Searching For Alternatives

My scalp itches like crazy often and needs frequent moisture or lubrication. What I have found is that there are many naturals who are oh so adamantly anti grease and, while I am not, I am open to trying alternatives to see how my head responds to them. Typically, I will use Sulfur 8 regular or light formula on my scalp or the Parvaneu tee tree oil grease formula.  All three of those products would be used 2-3 times a week (not together) to keep my scalp from driving me to digging in it with my nails.

Yesterday, I started using tee tree oil on my scalp. Just the oil. Not a petroleum/petrolatum based product, just oil.  I can already tell that using it will be a daily regimen because I had to use it today as well and I am still having some itching issues. From what I have heard the benefits of tee tree oil are, it may help resolve some of my scalp issues for good. But nothing is instantaneous, so I am willing to dedicate a month to this product and see how my scalp responds to it.

I recently bought the Head & Shoulders Itchy Scalp Care  shampoo & conditioner. Like I said, I'm open to alternatives.  While this is not a product that was recommended to me by any other naturals, I have had great success with using H&S while I was processed and, if it doesn't work for me, I can always give it to my brother because that's all he uses to wash his hair, so that won't be so bad.

Like I said, my search for alternatives will continue. It takes me forever to go through grease & I can honestly say that I haven't purchased any grease in over 3 years, so if either the tee tree oil or the Head & Shoulders work, or even if they don't, I haven't hurt anything by trying.  Honestly, I would dare say that if people were washing their hair as often as they should & co-washing or clarifying on a regular basis (which I have yet to do) the issue that many naturals have regarding greases wouldn't be an issue at all.  Maybe I'm wrong, but grease hasn't done me a bit of wrong in all its years of being used on my head.

I Rocked A Shortie Doo

It was a last minute decision made on an empty stomach desperate for some bits of Chinese food to satisfy its lunch-time craving.  If I hadn't skipped breakfast, I never would have followed through with it, but I had, so I did. I had all these twists in my head that I'd put in a few days ago & put rods on the ends and just hadn't taken them down, but I didn't have time to do a twist out! What was I going to do?

This is what I did: I took out the rods and (after about 6 min of searching for a hat that I just wasn't going to find...I still haven't found it) walked out of the door sporting my, very short, roded twists.  I'm proud of myself for doing it because I have always had an issue with having short hair, or having hair that looked like it was short.  So to elect to come out with short-looking hair was a big step for me.

There are, of course, many things that I can find wrong with this decision, but I dare say those things have more to do with my issues than whether or not my hair was presentable in the way it was set. I didn't run into anyone I knew while I was out, I didn't get any weird looks, so it isn't even about how others saw me or what they thought. I just have to get used to this kind of thing because the fact of the matter is, my hair has been in this protective style all week and has had very little manipulation...which is what my hair needed in the first place.  And this turns what would be one style, into two...that's always a good thing because in the next couple of days I can take out the twists and wear it as a twist out.

Now...if I could only keep my hands out of my head! It feels sooo good!

Twist Out Triumph!!

Oh my goodness!  I am so excited!!! Today, I have had/discovered my first successful twist out of my transitioning journey. I have attempted twist outs or curly twist/braid outs before and they failed amazingly.

Here's one to the left. I had hair with twist & curl but it was a frizzy mess of a fro-like bush.  Even the jacked up flat twist or cornrow (whatever that thing is) to the side couldn't save it. The results I had, of course, did not make me excited about trying it again and I was a little upset at finding that I was only going to be able to rock roller/rod sets or flat ironed hair.  Considering my desire to reduce my heat usage, that was not good news for me.  As the months have gone by I have found ways to experiment and vary my roller/rod sets so it wasn't the same thing over and over again, and in doing that, I gained some other skills...like learning how to flat twist.

So, a couple of days ago, after my having to co-wash out the Herbal Essences feeling in my hair, I opted to twist my hair instead of rolling it right away because I really had nowhere to go that I couldn't throw a hat on my head and go. When I decided to take the twists out, I was happy to have a much more attractive look to my hair...it didn't resemble a bush, thanks to the additional nappy growth.  But I still felt like something was missing.  Like if I added something to my prep work my hair would look like it had some life.  Using the setting lotion I have on hand did not make it lively at all.

Targe' to the rescue!  I drove my life-challenged twist-out to Target and spent quite some time looking at the natural hair products they had available.  I had 2 requirements for my search: 1: I wanted a cream-based product; 2: It needed to be a product that did more than just define curls.  I hadn't narrowed for myself what that "more" would be, but purchasing a product with 1 function was not my goal.

I went specifically looking for the Kinky Curly Curling Custard.  Why? Because just about everyone uses it and I haven't heard many poor reviews of it, so of course, I want to first examine what seemed to work for everyone else. The second product I looked at was the Taliah Waajid....and I'm totally spacing on the name of her loc gel, but she has two.  One is regular hold and the other is a tight hold.  Well, both of these are gel based products. I have gel, a big bucket of it. I don't need anymore gel. So I look further down the aisle and see the Shea Moisture line.  Now, let me say, I have not heard so many good things about the Shea Moisture line in general.  Certainly not when being compared to the KC line of products, but when taking into account that I wanted a cream-based product, that was reasonably priced and of all the products available, only one was cream based, Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie won the product battle. So, having used that, here is today's twist out result:

All I can say is THANK GOODNESS!!!! Now I have another style in my pocket!! Woo hoo!!!

Hello...Goodbye

The short version of this post is this: Herbal Essences Hello Hydration is NOT for me!!!!

The long version: Keep reading...

I am learning my hair...and its exciting me! I used to think that it was a little...weird to hear people say that they were masters of their hair.  Of course they  should be since it is, after all, on their head. I mean, who else would master it?! But after a few months on this journey, I can say it is quite real. If that makes me weird I guess I can just add that to a pretty long list.

As I am sure I stated in my product haul post, I have not bought many new products because I am determined to use what I have in stock already first.  Save the Herbal Essences, ORS deep conditioner, I have not bought any new shampoo or conditioner products.  So, what I have been using weekly to wash my hair has been an EVOO pre-poo, either overnight or for a few hours prior to washing, and the Dove Intensive Repair line of shampoo and conditioner.  Using this regimen has left my hair feeling healthy and...supple.  When I used the Hello Hydration this past weekend, still doing a pre-poo treatment, I could tell before washing the shampoo from my hair that the line was not for me.  My hair felt stringy and dry, even though it was saturated with product and water.  It didn't feel much better after using the conditioner either so I styled my hair as needed for the weekend, but later in the week, I co-washed to get it back to itself.  I don't know what I'm going to do with the product. I could use the conditioner on my dog (seriously, I used to condition her with Thermasilk) and it would be great for her fur, but I have almost a whole bottle of shampoo left. Oh well, I guess, but that is precisely why I was determined not to purchase new products willy nilly as soon as I started.

Fuzz Is NOT the Enemy!

Ok, so, of course, this whole natural journey has me thinking about matters of hair a little differently.  Today, I am dealing with some fuzz. Not frizz...fuzz.

When I was processing my hair, the slicker the hair, the better. If it didn't lay just right, then something was wrong or off with how I was doing my hair or what I was doing to my hair. I didn't have fuzz when I was processed and for the most part, I haven't had an issue with fuzz since I've been transitioning.  Thanks to the styles I've been doing over the last nine months, there hasn't been much opportunity for fuzz to present itself and by the time it did, it was time for me to wash my hair anyway or I would refresh my roller/rod sets to eliminate the issue.

Today, however, I am wearing (I can't say "rocking" because I'm slapping a hat on this head when I leave the house) twists in the back with flat twists in the front.  Guess what! I have some fuzz at the roots.  My first inclination was to pull out my big container of Eco Styler and slick that mess down, but then I thought better of it as I realized that fuzz may be unavoidable at some times and I have to become okay with that.  I think if I learn to embrace my fuzz that I will have an easier time in the future of embracing "big hair."  I still have an aversion to the 'fro.

So, I swallowed my desire to slap some gel on it as well as the thought to re twist the twists that have a little fuzz at the roots. Wearing my own hair in twists is absolutely brand new to me, but I'm going to do it more often because I need to be doing more protective styles for my hair, especially on days when I don't have to make an appearance in public for an extended time period.  I have been experiencing a little more breakage than normal over the past couple of weeks and I am sure that has more to do with my having my hair out and not protecting my ends more. Many people would attribute it to not chopping off my processed hair but I disagree because I have done a good job of preserving my ends, save for the normal shedding, up to this point.  I will see how these protective styles go over the next few weeks but I am hoping for & expecting great results.

Responses to Me Going Natural

For the past month I have been rocking my transitioning hair.  I have only used heat for stying once (BIG change!) and I have been wearing heat-free roller sets in variations for a solid month.  I was a little anxious about doing this because I didn't know how I was going to like it, much less how other people where going to like it. But its been a month and I have gotten great responses to my journey from friends and family. I know it shouldn't matter what other people think about me going natural or if they approve of my choice, but it does.  So I'm happy that people like my mom, my siblings and some of my close friends are supporting me and are liking what they see so far.  If they didn't like it, I'd still be doing it, don't get it twisted, but it does make the journey less stressful when those you care about are supportive of what you are doing.  Even my mom said it was making her think a little more about my decision after she trimmed my ends for me and saw the result of my flat ironed hair.

Then, this past weekend I went to visit some of my family who haven't seen me in transitioning state and they all gave me rave reviews and the consensus is that I look younger....PLUS! So, once again, I'm going to try doing a twist out with the edges curled and I'll see how this goes. If it is a fail...I'll be rocking another roller set. At least I know that style works and works well

So, thanks to http://www.glorycrown.blogspot.com/ and her bringing back the "Take Back Your Hair Challenge" I am doing something I didn't think I could do...styling my hair, heat-free and treating my hair well. I can honestly say that I'm taking good care of my hair, the naps and the processed ends and as a result of that, it looks damn good!

Yay me!!!

Product Haul!

So this is my first haul post! I'm kind of excited to have the chance to do one. I'm sure there will be many others as time goes on. These are all products that I have purchased, with my own money, within the last two months. I am not being paid to review any of these products (I've heard/read other people say this...figured I'd throw it in for good measure).  I haven't used all of the products yet, so I will only be speaking on what I have used so far and I will list the rest.


Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste sculpting shine pomade by Curls

How can I put this nicely?  I hated it!!! It felt like gunk on my ends when I used it on a roller set and it felt gunky on my edges when I used it to smooth them down. I don't know how I feel about the smell either. It has a sweet smell to it, but it also smells a little plastic.  Had I known it was going to feel like that, I would not have spent the money to buy it.  Having said that, because I did spend $11 on it, I am going to hold on to it until after I do my BC to see how it holds up against strictly natural hair.  My processed hair can be a little fickle and also because it is so thin and damaged in some areas, it doesn't respond well to some products. So, all hope is not lost for this product...but I won't be using it for a couple of months.

The Tangle Teaser

I fell into the hype. Something I often try not to do, and bought this tool because I heard so many people rave about how well it worked on their transitioning hair.  That was music to my ears as someone who spends a lot of time detangling and trying not to break and damage hair that is already fragile.  So, I went shopping for it...it took a trip to three different Sally's before I was able to find one.  The verdict....loved it!!! It does a great job detangling which is what it is supposed to do.  I do have the same issue that some others have had when detangling in the shower with it slipping/flying out of my hand, but other than that, Love it.  What I have ended up doing is using my big tooth comb for shower detangling and the tangle teaser when I'm detangling after I'm done washing my hair.

Eco Styler Gel with Olive Oil

I finally bought it, after not even knowing it existed and it has a really good hold! I was surprised to find that, at least where I bought mine, there was no Eco Styler w/Olive Oil that had a softer hold.  All the containers available had the max hold of 10.  That's okay though, because I do have another Eco brand gel that I have used for years that has a softer hold of 7.  So that just means I'll be using both products depending on the style. I was surprised at how well and how quickly the Eco w/Olive Oil brought out the curls of my natural hair!  I currently have my hair slicked back on the sides, pulled to the back in a ponytail with a roller set on top (a variation of a style I saw on Youtube by prettydimples).  I used the Eco w/olive oil to slick the hair back and in some parts had to pull out the brush to de-accentuate the curls!  I've seen people use just the Eco on the youtube vids, but never thought it would happen that fast on my hair...wrong! I'm not complaining, I'm looking forward to the wash & go's I will do after I BC.

The other items I bought were little $0.99 testers of Palmers Olive Oil Formula Gro Therapy and ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion.  I have yet to use either of these products because I don't want to mix up regimens so I can get a true reading on what does and doesn't work on my hair after long periods of use.  I have oil and tee tree oil treated sleep cap also. I haven't used that yet because I was sleeping in rollers for a few nights. I also bought a little spray bottle that was just too cute (and had a blue top). If its blue I gotta buy it!

Currently, I am using Herbal Essences Hello Hydration shampoo and conditioner.  I think I like my Dove Intensive Repair better for what it does for my hair. My hair comes out feeling softer after using Dove vs "doing the Herbal." I'm not going to toss them, I'll probably be out of the conditioner in a couple of co washes because I have to use a lot to get the job done when detangling and I bought the smaller bottles (they were like 2 for $5 on sale at Target).  I'm also using ORS Hair Fertilizer, though not as often as it says you should simply because I have been doing roller sets and the less you fuss with that, the better. So I am going to use continue to use that for a few months before trying the Palmer's gro therapy so I can make an true determination of which product works better.  For shine I've been using ORS Nature's Shine. I got a tester of it during a natural hair seminar/gathering and loved the results I got after using it for about 2 weeks so I bought the real deal....$5.

I do grease my scalp. I know there are many naturals who are opposed to this but as I have dry skin & scalp issues as well as some eczema issues, I use Sulfur 8 Light on my hair very lightly. I don't plop it in like a salve, but I do need that for my scalp. When I don't use it or even the Bronner Bros. extra lite I have severe itching and flaking...and that's just not attractive.

So I think that's it for this product haul. I'm still enjoying the journey and learning to be more daring and experiment with my hair more. Go me! Until next time...PEACE!