LoveSunshine17

I spent most of this past week fretting over what I would do with my hair because my dorm's winter formal was this past Thursday and I couldn't for the life of me think of a cute style. During Thanksgiving break my cousin did my hair in rope twists and they are so nice that I didn't even think of taking them out to rock a twist out that for me doesn't last more than two days. LoL. So I fooled around with my hair thinking of different ways to pin it up or style the twists. I decided on a perm rod set for bangs and some sort of bun. However Wednesday night I was so tired! I forgot to set my hair and just fell asleep around 11pm. That morning I woke with an hour before work at my part-time job. I quickly spritzed my bangs with water and put in the rollers then rewrapped my hair with my satin scarf and pulled on a winter hat. It was 70 degrees that day. LoL, I looked ridiculous but I couldn't take off my hat... When I took out the rollers that evening my curls weren't perfect but with some manipulation I got it how I wanted it to look. I parted my twists and held the front with a scrunchie then I twisted the back into a medium size bun and secured it with bobby pins. I tried a similar bun in the front but I didn't like how it looked so I made one large flat twist in the shape of a crown leading right to left and then back into the bun which I secured once more with bobby pins. It was cute.

I've only had my rope twists in for about a week and a half and I'm already tired of them!! I want to play in my hair! And I'm dying to wash it but my twists act funny when I wash them; I think its my relaxed ends acting adversely to water but washing twists for me results in a bad twist-out. I'm counting down the days (Friday!!!) until I untwist my hair. Its going to take a really long time~ there are over 100 twists on my head. Oi~...

Also I didn't realize how much hair likes to hold in the curls I put in. I perm rodded some of my twists five days ago and they still won't lay down! I've tried pinning them down, pulling them back into a ponytail, and wrapping them at night but when I remove the pins and head scarf, "wooosh," the curls are back... I guess that's good for when I start to do rollersets and curly fros.

I read about the Maxiglide flat iron over the weekend and I can't wait to purchase one! I'm going to wait until the spring and buy it as a graduation gift for myself. I haven't applied any heat to my hair since last year and I can tell the difference. I have less split ends and my hair feels super strong, even my ends! My hair used to be sooooo brittle and dry; it actually looked like hay. So I think straightening my hair in the spring after more than a year without heat will be nice for a change. Plus, I love that it has a steam function.

Thank you ChrsLvsBks!

So the way my cousin explained rope twists to me is that you twist each individual strand of hair in your hand as you make your two strand twists. I'm not sure if that was very clear... >.<

Let me see if I can find a tutorial on youtube~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySdefk441Qk

I learned something new~ They are actually called sister twists in the US but we call them rope twists in the Caribbean.

I really like your rope twist, the style compliments you well. It seems like there is a lot of versitility with them. I def want to go for something like that as I tend to play with my hair waaaay too much.

Thank you HumanNature!

I really want to do a curly frohawk next week. I've been looking at youtube tutorials to find a really fun design. I'll update you with pics on Friday and next Monday!

So, its really nice having my natural hair back. I've had a relaxer since I was six or seven and can't remember what my hair was like before then. Looking at pictures, I know my mom used to put my hair in bubbles and clips when I was little. My hair was a good length too! I think it became too much of a hassle to do my hair, get me ready for school, and go to work though so my mom took me to get my first relaxer in first grade. I remember getting the perm washed out and crying because it was burning my scalp and the water was really hot. LoL, traumatic hair experiences!! I got relaxers regularly after that and had pretty healthy hair because it was constantly being taken cared of. However I didn't care much for learning to do my own hair, so when I went to boarding school my hair's health took a turn for the worse. I rarely relaxed it or treated it so a lot of my ends broke off. Then I decided to bleach my hair in order to have blond highlights... >.< Worse decision ever! The style was cute but relaxer + bleach + zero care equaled recipe for disaster. By the end of high school, my once full head of thick hair was thinner than air. When I started college, I began to twist my hair in between relaxers so that I wouldn't have to worry about doing anything to it. Between the start of the summer after sophomore year and the end of junior year I had gone through three weaves and one relaxer. When I took out my last weave, my hair felt thick and healthy for the first time in years. I had about two inches of adorable kinky curls growing out of my scalp. Its been one year and three months since my last relaxer and my hair couldn't be happier!!

I BC'ed my hair over the weekend.

I did a twist out last Friday that I'll talk about tomorrow but after sleeping on a cotton pillowcase without a tying my hair Friday night my hair was a dry mess. I spritzed it with water on Saturday morning and fixed it a little but it was in great need of TLC. So Saturday night I prepared a beauty session for my hair. First I pre-pooed with a mixture of Curls Coconut Sublime Conditioner, Jamaican black castor oil, carrot oil, and aloe. I warmed the mix in the microwave, let it cool a little, then scooped it out of the bowl unto my scalp and hair ends. I put on a shower cap and let it sit for about 30 minutes while I did my homework. Then I rinsed it out with hot water in the sink. I hadn't washed in about three weeks and little dry scalp flakes had been falling out of my hair for about a week so I decided to do a deep cleanse followed by a deep conditioner. I have a jar of bentonite clay that I bought at the Vitamin Shoppe. I had only used it once on my scalp for 5 minutes but this time I coated my hair and scalp and let it sit for awhile without a shower cap.


I washed the clay out with hot water and my Aubrey Organics J.A.Y Desert Herb Shampoo. I detangled with the Curls conditioner and VO5 then deep conditioned with Aubrey Organics Jojoba & Aloe Desert Herb Conditioner for about 30 minutes using my foil conditioning cap. So soft!!! I wanted to try my Ecostyler gel again because the last time I used it my hair felt like paper. So i decided to shingle my hair with Giovanni leave-in conditioner and Ecostyler. When I finished I was disappointed with the end results. My relaxed ends were stringy and hard, lying limp on my shoulders while my puffy natural hair tried its best to make me smile. I wondered what if I didn't have those ends... what if I cut them... I laughed and went to my room. Suddenly there were scissors and a mirror in my hand and I was cutting the ends off my bangs; when I was done I looked in the mirror and smiled. My hair looked adorable poofing from my head. I wrote an IM to my roommate who's also a natural and told her I was cutting my hair. I started from the back left and worked my way to the front then I went from the back right to the front. When I finished, I looked at the small pile of hair on my desk (my relaxed hair was so thin!! >.<) and freaked out. One of my other roommates knocked on my door and saw my new hair. She really liked it! I just looked at her, smiled, and started crying. She distracted me with Korean soap operas and I started laughing. Two hours had passed by; it really wasn't that bad looking. I showed my natural roommate my hair and she was so happy. But I felt a twinge of jealousy comparing my 4B hair to her 3C/4A bouncy curls. Three things went through my head: a) Weave it up, b) M won't want to go on a date with me, and c) What do I do now. I went to sleep thinking of all the bad things my brothers would say when I go home next weekend. When I woke up I took off my satin cap and smiled. I fluffed my hair, put on some huge earrings, and got ready for the day. My hair is named Fluffy. I feel a little freer now that I'm not limiting myself to maintaining length over health! (It isn't even that short now. My hair is just super super coily but when I pull on it, its like 5 or 6 inches in the front and maybe 3 inches in the back!)

Also, so many people (of different ethnicities) like my hair!! I was really worried about what people would say... I haven't heard any comments from black people with the exception of my natural roommate. I always pat people on the head so it didn't seem strange when my Latina friends patted my hair today, lol. My favorite comment came from my Vietnamese friend. He told me I was really embracing my Afrocentric roots now. LoL.

Its only been three days but I can already feel sense a difference in my hair's moisture levels! All of my products have been melting into my hair and it looks shiny and luxurious. When I was still transitioning, I had to work my products into my hair and at times my roots felt dry while my ends felt very oily. Now Fluffy (my fro) has found balance and harmony in herself and I'm so happy. I told my mom I cut my hair and she thought I meant that I trimmed it but I said no, I cut off all my relaxed ends. She was a bit confused but she wasn't upset. She just said, "it'll grow back." So I guess I'm happy there's no drama there. I did a twist out on dry hair yesterday and it looked good!! I always had to do wet twists before so I'm glad that my twist-outs work on dry hair now, especially since its really cold and I don't want to wash my hair all the time. So I re-twisted last night and I've been rocking them today. I'll take them out for my last exam on Thursday.

(I wonder if my rope twist-out last week didn't look as good because it was done on dry hair... a possibility?)

congrats on your BC! wow a year and three months! i lasted about 10 months, but I was constantly in a weave. i had no desire to battle the two textures.

hmm...i'm not sure about dry versus wet twist outs. i'm still trying to perfect my twist out routine.

Congratulations on your recent BC!!! I am happy you and Fluffy are happy!!

I love that you cut your own hair! Its so cute!

congrats on your BC and your new found relationship with your hair

Way to go on your BC !!! Go FLUFFY Go!!!

---Reese

ChrsLvsBks wrote:Thanks for explaing rope twists. I have tried to do them on my hair. I would forget which way I twisted. When I was successful, I loved the feel and look of the twist. I may try it again when I have time to look in a mirror.

No problem, glad I could help a little. Good luck trying them out again~ I want to try and do them myself this time. I think I'll attempt to when I get home for winter break.

CocaColaCutie wrote:congrats on your BC! wow a year and three months! i lasted about 10 months, but I was constantly in a weave. i had no desire to battle the two textures.

hmm...i'm not sure about dry versus wet twist outs. i'm still trying to perfect my twist out routine.

LoL, thank you CocaColaCutie! Don't worry, I also had about three weaves and braids over the past year and a half. Haha, I just didn't want to look at my dry hair.

What products do you use when you twist your hair? I usually just put Cantu shea butter but I want to play around a little now with my products...

Lynnieluve wrote:Congratulations on your recent BC!!! I am happy you and Fluffy are happy!!

AfrikanLatina wrote:I love that you cut your own hair! Its so cute!

sweetdrk1 wrote:congrats on your BC and your new found relationship with your hair

Freestyles wrote:Way to go on your BC !!! Go FLUFFY Go!!!

---Reese

Thank you Lynnieluve, AfrikanLatina, sweetdrk1, and Reese! LoL

Company Name: Aubrey Organics
Product Name: J.A.Y. Desert Herb Revitalizing Shampoo

Consistency: Thick, gel-like

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Coconut Oil-Corn Oil Soap,
Hydrolyzed Soy Protein (made from organic, non-GMO soybeans), Organic
Aloe Vera, Carrageenan, Organic Jojoba Oil, Yucca Root Extract, Organic
Lemon Peel Oil, Essential Oil Blend (Oils of Cedar, Grapefruit,
Rose-Geranium, Rosewood, Lavender, Rose, Lilac and Violet), Panthenol
(Vitamin B-5), Linoleic Acid (Vitamin F), Aubrey's Preservative (Citrus
Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C and E).

Price: around $10-$12

Scent: Earthy

Purchase from: Vitamin Shoppe

Review: I know a lot of curlies don't use shampoo but I LOVE finding a good shampoo and this has got to be one of my favorites. I don't need to use a lot to cover my head and unlike other sulfate-free shampoos that I've tried, it has some lather so I know when to stop putting more in my hair. It cleanses my hair and scalp without overdrying and has a very light tingly feeling. My hair actually feels softer and stronger after washing with J.A.Y. which I attribute to its blend of yucca root, organic jojoba oil and organic aloe. At first, the smell was a bit overpowering but I've since gotten used to it and it wears away after an hour or so. It is also easily masked by the scent of your conditioner. Its definitely a keeper! My 11oz. bottle has lasted two months so far; I probably won't need to restock until mid-February which is nice for my wallet.

Thanks for the review! As a functioning product junkie, my "itch" for my next fix seems to be coming on. I've never tried anything from the Aubrey Organics line...

In search of my next "hair high,"

--Reese

Congrats on your BC. Looks good girl!!!

Freestyles wrote:Thanks for the review! As a functioning product junkie, my "itch" for my next fix seems to be coming on. I've never tried anything from the Aubrey Organics line...

In search of my next "hair high,"

--Reese

LoL Aubrey Organics is to die for~! Their products are so moisturizing and strengthening. I think they'll be a keeper on my hair-shelf (bookshelf filled with hair products) forever.

Intelligentbeauty wrote:Congrats on your BC. Looks good girl!!!

Thank you Intelligentbeauty!

After three days in a hat and scarf, I finally let me hair out today. LoL, I felt like I had a warm animal on my head. While the rest of my face was freezing off and I could barely feel my ears, my scalp was warm and toasty! Yay!! I'm thinking about accessorizing with cute earmuffs. ^^ I'm going to wash in the morning and attempt a frohawk.

So these past few days my hair has just been in twists and I've been very bad about moisturizing. When I was still transitioning I only moisturized three or four times a week but now Fluffy craves water and conditioner like no other. When I untwisted today my hair was super DRY. I put on some Cantu shea butter and grapeseed oil and I was good to go. I'm glad I can actually tell how my hair is feeling now; it was hard to distinguish dry vs. moist on my transitioning hair because the ends were so oily. >.< The last few days before I BCed my ends kept breaking whenever I touched my hair. It was probably from the lack of moisture.

how long did you transition for?

I'm happy your BC went so well! I like your new name too, they use to call me that in HS lol You look very happy and your "new" hair compliments who you come across as in pictures very well!

I'm so frustrated. Its been almost three weeks since I ordered from Afroveda and my products have not arrived yet. I'm going home tomorrow and can't have packages forwarded to me from school. Aghhhh!!! If its not here by then, then I have to wait till the end of January to pick it up...

I cowashed today with Curls and VO5~ My hair is super soft. I think I might repurchase Curls in the future. Maybe next summer? It worked really well with my hair this past summer so I might also buy some other products from the line like the hair milk and gel-e-sic (spell check, lol). I just can't get over the sugar cookie/bread pudding smell; its way too sweet and overpowering. Also I may try another Vo5 conditioner. I'm currently using the strawberry moisture milk line but its so thin... it was really nice when I mixed it with my Aubrey Organics though... My roommate likes the freesia line so I'll try a bottle. Hey its only 99 cents so why not.

Intelligentbeauty wrote:how long did you transition for?

I transitioned for one year and three months~.

LilMsPuddles wrote:I'm happy your BC went so well! I like your new name too, they use to call me that in HS lol You look very happy and your "new" hair compliments who you come across as in pictures very well!

Thank you LilMsPuddles!

I am trying to remember if mine took long to come. I will say this I am sure you will be pleased when they do arrive.