Where has my hair been???

So.....I know you're thinking Jeez she's inconsistent as hell what's the deal? Well upon starting this job I was in the midst of my three weeks of joblessness. Since then I have been a crazy running 2 job having woman with not enough time to blog or care for my hair and honestly it caught up with me. BAD!!!! My days of grazing shoulder length are all kindsa over. After a horrendous bout with breakage I am now top NL!!!! Yes top effin NL and I'm steaming about it.

This is me of course on the left (Xmas 11') Just an idea of how short it is now
Sorry for no makeup... smh

But I must admit that it has taught me a bit about my hair. It has taught me that long stretches aren't for me. Stretching longer than say.....10-12 weeks is too much. My hair is very prone to breakage and this was around the time that breakage hell began. Right after week 12. I am very much into letting wigs be my protective style of choice but I don't fair to well with the safety of my hair with them sometimes, because alas....I don't know how to braid. And even moreso there are so many times when I'm running late that I just stick them combs in and go. (gasp) God forbid. This is why my super thick head of hair has slowly thinning edges. Booo!!! But I said all that to say that I'm doing better. Much better. I am being consistent to my every 10 day was regimen, I'm sticking to washing with non-sulfate shampoos (especially in this harsh cold wisconsin weather), Deep conditioning with heat, oil rinses, occasional AVC rinses, and moisturizing and sealing morning and night.

My New winter 2012 Regimen

Pre-Poo with Castor Oil, EVCO and Hello Hydration (1 hour-overnight

Wash hair every 10 days with CON Argan Oil Moisture N' Shine Shampoo

or

One N' Only Argan Oil Moisture Repair Shampoo

DC with a mix of ORS Replenishing Conditioner, EVCO, Castor Oil, and CON Argan Oil  Intensive Conditioning Treatment with heat for 20-30 mins.

ACV Rinse (every other wash)

Oil rinse with a mixture of Castor Oil, EVCO, Avocado, and Grapeseed oil

Apply CON Leave-In (air dry)

Moisturize (twice daily) with Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Butter

and Seal (twice daily) with EVCO and Castor Oil)

*2-3 times a week I apply my sulfur oil mix and baggy overnight

and 2-3 times a week I massage my edges with pure Castor Oil. 

**I will be getting professional relaxers every 8-10 weeks and getting trims every other relaxer

I feel like I have finally gotten myself on the right track I'm still a little fearful about my ends, but I will get baby them the best I possibly can. And I promise I will blog here more often with better pics of my products, mishaps, and success.

My Hair business

8/2011 NL Grazing SL

My Hair is.....

Full NL grazing SL

4b/4c

Relaxed

Currently 14 weeks post

My Regimen is......

• Wash 1x week
• co-wash 1x/week
• DC after every wash/co-wash(alternate between Moisture and Protein)
• If Needed Black Tea rinse
• DC under dryer for 30- 45 mins or 2-3 hours without heat
• air dry (apply leave-ins)
• M & S
• apply sulfur oil to scalp (every other night)*
• apply moisturizing spritz mixture to my new growth nightly (starting at 5-6 weeks post)
• Do the Baggy once or twice a week to get through my stretches

My Products (as of 8/15/11)

Shampoos:

CON ARgan oil moisture n' shine shampoo <3<3<3

Aphogee for damaged hair (rarely used)

Ors creamy aloe shampoo (clairfying days only)

One n Only argan oil shampoo

DC's (all my DC's are applied to hair with add-ins):

CON argan oil intensive conditioning treatment

neutrogena moisture mask

queen helene cholesterol

ors hair mayonaisse

One n only argan oil conditioner

add ins:

honey

oils 

glycerin

leave ins:** 

HE LTR

cantu shea butter repair cream (protein)

oils:

evco<3 staple

jbco

avocado oil

sweet almond oil

proclaim 7 with argan oil

jojoba oil

moisturizers:

Silken child

HE LTR

my homemade moisturizing spritz (avj/glycerin/rosewater/sweet almond oil/jojoba oil) -for new growth only

supplements:

multivitamin (switching to prenatal we are ptc)2x/day

biotin 1000 mcg 2x/day

msm 1000 mg 2x/day

garlic 1000 mg 1x/day

last relaxer:

5/17/11

Last trim:

 5/18/11

<3 wish list<3

shea moisture raw shea butter moisture retention shampoo

caruso rollers

aphogee green tea and keratin leave-in

Silicon mix conditioner

GVP Ceramic Flat Iron (1 inch)

hair styles of choice: 

my mini bun

drawstring ponytails

bantu knot outs

half and full wigs

striving for:

healthy hair

less breakage

Full sl by dec. 2011

my hair loves:

moisture moisture and more moisture

sulfate-free shampoos

air drying

being babied

I always sleep in a satin bonnet or scarf

*My sulfur oil is made of 1 tsp. sublimed sulfur, 4 oz. of JBCO, 2 oz. of EVCO, 1 oz. of avocado oil, and 1 oz. of jojoba oil

**-my leave-ins sometimes double as moisturizers

Current Challenges:(Hairlista)

Long Hair Academy Challenge (Back to school edition)

Six Month Protective Styling Challenge

Let's begin here......the fight

Sure. You could consider this to be just a nother random hair blog.  And that's just fine. For me this is a chronicle of MY journey. I started my hair journey in January of 2009. At the time I was a full NL. Like all women I started off extremely excited. Yet and still overwhelmed with all the information I was being given. I bought some products and began the race.....thinking I would be arm pit length in no time. Well like taking an advil and expecting your cramps to magically disappear in minutes it didn't work like that. To top it off I was still a bit on the lazy side. I didnt always wash every week. I didnt DC as much as I should have. I did however do one thing right. I moisturized and sealed faithfully. I was never one too be all that talented with the hair so the fact that I did this was fantastic. I was already simply stretching relaxers out of the fact that I was wigging it most of the time and it didn't really matter to me whether or not I had a super fresh perm. So the breakage and the crappy habits never stopped. And I never saw growth. Most importantly...I never saw health. So in May of 2011 I decided to get my actual hair done for my three year anniversary.  After I noticed that my NL hair could very well be creeping on to new and better horizons (SL) I got super serious about it's health and maintenance. It's been a fight, but one I am committed to winning. I hope that you choose to stick around these parts. I will soon be posting hair pics, my current and sometimes changing regimen, product hauls, reviews, my hair achievements and setbacks, and when I get a little more tech savvy videos.