QUESTION: How Long Have You Been a Healthy Haired Natural?

A very real question posted on CurlyNikki.com this morning...I've been a HEALTHY natural since 2009. I gave up the harsh shampoos & products...and heat abuse ;) The things you learn by trial and error. Don't forget to check out her website, she always has great stuff on there.

Curly Nikki Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: How Long Have You Been a Healthy Haired Natural?: source

by Kurlybella of K is for Kinky
How long have you been natural and how long have you been a HEALTHY natural are two differen...

Look What I Won

Hey now!! Today was a good day...posted my first video EVER this morning (it's out there now, so no taking it back!), I finished a post I started working on before the end of the week on heat damage, and to add the cherry on top I got my giveaway from CharyJay's contest with My Roommate's Kloset.  What a Tuesday!! It's way past my bedtime but I couldn't go to sleep without saying thank you again to CharyJay & My Roommate's Kloset!!

And take notice of my hair...still pretty nice if I don't say so myself :) 4 days twisted, 4 days down, satin pillow case, KBB Sweet Ambrosia & Darcy's Botanicals Coco & Hib condish oil refresher...I'll probably go ahead and co-wash tomorrow to try and get back into a routine even though my hair has held up pretty well (considering it was 107 degrees here in Houston!)  Thanks for checking me out, and please check out CharyJay, My Roommate's Kloset, and my very own Facebook page, This Hair of Mine.  Please make sure to become a Friend of My Blog (subscribe/join to the right of this post) and make sure to click "like" on my Facebook page.  Peace out!!

Lisa Michelle :)

Good Morning (video)

I've been debating and debating about posting a video, and I figured there's no time like the present.  I went to sleep last night with great hair on my newest addition, my satin pillow case :)

Anna's Linens, $5.99

This morning I woke up with pretty awesome hair for not twisting, adding product, or rocking a bonnet!

I'm sure I don't have to say it again, if you've read my previous posts that I am NOT a video person, I don't know editing or any of that stuff...plan to learn, but there's no better way to lean than trial and error AND just doing it.  So with that being said, I present my first video :)

No editing, first thing when I got up this morning, excuse the bags, but do note the hair ;)

Day 4 hair, Karen's Body Beautiful Butter Love, Kinky Curly Knot Today, Darcy's Botanicals

Coconut & Hibiscus Conditioning Oil

So what do you think?  I still have to put the protein treatment video together, that one will come next!

Lisa Michelle :)



Heat Damage?

Yes.  It does happen.  I am was a victim.  Okay here it goes...*drops head in shame*

*disclaimer: coincidentally my computer decided to die in late 2007 without me ever backing up a thing...lost a lot of pictures. Thanks to the creature that is Facebook and my handy dandy Sprint Picture Mail, I was able to retrieve a few, but not all. And the story shall continue...lol!

When I did my did my big chop July 30, 2004, it wasn't really a thing to make a big deal of.  I loved my hair, but didn't document well the growth over the next year and a half.
 

 

 The next 16 months were a blur...I kept it pretty short for the most part, very low maintenance :)

A few weeks post BC, Summer 2004

My birthday, Jan 2005

Dec 2005

January 2006 I decided I was ready to straighten my hair, see how long it was, plus I wanted to be cute for the Battle of the Bands in Atlanta.  Every January I trek to Atlanta because 1) my sister lives there and I LOVE my sister and 2) I went to Prairie View A&M University, a HBCU right outside of Houston and our band is the best.  My sister has been getting her braids done by the same woman for as long as I can remember, and she's done my braids before too, so I decided to get my hair pressed for the occasion.  It had been so long since I had any heat on my hair, but I just knew my hair could take the heat like it used to when it was relaxed.  My hair is pretty and shiny and straight :) (I'm trying to find pictures but I'm coming up empty handed)  The trip went great, then it was back to reality.  I wanted to keep it straight for as long as I could, so I didn't wash my hair until the end of February...that's when the REAL reality struck.

February 2006

I was sick...not in the literal sense, but sick in knowing that I had done this to my hair.  Let me give a brief synopsis of a conversation with one of my good friends, who was also natural at the time.  She told me how her hair was past her shoulders, natural, and she loved it.  I told her I was thinking about straightening it and she said "DON'T DO IT!!" I asked why, she replied with something along the lines of "That's why my hair is this short..." she was a victim of heat damage as well.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and in my case I am usually the one who has to learn by her own mistakes.  Well mistake made!  Not to say it will happen to everyone, but dammit if I didn't hear my inner self say "I told you so"

I didn't even think I documented my hair when I realized that the curls weren't coming back, but low and behold I found these two golden nuggets of proof.  Note how pleased I look at the chunks of straight hair commingling with the curls...I felt pitiful!  I didn't know what else to do, so I pretty much wore my hair straight since it was VERY hard to hid.  I did buns and pony-tails, slicked back styles and probably some braids until probably August/September 2006 when I decided I couldn't take anymore and had my hair cut.  My 2nd BC went well considering the circumstances...the lady was a little shocked that I wanted to cut my hair so short, but I had already been through it before so it wasn't a big deal.

These pictures pretty much summarize my style through Jan 2007.  I didn't bother too much with keeping my hair short, I loved the length I had prior to cutting it and I wanted to get that back. This time when I went back to Atlanta I opted for braids :) 

Jan 2007



MORAL OF THE STORY:

Your natural, virgin hair is different from your relaxed hair!! The products you use should be different, because the needs of your hair are different.  The chemicals in relaxer, as well as excessive heat, both work to change the actual texture and make up of your hair strand.  After my heat damage, I did continue to straighten my hair, but with ceramic flat irons (my Chi!)  I couldn't stand if I suffered from that same fate again but as the saying goes "If you knew better, you'd do better" (yea I quoted Fabulous...and what! lol)

Have you had any damage to your hair since going natural? I'd love to hear your story!

Lisa Michelle

Things You Should Know Before Going Natural

I'm not newly natural, but someone reading this may be new to the game...BAY BEE!!! If I had known then what I know now, my hair would've been on point a long time ago! Enjoy :)

Happy me after my BC ('04)

Curly Nikki Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: Things You Should Know Before Going Natural: source
by Chelsea of Curly and Young
As a new natural, things can get very confusing. There is a wealth of info out there, but loo...

How to Find Your Hair Porosity and Density

Great info posted on one of my favorite blogs Curly Nikki!   Understanding your hair density and porosity will be helpful in determining what products may work the best for your hair.  For instance, my hair while it was relaxed seemed to not absorb any product and it took a LOT of heat to straighten.  I can remember my stylist commenting that my hair just kept dripping...it wouldn't absorb for nothing!  Flash forward to today...my hair seems to drink up all kinds of yummy delicious hair food!  Add some heat in the mix and I can definitely tell the difference.  My hair went from a lower porosity (hard to absorb) to a normal/high porosity (absorbs much better!)  As far as density goes, I would say my hair is fairly dense, although I don't think I have as much hair today as I did when I first went natural because I was still blow drying and flat ironing.  I'll take it as a lesson learned!  Enjoy :)

Curly Nikki Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: How to Find Your Hair Porosity and Density: by Jessica Mousseau via NaturallyCurly.com

As curlies, we all know how important it is to choose hair products for the right hair type...

Protein Treatment (pt 2)

So I wanted to elaborate on the protein treatment that I did yesterday...man I'm still pooped!! I think I was pretty successful with recording the steps that I took before, during, and post treatment, and I'm getting a kick out of watching them :) Not quite sure I'm ready to post tonight, but maybe tomorrow once I've played with them on Windows Live Movie Maker (if anyone is familiar with this program PLEASE let me know...I am NOT an editor!)

These are the steps that I took in order to do the protein treatment:

1) Because my hair was a hot mess I had to co-wash and detangle before I could do ANYTHING else

HOT mess :/

 2) In order to detangle I separated my hair into 4 sections, then again into smaller sections in order to detangle with as much ease as possible

Sectioned

 3) I saturate each section with conditioner, and detangle starting from the ends and working my way to the roots.  I used my shower comb first, then the Denman D83

With conditioner

4) Once my hair was detangled, I shampooed each section 2-3 times with a clarifying shampoo.  I coated the bottom 2/3s with conditioner and focused the shampoo on the scalp, and only on the last pass through did I use shampoo on all of my hair

Squeaky clean hair!

5) I used a spray bottle to distribute the protein treatment into one section at a time, and this really helped make the product spread through my hair.  The protein is VERY STICKY and has a not so pleasant odor.  DO start at the back of your head and work your way forward (especially if you're doing sections) and work quickly because it sets kinda fast.  I did use my shower comb to quickly for better distribution.

Applying the protein treatment

6) Once the product is distributed blow dry each section until hair is hard.  It gets ROCK HARD and there's no way you can not tell it's done...ever baked cookies too long?  Yea, your hair will be that hard! And do not, DO NOT try to mess with your hair once it's done (I did push mine around a bit but don't try to separate it or your hair can break)

Stiff hair with protein in

7) I stood under the shower for probably 5 minutes and let the water penetrate my hair and rinse the protein out...I didn't want to take any chances!  Only when my hair started feeling softer did I manipulate the hair, making sure all of the protein was rinsed out before applying the Balancing Moisturizer (step 2 of the 2-step process)  That was supposed to stay on for 2 minutes, but I think I left it on closer to 10 minutes (again, not taking no chances!)

Freshly rinsed

8) I co-washed and finger detangled with my Suave conditioner again, rinsed, then applied my Honey Suckle Rose as a deep conditioner. I let that stay on for about 20 minutes (I would've prefered to have left it on longer but I was sleepy lol!)

With Honey Suckle Rose

9) I thoroughly rinsed my hair, turning the water temp as cool as I could stand to close the cuticle and lock in the moisture.  This step really does help, and it feels good too after being in a hot/warmer shower

Twisted up

So there you have it!  I pretty much followed the instructions on the package, plus added some tips from the ladies in YouTube land and I can say I was pretty pleased with the results.  While detangling I could already feel a difference in the strength of my hair, it stretched without breaking, it was soft and bouncy, and I had way less shedding.  The product says it will continue to strenghten your hair for up to 6 weeks, so maybe I'll try it again in October (say, once a quarter)  After the process I put in 7 braids (2 front left, 2 front right, 3 in the back).  I used Kinky Curly Knot Today as my base, then used Karen's Body Beautiful Butter Love on top (coco mango scent is great, was smelling my hair ALL DAY!) and I sealed the ends with my Jamaican Black Castor Oil (if you don't know you better ask somebody...it really is thebomb.com!) This combination left my hair feeling soft, smooth, and smelling good!  I'll leave these twists in until tomorrow, maybe I'll take them down Friday.  I'll moisturize tonight with more KBB butter love, spray a little Darcy's Botanicals Coconut & Hibiscus conditioning oil on my scalp, and seal the ends again with the JBCO.  That's all I got for now folks

Have you had experience with a protein treatment?

Lisa Michelle ;)

Protein Treatment (pt 1)

It's late but I just couldn't go to sleep without at least putting a little something down about my "project". I've been contemplating doing a protein treatment after watching Richeau (Empress Ri) and Taren916 post about their experiences on YouTube (yes, I said I was a YouTube junkie!) Well, I bought the Aphogee 2-Step treatment almost a couple weeks back but just now was brave enough to try it. After seeing how crazy it looks (and about how bad it smells) I was none too enthused, but figured if it could help strengthen my hair then what the heck!

My little adventure actually started last night when I shampooed my hair. I used Suave Clarifying shampoo because I needed my hair to be thoroughly clean, as per instructions on the Aphogee treatment. I don't miss the feeling of stripped hair, although it was clean, it just felt weird! But clean lol!

My hair was ROUGH!!

With shampoo, detangled w/ Denman

After Shampoo

My Hair!

I did a video showing this stage but I'm still trying to get over my nerves...something about watching myself on video is strange and I'm not real sure about editing either.  But I used my handy dandy shower comb and my new Denman D83 brush to detangle so that was pretty cool.  I must say, although I love the ability to detangle a larger section of hair at a time, the balls on the end of the teeth can be rough on your hair.  I experienced that a few times while detangling, so I think I'll use the shower comb first, and then follow with the Denman, carefully!  That's all I can muster tonight, but I will add the remainder of my protein treatment experience tomorrow.

Lazy...With a Side of Randomness

I've been lazy. There I've said it...and it's the God honest truth. I haven't been to the gym, and I haven't done anything with my hair all week. I feel shamed, but it happens to everyone. It's just been one of those weeks I guess you could say. I was off Saturday and had every intention of doing some major clean up when I turned on the TV and one of my favorite movies of all time was on, Crooklyn.  SO here comes the randomness lol!  I managed to catch the movie when Troy was staying with her relatives, and her Aunt had taken her "beads and braids" out  only to then press her hair.  Now, I've never (not that I can recall) worn "beads and braids" but I have worn braids, and I REMEMBER having my hair pressed.  I felt for Troy as she sat through her experience...and you can see the poofs of smoke so you KNOW she was really getting her hair pressed.  The times I pressed my hair I felt I was doing better for my hair than relaxing it, but I was really doing both together (pressing in between relaxers).  I'll make sure to post some pictures back from high school when I was the one responsible for my hair.  Now that I know better, I don't know WHAT my younger self was thinking!  I braided my hair for my sister's wedding in 2009, and that was the last time I had any kind of heat in my hair.  I'm preparing myself for this protein treatment I'm going to do tomorrow night (will definitely record it, not sure how good the editing will be but I'm real, so hey, who cares right? lol!) and I have to heat my hair completely dry before I rinse it out.  I had a hide and seek mission in my closet to find my freaking blow dryer...but I found it.  My hair is in need of some extra TLC right about now (while I'm watching TLC- Behind the Music Remastered!)  Can't wait to try this out tomorrow and report back to y'all.

Thank you SO MUCH to y'all reading, subscribing, and following my blog.  I've recently started my Facebook page, This Hair of Mine.  If you're on Facebook please support that as well.  Again, I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but I'm really speaking from what I feel and what I know.  Not trying to sell y'all anything, I just want to pass on the info that I've learned and am constantly learning.  I'm going to try and get in the bed by 10pm so I'll just leave y'all with a snippet of what I would say is one of the funniest parts of Crooklyn, being a Natural gal :) 

(Sorry about the sound but you get the idea!)

If you have a "fun" pressing or perm story please share, I'd love to hear!!

G'night folks!

Lisa Michelle

My "lazy" hair 'do

My Weekend Wrap-Up

Me and my lovely mother

Every so often I take the opportunity to go back home (Austin) and see my family and friends.  This time I was able to pick up an order from one of my FAVORITE places, CurlMart.  For those of you who don't know, they are based out of Austin!  When I can catch a sale it's even better, since I don't have to pay for shipping either :)  I picked up a few things to tide my PJ habit over for a little while.  The Elucence brand was on sale, so I picked up their Moisture Balancing Conditioner (which I used a year or so ago with great results) and their shampoo as well.  I'm not against the idea of using shampoo if it's not filled with harsh ingredients.  Another shampoo I ordered was Karen's Body Beautiful Juicy shampoo bar...yep, shampoo in bar form.  I'm actually most excited to try this product as I've never used a shampoo bar before!  I also got a Denman D83 brush to try, I watched CharyJay do a tutorial of the Denman line and the paddle brush seemed to detangle her hair like nobody's business!  We'll see if it can do the same for me, fingers crossed!  Last but not least, I am finally replenishing my stash of Darcy's Botanicals Herbal Leave-In Conditioning Spritz.  I think the formula has changed from the one I just ran out of, but I hope the effect is still the same.  I used to alternate between that and the Oyin Handmade Juices & Berries depending on how I felt that morning, they both are good refreshers for 2nd and 3rd day hair.  I also picked up a regular size of the Organic Coconut & Hibiscus Conditioning Oil (I had received a small size as a sample in a previous order but of course I needed more!)  Of course they threw in a couple of samples, but enough for me to try on my entire head since I have a LOT of hair, but it was a nice gesture.  Oh, and I also picked up some more side combs for when I want to push my hair back...been looking for just black ones for a while, and I found large and small ones at my go-to beauty supply store (BSS) in Austin.  This order may hold me for a little while, but I know sooner, rather than later, I'll get the itch to purchase again! 

I WON!!

The fabulous Ms. Chary Jay!

I almost forgot to mention that I WON A GIVEAWAY!!! Whoo hoo for me! I entered one of CharyJay's, one of my favorite vlogger',s One Year Natural Hair Anniversary giveaways...and she's having several y'all!  I won a fly pair of earrings from My Roommates Closet, a fabulous handmade jewelry company.  I never thought I'd win any of the giveaways I've entered, but I actually did and I'm super excited!  Can't believe I forgot to make that post...I can't wait to share when I get them!  Oh, and keep your fingers crossed...maybe I'll win something else too!

Lisa Michelle :)

Nappy Love Houston Meet & Greet 8/13/11

This was a busy weekend for me...I planned on posting while I was out of town but of course my plans exceeded the time I thought I would have to do so.  If you're in Houston, and you're looking for a natural hair group, then join Nappy Love Houston.  It's a group to empower and support Naturals in the Houston area and your presence is welcomed!

Riyike (L) and Sheila (R)

This was the first event I was able to attend and I will say I really enjoyed myself.  It was held at the Chicago Bar & Grill which was more than accommodating to the group, and the wings were on point!!  This was a meet & greet, so the coordinators Riyike and Sheila, set up the event with a cool questionnaire that we used to mingle amongst ourselves.  Talk about a conversation starter!  I'm not typically a talker (well, unless get me talking about a subject I like!) but it was so easy to talk with the ladies in attendance, ask and be asked questions, and make new friends.  The styles were abundant, fros to locs to twist outs and TWAs (teeny weeny afros).  I know a lot of ladies don't care for hanging out with a lot of other ladies because there is usually some sort of drama or cattiness.  That is NOT the case, and when I've been in places with other Naturals, usually there is a sense of admiration floating in the hair.  Other Naturals usually understand what it is to deal with your natural hair, the time and patience involved, and generally they appreciate that you've taken the time to care for your natural hair.

My friends

One of my friends and her sister came through to show support as well.  She started the loc process a month ago, and her sister just did her big chop in February.  I met lots of cool ladies there, and plan to attend any other events I can.  I want to send a big thank you again to Riyike and Sheila, coordinators of Nappy Love Houston, Chicago Bar & Grill for providing a great venue to us, and to all the ladies that attended, I really enjoyed meeting y'all and look forward to many more great events in the future. 

Thank you for stopping by my blog!  I'm still trying to figure out a few things, but I'm learning something new everyday!  Your support is appreciated, so become a friend of my blog and leave your comments and feedback.

Here are a few pics from the event. Enjoy!

 

If you attended the Meet & Greet, or are a member of Nappy Love Houston, please share your comments about the event. What would you tell others who are natural, transitioning, or contemplating going natural about having a strong support system? What are your feelings about networking with other Naturals?

Lisa Michelle :)