My Show is Up!! And it Looks Good!!

Well, my hair is kind of wrapped up at the moment-under a black scarf nonetheless...But here are some older pics of what my hair looks like under normal conditions. All of these are from my album.







Hopefully, I'll have some new stuff to put on here soon!

I don't have pics from when I was relaxed (at least not digital)...I had bsl hair. It might have went a couple inches below that. But it hovered around that length. I kept it up in ponytails or braided most of the time. Every few years, I'd get really sick though and my hair would shed massively and break off. Usually, it still wound up at a point where I could grow it back to bsl the next year. But it just didn't seem healthy. So, one day I decided to get rid of the chemicals. I read the book by Lonnice Brittenum Bronner (who hasn't, right ), and I decided to cut the hair off. My boyfriend at the time wasn't happy about it. He still wasn't ecstatic about it by the time we got married and had a couple kids. He really enjoyed my Aaliyah impersonation. The first year we were married, I tried straightening my hair a lot. I used electric straightening combs and flat irons. This was after about five years of growth. I had had a lot of hair by then and great length and thickness. I hadn't used heat in all that time. Needless to say, I didn't know what I was doing not having using heat for years. So, I wound up ruining that head of hair. My hair didn't revert very well when wet. So, I had to cut quite a few inches from that head of hair because of the heat damage.

Aside from all of this, when I went natural, I noticed a small itch at the crown of my scalp. I wasn't sure what it was about. I ignored it and hoped it'd go away. Over time, it developed into an itchy burn. Then it just went downhill from there. By the time I had to cut my hair again due to heat damage, when it would flare up, it felt like a hot iron being pressed to my scalp! It hurt so badly that I stopped caring about my hair at all. All I wanted was for the pain to stop!! The pain had become so great over time that it was more than likely traumatizing the hair follicles. The hair in that area refused to grow much. When it did it was very coarse and felt like a brillo pad. I never trusted doctors so I attempted self-diagnosing for awhile. When that didn't work, I tried seeing a couple of doctors. None of them saw what I was talking about and thought I was a lunatic. I had very dense hair. But I could feel the difference between that hair and all the rest. Plus, the pain was unbelievable. I got fed up with it and decided to cut the hair again and go to another doctor. I cut all the hair down to five-six inches and went to a dermatologist. I was diagnosed with CCA and I did everything for the next year or so to figure out how to treat it. Nothing really fixed it. Some things worked for a while. But nothing really dramatically changed anything. I found I couldn't put things on my scalp because it would roar with more pain. It just didn't want anything bothering the follicles (and I was using all natural oils and eo's too). Some of the supplements for inflammation did work. But when I couldn't afford them or was in too much of a rush to take them for a few days, the pain would come back. Other than that, I would get my husband to push a handheld massager into my scalp. It took a lot of pressure to alleviate the pain. Sometimes he'd have to almost kneel on it to get enough pressure. That was a good fix. But it was very temporary because the next day, it'd be burning again. So, I gave up, used aloe vera straight on the scalp and just made do with the pain as best as I could. I had to wash the aloe vera out maybe every three days for it not to burn. Of course, this did nothing for my fine hair. It was over-manipulated.

My health had begun to deteriorate around that time. I was overweight for my height at around 165-70 lbs. I was huffing and puffing going upstairs. I had no energy. And I was sitting all day at an office job. At some point, I got really tired of that and started weight watchers and peer trainer. That motivated me to lose weight and exercise. I eventually found out, purely accidentally, that exercise and eating right fixed it for me. One day I just realized I hadn't felt that pain in a long time and that it had to be from the exercise. It made sense because the handheld massager made it feel better and all it was doing was circulating blood. As long as I keep the blood circulating efficiently through exercise, I have no pain or itching and the hair grows. And it has long reaching effects. I can go way longer without having to do it before I feel a tingle. Of course, I don't do that often. But last semester in school was a bear.

The hair has been growing and it has a much better smoother texture than before. It is repairing and I feel blessed by that. Over the process, even though it started growing again, I learned to appreciate having any hair at all. Getting to cultivate it again is just icing on the cake!

So that's my hairstory.

WELCOME!!! and thanx for joining us! i love ur hairstory. you've had an amazing rollercoaster ride. good job on the weight loss results becuz i know u definitely seen a difference and improvement.

i look forward seeing ur journey more often. soooo now u gotta let us know the goodies:

whats ur reggie?
favorite products?
favorite styles?

Oh!! Yeah, I guess I forgot that part.

This is what I do:

Once a week I co-wash with usually a Trader Joe's Conditioner-I like both versions that my local store has. Every now and then I try another conditioner, but I always come back to these. I can afford to use a lot because they're so cheap! (*Once a month I do a diluted shampoo-though I'm thinking that I might just start adding a little lemon juice in my condish)

I follow with a conditioning treatment using Earthly Delights Conditioner (at times I spike it with avocado or olive oil-and to cover my grays I add some dye-released henna with the avocado and olive oil). I'm thinking about getting back into tea rinses too since I now have the time. I like burdock or chamomile. I also do a dc every so often. I don't have to do it that often with the henna treatments though so I don't overdo these.

After washing I put in a leave-in and put it in a pony. I twist it to the ends, cover it and let it dry. Then I style it.

At night, I condition and seal. Then I gather my hair into a low loose pony (whether that's a puff, twists, or a twist or braid out) , twist to the ends and wrap with a satin scarf.

The products I use are:

For any and all detangling, I use my fingers. I think this has dramatically reduced the amount of splitting I was used to seeing.

alba leave-in conditioner-I think my hair just really likes anything with avocado oil in it. The tubes are medium-sized and I wish they'd make them larger because I use it on my daughter's hair too and it works really well for conditioning and lubrication. Nice stuff! In the summer, if my hair wants something lighter I will use bwc leave-in every so often. It's lightweight. But it's also nice and good to use when my hair only needs a half a shot of condish.

spritz-I make my own and the recipe varies every time so no need to go into details on this except to say I use water and some conditioner and oil mixed together. I don't measure anything out at all. If it doesn't feel like it's doing what I need it to do (which normally depends on the time of year), I add whatever ingredient that'll make it do it what it do.

miracurl curling jelly-I never remember the name of the lady that makes this stuff, but it's awesome on my hair! I use it for twists. It usually makes them hang a lot more than doing them without product (which I have done on occasion, purely from laziness...or maybe just tired from school, whichever). It leaves behind a great shine and smells scrumptious too! It's a little gummy (which is why I believe it makes clumping easier), but it just works like a dream on my hair so I've got like three bottles in my stash!!

jcs condition and sculpt-I love this stuff on top of a lubricant or conditioner! I usually put on some of the alba leave-in and then follow up with this in sections. It's great for defining twist-outs and braid-outs. I used it for the hair in my avatar. If I set it and let it dry completely (I'm challenged in that latter part), it always comes out well-defined and with a nice little hold to it. Lasts for a couple days.

earthly delights growth stimulator-I'll never know why they call it that. I don't know that any product can do that. But this is a great alternative for sealing my ends vs. shea butter or vaseline. I can't put anything on my scalp so I can't say for that. But, I do use it to slick down my edges along with a little gel. That way my edges don't get dried out.

aubrey organics gpb shampoo and jojoba and aloe desert herb conditioner-If I have to do a low poo routine, this is the combo my hair likes A LOT!! I dilute the shampoo and use the conditioner straight. If I ever have to do a straight shot of shampoo (in which I only do one wash and only if my hair is really gritty-REALLY gritty), I use this shampoo or a diluted version of earthly delights shampoo.

aphogee, homemade stuff, spiked earthly delights conditioner, every once in awhile I may try a mango cholesterol-these I like to use for deep conditioning treatments.

Hmmm....Writing it all down like this makes it look like a high-maintenance plan, but it's really not. It's pretty low key, I think. I like the KISS principle. It's what has worked for me and if it ain't broke, I don't usually try to fix it. The only time I might venture out of this program is if my hair starts acting like it needs something else.

Thanks NubieNatty for making me feel welcome!

Hi Natty!!

WOW what a hair journey!! I'm so glad you didn't give up, and I'm inspired by you to bump up my exercise routine. My job just opened our fitness center which is free for ALL employees. My orientation is June 7th @ 2pm. We all have to go before our membership is considered complete! I can't wait...freeeee is all I can say!!! LOL

Thanks for sharing your story, and welcome to CSJ!!

Have a great day!!

KNH

welcome

....comes running in here...Sayin Girl- I am glad that you made it! Sweet and Lynnie were about to come for you!!

Very Inspiring story! I told you! Everyone had a STORY!!!

Welcome Natty. Your hair story was very interesting. What is CCC? I'm glad you were able to over come it and get back into shape. I am working on that endeavor myself. Can't wait to see more of your postings!

Thanks!

Hi poetic! CCA has a lot of names. CCCA, CCA, scarring alopecia. It's all the same. I guess the best one would be central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia as a formal name. Centrifugal scarring alopecia for short and to the point. It's the kind that burns the hair out, scars the follicle and the hair doesn't grow back. It was burning my roots out so badly that I didn't have hair bulbs in that crown area of my scalp when the hair was pulled out. It would come out so easily when pulled. It thinned really badly for awhile. You could never see a bald spot. That's why the docs thought something was wrong with me. But I know my hair. I've been living with it long enough, lol. Anyway, I noticed it was happening once a month mostly, during that time of the month. So, long story short, I was losing more blood that was supposed to be circulating during that time. That was my scalp's way of telling me. It's a common feature in African-American women, possibly due to years of chemical use. It used to also be called hot comb alopecia though. Ultimately, nobody knows the true cause though because there have been a few cases where women develop this issue without having had a chemical applied ever. So, I dunno. Anyway, after I started the exercising and whatnot, I started seeing the bulbs return to that area's follicles. So, I just try to maintain that level of activity.

Nyla, I made it!! And I remembered to take some pics today....I hate pics though so, we'll see how that goes...That's a loooonnnnnnngggggg story. Can't believe you read through it, lol!! Now nobody has to call the po po on me though!

Thanks for the welcome CrissyQ!! This is such a nice forum!

KNH! I'm glad I didn't give up either. But I don't know that I had a choice, lol. Pain management is not my career of choice!! FREE!!!! WHAT???!!!!!! I have just graduated but I was hired back at my school to teach a summer session and the gym there is free for me as long as I'm attached to the school, I believe. I don't know what I am going to do when I leave!! I digress...back to you! SO LUCKY ARE YOU!!!

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So, I used to like doing length checks every so often to see if my hair was doing any better with this issue. I didn't have the time when I was in school. Plus, it's just no fun watching the water in the pot come to a boil. I seem to be getting back in the swing of things though...

This is where I've come to today. I call it Humidity Hair in Delaware. This is only with leave-in condish bc...yes, again, I was lazy, lol!!:

I'm toying with the idea of putting my hair in twists and just re-twisting throughout the summer....A personal challenge maybe? Hmmmm.....

IF I do this, then I would want to get it done professionally first so that all my parts would be straight. I wouldn't have to do that if my folks had had the sister I always wanted because we'd be bff's and she could do it for me....Nevertheless, I'd get it done.

I would want 20-25 twists total.
I'd want it braided at the roots and twisted the rest of the way toward the end.

Then I could just co-wash, condition and retwist for the whole summer. Hmmmmm.....I'm just thinking.....

If I can get through the summer, then I'll think about going another couple months from there....

Look at your hair!!! Wow! Girl!!! You are beautiful!!

Awww thanks Nyla! I think the same about you! And you're so funny!

I did the twists, btw. I didn't get it professionally done, I put them in myself....which makes me think, I may have to get them professionally done at some point if I want to keep this up and wear them different ways. Currently, they're just in a pony and the humidity makes my hair fuzz out like an eraser head! But I'm going to try for a month twisting and re-twisting with these and see how far that goes. This time I twisted them naked and they're all puffy and swollen, lol! Makes me feel like I have thicker hair.

nattyblog wrote:I'm toying with the idea of putting my hair in twists and just re-twisting throughout the summer....A personal challenge maybe? Hmmmm.....

IF I do this, then I would want to get it done professionally first so that all my parts would be straight. I wouldn't have to do that if my folks had had the sister I always wanted because we'd be bff's and she could do it for me....Nevertheless, I'd get it done.

I would want 20-25 twists total.
I'd want it braided at the roots and twisted the rest of the way toward the end.

Then I could just co-wash, condition and retwist for the whole summer. Hmmmmm.....I'm just thinking.....

If I can get through the summer, then I'll think about going another couple months from there....

lmao! welcome to curl street! good luck on your twist challenge. i just did some mini twists yesterday. i'm hoping they last at least 2 or three weeks.

Thanks CocaColaCutie! I have a difficult time leaving in twists for a month, but I'm going for low manipulation this summer. Plus, it's just too hot to have to worry about my hair! I really do miss that sister I never had everyday! She could be doing my hair right now! LOL!!

Natty- I am the oldest and let me tell you from a big sister point of view-- Your sister would NOT be doing your hair!! LOL

Yeah- she would! Whenever, my sister calls there, I AM!!

See!!!! I knew it!! I wonder if it's too late for them...I'll give 'em a call.

Well, this is Day Ten and I have so far co-washed these babies twice. I have to retwist tonight. I don't know about a month.....I miss twist-outs and puffs. We'll see.

your hear story is interesting welcome to curlstreet i have learned a lot of ccs. I actually researched it cause my hair was itching so bad in the past but never to the point of pain as you described. Glad you got it under control that must have been very hard to deal with.

Hi priceless! Thanks for visiting me here!

Yeah, it was. Even today, it's the reason why I don't do many tight hairstyles anymore. I need the blood to be able to circulate to my scalp and when I do tight hairstyles, it restricts it. Shame, because my favorite hairstyle is any variation of a ponytail or puff. But I can never get them as slick as I want to because I can't pull them tight like I want. And I can't wear them as often as I want because I know that my scalp likes to be as unrestricted as possible for better blood flow. Oh well though. I'd rather keep some hair on my head and be pain-free, lol!

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As far as what my hair is doing now, I didn't last the whole month. I didn't really like how I did the braids because I can't see well enough to part them as neat as I'd like. So the only way I could wear them was in a high ponytail to hide the parts that weren't so neatly done.

From 2010

From 2010

I liked the shine and everything. I did these with miracurl curling jelly. It always gives me a nice shine when it dries. But I didn't like the parts. They weren't uniform. But, I need to conserve ching till I get a more permanent position. Plus, I am way too lazy anymore to do small ones. If it ain't simple, I ain't doin' it. I was mad that I had to do so many at this size! Besides, I don't really like ssk's too much and I get them something terrible when I do small twists and braids. At any rate, I have to come up with a better plan for my summer style. In the meantime, I decided I'd see if my hair is doing anything new.

I dunno...I guess it's growing. The first is from 2009. The others are from today. What do you think?

From 2009

From 2010

From 2010

I think the reason I can't tell is because it was curlier in the first pic. The second one, not so much. It's not straightened, it just looks like it wasn't as curly. So, how can I really tell, right? That stinks.

Anyway, I needed a style for the moment before I figure out my next step for my summer style. So I rolled up my puff on small rollers. Just the regular plastic kind with the holes in them. I used to do that on my relaxed hair in high school. I don't know how this will come out on natural hair. Might be a hot mess! But it's just till I figure out what to do next.

I just wanted to change my post title. Hee hee.

Thanks for sharing your story!

I'm lovin your hair! Especially you're puff. My hair will get there some day.....

I have a slight case of hair envy.....lol

Wow, very interesting story. Love your puff!!!

Your braided updo is cute! Yes I think your hair is growing, its gorgeous in that puff!

Thanks everybody! I love puffs! But I can't always wear them. I can't make them too tight or I will wish I hadn't not long after. So I have to wear a scarf to keep the profile the way I want it to look. So puffs are a treat for me. I want one as big as a basketball someday though, lol!! I know, weird.

From 2010

From 2010

From 2010

>From 2010

Mind you, I haven't done this since high school. And then it was on relaxed hair so I could definitely make it look fuller by pulling the curls apart. I'm afraid to do that on this style because I might not get the curls back, lol. I used some Jane Carter Solutions Condition & Sculpt as a fixative over some shea and coconut butter to offset the drying effects of the fix. For fixes, I usually use stuff that gives my hair a flexible hold, which JCS C&S does. But, for something that I want to last more than a day, I may need to pick up something with a bit more hold, maybe? Actually, nix that. I might not even do this style again this summer, lol! I did want to get back to braids or twists for the summer. We'll see. This thing wasn't even dry when I first got up so I don't know. I gotsta be getting out in the morning.

Overall, I like it. It's cute...But, I'm not sure if it's going to be able to take a workout during the week. Bummer. I really don't know how to keep a roller set on my natural hair from spazzing out on me over the week. Isn't that sad? Guess I'd better dig a little more here on the forums.

I like. I can't wait until my hair grows long enough for me to do stuff like that.

I agree with Ash! I cannot wait for my hair to grow longer.

Your hair is gorgeous!