It has been way too long!! Life simply took over. I am now a medical student and have been so busy, I’ve neglected my hair a bit. Well, I’m back on the saddle. Yes, I’ve reached waist length (a while ago, in fact) and most likely went past it. However, the ends were so thin, they were almost invisible. So around July of this year, I decided to cut it to BSL. My goal for the year of 2022 is to get back to WL and I’m doing that with braids as a protective style. Here is the plan:
Protective style
self-installed large knotless braids (X-Pression Kanekalon hair)
Length to Keep in Each Install
3-5 months (re-braiding individual sections to refresh)
after each install, give hair small break then reinstall fresh set of knotless braids
Products
scalp: castor oil, Wild Growth Oil, Sulfur 8
hair: any leave-in, castor oil, whipped shea butter (home made)
deep conditioner: Alter Ego Garlic Mask Hot Oil Treatment
Regimen
everyday or every other day, apply castor oil/WGO/sulfur 8 mix to scalp
daily moisturizing of hair length with whatever moisturizer and oil on hand
shampoo hair in braids with diluted shampoo on weeks 1, 3, 5, etc
co-wash hair in braids with conditioner on weeks 2, 4, 6, etc
during hair break, apply henna
during hair break, shampoo and deep condition with hair mask
It’s a simple plan. By December 2022, barring set backs and an unfavorable growth cycle, I should have waist length hair. My ultimate goal is tailbone length hair and I hope to get there by December 2023! 😀
I’ve also been working on my skin care, which has been going well – thank goodness!
Wow, it has been 4 years since I last relaxed my hair and about 1.5 years since my big chop! I don’t have much to write about because I have much going on right now, but I plan to revisit this topic again in a future post! However, know one thing…I am really considering a (small) cut. I have heat damage and a “tail” forming. Not cute.
Without further ado, my official length check pic for the end of 2014 taken on December 24th, 2014:
And the comparison shot between September 3rd and December 24th 2014:
I will unofficially claim MBL. It just doesn’t feel like it’s MBL and my ends are thinner than I’d like; I’ve been urged by others to claim MBL, hence the “unofficial” claim. I did not trim my ends this time around like I did in September.
One positive thing I do notice with the comparison photo is that it looks like I’ve retained/grew more hair in this four month period than I did my last comparison photo, which was from January to May 2014:
I must be doing something right!
Winners of 2014
henna (though I fell off after only 3 applications)
buns (as always)
growth aids (biotin, MSM, and silica)
Losers of 2014
hair boredom (dangerous things can happen when you’re “bored”
heat damage
mini twists (installation and take-down wreak havoc on my strands and takes too long)
The Middle of the Pack
sew-ins (I tried my first full sew-in in September. My experience was neither terrible nor great; however, I do see a lot of potential for this style…I’m getting another sew-in in February)
Things I Want To Focus on in 2015
thicker ends
protein treatments
henna treatments
more “stylish” protective styles (i.e. sew-ins)
consistent hair blogging and hair photo documentation
Today (November 9th) marks the day that I big chopped! Wooot! I’ve been fully natural for a full year! What a wonderful feeling! 🙂
I’ve made some goal changes, though. I know that my ultimate goal was hip length but after measuring the difference between my current length (bra strap) and my natural waist with a measuring tape yesterday (for the first time ever), hip length just felt too faraway. Apparently, I have a longer torso than I originally thought (well, I am tall). Anyway, the distance was about 5 – 6 inches (but I’ll just call it 6). That’s at least a year of growth, and given that I grow and retain about 4 inches a year, I can more realistically expect to be waist length in a year and a half or so….
Ugh. This makes me just want to enjoy my hair more since 18 months feels so far away. However, enjoying my hair more means less retention and thus an even longer time to fulfill my waist length desires. A perfect Catch-22. I’m not going to sweat it, though. I’m very happy with what I have accomplished thus far.
Also, I still haven’t gotten around the Youtube thing. I will….I just need to have an agenda and mission for it. Perhaps just documenting my journey to waist length? There are tons of natural hair Youtubers who are awesome at styling and such…but I can’t still. Though, I am getting better. Perhaps, that will be the theme of my Youtube channel: a journey to waist length by a style-challenged natural. I will attempt styles and see what happens from there. Anyway, even if no one watches, I will. It’s a great visual way to document my process, just like this blog has been awesome so far.
An unofficial length check is coming your way this week (with a list of what I have learned during this first year of being natural)! Ideally, it would be with this post, but my normal picture taker isn’t here. In fact, I live with a roommate (I’ll refer to him as “LF” – an absolute inside joke haha) in NYC and he’s having a crash course on everything black hair. It’s quite fun and amusing! I’m sure he’ll agree to take my length check pictures from now on, but he’ll definitely think it weird just as with everything else I do hair-related.
In the previous month while wearing my weave, I took no growth aids. It wasn’t a conscious decision…I just fell out of it for a few months. However, in the beginning of this month, I rededicated my energy back into my hair and giving it the optimal environment to thrive, and that included using growth aids.
So I’m back on my biotin (5,000 mcg) and MSM (5,000 g but will up to 10,000 g gradually in the next few weeks) with Vitamin C (1,000 mg). The newest addition is BioSil. Biosil is a silica supplement (more readily bio-available than the silica in bamboo leaf tea and horsetail tea) that promotes collagen production. Therefore, not only will my hair benefit, so will my skin and nails. Being that I’m in a serious skin regimen, I find this a major bonus. I just received my BioSil liquid drops yesterday (I ordered through Vitacost.com) and started taking it today.
I am doing whatever I can to end this year with a big bang in the hair department. I WILL be MBL. 🙂
I have another growth aid I’m experimenting with. It will be my first topical growth aid in a very long time (years, in fact), and it sounds promising. It’s called Liquid Gold Hair Growth Oil (Sulfur-based). My weave, however, is making it not so convenient to use, so I’ll talk about it more after I remove my weave, which I will remove in the next 2-4 weeks, hopefully.
My “permanent” growth aids will always be MSM and biotin. The rest will go in and out of rotation depending on my hair needs and goals.
Has 5 mg of Silicon (as choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid or ch-OSA) and 100 mg of Choline (as ch-OSA) per serving (5 drops). Instructions state to take 5 drops every 12 hours (i.e. administer 2x a day).
So I got what looks to be a silk press. I didn’t ask for it…I just wanted my hair “straight”.
OMG. She straightened it to death. But it looks nice.
My sew-in installation is tomorrow.
Also, I’m back to BSL (I was MBLish but just never realized it until I inspected my hair after the blow out and before I asked the stylist to trim it). She then gave me the trim (my first trim since my big chop) and I guess I should have warned her that I didn’t mind one side of my hair being longer than the other (it grows that way) because she cut it dead even all across. Honestly, I don’t mind. I really needed that trim, anyway (split endzz!), and I’m super excited about my sew-in appointment tomorrow to even mourn my lost locks.
I want to do a one-year complete protective style (no ends exposed) challenge with “passes” (letting my hair out every 3-4 months). Will I survive? I have no idea. But I bought some expensive human hair and I better use up my money’s worth! I’ll post more about that tomorrow after my install.
Follow me on Instagram (@hairwegrow) for quicker updates and pictures. 🙂
Wow! It has been a while. I haven’t forgotten about blogging…it’s just that there has been nothing new going on with my hair. Well, that’s about to change. I committed to getting a weave! Yay!
My hair needs a break, anyway. I’ve been co-washing every 2-3 days and shampooing/DCing every 1-2 weeks, pinning up my hair in some protective style (usually a bun). It gets a bit boring and uninspiring at times.
As for the weave, I found the perfect hair to buy. All that’s left is the stylist. I know who I want to install my weave and she’s doing all her September booking on August 1st so I have to get right on it on August 1st at 12 AM on the dot! She has quite a sizable clientele, so booking really early is advisable.*
Anywho, my natural hair is feeling a bit meh. Well, it doesn’t really feel meh – it’s quite healthy to the touch, actually (though I did just recently come off of a breakage spell. Not fun. 😦 ); it’s only that I don’t know what to do with it. Also, after three years of growth, I definitely feel like it should be longer. However, I did give myself til December 2014 to get to midback length. I think I’ll make it, but I’m also thinking of trimming very soon so who knows if that will impede my progress. It shouldn’t, though, if no more than an inch is snipped off.
An interesting thing about my hair: my left side behaves quite differently from my right side – like they’re both from totally different heads! While I describe my hair as 4a in general (with a touch of 4b), my left side tends to be frizzier and shorter whereas my right side is ‘clumpier’ and a tad longer. The longer my hair gets, the more undeniable this becomes. This difference in hair type can actually get quite frustrating for me primarily because it becomes harder to predict the outcome of a style. This is one of the main reasons why I have not sported a twist-out or braid-out in ages.
So in case I can’t get this stylist for my weave, I will continue to look for capable people to do my sew-in, especially ones gifted in installing believable closures. I have not committed to wearing a closure, though, but it would be nice to have the option and not be limited by the stylist’s ability. Know any capableweavologists in the NYC area (Manhattan, especially)?
Also: why is weave so freakin’ expensive?!!! The three bundles I’m just about ready to purchase nearly made me faint!
*I will give details on the weave and the stylist after I’ve booked an appointment and purchased the hair (I will only purchase the hair after I’ve secured an appointment).
I took down my mini-twists yesterday and my hair is finally loose again. In preparation for a wash and deep conditioning, I doused it in my diy Shea butter mix and plaited it in a random mix of 6-8 different-sized twists and braids. However, after looking at a dozen and one Youtube videos on crochet braids, I decided against washing and deep conditioning my hair (I had already washed it while in twists two days prior to the take down, anyway) and redid my hair into 6 braids to stretch out the hair evenly in preparation for crochet braids, instead. I later decided to add perm rods at the end of each braid just in case I wanted to rock a braid out for church (which I did today; Oh the compliments I received!) It would be the last time seeing my hair out and about for at least two months so today was my chance to “play”. If the crochet braids don’t work, I’ll go back to mini twists, which weren’t that bad of a protective style. I plan to start installing the crochet braids tomorrow…if I can just get to cornrowing my hair right. It is really hard getting someone to cornrow my hair. I am very particular with my hair (e.g., I don’t blow dry nor do I use combs/brushes), and then there is the fact that I have a lot of it.
What are crochet braids?
Awesomeness. Pure awesomeness. At least, I hope that’s what they’ll end up looking like when I’m done.
I don’t want to give anymore details. I wanted the crochet braids to be a surprise, but I got so excited about them so I gave myself the permission to gab just a little. 😉
Anywho, my hair today; it’s not as defined as it was earlier this morning but I still like it:
Right side
Left side
Back
Full frontal. 😉
A note on being DIY (Do It Yourself)
My mom wants me to bottle and sell the products I make, since I pretty much am diy (do it yourself). I am diy partly because of my limited resources and mostly because I avoid silicones; almost every freakin’ store-bought hair product has silicone and I’m not talking about the “good” water soluble kinds, either. I can’t afford super expensive shampoos and conditioners, but being diy is super fun and you can fix things to your personal preference (for example, I noticed that prolonged and obsessive use of grape seed oil gives me serious elasticity to the point where I was getting worried and that henna kind of reverses it; I still use grape seed oil, but in moderation now). The best part of diy is that my build-up has decreased dramatically and my hair is a billion times shinier. However, I’m pretty sure there are company-made products that work well and are safe for optimal hair health. Last week, I used my boyfriend’s shampoo and conditioner (Aveda Shampure line) and they were divine (and silicone-free)! Don’t knock the big industry hustle, my friends. Just know your ingredients!
So last week, on March 26th (Wednesday), I randomly decided to put mini twists in my hair. I’d washed and conditioned my hair two days prior and placed them in medium/big-sized twists (my second time doing twists of any kind since the big chop; the first time was right after I big chopped. See this post.) I don’t know if I was trying to do a twist-out (unlikely) or keep them in big twists. Anyway, I was watching the lovely Alicia James video on mini twists after spending literally hours on Youtube looking at videos of Senegalese and Havana twists – basically, twists that required added fake hair. However, after seeing the Alicia James video, I was inspired to just do twists on my own hair with no added hair. So I did.
It took forever.
On the first day, Wednesday, I spent like 15-16 hours and only got through 60% of my hair. Granted, I was taking my time and took breaks here and there. But still, that’s a lot of time. Thankfully, I had the On Demand function on my TV to keep me company.
On Thursday, I didn’t get much done, I think I spent 3 to 4 hours max, and on Friday, I sped through the rest by making the twists in the back bigger and forgoing neat parts.
I would say that the overwhelming majority of the time spent doing this style was on detangling thoroughly and making neat parts in the front of my hair. The actual twisting took like 10-20% of the work and time. Yeah, I gotta do better haha.
How I Did My Mini Twists
– I did it on fully dry semi-stretched hair (I stretched my hair with medium-sized twists. Had I known I was going to do mini twists that week, I would have stretched my hair with braids, instead, and left them a little longer than two days for best stretched-out results).
– I used just water and my whipped Shea butter mix for moisture. (I’ll write about how I made my whipped Shea butter in a later post. It was my second time making it, and it was actually successful, considering I hated the Shea butter the first time around, and I think it had more to do with the fact that I still had relaxed hair than the composition of the mix).
– If you’re doing two-strand mini twists, do not borrow hair from the other strand if you find that one strand is longer than the other, because it will make unraveling a lot harder! Knots and breakage galore!
– Patience.
I honestly think I just have a big head, and then there’s the fact that my hair is grazing BSL, if not already there. So doing mini twists may not take as long for you as it did me if your hair is shorter/less dense. My sister, during the beginning of her natural hair journey, did mini-twists a lot and they usually took anywhere from 4 to 6 hours to complete and they were tinier than what I have on now, but I would say she was between neck length and shoulder length during that period. She said it would take too long to do now since her hair is much longer. Lucky for her, I volunteered to do her mini twists for her in preparation for her Portugal trip in three weeks. Practice makes perfect!
I am not gifted with “styling hands” so there’s definitely room for improving my mini twist technique. I accept the challenge. 🙂
Excuse my homely appearance. This is my hair down and parted to the side just for the picture. I’ve been keeping it in a medium-high bun 99% of the time. These pictures were taken one day after completing the twists, yet the twists looked kind of “old” to me. I intend to keep them in for at least two more weeks.
What is henna? In my understanding, henna is a plant-based red-orange dye that “binds” to keratin (the protein in your hair and skin). I put binds in quotation because the active ingredient in henna, lawsone (or hennotannic acid), does not really bind to keratin, but simply coats it. Therefore, henna feels like a protein treatment with the difference that it coats the hair’s cortex rather than fill in the protein gaps. Anyway, since my hair is unprocessed and totally virgin (yay to being natural!), I feel like I really don’t need protein treatments. However, the benefits of henna are hard to ignore. Because henna coats the cortex, it makes your hair appear thicker over repeated applications, and it also makes it stronger (i.e. less prone to breakage).
Henna and color. I love my natural hair color. It is a rich almost jet black color. So I was nervous about applying henna, especially since I find reddish hair unflattering on most people. Of course, henna cannot make my hair red. In order to do that, I would have to bleach my hair first to rid it of it’s natural color, and then add the henna. Instead, what henna would do for someone with dark hair is give the hair a reddish glow underneath light. If you have gray or white strands of hair, the henna would act like highlights. Initially, I was not loving the subtle orange glow, but it died down some after a few days (it takes anywhere anywhere from 2 to 7 days after henna application is complete for hair to oxidize completely, which).
Henna on my head! So I henna-ed on Monday February 10th. Here is the step-by-step breakdown:
Sunday, February 9 (3-4pm) – Prep
I got my materials ready. Realistically, this should take less than 10 minutes of prep. It took longer for me because I was battling between whether to use 100 grams of henna or 200 grams. I settled on 200. I figured that if I didn’t use it all, I could simply freeze the remainder for next time. (It turned out that I used all of it! My mixture was thick!)
Materials:
– Cling wrap (a.k.a. saran wrap)
– Lemon juice
– Black tea leaves
– Rajasthani henna (200 grams)
– Measuring cup (not shown)
– Plastic bowl (glass/ceramic will work, as well. Avoid metal. While pure henna does not contain any metals, the acidic mix of the henna and lemon may react and tarnish some metals.)
– Spoon (not shown; also, avoid metal)
I boiled about 4 teaspoons of black tea leaves in about three cups of water. Next time, I will make a much stronger brew. Tea bags work, too. I was shopping in the “ethnic” food aisle at the supermarket because they were sooo much cheaper than your brand names, and I’m running on a budget. Of course, there are consequences. Because I can’t read Polish, I got leaves instead of bags. Ah well.
I measured out 8 ounces of the sieved tea and 9 ounces of lemon juice, and mixed them together. The mix should be warm and not hot. The purpose of the lemon juice is to make the henna more acidic so as to strengthen the lawsone release. Here’s the science here: http://cthuliz.com/blog/?p=2624. The black tea is my lame hope at making the henna dye color less intense. Black tea also has the added bonus of reducing shedding since the caffeine in black tea blocks DHT from the scalp. DHT is a hormone that causes hair follicles to shrink, and, therefore, less shedding. Some more on black tea and shedding: http://www.hairliciousinc.com/2013/01/black-tea-rinse-101-reduce-shedding.html
I added the lemon-black tea intermittently into the henna, and mixed the henna and liquid until it reached a Greek yogurt consistency. Mine was a little too thick, I realized. Next time, I will add more lemon juice/tea.
When I finally got to the desired consistency, I covered the henna with the cling wrap, making sure there was no air inside. I added a piece of paper towel inside before doing so so I would know when the dye (lawsone) had been released. The paper towel should turn orange-red to let you know that the henna is ready.
Sunday 4pm – Monday 6am
I let the henna sit in a dark room-temperature cabinet for 14 hours. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture. The paper towel was a reddish/orange color, so dye release took place.
While I waited for the henna to sit, I pre-pooed my hair with coconut oil and olive oil. I let that sit for a few hours and washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo. I did not use any conditioner.
At around 6am, I began applying the henna to my hair. The process took roughly an hour. I took my time since my henna mixture was a little too thick.
After covering my hair with henna, I wrapped my head with saran wrap and then wore a hat on top of it.
Monday 6am – 6pm
The henna stayed on my hair for roughly 11 to 12 hours
Monday 8pm
By 8pm, I rinsed my hair out of all henna. I first leaned over a large sink to rinse out most of it. That took about 15 minutes. Afterwards, I took a shower and rinsed out the rest with conditioner. The whole rinsing out process (shower + sink) took about 30 minutes.
Overall, my henna experience was not that bad. Because I was overly cautious, the whole process was probably a bit overdone and a tad too long. And it was definitely nowhere near as messy as some people made it out to be.
Below is a quick comparison of my hair before and after henna. I don’t see much of a difference, honestly, but I’m sure that over time with repeated applications I will be able to. My hair on my right is a bit further on in the air drying process than my hair on the left.
Left: before henna on semi-wet hair | Right: after henna on semi-wet hair
After henna. Immediately after I rinsed out the henna (with regular conditioner), my hair felt dry. It wasn’t until I conditioned my hair a week later did my hair get back to normal. The dryness wasn’t crazy bad. To give a comparison, the Aphogee 2-step protein treatment made my hair wayyy drier.
I’ve yet to deep condition my hair, though, so I’m sure had I deep conditioned my hair after rinsing off the henna, my hair would have been back to normal immediately. I’ve decided to stop using my yogurt deep conditioner because I read something about yogurt reducing the effects of henna.
Anyway, would I do henna again? Yes! Once a month. 🙂
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Hair We Grow! 