I would love, love, love to have a BIG Sister!

Heart2Worship wrote:Oh! One more question...what can I do to avoid my hair feeling "crunchy" after sitting under the dryer. I don't like using the dryer b/c of this, but sometimes I have no choice. Esp. if I do my hair late in the evening. It won't be air dried completely the next morning.

I think an oil helps with this along with using the cool setting for part of the drying time. I don't have any experience with heat protectants (yet) but maybe they may help combat that crunchy feeling. When I do my roller set I apply my oil last before rolling and when I come from under the dryer all is soft.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Hey Big Sis! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Thank you!!!
How have you been?

I've been doing good. I finally got all of my braids out on Sunday a.m. at about 1:00! I washed and deep treated it. I finally got in bed at about 2. I am glad that our choir unifrom for Sunday was african attire...I went to church with conditioner, a plastic cap and my satin wrap on underneath my head wrap! LOL! Just didn't have time to style it. It has grown a lot, but I don't think that I'll be comfortable with the current length. I did get my ends trimmed on Tuesday. Oh and instead of doing a TnC or rollerset I ended up flat ironing it on Sunday, low heat...you think I'll be ok?

Our attire for Sunday was african attire also! I think almost every church did that last week, lol.

Low heat should be fine. I would just refrain from make a habit of it. The left side of my head was stretched almost straight from flat ironing. The curls eventually reverted but it took a long time - almost a year.

I was kind of reluctant about doing it, but I was too tired to do anything else.

Ok, so I have another issue...my BF...he is a shiny, straight hair type of guy. I told him last year that I had decided to go natural and why. Initially he seemed to be ok with it, but I'm realizing now that he didn't really understand what I meant. In his mind, I can still be natural and wear my hair straight. This is true, but in moderation. I've shown him pictures of women with natural hair and he flat out told me that he doesn't like it. He's not so unreasonable to where he would hurt my feelings or break up with me, but I would like his support. How can I help him to embrace what I am doing?

That's a tough one. I am just going to have admit that I don't know. My hubby was the opposite and although he says he likes all my styles - he like straight hair the least. I have seen a few blog posts and threads on some sites about this same issue. I will be sure to post the links.

One thing that comes to mine is to only speak positive about your hair and other curlies when he is around. Even on bad hair days and even when you think he isn't listening.

I'm lead to believe that he is caught up in the stereo type of natural hair and that once he sees mine and realizes that I am happy with it then he'll come around. I say that because I know he feels about me, he likes to see me glowing and happy! I remember when I was wanting to cut my hair. He didn't want me to, but I did it anyway and turns out he liked it! So hopefully I'll get the same results.

That does give me some hope that he will like it. More than likely he is caught up in the stereotype and doesn't even realize what is going on. Your actions will have an affect on him. Rock your curls with confidence and express your love for your curls and it will rub off on him.

Do you have color in your hair?

Yes, and I just did another color. I am back to black

Hey Big Sis!

Check out my avatar...I did a curly fro this past weekend. I was pretty excited about it although is was going for something else. And...hold your breath...here I go...MY BOO LIKED IT!!! Girl I was floored when he told me that! Woot! Woot! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] And I wasn't even fishing for a compliment on it!

I finally added just a few pics to my Fotki page. Check it out when you get a chance.

I knew he would come around! That is awesome and it looks good the compliment was well deserved.
I think it's just hard for guys to picture things in their heads - they have to actually see it.

I am so happy for you!

So is it pretty easy to apply color to your hair. I used to get a black rinse, but never anything permenant. A lot of my hair is a dirty looking brown color esp. in the front and I can't stand it. I've been kind of skeptical about doing anything as far as color is concerned b/c I am unsure of how that works with my natural texture. Is it harmful at all?

It can be harmful. The first two times I colored my hair my curl pattern was stretched tremendously and it did not look good. But back then I was still pressing my hair so not only did I not know better but I didn't care either. I would be a little hesitant to dye to transitioning hair just because with two textures, they may respond two different ways to the dye. For instance, I have to leave the dye on longer than indicated for the color to take. I don't think that would be safe on relaxed ends.

If I didn't have prior experience with dyeing my hair I would either not do it all or go to a professional

The back of my head is very rough in certain areas, but this is only after a couple of days of my hair being styled (roller set, TnC, etc.) It's difficult to retain moisture in those areas and it urks me to no end!!! It seems as if I must wet these areas before adding shea butter and oil, but because I'm transitioning, to that would be a hot mess! I don't want to have to redue styles every few days. Help MEEEEEEEE!!!!

think about this...when you are driving, sitting in couches, and laying down - which part of your hair is most likely touching these surfaces? You can tell I have been there, LOL.

I actually put a cover on my couch and adjusted my seat in my car so that my head doesn't touch the headrest.

So I think more moisture is pull from this area and cause us to have to do more work.

I had to adjust the way I apply product because of this reason. I use to start in the front and at the roots. By the time I got to the rest of my head my technique would slack off. So now I start in the back and at the ends. What a tremendous difference that makes.

Makes so much sense! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I was thinking other day about how AWESOME the front of my hair is and the thought came to mind that I tend to devote a lot more attention to the front vs. the back. But Einstein didn't think to reverse the way I do things, back to front. And if you think about it you won't be slack with the front once you get there because the front of your hair is the show piece. Thank you.

Hey T!

Your girl is real frustated with her hair! I almost chopped it off last night. First of all I am tired of having to deal with the two textures once I wash it. The relaxed ends are limp and it's as if I can't really figure out what my new growth likes because the relaxed ends require something different. AND it seems as if my new growth sucks up EVERYTHING that I put on it within seconds, esp. the back area that I was telling you about. Any suggestions?

Well....are you ready for the big chop? I don't know if that is something I could have ever dealt with. So you already know my vote

I have recently discovered the joy of Jherri curl juice, LOL. Seriously.
Care Free Curl Instant Moisturizer has been doing an awesome job with moisturizing my hair. Maybe you should give it a shot. Make sure it's the Instant Moisturizer with Glycerin and Protein, I think it was about $3 - not too bad.
Keep working with that back section, improvement will not come overnight. It took me about a month to notice a big difference.

Jherri curl juice... [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] LOL!! I would be more open to try that if I was 100%, but not while I'm transitioning. I saw on your blog where you did a castor oil challenge and how you experienced great results with that so I decided to try that out.

I will admit that I have not been keeping a journal and that I haven't been consistent long enough with my experimenting to even see what is working and how long it takes. I guess I was expecting overnight results. I was reading another thread where ChrsLvsBks was telling someone to stick with a regimen for at least three months.

So with that being said, I bought the castor oil and a journal on yesterday and I am going to stick with my current regimen until June. PLEASE HELP ME STAY FOCUSED!!! I do know that my hair loves Aussie Moist for co-washing so that is a keeper. It makes detangling so easy!

As for the big chop, I'm ready, but my boo + short hair = [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] He and I will be married in the near future, therefore I do consider him where the BC is concerned. I am still working on him with that. He's come around a whole lot with the idea of me going natural to the point of him telling someone that I would look fly with natural hair. I was like WHOA! YOU said that! LOL!

I understand...I take my husband's feeling into consideration. Sometimes I have to show him for him to understand but if he doesn't like it, I do change. After all, he is the only one I am trying to impress.

You can stay focused and keeping track of your progress will help because it makes you anxious to see the outcome of consistency. Natural hair seems to love castor oil but I am not sure how it will work on the relaxed ends. You may find that you have to use one product on your growth and another on your relaxed ends.

tiashauntee wrote:I understand...I take my husband's feeling into consideration. Sometimes I have to show him for him to understand but if he doesn't like it, I do change. After all, he is the only one I am trying to impress.

You can stay focused and keeping track of your progress will help because it makes you anxious to see the outcome of consistency. Natural hair seems to love castor oil but I am not sure how it will work on the relaxed ends. You may find that you have to use one product on your growth and another on your relaxed ends.

That's right! I started using it last night. I co-washed on Monday night and didn't really style it. I have clip on Afro Puff that I were on lazy days. So yesterday I wet my hair with a leave-in mix (Suave Lavander Lilac, distilled water, EVOO) and sealed with the castor oil/coconut oil mixture. I roller set my hair and it came out well, except my roots are super thick! The relaxed ends responded very well to this acutally. It's light and shiny. It appears as if my roots likes this also. What I did this morning was put a little shea butter on my roots for added moisture, so we'll see. The next time I will only add the castor oil mixture to my roots and moving into the ends.

What do you think about the above regimen? Would add or take away anything?

Sound good. I am wondering if moisturizing your roots more than your ends will make a difference. It's good that your hair responded well to both.

I like the idea of moisturizing my roots more, will do and see if that helps.

Is it possible that the relaxed ends causes the roots to become dry?