Managing my new texture/s

I decided to try to manage the two textures of my hair as it grew. I knew it would be difficult but damn! I found it really hard. I already did braid outs etc. with one texture but with two, I just felt like it didn’t work. I lasted about 10 months and then I cut off the relaxed ends. That was September 2015.

I really liked my hair but I am so used to pulling my hair into a ponytail or bun, that the maintenance was too much. I was lazy and put it into plaits for a while.

I then played around with crotchet braids. It took too many days out of my life – I am soooo impatient. My hair was so big, I spent days looking for Harry Potter and dabbling in wizardry – yes it took days for me to realise that I am but a mere muggle

After a couple of months of braids I played around with twist outs. There were a few times they looked good but other times…. My “go to” tends to be two canerows.

I am still working out the best hair regime and products. At the moment I use a dark and lovely kids moisturiser and olive oil rich moisturiser. I use castor and coconut oil on occasion and recently bought shea butter. I generally do not stick to any one product as it just depends on how I am styling my hair.

My hair has grown a lot in the 18 months since I last relaxed, but my hair has always grown quickly as long as it is moisturised and regularly trimmed. I cannot wait for it to reach the length that I am used to. I really like my new texture, although I still like straight hair. I have pressed my hair a couple of times but it is too much work – cannot be bothered (as revealed in one of those facial expressions above)!!

 

No more relaxers

So it has been two years since I blogged about my hair. At that time I made a dumb mistake with my relaxer and was seriously annoyed with myself. I have relaxed my hair myself since I was a teenager. I am not keen on hairdressers and generally do everything to my hair myself. However, with relaxing I need to be in the right mood and having children around when you are using harsh chemicals is not ideal. I found myself rushing my relaxers just to get them done and I was not taking the care that I normally do. My hair was still healthy and manageable but I had different textures in places, which was annoying.

After the last rush relaxer I did in October 2014, I ended up ill because I did it late at night and stupidly slept on semi-damp hair! I decided not to do it anymore. I was fed up of waiting for a time that hubby was at home and no one would interrupt me and fed up of not being able to itch my scalp for a few days before. I hate rushing things and not doing them properly so no more relaxers!!

 

Munchkinita’s Hair

Feels like it has taken forever! Finally finished munchkinita’s hair in time for XFactor. Happy Sunday evening all!! x

Much needed facial attention!

After getting drenched in the rain this morning I decided to pamper myself a little. Not sure how I managed to fit this in today with everything else but I made sure I did it!

Here’s a before and after:

Hair washed and conditioned and straightened. Mini facial and bit of makeup. Cos when you look good, you feel good!!

Hair Ritual

I refer to it as my hair ritual. It has to be followed, although throughout pregnancy and now motherhood I have let it slip on occasion. But as auntie Ceppa says “don’t diss di program or da program a ga diss you”.

I wash my relaxed hair once a week. If I do not wash my hair every week, my scalp gets dry and itchy regardless of how much product I reapply. I like to wash my hair on a Sunday as it normally takes five hours. Yes five hours. It does not have to take five hours but that is what I do. I wash with a variety of shampoos. I do not stick to the same brand but I love Optimum products, so at the moment I am washing with Optimum Conditioning Shampoo.

I then apply Optimum Opti Intense Conditioner. I have been using it for maybe 15 years now. I swear by it and never use anything else for this stage of the ritual. It is a protein conditioner which some people do not like to use in their hair, but for me it works wonders. I leave the conditioner on and put on a shower cap or plastic bag then I will do some housework for a couple of hours. I then wash it out. The protein conditioner leaves my hair hard like straw so I have to conditioner again to soften my hair. Again, I will use any brand.

I like Le Kair Cholestrol Conditioner but at the moment I am using Tresemme Salon Silk Conditioner which is also good. I have just bought Organics Olive Oil Deep Conditioner to try next. Once this conditioner is on I put the shower cap on for another couple of hours. Before I wash it out I like to have a bath to steam it out even more or I also have a steam cap which I use occasionally. When I wash this conditioner out my hair is lovely and soft, however, I have just started using a leave in conditioner as well. Sounds mad right? I use three conditioners in total and leave them on while I do my housework for hours.

I then blow dry and pull the straighteners through. I used to use Top Brass for my dry, itchy scalp but now use Five Star as Top Brass was discontinued. Why do they always discontinue products that work well?????!!! I use either African Pride Hair & Body Oil or Luster’s Pink Moisturiser in my hair depending on what style I am trying to achieve. I trim my own hair every two to three months and wrap at night to go to bed.

The conditioning may seem extreme but this keeps my hair in really good condition. After having the children, I do not have the time to wrap my hair every night like I use to. Admittedly there are days that I do not even comb my hair. But my hair does not break and I am sure it is because of the ritual I follow.

I have a lot of hair conversations with a girlfriend of mine who has long natural afro hair. Her hair is gorgeous and she maintains it exceptionally well. She uses little heat because she is trying to grow her hair to waist length. I used to use the straighteners daily but now I work from home I use them once to twice a week. I decided to experiment with only using heat to dry my hair and no more straighteners! I thought I would copy my friend and we can have waist length hair together! I will blog later about my recent hair exploits!