The Avengers

There's a war going on and I've been losing the battle for the past several months.  My hair isn't breaking, but it's still shedding like crazy and I'm sick of it.  So I've decided to get some help... I've put together a team of products, they have been in my staple list since it started, but I'm bringing them back into the fight and I believe I've seen improvements.  Who are my Avengers?

• ApHogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair
• ApHogee Keratin 2 Min Reconstructor
• ApHogee Pro-Vitamin Leave In Conditioner
• ApHogee Two Step Protein Treatment

About 1 month ago I decided that I wasn't getting the results that I needed and it was time to make a change.  I ran out and I purchased all of my ApHogee products that I didn't have anymore and began using them immediately.  I'm now shampooing, using the 2 min reconstructor, and the leave in condish at least once a week.  I'm also doing the 2 step protein treatment every 7 weeks (week before the relaxer).

I'll keep you posted on my results....

Hairstyle of the Week: The Classic Ponytail

I can only rock this hairstyle successfully with a fresh relaxer, and I enjoy it for the couple of weeks I can wear it.  Even though my ends are exposed, this style is great in allowing me to heavily moisturize and oil my hair.  Plus, I think it makes me look older and more mature, but still hip, LOL.  Enjoy!

May Relaxer Update!

I've been keeping my schedule and relaxing on a 60 day time period and this month was no exception.  My relaxer date was May 29 and here are my results:

I continue to use ORS and after rinsing and shampooing I follow up with ApHogee Kertain 2 Min Reconstructor.  There are still some sections around the nape that I need to find some way to address, but overall I'm very happy with my results. 

Meet Me in St. Louis

Over the course of this month I have had several events to attend, all of which cause me to wear my hair down on the weekend.  The following are a few pictures from when I was in St. Louis, MO attending my husband's graduation from Webster University.  He received his Masters in Finance.  Yes, that was a shot out, LOL. 

Enjoy

To Health: 3 Day Fruit Flush - The Day After

I guess I'm not toxic.  I followed the rules about 90% and in total I lost 1.2 pounds.  Am I disappointed -- absolutely!  Did I poo?  Not really.  The fruit was delicious and I didn't mind eating it, but I was promised results.  Will I do it again? Absolutely not.

Back to the green smoothies for me.

To Health: 3 Day Fruit Flush - Day 3

Last day of the fruit flush and it's pretty uneventful....

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9:00 AM – Hungry, but working…

11:00 AM – Is it really time to eat again… still working

11:23 AM – Uh oh… I think I feel the flush coming on…

1:06 PM – I breezed through the morning and lunch.  I’m finishing my 2^nd apple and my body is still not feeling completely cleansed yet.  More pressures in my lower belly.  And belching.  Lots of belching.  I haven’t had any water at all to drink today. 

1:53 PM – I’m getting very hungry, my throat is dry, and I’m starting to feel a slight throb in the right side of my head.  Water isn’t really helping. 2 pretzels to the rescue.

3:04 PM – I actually hit snooze on my outlook reminder to eat fruit.  Today has been a busy day and I’m now snacking on my cantaloupe and it is yummy.  I haven’t gone to the bathroom much today and I’m thankful for that.  I think I’ve been so preoccupied with work that I haven’t had time to get super hungry or pay attention to my bladder. 

5:13 PM – I had to snooze again, but I’m finishing up my last apple and serving of fruit for the detox.  I don’t feel skinny, but I do feel a little gassy and bloated… I don’t think this is what “flushed” feels like. 

To Health: 3 Day Fruit Flush - Day 2

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I didn't sleep well throughout the night, because I had to get up several times to pee... not that fun.  However, today was much sweeter in regards to all of the yummy servings of fruit I was allowed to eat.

8:57 AM – I couldn’t wait until 9 AM, I am my typical hungry which means I want to eat very soon after I get settled in at my desk.  I’m eating honeydew melon that I bought from Trader Joe’s and it is super delish and juicy.  I feel like I should be eating fruit every day for breakfast instead of oatmeal.  The only thing I don’t like about it is that it’s cold.  I like warm foods in the morning which is why I drink hot coco and eat oatmeal.  Anyway, enough typing and more eating my sweet delicious fruit.  Yum!

9:22 AM – Want more fruit… So sweet and delicious… Want more fruit…

To Health: 3 Day Fruit Flush - Day 1

As I am continuing on my journey to be a healthier person, I was finally able to begin the 3 Day Fruit Detox that I mentioned in an earlier post. 

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The basis of this detox is this:

• Day : 5 high protein drinks throughout the day with veggies and meat for dinner
• Days 2-3: 5 servings of fruit followed throughout the day with veggies and a protein shake for dinner

It is simple enough for me to follow and I get to eat tons of fruit, so I decided to go for it.  I have definitely pigged out over the past several weeks and so my body deserves a break.  WebMD did a write up on the program if your looking for another perspective, but it's the Total Beauty blogger's results that peaked my interest.

I'm not going to say that I followed the detox perfectly, but neither did the other blogger.  Here is how I felt throughout Day 1.

Hairstyle of the Week: The Farrah Flip

Since my last relaxer, my bangs have grown out quite a bit and I haven't been quite sure what to do with them yet.  I don't feel the need to cut them again, so I've been trying to find styles that I can rock to get around it while they grow out a little more.  The result... a throwback!!!

It is a little hard to tell from the pictures, but I've been flipping my bangs back for the past few weekends and I've liked it a lot. I curl the rest under as normal. 

Thoughts?

To Health: The Infamous Green Smoothie

Over the past several days, I've been reading online about different cleanses and diets that people are doing to be healthier.  I found a few very interesting articles called the "Detox Diaries" about ladies who tried 4 different types of cleanses - ranging from 3 days to about 3 weeks.  I've learned that no matter what the time frame, as long as you are putting more fruits and veggies into your diet (organic preferably) you are going to do your body a whole heap of good. 

So I decided to follow one of the main concepts which appears to be what several ladies are doing including fellow blogger Chary-Jay (shout out to LaNise who saw her at the Natural Hair Show in ATL this past weekend).  So I started on Friday morning with fresh veggies that I purchased at the farmer's market the day before.  I still need to run to GNC for a few other ingredients, but to make my smoothie I used:

• Kale
• Romaine Lettuce
• Apple
• Banana 
• Water

I wasn't exact and really didn't know what I was doing, but I knew it was going to take a few tries before I got it right anyway so I wasn't expecting anything magical or even yummy...  

Hairstyle of the Week: The High Bun

This week was the week of the bun!  Protective styling at its best.  I wrapped my hair every night and pulled it into a bun each day.  It looked fantastic.

Relaxed - Long and Strong

I actually relaxed my hair on March 29th, 8 weeks to the day and here are my results.  My hair looked awesome and super long.  I plan to post some before and after since I did my Castor Oil challenge. 

Enjoy!

Day after Relaxer

 

Hang Time!

Out to dinner with the Hubs!

I'm Curly and I Know It

Week 8 of my relaxer stretch and after not combing my hair during week 7, I decided not to comb my hair another week by going curly.  I had company coming over that day so I got up early on Saturday morning and washed and styled my hair.  This time when I styled it, I moistened my hair with my typical mixture, but before wrapping around the flexi-rod I used the smooth and hold pudding along with sealing with a dab of oil.  I will say that this time around, I took my time, made a few larger sections in my parts and had a decent flexi-set for once.  I finished with a ton of rods left.  I then proceeded to clean up my house while letting my hair dry.

Real Life Scenarios: Epilator - My BFF!!!

Update!  We are weeks into the spring/early summer season and I have not shaved once.  Nor have I had hairy legs.  Since my last post I have been uber consistent with my epilator and even upgraded my old one.  I've proven to myself that I can master the tool and felt confident enough to believe that I can epilate throughout the summer and not shave once.  My epilator has become my new bestie!

My New Baby - Emjoi Emagine

There are a few lessons that I've learned over the course of these few weeks and I want to share... 

I Didn't Comb My Hair This Week and I Still Looked Fab

How ya like me now?!  It all started on a Sunday night.  I had washed my hair, I was about 7 weeks post relaxer, and I was like, oh really, you want to act like that?  And my hair was like, umm yeah, what are you gonna do about it?  So I was like, well okay, I'm just going to twist you up in two buns and go to sleep and deal with you in the morning.  

What resulted were light, fluffy, puffy curly curls that looked super cute.  I wore a ton of different styles with it - of course I didn't take pictures every day, but this is one of the looks:

Yeah, I was feelin myself ;-)

Each night I would just put my hair up in two buns and the mornings would be a surprise.  It wasn't as cute as the week went on, but I just changed it up.  One day I wore it half up and the rest down.  One day it was a curly ponytail.  Either way, it got me through the week and I was in flexi-rods that weekend.  But who says stretching can't be cute??? 

Real Life Scenarios: Epilators - Pure Torture or your BFF?

So lets shift the discussion today from the hair that I love to the hair that I hate -- my body hair.  I've always hated my body hair.  Always.  And when I say hate, I don't mean dislike, I mean I actually hate my body hair.  For almost a couple decades now, I've spent countless time and money trying to get rid of it.  From shaving and plucking to laser hair removal, I've tried it all.  Today I'm going to talk about another option that many of you may not be familiar with -- epilators.

Epilating, to me, is a cross between waxing and shaving.  It's a handheld tool that you use like a shaver to pull/pluck the hairs in your body at the root.  So unlike shaving which just addresses the hair above the surface, it's like waxing which pulls the hair at the root, thus taking it a lot longer to grow back.  Now why might one torture themselves like this, it's quite simple, you HATE the hair on your body.  If I didn't have a deep hate for my body hair, I don't think I could stand the pain of using it.  I do have a few tips for making it less painful, however what is beauty without pain, LOL. 

2012 Comparison

I'll go ahead and admit it -- I've been pretty horrible with posting my comparison pictures and I'm probably not going to get any better at it.  It's just not really something I care about or am interested in capturing, however, I do take a moment from time to time and now I'd like to share.

I'd also like to introduce a new term to the hair care world - Tattoo Length Hair (TLH), LOL.  I don't know how scientific this is, but I tried to aline my pictures up at the tattoo line as my point of reference for how much change as occurred over the past 12 months.  Take a look:

I think now, I'm a lot thicker and fuller than a year ago, in addition to being longer.  I will also note that the hair on the 2011 picture looks flat ironed, while the 2012 picture is not.  So I'm at APL, but not a "full APL".  I am on my Jamaican Black Castor Oil challenge, so I expect big changes in the next 32 days before I relax again.

And since I had it, I wanted to throw in bonus long lost picture from July 2011.  It's a wet hair pic (which I now feel like is cheating),  but I wanted to throw it in anyway.  Maybe I'll do a wet hair comparison from then till now...?

July 2011 - Wet Hair

Cheers!

How Low Can You Go?

V-Day Flowers hand delivered by my Hubby

 It's February... the month of love, black history month, and now - the month I always get bangs, LOL.  This is year 2 of the v-day bang (no pun intended) and I'm loving it.  After desiring, wishing, and hoping that I had the balls to change my hair, I finally went through with it... over the course of a couple weeks.

Recipe for Success

I am happy to report that I successfully met my goal of waiting 8 weeks between relaxers!  And the main reason (and probably the only reason) I was able to achieve this goal is with the use of oils.  With the help of Amazon, I have assembled a team of oils that have provided moisture and balance for my hair.

Minus the Smooth-n-Hold Pudding, which I'll discuss later, I purchased online:

• Almond Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Cocoanut Oil
• Jamaican Black Castor Oil

Jealous of My Own Hair

I'm a couple weeks strong with deep conditioning twice a week and my hair is suddenly loving it!  I think I'll stick with Wednesday and Sunday deep condition days - with a switch ups in between.  I did my first switch up this past weekend. 

On Wednesday, I did a normal deep conditioner mix with EVOO, JBCO, and my conditioners.  On Friday, I finally repurchased Suave Humectant conditioner to use as my cheapie condish.  It cost around $2 and I'm now going to consider it my miracle in a bottle.  So on Saturday, I only did a co-wash, no oils or anything.  I air dried for a little over an hour and then I blow dried my hair because I had a few parties to attend.  After I blow dried my hair, it felt more soft and moisturized then it has been in weeks.  When I flat ironed my hair, it looks silky and shiny and felt amazing to the touch.  I loved it :)

Also, if you're keeping track - I'm going for 8 weeks before I relax my hair.  That puts me at about one week away.  The oil treatments have definitely made a difference and I will continue to use them as a part of my regimen. 

Meh....

I've had a very busy past 7 days or so with my hair.  It started off on a high note when I received my Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) about 2-3 days after I ordered it on Amazon.   JBCO and Castor Oil in general is said to be great for maintaining moisture in your hair, which can help with breakage.  Also, from what I've observed, castor oil also helps promote growth.  I'm not sure if it's because your messaging your scalp more or maybe just because you start taking better care of your scalp period... But I've seen some miracles with castor oil, so I impulsively replenished my stash.

Since I have quite a bit to work with now, I decided to go ahead and test it out.  I had already applied JBCO to my scalp with the remainder that I had left from the first time I purchased it, but this time I wanted to do a deep condition and use the JBCO to, first, do a hot oil treatment, and second, mix with my conditioner. 

Can we start over?

As I posted last night, I washed, deep conditioned, and then air dried my hair. Typically when I air dry I only use the scarf method which leaves my edges somewhat straight and the rest of my hair frizzy. I always sleep with my hair tied down, but it's really hard to tame my mane...

Help me please!

So I started looking at some posts on YouTube and decided to start over again. I remoisturized my hair by over saturating it with my leave in moisturizer (mostly Aloe Vera Juice) and then sealed with (believe it or not) the tiny remainder of my Jamaican Black Castor Oil. Speaking of JBCO, I placed an order for more last night on Amazon around 1 AM. I saw pics of results from a 2 month challenge and I am JEALOUS!!!  So I'm hoping for a maricle in a bottle - along with a little discipline of course. It actually shipped today, so maybe I'll have it by the end of the week? 

In the meantime, we'll count today as day one of my personal JBCO challenge.  Will you hate me in 2-3 months?  I sure hope so :-)

I Had a Dream

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Since the beginning of the year, I've been wanting a new style.  And for some reason, a new style always means bangs for me.  I did it last year and maybe I'll do it again this year.  Well last night I had a dream.  I dreamed that I wanted these fabulous bangs and that I was going to cut them myself.  But as I sectioned my hair to cut for the bangs, my hair was self cutting itself and I didn't have to do anything!  So when it was all said and done, I had fabulous thick arch shaped bangs and I wore it down and in a ponytail.  And no, I don't remember anything else about the dream, LOL.

I've seen several women at work with the style and I feel like they're taunting me by having the guts to wear the style I want.  Then I think about having to flat iron more often, or how I'd sleep with my hair, or how much more I'd break my hair by doing so.  That's another thing I noticed this year, I have a lot of fly-aways.  All over my head.  I don't just have a section of broken hair, but several random broken hairs everywhere.  I don't think it was like that this time last year, so I'm going back to the basics.  I did a scalp massage off and on for an hour, I shampooed and conditioned with my Roux Porosity Control, and I'm currently deep conditioning with my Shea Moisture.

I'm not really sure what style I can do that will not cause me to flat iron each day, but I need to find something soon... 

Year End Wrap Up

Hello 2012! 

As I look back over 2011 and all of the growth and styles, I must give myself a pat on the back for being the MOST consistent I have ever been since starting my hair journey. Since December has been pretty busy socially, I tried not to style to same each time I went out.  I didn't find very many options that worked for me but, below are some pics from a few events.  Look for changes in 2012...


Bun with a Twist for Work

                           

Time with Friends

I tried to go for a sleeker look

New Year's Eve Party

 
                    

Blue and Gold Eyes

See you in 2012!