Length Check: August 2013 (and CO challenge 'before' shot)

Since my castor oil hair growth challenge started yesterday, I thought it would be a great time for a length check. I just trimmed my ends recently as well. So this is where I am now and I HOPE (fingers crossed) to be at BSL (bra-strap length) by this time next year. I'm working on it!

Semi-Mini Twists: My Protective Style

So, here they are- my semi-mini two-strand twists. They are most definitely smaller than what I would do for a twist-out, but not teenie weenie enough, in my opinion, to be full-on 'mini.' I like them. They fir my face well, easy to do, and not too time-consuming. I just hope they will last a full week! 

Mommy/Daughter Prepoo with Coconut Oil - YouTube Video

Decided to do a video showing how one does a prepoo / moisturinzing treatment using coconut oil.
I did my own hair, then did a demo using my daughter's hair. Yes, people, take care of your kid's hair too! :)

Time For a New Protective Style

So, I've had my microlinks out for a couple of weeks now. I've washed my hair a couple of times, deep conditioned, regular conditioning, two-strand twisted it, rocked a couple of twist-outs and a one or two wash-n-go's. I feel it is time to let my hair rest and rid it of manipulation for a at least a month.

Today, I'm thinking I'm going to do a deep moisturizing treatment - a prepoo with coconut oil. I'll follow with a shea butter leave-in conditioning cream and then I'll braid my hair into cornrows and begin crocheting it tomorrow.

I did crochet hairstyles for the majority of my time transitioning and it really showed my hair some love.
Since, it is summer time here in the windy city it is REALLY hot, REALLY humid and NOT very windy at all! LOL. It is definitely too hot and humid to be rocking wigs (though, I'll probably bring them back into the rotation come fall or winter), and because I don't want to over-manipulate my hair to help with retention, I think crochets and sew-ins will be my buddies for the next couple of months.

I'll update with whatever look I decide to give myself!


Until next time....

My Twist turned Faux-Hawk!

This is how changed up the look of yesterday's twist-out:

My Twist-Out:The Results and How I Did It

So, I must say, I like this twist-out style a lot better than the last one. That Hollywood Beauty Oilive Oil really made a difference in the appearance of my hair. Also, the back looks a lot better as I made the twists slightly smaller. Reason behind that is that my hair in the back is more coarse than in the front, so the last time, when the twists were bigger and I hadn't added the olive oil, they were really dry-looking and frizzy- not too cute. 

This is how I did it:

- Wet/Dampen hair

-Section Hair 

-Add Cantu Shea Butter Twist & Lock Moisturizing Gel (from root to tip)

- Add Hollywood Beauty Olive Oil (from root to tip)

-Twist hair

-let air dry overnight

-unravel twists 

-separate 3-4 times to make smaller curls

Tweaking My Twists and Twist-Out

So, yesterday I did my wash, but didn't have time to style...so I did a wash-n-go. Today I did my two-strand twists, but this time I did the ones in the back just a tad bit smaller because the last time they were too puffy. This time I also used olive oil to help with sheen and moisture....we shall see if I like the results better tomorrow when I unravel them. At first glance, they do look more moist than the last time I did them...but again, we shall see in due time!

Using HairFinity -- Day 15

So, I am just over 2 weeks in with my HairFinity vitamins and I wanted to do an update with my progress thus far. My hair has always been quite thick, so that was not my main reasoning for taking the vitamins. I was more into it for promoting hair growth. I do think that my hair is a bit thicker, though and it has definitely grown in these short two weeks that I've been taking them. The pic below shows where I am now, 2 weeks into it, which you can compare with my earlier post that showed where I was on Day 1. When I started, the portion from the from went down to about mid-chin and now it well past there.
Remember, if you want to give HairFinity a try you can click the widget on this blog's homepage any time, or you can click here to get started with your supply.

and here is a side-by-side comparison from when I stared:

Diggin This Individual Twist-Out

Twist-Out Time!

So yesterday, I washed my hair with Dark and Lovely's Au Naturale Hydrating Soak Shampoo (boy, that's a mouth full!). I conditioned with Smooth and Shine's Tea Tree and Olive Oil deep conditioner and then two-strand twisted my hair using Cantu Shea Butter Twist and Loc Moisturizer Gel to prep for today's twist-out. Here's a shot showing the before and after results. Overall, I like it. I haven't done many twist-outs but I am content with this one. My only complaint is that my curls, though they do not FEEL dry, do LOOK a bit dry to me, even when the starands were twisted. So my hope is that in the very near future I will find some thing or some way to change that. That- and maybe a teeny bit more definition.
But for the most part- FIERCE!

A Wash-n-Go Type of Day

Just finished taking out my microlinks. Time to get back to rocking my natural hair! So, a deep condition and wash was very much necessary. No time to do much else to it, so a wash-n-go it was! Not as many coils as I would have liked, but hey...

Elongating My Twist-Out

I was finishing up on my two-strand twists for a twist-out, when it occured to me just how much length I was losing to shrinkage. Now, I know that even with the shrinkage my 'do will still be fierce, but I wanted to see if I could combat that dreaded shrinkage, LOL. I personally haven't seen anyone else try this method, but it did and does work for me. So, here's what I did: after I finished up with the twists, I went and grabbed some of my daughter's hair 'balls' and put them on the ends of my twists (I put 2 twists with each set of balls). Adding them, made up for about 1/2-1 inch of shrinkage that I would have had, had I not weighed the twists down a bit while air drying. And this is what it looked like:

Give it a try and tell me what YOU think! :) Until next time...."Be Happy. Not 'Nappy'"

Using HairFinity -- Day 1

So this pic illustrates where I am as far as hair length as I begin the HairFinity regimen. Began 06/25/2013.

Day 1

Length Check : Mid June 2013

Okay, so this is where I'm at now, mid June of 2013. I'd say that's about 1/2 inch past the collar bone.

Side view.

 And this is where I am in the back.