Blog Take-Over

       Seriously readers, I still don't want to bore you with my hair atrocity (so dramatic). I really loved my Senegalese twists, they came and went after just two weeks. O_o I was DYINNG. I had to give my scalp the cleansing I've been accustomed to. I Bantu'd the first week without twists and this week I'm bunning. Hopefully I will self install twists in the near near future. I'm 9 weeks post. I plan to be 12 weeks post, then 16, then I don't know. However, relaxers and I are no longer friends.

        The blog take-over, my sister girl Miriam will be taking over for the month of April. She is stylish, cute and smart. Her workout schedule is crazy and her hair is LAID! I asked her a few questions so you all can get to know her a little.

When and why did you start your hair journey?
       "I started my journey at the end of middle school. My hair was a little above my shoulders, and i finally accepted the fact that it was breaking off really easily. My hair was worse before that, but it was beginning to revert back to the way it was, damaged! I wanted fuller, healthier hair, that not only was long but healthy!"

What does your regimen look like?
          "My regimen consists of washing my hair every Friday or Sunday. Usually exactly a week after I washed it. I am a fan of Giovanni, their ingredients are great and don't contain sulfate which seriously drys my hair. After I shampooing and conditioning my hair with Giovanni, I use ORS deep conditioning which makes gives my hair a lot of moisture. I apply it and sit under my heater for 30 minutes. When I rinse it out I then t-shirt dry my hair. (Thanks to my sister Aku!) and wait about an hour to apply leave in. I use the As I Am leave In Conditioner and use the Wild Growth light oily moisturizer for my ends, or sometimes olive oil, or coconut oil. After I let it air dry and simply put a scarf on and wrap my hair regularly the next day. Every night I make sure to moisturize my hair, especially my ends!"

What or who has helped the most during your hair journey? (Blogs, friends, forums)
        "My two sisters taught me the basics of what I really need to do in order to obtain healthy hair. They have helped me a ton! I don't know where I would be without them. Reading information about how to really take proper care of my hair has really helped. And also looking at what other hair bloggers regimens are and trying it out. But really it all has to help for your hair, they just give me a general idea and I continue on from there."

Fresh touch-up. Before the trim

"I am not my hair" what do you do in your free time?

        

After trim

"I most definitely am not my hair! Ahah I like to go to the movies actually, I enjoy watching it with usually one other person. I like action/drama filled films. My favorite film is actually Mulan, even though it is not action nor drama. I also enjoy reading on my free time, which has been decreasing lately, but this summer I hope to increase it again. I'm a fitness junkie, I enjoy working out and eating right. It helped me know that I can really do anything if I out my mind to it. I also love making smoothies! Playing around with what fruits to use are fun and awesome!"

Last relaxer: March 26 

Longest stretch: 16 and 1/2 weeks

Peace and Love

Working Out With A Cold

      OMG, my workout schedule has declined severely. Last week my hair took a lot of time and before that I was super sore. Excuses, excuses I know! This week the weather was beautiful, so I took advantage and started back on my old route of 1.2 miles around the neighborhood. By the second day of running, I felt winded, hours later, I had common cold symptoms. Throat, cough, congestion blah blah blah.
      I really didn't want to dip back into not working out, so I figured Yoga would be helpful. Lo and behold, there were plenty of YouTube Yoga videos for people feeling under the weather.

She keeps talking about lymphatic drainage, ew!

 

         The second video was long and my attention span is not long when it comes to working out over YouTube. But overall, it felt good. The dropping of the head was really nice. I hate doing anything when I'm even a tad bit sick (I'm a huge baby) but the Yoga felt good. I didn't get my cardio up too high but I don't think I could have handled that yesterday or today, maybe tomorrow. Okay time for some fresh ginger green tea. 

Fitness Friday.

Peace and Love
Aku

Jumbo Twists in a Pompadour!

        The Pompadour is a popular hairstyle from way back when; to see it on black hair is refreshing. The style was reintroduced to me on YouTube and again this morning on Saving Our Strands (very helpful tutorials). I thought man I would totally rock that style if my hair was out...DING DING DING I have more than enough hair to pull it off. I forgot to take a picture of the back, please forgive me.

       I've come to a new understanding of protective styling. These twists I have going on, I never gave them a second look, I thought it was just a trend and my hair was doing pretty well by itself. But since its demise, I get the importance of all long term protective styles, even if they are trendy. I just never imagined pulling off a hair style like this. It reminded me how versatile black hair is. 

      The manipulation my hair endured on a daily basis has ceased. No more shed or broken hair all over my bathroom floor (I'm sure when I take the twists out, that'll be another story). My avocado oil and water mix is used everyday, not sure if I want braid spray (further research shall be done). Today I incorporated a little ACV in my spray bottle and really focused on my scalp. Six days in, I usually wash my hair at this point. Two more weeks till take down, maybe 4? Who knows!

Peace and Love

I am a Bob Marley fanatic beeteedubs. 

Aku

Protective Styling Over Here- Too Many Meltdowns

That whole bottom left, just gone, SHOT!

       It seemed I had a hair meltdown at least twice a week. Usually the day after I had a wash day. Unnecessary tears, lots of things not getting done, lots of frustration. My hair was taking over. It had to stop, seriously, hair should be enjoyed. 

       
         I would never call myself adventurous when it came to hair, a cut here and there but that's about it. One late night it hit me and I decided to install my own protective style. Of course there were blogs and videos for days on the topic. I learned so much about twists, Marley twist, Havana twists, Senegalese twists. I scrolled through endless pics and fell in love. 

       
         Originally I wanted Havana twists, read the cons and then decided Marley twists.i wanted instant gratification but when I got to the store they only had 100% Jumbo braid hair. "Don't fret Aku, we can use this for jumbo Senegalese twists." I bought 5 packs and I finally purchased my Beautiful Texture Curl Control Defining Pudding(you guys remember that twist-out in New York, LAID).

       All month I've been focusing on moisture, moisture, moisture. I did do one protein treatment I believe, I don't know who's tracking? I green housed a lot. The night before the installation I clarified with ORS Creamy Aloe. I did an overnight DC with ORS Replenishing Pak. I wasn't heavy handed at all because I don't want any build up. Washed it out with some ACV to be more thorough. Moisturized and sealed. Cool-air tension method and detangled. The night before I also sprayed the extensions with one part ACV and one part water, I read the extensions have something on them that makes people itch like crazy. 

          After hours of researching I learned two ways to put the twist in and how to feather the extensions. I didn't think featuring was necessary and I was so eager to begin, I ended up doing those parts over with better feathered hair. I like the invisible method for installing the hair, It took hours to perfect though. Tuesday I worked on my hair for 10 hours. Wednesday another 5. This duration will never happen again, it was my first time so I was okay with how long it took. 

For the installation I used-

• Aloe Vera gel
• Beautiful Texture with water
• Water and Avocado mix

       Wednesday was definitely better than Tuesday. I got the installation down much better so I redid a lot from the day before. 

       Slacking on my work-out routine but I won't let these jumbo twist stop me. The researching late at night and installing late at night, not my best working out week at all. 

            I was so eager to put this post up, mistakes and all, poor pictures I know I know. I didn't want to pull my camera out. But I will be back for more updates. 

Peace and Love

Aku