Something New…

I am going to show a picture I did not want anybody to see when I first big chopped my hair. It’s the first few pictures I took the night I big chopped. The first picture I shared on this blog was taken 3 weeks later, after I was able to tame it and it grew a little. I will also share a recent length check right below it.

First, though, my wash day. My wash day actually happened last Thursday, and my hair is pretty happy at the moment, so I definitely can leave it for a couple more days. I am learning to “listen” to my hair! It tells me when it needs to be washed — usually when my scalp is itching from gelling my hair. The shampoo I use is surprisingly well-loved by my hair. Most naturals say that cowashing is life, but my hair loves my Pantene purifying shampoo. I prepooed overnight with a mix of conditioners under my bathroom sink mixed with grapeseed oil and some cayenne pepper (again, it supposedly helps with growth, so why not?).

I hopped in the shower Thursday morning and applied a little Nuance by Salma Hayek shampoo (just because, I don’t know, I’m weird), and worked that in some. I then applied the Pantene Purifying shampoo and lathered it up and left it on a couple of minutes. I rinsed this out last with cool water and towel dried it a little. I then applied Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Leave In Conditioner (my new fave!!), and my hair is….oh my goodness. I love this stuff. What I DON’T love, however, is that my ears have broken out since I started using this leave-in. Me, being stubborn, I’m just trying to keep my hair off of my ears because I found a lovely new product that my hair is not rejecting. *crosses fingers, resists scratching ear*

Without further delay, the pictures from the night I big chopped. Can you tell how unsure I am about what I had just done? I did this at 2 am on a Tuesday, so….

And my latest length check photo (the shrinkage is VERY real!):

As always, thank you for reading, and be sure to check out the other ladies involved in the #WashDayExperience linkup!

Wash Day {1/26/2015}

Hello, readers!

This past wash day consisted of mostly tried and loved products, and a new one. I’ll get straight to my breakdown, and a picture!

• First, I prepooed with Ogx Argan Oil & Shea Butter Moisture Restore Mask for about 15-20 minutes – I had to clean the kitchen!
• After rinsing, I shampooed with Pantene Weekly Deep Cleanse Purifying Shampoo. Y’all. This stuff got my hair SO CLEAN. So fresh and so clean clean. Lol. It’s new for me, and I like it so far. It wasn’t horribly drying, actually. It lathers beautifully *sigh*.
• I then cowashed with my FAVE, VO5 Tea Therapy Blackberry Sage Tea Conditioner. My hair loves this stuff, and I love the price, but I don’t love that I can only get this particular one at Kroger! CVS and Walgreens are closer. Boo.
• I deep conditioned with a Henna N Placenta packet for another 10 minutes, and rinsed, then t-shirt dried for about an hour by accident.
• I applied Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk, Cantu Coconut Curl Creme, and Hask Argan Oil Treatment mixed with a little coconut oil, then I hopped into the shower to let the steam work it’s magic. Everything sunk in beautifully, and I covered my hair with my silk scarf and went to bed.
• The next day, I used some EcoStyler gel to revive my now-flattened hair, added a bright blue headband, and went off to class!

Thanks so much for reading, and have a wonderful rest of your week! There will be a new couponing post for the week up very soon!

Wash Day {1/19/15}

This week I had some dreadful oily hair to deal with and some breakage, so I know I definitely needed a good shampoo and some protein. I took the evening to really give my hair some attention before school starts up this week.

– I started out by prepooing my hair with my DIY cayenne pepper mix: it’s simply grapeseed oil, cayenne pepper, and conditioner. My bottle of Ogx Awapuhi Ginger is almost done, so I was singing the praises of the big bottle of CVS Conditioner I bought a couple of months or so ago and squeezed to my heart’s content. I mixed this for a few minutes until it finally came together into one smooth creamy mix, and applied it with my tint brush. I had a few bandages on my hands to cover some little cuts (kinda sorta bad allergic reaction to the last manicure I had done), and used my hands to massage the mixture in some. I could feel the tingling as I sat to draft this very post, actually 🙂

– After fifteen minutes, I rinsed out my prepoo and shampooed with Ogx Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo. I have gotten three washes out of that little trial bottle so far! #newstapleproduct

– I applied a Hask Henna N Placenta packet for some protein and deep conditioning. It seemed as if my hair didn’t get much from it upon application, so I decided to take my chances and dump another pack onto my head and rubbed it around a little. I could actually cup the back hair into a teeny pony tail 😉 I left this on for about 20 minutes.

– I rinsed my DC out in the shower and then t-shirt dried for 10 or 15 minutes. I don’t need long, and I like to have the water still on my hair for LOC-ing.

-I sectioned my hair and applied Shea Moisture Curl and Style Milk, Cantu Coconut Curl Creme, and some Hask Argan Oil Treatment mixed with coconut oil to my hair. I used a bit of gel on each little section and set my hair on perm rods for the night. In the morning, I took them out, fluffed my hair with my comb, rubbed a smidge more gel throughout to loosen it up some, and went to class! I only got one picture later in the evening after I got home.

Thanks so much for reading!

Big Chop Update {One Month Post}

It has officially been 5 weeks since I big chopped my hair, so I thought it was time to do an update! It’s already growing pretty fast! Which, I mean, my friends and my mom were telling me it would once I chopped off the relaxed ends and could have access to my natural hair to keep it moisturized and happy!

This past wash day, I prepooed by doing a DIY protein treatment that I THINK I found on Black Hair Information. I don’t remember, but I did tweak it slightly. I melted down some coconut oil in the microwave, mixed in an egg, some honey, and my new favorite Suave conditioner. It’s the Suave Professionals Rosemary and Mint conditioner, and it is so wonderful! I now have seven bottles in my stockpile!! I left the prepoo on my hair for about thirty minutes before rinsing and shampooing with Hask Argan Oil Shampoo. After that, I did a quick condition and rinse with some more Suave and then t-shirt dried my hair. Then, I applied Cantu Coconut Curl Creme and coconut oil to seal. I definitely did not want my hair addicted to the Argan Oil treatment, because buying those little tubes is going to add up QUICK. I’ve been using the coconut oil for two weeks now, and it seems to be helping my growth along nicely.

Thanks so much for reading!!

Once again, I am participating in this lovely linkup below:

The Big Reveal…

Alright. Here it is. My big chopped hair….three weeks later. What? I didn’t want to show you my horrible initial cutting job! And it’s already grown a little, so why not?

This past wash day, I prepooed by doing an oil rinse with coconut oil, and then hopping into the shower and shampooing twice with Hask Argan Oil Shampoo. After blotting my hair a little with a towel (I forgot to use my t-shirt, boo), I let it air dry some. Then, I applied Cantu Coconut Curl Creme and Hask Argan Oil Treatment. These two products have been phenomenal since my big chop! My natural hair LOVES them! It also seems to love when I don’t wash as often as when I still had my relaxed hair to tend to. My natural hair definitely retains moisture better than my relaxed hair did, which is really weird. Oh well. I’m learning as I go, and I am LOVING my new look! You could say I’m about that curl life now. I do plan to straighten it for special occasions (I graduate college in a year and a half!!!), but other than that, I’ll be wearing my braids overnight and rocking braidouts and buns during the day.

Thanks so much for reading!!

And if any of you ladies who pop over here from the linkup can recommend SOMETHING for my itchy scalp, I would greatly appreciate it!!!!! I have been using an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse, but I honestly really hate dealing with the smell.