January 2012
January 2013 (sorry for the extreme light on my face only my lamp is working at the minute [I’m not bleaching haha] excuse the washed up look [just jumped out the shower…..so tired] and also excuse the extra bit of shoulder I’m showing off)
Throughout the year it was difficult to see the growth however, looking at these pictures make me realise how much thicker it is and how much more length it has. Love my hair, growth 2013 lets go :D
I’m so bad at completing post but life just gets in the way. I’m hardly ever on my laptop anymore much less Tumblr. So October 1st was a check in day (I didn’t forget but was in uni 9-7 and thus crashed when I got home) however, I did not forget to take pictures of my hair which I will upload later today (or eventually) when I have the chance.
What I have noticed with my hair since starting this challenge is that I have growth in both length and in thickness. My longest bits of hair at the beginning of the hair challenge were just a few lone strands that I had pulled to dear life to show the length of my hair. But now……these few lone strands have been joined by many other hair strands so I have quite a consistent thickness with my longer hair.
I have also noticed growth in my edges. My edges were only something I started to worry about recently because I was told that my hair looked thin (which was silly of me because I had sleeked my hair back in a bun and then worried greatly after the comment). I think the main growth my edges experienced were during the time that I had box braids and I did nothing to the front of my hair.
For the past few days I have been so busy I haven’t had time to twist my hair, so I have been leaving it out much to my dismay because the cold harsh English weather dries my hair out a lot. But I ensure I moisturise, oil and seal at nights before wrapping my hair and then just wearing a silk head band so my edges aren’t pulled or stressed.
My plan was to get a weave but then my hairdresser was sick and I don’t really trust anyone else with my hair and I haven’t had the chance to go home since so I’m thinking of doing some Marley Twists. I found a great tutorial and think it maybe time to do some DIY protective styling.
I think you are well and truly caught up on the life of my hair now. So back to bed I go before I start uni :( Pictures soon…………
So I was supposed to wash my hair on Tuesday but I got bogged with so much stuff that I just couldn’t do it. So instead I decided to take out my box braids………today. In all honesty I needed to take them down so that I can get my week done in a week and a half (would normally leave it out for at least two weeks but I can’t go home to get it done at any other time) and I was missing my natural tresses.
It took me 2 and a half hours to take the braids out and right now I’m absolutely tired so I’m going to have a nap with a coconut milk, honey and conditioner pre poo on my hair.
When I wake up I will make another post of how much hair I lost, any growth I’ve experienced and what I used to do my hair :)
Today is going to be another wash day. My hair is still in box braids and I have had to re-do a couple in the back because of pulling my hair up for they had pulled away from the root and we just hanging there (not pretty haha). I’m going to be taking them out in around a week because I’m starting back at university on October 1st and would like to get another protective style before fully starting back.
I’ve not enjoyed having box braids as much as I thought I would. Yeah they look cool and yeah people around me liked them but I just don’t think they are as versatile as I believed they were. A lot of styles on youtube looked real fun and I couldn’t wait to try them out but in the end I didn’t find them as gratifying as I had hoped.
All in all what I have learnt from my box braid experience is that I prefer my natural hair and weave more.
My next protective style is going to be a full sew in weave. Because its winter and my hair tends to dry out A LOT during these months I’m going to keep it protected and moisturised throughout them. Weave has always been my protective go to style because its easy to maintain, it always looks fresh (as I never allow a matted weave), it makes my mornings easier and my hair really flourishes whilst in weave.
Forward planning for the two weeks that I will be giving my hair a break I will be having twists in the first week and then a twist out and bun during the second week. Can’t wait to have my natural hair back for a while it has been missed over the past month.
So I haven’t posted in a while and I haven’t really got too take many pictures of my hair because I haven’t been doing anything but work, work and more work. I’ve had little bit of frizz in the past two weeks since having my braids put in but nothing too major.
Every other day I have been moisturising with my Aussie Moisture Leave in and massaging my scalp with coconut oil and Organic Root Stimulator Hair Repair Vital Oils for Hair and Scalp. I’ve been moisturising with my Aussie leave in because when I was using my water and aloe vera juice combo I was paranoid about the frizz it was causing.
Today is the first time that I washed my hair (2 weeks since getting the braids put in), with my KeraCare Naturals Sulphate Free Shampoo. Instead of wetting my hair prior to putting shampoo in I decided to apply the shampoo directly to my dry hair focusing on the scalp and new growth. I then washed it making sure that the water got to every part of my hair and gently massaged my scalp to remove the dirt.
So the woman doing my braids was late and then she proceeded to put blue magic in my hair as a moisturiser and then blew dried hair with no heat protectant. This is gonna be a long motherfucking day.
So today was wash day, I followed my regime but deep conditioned overnight instead of just doing it a few hours before. I used honey, coconut milk, coconut conditioner, coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil. It made my hair ridiculously soft prior, during and after the whole wash process. Because I’m at work (AGAIN) I decided to do another bun but instead just having a boring bun at the back I decided to do a flat twist at the front to add a bit of funk and because I’m really aware of edges thinning (saw so many ppl with horrid hairlines and just want to make sure I’m never in that predicament) I thought the flat twist would take a bit of tension off my hair. I’ve put a pic below but my phone camera on the front is so shit so detail not so great and gave me a strange hue :D
Deep Conditioning overnight :) got a plastic shower cap on, a satin durag, satin scarf, topped off with tights, just too make sure this shit doesn’t come off during the night and messing up my pillows.
Tonight is going to be a sweaty head night :)
From Wednesday, I have had my hair in a bun, just a small bun at the back of my head. I should’ve taken a picture but I’ve been so busy I haven’t stopped to do so. I did my bun on damp hair, after air drying for a while once stepping out the shower.
Bunning is perfect for me because I have to wear a hat at work and in order for my hat to fit on my head, sleek styles are required (they do not cater for afros). I kept my bun in with an elastic band no metal (Primark, £1 for 30) and have secured it with bobby pins (Primark £1 for 40) and they haven’t ripped my hair out or caused to much tension.
So because today is August 1st and I committed myself to do a hair challenge I decided to wash my hair today. Normally my wash day would be Thursday but I thought to go with the whole theme I’d do it today instead of tomorrow.
Today I shampoo-ed my hair with KeraCare Natural Textures Cleansing Cream and deep conditioned with my Anita Grant products :) So I had heard so much about Anita Grant and how good the products were and after watching reviews and reading reviews on the website I was so excited to use them. When mixing them I got a bit confused with all my measurements because it was early in the morning and because I’ve just moved house I don’t know where anything is. So I ended up using a whole Rhassoul Deep Conditioning cube with coconut milk and I left it on my hair for 3 hours.
I was a bit nervous that I had left it on too long but I thought the longer the better. I got my bath tub a bit messy but the end product was lovely soft and bouncy curls. It left my hair feeling moisturised and so so so soft I literally couldn’t believe it. Such a great product, definitely can’t wait until September 1st to use it again :)
I was going to do a length check but again I couldn’t find a ruler because my flat is all over the place. So I did face and body measurement. When stretched the back of my hair is just below my collar bone and then the front of my hair is at the tip of my nose.
I’m going to be at work everyday until my next wash day so I decided to do a wet bun. I will upload pics later because I’m off to work now :)
