Come To My New Blog

For my latest updates come to my new blog: http://vnatural.wordpress.com/

Its a fresh start for me 🙂

-Jazzie

A New Blog? For More Than Just Hair

I really do like this blog and I have posted a lot of things that I can go back and check myself but I have been thinking in the back of my mind about having a new blog.  I mean the main reason behind me creating this blog was to track my hair journey and right now, theres so much more going on with my life than “just hair”. Thats the main reason I barely post here but I post on my tumblr because Im at a point where its no longer about hair and Im currently at the phase where Im done with research and I’m learning about my hair on my own instead og “googling” all the answers or asking someone instead of finding out myself. So I think I will begin working on a new blog and once I get it flowing correctly with posts.

-Jazzie

Natural Hair Inspiration!

Hair Journey Update: Damage From Dye & The Past..Recap

Well its been a long time since I have updated about my hair journey and hair growth goodness I dont know where to start or where I left off so I will just start by telling what I remember and whats going on right now.

Over the months of this year I dyed my hair 3 times. The final time in May, I finally got the results I was looking for which were red. For the month on June I basically went without my Texturemenatural products so I really was not on top of moisturizing my hair like that.

Fast forward to July I finally received my texturemenatural products and began to moisturize my hair. I then noticed that the roots of my hair were healthy but the tips would not take in any moisturizer and my hair was shedding like crazy. I mean I lost A LOT of hair! I was getting ready to take photos of my hair at the time to update my blog so I began detangling it with my wide tooth comb. Let me tell you, I have NEVER had such a hard time detangling my hair in my entire LIFE and it wasn’t even as long as it originally was. Hair was falling EVERYWHERE after detangling all of my hair it was STILL TANLGLED!! So I braided it down and washed my hair with acv (Apple Cider Vinegar). (I got some of the apple cider vinegar on my face and I broke out like a motherf*cker the very next day.) After I finished with the acv I put some  leave in conditioner in my hair and the conditioner wouldn’t take to my hair either. It took to the roots but not the ends. Here is a photo of how my hair was looking.

So I went to the internet I did a little research and asked some questions. I did a little something with some tea to revive it but it did not work. At first I thought all I needed was some dusting of my ends because I hadn’t cut my hair in a looong time. But then as I began to cut my hair in sections I realized that I had dyed my hair so much that the ends had been damaged badly. The only reason I knew this because my ends were like that throughout my hair. If it were something else all of my ends would have been split or shedding so much. So after cutting my hair I began to de-tangle it again, it was simple as pie!

Unfortunately I do not have any photos of how my hair looks after the trimming but I definitely took a huge step back growth wise. I had to cut of about HALF of my hair. I went from shoulder length to mid neck length hair. Now I know that I am completely done with dying my hair. Plus the only reason I wanted to dye my hair was so that I could see how much my hair is growing and I got that. So there is no need for dying the rest of my hair. Besides by the time my hair reaches a certain length I’m pretty sure the hair that I had dyed will be gone due to me trimming my ends. So I’m not worried at all.

Right now I braiding my hair in big box braids, about 35 braids using kanekalon hair. Oh and ALSO as I was braiding my hair and sectioning it I found something out! I have more than one texture in my hair. That’s answers my question I kept to myself “Why does my hair in the middle of my head take to moisture more?” And the reason why is because its a different texture. I’m not sure what texture it is but the curls are a lot bigger than 4c. The photo I have of them really doesn’t show how curly it is…maybe when my hair grows a little longer I can show it more.

But overall I am very happy with my hair journey. Since this is just a hair journey update I wont tell about anything else I would include how I’m feeling and where my mind set is right now in another post probably for tomorrow morning.

Below are photos of ALL of my progress since November 2012. From my day after my big chop of struggling with high porosity hair to seeing growth to finding the perfect regimen for my hair and lessons learned. I can’t wait until Novermber 2013 so I can compare photos and see my growth. Even though I had to cut my hair I know its A LOT longer than what it was when I started.

-Jazzie

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http://tinyurl.com/journeytolong

Natural Hair Inspiration!

Natural Hair Inspiration: Red Hair!

Natural Beauty Inspiration!

Hair Journey Update: My 4c Hair Tangles When I Wash It..

One thing I have been battling with since my big chop is washing my hair. I have never been a fan of washing my hair, I usually try to skip it unless my hair feels dirty or build up in it. The reason why is even when I detangle my hair, it still tangles and if it doesn’t tangle then it leaves my hair/scalp squeeky clean and dry. Even though naturals shouldn’t use sulfate shampoo, if the organic shampoo tangles my hair too much then I have to result to using sulfate shampoo to get it untangled.

My solution:

I will only wash my hair when it is braided and use acv (apple cider vinegar). My hair doesn’t tangle or anything when it is braided…not only that but it doesn’t clean my hair completely or get rid of all the moisture that is in it. The acv stinks something horrible so I never tried to use it until recently…I used it to loosen the dirt in my hair and rinsed it with luke warm water and it already felt clean so I washed it (which required less shampoo) just to make sure the smell was out. So this is my alternative to tangled 4c hair…if anyone else has this problem 🙂

-Jazzie

Hair Journey Update: Box Braids, Length Checks, After Effects of Dyed Hair

So here’s a recap of my hair journey so far when it comes to styling….

Around July last year, I decided to go natural, transitioning. I hid my hair under half wigs. Skip to November I decided to big chop because I got tired of fighting two textures; relaxed and natural. December, I braided my hair into box braids, inspired by Janet Jackson…I was watching Poetic Justice. January, I made the decision to dye my hair using Carols dye, it was plum but I failed to really retain the color (I’m thinking about re-dyeing it next month). February, I finished braiding my hair into box braids. I’ve made the decision that box braids will now be my primary style since I can no longer successfully blend my hair into half wigs.

So this is my hair my hair when I was braiding it. It’s now fully braided. I did not take any photos of it finished because I didn’t think it mattered. I did want to show photos of it braided and out though because you could see my dyed hair color in the photo and the texture a lot better. These photos were taken 1/27/12.

How I have been dealing with my texture/Length Check….

Well the reason why I big chopped was because I got tired of dealing with two textures. Not only that but my hair wasn’t really cooperating with natural products. My relaxed hair reacted fine to everything but my natural hair is a DIVA, it doesn’t just take any old thing lol. So after I big chopped I dealt with my high porosity hair. I found the short term solution to it was moisturizing with conditioner…Jason natural conditioner. Then I found carols curling cream, combined with Pink Lusters Growth which helped keep my hair moisturized and soft but after I ran out of Pink Lusters Growth, I discovered that Carols curling cream by itself is horrible and it is prone to build up. So I went back to using conditioner as my moisturizer. Now at this moment I’m still using carols curl (only to stretch my products so I don’t go through them fast) to moisturize my hair but its mixed with conditioner and rosemary oil. Its working great for now but I JUST ordered some custom made moisturizer from a guru on FB, cost me $50. I WILL be doing a review on it with photos and I will use it on my hair while its braided and when its un-braided.

As for the length check, I have NEVER done one before. I felt like something was missing on this blog and I realized it was the essential LENGTH CHECK photos!! So from month to month I will be show length check photos and my progress.

After Effects of dying my hair..

After dying my hair I have not really been experiencing any dryness although while its braided my scalp has been feeling a little dry. I think that has to do with my slowing down on moisturizing  I have been getting a little lazy…I used to moisturize 2 times a day but now only one…but tonight I will put the time in. The only thing that I have been really facing after I dyed my hair is knots at the ends of my hair (like in the photo shown with the red circle). Before I dyed my hair I have never experienced that but now I am. Other than that my hair hasn’t been shedding as much. I also haven’t been using any brushing or combs in my hair (except when parting it for braiding). My texture has really been showing great and I love it.

So that’s my hair update for now :).

Thank you,

Jazzie

My Routine For Washing My Box Braids

Alrighty, so heres my routine for washing

The products I used for washing my hair:

-4 large clips or butterfly clamps ($1.99 from beauty supply store or bss)

– SOFT SHEEN CARSON ROOTS OF NATURAL REMEDIES shea butter green tea nurturing repair shampoo (cost $7.49 from bss)

– SOFT SHEEN CARSON ROOTS OF NATURAL REMEDIES shea butter green reconstructing deep treatment ($7+ from bss)

What I did for shampooing:

I started by braiding my braids into 4 separate sections then I used the clips to keep the ends from unraveling. Then I got in the shower and made sure that my hair was completely wet (I always take a complete shower whenever I wash my hair….force of habit).

After that I unraveled one section of my hair and went through each row of my braids in that section applying my shampoo and massaging my scalp…when you go to shampoo your hair, you may notice that it doesn’t bubble as much as would when your hair is out, that is completely fine. After I finished applying the shampoo I rinsed that section with water thoroughly then braided it back up and put the clip at the end. I did this to each section. Then after I was done I did a quick rinse to make sure all of the shampoo was out.

I  knew  my scalp was clean and clear from the shampoo because..well some water from my hair had gotten into my eye and it didn’t burn lol. But seriously when my hair is clean and clear of shampoo; I can see my scalp better when I part it, it feels lighter, my braids were tighter when I braided them into sections and sometimes theres a squeak of clean to it (might only be my hair).

What I did for conditioning:

As for conditioning, I used the deep treatment and I followed the directions on the bottle. I applied it to my hair the same way I did with shampooing. Section by section…then I let the deep treatment in my hair for a few minutes…while I waited on the deep treatment to kick in, I just took a shower. Then after I was done I rinsed it out section by sectioned and rebraided my hair back into for sections.

The green tea in the deep treatment REALLY penetrates the nostrils in a good way…this will definitely be my go to conditioner and shampoo.

Drying My Hair:

Ever since my whole high porosity dilemma I have not put any type of heat to my hair and I wont! So what I did was take my hair out of the four braided sections. Wrapped my hair in a towel and began to wring them out. I then re-braided my hair…I keep rebraiding it because it helped get the water out but try not to manipulate your hair as much as I did…you don’t want to put too much stress on your hair.

Afterwards I took out the braids again because they felt a little damp I had gotten most of the water out. I let them air dry a little then I moisturized my hair..I have other posts on how I moisturize…I put my satin bonnet on the ends of my braids as much. As I could, I put the bonnet on my head and wrapped a silk scarf around the rest of my hair and the bonnet (so the bonnet wouldn’t come off) and I went to sleep like that…with a towel on my pillow, just in case it got wet.

When I woke up my hair was still a little wet but not noticeably….when I went out and about my hair eventually dried on its own.