6 Month Protective Style Challenge

The fact that my last relaxer was September 2008 and all I have is shoulder length hair pisses me off. I'm not gonna lie about that. I hate the fact that I have nothing to show for these past four years. I'm mostly pissed off with myself. But it is something that I need to let go. I know that I wasn't taking care of my hair like I should have and that is why things are the way they are. I know that I just said that I wouldn't worry about the length of my hair anymore. And that is true. That is not the point of this post. I just wanted to rant a bit and try to come to terms with the fact that I need to accept my hair. I need to accept the fact that my hair is thin and fine and that if you stare at it too hard, it'll break off smh. I need to accept that I am not gonna wake up and miraculously have long, thick hair. I have to be patient with my progress and take my time. If I'm good to my hair and I leave it alone, my hair will grow.

From now until May I intend on only doing protective and low manipulation styles. I figure if I just leave my hair alone for days/weeks at a time, it will be easier for me to retain length and stop worrying about my hair progress so much. Also, this challenge goes perfect with the length check that I already set for May 2013.

Rules:

• All protective styles must last at least 2 weeks
• All low manipulation styles must last at least 1 week
• I will deep condition every time I shampoo (which I already do...it really makes a difference! lol)
• I will continue to rub Castor oil on my edges on a daily basis. Weekly for my scalp.
• I must moisturize my hair while in a protective style. I can't just leave it alone and expect my hair to be ok.
• No Heat 
• Keep my ends moisturized

Some styles I have in mind:

• Mini Twists
• Straw Curls
• Flat Twist styles
• Buns
• Updos  
• Coils/Coil-Out
• Hair augmentation (When I eventually get a job, I will be able to afford hair. Yay!)
• Crochet Braids :)
• Quickweaves
• Half Wigs
• Ponytails

I'm excited about this challenge. I'm almost certain that I'll be able to stick to it and actually enjoy it. So far, I've had these mini twists for 3 days and I'll be able to keep them in until next weekend. I wonder what I should do next. Hmm, straw curls? We'll see :)

Mini Twists

For the longest, I've been saying that I wanted to try mini twists again. After the TNC failure I didn't feel like having to deal with my hair so it only made sense. I decided to do them smaller than last time so it took me foreverrrr! lol. But I feel like it's worth it. I'll probably keep these in for a while because I really don't feel like being bothered. Plus, my hair just needs to chill for a bit. Since my hair was overdue for a trim, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I snipped my ends twist by twist. My hair being perfectly even isn't much of a concern because I don't ever wear my hair straight. I knew my hair needed a bit of loving so I used Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque as a leave in. I know that I recently swore off the thought of twists but ehh, they came out better and fuller this time. So my mind has been changed lol.


Random...

Sometimes I get so caught up in the fact that my hair isn't where I'd like it to be, I forget about my journey. Yeah I've had a couple of screw ups and I've made some mistakes, but I've come to a place of acceptance. I'm not gonna make a fuss about the length of my hair because I can't change that overnight. If I focus more on the health of my hair, the length will come. Duh. 

My first set of twists from August 2009:

My latest:

An entire 3 years later.

No I don't have the length I want but so what? I know better now. So I'll do better.

Twist N Curl FAIL!

So as I was sitting with my deep conditioner in my hair, I remembered a video that I saw that I could not get out of my head. I've seen a gazillion Twist N Curl's before but I fell in love with hers. Take a gander...




Isn't her hair just so damn gorgeous? I obviously don't have as much hair as her so I was a bit hesitant to try it out. But I figured the definition would be great.

I tried a variation of what she did. I flat twisted the front like she did but I did not do so many individual twists. And I also twisted my hair to the ends. I used Cantu Shea Butter Creamy Hair Lotion, castor oil, and my pink EcoStyler gel. I only ended up with 15 twists because I only had 14 perm rods. I had to improvise and add one of my small rollers in the back when I ran out of rods.

When I took down my hair the next day, I figured it would be cute. That night I pincurled the ends and went to sleep. The next afternoon I started getting ready to go hang out with my friends. Somehow, I lost track of time and ended up rushing to get dressed. I didn't think I would need much time to do my hair so I wasn't panicked or anything. After I got dressed, I took down my hair and was faced with complete disappointment. My hair looked a hot damn mess! My curls were all janky looking and sooo not cute. It was horrible. I played with my hair a bit then I decided I didn't want to wear it down. So I tried to pin it up. That was a fail. Then I decided to do a puff. That was too corny. Then I figured I could just put it in a bun. That wasn't neat enough. So I settled on a messy bun.

Ehh, cute enough right?

I was happy that I didn't use my "bun enhancer" and it came out pretty decent. As far as the twist n curl, maybe I could try it again. Eventually...

Hair Neglect

 I just got back to Brooklyn after an impromptu "vacation" in New Paltz. I had planned on staying for 3 days and ended up staying 8. Craziness. So while I was there, I had a great experience and I really enjoyed myself. I wish I could say the same about my hair.

I spent an entire week neglecting my hair. I wore the three strand twist out week until it looked old, which was 3 days into my trip. It coulda lasted longer but I decided that I wanted a big fro. So I combed out my curls with my fingers and braided up my hair. I did this for two days until I decided it was too much work lol. So I wore a big puff for the rest of the week. Did I wash my hair? No. Did I restyle my hair? No. So I basically had a huge, undefined puff that I was showing noooo love to. My poor hair. Smh. When I got home I detangled my hair with some conditioner, washed it and did a much needed DC. Now I'm trying to decide what I wanna do next. For the longest I've been saying that I wanna try mini twists again. Maybe that's my next move. Or maybe I'll do some flat twists. We'll see...

Memories...

Me and my father after my Junior High Graduation in June 2004

Not a day goes by that I don't miss this man...