2013 ... New Year New *mini* Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

During the beginning stages of my HCJ I made the goal to reach MBL by 2014 ... In March I barely made APL the went back to SL/CBL in June (due to a cut which I admit was needed). Now one year into my HCJ I'd say that I'm grazing APL (apologies for the guesstimate but I didn't relax/straighten my hair like I planned to). 

So now I have a year and a half to go from grazing APL to MBL (which'll involve reaching APL, BSB & BSL). Honestly I can't say for sure if I'll be able to make it to MBL because of how underprocessed my hair is in the middle (which I aim to cut off ASAP) but that won't stop me from trying!!

Unlike last year I'm going to set a length goal of being ... past APL (whether that BSB or not).

So here are my mini goals for 2013:

1. Continue to stretch relaxers and relax for no more 4 times a year  (just like last year).

2. Find my last reaming staples (including two deep conditioners and a de-tangler). 

2.5 Be Consistent with my regimen, especially when my hair is in protective styles.

What are your 2013 hair goal?

SHAYE x

1 Year into this HCJ; Having I achieved all of my goals??

Here at the links to goals & my looking back at my goals 6 months on posts. This post my seem slightly representative of my 6 months on post so I apologies in advance. 

Goal #1: stretching for longer than 6 weeks (yes i know SHOCKING) to every 3 months/holiday season (which means Christmas, Easter & Summer).

I'd managed to successfully achieve this by stretching my first relaxer for 3 months followed by 11 weeks and now i'm going on 29 weeks post!

 Goal #2: Weaving protective styles (either weave or braids) for 8 out of 12 months.
Success! My hair was relaxed June 20th 2012 and left out for nearly three months and in between protective styles i'd leave my  hair out for about a weak at a time.

Goal #3: *Perfecting a regimen that I will stick to in the future - this included finding my staple products. 

I've managed to discover new staple products such as the African Pride Braid Spray, Coconut Oil, Herbal Essences Beautiful Ends Leave in & the Affirm Relaxer etc but I still need to find a staple detangler & deep conditioners.

3 month into my HCJ & I created Goal  #4: Finding a new salon/Hairdressers and not going back to my Aunt
After getting my relaxer overlapped 3 months into my HCJ by my Aunt I made the decision to go on a hunt for a salon to get my relaxers done. I then found a "professional" salon nearby which was quite expensive but they ended up under-processing my hair severely. I also tried a hairdressing college (again nearby) which did a fair job (better than the other two) but my hair was still under processed (although only slightly) and I was a bit sceptical about letting students relax my hair.

So by the looks of things, in 2013 I'll need to:
- find a staple detangler, moisture based deep conditioner and protein based deep conditioner
- and a new salon/give the one's i've been to a second chance.

Did you meet your 2012 goals?
SHAYE x

Quick update/post ... 27 Weeks Post

So ... apparenlty my last post was a while back (in fact, nearly four months ago!), but i've been really busy with uni work and my time management skills aren't the best. I should be revising right now but I thought i'd give you all a quick update.

So in June I got my hair relaxed and cut back to CBL because my ends weren't in the best shape. This was pretty heart breaking for me as I was at APL but it was for the best. I completed my 12 week stretch until September and decided to stick a weave in. Since then i've also had braids in twice (and i'm getting my hair braided again on Monday). This means that so far i've stretched for 27 weeks which is pretty insane (for me anyway).

The plan was to get my hair relaxed during the Christmas holidays but i've had so much to do & the days have just  flown past lol. So  i'll probably get my hair relaxed during the Easter holidays or maybe even in JUNE (at 1 year post)!

Here are pics of my hair.  I removed the braids yesterday  after spraying a mix of HH HE and water, detangled and braided my hair into 13 sections (my hair is way too thick).

this second picture show how much new growth i've  gained (yay progress) ... unfortunately i forgot to measure it but i'd say is about 1 1/2 inches worth of new growth (which is not the best for 28 weeks post but I haven't been following my regimen at all so its expected). I reckon if i had followed my braid regimen i would've atleast  gotten 2 1/2 inches worth but oh well 

I then covered my hair in a plastic cap for an overnight GHE session. This morning I woke up and my new growth was baby soft, mainly because of the HH HE.

Initially the plan was to get my hair done today however my hairdresser chicken'd out at the last minute claiming that she had two other clients booked and my hair was "too thick" to fit me in on the day. She then gave me an appointment in two weeks time (how generous of her). I've now found another hairdresser willing to do my hair on Sunday. 

Instead of washing my hair this morning, i've just blow-dried the ends and i'm now getting ready to go shopping (yes I still have HH HE in my hair lol but i really need to get a few things). I'm hoping that having conditioner in my hair for so long won't affect it but i've read that many "relaxed-head" use co-wash conditioners as leave ins all the time but we'll see how it goes.

Here's the quick bun i've put it in:

Apologies  the poor bun i'm in a rush and also my edges but I can't find a gel that holds them down (with that said a review on the Eco Styler Gel is well over-due ... expect that in the new year). 

I'm going to have to wrap it up here because i need to have my lunch quickly and leave.

But its safe to say I'm back! 

My ACV rinse with a hint of Green Tea

Just realised this post is nearly two whole months late but here it is! Better late than never right? lol

After applying my Avocado & Banana Deep Conditioner, I proceeded to wash my hair out with ACV and Green Tea. 

ACV & Green Tea Rinse Recipe

Ingredients:

- 2 regular teabags

- 1/3 cup of ACV

- 1 cup of hot water 

Directions:

Nothing special really! I just added the above into a plastic bowl (the ACV, followed by the water and then the tea bags). I then repeatedly dunked the teabags in and out to increase the concentration of tea in my rinse. I made this "concoction" before washing & DC'ing my hair so by the time I came back it wasn't so hot.

My main reason for combining the ACV rinse with a Green Tea bag was to reduce the time it took to wash my hair (sometimes I wish I could shampoo/cowash, DC and  rinse my hair all in one step lol).

Why did I choose to use green tea instead of other types of tea?
... becuase it was the only one I could find at local Tesco (a supermarket), but I am still on the look out black/nettle tea which i've hear are also quite good.

Benefits of Green Tea:
Well first and foremost it's literally bursting full of antioxidants (mainly EGCG - Epigallocatchin) and secondly it contains vitamins such as  B5, C, D and E all of which combat free radicals which could potentially be damaging to our follicles, strengthen and condition our hair and stimulate our follicles leading to healthy hair growth! Green tea is also known to soothe dandruff and psoriasis and reduce inflammation.

Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar:
When researching ACV I found that it was typically used to cleanse the hair particularly those with following and no-poo regime. The slightly acidic nature of ACV means that it reduces build up. ACV contains bottle bacillus fighting enzymes (bottle bacillus is a type of bacteria believed to be responsible for many scalp conditions including dandruff). Lastly, ACV's antibacterial properties means that it prevents hair loss and stimulates healthy hair growth just like Green tea!

Pictures:

I'll definately be doing the ACV & Tea rinse more often in the future (maybe weekly/every two weeks) just becuase it is extremly easy to prepare and the results were fantastic!

NB: Please pay attention to how you hair responds to new products, it may be necessary for you to isolate products in order to know if they are really working or not!

QUICK UPDATE - 12 week stretches just aren't for me!

Ok, so one of my goals was to stretch for twelve weeks without the aid of braids/a weave and although I'm doing so (for the first time ... yay me), I'm suffering from so much breakage that I'm am starting to think that it is detrimental to my hair. Having to de-tangle and style my hair daily is leading to a lot of breakage & thus I've decided that 8 - 10 week stretches will be sufficient in the future.

This does not mean that I will relax every 8 - 10 weeks because I am quite happy to do a 6 month long stretch if (& only if) the stretch is aided by the use of braids.


UPDATE [27/08/2012] - ok so this post is a bit OTT and after sleeping on the post i've decided not to give up just yet but to try and master my stretches. I think the main reason i'm finding it hard is because I still haven't managed to get the protein/moisture balance right but this will only come with time and I need to thus be patenient and focus more on the health (& strength) of my hair rather than just the length.

Shrinkage!

Dealing with my hair in its un-blow-dried state is becoming more and more difficult and the main reason is ... the single strand knots that result from SHRINKAGE!

I'm planning on looking at a few natural blogs/YT videos on how to stretch my hair without out  heat so hopefully I can combat shrinkage.

7 Weeks Post Relaxer Update

So I treated myself to a hot oil treatment/steaming at a nearby Salon and got my hair blow dried. Below are my 7 weeks post relaxer comparison pics:

7 weeks post relaxer

(June)

I've had so much re-growth that I'm struggling to cope with it all. I know I promised to go at least 12 weeks without a relaxer but as soon as I hit 6 weeks post it started to get more and more difficult. I'm finding it hard to detangle my hair and i'm starting to see more single strand knots especially when I wash my hair. As a result I've stopped co-washing mid-week as it does more harm that in should. I will continue to stretch (without putting my hair in braids/a weave) as I believe if I can get through it once I'll be able to do it again. I just hope my hair doesn't suffer.