Natural in Wonderland

No need to send out one-time looking for me, I'm back. I can't believe how long it's been! So far nothing new on the job front but I'm still looking. Since I have a job, I'm being a bit picky about just where I want to be doing skin care and make-up. Plus I just hit my year here and will be getting a raise effective next week .

Seffy has been growing in leaps and bounds, next week I'll post some comparison pics but here is how she looks today:



And here is a quickie length check done in the bathroom at work:





This a day old twist out from hair that was in two strands twists for about a month. I originally chunky twisted with shea butter on freshly washed hair. Two weeks in I retwisted into slightly smaller twists using only Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and grapeseed oil (grapeseed oil to untwist, Smoothie to retwist). Last night I untwisted using Dabur Vatika oil then baggied overnight. This morning removed baggy and let the steam in my shower perk up my hair.


I can't wait to check up on everyone. Thanks for stopping by during my hiatus! I'm so glad to be back!!

love,
Seffy and Sav

welcome back! we are definitely hair twins cuz we have about the same exact length! hahahaha!! lookin good though! good luck on the job hunt! im actually gonna do another BC soon cuz with it growing soooo much im lackin patience n miss my Amber Rose n twa days! i think the 2nd time around i'll appreciate it more!

how is ur honey doin?

*running and jumping on you* I saw your avatar and came running! I didn't even read what you wrote! how are you?? OMG I missed you!!! I can't see your pics. I will check them out when I get home!! I am so happy you are back!!

Hey Girl!!!! Look at you and Seffy....WOW she has grown!! Glad to see you're back

I can see her now! She looks fab!

Hey!!!! Look at Seffy!!! Your hair has REALLY grown!!! Good luck on the job hunt!!! How is the fam?

Dont you stay gone that long again!!!

Welcome back!! Looking good. Hair is fab!!

Love love love the twist out. Would have killed for mine to look like that when I was loose. Welcome back!

NubieNatty wrote:

welcome back! we are definitely hair twins cuz we have about the same exact length! hahahaha!! lookin good though! good luck on the job hunt! im actually gonna do another BC soon cuz with it growing soooo much im lackin patience n miss my Amber Rose n twa days! i think the 2nd time around i'll appreciate it more!

how is ur honey doin?

Thanks Girl! Are you going to cut your hair now that winter is coming? That used to be my MO, I always waited til the coldest part of the year to chop. You look good both ways Ma! My lady is doing well. Contemplating cutting her locs, she says that she'll probably wait until she hits 10 yrs (she's at 7 now).

sweetdrk1 wrote:*running and jumping on you* I saw your avatar and came running! I didn't even read what you wrote! how are you?? OMG I missed you!!! I can't see your pics. I will check them out when I get home!! I am so happy you are back!!

I'm happy to be back Sweet!

KinkyNappyHappy wrote:Hey Girl!!!! Look at you and Seffy....WOW she has grown!! Glad to see you're back

Hi KNH! Thanks!

Lynnieluve wrote: Hey!!!! Look at Seffy!!! Your hair has REALLY grown!!! Good luck on the job hunt!!! How is the fam?

Dont you stay gone that long again!!!

Fam is doing good. I will not stay away that long again. Now that I've hit my one year, things should get a bit more interesting.

SheeTacular_Napps wrote:Welcome back!! Looking good. Hair is fab!!

Thanks Shee!

PaganWifey wrote:Love love love the twist out. Would have killed for mine to look like that when I was loose. Welcome back!

Thanks PaganWifey!

I now have red hair! I will post a pic a bit later today but I love it!!!

Hi there lady! Welcome back .

Your hair is growing, and you are retaining your length. Glad to hear all is well.

Ohhhhh, red, looking forward to pictures!

yes i wanna see the red

lol, yes im cutting it but i havent quite decided when i normally cut my hair every summer or whenever the first day of 80 degrees hits after winter cuz i HATE to sweat and have to deal with hair on my neck and/or in my face!

i havent been over here in so long...you have alot of growth! cant wait 2 see the color!

Hello ladies,

Sorry it took me so long to post pics but I do have some that I took today at work. These are more to show off the color than any spectacular styling on my part.

Here is what I was going for:

Inspiration[url][/url]

This is how it turned out





*please ignore scalpy bits*. I love the color because it's VERY close to the reference pic that I showed my stylist. I also love that its uneven. It's very red in some parts and more purpley-brown in others, I love the contrast. She applied the color to the twist out that I posted last week so I think that had something to do with it. I'll probably get the color touched up in 3 month or so. I think next time I'll do a braidout and see what happens. We also talked about applying color while my hair is twists to get more of an ombre look, so many options!

To help care for my colored hair, I'm devising a new regimen. My stylist applauded me on how strong and healthy Seffy was and I want her to stay that way. To that end I am adding more moisture and protein to my reg. I think that Seffy can use more moisture than I gave her in the past, esp now that she has color. I'm also adding a DC with more protein in it, I'm going to start using the MyHoneyChild Honey and Horsetail Recontructor. This will be my first go round with this product line so we'll see what happens. For color upkeep I'm using the L'Oreal Feria Deep Conditioner. I'm using it after my cowash as a reg conditioner. I was thinking of using it as a cowash conditioner but since you only get 6 oz per bottle, its a bit too rich for blood. I'm also going to start using Creme of Nature Detangling Shampoo.

My new regimen is going to look something like this:

Clarify (Giovanni 50:50) Every 4-6 weeks
Shampoo (CON Detangling Shampoo) Every 2 weeks
Cowash (Aussie Moist followed by Feria) Every week
Deep Condition (Alternating MHC Honey & Horsetail and Jessicurl Weekly Deep Conditioner) Every 2 weeks

For the most part I'm trying to stick to protective styles through the winter so I can really work on retaining length and keep knots at bay. Detangling before I wash my hair, washing in sections, and oil rinsing has definitely helped. Once I have my reg in rock solid (RSR) we should be go to go.

Do any of you ladies have any winter hair plans?

Hello Curlies!

This week I am rocking a braid out. While it is not the first time I have worn a braid out, this is my first serious attempt at what will hopefully become a staple style for the the winter. I know I said that I would try to keep Seffy in protective styles for most of the winter to help keep SSK and dryness at bay, BUT I actually don't like styling my hair that much. Especially since I usually do it on the weekends. Sometimes I don't feel like committing such a large chunk of time to my hair. This what happened this past weekend. I wore a twist out to Thanksgiving and couldn't be motivated to do much after that. I put on my bonnet and wore it all weekend. When I actually ventured out of the house (for non Thanksgiving food...mmmm Wing Stop ) I just wore a headwrap. When Sunday nite came I realized that I had to do something. Seffy was matted and tangled from being smooshed and slept on for 4 days (poor baby!!). I was not feeling a 5 am wash n go. What do do? Braids! I would braid Seffy up and go from there. If the braid were cute, then I would rock them all week and give my girl some TLC on the weekend. If they weren't, then I would rock a braid out and re-braid as needed during the week and then TLC on the weekend. Great idea!

However it was Sunday nite @ 8 pm. While I have may detangler recipes written down, I did not have anything ready. Seffy definitely need some moisture and detangling before I did anything. What to? I grabbed a spray bottle full of water and my Shea Moisture Conditioning Milk. I spritzed my hair until damp and then applied the SM. I gently separated Seffy horizontally from ear to ear. For the bottom section I applied more on the SM and separated into smaller sections for the actual braids. I then finger detangled each section and cornrowed. I repeated the process on the top section as well. I ended up with 6 braids on the bottom and 5 on top. Now even though those last few sentences only took a moment to type, the whole process took about 2 hours. I am not that good with cornrows. After being loose for 4 days (even tho she was bonneted) Seffy had a bunch of knots that had to be unraveled or cut out . And of course I didn't use a mirror #Fail. After all the baids were in, I decided to rolll the ends on perm rods so I wouldn't have too much random straightness if I had to wear my hair out. Did I take pics of that? Umm no. By the time was done it was definitely my bedtime! ::Sidenote:: Sleeping on rollers is uncomfortable, I had forgotten this.

The nest morning my braids were not worthy of being worn outside the house. After removing the rollers, I coated my fingers with grapeseed oil and undid my braids. Ummm can we say 'Haaaaaaaaaaaay !'? Seffy was big and gorgeous, Diana Ross-like even! Here are my day 2 pics:







I love. Each day she has gotten a bit less defined and more fluffy. When I come home all I do put my bonnet on. I haven't rebraided yet (but probably will tonite) and am fluffing and moisturizing in the morning. So far so good!

::Quick Note:: This morning I used my sample of MyHoneyChild's Afrokiko Silky Hair Lotion to moisturize. OMG. I love the feel (creamy and light) and it packs a serious punch! Seffy eagerly sucked up the moisture (I really got to step my moisturizing game up) and shrunk up happily. I think that this may be a HG product for me. I'm going to use it tonite to rebraid. It doesn't have any hold so I may add some Eco Styler to the mix.

Ok ladies, sorry for the novel.

Have you discovered any awesome new products?

Ok clearly I have missed a few days! I love the color! Absolutely love it!

sweetdrk1 wrote:Ok clearly I have missed a few days! I love the color! Absolutely love it!

Thanks Sweet!

So I did NOT rebraid my hair last nite. I couldn't. Seffy needs to detangled like whoa! So I just bonneted her up again and did a 5 am cowash. I cowashed with Aussie Moist then conditioned with Feria DT and rinsed with cold water. I wrapped Seffy in a tshirt til she was about 70-80% dry, applied Shea Moisture Argan Recontructing Conditioner as my leave-in, and MHC Afrikoko Silky Lotion on top. Then I massaged grapeseed oil all over since I knew I was going to use my blow dryer. I blew dry with my diffuser attachment on the warm setting at the lowest speed. OMG, how thick and happy is Seffy? I think that is the main way I can tell when she has enough moisture, she feels thick. I used a silky hair tie and pulled her back into a puff. I'll most likely spritz and fluff tomorrow morning. Yaaay for puffs!

Hey lady. You are getting some length

Hi Curlies!

SheeTacular_Napps wrote:Hey lady. You are getting some length

Hi Shee! I know, Seffy is getting loooong! I look st pics of her from this time last year or even earlier this year and I'm kinda surprised. I know that it used to take about two years for her to grow long enough to do two good sized afro puffs (Rage-style) but since I'm actually paying attention to how I'm caring for Seffy, it may come sooner.

I think that I may have a regimen. GASP. It only took me a year, lol. This past year has been full of trial and error when it came to not only finding products but putting together a regimen that was realistic for me. In a perfect world, I would have hours to make my own products, spends hours detangling my hair, and have the skills to whip my hair into an amazing, flawless, braided style that would last for two weeks without frizz. However. This is the real world and in the real world, I don't have the time/space, proximity to ingredients to do all that. Nor do I have the time for a 6 hour hair session every week. I think that I have found a routine that lets me get everything that I need but only takes 3-4 hours (still a significant chunk of time but most of it is spent actually styling my hair so it will vary).

Sunday I gave Seffy the attention that she woefully needed. I washed with Giovanni 50:50 followed with Bioinfusion Olive Oil shampoo (yes it IS the same bottle from last year...which was already a year old. Yeah, I like NEVER wash my hair) for added moisture. Then I oil rinsed with Vatika oil and rinsed with warm water. At this point Seffy is in heaven. I'm getting coils poppin and I can run my fingers through her. I cowashed with Aussie Moist, rinsed, and followed with the Feria DT. I let the Feria sit for about 5-10 minutes while I finished my shower. Rinsed with COLD water and wrapped with my tshirt to get rid of excess moisture. Once my hair was about 50% dry, I sectioned into 8 sections and applied the MHC Honey & Horsetail Recontructor. Sloppily bantu knotted each section, clipped, and covered with a plastic bag for about 15 minutes. I rinsed with cool water leaving the clips in. Then I applied my SM Argan Recontructing conditioner as my leave-in.

Here's where it gets serious: I unclipped each section to finger detangle, apply moisturize, and twist. I had NO problem finger detangling. My coils were separated and standing happily at attention. I applied the MHC Afrikoko Silky Lotion, grapeseed oils to seal, and Ecostyler for hold. I had few shed hairs and some breakage but less than usual. I think that as I refine my styling, the breakage will stop. Love the fact that I could finger detangle with no problem!!!

Here is what I have learned:Seffy loves moisture. Anything that adds moisture to my hair is a plus
Adding a moisturizing shampoo after clairifying is a keeper
As is oil rinsing
Style prep- I am now going to put a bit more thought into how I will be wearing my hair and section off for styling when I DC/apply leave-in.
Styling in sections makes hair easier to manage and helps to retain moisture. I kept the different sections clipped up and when I got to the back approx 1.5 hours in, the hair was still damp.

So now I'm wearing my hair in an updo (pics tomorrow). The front three sections are in two strand twists and the back is in 6 flat twist. Each morning I pin the twists in the front into some kind of retro inspired style. So far Seffy is retaining moisture well, I haven't had to spritz yet. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. I'm going to a party on Saturday so I most likely won't be changing my hair too much this weekend.

This regimen worked well with my hair after a puff. I'm wondering what adjustments I'll need to make if I just go from protective style to protective style with no 'out time'. We shall see!

Love!
Seffy and Savvy

ChrsLvsBks wrote:Goodness, look at you--coloring hair and developing a regimen. How wonderful, .

For the winter, I will do my best to do protective styling.

As for products, I have been using my Karen's Body Beautiful hair cream. I love it. I used it in the past and reintroduced it into my regimen. I'm trying t see if Curl Junkie's Aloe Fix mixed with oil will work for me in the cold weather. It seems to be doing okay.

Thanks Chrs! Everyone has raved about the KBB products. I'm trying to get my PJ under control so I am resisting buying anything from her. I still have Qhemet and Oyin products that I want to try! So they're first and then I'll see if I have any holes in my product needs.

So today is Day 3 of my updo. It's holding up VERY well. Today I spritz with Shea Moisture Moisture & Shine spray. I don't have any itching and my hair is still soft and shiny. I will have pics this afternoon, After reading the front page on taking pic, my lil work bathroom pics seem a bit shoddy. But they'll have to do. Next time I do my hair I'll recruit the GF to take pics.

Have a great day ladies!

ooooooh look at YOU!! i like ombre' ness of the color and thats a good idea to do the color in twist. very creative! with color we gotta make sure its moisturized and im glad u found a good reggie to stick to! my favorite moisturizing poo is kbb's cond poo. it lathers perfectly and cleans good. err i guess i wouldnt suggest to pair it AFTER u clarify though cuz it does the job alone. it was a MUST that i re-introduced oil rinsing after my color cuz i noticed a few days after my color my hair was dry so i had to baby it back wit some protective styles and qhemet which worked like a charm.

with our hair bein sooooo thick, i gave away my cd hair milk and i'll be using kbn's shealoe leave in ONLY, for the summer time i havent figured it out and really dont need to cuz i KNOW it'll be short again by then! plus i wanna start utilizing my condish's as leave-in's. i still got big azz bottles of aussie moist/smooth and an EO bottle i barely touch! i find that stylin in sections is the best way to go to keep it from bein all over the place and to keep it from gettin all matted n detangled all over again!

@Nubie
Because of the her thickness, I was surprised how much Seffy loved the MHC Afrikoko Silky Lotion because it very liquidy...like the texture of face lotion, not thick at all. But the ingredents: Pure Unfiltered Shea Butter, Kokum Butter, Coconut Milk , Nutmeg, Cinnamon, White Truffle and Cherry Jubilee Essence oil. Omg moisture in a bottle. My hair is STILL moisturized, one of my flat twists came apart a bit this morning so I had to get back to acting right. Still happy, with just a smidge of dryness at the ends. I love this stuff.

I may need to try the KBB conditioning poo. I like the idea of something creamy to cleanse. I'm only clarifying once a month or so. The other times I think that a cowash my do the trick. If not I still have the mostly full bottle of BioInfusions and I still need to pick up my Creme of Nature Detangling Shampoo. Last time I went to Sally's they had a 32 oz bottle...that would take me like 3 years to go through. Still looking for a normal size.

Hi Femme!

Happy Friday Ladies!

Hey Sweet ! Girl why are you making want to shop more? I told myself that I was going to mainly rock PS but seeing Sasha after using the DB...I may need to scoop that up!

I finally switched up my avi. That's me and my amazing GF from earlier this year. I believe it was for Gay Pride or some other fun filled excursion this summer. Let's talk about how much I love feather earrings and blue mascara. ::Le Sigh::.

I know that I have not posted any pics of this weeks updo. The main reason is because I can't seem to get the back of head shots done right. Also since I can't really see it, I only have a vague idea of what the back looks like I'm going to refresh the style this weekend because we are going to my hunni's work xmas party. I'll have her take pics of the back so we ALL can see what's going on, lol!

Have a great weekend ladies!