Trying New Things #naturalhair

In my last post, I talked about being a proud, unapologetic product junkie. I get such a rush when I buy/try new products. And let’s not even talk about the ungodly amount of money I spend. As I type, I’m waiting for FedEx to deliver a new set of products.

Kudos to those who aren’t on that new product high. Or who know what their Must Have/Holy Grail products are. I’m still learning my hair. I’m sure what worked on my transitioning/two-textured hair isn’t going to work for me now that I am in my fully natural state. And since I’m less than a month natural, I still don’t know what will work and what is just hype and wasted money.

As such, I’m still trying out new things.

I don’t have a complete regimen down pat. But I do have a routine for me/my daughter. Hair styles that were a bust during my transitioning phase, work beautifully now on my natural hair.

I’ve been so jealous of YouTubbers doing the two-stand twists. I wanted that hairstyle so bad, but it NEVER worked on my transitioning hair! Braid-outs did. Flat twists did.

Now, those two-strand twists are bomb on my natural hair.

Yaass gawd!

Love it.

I tried bantu knot outs once while transitioning.

That was an epic FAIL.

I have yet to try it on the natural hair, but I’m hoping the results will be the same as the two-strand twists.

Like I said, I like trying new products, so I really have to force myself in the upcoming months to stick with something for more than one week in order to give my hair the time it needs to show any kind of progress.

Good or bad.

Hopefully not bad.

I wash my hair once a week. Co-wash: conditioning wash, which is a gentler way to clean your scalp rather than shampoos that can strip away the moisture and leave your hair dry.

I have to deep condition more, which is a way of replenishing the moisture that washing strips away. I’ve read that deep conditioning should be done every time you wash or co-wash. Sometimes, I get lazy… okay, most of the time I get lazy and I don’t DC.

I co-wash then go into applying leave-in, then doing the LCO method: L: Leave-in (Liquid), C: Cream (moisturizer), O: Oil (Coconut, EVOO, Castor) to seal in the moisture. Some do it as LOC, but I don’t.

I’ve also been pretty strict about my products being all natural.

No sulphates, parabens, silicones, alcohol. Stuff that are bad for your hair. But I’ve found myself relaxing my stance on that. Not forgetting it completely, just using a very select few products that contain these ingredients.

I’ve also had to really watch that I don’t spend unnecessarily. As much as I lurve buying/trying new products, I’ll have to say “Hell Naw” if they cost too much. I just have to. To that end, the new product that should be arriving any day now are on the lower end of the dollar, but work equally as good though they may contain some of the no-nos mentioned above.

I did my research, though. YouTube is my friend. And I’m addicted to watching hair videos. Even my daughter calls me out on it. I spend hours going from video to video. LOL

I’m obsessed, yep.

So, my goal, is to find myself a regimen. And products that work on my hair.

They should clean it extremely well. Moisturize it extremely well. And style it extremely well.

All I ask, really.

Not too much.

I love moisturizers. I always buy them. And stylers. So the plan is to find the affordable ones that work with my hair type. Because that too, is the challenge. What works for the YouTubber with Type 3 hair isn’t gonna work for my coarse, dry Type 4 hair. Which is really why I try to only subscribe to Tubers with the same or close to the same hair type as my own.

I’ll end this post by saying this:

I’ve never really had any problems with my hair, relaxed or not. Fact is, before this time last year when I decided to go natural, I hadn’t given much thought to my hair at all. I didn’t hate it nor did I love it. It was my hair.

Today, I’m rocking a twist-out that’s 7 days old, and I am loving my hair. Loving it. I’m comfortable with who I am, because the decision I made was the right one for me. While I’ve been envious of others whose hair appear to work wonderfully and cooperate fully with products, I’ve never really thought about giving up or anything like that.

I’m okay with the process, however long it takes.

With my hair, and with myself in general.

An Introduction

I’ve been debating with starting a hair blog for a while now. For one thing, it’s yet another something on my to-do list. But I finally started the process a few days ago. The fact is, this journey I began almost a year ago has been interesting and eye-opening. So as my one year anniversary approaches—don’t remember the exact day or month, but I know it was before September— LOL I found myself doing inventory of things.

The fact is, I’m still learning my hair. There are some things I know. And still so many I don’t.

I transitioned instead of doing the Big Chop. Which means, instead of simply chopping off the relaxed hair and allowing it to grow back fresh, I opted to allow the hair to revert on its own. No chemical assistance. Just healthy maintenance on my hair. Which meant I had to learn the lingo.

Pre-poo.

Co-wash.

DC.

HG.

I had to pay attention to products. Their ingredients. Determine what was right for my hair, what wasn’t.

I also had to learn the type of hair I had. Yes, there are types. That’s the first step really, because knowing your type influences how you maintain your tresses, and the products you buy. I’m fairly up on what companies to buy from, and what products to stay away from.

Now.

When I first started, you can bet I was overwhelmed by the plethora of information out there. It can be a lot. But once you grasp the basics, learning is so much easier.

I have to admit that I am at this point getting restless, where I wasn’t before. I will be doing a chop pretty soon. Probably as soon as this weekend. Haven’t checked my new growth length, but it is substantial enough for me. I love long hair. I do. At the beginning of this process, it was nape-length. It is now not quite shoulder length, but close. I will chop off the remaining relaxed ends finally, and finally fully embrace my natural-ness.

LOL

This past year wasn’t bad for me. And up til these past few days I wasn’t frustrated to reach the finish at all. I went in knowing this would be a slow process. That I had to have patience, and I did. I had planned to go further than this with the transitioning, but eh. I got antsy.

So I will chop.

I’m not a YouTubber. I don’t have a camera, other than my webcam, but editing knowledge is in short supply with me. I know blogging, so I figured, stick with what you know. I know this.