Serenity23's - Fall Hair & Out & About

Hi Ladies!
Not much going on with me today. I had to attend a continuing education seminar today and wore my hair in a puff. I had a friend looking for me and she told me she recognized me from across the room b/c "the natural redhead stands out." That made my day. Since I have a long weekend and no work tomorrow, I did my hair tonight so tomorrow it woudl be cute! I cowashed with Organix Vanilla conditioner and then added Organix Smoothing Shea Butter, glycerin/water mix and coconut oil and did two strand twists on wet hair. It's not taking me very long to do my twists anymore. I guess practice makes perfect! I'll post a photo of the results tomorrow. Have a great night!

So my friend sent me a couple photos that she saw on different websites from parties I've gone to lately. I thought I'd share.

Well last night I did two strand twists on wet hair. I had gotten in the habit of doing them on dry hair b/c I prefer that look (looks longer), but the twists on wet hair looks more defined. So here are some photos of this a.m.

This is before I fluffed.

A friend of mine that's been natural her entire life told me that it was going to be hard, but almost in a discouraging way. I didn't like that. I felt like well hell if you can do it I certainly can. All my life I've been doing something or another to my hair myself, whether it's been relaxing, color, trimming, braiding, weaving. I couldn't see why she didn't seem to think that I would be able to handle my real hair. I grew my relaxer out and big chopped despite her "warnings" and yea it has required more work than my relaxed hair, but my hair would never have grown the way it is growing now had I not transitioned.

CocaColaCutie wrote:A friend of mine that's been natural her entire life told me that it was going to be hard, but almost in a discouraging way. I didn't like that. I felt like well hell if you can do it I certainly can. All my life I've been doing something or another to my hair myself, whether it's been relaxing, color, trimming, braiding, weaving. I couldn't see why she didn't seem to think that I would be able to handle my real hair. I grew my relaxer out and big chopped despite her "warnings" and yea it has required more work than my relaxed hair, but my hair would never have grown the way it is growing now had I not transitioned.

Well I'm glad you wrote this. I need to make sure when people ask me about going natural that I don't sound discouraging. I just try to make sure they realize it's not a wake up and go deal. It also depends how hands on they are with their hair. If they are like you, then it woouldn[t be a problem, but if they are used to going to salons all the time, it's gonna be tough.

There's not much going on today. I have a photo of my twistout that I wore to church yesterday. I usually DC on Sundays but slept all day yesterday so I DC'd today. I did the baggy method and used some Elasta Qp and some oil and let it sit for about 5 hours. I cowashed this afternoon and put some products in to let my hair air dry. I usually let it air dry in these sectioned off puffs to stretch it out. I will probably put moisturizer in it tomorrow morning and then twist it! Hope you ladies are having a short week for the holidays. If you are traveling, safe travels!

Wow, I've been looking at the pics of your hair - gorgeous...and I LOVE the color!

Thanks Curlykinks! I love to dye my hair. Can't stand it looking dusty black. LOL

Hi Ladies!
Well I haven't posted anything in a couple days b/c I've been lazy and enjoying the holiday. I went out Wednesday night to a lock and key party. The idea behind it is that ladies receive locks and guys have keys. You are supposed to find the match to your lock. This means you will be talking to numerous people trying to find your match. As the night went on, I kind of looked around at teh other ladies' hair and there were only a few natural ladies there. What blew my mind was the # of men that always started the conversations off by complimenting my hair. I have to admit it wasn't one of my better hair days b/c my hair is growing faster at the top and now it's getting really big and I was kind of self conscious about the top sticking up so much. I even had one couple come over and the man was just in awe of my hair and told me he had wanted his hair to look similar but could never find any stylist to do it. I'm gonna attach a photo from that night.


Wednesday made 4 mos of being natural. Each month I try to try new styles and just see what I can do b/c I don't want to get bored with my hair. I think this month I will simply focus on getting a good balance of making sure my hair stays moisturized as well as trying to get it shiny looking. I think i do a good job with moisturizing, but I don't know if its b/c of the color, it just never looks as shiny as some of the ladies I've seen on hair blogs with black hair. Maybe that's the trade off for coloring my hair. At any rate, hope you guys are out shopping and enjoying the holiday with your families.

Love you hair. It looks very good on you! Congrats on your natural journey and happy growing!

You have a beautiful smile, btw.
Blessings

beautifuleyez wrote:Love you hair. It looks very good on you! Congrats on your natural journey and happy growing!

You have a beautiful smile, btw.
Blessings

Thank you!

ChrsLvsBks wrote:Congratulations on your 4-month anniversary! Your hair looks great!

Have you tried honey for shine? You can add it to your co-washes, rinse out conditioners and deep conditioners. I think this is one of the things that helps my hair shine. Jojoba oil and coconut oil also helps when my hair is air dried.

Thanks! I hadn't thought of that. I will try some honey in my deep conditioner. I tried it once as a DC and it ran all over the place. So I'll try it again. I do use coconut oil most days. And by the way, your hair looks very pretty. It almost looks totally different from the other avatar you've had on here.

Im always seeing ur avatar and loving the ur hair and hair color! the color def suits u...ur hair is growing nicely...i think i saw ur pic on curly nikki a few months back and ur twist and curls have been admired since then!

i love your hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! especially the color. I think that you have just become my hair idol. lol...

i was reading your posts from earlier and i think i can answer one of them regarding people who don't take care of their hair when its relaxed wanting to go natural....

i was one of those people. I would never take care of my relaxed hair. I would go months between perms, never wrapped it up and never really trimed it or did anything with it when it was permed.

But since i've decided to go natural i have been having so much fun with my hair that I think about doing my hair and what to put on it, what mixes to make and what accessorries to use ALL THE TIME.

i believee that transitioning to natural hair for people who really are lazy can be a tedious process but also something that can help them learn to take care of their hair. in order to look somewhat decent you have to take the time.

so its possible that a lazy person can take care of their natural hair.

There's not much going on today. I have a photo of my twistout that I wore to church yesterday. I usually DC on Sundays but slept all day yesterday so I DC'd today. I did the baggy method and used some Elasta Qp and some oil and let it sit for about 5 hours. I cowashed this afternoon and put some products in to let my hair air dry. I usually let it air dry in these sectioned off puffs to stretch it out. I will probably put moisturizer in it tomorrow morning and then twist it! Hope you ladies are having a short week for the holidays. If you are traveling, safe travels!


[url=http://www.curlynikki.forumotion.com/butters-n-bars-miss-naturally-beautiful-you-2010-challenge-f14/serenity23-butter-bars-challenge-t463-25.htm?sid=72a93cbb5988e3de2e29950f4ceee362#]Enlarge this imageReduce this image Click to see fullsize


I love your hair in this pic. The color is great. How often do you color and what do you use (I hope this is not a repeated question). [/url]

curly+kinky+fierce wrote:Im always seeing ur avatar and loving the ur hair and hair color! the color def suits u...ur hair is growing nicely...i think i saw ur pic on curly nikki a few months back and ur twist and curls have been admired since then!

Thanks! I was on curlynikki one day before I colored my hair. Thanks so much for the compliments. I've enjoyed reading about "Mandy" too.

p_nuttie43 wrote:i love your hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! especially the color. I think that you have just become my hair idol. lol...

i was reading your posts from earlier and i think i can answer one of them regarding people who don't take care of their hair when its relaxed wanting to go natural....

i was one of those people. I would never take care of my relaxed hair. I would go months between perms, never wrapped it up and never really trimed it or did anything with it when it was permed.

But since i've decided to go natural i have been having so much fun with my hair that I think about doing my hair and what to put on it, what mixes to make and what accessorries to use ALL THE TIME.

i believee that transitioning to natural hair for people who really are lazy can be a tedious process but also something that can help them learn to take care of their hair. in order to look somewhat decent you have to take the time.

so its possible that a lazy person can take care of their natural hair.

Thanks for the compliment! You know I think I agree with you b/c anybody can change anything about themselves that they really want. Like I keep telling myself I'm gonna start exercising and I'm very disciplined and diligent with my other goals in life, but that one there's just no motivation and I keep putting it off. So I think when we are serious about something, we do it. It's amazing to me that just months ago I was reading hair blogs and stalking fotkis and basically experimenting with my own head and now people think my hair is cool.

HumanNature wrote:There's not much going on today. I have a photo of my twistout that I wore to church yesterday. I usually DC on Sundays but slept all day yesterday so I DC'd today. I did the baggy method and used some Elasta Qp and some oil and let it sit for about 5 hours. I cowashed this afternoon and put some products in to let my hair air dry. I usually let it air dry in these sectioned off puffs to stretch it out. I will probably put moisturizer in it tomorrow morning and then twist it! Hope you ladies are having a short week for the holidays. If you are traveling, safe travels!


[url=http://www.curlynikki.forumotion.com/butters-n-bars-miss-naturally-beautiful-you-2010-challenge-f14/serenity23-butter-bars-challenge-t463-25.htm?sid=72a93cbb5988e3de2e29950f4ceee362#]Enlarge this imageReduce this image Click to see fullsize


I love your hair in this pic. The color is great. How often do you color and what do you use (I hope this is not a repeated question). [/url]

Hi Human Nature!
Since I've gone natural, I don't color my own hair. I went to a stylist for the color and basically took a photo and told her I wanted a vibrant red and this is what she came up with. I dyed it around October 3rd and probably won't color it again until Spring. I like to change my hair color sort of often b/c I get bored, but right now the two different colors help me to see how fast my hair is growing. And I think when I do it again, I will get some highlights and lowlights. I know a lot of people say that dying was their worst mistake, but I honestly hate my natural hair color and I just condition a lot so that it stays healthy even with the dye.

So I've been MIA last week. I don't think there was much going on with me. This past weekend I was reading another hair blog and I'm always amazed at how some ladie's wash n gos look great and mine always looks a hot mess. I decided to try a couple new things. The first thing was when I deep conditined, I parted my hair in about 6 big vertical sectins and flat twisted my hair down to my scalp with the conditioner in it. I slept in it overnight with a bag and then in the shower, I rinsed it and took the twists down, but didn't really manipulate it too much. When I looked in the mirror it looked liek the makings of a decent wash n go. I applied some Miss Jessie's curly meringue to each section one by one and for stray pieces, I wrapped them around my finger like coils. My hair was dripping wet but the wash n go was a success and I actually got several compliments. So I think I've found the key! Here's a couple photos. I am doing another experiment this week, which I will share more about tomorrow. In the meantime, Happy Monday Ladies!

Looking good Serenity! Quick question, do you just let your hair air dry? I worry about getting sick with a wet head.

Enchantment wrote:Looking good Serenity! Quick question, do you just let your hair air dry? I worry about getting sick with a wet head.

Hi Enchantment! Thanks for stopping by. Yes, I actually just let it air dry. I'm sure that's not the best idea for health reasons, especially in this cold and rainy weather. But I did it anyway. Mine was dry by the afternoon, but of course mine is a lot shorter than yours so it may take you forever.

I almost forgot to update today. Sunday night I was looking at my ingredients list on my conditioners. I know a lot of naturals really pay attention to what is in the bottle, but I hate science and honestly have not wanted to know what each ingredient does. Call me lazy, but thinking about science things makes me want to poke my eyes out. At any rate, I looked at all the conditioners I typically use to cowash. Two of them didn't have any cones in them- Suave Coconut Conditioner and Nourish Spa Conditioner from trader Joes. I decided for this week I would only use those two to see how this would effect my hair. I washed my hair Sunday night and I have to admit, it seemed softer. I did still use my Organix Smoothing Shea Butter Conditioner as a leavin to do my twists. I'm going to continue using the non "cone" conditioners to cowash and see if there is really a difference in how my hair feels. If I notice a big difference, I may begin to slowly remove the "bad" ingredients from my product stock. Today I'm wearing a 2nd day old twist out and I have tied my edges down with a scarf. I haven't even left the house for the past two days. I believe I want to do a coil out on my hair tomorrow. I haven't done a coilout since I had a short TWA. Here's an older photo from a few months ago with coils. If I wasn't so lazy tonight I would do the coils tonight, but alas I'm just tired and lazy. Maybe tomorrow?

I also love that the Suave Coconut has honey in it. For some reason my hair adores honey. It does whatever I want if honey is involved.

ok Serenity23, I am convinced that you do not get bad hair days. I want my hair to be like that when it grows up and out....lol

How long was your transition?