Dry Hair

A couple of days ago I was doing a braid-out hairstyle, and while I was undoing the dried braids over the bathroom sink, I noticed that my hair was breaking quite badly.  There were lots of little bits of broken hair all over the sink.  I was very surprised at this.  I had never noticed this before, because I don't usually comb my hair over the bathroom sink.  I wonder how long this breaking has been going on.  I am guessing that the reason for the breakage is that my hair must be quite dry, even though it doesn't feel particularly dry to me.

Today I decided to treat my hair with a mixture of Jamaica Mango & Lime Island Oil and Olive Oil.  I damped my hair with water and saturated all my locks with the oils.  I put on a plastic cap for a few hours and then washed and conditioned my hair. I will watch for any further breakage over the next few days.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my hair is dry.  The summer has been very hot, and I spend much of my day in an air conditioned office, which is quite dry.  So my poor hair is paying the price for this.

End of Summer

The summer is almost over, and this makes me sad.  It is so lovely to be able to wake up a little bit later in the mornings, because the kids are not going to school.  All the extra-curricular activities are on a break. No carting the lids all over the place to do this and that.  And lots of people at work have taken vacation leave, and that means my work load is a bit lighter too (less people around to harass me).  We took our family vacation at the beach this year, and that meant a week of lying on the beach and doing nothing all day long.  I was able to read 5 books during this time.  Wonderful holiday!!

Today I got my hair retightened by my consultant, and boy did I need it. Six weeks ago I retightened it myself, and I don't like to do it very tightly. So by the time another six weeks passed, it was a real tangled mess of new growth. Here's a picture of my freshly retightened hair.

My hair is continuing to do its thing. Growing pretty fast.  As I promised myself, I have not coloured my grays for a long time now.  I am still learning to embrace them.  Reluctantly.  I will explore the possibility of using henna, instead of the commercial dyes.  I understand that the henna is supposed to be gentler on the hair. We'll see.

My hair has been locked for 3 years and 9 months now.  I still have no regrets.  Every now and then I fantasize about undoing my locks and rocking my loose hair.  In reality, I don't think I will really do that. Yet.

Summer Time

Well the summer is indeed in full swing, what with the sudden afternoon rain storms which breaks the sweltering heat. My hair has now grown long enough to feel very hot against my neck, so for the last couple of weeks I've been mostly wearing it in a pony tail.  Yes, I can now call it a pony tail, instead of a pony puff.  Ha! Ha!

When I want an easy crinkly look, I lightly spritz my hair with water before going to bed, and plait it in four big plaits.  Because it is so hot, it dries easily overnight.  In the morning I pull out the plaits and finger comb.  This is the result.

I have also been using black castor oil on my scalp on a regular basis, in the hopes of thickening up the thin spots.  The hair right at the top of my head is so very thin.  And the thinness becomes painfully obvious when I get a retightening done.  I guess there isn't much that I can do about this, besides creative styling and praying for a miracle.  The other "complaint" I have with my hair is that the hair at the back has a texture which makes my locks loosen and unravel really quickly.  Even after 3 and a half years of being locked, these locks at the back are not truly locked up yet.  Weird huh?  I wonder if they ever will?

I have decided to stop covering my grays for a while.  Hopefully forever.  I'm not sure if I am ready to embrace all the gray hairs at the front of my head, but the colouring process is very drying, and it is really tough on my hair.  Each time I colour my hair, it takes a couple of weeks for it to recover from the extreme dryness that occurs.  Hope I can live with the ever increasing quantity of grays!

Happy summer holidays everyone.  Stay safe. Keep cool.

I am publishing this picture to show the real length of my hair, without any crinkles or curls.

My locks are now three years and five months old, and are really growing fast at the moment.  I am about to cover my grays again, but this time I am going to try Clairol Textures and Tones,  instead of Dark and Lovely.  The Dark and Lovely makes my hair much too dry.  If anyone has any experience with the Textures and Tones I would love to hear about it before I apply it to my hair.

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a happy Easter!  Mine was very good, what with church services on Friday and Sunday, and a big family and friend gathering for Sunday dinner.  I took it easy on the bun and cheese too!

I am in the process of retightening my hair myself. As always it takes 4 to 5 sessions, each session lasting about 2 hours. It is getting easier, but boy is it tedious. I have one more section at the back to complete, but I thought I would just take a snapshot now.

My hair is going through a growth spurt at the moment.  It seems to do this from time to time. As I go through the retightening process, there are some locks that require 3 or 4 rotations.  That's a lot of growth.  And there are some locks that have not budged since the last retightening 6 weeks ago.

I have added black castor oil to my hair care regimen.  After washing with White Rain Shampoo, I use it on my scalp and hair.  It really gives my hair a nice feel. And it is not as greasy as petroleum based oils.  I often use a heavy conditioner (like Pantene or Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat on my hair because it is so dry. I live in a hot dry climate, which makes the hair dryness worse. In the mornings I spritz with a mixture of water, vegetable glycerin and lavender oil.

On another note, I am very impressed when I go out and observe just how many women are wearing natural hair styles.  It is heart warming to see so many women just rocking their afros, twists, locks, plaits etc. It seems to be a growing trend, and I think it is just wonderful.  There's nothing wrong with wigs, weaves, extensions or relaxed hair in my opinion.  I say do whatever it is that makes you feel pretty and empowered!  Life's too short to be making a huge fuss over a hair style.

Time Marches On

There is nothing much new going on with my hair these days. It is continuing to grow and do its own thing. I can no longer sleep comfortably unless it is tied up or pinned up. Otherwise it just gets in my face and annoys me. I know I should cover my hair with a scarf to prevent lint, but I just cannot stand sleeping with a scarf on.

I just did another retightening on my own. Whenever I manage to do this, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. It takes me up to four days to complete my whole head (spending about 2 hours each night), but I feel good knowing that I have saved quite a bit of money by doing it myself.

I continue with my weekly washings, and I set my hair on soft spike curlers each time. The curls make my hair look shorter than it really is, but it is still the style that I like the most.

All the very best for 2012

Christmas is my favourite time of the year, and this past Christmas did not disappoint.  Lots of relaxed time spent with friends and family. I love to cook, and I did a lot of this too.  The number on my scale is proof of this.

There is nothing much new going on with my hair.  It is continuing to grow and do well.  I am also doing most of my retightenings on my own, which is nice.  I still occasionally treat myself to a professional retightening, to ensure that my partings are being maintained properly and to just give myself a break sometimes.

Happy New Year to all, and a wish for nothing but good things for 2012.