I Am In Love With My Hair!!!

Well it's happened, I've fallen head over heels with my hair. Though I am still mid-transition (9 months in) it doesn't feel like it. The struggles with dual textures has stopped - I think that doing the mini-chop and getting rid of most of the dead, relaxed ends really helped. I am now sporting a head full of curls - actually, I have a couple of straight ends in the front that need a little coaxing, but other than that, the rest of my hair is a big curly mop and I LOVE IT!!!

I finally found a regime that works and some great tips on products from www.curlynikki.com (THANKS NIK YOU ROCK!) and www.maneandchic.com (KAI YOU ALSO ROCK!). I've been treating my hair like a new born baby - because really it is like a new born fragile, but growing stronger daily.

I'm headed to NY for my family's big, blow out summer BBQ (you know how we do :)) and I am going to henna before I go - it'll be my first time and I am super excited about it. I got my stash of Jamila Henna and I am amped to go. I'll post afterwards to let you all know the results.

Anyway, I know I have been more than remiss about posting photos of myself and my hair - but they are coming! I swear...LOL

Welcome to Summer - Summer Hair That Is!

Hello everyone! So I've been away a bit, busy with "Mommyhood", but I figured I'd take a few, sit back and chat - so-to-speak. So, I live in the MD/DC area and the humidity here is quite disgusting - maybe it's because DC was built on swamp land, maybe it's because it has alternately rained and been 85+ outside every day, but this heat does something to curly haired girls!

So in my last post you'll remember I did a mini-chop and got my hair bobbed. At first I will admit I wasn't all that happy with it, but I think that it was more because I was unhappy with my salon experience - but I'll save that for another day - let's just say, no one should be made to wait 3 hours before the stylist even touches their head! So anyway, I tried doing roller sets and then wrapping - just wearing it in a sleek look. Well...let me tell you ladies - my hair would look AWESOME until I stepped out the front door. Before I would even get to work I could feel my hair rising off my scalp and crinkling up - all of my careful work down the tubes.

Thirsty hair pulls in water from the atmosphere and causes the hair to plump. And my hair is perpetually thirsty, no matter how much moisturizing I do!

So I finally gave into the curl!! I mean let's be honest, why fight nature? Because nature ALWAYS wins...LOL! So I made my own little concoction of products that works really well for me and placed in a spray bottle. Every morning I just mist, diffuse slightly or air dry (depending on how pressed for time I am) and go!

I mix:

Water
Giovanni Direct Leave (this stuff is absolutely great for my hair)
Shea Butter (for extra moisture)
Redken Curl Boost (for definition)

I shake this all together and it works great! Now I know that the Redken stuff is definitely not on the natural list, but it works so great for definition on my hair. I did try the Kinky Curly Custard and while it did define my curls quite nicely, it also left my hair crunchy, so I use it very sparingly.

Though I have been natural before - I've never had my hair in a nearly natural state (it has been 8 months since my last relaxer) at this length (just below my ears) and I've got some very nice ringlet action going on. My hair forms ringlets that are about pencil width in diameter. I'm so excited about this entire journey! And I am extremely proud of myself for sticking to it and not giving into the temptation to relax.

Anyway that's it for now!

A Change Of Plan...

So in my last post, I wrote that I decided to braid my hair for the duration of the summer to protect it and give it a break and to take my mind of of transitioning...well that idea has flown the coop so-to-speak.

I've decided to do a drum roll please....mini chop! That's right I'm cutting some of my hair. What is the motivation behind this move? Well it has a lot to do with the fact that my hair is breaking badly. Even with all the moisturizing and protective styles, I just can't save these chemically relaxed ends - I mean I can just run my hand over my hair and come away with strands. So in the interest of not going totally bald, I'm going to cut some of the hair off and get a bob. My hair is currently bra strap length, but hey I've cut my hair before so it's no big deal.

This is the style I'm getting:

I'm pretty excited - I'm getting it done today in preparation for Mother's Day!

Wish me luck and Happy Mother's Day!

Summer Time!!!

Well it's that time again...summer time! When the weather gets steamy and my hair gets frizzy! LOL!! Don't get me wrong I LOVE summer weather. The clothes are cuter, my mood lifts and I just feel a buzz! But my hair does NOT enjoy this weather - even back when I was not transitioning, the hotter it gets, the humidity creeps and my hair either poofs out into a ball of fuzz or it falls flat into a stringy mess. Now that I am transitioning - 6 months in thank you very much - the two textures are at odds, so I have frizzy roots with stringy ends...ewww!! So I decided that the best route for me would be to get braids. My plan is to get a wash and get a deep treatment and trim my ends, then get braids let them stay in for the safely allowed time of 8 weeks - then take them out, give my hair a 2-3 week break bunning during that time, then get another set of braids.

I think this will get my mind off the transition and cut down on some of the transition breakage I am seeing. I've noticed that my relaxed ends are really fragile and snap like a dry twig in the heat. I've been moisturizing and moisturizing and moisturizing some more, but I've been relaxing for years so I expected this.

Anyway, that's my plan, I feel like it's a good one. I found a braider here in my city that specializes in helping women such as myself that are making the trek towards healthy, natural hair - so she has done this whole, transitioning with braids thing numerous times.

Wish me luck and happy summer!

Henna Help!!!!

So...back to hair... ;) I have been reading and researching and reading some more about henna and the benefits. This is definitely something I want to try, but I must say that I am a wee bit hesitant, because let's face it folks I am soooo new to this hair thing. I think other than it's outward appearance, this is the most attention I have ever paid to my hair. The only reason I am hesitant is because plain and simple, I don't know what to do. I read all of the directions on hennaforhair.com and they seem simple enough, but what if I do it wrong???? I don't want green of fire engine red hair! My hair is a really dark brown or an "off black". I like having dark hair and would really want to keep it that way and I believe I can do that with henna and retain the benefits of strengthening my very fragile strands. I've read curlynikki's post about henna and I am building up the courage to give it a try.

If any of you wonderful henna using ladies out there have and tips for this newbie, please - POST!!! Let me know what's good, bad or in between about it. Thanks again....

Not All About Hair

Okay - I know the title of this blog is "My Curly Journey" - but I need to vent if you will about something not related to my hair. I am a working mom and wife like many women out there and we all face some real day-to-day struggles. Sometimes I really do forget that I am not "Super Woman" able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Anyway, this weekend my hubby comes home and tells me that it looks like there is trouble brewing at his company in the form of letting some staff go and he doesn't know where the axe is going to fall. So I say to him, "Ok - what's your plan?" One thing to understand here is that I am a HUGE planner - I know, I know - can you say type A personality, but I believe in that old addage 'If you fail to plan, plan to fail'. He just stood there looking at me and says, "I guess I'll just wait it out and see what happens." In these economic times where it can take months and months to find a job - who just waits around to get fired????

I totally blanked out - I couldn't believe he could be so cavalier!! We have a 16 month old son, a mortgage and a car note. One income is definitely not going to cut it. So I proceeded to inform him of what I thought of his wait and see attitude. He just looked at me and said, "You see all that getting wound up is your problem. There is nothing wrong with not rushing head long into a solution without knowing that there really is a problem."

I couldn't believe it - I promptly went for an hour long walk to breath - I know I can't be completely wrong about this. But I did come to one conclusion - I am definitely not Super Woman.

Bad, Bad, Bad Hair Days...

So.....I still can't work it out with my hair. I am walking around with a giant puff ball on top of my head because I am trying not to put direct heat on my head, therefore no blow drying it straight. To that end I've been doing a sort of go forth and be curly routine which would be great if my hair would curl. I never had any problems with my hair going curly before but lately it'll go wavy sort of...

So to hide the craziness of it all I bunch it up on top of my head in a bun sort of thing. I did a twist out that came out so horribly that I had to actually rinse my hair out to get rid of it. I don't know if it's the dealing with dual textures or me just not having realistic enough expectations - i.e. me not knowing what the hell I am doing, but this is definitely trial by fire!

So me and my bun have been hanging out hard - the only good thing about this is that I have been making sure I put on a little something by way of make-up to draw attention away from the fact that my head is a mess LOL!!

It's funny, my son seems to like the funky hair - he's a baby so I guess the texture is interesting to him. He'll rub his little hands in my hair and start laughing...ah to be 1 years old again!

Well, I'm sure it can't get too much worse....

Here's to looking towards better hair days 5 months and counting....