Quaterly Hair Plans: (October 2010 to December 2010)

October 1st to December 31st

Week 1 Flat-Ironed

• I flat-ironed my hair on the 5th of October and wor it straight for the whole week until Friday when I washed and conditioned to prepare for my braid extensions

Weeks 2-12 Braid Extensions

• I began putting in my braid extenstion on the 10th and finished on the 11th. It took a total of 10-11 hours. My mother did them for me (Thanks Mom!!!). I planto keep them in for 10 weeks.

Week 13 Flat-Ironed

• After I take my braid extensions out I plan on wearing my hair flatt-ironed for 2 weeks.

Hair Syling: The HerStyler Forever Flat Iron pt1

Yes, I just ordered one of these today courtesy of my mom. ("Thanks mommy!!!") She paid less than $30 shipping included. I thought why not. It's worth a try at such a great price. The flat iron I have now is a conair I got for $14. It did an ok job, but I wanted a little upgrade for my transition. When I am fully natural I will treat myself with a FHI!!! Right now my plan is to wear cornrows for three weeks at a time and then flat iron and wear it straight for a week or two. Then I will do braid outs or half wigs until the 6th week is done then I'm back to braids. So that's 3 weeks with braids 3 weeks loose. More details on my transitioning plans later. I will post a review on the HerStyler as soon as I get it and straighten my hair for my cousins baby shower next weekend.1

100 Day Challenge: Day 30 of 100

Today's Date: 7/12/10 (Day 30)

New Growth Measurement: 1.25 inches

Day's Since Last Relaxer: 74

Next Update: 7/22/10 (Day 40)

Final Day: 9/20/10

Vitamins and Supplements

• Bumped my Vitamin C dosage to 4 grams per day (I will eventually settle at 5 g or more)
• I now take Jarrow Formulas MSM; 2 grams per day
• I added Kyolic Garlic Extract supplement to my regimen; two 300mg capsules daily

Hair Care

• I am using a Castor Oil (mixed with lavender and tea tree oil) 2x a week on my scalp only; I use it on my temples everyday.
• I seal my ends every other day with Grape seed Oil and sometimes oil my scalp with it on days that I don't use the Castor Oil mix
• I have not washed my hair since I got my cornrows in. I plan on keeping them in for 11+ days
• I think I will rise my braids with diluted shampoo in a day or two

Exercise and Nutrition

• Boo at me for not exercising. Boo!!!
  

Pics

• Sorry no pics :-(
• I did take out on of my corn rows to measure my NG; braids looking a little fuzzy but still decent.

Vitamins/Supplements: MSM Quality Vita Cost NSI vs. Puratin's Pride

So I decided to actually test the purity of my NSI (Vita Cost) MSM capsules. I had an old bottle of Puritan's Pride MSM Powder to compare it to.

Pure MSM should first sink to the bottom of the glass of water and then dissolve completely within a few minutes.

My Puritan's Pride MSM passed the test with flying colors. It sank to the bottom and then dissolved completely.

As for the NSI capsules... all I have to say is that I will never order a Vita Cost brand product from Vita Cost again. All contents of the capsule floated on the top of the water and did not dissolve at all as you can see.

As far as the Puritan's Pride MSM I just have one question about it... Why doesn't it have that sulfur smell? It has no sent to it really at all and I think that is why I got skeptical and stopped taking it. What do you guys think. Are there any brands that have a proven quality that anyone can recommend to me. Please and thank you. 1

Hair Styling: Cornrows

My mom did these cornrows for me last night. I plan to keep them in for at least 3 weeks, but we'll see how that goes. What ya think?

100 Day Challenge: Day 20 of 100

Today's Date: 7/2/10 (Day 20)

New Growth Measurement: 1.05-1.10 inches

Days Since Last Relaxer: 64

Next Update: 7/12/10 (Day 30)

Final Day: 9/20/10

Vitamins and Supplements:

• I now take one 25,000IU tablet of Beta-Carotene every other day.

Exersice and Nutrition:

• Seriously slacking here as fair as excerise but I am eating very healthy and drinking plenty of water.

Hair Care

• I might get my mom to do crown rows for me either this weekend or sometime soon.
  

Hair Thoughts: Longhairdontcare2010

I'm sure you guys have already heard of this lovely lady with her gorgeous waist length natural hair (If not look her up on YT). She is definitely my number one inspiration. I stopped relaxing my hair around the same time she did, and It kinda burns because I would probably be where she is if I had not relaxed.

I really like her methods and I will definitely be adopting some of them once I am natural. And maybe even during my transition.

I love her braids and I love braids period (on natural hair w/o extensions even better). So those will definitely be a staple for me when I am natural. Also I like the idea of using the blow dryer once a month to make the hair easier to handle and to stretch out for braiding.

My hair held up very well with blow drying when I wore my hair out as a natural. I did it about 2x a month and followed with my maxi glide. And by end of three months all I really had to trim was 1/4 of an inch which is not bad at all.

Also I remember that when I wore braid extensions (for about half of my natural journey) I only washed my hair (in the braids) about once every 3-4 weeks. And my hair still grew healthy and strong, also there were NO problems with dryness or breakage after I removed the braids... which I kept in for three months at a time. I did moisturize daily though... with a braid spritz and/or water, and I also had an oil spray.

2 and 1/2 years of growth from my last relaxer and I retained about 14 inches of growth (crown area). The shortest area was about 10 inches, and this was at the back of my head which had been purposely trimmed to slowly get rid of layers.

So yes I am already contemplating my regimen for when my hair is completely natural.

Grow Hair! GROW!!!

Hair Styling: Playing around with Box Braids

I plan on wearing box braids when I'm natural so I was just messing around getting a preveiw of what it would look like. I did box braids on my hair ONCE when I was natural. lol Kept them in for a month. I really liked them, but I mostly wore braids with extentions when I was natural or a blow dried bun.

This is my temple area on my thinner side so it's looking pretty scalpy. But I still like them, and can't wait to do them on my fully natural hair. :-)

100 Day Challenge: Day 10 of 100

Today's Date: 6/22/10 (Day 10)

New Growth Measurement: 0.85-0.90 inches

Days Since Last Relaxer: 54

Next Update: 7/2/10 (Day 20)

Final Day: 9/20/10

Vitamins and Supplements:

• I will no longer take the Vitamin D supplement. I ran out about 4 days ago. I was only taking it because my mother had bought it and I though why not. If she buys again I may add it back in.
  
• I added CHLORELLA to my vitamin/supplement regimen about 4 days ago. I am at one gram per day currently, and will bump up to 2 grams per day next week.
  
• I have slacked on my protein shake intake. I only had 3 over the last 10 days. But I have been supplementing it with Think Thin low carb meal bars which have 20 grams of protein in one delicious bar (2 for $3 at Whole Foods)!!! The goal is to help boost my daily protein intake.

Exercise and Nutrition:

• I have been eating pretty decent but I could definetly make some more improvements. I want to up my daily veggie intake by one serving.
  
• I drink 60-80oz of water per day. I rearly drink juice (8oz or less 2-3x/week), and I NEVER drink soda.


• I have been slacking with my exercise. I had three cardio sessions over the last 10 days. Boo!!!

Hair Care:

• I washed, DC, and airdried my hair on days 1 and 5. I either wear it in a ponytail or bun.

The Pics:

• Sorry about not having pics of my new growth on day one. Shame on me :-(
• In the second picture the 3rd line from the bottom in the one inch mark. My wave pattern ends just a little before it. But I will not claim and inch just yet.
• In the 3rd pic the yellow line is about where my wave pattern ends.

Hair Thoughts: Stress or MT... ugh!!!

So I have decided to eliminate Mega-Tek from my 100 Day Challenge. I washed my hair two days ago and while I was detangling in the shower as I usually do I noticed that I had lost 2-3x as much hair as I usually do (should have taken a pic... the hair is still in my bathroom trash bin but I'm not about to dig in there and take it out. lol). Yikes!!! It just kept coming out. :-(

I really don't know if it was solely the Mega-Tek because I have also been extremely stressed out over the last week or so. And I had a stress blister on my lip to prove it (which went down 2x faster than it usually does... I think because of my vits and such).

So I really don't even want to risk trying my Mega-Tek mix again. Because I couldn't stand to lose that much hair again. I was balling... and my hair is already thinner form breakage.

Sorry Mega-Tek. I might give it another shot one day.

100 Day Challenge: Mega-Tek

So I dug up my old bottle of Mega-Tek that I ordered forever ago and never used. So I thought why not add it to my 100 Day Challenge.

I made a mixture (in a color applicator bottle) of about 60% Mega-Tek, 30% Grapeseed Oil, and 10% S-Curl. With about 25 drops of Tea Trea Oil.

I will be using this mixture on my scalp 2-3x a week. :-)

100 Day Challenge: Day 1 of 100

I got my vitamins on Friday so today (June 12th 2010) will be the first day of my 100 day challenge.

New Growth Measurment: 0.75 inches

Days Since Last Relaxer: 44
Next Update: 6/22/10
Final Day:September 20, 2010

Breakage!!!

So much for healthy relaxed hair. Mines Is far from it. This is a section from the crown of my head. As you can see the bottom half of my length is breaking off horibbly. This is one of the worst sections, but there actually are worst in places. Sigh. This is one of the main reasons I decided to transtion. My hair has been very resilent, but I just don't think chemicals are for me. My hair thrived when it was natural. It was beautiful. My relaxer days were fun, but I honestly regret going back to the crack. lol I am really going to enjoy rediscovering my natural hair over the next couple of months. :-)


My Natural Hair (Flat Iorned Reverting)

My Fear About Going Natural

Honestly, my only fear about going natural (again) is my love for long hair. My fustration with shrinkage, and waiting for my hair to get where I wanted it to be (length wise) is what made me run back to relaxing the first time around. So I'm condsidering maybe transitioning for and extra 6 months for a total 18 months. But I can see myself getting fustrated with the two textures and just wanting to chop the relaxed ends off. I guess I'll just have to see how I feel as I go along. I definitly wont be chopping until I have a solid 6 inches though.

100 Day Challenge: Vitamins/Supplements

These are the vitamins and supplements I will be taking.

• Puritans Pride Ultra Woman Time Release Multivitamin : 1 tablet per day


• Vitamin C 1000mg : 2 tablets per day


• Biotin 5000mcg : 1 tablet per day


• MSM 1000mg : I will begin with 1 capsule per day for the first 30 days then bump up to 2


• Vitamin D 2000IU : 1 soft gel per day


• Flaxseed Oil : 1 Tablespoon per day (or 3 Fish Oil Caplets 1200mg)


• Whey Protein Powder 24g : 4-5x per week with 1 cup of soy milk

100 Day Hair and Health Challenge!!!

Wow it's been about a year and half since I last posted on this blog. Shame on me, because I actually really like doing it.

So honestly my hair is not were I would like it to be right now. My hair has grown but I have had to trim away the majority of my growth over the last 1.5 years. On top of that the left side of my hair has thinned out a lot. I Think this is the result of heat damage and just overall neglect of my hair. My hair is resilient but heat is it's worst enemy and I am convinced that even just a couple uses of a flat iron greatly weakens my hair and causes severe breakage. My hair also definitely needs daily moisture which I have always neglected. I would moisturize maybe every three days or less.

So for the next 100 days I have chosen to challenge myself and use the combination of healthy hair practices, nutrition, and exercise so that I can get some serious progress with my hair.

I just ordered some MSM and Biotin supplements and I will begin the 100 days once they arrive.

Hair Practices:

• NO HEAT!!! (Blow out or flat iron roots only when needed) I will be doing braid outs, and air drying.





• Wash and deep condition every 5-7 days





• Moisturize daily





• I'll post my full regimen plan later

Vitamins/ Supplements:

• Women's Multi





• Vitamin C





• Biotin





• MSM





• Fish Oil/ Flaxseed Oil





• Vitamin D




• Whey Protein Shake

Nurtion:

• Avoid added sugar





• 80-100 grams of protein per day





• More Info Later

Exercise:

• Carido 30 mins 5x/week





• I also want to incorporate weight training ( but I won't commit to that just yet. lol)

I will post more info on my plan for each of these four categories later

Also I will be posting mini updates here every 10 days during my challenge.

May 23, 2010 (Air-dried)

Decided to Transition!!!

Second times a charm! I will be transtioning for one year and then I will do my big chop. Wish me luck ladies (and gentlemen? lol).

Countdown Clocks, Girly Countdowns at WishAFriend.com


Countup Clocks, Girly Countups at WishAFriend.com