Struggling with your natural hair? Come in here.....

laurend085 said:
HanaKuroi

I've tried different things. Conditioners: Aussie moist , tresemme, herbal essence ,trader Joe ..leave ins; Shea moisture, oyin hair dew , curl junkie ..stylers: ic gel , Eco gels, aloe gel, flax gel , komaza styling pudding, and oils. That's just what I can think of at the top of my head.

This is what I mean by my hair. This is wet straight out the shower no product.

(part not a bald spot)

The pictures aren't that great but generally at the top there's not really a curl and the bottom is curly which I would think would be the opposite since it's older. And the hair coming out of my scalp is "new" hair so I don't see how it's not curly there but is toward the bottom
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Your hair is beautiful!
 
Question ladies, How long should I leave my deep conditioner in my har if I am just using body heat. I usually leave it in for about an 1 hour. The DC says that I dont even need heat and to leave it in for 15 minutes. I DC every week even though it says you can use it up to 2 times a week. Kind of confused.
 
Prettycoach said:
Question ladies, How long should I leave my deep conditioner in my har if I am just using body heat. I usually leave it in for about an 1 hour. The DC says that I dont even need heat and to leave it in for 15 minutes. I DC every week even though it says you can use it up to 2 times a week. Kind of confused.
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when I do this method, I pretty much leave mine on for an hour under a heating cap, once a week.
 
faithVA said:
Last night I misted my hair with CD oil sheen, misted it with water and then moisturized with Deva Care One diluted with water. Today my hair is soft and moisturized :yay: And I have 0 definition :lol:

Would love to have definition but for right now I will take the soft moisturized hair. It means less breakage and I won't have to wash as often. When I have great definition my hair is crunchy. Maybe one day I will get both. But as my hair gets longer I would rather have soft moisturized hair that I can put up. Because eventually my hair will be in twists and buns.
Click to expand...

now that right there is good news
 
Road testing 3 sisters of nature curl whip pudding, had great success with steaming using their treatment followed with tresseme to detangle. Am trying to dust but still get small broken bits grr! I must admit though since doing CG my curls are better defined
 
fairyhairy said:
Road testing 3 sisters of nature curl whip pudding, had great success with steaming using their treatment followed with tresseme to detangle. Am trying to dust but still get small broken bits grr! I must admit though since doing CG my curls are better defined
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I used 3 sisters of nature curling whip, I really like is. Decent knock off... I got one week hair out of it.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using LHCF
 
JJamiah said:
when I do this method, I pretty much leave mine on for an hour under a heating cap, once a week.
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Ok. Bc I kinda do the GH method when it comes to my deep conditioning. I place a plastic cap, then wrap my hair with a silk scarf, then put a silk bonnet over it and last but not least but a hat over it. I leave it in for about an hour. I just want to get the best I can out of my deep conditioner.
 
laurend085 said:
The pictures aren't that great but generally at the top there's not really a curl and the bottom is curly which I would think would be the opposite since it's older. And the hair coming out of my scalp is "new" hair so I don't see how it's not curly there but is toward the bottom
Click to expand...

laurend085 Your hair is gorgeous!!!

faithVA said:
Last night I misted my hair with CD oil sheen, misted it with water and then moisturized with Deva Care One diluted with water. Today my hair is soft and moisturized :yay: And I have 0 definition :lol:

Would love to have definition but for right now I will take the soft moisturized hair. It means less breakage and I won't have to wash as often. When I have great definition my hair is crunchy. Maybe one day I will get both. But as my hair gets longer I would rather have soft moisturized hair that I can put up. Because eventually my hair will be in twists and buns.
Click to expand...

faithVA Glad you're figuring out product/hair compatibility. Definition will come w/ experimenting of products/ingredients and technique.

Prettycoach said:
Question ladies, How long should I leave my deep conditioner in my har if I am just using body heat. I usually leave it in for about an 1 hour. The DC says that I dont even need heat and to leave it in for 15 minutes. I DC every week even though it says you can use it up to 2 times a week. Kind of confused.
Click to expand...

Prettycoach When I don't have time to just sit under the heat dryer, I usually leave DC in for at least 3 hrs while doing chores, regardless of how long the DC says to leave on. I too DC every week. You can increase DC treatments if your hair needs it.

UPDATE: Did my washday routine. I used AIA Coconut CoWash instead of SM PM. I'm impressed. I'm gonna alternate between SM PM and AIA CCW. Both leave my hair clean and silky. I dusted about 1/8 to 1/4 of hair. Hopefully this would eliminate those tiny breaks of hair.

I did a length check. My hair is about 4.5 - 5.5 inches! I didn't expect this much length considering all the heat damage related trims. What's even more suprising is that my 4c hair in the mid-back of my head is about an inch longer that my 4b and 4a-ish sections. Who said 4c doesn't grow?!

Below are 2 pics of my hair length. Sorry for the quality.

photo (2).JPG

photo (3).JPG
 
I have no issues with my natural hair. I have a regimen and staples that work.

Here's the problem. I'm bored. Boredom is dangerous. Boredom makes me want to relax, just so i can transition.

Boredom made me relax in 02/03, bad stylists made me transition in 09. I don't even want straight hair, I just want something different.
 
Damaged but not out said:
I have no issues with my natural hair. I have a regimen and staples that work.

Here's the problem. I'm bored. Boredom is dangerous. Boredom makes me want to relax, just so i can transition.

Boredom made me relax in 02/03, bad stylists made me transition in 09. I don't even want straight hair, I just want something different.
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This is me!!! Im getting along just fine with my natural hair, but I want a different look. I might get a sew-in.:look:
 
I'm a little bored as well. I wear my hair pulled back or half up/half down everyday. I think the curly girl method has truly made a difference in the way the curls look, but I'm still bored.
I didn't get to wash this weekend since I was out of town, but I bought the As I Am cleansing conditioner, and some banana clips. Maybe that will change it up.
 
Would someone please tell me what length this is? It's about an inch past the bottom of my rather thick bra strap and it's at the narrowest part of my waist but I have kind of a short torso so I'm not sure if this is BSL, MBL, or WL.

Thanks.

picture.php
 
I am not fully naturally. Only a few inches is NG. I never BC'd, and I was at APL-BSL at my last relaxer 7 months ago. I'm struggling because I have so much relaxed hair and it is just awkward to style. I also had bangs when I was relaxed so my hairline is so sloppy because the strays won't stay down or go into a bun. I'm embarrassed to wear my hair natural 90% of the time because of those issues. I'm still adjusting to trying to style and just generally maintaining it. Detangling sucks. I don't have any sort of regimen at the moment but I just bought a full set of products so hopefully I can start something when they all arrive (they were shipped). I've been doing WNGs for the past 7 months. The photo attached in the previous post and in my signature was taken today about 20 minutes out of the shower with no products, not fully dry.
 
Goals for 2nd Year Post Relaxer​
When I first BC, my goal was to grow my hair as fast as possible. But I soon realized how much of a challenge it was considering I had breakage from heat damaged, my hair was super dry and I had no clue what products/ingredients it liked. As a result, I switched my goal from length to healthy hair. Eventually, I figured out what ingredients/products/techniques complimented my hair and I cut most, if not all, of my heat damage.

Now that I am 1 yr post-relax I want to focus on retaining length. My goal is to retain my current length of 4.5 - 5.5 inches as well as add another 4 - 5 inches of growth. Anything more than that is a bonus. I will continue to provide updates so you can follow my progress. Below I have listed techniques I’d use to retain length. If you have any advice as to what works for you please let me know.

1. Reggie – Both my everyday and washday reggie work extremely well for me in providing and retaining moisutre. So I'll continue my everyday reggie of moisturizing w/ water and Gio DLI and seal w/ sweet almond oil; amd my wash day reggie EVCO overnite prepoo, CW alternating SM PM and AIA CCW, and DC w/ Organicals mixed w/ quinoa protein.

2. Sealing Ends – I’d moisturize and seal my hair generally but I never paid extra attention to heavy sealing my ends. Since having healthy ends is key to length retention, I am going to incorporate into my reggie regularly sealing my ends w/ a concoction of butters, oils and protein.

3. Dusting/Trims– I plan on dusting/trimming every 8-12 weeks or as needed.

4. Low Manipulation– I want to go at least 5 days w/o manipulating my hair. So I will eliminate my mid-week CW and just manipulate my hair on washday. I did this last week and I'm doing it again this week. The only challenge is that its forcing me to find creative ways to style my hair.

5. Sectioning Hair – I started sectioning my hair in 6 coco puffs 3 weeks ago on wash day. It drags my washday routine but it makes applying product, washing/rinsing and detangling more manageable. Plus, it reduces tangles that cause breakage.

6. Supplements – I have not been consistent in taking my supplements. This year I vow to take supplements every day. (This is going to be a challenge.)

7. Shedding – IDK if my shedding is more/less than average. However, I read that black tea rinse reduces shedding because of caffeine. Since I don't want to add another step in my reggie, I crush about 5 caffeine pills in 2tbsp of water and mixed the dissolved solution in my jar of DC. Shedding on washday was noticably reduced. I will definately continue to do this to combat shedding.

8. Protective Style - I've been doing bantu knot outs, twist outs, as my protective styles. The twist outs seem to last the longest for me. But I'm working on how to stretch my bantu knot out styles for longer than 2-3 days.

9. Length Checks - I will do length checks every 3 months. My next length check is mid January.

Again if you have any advice on how I can tweak my reggie for the best results please let me know.
 
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Cruzankink, that was very helpful. I like the idea about the caffeine pills in the DC.

Also I want to ask/remind everyone to use as little abbreviations as possible especially for products. Us newbies understand most "process/method" terms like DC and CW but I'm not sure what "SM PM and AIA CCW" means.

Thanks :)
 
bhndbrwneyes said:
@Cruzankink, that was very helpful. I like the idea about the caffeine pills in the DC.

Also I want to ask/remind everyone to use as little abbreviations as possible especially for products. Us newbies understand most "process/method" terms like DC and CW but I'm not sure what "SM PM and AIA CCW" means.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

@bhndbrwneyes I apologize for the abbreviations. I know how frustrated I was reading forums w/ tons of abbreviations w/ no clue as to what they mean.

SM PM - Shea Moisture Purification Masque
AIA CCW - As I Am Coconut CoWash
EVCO - Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Gio DLI - Giovanni Direct Leave In
 
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Glad youre finally making process faithVA! Yay!

Cruzankink--watch that caffeine now--that's a LOT! Tea and coffee have a lot less caff percentage wise than the pure-form pills. Some ladies from my coffee/tea rinse challenge have had issues with not being able to sleep--just from black tea. Caffeine absorbs through the scalp and into the blood stream. Maybe just try 1 pill or you could be like ---->:dizzy: all night! lol
____

My update:

Have had 2 crochet braid installs the last 3 weeks. LOVE them. Might get another hair and do again this weekend. I HATE protective styles with fake hair--but like the crochets because it looks natural, easy access to my scalp and relatively simple install/take down process. It doesn't feel unnatural like a weave or like a cheap hat like a wig. lol. No snapping or hair breaking hair either! I'm getting faster at it too.

I have a full Afro now. My hair has FLOWN out my head! Part of it is the protective style. I also think the other part is the tea I started drinking at the same time. I'm not sure why. Next take down, I'll measure and drink the tea like crazy and do an after-measurement. It was visibily longer after 2 weeks last friday...hmmm...

I was mostly going for healthy hair. But if this tea is like fertiziler, I'll take it. :drunk:
 
bhndbrwneyes

If you only have a few inches of NG, that means you got a whole LOT of relaxed hair. Maybe you should wait until you are natural before you start buying a lot of products. They may not work for you when you become natural...unless you plan to transition for a long time.

bhndbrwneyes said:
I am not fully naturally. Only a few inches is NG. I never BC'd, and I was at APL-BSL at my last relaxer 7 months ago. I'm struggling because I have so much relaxed hair and it is just awkward to style. I also had bangs when I was relaxed so my hairline is so sloppy because the strays won't stay down or go into a bun. I'm embarrassed to wear my hair natural 90% of the time because of those issues. I'm still adjusting to trying to style and just generally maintaining it. Detangling sucks. I don't have any sort of regimen at the moment but I just bought a full set of products so hopefully I can start something when they all arrive (they were shipped). I've been doing WNGs for the past 7 months. The photo attached in the previous post and in my signature was taken today about 20 minutes out of the shower with no products, not fully dry.
Click to expand...
 
bhndbrwneyes said:
Would someone please tell me what length this is? It's about an inch past the bottom of my rather thick bra strap and it's at the narrowest part of my waist but I have kind of a short torso so I'm not sure if this is BSL, MBL, or WL.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I want your hair when I grow up!
 
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