What A Hair Journey! 2013 Update

It's been 6 long years - 3 bad set backs and all, but I'm here now.

I have been on my hair journey since late October 2007.

By now, you would have thought that I should have been waist length, or even hip length.  I thought so myself too when I first started my journey.  But I was so wrong!

I can not say that my hair journey was horrible.  It could have been worse than horrible.  I will say that my hair journey was normal except for the set backs I experienced.  And those set backs did set me back where I had to let go of the idea of having long hair for a while.

Let us remind ourselves again that it happens and we must learn to accept it, understand it and learn from it.

Here are the bad set backs I had during my hair journey.

I colored my hair (slightly bleached it and then put on a rinse). My hair started to slowly break off and it was so dry and brittle. Will I color my hair again? No, I will only do color rinses. I don't even want to think about doing henna....at least not yet.

• What did I do: I decided to focus on the health of my hair, clip my ends and while staying at bra strap length. This has been over the course of three years of being bra strap length, trying to get rid of the bleached/dyed hair completely.

I suffered from post partum hair shedding. I lost all of my edges and had a bad widow's peak. My shedded hair looked like tumble weeds on my bathroom floor. 

• What did I do: I did more cowashes, protein treatments, rubbed castor oil on my scalp and styled my hair that would last a whole week.  I was also afraid to comb or even touch my hair, but mostly used my fingers to comb and conditioner to detangle before a wash.  And of course, I kept taking my prenatal vitamins.

After I stopped taking contraceptives (birth control), I went through hair shedding again, this time it was all throughout my head, I did not lose much of my edges...this was just early this year.  It has stopped shedding excessively and is pretty much back to normal again. (Side note: Contraceptive alters your hormones, so when you stop taking them, your body is trying to readjust to it's normal natural state. No baby plans here, I'm getting older and contraceptives does not agree with my body anymore.)

• What did I do: I deep conditioned, cowashed, protein treatments and massaged my scalp with castor oil at times.  And since I do not like my hair down during the summer, I had it in a bun most of the season.

Patience was been key during this whole hair journey. I would have loved to stick to getting my hair long. But you know what...health is even better.  Does not make sense for me to have long unhealthy hair.

For those of you who have been on a real long hair journey, it's okay. I am on one and look where I am now. Instead of giving up and being upset about never have long hair, I decided to shift my focus to wanting healthy hair.  And yes, I had moments of frustrations, moments where I wanted to chop my hair off and moments where I said that I did not care about this whole hair journey thing....those thoughts occupied my mind after I saw how damaging my hair started to become after the hair color. Right now, my focus is still the same to this day...HEALTHY HAIR.  Of course, a healthy diet, vitamins and water too.

I always say this, "A healthy head of hair will always turn heads no matter at what length."

Before Trim & After Trim
(My hair was not colored, the photos were taken at two different times of the day with flash.
The picture on the left is my natural hair color in the sun.)

Thanks for reading, enjoy the pics and we'll chat soon!

When You Just Don't Feel Like It!

I have not done anything to my hair for almost two weeks.  No cowashing, no comb detangling and I kept it in a simple loose bun style during the whole duration. Of course I finger combed, tied my hair up at night, moisturized my hair edges and moisturized the hair ends every other evening.

We do have regimens that we follow, but do we really follow it all the time?  I will not say that I am 100% consistent when it comes to my hair.  I use my regimen as a guide to reference to and cater to my hairs' needs when needed.

But for the past week, just as few other times...I just did not feel like being bothered with my hair at all!  Some of my reasons are because I become overwhelmed, I am tired after the day is over (kids - husband, household things, work, errands, etc.) and/or I am pushing it for the next day almost every day during that time frame.

After I get out of that trance of laziness, I go all out - deep condition and give my hair the TLC it needs.  And of course it feels great afterwards...not to mention the relief that it is finally done!

There are "Pros" and a "Cons" to not doing anything with and to the hair...

"Pros":

• When you leave your hair alone
• It can flourish
• Less manipulation means less stress to the hair
• Possible length retention
• If your hair is relaxed, you may end up stretching your relaxer without realizing this and benefit from such...

"Cons": 

• Dry hair if you do not keep up with moisturizing
• Hair may become badly tangled
• Hair may smell depending on how you sweat
• Build up on the scalp

Tonight may be the night I finally do something with it *sighs*...LOL.

Does anyone else feel this way sometimes?  What do you do with your hair during the periods of "laziness" or "neglect"?  How has that affected your hair?  What do you do with your hair after that long period you didn't do anything?

Thanks for reading and I'll keep you posted!

Reunited And It Feels So Good!

Original Mango Butter

I reunited with one of my favorite hair products,

...Elasta QP's Mango Butter...

According to the official Elasta QP website, the Mango Butter is a moisturizer that:

• Penetrates, protects and remoisturizes, leaving hair strong and healthy
• Olive and coconut oils target dry ends and help prevent damage
• Shine-enhancing, non-greasy formula
• Intensely rich thermal protecting treatment

I was introduced to the Mango Butter a few years ago and fell in love with it.  That was before Olive Oil was added.

When we come across a new product we either ignore it or pay attention to it. When we do pay attention...we want it, get it and push the old product to the side for reasons such as:  the new product works better, we want to try something new, less ingredients and/or we just want to change products.  Nothing wrong with that, you never know what will work for you unless you explore.

I left the Mango Butter alone when I was told about and exposed to a line of hair products.  A plus for me was that the products were all natural, but for some reason it did not do its job...well, because of the hype that it was receiving, I felt as if it did not live up to it's hype.   But I can not assume what works for others will work for me and vice versa. 

I will not say that because the hair product line was all natural, it did not work for my hair.  That is far from the truth.  My regimen consists of natural items that have worked for me during my hair journey.  Unfortunately, the products from that line did not do it for me.  So after I stopped using that hair product line, that is when I started using more basic natural items.  I am talking about 100% unrefined Shea butter mixes, organic extra virgin coconut oil, castor oil, etc. The products I use on my daughter’s natural hair to keep it moisturized is what I have been using too!  Even my protein treatments are all natural!  But let us get back to the point...

The Mango Butter has been in use, although I have not used it on my hair for a long time.  I even bought more because it ran out during my break up hiatus with the product.  My husband was always faithful to it though.  After introducing him to coconut oil to his shampoos to slow down his dry scalp issue (which worked amazingly), the Elasta QP Mango Butter has been a staple for him. It kept his  hair and scalp moisturized on a daily basis.

Mango Butter with Olive Oil

What did the Elasta QP Mango Butter do for me?

• It helped smooth, moisturize and lay my hair edges down without the use of gel.  And the gel would have not really kept my edges as moisturized.
• It kept my new growth (NG) manageable and soft.
• It was one of the few moisturizers that felt light on my hair when used in proper moderation.  A little bit will take you a long way in my honest opinion.
• It did not weigh my hair down nor cause too much build up if used they way I used it almost every day.
• It helped retain my hair ends too because of how well moisturized my hair ends were.
• It also smelled great! 

The Mango Butter is back in my hair care regimen! 


What beauty products used religiously, loved, stop using and started using again?  And did you ever wonder or ask yourself why you stopped using the product(s) in the first place or what were you even thinking?

Thanks for reading and God bless!