Mstokes2008-Straight hair & 1 year since my last relaxer!!

Loving that blowout! You and your dog and the pink backdrop of your room -- LOVE!!!

Ooooh! The fro is hot!!
Happy Thanksgiving Miss Thang!

Wow, look at all that hair!!!! It looks frotastic, LOL!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Wow I haven't posted in awhile. I've been lurking and stopped by a few people's CSJ but haven't had the chance to update my own. Anywho, on to updates:

Life:

I've moved in back with my mom to save money and get ready for BMT in March. I've been slacking on the working out and am at a stand still losing weight wise my recruiter is probably going to be extremely unhappy when I go see her this week but ugh idk I've lost my motivation and I'm comfortable with the weight I'm at but I still need to lose like 5 lbs before I can ship out.

Hair:

I'm pretty sure I've hit a styling rut I've tried yarn braids (only lasted a week) I don't have the patience to put them in and then I miss my hair horribly with extensions now. I've bought a wig but the same problem. My two strand twists have gotten old. But I do love my twist outs. I feel like I need to be doing PS during the winter but they're irritating me for some reason. I like wearing my hair out or in a puff but the tangles are no bueno. Idk what I'm going to when it's time for me to leave and I have to put my hair away for 8.5 weeks.

On a plus I can now put my hair in a tiny lose ponytail. I wouldn't dare wear it out but I have a huge afro puff I can put on top of it, but with my hair having like 2inches of black new growth my dark brown stands out ALOT! (atleast to me anyways) So I'm not sure what to do.

My mom bought me the instyler for Christmas but I have yet to use it for 2 reasons, one being fear lol and two being the fact that the outlets don't seem to be working in the bathrooms in my house and doing it in my room is a no go. I know I'm in need of a trim but idk what to do.

Any styling ideas would be greatly appreciated because right now I just feel so blah about my hair

Happy New Year!! You're joining the Navy?? I'm just assuming because you called it bmt instead of boot camp. Either way, congrats! I just cut mine all off when I joined, but I'm sure you don't want to do that. Can you cornrow?

Hey LaToya I'm actually joining the Air Force, they call it BMT too lol. I did think about cutting it all off but I've come so far lol. I'm horrible at cornrowning and apparently I can only flat twist side ways, like if I'm doing a twisted headband lol. Good thing about being home is that my mom said she would help me.

I know what you mean about being in a styling rut. I forced myself to go into protective styling so I am now wearing them until April. But sometimes I just don't have the energy to do my hair every week or every two weeks. I just try to motivate myself by looking a other people's YT pages or fotki or CSJ.

Jaybella- do you have any good links for peoples YT or fotkis you go to for inspiration??

Morning ladies. Today marks one year since my last relaxer!!! :yay:

Lately I've been in such a styling rut. But last night I finally broke down and straightened my hair for the first time since I've been natural. I'll have pics uploaded after work today, so check back later. I trimmed my ends as I went, but where my color starts I can feel my hair is drier and my ends are still slightly jacked from that. I was so tempted to just chop all the color off and be done lol.

But I'm about to go to work but here's one pic... it's bumped under some to try and disguise some of my angry ends lol

Cute! I will be one year perm free on the 18th, time is flying girl and you hair looks great. You have had some awesome growth.

Mstokes,
Your hair is cute. Congratulations on being 1 year relaxer free! Congrats as well on joining the Air Force and good luck with BMT. Check out a few you tube videos on conrowing and flat twisting and practice, practice, practice. That's how I nailed flat twising my hair (before I bc'd again). Those videos have been my saving grace with learning proper makeup application and different looks. I have been practicing my heart out and it's been paying off, so I'm sure if you do the same with the cornrows you'll be fine.

CrissyQ wrote:Cute! I will be one year perm free on the 18th, time is flying girl and you hair looks great. You have had some awesome growth.

Thanks lady! My growth amazes me, just hope I can keep growing and maintaing going into my next natural year while getting adjusted to Air Force life

DvaAuNaturel wrote:Mstokes,
Your hair is cute. Congratulations on being 1 year relaxer free! Congrats as well on joining the Air Force and good luck with BMT. Check out a few you tube videos on conrowing and flat twisting and practice, practice, practice. That's how I nailed flat twising my hair (before I bc'd again). Those videos have been my saving grace with learning proper makeup application and different looks. I have been practicing my heart out and it's been paying off, so I'm sure if you do the same with the cornrows you'll be fine.

Thanks you so much Dva!! I've been watching different YT videos, I think my issue is I just can't get it tight enough. I can only flat twist tightly sideways lol. I really hope I can get the hang of it before I leave because I hate the thought of putting braids in my hair.

I've been doing make up too, mostly just neutral eyes though lol. I was on a Mac kick for awhile, but that can make you go broke! lol

Ugh so my hair is straight, I wore it in a donut bun today, and ugh I'm already bored with it lol smh

Lol. I can imagine u miss your curls.

It looks so thick & healthy! & congrats on one year relaxer free!

Did you use your Instyler?

JnB- I miss them so much!!!

Jlowman- thanks!! My ends are kinda bad and I'm trying so hard not to just cut all the color off lol and yeah I did use my instyler, I love it!!

Hey lady !!

Hey Shee!!! How are you doing??

Hey MStokes...

That straight style is cute, and your hair looks so healthy. So did you use a heat protectant?

How is your mom coming along with her journey?

MStokes, your hair looks good. You really did a great job!(curious to know if you used a heat protectant and, if so, which one. With your length, there are so many options. If you have the patience: rod sets, straw sets, curlformers. Also, all of those sets can be transformed into updos. You can flat twist your hair, but leave some out and use rods or other rollers, french braid with a hair accessory, twist updo,side bun with a flower, etc.

KinkyNappyHappy wrote:Hey MStokes...

That straight style is cute, and your hair looks so healthy. So did you use a heat protectant?

How is your mom coming along with her journey?

Thanks KNH! I used the Chi Heat protectant! I really liked it. No heat damage at all

My mom's journey is coming along well. She has stopped wearing her hair out and has been wearing weaves. She's not happy about the amount of shrinkage she gets so she kinda just doesn't deal with it. but *shrug* what can you do?

SN-How did you enjoy this winter blast Tx got?? lol

naturallynola wrote:MStokes, your hair looks good. You really did a great job!(curious to know if you used a heat protectant and, if so, which one. With your length, there are so many options. If you have the patience: rod sets, straw sets, curlformers. Also, all of those sets can be transformed into updos. You can flat twist your hair, but leave some out and use rods or other rollers, french braid with a hair accessory, twist updo,side bun with a flower, etc.

Thanks NN!! I did use the Chi heat protectant and it worked out so well. I'm actually getting my hair braided on the 25th for Basic Training. I'm pretty excited, I think I may keep my hair in braids until my 18th month mark in Sept. I'm hoping to make it to APL stretched by then. I don't get much shrinkage so I may be almost there unstretched by then also lol.

Well MStokes, I think you and I will make our 18th mark right about the same time. We will have to compare notes. I used to get shrinkage galore, but since I mainly due braidouts and curlformers, I have the upper hand on the shrinkage, for now--LOL.
That is such a smart move to get braids before BT. That way, you won't have to worry so much about your hair. You can sprtiz and go and let your hair grow! Keep us posted!

mstokes2008 wrote:Hey Shee!!! How are you doing??

I'm doing. I'm just sitting here with henna on my hair, chilling. How are things with you?