so much on my bun.

And a word about my bun. I am ROCKING these ballerina style buns at the top of my head. I can't believe my hair is long enough to make a good sized donut looking bun up there. I am getting better at keeping my edges a bit less fuzzy but I do really like how my bun looks when the sides aren't super slick.

I think that's all.

I did a lime and coconut milk treatment yesterday and as opposed to many people who get a loosening on their curl pattern with lime+protein my hair actually gets more defined waves which is awesome.

Basically to keep my hair from drying out I make sure to be very aware of how dry or moist my hair is that day. My hair has been super moist lately so I used little more lime.

All you need is 1 can of coconut milk a lime, a squirt or three of whatever oil you like and a few squirts of your favorite cheapy con. I like to drain most of the watery part of the coconut milk and mix then add more. Slather on your hair, put on a shower cap for an hour to a few hours depending on how you're feeling.

I shampoo'd then DC'd.

Today I hennaed. I mixed up my henna and now I'm DC'ing again.

I'll rinse in a little while then run some Profectiv break free through my hair, airdry to about 80% dry then moisturize with my olive oil cream and coconut oil, bun and put on my scarf to sleep.

Under the cut a shot of my naked hair post coconut milk yesterday. No moisturzer or con in it yet.

( Naked Fluffy )

So over the weekend I decided to give flat ironing another go after watching this tutorial on youtube.

After I deep conditioned and let my hair air dry to about 80% dry and still damp at the roots I dug out my hot air brush for a blow out.

Discovered two things.

First thing, my poor little hot air brush just is not powerful enough to create enough air or heat to combat or dry the Fluff. It took about twenty minutes on two sections so I scrapped that idea.

Second thing I learned, even low heat air blowing my hair out, makes it enormous.

See here, however my digi cam was in need of new batteries and my webcam did not quite capture the bigness. It was huge.



So then I used my profectiv breakfree as my leave in, both right after washing and a little towel drying and then a little more after/during blowdrying.

I dug around in my haircare stuff box and found I had a tube of Smooth 'N Shine Polishing Straight Out Non-Chemical Relaxing Balm found a fine toothed comb and went to work.

First of all, hot DAMN I can do that technique. Mostly. I am a little uncoordinated so It took me a bit to get the hang of it as you'll see in the pics under the cut. My straightening job isn't really consistent.

But that balm+flat iron in the sections I did the technique right came out so gorgeous soft and way straighter and shinier than my couple of previous attempts at flat ironing.

However.

My flat iron is a half inch model and doing small sections takes for goddamn ever. Also I got way too hot and lost my comb when I was almost all the way done. My hair didn't come out swinging but it still looks very nice. I also did the wrap+back under the dryer for a few minutes thing and then the front of my hair came out swinging but not the back and I'm not sure why.

I moisturized last night with a little coconut oil, slapped some more profective on the ends, bunned, baggied my bun and wrapped with a scarf.

This morning my hair was shiny and fabulous.

So fabulous a girl on the bus was very suspicious that my bun is a piece or had something in it. She was kind of bitchy when I said I don't use pomade or gel and that it was just coconut oil and the breakfree.

Whateva my hair is luxurious.

Pics under the cut.

( Yes before you ask I was actually bare ass, but you get no boobies )

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks after I start up my coconut milk treatments I can play with trying to accentuate my waves and texture some more.

My naked (no products) hair This is what my hair looks like when I take down my bun at night to moisturize:



Blurry sorry but there it is.

Now if the fluff is stretched (in this case meaning pulled taut) I am almost at full SL. I may or may not flat iron at some point soon to test this theory.



It looks dry probably due to yesterdays hardcore protein treatment and my hair being thirsty.

This morning when I got up my hair was HUGE. HUGE.

I think I will probably continue bunning (boooooring) and doing what I'm doing until the end of the year. With breaks so I can master flat ironing. However I think I'm giving up on braiding I just don't get it.

Now I'm going to go moisturize like hell, and take my tired ass to bed.

I will probably post my whole hair routine later on this week.

I picked up some Nexxus Emergencee at Biglots a couple of weeks ago and gave it a try. Here's my review as posted on LHCF.

I used Nexxus Emergencee for the first time this weekend.

I read a bunch of threads about it and decided to use this method. However it was hotter than Hades in my apartment so I would up shampooing with my Nature's Gate gentle herbal shampoo, then I put on the Emergencee and put a shower cap on and sat sweating for about a half hour then I rinsed and dc'd.

Holy WOW protein. I have used the Aphogee hardcore protein treatment and not had results quite like this.

After I dc'd my hair felt pretty well moisturized and really strong. Rinsing I lost a significantly lesser amount of hair than usual and that was fantastic.

However, for some reason my ends came out kind of crunchy so I used extra EVCO and baggied to sleep, ends are fine today.

After I rinsed out my DC I CO rinsed as usual, then used my Profectiv break free as usual to air dry. I fell asleep and woke up a bit later and my hair was enormous like I'd blow dried it.

I don't know if it was the Emergencee or what but my hair was still hugely fluffy when I went to bun it this morning so I will probably Cowash tonight to try and take it down a notch.

But I am keeping the Emergencee around it's good stuff.

Before I cowash tonight I'll make my boyfriend take some pictures of the floof.
~

Also several coworkers have commented on how long my hair has gotten which rocks.

I think that's about all for now I'm not feeling well and don't feel like going into super details.