Meet Sofia!!!

Since my last post, I've joined a hair board (curl talk at naturallycurly.com), finished my second year of law school, started an internship, and of course, did a whole lot of experimenting with my hair. I've tried a wide range of products from cheapo conditioners that can be found at any drug store to high-end products that can only be found online. Through all of this experimenting, I have noticed that my hair has a personality of her own. She loves some ingredients that I absolutely can't stand the smell of, and she hates things that I want her to like. She often does not do what I want her to do, and prefers to just do her own thing. She has her own way of letting me know that she's not happy with something and endures all of the products that I have used on her thus far. After a while, I started calling her by her God-given name: Sofia.

Over the past 3 months, I have come to know and love Sofia for exactly who she is. By getting to know her, I can make better product choices and even predict whether a particular product may or may not work for her.  To better help everyone understand my product reviews and how certain products work for me in the future, I have compiled a list of Sofia's characteristics as well as some of her likes and dislikes. I've also included some random shots of her with and without product, and styled and not styled. So without furhter ado, meet Sofia! I know you'll lover her just as much as I do!

Sofia’s Stats
Density	Normal to thick
Strand Thickness	Fine to very fine
Curl Pattern	3c/4a
Curl Type:	Mostly coijls with some S-shaped curls
Porosity	Normal to low

Sofia, Damp with No Product

Sofia, Damp with Deep Conditioner In

Second-day hair Wash 'n go

Sofia's Likes and Dislikes

Likes	Dislikes
Shea Butter	Aloe Vera Gel
Olive Oil
Coconut Oil
Aloe Vera Juice
Glycerin (in appropriate dew points)

Hair Diary: 2 Week Post-BC Update

Second day hair

For the first time in an extremely long time, I absolutely adore my hair! Every time I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror, I can’t help but smile! Although I originally told myself that I would wait until my 12-month post relaxer mark to BC, I have absolutely no regrets about choosing to BC earlier. For anyone that is still going through the transitioning process, HANG IN THERE! At times I know that it can be really frustrating, but it is totally worth it!

For the past two weeks, I have just been experimenting with products to get a feel of what my hair likes, and how my hair reacts when something works really well for it.  I’ve learned that not all conditioners are created equal –at least not when it comes to my hair lol—and my hair will give a distinct reaction when it isn’t a fan of something that I am using. I have already fallen in love with one new product, and have fallen back in love with a product that I had previously written off. I am also in search of really really good protein rich and protein free deep conditioners. Needless to say, there will definitely be TONS of product reviews to come in the future!

I’ve also been working on getting a set regimen. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel or anything, but some adjustments do need to be made to best fit the needs of my hair at this time. I don’t want to use 20,000 different products every single time I put water on my hair, so I’m attempting to formulate something that is extremely simple, yet very effective. Since I haven’t really had the opportunity to play in my hair too much because of school, I have only been wearing wash-n-go’s. That really isn’t a problem for me since I’m basically just moisturizing it every few days and letting it be in the meantime.  

I BC'd!!!

Remember when I said that I was going in to see my stylist for a trim in this post? Well, when I sat in the chair I accidentally ended up saying "take off all the relaxed ends" instead of "take off a few inches." When I realized my flub, I didn't even bother trying to correct myself. I thought that maybe my unconscious was telling me that it was time, so I just went with the flow...and I could not be happier!

My Biotin Challenge!

Last week, I looked into what hair pills are supposed to do and whether they really work. (Check out that post here). After finding that most of the vitamins needed for hair growth are encompassed by most, if not all, multivitamins, I decided to forego using a hair pill and just use my multivitamin. I checked out my own multivitamin, One A Day Women's, to see if it included all of the necessary vitamins. 

From the bottle, it seems that all of the essential vitamins for hair growth are accounted for in full, except for biotin, which is only supplemented by 10%. This made me curious as to whether it was necessary to supplement my multivitamin with biotin.

Biotin, Vitamin B7 and often referred to as Vitamin H, is one of the 8 essential vitamins for the body. It aids in the metabolism of fat and amino acids, and is an essential element in cell growth. Biotin especially plays a critical role in the health of hair, skin, and nails. Dermatologists often recommend biotin supplements to their patients to treat and slow down hair loss, as well as promote new growth. Although the recommended dosage of biotin is 300 micrograms daily, a higher dosage will not do any harm to the body. Biotin is water soluble, meaning that the body will only intake and make use of what it needs. Any excess is broken down by water. This makes it essential to drink lots of fluids when supplementing with high doses of biotin. If not enough water is consumed daily, biotin can clog the pores causing acne.

As a result of taking biotin supplements, many people have seen their hair grow anywhere from 1/2 an inch to a full inch of hair each month. Curious to see what this would do for my hair, I decided to give it a try. Last Thursday, March 10, I began supplementing with 5000 micrograms of biotin. I will continue to take one pill, containing 5000 micrograms of biotin, in conjunction with my multivitamin until I run out of the bottle. At that time, I will remeasure my hair to see how much it has grown. The bottle has 120 capsules, so the experiment will last for 4 months. (I purchased my biotin supplement from Walmart for only $7!!!)

Beginning new growth length: 4.5 inches (not too bad for 10 months!) 

Feel free to join me in this challenge!

Pretty Nails: An Added Benefit of Good Hair Care

As many know, good hair care practices can lead to longer, healthier hair. In addition to this desired benefit, I have found that it also leads to pretty, well manicured nails. (Bet you didn't think of that benefit, did you? lol)

A commonly overlooked cause of hair breakage is right there on our fingers: our nails. Also a protein element of our body, nails with edges that are not kept smooth have the ability to snag our precious locks, breaking each strand that is caught. Since our nails are an extension of our fingers which are needed to do...well, basically anything...with our hair, this can be a bit troublesome. To prevent inadvertent breakage, check to ensure that your nails are smooth before handling your hair.

For me, this hair care practice has meant an investment in good emory boards (which I now keep handy at all times out of habit) and of course new nail polish (I'm an OPI fanatic!). Since my student budget won't exactly allow me to get my nails professionally done weekly, I've taken to methods of giving myself my own manicure at home. The Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens have been super helpful for those times when the classic manicure needs a little bit of edge put to it. Check out my most recent creation!

These are the products that I used to get this look:

Products from Left to Right: Orly Top 2 Bottom for base coat,  Essie "Turquoise & Caicos", Nicole by OPI  "Give Me the First Dance", OPI RapiDry Top Coat, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black

The practice of keeping my nails smooth in order to prevent inadvertent hair breakage is definitely one hair care practice that I don't mind having! 

My Product Wish List

{link}

 In doing research of natural hair care over the past 9 months, I have come across a number of different products that I would absolutely love to try. Since I refuse to pay top dollar for a product only for it to be used on hair that I intend to get rid of anyway (i.e. my relaxed ends), I decided to put off this trial process until I am completely natural. As my BC date grows closer and closer, I can't help but list out the products that I want to try in turn. Below is a list of the top two products in each category that I can't wait to get my hands on.

Shampoo/Cleansers

Oyin  Handmade Grand Poo Bar

I've heard so many good things about this all-natural solid shampoo.  Those that have reviewed rave that it gets their hair clean while keeping it extremely soft. Can't wait to try it out!

Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream

This award winning cleansing cream is supposed to be packed with conditioning power comparable to that of a conditioner but also has the ability to get the hair extremely clean.

Co-wash Conditioners

TRESemme Naturals Silicone Free Conditioner

There are two main things that I want in a co-wash conditioner: no silicones and extremely cheap. Although this may not have all of the best ingredients in it, it surely covers those two requirements.

Oyin Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner

This all-natural alternative is a bit more on the pricier side but is packed with goodies to restore moisture, softness, sheen to your hair. Can't wait to get my hands on a bottle of this stuff!!

Deep Conditioners

JessiCurl Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment

Hair boards have raved about this product and all the goodness that it does for their hair. Still looking for a good DC, can't wait to give this one a try!

Karen's Body Beautiful Luscious Locks Hair Mask

I have heard so many good things about the KBB line altogether, but the cost has kept me from trying anything as of yet. Once fully natural, one of the first products I wanna try from this brand is her DC.

Moisturizers

Oyin Handmade Hair Dew

If you can't tell by now, I absolutely want to adore the Oyin Handmade line of products. Yet another product that I want to get my hands on from them is their hair dew. Oyin is known for their other juices moisturizers, but I have my eye on their hair dew.

Styling Products

Kinky Curly Curling Custard

Already a fan of Kinky Curly Knot Today, I can't wait to be fully natural so I can try the Curling Custard. Providing both moisture and hold for wash and go's, I hope I really really like this product when I finally get the chance to try it.

Oyin Handmade Shine & Define

I have seen a number of YouTube videos where people have obtain outstanding twist-out and braid-out results while using this product. Can't wait to give it a try!

Other Tools

Huetiful Hair Steamer

This tool has been raved about all over the natural hair community. Providing both moisture and heat, this tool claims to make your DC work 5 times better. Everyone who has tried it absolutely loves it. It's a bit pricey (going for about $130), but I really really REALLY want to use it!

The Tangle Teezer

Although this thing doesn't look like it would be of any assistance with its bristles so close together, everyone that has tried this product says they love it more than they love their Denman brush! Since this product supposedly works on all types of hair (even hair extensions), I wanted to see if this thing would work on transitioning hair so I ordered one. Look out for a product review on it soon!

Seems Like Your Ready...to BC...

Over the past few weeks, I have been working hard on a paper for a moot court competition at school.  During this time, I had to put a lot of things on the back burner, including washing my hair. Yes, I went two weeks without washing my hair instead of the usual once a week washday. The result was a huge curly fro which I absolutely loved!

The day after I turned in my paper, I finally had the free time to wash my hair. I followed my usual washday steps, but that day something was just different. For one, I realized how thick my hair was getting. And for another, I realized that maybe I’m more ready to BC than I originally thought.

After I DC’d and began to style, for some unexplained reason I decided to clip the relaxed ends off of random pieces of hair around my head. There aren’t gaping areas where I did this, but just a few strands here and a few strands there. In my snip happy frenzy, I had the urge to completely cut off all of my relaxed ends. And to be honest, if I didn’t have a prior engagement later in the day, I probably would have BC’d right there in my bathroom. I was actually rationalizing with myself that I couldn’t do it at that moment like I wanted to.

To say the least, I was kind of surprised by my reaction. The pieces that I did cut were relatively short (at 9 months post I only have on average 4.5 inches of new growth). As a person who has never had hair shorter than neck length, going into this journey I thought that this would be a huge shock to me. It was part of the reason why I chose to transition for at least a year. But now that I know I would be ok with shorter hair for a bit, I’m starting to reconsider my original May BC date. I would still like it to be warm consistently so I can wear my twa in wash and go’s without fear that the cold will make my hair hard and brittle (I live on east coast so winters can be harsh).

For now, I’ve upped my BC date to mid-March during my school’s spring break. That should give me plenty of time to play in my hair some more and see if I continue to feel like I want to BC sooner rather than later. Regardless of the date that I actually do it, I'm excited to see the natural me.

Protein Overload?

{Source}

Lately I've been noticing that my deep conditioner (Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deeper Moisture Conditioner) hasn't been making my new growth as soft as it once did. I didn't understand what would make my hair react so differently to the same product, so I decided to do some research. After scouring the internet for a few minutes, I found a potential cause: protein overload.

All hair is made of protein. Since the hair no longer receives nutrients from our bodies once it leaves the hair follicle (essentially becoming the hair that we see above the skin), our hair can lose some of its protein over time, especially more so with heat styling and chemical treatments. For this reason, many hair care products contain proteins to replenish the hair with the nutrients that it has lost. These proteins take form in the following ingredients: silk protein, soy protein, silk amino acids, hydrolyzed collagen protein, wheat protein, wheat amino acids, and other similar ingredients. Like so many other things in life, too much of a good thing can do more harm than good. Hair that has too much protein becomes hard, brittle, and difficult to moisturize. 

Reading these symptoms of protein overload certainly caught my attention. My hair seems to be doing the exact same thing. It's difficult to retain and restore moisture, and it is hard instead of soft after applying a DC treatment. I knew that Giovanni Smooth As Silk contains some protein, but I just didn't anticipate that it would effect my hair like this after some time. Hoping that this isn't an irreparable problem, I then began to look for a solution.

My research offered something simple: remove products that contain protein from your weekly or daily regimen. As it turns out, for hair that isn't chemically processed or heat treated, a light protein treatment will be enough to restore essential nutrients to the hair if done once a month. That definitely answered my question of why my hair so suddenly began to act differently. For the majority of my transition, I dried my hair using a bonnet dryer on medium heat. Although this is nowhere near the amount of heat that I used to place on my hair, I guess it was enough to take away some of the protein, making the proteins contained in my Giovanni conditioner to be effective but not overburdensome.  Over the past two months, however, I have been purely air drying my hair, which is around the same time that I began to notice a difference.

In light of all this information, I decided to make a change to my regimen. My beloved Giovanni conditioner will have to be shelved until it is time for a clarifying shampoo. Since I clarify my hair about once a month, this will be a good time to put that conditioner to use. I was already intending to try out the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque, so I will be using this as my deep conditioner. I currently also use a Pro-Vitamin treatment and a leave-in conditioner also from Giovanni, both of which contain protein. I'd hate to have to throw away these products, so I'm going to stop using the Pro-vitamin leave-in treatment and continue to use the leave-in to see if just using one product with protein in it will still make my hair feel hard. If after a few weeks my hair still feels stiff, I'm going to remove proteins altogether from my regimen. Updates most definitely to come soon!

Quick Tip: Scalp Massages for Hair Growth

While are many things that you can put on your hair in an effort to maintain length, the true secret to encouraging growth starts beneath the skin. One way to assist your internal bodily functions in growing you gorgeous locks is to give yourself regular scalp massages. Scalp massages increase the flow of blood to your scalp, providing your hair follicles with more of the nutrients they need to optimally grow your hair.

As a person with dry skin (resulting in a dry scalp), it is pertinent for me to keep my scalp moisturized by oiling it regularly. Recently, I began incorporating scalp massages in my scalp oiling routine. I start by distributing oil on my scalp using a small tipped applicator bottle (the kind used to apply hair color). I use just enough oil to cover my scalp (when it comes to oiling your scalp, a little goes a long way; you don't want the oil dripping all over the place).  Once distributed, I take the pads of my fingers and massage the oil into my scalp in small, circular motions using varying pressure. This ensures that the oil is not only reaching all parts of my scalp, but also encourages blood to flow to my scalp which allows the additional nutrients in the oil to absorb into my skin to work in conjunction with the nutrients supplied by my blood.

In the past, I have done scalp massages just on wash day as part of my pre-poo treatment, but I have since increased scalp massages to about 2 - 3 times a week, coinciding with the days I re-moisturize my hair (I figured that the washing process could serve as an additional scalp massage so no need to waste oil on that day lol). Since having too much stuff on the scalp will suffocate hair follicles, I opt for a light oil that absorbs into my skin easily.

Quick Tip: Remaining Motivated During Your Transition

{Source}

At one point or another, you are going to be frustrated with your hair during the transitioning period. It's inevitable. Your hair will seem to be more susceptible to matting and knotting during the washing process. Your hair will feel hard instead of soft, and nothing that you do seems to work. You will reach a point where you have absolutely no idea what to do. You will be so tempted to give up that you either pick up the phone and start to dial your stylist in order to make an appointment for a relaxer, or you head to your local BSS to pick up a box of your favorite relaxing system. I've certainly been there. Every long term transitioning kinky curly coily head has been there too. To get myself through these trying moments, I've developed a way to boost my motivation levels in order to keep moving forward.

1.     Focus on the Reason Why You Wanted to Go Natural

As a person who likes to write (and has somewhat of a notebook addiction), the day I decided to go natural I started a hair journal. The first entry that wrote in this journal was a detailed explanation of why I wanted to go natural. At the time, I didn’t really have a purpose for writing it down, but I have found that by re-reading that entry, I have continued to be motivated. Focusing on why you chose to go natural and to transition to begin with will help to re-energize you and give you that extra push to go over those frustration day humps. On a day when you are not frustrated, I suggest that you jot down why you want to go natural and keep it around to re-read on days when frustration levels are at an all time high.

2.     Look for curlspirational kinky, curly, coily heads

As you may have noticed, most, if not all, of my posts begin with a picture of some gorgeous natural locks. These pictures are my curlspirations. It is gorgeous, fabulous natural hair that makes me want to see the potential that my natural texture has. These provide daily inspiration for me to keep moving forward. Find pictures of natural hair that is just fabulous to you and place it on a natural hair vision board in a place that you can look at daily. A vision board is a poster  that contains all of your aspirations. It can be theme specific, such as natural hair, or broader than that, such as what you want to accomplish in 5 years. By looking at this board daily, you will be motivated to continue moving forward to reach your natural hair dreams.

3.     Scour Your Favorite Natural Hair Blog

One of the biggest motivations that you can have on frustrating days is looking at the story of someone else who is either transitioning at the same time as you, or has already successfully transitioned. Seeing someone else who has already gone through the process and has endured through the frustrating moments is extremely motivating. It gives you the mentality that “if they can make it through, then I can too.”

Moisturizing Transitioning Hair

{source}

Moisturizing your hair is an important element to any hair care regimen, including transitioning hair care regimens. Ideally, you should moisturize your hair every 2 to 3 days between washdays.  This simple task, however, is no easy feat for transitioning curlys like me.

Although water is the best moisturizer, it certainly isn’t ideal for transitioning hair unless you intend on resetting your hair every 2 to 3 days. My transitioning hair care regimen only allows me to manipulate my hair about once a week. So having to wet and reset my hair about 3 times a week is just not an option. As an alternative, I tried a number of different moisturizing lotions. Every product I tried stripped my hair of moisture rather than restoring moisture to my hair. I needed to do something different to keep my hair soft and moisturized through out the week.

Thankfully, I found an answer to my dilemma: oils. Certain oils have the ability to penetrate the hair shaft and moisturize the strands. I tried Africa’s Best Herbal Oils (ABHO) mostly because it only costs about $2 a bottle and I used to use it when I was younger. (Who says great hair care products have to cost you a fortune?) The oils contained in this practically wholly organic mixture aren’t exactly penetrating, but it did enough to see if oils are the solution to my problem. So far so good! My hair retains it shine, and remains soft throughout the week. 

Once I finish the bottle of this product, I will try both coconut oil and olive oil. Both oils have been proven to have deep conditioning properties. Although I still have some experimenting to do as far is which oil is best for me, I think this is the solution to my dilemma. 

What do you do to moisturize your transitioning hair?

Transitioning To Me

{Source}
So much going right with this picture!

One of the biggest things that I've noticed about myself during my transition thus far is that I have become more accepting of myself. In the past, I have taken so much pride in my hair that my entire mood for the day circled around whether I was having a bad hair day or not. If I was having a bad hair day, everything else would fall to pieces. I wouldn't feel like dressing cute and girly as I usually do. I wouldn't want to spend time primping and slapping on just the right amount of make up to accentuate my features. I wouldn't care if my nail polish was chipping to the point of almost non-existence. I wouldn't even have enough confidence to hold my head up high when I was walking down the street. My hair was my shield and the entirety of my confidence.

The moment I decided to go natural, there was definitely a shift in how I viewed myself. After watching a lot of others on youtube, I knew that the transition wouldn't always be a smooth process. I knew I would have countless bad hair days simply because one of the two textures on my head didn't want to cooperate with the other. Since I couldn't go an entire year moping around, I knew I couldn't hide behind my hair anymore.

At first, this was kind of a scary thought. For as long as I could remember, my hair had been my pride and joy. It was what I got the most compliments on. As time went on, however, I have become more and more comfortable being myself without relying on my hair. I take more pride in other things about myself, and I celebrate and appreciate the features that I was born with. I knew that there was a mental component to the transition to natural hair, but I just didn't expect that it would mean transitioning to me. The last piece of the puzzle is living with the hair that I was created with and I can't wait to see it!

Snip, Snip!

{Source}

Yesterday afternoon, as I watched youtube videos, I got a little anxious to start playing with my hair. Since I am trying not to manipulate my hair too often in order to limit the stress on the line of demarcation, I usually only play in my hair on wash days. Wash days for me are on Sundays. Yesterady was Friday. Major dilemma.

Instead of fully playing in my hair, I decided to just play with a small piece. I took a very small section of hair directly above my left ear and saturated it with water. As expected, my new growth curled and my relaxed ends went bone straight. Due to the weight of the relaxed ends, my curls were extremely elongated, to the point that it looked more like a deep wave instead of a curl. I was curious to see what it would look like without the relaxed ends, so I picked up my hair scissors and did a little snip, snip. I wet it with a bit more water and added some Kinky Curly Knot Today. My true curl pattern finally made itself known!

This made me eager to cut off the rest of the relaxed ends, but I promised myself to not do it at least until May 2011. That's only 4 short months from now, so I'm going to wait it out. There may just be some other similar snipping in the future!

8 Months Post Relaxer!!!

{Source}
Nothing like a little CURLSpiration!!

Last Saturday marked my 8 month post relaxer mark. Looking back at some pictures I took during the first few months of my transition, I can certainly tell the difference in the length of my natural hair. In short, it seems to have grown like a weed! (Pictures to come soon hopefully). One of the biggest things that I've noticed in these 8 months is that my natural curl pattern is slowly but surely starting to rebel against my transitional styles. Usually, my signature twist-rod sets will look like a fresh set for at least 4 days. But now, my new growth starts to revert only after two! My hair still looks decent and all, but when I put my hands in my hair, I can definitely notice the difference between my new growth and permed hair.

I'm really happy with the amount of growth that I have seen over the past 8 months. I now have about 4 inches in the majority of my head (the front of my hair seems to grow a bit slower so its shorter in that area). It still a bit short for my liking at this stage of the game, but it's definitely good to see that my hair is growing. 

I can also certainly tell that it is time for another trim. For me, the more new growth that comes in, the more tangled my relaxed ends become during my washing process. It seems that the only way to rid me of this problem is to trim about an inch or two off. I think that this coming wash day I will do a bit of a trim on my hair, in addition to a clarifying wash and a hot oil treatment.

Well, that's all for now. I am certainly loving my hair at every stage of the game. Can't wait to see my hair in it's full natural state!

Until Next Time,

Quirky Girl

Dear Hair Diary: I Love My 8month post Curly Fro!

{Note: From time to time, when I'm feeling a particular way about my hair, I will post a journal entry in my hair diary. This is the first of those posts! Enjoy!}

My twist-rod sets usually last anywhere from a week to a week and a half. The current set I'm rocking (done last Thursday) is no different. When I woke up this morning, I started my usual routine. I let the steam from the shower give a little moisture to my hair. Once out of the shower and fully dressed, it was finally time to get my hands in my hair (which has become my FAVORITE part of the getting ready process these days). 

I slathered on about two quarter-sized amounts of my favorite oil to moisturize, seal, and impart some shine (I believe my hair does better with oil based moisturizers but I'm still experimenting with that slightly...). A finger fluff here, a little shake there, and I was ready to place my hair accessory on for the day. I chose a blackish silver stretch band that I had picked up from Forever 21 a few days ago. Since I had a lot of damage on my front hairline from my perming days, I try not to use accessories that place a lot of stress on those places. The band that I chose for the day was a little tighter than I would have liked for everyday use, but I figured since I would only be wearing it for the day that it wouldn't be that bad. A few more finger fluffs and I was ready to go. Very little manipulation to my hair (which is ideal for me while I transition) and a total styling time of about 5 minutes. Not too shabby if you ask me. 

Throughout the day, whenever I caught a glimpse of my hair in the mirror I couldn't help but smile. I absolutely LOVE my hair. It was curly, full, and luscious! While my hair is not completely natural yet, I can't wait to see how awesome my curly fro will be. If I'm loving the results now with half curly, half relaxed hair, I can only imagine the results of maybe a bantu knot out on my fully natural hair.

Here are a few more views of my hair today:

Yowzers my lashes look long here! Believe it or not, all I did was put on mascara (one that I've been trying out). Yep, I think that one's a keeper!

The final overall look.