So last week I put in mini two-strand twists and I am using a satin bonnet instead of tying my hair with a scarf to see if it helps the breakage I've been experiencing on my edges. After completing my two strand twist I did two french braids to protect my ends for the week and try to keep them as neat as possible for as long as possible. This week I didn't wash my hair. I just took down the two french braids (omg amazing curly twists!), did a scalp massage with my scalp oil mix from last week, sprayed my hair with infusium 23 and sat under my huetiful for 10 minutes. I then sectioned my hair, sprayed with more infusium, applied my homemade leave in, used some extra redken antisnap on my ends and sealed with coconut oil. I then re-braided my twists in 3 french braids, 2 on the sides kind of circling my head and one down the middle. I then braided the three ends and tucked the end, baggyed my ends and put on my scarf for the day to control frizz. I still don't have batteries in my camera but I'll make sure and get some asap and update with pics. I liked the 2 french braid effects except that the middle part is too pronounced. I have a semi-formal event next week so anticipating that, I braided my hair such that there will be no pronounced part and I'll have wonderfully bouncy curls framing my face. I'm so excited. lol. I'm trying to leave these twists in for at least a month. I'll wash next week and then try for another 2 week span after that. If it works, this may just be my new simplified routine until cute season aka spring/summa time rolls around again lol. wish me luck!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
this winter is not PLAYING!
 |
| Snow snow everywhere. In lesser places ppl would have endless snow days but up here we LAUGH at snow and cold. lol |
As I am typing I am shivering my timbers. lol. It's supposed to get to a nice friendly -25F up here today. LMAO. For the last couple winters I have been glorying in the effects of climate change with green grass in February and the like but this winter between the abundant snow (fun driving) and this wonderful cold, I don't know what to say. I mean I can't complain too much, after all the skiers deserve to have one good winter too I guess. LMAO can't wait to go skiing and snowboarding with my girls in the next couple weeks. However, it appears the weather is taking a toll on my hair. Nothing too alarming but I am having a little bit of breakage. I am also finding that most of it is around my hair line. I do my best to keep my hair in protective styles, covered up when I'm outside etc etc but i still got some so I'll have to try and address that. I also think my hair wants another coconut prepoo so I will be doing that very soon as well as a protein treatment with my Nexxus.
Today I co-washed, deep-conditioned with my steamer for 20 mins and detangled and did my regular protective style. I think I am going to do smaller twists or braids and give my hair a 2 week break and see what happens. I think I need to switch up my protective styles because I don't want my parts to become permanent. lol. My boo Mar Mar brought me some shea butter from Naija so I'll be making some whip with it soon, look out for that experiment. She also brought me some black soap and I am so looking forward to using it on my skin. I'm trying to move towards more natural skin care products so I'll add a couple posts on that in due course.
Today's regimen
cowash - suave tropical coconut
deep condition - ORS hair mayo
scalp oil - mix of grapeseed oil, olive oil. tea tree and jojoba
leave in - infusium 23 and adapted kimmaytube (cantu shea leave in, redken antisnap, aloe vera juice, jojoba oil and olive oil)
sealant - coconut oil
STAY WARM!
Monday, January 10, 2011
OnyxRose Online
Guess who's featured this week? yup, urs truly! Thanks so much to Onyx Rose for letting me share my experiences with her readers. Be sure to check out her blog for refreshing, easy to digest blog postings on current events involving natural hair, naturals in the media, product reviews, hair care tips & techniques and other features on regular naturals like you and me. lol. Check out the feature!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Huetiful Steamer update
So I continue to have a good experience with the steamer and my hair loves it but there is one thing I don't like about it. Maybe 1.5 things. The one thing is that it doesn't distribute the steam evenly. Most of the steam is concentrated at the front of the hood while the back hardly gets any. I have dealt with this previously by turning my head during steaming so that all areas of my hair get a good steaming. Today I decided to turn my position so that my face is facing the steam generating unit and then I put a towel over the hood extending down to my back so I was totally encapsulated. The result: the steam that usually escapes through the front of the hood is recirculated resulting in a more even steaming experience and more steam concentrated on my hair than escaping. Only warning is to make sure you have a towel to protect your ears and skin from the boiling hot water dripping down. The other half problem I have is I wish the hood were deeper. My hair barely fits so I have to rotate to make sure my nape and edges get steam too. The towel method addresses this but if there is a huetiful steamer 2.0 they need to make the hood deeper and address the steam distribution design.
 |
| All the steam escaping via the front of the hood. With the towel over the front half of the hood the steam is forced to recirculate in the hood resulting in a more even steam distribution. |
I steamed for 45 mins total today then washed out about 15 minutes later. Usually my deep conditioning process takes HOURS (minimum 2) just because I had been reasoning that the longer it stays on the more my hair will benefit. Over the next couple weeks I will be trying to see what is the minimum time I can leave it on and still have a wonderful results. Today total deep conditioning time was approximately an hour and my curls were just as gorgeous as after an overnight treatment. I'll try to get down to 1/2 hr eventually (the time recommended on the ORS hair mayo bottle) and see what happens. Despite the short comings my curls are definitely loving this new steaming routine. It has also drastically changed my life. My weekend hair washing and detangling usually took an entire day and now I can foresee a future where it takes about 3 hrs tops. per week! lol.
One change from my regular regimen is I am all out of HE longlasting relationship conditioner and I decided to try the suave coconut conditioner again. My hair still loves it, maybe even more than my HE right now so I'll be using that for the next couple months.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Happy One Year Blogiversary to me!
Can't believe it's been a year already! Honestly, when I started this blogumentary I wasn't convinced I would still be doing it one year later. I had no idea what I would put on here, who I would share it with if anybody at all, how it would help me, how it might potentially help others. I will say though I am glad I did it. It definitely helped me through those days when I really felt like chopping all my hair off lol. It made helping others much easier because now I could keep track and document what actually works for me and when anybody asks I can direct them to one place with all my knowledge. Based on my blogger stats (just discovered that! lol) seems like it's been helping a lot of people I don't even know from all over the world: USA, Russia, UAE, Cote D'Ivoire, Belarus, My Caribbean massive, Brazil, UK, France, Germany, and so many others. It is so exciting to see how organic the web is in action in that you can connect with ppl a lifetime of experiences away and impact on ppl who you don't even know and probably might never actually meet.
Most importantly though, this blog has taught me a valuable lesson about myself: I am fully capable of being disciplined if I put my mind to it. I have been horrible with routines in the past and as I said when I started, stick-to-it-iveness was definitely not my forte. But in blogging I have found a valuable tool. This year I am trying to translate that new found discipline and focus to other aspects of my life. I have started journaling as a tool to keeping myself on task with my education as well as my many other life goals. I have also realized that by ascribing negative adjectives/characteristics to myself I basically create a self-fulfilling prophecy. As such I will no longer say I hate to read. I love reading! I am disciplined! I do not have the attention span of an ant! LMAO. So far it is working out. I have found a new passion for the things I do at school, work and in life in general and while I may not be as public in sharing those journeys I am every bit as committed to making it happen.
 |
Hair length chart with all the acronyms. Aiming for hip length by December 2011 |
As far as this blog, I'll keep it up. I intend to do some upgrading as soon as I get done with my school obligations. Hair goals this year: KISS. Continue growing it out for now, possibly aiming for just short of hip length by December. Move towards an even more simplified regimen than the one I have currently. Look out for more experimentation with natural ingredients and mixology, trying to get even cheaper and less time consuming. I'll also probably do some posts on ingredients when I get some more time later in the year. I hope this continues to be helpful to you all who pass through here from time to time. Thanks so much for your support and feel free to ask any questions, if you have some topic you would like me to address or comments on what you would like to see or how I can make this vehicle better. I hope all of you have a wonderfully successful 2011 and may u accomplish all your goals this year, hair related and otherwise!
Blessings
MzNappyTrini
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Natural Haven and pH balance
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everybody! I'm hoping we all have a productive, successful, safe and blessed 2011. May we all fulfill the vision and mission we have set out for ourselves and keep all our resolutions.
I'm coming up on my one year blogiversary already but I'll leave my reflections on that for the actual day. I was contemplating getting my hair straightened in celebration/ for length check but i'm really liking my curly routine right now so maybe I'll get it done when it gets less dry in the spring or i'll just hold off until my bday as usual, we'll see. But in celebration of the new year I went ahead and did a length check today and all I can say is WOW!
I'm coming up on my one year blogiversary already but I'll leave my reflections on that for the actual day. I was contemplating getting my hair straightened in celebration/ for length check but i'm really liking my curly routine right now so maybe I'll get it done when it gets less dry in the spring or i'll just hold off until my bday as usual, we'll see. But in celebration of the new year I went ahead and did a length check today and all I can say is WOW!
 |
| left: 01/01/2011 almost waist length (WL); right: 01/10/2010 just past arm pit length (APL) |
 |
| left: 01/01/2011 almost WL; right: 01/10/2010 half way between APL and bra strap length (BSL) |
Looks like my hair grew between 4-6 inches depending on where on my head I'm measuring! That's so exciting because it means that I practically retained all my length suggesting that I have got protecting my ends down to a science. I think I will continue growing my hair out this year. My new goal is pants waist/ hip length (~3 inches shy of the crack of my butt lol) by December. I don't know if my hair was ever as long as it is today but I know it's definitely not been pants waist/ hip length before so let's see if I can make it! lol. I intend to stick to my current regimen more or less. The only thing I still need to perfect is my scalp oil so I'll experiment on that in the upcoming weeks. I want to phase out doo grow and move towards my own all natural mix. I'll also probably switch up conditioners, reintroduce my nexxus protein treatment and maybe try raw shea butter or a whip.
Today I did a bit of an experiment and learned something extremely valuable: my hair NEEDS to be conditioned every time I wash it. lol. I ran out of conditioner this week and thought I could just shampoo and deep condition and be ok. Nope. While detangling wasn't a total disaster it was the most difficult it's been in weeks and I had some breakage for the first time in more than six months at least. Never again. I must say though I love my huetiful steamer! I don't know how I managed without this thing lol. It has made washday exponentially less work- and time- intensive.
Today's regimen:
shampoo: herbal essence hello hydration
protein treatment - giovanni protein reconstructor
deep condition - ors hair mayo and ms jessie's rapid recovery (omg this thing smells horrible!)
ACV Rinse - 1 cap in 2 cups cold water
leave in - infusium 23, adapted kimaytube leave-in
scalp oil - doo grow, jojoba and coconut oil
sealant - coconut oil
Today I did a bit of an experiment and learned something extremely valuable: my hair NEEDS to be conditioned every time I wash it. lol. I ran out of conditioner this week and thought I could just shampoo and deep condition and be ok. Nope. While detangling wasn't a total disaster it was the most difficult it's been in weeks and I had some breakage for the first time in more than six months at least. Never again. I must say though I love my huetiful steamer! I don't know how I managed without this thing lol. It has made washday exponentially less work- and time- intensive.
Today's regimen:
shampoo: herbal essence hello hydration
protein treatment - giovanni protein reconstructor
deep condition - ors hair mayo and ms jessie's rapid recovery (omg this thing smells horrible!)
ACV Rinse - 1 cap in 2 cups cold water
leave in - infusium 23, adapted kimaytube leave-in
scalp oil - doo grow, jojoba and coconut oil
sealant - coconut oil