T.W.A. Protective style.

I want to share the way I style my teeny weeny afro since it is too short for other styles like twists, braids, etc. Lately I have been doing finger coils. I do them after I co-wash and deep condition my hair. To achieve my finger coils I use the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Shea Moisture Curling Souffle, and my oil mixture on my scalp. My co-wash days are Mondays and Thursdays, Thursdays being the day I also deep condition, followed by finger coils. After my hair is cleansed, and I apply my leave-in I section my hair into four parts. Starting with one part at a time, I spray my roots with the Shea Moisture Thickening Moisture Mist, then I apply both the curl enhancing smoothie and the curling souffle, part my hair in small sections then proceed to twist my hair around my finger to create the coils. I continue this method until my whole head is completed, it takes me a good 2 hours. I leave the coils in until Monday, then proceed to do my wash & go and just letting my hair air dry. I have been doing this routine for the past 2 weeks. I unravel the coils the next day for work, they look better as the days pass allowing me to get second, third and fourth day hair. I will continue with this routine until the end of this month.

Final Results

Next Day Hair

How I Wash & Go.....

Homemade DC

Air dried hair

Since I've been natural I have been doing wash & Goes, but because of the winter season I do them at night so I could just wash & go sit my behind down somewhere until it dries lol! . I did however take out some box braids I installed and wore for about a month, I took them out almost 2 weeks because I missed my curls too much and because of the texture of my hair, they started to look like I've had them in  for more than a month. Today I did another wash & go, and I used Tresemme' naturals conditioner for a co-wash. I bought it a few days ago, and OMG! I love it. It left my hair feeling really soft, and I must say that I am obsessed with the smell. As soon as I applied it to my hair I felt like I was in heaven, yes it smells that good. I was wondering what all the buzz was about when I've seen most of the natural hair YouTube gurus were using it on their hair, I know why now. I think I've found my first staple product because I would definitely keep purchasing that conditioner. After co-washing, I applied my homemade deep conditioner and let it sit on my head for 30 minutes then rinsed it out. I closed my cuticles with a mixture of whole leaf aloe vera juice and apple cider vinegar. Then I applied my Giovanni direct leave-in conditioner, another product  I've seen being used among other naturals. So I decided to give it a try, it doesn't smell as good as the Tresemme' but it does have a alot of slip, and a little goes a long way. I found it on sale at the vitamin shoppe for about $5.75, the regular price was about $7.94. I am not head over heels in love with it but I would purchase it again. Following the leave-in I applied the Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie and the curl souffle', then sealed my hair with an oil mixture that I keep in an applicator bottle. Then I proceed to let my hair air dry. After my hair is completely dry I apply the oil to my scalp and edges. I sleep in a satin bonnet at night to ensure that my hair holds moisture.

2 Months Post Big Chop.....

So today makes 2 months post BIG CHOP! yay!! Going natural was the best decision I have ever made, my hair is looking and feeling good. I also see some length coming in, I can even put my hair in a "ratchet ponytail" (hair that is so short, it has no business being in a ponytail LoL!). My short term goal for my hair is for it to reach shoulder length by my 6 months post big chop mark , which will be May 11th. But my overall and long term goal is to maintain happy healthy hair.

I'll be your "Mixtress"......

So I've tried my hand at the whole "DIY" thing since I've done my Big Chop, and lets just say......I am loving it!! For one its so much fun to me, and two I love the endless possibilities when coming up with recipes. I went out and bought me a hand blender, got home and let my undercover "Mixtress" out lol! I even had the nerve to name my creations too (pats fro). Here are  some of the recipes I've come up with so far ;

Hair Cocoon Deep Conditioner

 

•  1 whole ripe avocado
• 1tbs Raw honey (Trader Joes)
• 1/2 cup Unsweetened organic coconut milk (Trader Joes)
• 1/4 cup whole leaf aloe vera juice
• 1tbs pure vitamin E oil
• 2 tbs EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 8 drops peppermint oil
• 4 drops lavender oil
• 1tbs sweet almond oil
• 1/2 cup whole milk greek style yogurt (Trader Joes)
• 1tbs jojoba oil

I added all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl and used my hand blender to mix them together. I made enough for 2 deep conditions because I deep condition once a week. I left it on for 30 minutes then used my sulfate free shampoo to wash it out. It left my hair feeling really soft.  This mixture can last about 2 weeks before it goes bad, but I've even kept it for 3 and almost 4 weeks before and it was still fine. But always smell and observe it to ensure that it has not spoiled.

Banana-Coconut Hair Mask 

• 1 Banana 
• 1 tbs virgin coconut oil
• 1/4 organic unsweetened coconut milk
• 1tbs raw honey
• 2tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1tbs Pure emu oil
• 1tbs Amla oil
• 1tsp mayo
• 1/4 Whole leaf aloe vera juice

This recipe acts as a protein treatment/ deep conditioner, I came up with this mixture a couple of days ago. After I used it my hair felt soft and moisturized. I did this treatment after a co-wash, left it on for 30 minutes. It smelled great by the way. I used half and will use the other half on my next wash day. 

Try these recipes and tell me what you think.

 

How I've Accessorized My TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro)

Bow

Headpiece & Coofy

Coofy Hat

Headband

Bare curls

Cutting off our hair can sometimes knock our confidence level down a bit due to the change of seeing ourselves with much less hair than we are used to. For me it took me a few days to show off my new Teeny Weeny Afro, I covered it with a hat . I was a little self-conscious, paranoid that I looked crazy lol! why? I have no idea, guess I wasn't used to the sudden change. I didn't regret my decision on cutting it, just worried about what other people would say. But I got over it quick, growing up I've always had my own way of wearing/ doing things so I was like why the hell would I care now about what someone else would say? I am on a journey to healthy hair and if no one could understand that then OH WELL! To my surprise my co-workers, friends and family supported my decision on doing the Big Chop, some even thought I looked even better with my new found "do". I gained another ounce of confidence thanks to them, I started dressing up my fro with cute accessories and have been care free about my little bitty fro ever since.

Transitioning Days...

High Bun

U-part wig

Few days old Bantu knot out

Flat twist up do

Flat twist-out in a side sweep do

Bantu knot out

Perm rod curls

Individual twist (back) w/ perm rod (front)

These are some of the ways I wore my hair while I was transitioning.

Life after the big chop and why I did it.

The new me

My relaxed hair

I did my Big Chop on November 11, 2012. It was a lot sooner than I had intended to do it, I have been in the transition stage since late June of 2012. December 2011 was the last time I relaxed the back portion of my hair , and June 2012 being the last time I relaxed the front portion of my hair. I had a weave installed and only needed the front relaxed to blend well with the weave hair. I kept the weave installed for about a month, then switched to reusing the hair for added volume for my bun and from there creating a U-part wig that I wore on and off for about a month. After I became tired of wearing the U-part (it became too much, in the hot months) I started focusing on protective styling, so in September 2012 I stopped using heat on my hair. Before than I was only using heat about once a week, using a blow dryer and my Instyler to straighten my hair. I began wearing my hair in Bantu knot-outs, buns (my favorite hair style), flat twist up-dos, and flexi rod-outs. In the past I've tried going natural but never committed, as I look back I have always done some form of protective styling but not really for protection of my hair, just mostly because I really liked the styles. I would also use some type of natural products, and I have always taken hair care supplements (hairfinity vitamins). Whenever I did put in a relaxer I would do them every six to seven months apart. I was never a fan of putting those harsh chemicals in as often as some people would. For me, I had to have at least 3 inches of new growth. Its funny how as I look back and see that I was not as educated about my hair like I just knew I was, and thought that I was doing things to my hair that I now know were not healthy. I didn't properly prepare my hair for heat styles, my buns were always tight and not often rotated, I didn't trim my ends when it desperately needed it, I barely deep conditioned ( well I was using WEN hair care cleanser, so I guess that counts), and I didn't know a thing about high and low porosity hair. The knowledge just was not there! I just thought my hair couldn't grow past my shoulders. As I started researching the proper ways to care for my hair I realized that I have been abusing the crap out of my hair, saying to myself "no wonder it wouldn't grow, or why my edges were so thin". I began watching youtube videos, admiring so many natural gurus (Naptural85 and mahoganycurls to name a few) and their beautiful healthy hair and the steps they have taken to get their hair to all that gorgeousness. I continued to deal with my hair in it's transitioning stage, mentally saying that I would Big Chop in January to start off my journey but I couldn't take it anymore i just wanted the relaxed hair gone. I spent a few days torturing myself because my brain was telling me to cut, cut, cut but I was fighting against waiting it out or just start chopping. So after getting home from work (11:30pm) and jumping into my nightly routine, I got on youtube and started watching videos about the Big Chop. After watching so many of them and seeing how in a years time, these women hair grew so beautifully and wanting the same thing for myself I got my butt up, grabbed my hair scissors, wet my hair, started chopping (it was about 1:30am) and never looked back. So I've said goodbye to thin, damaged and broken hair, and saying Hello Dawlin'!! to beautiful healthy hair.