I had short hair in secondary school so the barber was my only source of hair advice and washing and combing 1 inch of hair lenght was a breeze. After graduation, it gradually grew back but once it hit 'long' levels I could no longer manage it. My friend even called me a runaway slave. haha, i'm pretty carefree plus with lack of black people in my school, I had NO one to look fine for, Oyibo kids just think I'm a hippie (not a hot mess).
(My hair at its peak in Dec, 2008. Right after this, it just spiraled downhill)
So my hair was lacking moisture and only surviving on genetic gifts, nothing more. Last year (April, 2009), I relaxed my hair (which I do myself usually) and rinsed it out too early. I STUPIDLY re-relaxed the hair AGAIN (I know, EVIL and FOOLISH) and it was bone-laxed. This chemical overload was the tip of the ice-berg. My hair exploded from there. Eventually by end of summer, it became split-endville, was breaking like crazy. I had to cut off almost 5 inches as the salon lady (in Nigeria) was begging me not to. I've got a couple more inches off since then and now I just 'dust' the ends and focusing on some major length boosting. Since then, I have become more intelligent.
Anyway, my sister just went natural and like most natural sistas, she spent everyday of Christmas break reading and lecturing me transitions, the big chop, natural oils, detangling combs, organic hair products, the devil called hair chemicals, mineral oils, sulphate etc. So I got hooked on the hair care thing.
My hair when I was a kid was GOOD: natural and healthy but I had a bevy of combers and plaiters who could do it for me unlike now that I don grow finish, I cannot manage natural hair especially when I am on my own with no money for a salon visit in America!
(One day, 1991)
My guilt for refusing to dump relaxers made me go on a mission to get my hot mess of a mane together, strong, long again, minus the split ends, porosity, and dryness. So my old regimen consisted of only washing the hair and blow drying. My frugality then did not allow me look at the 'conditioner' aisle. really? I know! I also used grease to keep it shiny (not as much as 9ja hair dressers sha.... those women can GREASE and fry hair eh). I quit the cheap shampoos, bought Extra Virgin Coconut oil, Olive oil and Castor oils (both white and Jamaican black), leave-ins, moisturizer, and heat protectant as well as sleep with my hair under a satin bonnet.
Now, I'm in the labor force (yikes), I have been forced to take hair care and appearance seriously. I flat ironed my hair myself FOR THE FIRST TIME two weeks ago and slowly perfecting the art thanks to online tutorial from other regular folk.
So far the hair is growing again, the spilt ends have been depopulated but not completely, the hair is getting moisture and not breaking due to dryness. I'm aiming at more thick growth, fixing the porosity, and making it stronger and longer.
(The hair now June, 2010. Clearly, there are fewer strands, the ends are thinner, but thank God, its growing)
Conclusion, I am not a hair expert, I'm still a student of hair issues and learning so this blog is about me, my relaxed hair, and my two cents on regimens, products and other random hair stuff.
ps. natural chics no hating pls..., love your relaxed neighbour, thanks ;) And pls no Akata-Oyibo straight hair yarns, methinks that is an irrelevant topic on a West African hair blog. In my Northern Nigerian culture long hair is valued hence the reason behind my goals.
haha... i feel your pain. Be careful with the flat iron though, because it will split your ends further. I highly recommend wrapping your hair nightly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Silvadolla, I'll keep trying to be careful with the ends. I'm lazy about wrapping nightly but I definitely cover with a satin bonnet.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I'm going to say right? ;P
ReplyDeleteTo, your natural hair as a baby was waaaay cute.
I absolutely agree,the natural hair thing is not for everybody, I can not imagine myself doing it. Its too rigorous a challenge for someone who thinks brushing her weave is stressful.lol.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the progress you've made so far.I think you've taken the right course of action, and basically the only thing you can do now is eat the right foods(protein is really good for your hair), so eating healthy is not just for your body but your hair too :). Take it easy with the straightener, and even the blow dryer, wrapping is the best thing to do, to keep the hair looking neat, but mehnnn, the stress of parting, combing, and wrapping is just something else.
Another big thing is the weather, i don't know if you are currently working in Naija or yanks, but there's less to worry about when your hair is not being dried out by the weather in yankee.
Also, and this is kind of the most painful part for me, make sure your're getting your ends trimmed at least every 6-8 weeks or monthly, whatever suits you.
Sulihp, I'm in yanks but moving to naija in two months time. I 'dust' my ends not full blown trimming like before when the split ends were really a lot.
ReplyDeleteSugabelly, I know. Thanks. I will go back to natural when I move back to Nigeria and can afford to have people do my hair for me. For now, I'm on creamy crack for a good reason.
ReplyDeleteI experienced that breakage freshman year cos i let this were congolese girl braid my hair. when i relaxed it, the back was as short as my brother's hair. I has to cut my hair and pretend it was that hallie berry style men.
ReplyDeleteCondition Condition Condition. and always be careful who u trust ur hair with.
Sha, i'll never go natural cos that is way too much wahala.
U can never have too many bobby pins cos those things help u hold ur hair anyway you want.
Oh and i swear by Dr Miracle's relaxer. that is correct hair crack.
I also heard Carol's daughter is pretty good.
Good luck to all of us.
Good luck on your journey dear! I'm definitely going to be keeping up with you.
ReplyDeleteThanks Geri. Keep keeping up!!!!
ReplyDeletenice wrte up girl.. am most definately following d steps u too. i lost 80% of my hair 2009 and in 2010 i decided to cut off d relaxed part and let d natural grow out for a year. so june dis year was d first time i relaxed my hair after a year. it wasnt easy carrying the natural hair for a year cos of how strong my undergrowths where. am happy though dat i have 70 percent of d hair back and i intend not to b careless again.i saw ur hair d oda day and it was wow.. u knw na.. pls keep d bogs coming
ReplyDelete