June 29, 2012

Wash & Go Experience

I decided to try this whole wash and go thing.  I will admit, I was exceptionally timid about doing it for a few reasons.

1) The amount of gel/product that would be required for this big head of mine
2.) What my wash and go would start to look like after a few days
3.) I didn't know if I had a curl pattern, and if I did, how the different textures on my head would look once defined...if they could be defined.

I know, it sounds kind of ridiculous that I have been natural for 9 months and have been perm free for 2 years and I didn't know if I had a curl pattern. Well...I didn't. There isn't much more I can say about that. I've stuck with twist outs and braid outs since my BC and I did roller sets galore while transitioning.  Well, in participating in the W&G experience, I have learned that I do have a curl pattern...but it isn't the same all over. LOL. The majority of my tresses are super tight coils, but I have a small area in the front of my head and in the very back, smack dab in the middle where this loosely coiled thing is happening. I call it the Michael Jackson Tribute. LOL.

The first time I did a W&G, I did a half and half on my head as far as the products went.  I knew that my Eco Styler EO formula would work. I mean, there isn't anything that I have needed either of my Eco Styler gels to do hair-wise that they haven't done and done well. But if you remember from my Miss. Jessie's post, I said that I hadn't used the curly meringue enough to give it a true review.  So for my first W&G I used the Miss. Jessie's meringue on the right side of my head, and the eco styler on the left.  The results were okay but the Miss Jessie's would not be suitable for anything beyond 2-day hair. The first day, it was ok but on day 2 it was edging toward frizz city.


Here is the side with Miss Jessis's, totally dry


Here is the side with Eco Styler, totally dry
 As you can see from the pics, even on day one, the Miss. Jessie's side had a good amount of frizz and the Eco Styler side looked nice and neat, even after being pulled back on the side a few different ways, so day 2 was a definite no-no. I washed the mane and started over (I couldn't co-wash due to the ingredients in Miss Jessie's products). This time withh 100 % eco styler gel.

The results?

Much better!

Here's the back on a day one.

Here's the front on a day 2 You can kind of see the wavitude of the hair right above my eye (thanks Grandma!)
 



This is a new day week. I think this is from the 3rd week of W&G's, when I realized that I didn't have to do the part on the side of my hair that I've become so accustomed to doing over the past...oh let's just say since middle school, LOL. Here you can really see the small patch of wavy hair on my left, versus the tiny, tight coils on my right. And there's a bigger patch with even looser waves in the back of my head. You know...the kitchen.

These last two pics are of day 5 and day 6 hair. Both days I wore a puff. I was amazed I could get that much wear out of one W&G! I can certainly understand why some people love to do them.

Now, I didn't do my follow-up day hair like I have seen others do on YouTube.  Most of the videos I have seen have shown ladies lightly wetting their hair and picking it out with either their fingers or a comb/pick. I tried that and didn't like the look at all. I felt like I had helmet head. I also didn't do the multiple pineapples thing because that would have put too many parts in my hair and my hair has a hard time hiding the lines of a part. So, what I did was wet my hair every day with my spray bottle of water until it was wet enough to shake. Not as wet or as shakable on day 1, but wet enough so that my coils would loosen up a bit, reseparate & then as it dried, it would coil back to its tightness.  

I heard a few ladies stated that they didn't particularly care for their day one hair, too. That they liked the fuller, somewhat 'fro'd out look.  That didn't appeal to me. While I love my 'fro, I have become very acquainted with it while working on aging braid and twist outs. I was not looking for a 'fro from a W&G. I liked the defined, coiled look of day 1, so every day after that was an experiment on how to get my hair looking very close to day 1. Not day 2, but more like...day one and 1 or 2 hours. LOL.

Now having said all that, and having done W&G's for about 3.5 weeks, I have come to the conclusion that I will not be doing them often at all!!! While the look is beautiful, the work of the wash and detangle after the fact leaves a lot to be desired. I feel like I had a lot of breakage or had to do a lot of snipping thanks to single-strand knots that developed into fairy knots. Maybe there wasn't a lot of breakage, but there seemed to be a lot more hair in the sink post detangle...that is not the business. I also had a harder time finger detangling. Most of the time I partially finger detangle, then finish up with a comb. Why? Because I am VERY heavy handed and even more impatient and I am more careful when using a comb and taking my time, then when putting my fingers in my hair and getting frustrated because fingers 1 & 2 glide thru some strands while fingers 3 & 4 get stuck in different levels of kinks...all in the same pass.  Until my patience improves, the wide tooth comb shall be my buddy!

I think that's all I have to say about my wash & go experience. It was a great season of learning and I really liked the effects, but I will probably refrain from do doing them for more than one month out of the year.

TTFN!

June 18, 2012

My Transition Lessons: You don’t need to spend a lot on products

One of the constant things heard from people who were transitioning, or even fully natural, both on FB & on YouTube was that they were “going broke” while going natural.  They were buying products for natural hair and in the midst of that, learning how expensive natural hair products can be.  I will admit, there are some products for natural hair that are quite pricey and can put a major dent in your wallet, but you don’t have to buy them.

I started my journey using the products I had already in my hair closet. I didn’t buy a new product until about 9 or 10 months into my transitioning journey.  Here’s the major obstacle to overcome when thinking about buying hair products:
a.       Products do not grow your hair.
There is no magic product you can buy that will make your hair grow any faster than its going to grow
b.      Products can affect your journey.
There are products that you can use that can help you retain length and prevent breakage. Ultimately, though, how your handle your hair will determine how well your hair responds to transitioning and detangling while transitioning.
c.       Just because it says its for natural hair doesn’t mean its for YOUR natural hair.
Don’t succumb to buying expensive products just because they say they are for natural hair.  That is not a guarantee that it will work for your hair or that your hair will like the product at all (see my post on the Miss Jessie’s line).

So my biggest piece of advice based on my own journey is to begin where you are.  Start with products you already own.  See how they work, THEN branch out, if needed, based on how your hair responds.