February Goal Review & March Goals setting

February review

1.      Exercise twice a week- there was only 1 week I exercised for 1 day, otherwise it was usually 3 times a week

2.     Make two new dishes a month - includes baking–  posted a blog with all my success with my new dishes

3.     Undertake weekly protective styling- This worked really well for the first 2 weeks, but due to my drying hidden hair I stopped it

4.     Moisturise and seal regularly - Success

March goals

1.     Continue exercising a least 3 times a week

2.     Drink 1 litre of water a day

3.     Cut down on sweet stuff to only 3 treats a week (chocolates, biscuits and ice cream)

4.     Moisturise and seal regularly

How were your February goals?

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies! :o)

‘Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.’ – Bertrand Rusell

Mid-week Hair Update

Bagging

This week I tried out bagging again. Now I am not the biggest fan of bagging (aka GHE) but boy do I take my words back!

This week I M&S my hair thoroughly on the Monday as I did not. My wash day last weekend was quick and simple, mixed my shampoo with walnut oil and cleansed my scalp and hair and then co washed with Herbal Essence Hello Hydration conditioner and that was that for the week.

I bagged my hair 3 times this week and only M&S once. Honestly, my hair was so soft and moisturised throughout. The only thing I added to my hair was a spritz of my leave in mid-week and then some oil today to seal in the moisture. Are we still in winter, because my hair is not!

I have also managed to keep a week long PS because of it! Now I don’t know why this turn of events with bagging and me, but I am so loving the results! I will definitely be doing it at least once a week for the rest of winter.

Exercise

This week I managed to get 3 days of exercise, and one thing I have changed it waking up 45 mins early to do my exercise in the morning. Boy on Monday I just hit the snooze button and went back to sleep, and did my exercise in the evening, but Wednesday and Friday I did it! I dragged myself out of bed and went for a run! I felt great for the rest of the day and had some time to myself after work.

Celebrating the Life of my Grandmother

I lost my grandmother this week, so grateful to have had such an amazing lady in my life; I celebrate her life and thank God for her long rich life at 92 years. With 28 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren she remembered all our names to the end. God did not take her mind or her sight. She is greatly missed! RIP Agogo! We selfishly wanted you with us forever.

 

Happy Hair Journey’s Ladies!

‘If I had a flower for every time I thought of you….I could walk through my garden forever.’ – Alfred Tennyson

Why isn’t my hair growing?

My last stretch was the longest stretch I had even been on while on my hair journey, 17.5 whole weeks! When I stretch for 12 weeks my hair usually gains 2 to 3 inches! Boy was I excited to see my results on relaxer day! I had done all the things right, M&S, I was in box braids for 10 weeks, therefore very low manipulation! I was buzzing!

Then relaxer day came and….. No length at all! I was where I was 17.5 weeks ago….I don’t get it, what did I do wrong? And wait a minute…I just did a week’s worth of GHE and inversion method, are you telling me I did not even gain ½ an inch?

What are the reasons hair appears not to grow?

Hair is always growing from our scalp (if we have a good enough balance diet) the weakest part of our hair in addition to the line of demarcation are our ends. Our ends are the oldest part of our hair and to see length they have to be cared for so that they don’t break off, and we appear to have reached our maximum achievable length when we haven’t.

My thought of where I went wrong?

1. I had my hair in box braid for 10 weeks, although my hair was not tampered with it probably wasn’t being moisturised adequately enough, especially with start of the cold weather.

2. I did not actually deep condition or protein treat my hair once in the 10 week period. I regularly washed my hair and used instant conditioners for my moisture boost; this could have led to a moisture protein imbalance.

3. The one thing I really did not do during my last stretch was drink water….Honestly guys when your body is hydrated so is your hair, all the good nutrients in the body can be shared with your scalp for hair growth.

What I will be doing going forward

1. Fewer length checks - Have length checks once every 2 touch ups. Since my last length check was traumatising, I need to move away from length to a health mentality. This will be a hard thing for me to do, but I really need to get over length!

2. No Heat – Reduce my heat usage to a minimum, as I will only be doing length checks once every 2 touch ups I will only use my flat iron once every 24 weeks.

3. Shorten my stretch - my longest retention has been at 12 weeks and this was before my new growth got out of control, for now I plan to keep my relaxer stretch to 12 weeks.

4. Avoid long term protective styling. This works well for people but not everyone, it definitely did not work well for me.

5. Short term protective styling – I will try doing it like the naturals, protective style on wash days up to the next wash day

6. Deep conditioning!

7. M&S - Regular Moisturising and sealing

8. Protein – Give my ends a shot of protein. Use protein conditioner for my ends and coconut oil for moisturising or sealing

9. Water, water, water and a good balanced diet!

What has helped you most with your length retention?

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies! :o)

‘Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.’ – Benjamin Franklin

Mid-week Hair Update

Hair

It’s been another super doper week with my hair. My Bantu Knot Out was a success and my hair moisture levels were also a success. I did not have for a week long PS, as I wanted more contact with my hair. I think I will avoid week long PS during winter as the hair that is hidden becomes very dry by the end of the week, and is prone to breakage.

Goals

My monthly goals are going great thus far. I will be dropping the week long PS for reasons stated above. Otherwise, M&S regularly – check; Cook two new dishes a month – check; exercise twice a week – check!

Blow drying on cool

I have been trying to keep heat out of my regimen for this stretch and so far I am happy to report I have not used direct or indirect heat for 6 weeks! I have tried the tension method of blow drying which gave me great results, but it did make my wash day a little longer.

Last week, I blow dried my hair with cool air, using no technic, just random. Then, I detangled my hair. When my hair was still damp but not really wet, like 90% dry, I M&S, then installed BKO. I really loved the way my hair felt and looked after blow drying on cool! I have never really liked the way my hair feels when I air dry it and honestly I really loved the results I got from blow drying on cool , it was quick and my hair was easier to detangle. This also pushed me to M&S in sections as I was detangling my hair in smaller sections. This was a win. I was able avoid going to bed with wet hair and with future wash days I will avoid walking around with wet hair and getting frizzy hair from air drying!

Exercising

My goodness, has the weather been bad or has the weather been bad! Thanks to insanity I am able to bring my exercise indoors! But I do enjoy my outdoor jogs. I have only been out jogging once last week and once this week and supplementing my missed jogging days with insanity. It is really true that, if you wait for the weather, you will be waiting a really long time, so for now I will continue with my jogging and switch it up for insanity when the conditions are just too crappy.

How has your week been?

Happy Hair Journey’s Ladies! :o)

‘Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.’ – Leo Tolstoy

Why is my hair still dry after a deep conditioner with a moisturising DC?

This was one of the biggest issues I had at the start of my hair journey, my thinking was as long as I used a moisturising conditioner my hair should be moisturised….right….to a newbie who had never used a moisturising conditioner before, I thought this was all I needed.

Dry hair after DC has also become an issue during this winter. My stable DC has just not giving me the results I had gotten used to. This has led me to write up this blog, for other people who are experiencing a similar problem.

Some of the reason hair doesn’t feel moisturised after DC and possible solutions.

[1] You could be using a conditioner that isn’t suitable for your hair, or the outcome you are looking for i.e. instant conditioners are not deep conditioners - Shop for products with ingredients such as behentrimonium chloride, use honey or glycerine addition to help conditioner penetration into your hair strands. Sometimes you just need to shop around and try products that work well for your hair. I have tried other moisturising DC that had behentrimonium chloride but they did nothing for my hair!

[2] You hair might have product build up therefore, the conditioner is not taken up into your hair strand as well – the solution for this is just to apply conditioner to freshly washed hair.

[3] You have not moisturised and sealed hair after washing – all the great nutrients can leave the hair strands, especially during winter when the surrounding environment is sucking moisture out of our hair

Moisturise and Seal your hair, more important to seal so that moisture doesn’t leave the hair strands. Hair porosity is real!! Depending on your hair porosity level your hair might be failing to retain any moisture as it passes right through your strands (high porosity) or it might be difficult for moisturise and product to penetrate into your hair strands at all (low porosity). I have also learnt that you need heavy butters for moisturising during winter and heavy oils for sealing as well.

[4] Not using a satin scarf or pillowcase at night, all the moisture in your hair ends up on your cotton pillowcase - Always use a satin scarf or pillowcase when going to bed to keep the moisturise in your strands and not on your pillow

[5] Using products that are stripping, i.e. harsh shampoos – try prepooing your hair with an oil of your choice before shampooing your hair. Also try to use less harsh sulphate free shampoo.

Or, you could also use a sulphate shampoo for your first wash (you need to remove all that built up) and a conditioning non sulphate based shampoo for your second wash. Avoid washing your hair 3, 4, 5 times!

[7] During winter the central heating can cause our hair to dry out - Regulate your central heating, bag you hair, or use a scarf for your hair indoors to help with moisture retention levels

 [8] Incorrect protein moisture balance - Protein and Moisture are the pillars of healthy hair, getting the right balance will avoid subpar results from deep conditioning. Also keeping yourself hydrated at all times will help you have great moisture circulation within your body that will in turn be of benefit to your hair!

The key is to assessing your products, your hair, and your methods. And always keep in mind the changing weather, what worked in summer will not always work in the winter time.

What has helped you obtain all the benefits of a deep conditioner?

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies! :o)

‘All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, and regardless of how much you blame him, it will not change you. The only thing blame does is to keep the focus off you when you are looking for external reasons to explain your unhappiness or frustration. You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy’ – Wayne Dyer