Freedom Curls

I washed my hair today because I'm going to TX this weekend (and it really needed washing).  I'm going to see my in-laws and there are a bunch of family festivities planned for the holiday (including a wedding).  I bought a sundress from Old Navy and I'm ready to chill!!  I need a break bad!!  So I washed with my Dr. Bronner's peppermint shampoo (with an ACV rinse, of course) and I used my favorite conditioner.

Me and my husband LOVE this stuff!  I'm glad it comes in single use packets because he would use it all up in one setting.  It's cheap at the beauty supply store and even cheaper at Walgreens.  But it took me FOREVER to wash this stuff out this time.  I had to rinse 3 times to get it all out!!  Anyway, I rolled my hair with the pipe cleaners so I can have some 'freedom curls' for the weekend.   :)

I bought some Mega-Tek online (for my busted hairline) and it should be here by the time I get back from my trip.  I can't wait to try it out so I can tell y'all about it. :)

Til next time, be blessed and have a safe and Happy Independence Day!!

Happy Loc-versary to me!!

Yesterday was my 7 year loc-versary.  Yay!!  I wanted to do a style that I haven't tried before but I didn't get around to it.  I've been super busy with work and family.  But I did get a chance to wash and retwist my hair today. 

This is after I washed with black soap and peppermint castile soap and rinsed with apple cider vinegar.  I let my favorite tingling conditioner sit for an hour .  No more flakes, no more buildup.

I was trying to take this picture by myself but Mr. Sassafras wanted to join in!!  He's so silly.

Look how much my hair has grown! I used my own honey and aloe vera lock gel this time.

I haven't had much time to play in my hair lately.  I was really enjoying the curls because I could just get up and go with them.  Just spritz and run my fingers through it.  I haven't worn my hair without curls in over a month; I don't know what to do.  I'll probably end up rolling it by the end of the week.

When I get some time, I plan to do a feature on my 12 year old son who is rocking his second set of locs.  This set is about 2 years old.  I'm also planning a Q&A about me and my hair so if you have any questions, email me or leave them in the comments.  I may even feature my bestest friend who is currently transitioning, if she lets me.  Or her sister who is about to start locs.  So stay tuned.

Til next time, thanks for reading.

Shamwow!

So I've been reading about loc wearers using a Shamwow to dry their locs.  I decided to try one.  I normally just let my hair air dry.  I didn't want to let it air dry this time cuz I'm a little under the weather and I didn't wanna walk around with a wet head (or go to bed with one either).  But I had to wash my hair.  And I wanted to do some pipe cleaner curls for Mothers Day.  So I bought a small one from Dollar General for $1.50!!  (I actually bought 2).  And it worked wonders!!  It was awesome. 

I didn't do anything spectacular with my wash routine this time cuz I was kinda pressed for time.  I washed my hair in the shower with liquid black soap.  I lathered up twice and I could tell how clean my hair was afterwards.  I rinsed with ACV (with oil) and left it in.  I used the Shamwow to dry.  My hair is SO soft and shiny.  It just looks so much better.  I haven't been taking care of my hair lately cuz I've been sick and working like a Hebrew slave.  Well now, even if I don't feel good, my hair will look good. ;)

Pictures next time.

Til next time, thanks for reading.  Be blessed.  And Happy Mothers Day.

Bantu Knots

Tonight I did my hair in bantu knots.  Boy, are they tight!!!  As in, they hurt like hell.  I gotta loosen them up some.  Anyway, I washed my hair with my Dr. Bronner's and retwisted the roots with my own lock gel.  It has aloe vera gel, honey, olive oil, and tea tree and lavender essential oils.  Then I twisted 3-4 locs into a bantu knot.  I'm trying to have some loose curls in the morning. We'll see how that turns out.  I gotta blow dry it some more so it will be completely dry when I take them down.

I don't like it as a style to wear anywhere other than the grocery store (lol) but my husband thought it was cute.  What do you guys think?

Til next time, thanks for reading.  Be blessed.

Finally!

I finally tackled my hair last night.  I brushed my locs and then used baking soda to scrub my scalp.  My scalp burned for some reason when I put the baking soda on it.  I rinsed it out then washed with my new Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap.  My scalp felt better after that, thank God!  I did the ACV rinse and did my tingling conditioner.  I left it on for an hour.  I had to rinse 3 times (with hubby's help) to get everything out!   I'm not sure how long it actually took to retwist my hair cuz I was watching a movie with the hubby at the same time.  I did a LOT of combining.  Some locks now have 3 or 4 heads.  Those will definitely be cut off at a later date.  I put rubber bands on most of the combined ones to help them mesh.  I wanted to do a good job with the retwist so I haven't curled the ends yet.  I'm pleased with the result.

You can see some of the combined locks because they look like two strand twists.  I'm not really feeling that look but I really needed to combine.  I can't wait until they mesh together so I can cut some of the extra 'heads' off.  The lock that I combed out the other day was wrapped around the next loc and has blended in with the rest.  I'm not even sure which one it is.

*I hate this new upload system.  I would have put more pics up.*

Til next time, thanks for reading.

Too much for a title ;)

Tonight I washed my hair because my scalp would NOT stop itching.  I don't know what the problem was/is.  I've only used natual oils on my hair and ORS Scalp Cleanser.  I also wanted to wash it because I wanted to try a braid out.  So I washed with the peppermint soap I used last week and rinsed with ACV.  I brushed my hair before I washed hoping to soothe my scalp and get any lint out.  I put a little olive oil in the ACV rinse and my hair is so shiny.  I love it.  I also got rid of the buildup that I noticed last week after washing.  Yay! It took me about an hour and a half to braid all my hair.  I did not retwist my roots and I did not use any products on my hair.  I didn't retwist cuz I'm embracing my fuzzies right now; my hair is so soft.  I haven't decided when I'm going to take the braids out yet.  They will definitely be out for church Sunday and work next week. I'm excited to try this style and I can't believe I've never tried it before.  I wonder how long I'm gonna be in this excited stage. LOL! 

Lately, I've had to combine a lot of locs that are too thin.  I'm sure the 165 locs that I started out with last month are probably now down to about 150.  I hope this is just the natural maturation process and not a sign that my hair is thinning.  Other women in my family have experienced hair thinning, including my mother.  My mother even went natural because of it (she has TWA and it's salt and pepper and SO cute).  I haven't had a perm in 7 years so it's probably genetics.  Boo!!

On to better news: I have 2 followers now! Yay me!!  And I know of 2 other people that have read my blog but are not following at the time.  It's nice to know someone cares.  It's easy for strangers to look at my blog but (to me) it's different to look at someone's blog that you actually know.  You get to know them on a totally different level and you learn things about them that you may not have otherwise known.  It might  be a good thing or a bad thing but hopefully it's a good thing for my friends.  Thanks to all those who have visited, whether you decide to follow or not.  ;)

And even better news: I won a contest today!  A fellow blogger, A Happy Nappy Affair, offered some Black Soap to her followers if they posted why they wanted to try it.  I posted a comment and she picked me and another follower.  Yay me again!! I can't wait til I get it to try it out.  You know I will post about it.

One last thing: I have gray hair!  I've actually had a few gray hair strands for about 10 years now.  I remember specifically naming 3 of them (my ex-husband, my son, and college!)  I haven't really stressed about them until now (I think I'm having a pre-mid-life crisis).  I have this one strand that does not want to follow directions.  I don't know how many strands I have now but most of them are in a loc somewhere.  This one strand just hangs out smack dab in the middle of my head and tends to stick straight up.  It does not want to loc with anybody.  It does not want to lay down.  It just does its own thing.  I can't stand it.  Why won't he go somewhere?!  I think it's bad luck to pull it out so I just leave it alone and try to smooth it down. LOL!  Even when I had my curls, it wouldn't curl and it just stuck out.  If you look closely, you see several other grays around it but they don't cause me any problems; just this one soldier.  BTW, I'm loving the texture of my hair right now and I've even considered combing my locks out but that's another story for another time.

Wash Day

Yesterday I washed my hair.  It's been a month since I washed it although I cleaned my scalp several times since then.  I tried a new routine new which is what I've been looking to do.  I did the baking soda cleanse first.  I didn't put the baking soda in conditioner because it was so hard to wash out when I did my husband's hair.  I just made a paste with water.  That was so much easier. Then I tried a peppermint soap that I found at the beauty supply store.  It's made by Nubian Heritage and has all natural ingredients like shea butter and aloe (among other stuff).  I bought it cuz I thought it would give my scalp a little tingle but it didn't.  It did have a very good lather though, which I liked.  After that, I did the apple cider vinegar rinse (I did not rinse it out).  Then I put on Dr. Miracle's Tingling Conditioner.  It felt divine!  I left it on for a little over an hour and washed it out.  My hair felt so soft and clean that I didn't even want to retwist it.  It even had a little shine to it.  I did end up retewisting the first few rows so the front would look neat.

I retwisted mainly because I wanted to try a new twist gel that I concocted.  I mixed aloe vera gel with honey and added a little olive oil and tea tree oil.  It went on nicely but my hands were a little sticky afterward.  This morning, my locks were hard and crusty (but not flaky).  I think I added too much honey.  I don't know what proportions I used; I just put stuff in a jar. LOL!  As the day has gone on, the locks are not as hard anymore but I don't think I'll be using that gel anymore until I figure out what to do.  I think I'm gonna add more aloe vera gel to it and see if that helps.  I've seen on nappturality where people use AV gel (and honey) to twist their locs so I know it will work.

I noticed that my hair has grown, especially in the back where it was last cut.  I'm excited about that.  I don't want it down to my butt but I do want it to my mid back (I think). When I looked at a ruler and saw how long 6 inches is (the average amount that hair grows in a year), I got excited again.  I can't wait to see how long it is at the end of the year.

I think I'm going to wash my hair again soon because I noticed that I couldn't get all the stuff out.  That's another reason why I wasn't stressing about twisting it.  I still have buildup where the new growth meets the locked part and I gotta figure out how to get it out!!  I need to get something that does a better job of clarifying.  Maybe I can get hubby to help me rinse next time.  I rinsed my hair twice and the stuff still wouldn't come out.  Oh well.

I liked what I tried this time and my hair and scalp feel great.  The only thing I would change is the lock gel.  I might just stick to what I've been using (ORS Lock Gel).  I don't think I've ever spent this much time on my hair myself.  It felt good. :)

Another thing I noticed is how different my hair (and scalp) is from my husband's. He normally has a itchy, flaky scalp and I don't.  I washed his hair Wednesday cuz it was itching so bad and it's flaky again already (but it's not itching).  I think next time, I'm gonna try a hot oil treatment on him to see if that helps with his scalp. I realized I can't do the same thing to his hair that I do to mine because it doesn't always work.  But I'm enjoying the learning process.