Length vs. Health

Many people say this mantra, but fewer live by it. In the online hair care community, I've run across many ladies who refuse to acknowledge their hair would be best benefited with a good trim (or cut), and a clean slate. Matter of fact, I was one of those women.

I understand how hard it is to be faced with the possibility of cutting off months of progress in 5 minutes. I can understand how the dream of long hair can be deterred. However, at what lengths would you go to make your ultimate length? Or is a healthy head of hair your goal with length being a bonus?

I found that protective styling was beneficial to me at a certain length and while my hair was recovering from damage. However, I enjoy different styles that aren't always protective now that my hair is shoulder length. I'm not willing to wear buns, and braids and whatnot for the next three years. I want to enjoy my hair. I'm also not a wig or weave wearer so I'm left to deal with my own hair. So I ask you....Are months or even years of protective styling at the cost of your confidence and sexiness worth the ultimate goal of length? **Note: This only applies to those who protective style but don't like to.


Let's chop it up.

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New Haircut!

In my previous post of the Tangerine Salon & Spa, I got my hair cut. I'd actually like to refer to it as a shaping, because I don't consider it a cut.

I didn't feel disregarded and dismissed. I didn't get my hair whacked off 2 inches at a time. I got my hair shaped into a bouncy, flowing style and I can't wait to wear it out. This style will be easy to maintain with pincurls. Layers allow you to take advantage of curls not having to worry about how they will fall. If your hair is shaped right, it'll take care of itself.

I've always like long layers and bangs. I like the flow it creates around your face and how it can be tousled to and fro for different looks. It can be a bit of a Becky style, but I love it nonetheless. I don't categorize "black hair styles" and "white hair styles". Most styles can be created on multiple hair types with ease.

Anywho, on to the pics...

 

I love layers around my face! Casual and fun!

  

I got the most cut in the front to create the layers. This is where my hair was most uneven so I'm glad those ends are gone. My left side grows slower than the right and it was weird looking.

I couldn't stay out of the mirror. Love my ends! My hair has great movement and actually feels heavier with the uneven-ness gone! Don't sleep on the benefits of a good shaping. 

My hair appears shorter in the back than it actually is. I think I only lost about 1 - 1.5 inches inch of length back there. Either way, the benefits far outweigh hair cut that will grow back.

I went home and fluffed my hair into how I would wear it casually. I would wear it with a bit more curl, but that's easy to achieve with pincurls a few minutes in the morning. I love that my ends feel and look great. I'll probably need a shape up with my corrective relaxer because some of my hair is straight and some is not at the roots. 

The best and last thing I'll mention is that my hair is so silky. I mean, really. It hasn't felt like this in about a month, maybe a little longer. Aveda Damage Remedy really did a great job because my hair was not popping out when I combed it. Nothing came out! It was soft and light. I'm going to use the travel size of this product line up until I use it up. Those should last me about 4-6 weeks. I'll give a thorough review of them later.

ETA: This is my hair before the hair cut...bleh!

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Tangerine (Aveda) Salon & Spa Review

Tangerine Salon & Spa

240 N. Denton Tap Road

Coppell, TX - 75019

TangerineSalon.net

 
During my entire appointment, everything was on time. My time as a client was respected and I respected the stylist's time by arriving 15 minutes early.

I was greeted by an assistant who asked me about what I wanted and had I been there before. Since I hadn't, she said I'll be getting a consultation with my stylist, Janet, first. She gave me magazines, massaged my scalp, and a cup of water. By the way, I was the only person of darker skin persuasion in that piece. I didn't feel uncomfortable and they weren't paying any attention to me anyway.

Janet, was already waiting for me and escorted me to her chair. She asked about what I wanted while assessing my hair which was a mess. I told her my hair history, current issues, and what I wanted. I showed her three photos of Eva Mendes for the layers I wanted. I expressed I wanted to keep as much of my overall length as possible, so we chose the best one for what I wanted and could achieve.


Janet took pieces of my hair and showed me exactly how much she'd have to cut for the style all over. She explained how it would look on me as opposed to the picture. I felt confident that I would not have any suprises. She began to smooth my hair with a fine tooth comb and began cutting. She said that she actually won't have to cut as much as she thought, but I will lose length at the top because of the layers. Cool. During the cut, she referred back to the picture to make sure everything was good. I liked that.

She recommended I stop relaxing and go straight via Keratin Complex treatment. She also said that switching relaxer brands and relaxing with store bought relaxers are bad and I should stick to one salon brand relaxer if I choose to keep relaxing. She reiterated that I should stretch a while before my next relaxer. If my hair is still breaking, don't relax until it's under control. 

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The Transitioning Verdict...Drumroll......

After much, much consideration and obsession I've decided to not transition to natural. Why? I'd be happy to explain.

Here's a list: (in no particular order)

1. My lifestyle is active. I run 5 times a week and sweat alot. I also don't like to spend a great deal of time on my hair. Considering I would be a long term transitioner 1.5-2 years, this would cause me to spend more and more time on my hair which I don't want to do.

2. I would definitely be a heat user. And because of reason #1, my heat styling wouldn't be worth dip because I'd constantly be sweating it out.

3. My relaxed hair is not damaged. I was just very frightened with my last experience. When I was relaxing with Linange Shea Butter Relaxer myself and maintained a simple regimen, my hair was flourishing. I was not relaxing stick straight and breakage and excessive shedding was almost non existent.

4. I still haven't reached my goal of APL. Anything such as a spontaneous early BC (which happens frequently with transitioners) would cancel that out. And at this point, I want my damn APL! THEN we can talk about transitioning! :-)

Understand that my shedding/breakage episode did not scare me out of anything. Out of all of these, reason #3 is my most important. Being relaxed is my styling preference. I was doing just fine with my own hair care in my hands when I was overseas. My hair was thick, not breaking, healthy, and swanging. I only need a stylist for trims. I am not going to let one person and one bad experience of neglect scare me from my styling preference.

I still admire and will be publicly e-jealous of naturals. That won't change, however, for my lifestyle and what I want out of my person style, I will remain relaxed for the time being.


I may relax today or next week, I haven't decided yet. But it will be with Linange Shea Butter Relaxer and Neutralizing Conditioner. My Aveda appointment is tomorrow and I'm leaning more towards relaxing today so that I can enjoy my length and get an accurate assesment of what needs to go instead of going in blind with a new stylist.

Viva la relaxer!!!

;-)

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Chop, Chop! Aveda, here I come!

Well, the time has come once again that I need a trim. My ends aren't split, but my style has grown out and now my magnetic rollersets won't hang right. I miss my rollersets and I am not feeling rocking buns and whatnot constantly. That's my indication that it's time for a trim. My last one was done in August 2009.

I'm not looking forward to this at all, because I'll be experimenting with yet another persons trimming techniques. However, I made an appointment at an Aveda Salon near my home. I specifically asked for the best person who deals with African American relaxed hair. The receptionist said there were two stylists, and scheduled me for the best one although I have to wait a week which is fine.

I've read outstanding reviews about Aveda salons, even the Aveda Institute where the students learn. I am going to get my hair shaped into a style, maybe some sideswept bangs and light layers. Clearly, my hair does not grow evenly and with breakage recently, I know I'll be looking towards 1 inch being cut off. But the main idea I want to convey to the stylist is that I want a hairstyle that moves and that won't need to be maintained much. Meaning that as my hair grows, the style will go with it.

So, my appointment is next Wednesday and I'll be posting a review!

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Lustrasilk Tea Tree Cholesterol

 

Where to buy:  Local beauty supply store

Price: $2.99  20 oz. (yay!)

Ingredients: Water, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol and Polysorbate 60, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Cholesterol, Tea Tree Oil, Silk Amino Acids, Rosehips Extract, Soybean Oil, Safflower Oil, Peanut Oil, Vitamin E, Mineral Oil, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Blue 1, Fragrance.

They say: Lustrasilk Tea Tree Cholesterol delicately combines the finest Tea Tree Oil, together with Vitamin E, Silk Amino Acids, and 5 Essential Oils. This special blend offers hair and scalp the ultimate in conditioning, repairing, and beautifying properties. Gently conditions as it soothes your dry, itchy scalp. Use it on all hair types.

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Low Manipulation: Not For Everyone

In light of my previous posting, At A Crossroads, I believe that the main cause of this problem is that low manipulation is not for me. My hair needs to be detangled regularly. I've been doing air dry styles and leaving them for 5-7 days at a time. They looked good, but underneath a problem was brewing.

My hair also thrived when I roller set it every 5 days. I was wrapping or pin curling every night and moisturizing and sealing lightly. My hair really flourished. So it's not really the style that helped, it's the fact that I removed sheds and detangled at least every other day while moisturizing and sealing. I need to go back to this. This is why its most important to keep a journal of some sort for reference.

Lately, I've washed once a week with no combing or detangling during the week. That obviously doesn't work for everyone. My shed hair caused a major problem: breakage and tangles.

Low manipulation styles work for people who don't shed alot, have the patience for hour long detangling, or have easier to manage new growth. I am none of the above. This also counts for people who know their new growth enough to have been through the trial and error phase. This is all new to me. As I've said, I'm almost entering into unfamiliar territory once I complete week 14.

So, after looking back through my regimen history, I'm going to go back to what I know works. My only problem is that my hair is still tangled at the roots in some spots. I'm going to need another really good deep conditioning and detangling session first.

I am really ready to slap a relaxer on and keep it moving. After flat ironing my hair the other day, I miss my hair being sleek and straight. I just keep in mind that I'd rather have thicker, fuller, natural hair that can be straightened as well. Yes, a real re-evaluation is needed to determine whether to proceed with this transition.

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At A Crossroads...

Sigh...today was not a good day. Actually, the past couple of weeks have not been so great on the hair front. Today took the cake.

I'll spare you the details, but lets just say my hair was so tangled that I dried loose under the dryer because detangling was out of the question on wet hair. After I dried, I was able to detangle somewhat. But it took me 1.5 hours to detangle my hair and I'm only into week 13 post relaxer. Obsurd!

Here's what I lost. If you can see there are alot of breakage strands and single strand knot strands. Nevertheless, I had to keep detangling.

For transitioners, this is usually the moment where one decides on a spontaneous BC. Well that ain't happenin', Captain. I worked through my hair courtesy of Fantasia serum and Sally GVP serum to aid in slip. I half-butt flat ironed with my 1" Sedu and here are the results.

 

My hair looks fine, but that was waaay too much. It scared me. I'm only 13 weeks post and I have a problem. BCing is not an option for me so in order to keep my length I have to nip this in the bud. Normally, this excessive shedding is my signal that I'm done stretching. This can happen anywhere between 10-14 weeks post. My hair is giving me "relax me" signals and apparently didn't get the memo that I want to transition. 

So basically I'm leaning towards relaxing my hair and I know I need a trim so I feel like I'm floating back towards my stylists chair. That disappoints me because if my hair gets messed up again, I have no one to blame but myself. 

Right now, I'm somewhat torn and I want to share that with you. I could say to push through the shedding, it'll calm down. I could also say to find new techniques to get rid of shed hair and detangle. But at this point, I've worked too hard on my hair to want to entertain breakage.

Understand, you will ALWAYS get my true feelings and thoughts. Whether it be about products, opinions, techniques, etc. This hair journey can be an doosie and no one can pretend they were always 100% certain about everything. "I keeps it REAL!" HAHAHA (sad inside)

So transition 2010 is up in the air. I'm going to revert back to researching and evaluating what I want from my hair and what I'm willing to do for it. Please share your thoughts as always!

L8rs

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Hand-In-Hurr Syndrome

Good gravy, I can't keep my hands out of my hurr! My new growth is coming in strong and now that I'm actually paying attention to it because of the transition, its clear to me that I have tiny, springy coils all over. In my crown, the coils are looser, however not by much. They shrink up alot, even in my 11 weeks post.

My hair has been in a braidout style for the most part because the winter dryness was making manipulation become damaging. I only use a comb to detangle in the shower. The s.o. loves braidouts or anything curly so I anticipate as my new growth comes in more, his hands will be in my hair even more than mine.  Why do I get the feeling that my transition won't go as long as I plan on it? You feel it too, don't you? lol

I'm anxious to see what it looks like another 3 months from now!

Tis all :-)

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Growth Aids: My Experience and Opinion

The term 'growth aid' is used to refer to a topical product that can be applied to accelerate our genetically predisposed hair growth rate. There are a few growth aids out there, but the four that I've had experience with are Megatek, Ovation Cell Therapy, Boundless Tresses, and Shapley's MTG. I do not consider vitamins a growth aid because they feed our bodies with nutrients we are deficient in that are prohibiting us from reaching our maximum genetic growth rate.

Growth aids can be a sensitive topic, to say the least, in the hair care community. Many people do not believe in growth aids while few can testify to their effects.

From August 2008-January(ish) 2009 I used Megatek and Ovation Cell Therapy. I mostly used Megatek because it was cheaper and more convienent to purchase. My results were phenomenal and can be seen in my Fotki. After that I got lazy and stopped using it. I would apply it to my scalp as if I was greasing it every other day. I would wash twice a week to combat any buildup. I would take two small odorless garlic tablets to combat the excessive shedding. My largest results were from the first 7 weeks of consistent use which can be seen in the first pic in that album of my Fotki.

Now, to my point...

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Winter Hair Care Tips for Damaged Hair

Here, we discussed winter hair care tips to prevent damage. But what if you already have damage, what now?

Winter can wreak havoc on textured hair that is already prone to dryness. It's very important to understand that different areas of the world can affect hair differently. Here, in the south, we still have enough moisture in the air. But in other areas, they may have freezing weather and high winds that can rip our hair to shreds. I have suffer from extra breakage that I normally wouldn't have in warmer weather.

When you've got breakage that you can't seem to curb, try these tips.

~ Use a richer conditioner. Creamier conditioners and leave ins can provide more protection and conditioning than more watery conditioners. The creme consistency provides lubrication helping to discourage mechanical damage - or manipulation.

~ Low manipulation. Especially for relaxed hair, opt for a low manipulation hairstyle that you can maintain for at least 4 days without having to comb or brush your hair. I find the braid out, pin curls,  and flexi rod sets are my friends. I can wear it out the first few days and put it in a cute bun or updo with a few bobby pins.

~ Avoid dry manipulation. A comb and brush are not your friend when you are experiencing breakage. This leads us back to the preceding tip. Choose styles where these tools are not needed or hardly needed.

~ Pace yourself on the product. Try to find a product that seals in moisture without blocking it completely out. Also remember not to glob on product as your hair will feel icky after only a few days. I keep my serum usage to a bare minimum by choosing styles that I don't use it on. Instead, I lightly use coconut oil every other day or as needed. Remember with non-water soluble serums that while you may be sealing moisture in, you're also blocking it out. After a few days, your hair will dehydrate.

~ Moisture/Protein balance. This tip is always important, no matter the weather or condition of the hair. Always monitor your balance. Experiment lightly with protein until you find your optimum levels. Remember, it's always better to under-treat than to over-treat. If you're a regular direct heat user, make sure your regimen contains a light protein at the very least to supplement damaged keratin.

~ Adjust drying options: If you're a frequent blow dryer, opt to lower the temperature and/or air speed on your blow dryer. If possible, air dry your hair first and finish off with blowdrying on cool. This saves on the manipulation front and doesn't dehydrate your hair too fast. Make sure to do a once-over on cool air to seal those cuticles.

I hope you found these tips helpful! What other tips do you follow to curb excessive breakage?

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Graduation Hair

Now let me explain my hair...Straight foolishness, LOL!

Plan A: Go to my stylist for a wash and flat iron.  I changed my mind a few hours before my appointment because it started sleeting here in North Texas and would be raining in Florida all weekend. I figured it was pointless to get my hair done just to get it rained on for two days prior to the ceremony.

Plan B: Braidout. That week, I had the best braidout ever and figured I'd do it again for the ceremony. Well, I got lazy and never braided my hair. Womp.

Fail safe: The trusty Sedu. I used my 1.5 inch Sedu and Nioxin Thermal Bliss (pretty good-review later) and curled my hair. I'm 10 weeks post and when I was ironing my hair, it was 3 am the morning of the commencement, so my flat iron job was wiggity wack. I was more concerned about getting a curl, not so much my roots.

So that should explain the poofiness at my roots. I just didn't concentrate on little sections to smooth them out. I just didn't feel like it. I was very thankful for the cap! All in all, it didn't look bad at all, not just up to par like I normally have it.

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Progress T-shirt Proceeds go to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

I am currently training for a half-marathon to take place in May with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! In order to raise more funds for my running campaign, I will be donating all of the funds for the next 20 t-shirt orders to my fund! In exchange for your purchase, I will be offering a 50% Priority shipping credit!

For inventory control purposes, please place your order through Paypal and I will credit back the $2.50. This makes your purchase total only $16.50! You can't beat that! You may order from the Store in the Hair2Toe Beauty Forum, or through the homepage of this blog!

I will also be posting products and tools for sale sometime this week. The proceeds from the sale of those items will also be donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for my running campaign!

TIA!

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February Member of the Month!

Meet Cassandra (SouthernGirl) from Louisiana!

3 Favorite Products
Chi Infra Shampoo, KeraCare Humecto (tub), Jane Carter Nourish and Shine

Hair regimen
I usually clarify twice a month using ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo. Afterwards I shampoo w/ Chi Infra Shampoo which is crazy moisturizing. I then apply Aphogee 2 min Recon for about 5 mins w/o heat, rinse out, and deep condition. Since I'm transitioning I usually deep condition for a couple of hours. I usually use a combination of KeraCare Humecto, mixed with other oils and conditioners. I hate sitting under the dryer so I wrap my hair up, do some chores, or take a nap. After I'm finished deep conditioning and rinsing it out, I have the pleasure of detangling my very thick/coarse hair. Next I either air dry or blow dry. That depends on what mood I'm in.

Why and when did you start your hair journey?
I started my hair jounery in August of 2008 b/c my hair was breaking. I had been going to my beautician faithfully for years and yet I still had breakage. I was tired of sitting in the beauty shop for 8 hours, spending my hard earned money, with no results. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I needed results, and I needed them right away so I got online and discovered Heathy Textures and the rest is history.

What is the best piece of advice you've gotten to obtain healthy textured hair?
That it's very important to maintain protein/mositure levels.

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