Noticing a difference

so i've been using my oil blends for a few weeks now. i am definately noticing a new softness to my hair. not to say it wasn't soft before. but i definately notice that is feels softer than i've ever felt it before. i wonder if its the veggie glycerine or the oils? or maybe a combo of both.

New oil, and I got burned!

so, i found a new oil at Stop & Shop. i was just looking for some olive oil, but guess what else i found?! i found sweet almond oil, flaxseed oil, and grapseed oil. in larger quantities and cheaper than at the health store. i always hear about getting cooking grade oils becasue than means they're truely chemical free. well, thses oils were for cooking! i'm happy about that find. but i also found this little doobie:



the top of the bottle says: Omega Plus. Extra Virgin Oils. its a blend of avocado oil, olive oil, and flaxseed oil. heres a quote from the back of the bottle:



"Olivado has created a natural balance of Essentail Fatty Acids. Omega 3, Omega 6, and Omega 9. Take Omerga 3,6,and 9 as nature intended with the powerful antioxidants: polyphenols, beta sitosterol, lutein, and vitamin E, found naturally in the Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive, Avocado and Flaxseed Oil

Take two teaspoons a day, or use with salads, vegetables,and smoothies..."



so i did a new oil blend with less water and more of this oil, grapeseed oil, a little more olive oil, veggie gylerin, and aloe vera. this blend is a little heavier than my other one. when i spray it on, it sits on my hair and i have to make sure to massage it into my locs. then i added the orange eo...

AND I BURNT MYSELF!!!!!!!!!! i got a little, teeny weeny smear on my knuckle. i didn't think anything of it. i've heard that you have to be careful with essential oils because they can burn your skin, but i didn't think that tiny little amount would hurt me. five minutes after i got that smear on my knuckle, it was hurting! and the skin was red and a little swollen. i've learned my lesson. next time, i'll wear gloves!!!

Hair Oil Results

so, i've been using my homemade hair oil mix for the past few days. i've been trying to use it everyday, but i think i've missed a day or two. the smell is awesome!! my hair holds the smell of the almonds quite well. my sister doesn't like the smell. she says it smells like insence. i guess she means the smell is too "heavy" if you know what i mean. it does have a slightly different smell when i spray it on fresh as opposed to at the end of the day. i admit, i maaaaaayyyy have been a bit heavy handed with the fragrance oil. i might try to add more olive oil to the mix to dilute the almond frangrance oil smell a little more. but so far, so good. i think i'm gonna make up another batch but use the orange eo this time. i'm excited to see how that one comes out! i've decided to only use one at a time. so if i'm using the almond smelling spritz, i won't use the orange one too, i'll wait till i wash my hair before i use a different scent. although almond orange could smell good... we'll see. i also have a peppermint eo to use. but i don't want to use that one yet. i'm not sure if i'm ready to go around smelling like a candy cane!

Homemade Spritz

Well, i'm trying to go all natural! really all natural. i've been careful about the shampoos, conditioners, and oils i use in my hair. i've been reading up a lot lately about homemade oil conditioning spritzes and i decided to try an make my own. so my sister and i went to the natural health store today and i racked up a bill of over $50! i got some vegetable glycerine, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil. i got a cherry almond shampoo and conditioner. i got a pepperment and an orange essential oil and an almond musk fragrance oil. as you can probably tell, almond is one of my favorite scents! then i went on over to my friendly neighborhood walgreens and got 2 8oz spray bottles. i already had pure aloe vera gel and olive oil at home. i did a post on lovinlocs to ask about ratios to use in my spritz, but i was too eager to use my new purchases. so i went ahead and just guess-tamated using some info i got from browsing around online. i didn't used exact measurements, but it was comething along these lines:

4oz water
2 oz blend of veggie glycerine and aloe vera gel
2oz blend of olive oil, jojoba oil, and sweet almond oil (more olive oil)
approx 15 drops of almond musk fragrance oil


from left to right: olive oil, veggie glycerine, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, aloe vera, and in the front, almond musk fragrance oil.


i sorta squeezed the ingrediants into the spray bottle as i went. i shook it up real good and commenced to spraying my head! i grabbed a chunk of locks and sprayed along the shaft and squeezed as i went to really get the oil into the locs. it smelled heavenly! then i went back and did the tips. then i did my scalp. the mixture is really light, so my hair didn't feel heavy or oily at all! i found out that i have to keep on shaking the bottle as i go 'cause the oil and water keep on seperating, as can be expected. so i just got through with that about ten minutes ago. i'm gonna hit the bed and see how my hair feels tomorrow. i'm not sure if i should spray in the morning before i go about my business or at night before i go to bed. i might spray my hair a little more tomorrow before i go out. alright. off to bed i go!

Thanks Knappy Soul!

So i took the advise of fellow blogger and lovin locs member, Knappy Soul. i washed my hair and i latched the rest of my hair but i palm rolled the first two rows around my hairline. this solves my quasi problem completely!!!! i was satisfied/content to settle for a messier hairline in return for the convenience of latching. but now i see that i don't have to settle at all! on another note, my hair is INCREDIBLY faded now. to me, it looks pinky orange and i am not happy with it. but when i tried to take pics, they came out looking more red. my sister said she doesn't see pink and its all in my head. this is quite possible! you know we are our own worst critics. my sister and i are looking into henna. i might use that to color over the pink with a more brownish red color. we'll see. it looks like the henna is a bitch to mix up and put on. i really dont want to go through any more hair color nightmares again just yet! here are a few pics of my (in my opinion) pink hair and the top palm rolled

Doin' it BIG!!!!

i'm on the loc loops website!!!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! when you order the loops, the owners asks you to send in photos if you're happy with the results. well, i emailed her two or three days ago and sent her some pics. she emailed me right back and said she was very excited about the pics. so i went to the website today and went to the section to view photos, and BLAM!!! there I am!!! I feel so proud!!!! i'm gonna be famous!! just kidding! now i gotta go spread the word...


check it out for yourself:

www.locloops.com

Already missing it!

I made a promise to myself to not color my hair anymore for the next year. my hair is just getting too damaged. i used to have a friend wash, color, and twist my hair. she was a certified colorologist (if there is such a tittle! all i know if her specialty was in coloring). but she had never dealt with locs before. so she used to do a quick rinse and as a result, a lot of color was left in my hair. and it used to run every time i shampooed and rub off on EVERYTHING!!!!! i have so many white t-shirts with a pink collar from where the color rubbed off. and, as you can image, having that color stuck in my locs didn't do them any good either. and this went on for a few years. then, i decided to take the reins and do my own hair. so now i was responsible for my own washing, coloring, and twisting! the first few washings were a little tough. i had never tried to twist and clip my hair myself. after doing the first three or four locs, i gave up and just braided three locs together as i twisted and did a braid out. i got through 2 washings this way. then, thanks to the WONDERFUL advice and encouragement i got from a wonderful group on Yahoo, called LovinLocs (BIG SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY "FAMILY' ON LOVINLOCS!!!!!!),i learned about latching. so i bought the nappylocs latching tool and about 2 months ago i began latching my hair. this woked out GREAT!!!!!! but there was one downside. now, i'm washing my hair about once a week. before, i was washing about once every six weeks or so. becasue i'm washing so much more often, the color doesn't last as long. so i tried to color my hair myself. for the first time in my life. it was pretty bad! as you all know, my color of choice is red. not just any red, the brightest red i can find. needless to say, by the time i was done, there was red everywhere! all over the bathroom sink ( i colored in the bathroom so i could see what i was doing). a few BIG splotches on the floor. a smear or two on the wall by the light switch. then, when i went to wash the color out, i got read all over the counter in the kitchen!!! i wash my hair in the kitchen sink with a washing hose. i have a serious phobia of getting water in my ears!!! but i got through it. the color was wonderful. i was happy. but then i washed mt hair a week later, and a bunch of color ran! i was a little puzzled 'cause i thought i had done a good job at rinsing. and now the color wasn't as vibrant. oh well. then i washed my hair again a week after that. more color ran. the color is even less vibrant. i'm now four washings in since i colored my hair and its just a dull as it was before i colored it!!!! i'm not going through that coloring fiasco again!!! so, since i'm washing my hair more often now, i'm not going to color. its a waste of time. and i'm damaging my hair. but, god, do i miss it!!!! a lot of people say the color is great and its so bright, but I know how it can really look when its at its best. but i will say this. if the red fades to pink, which it has done in the past, i'm gonna color it over with a deep auburn. we'll see what happens. sometimes it fades to a pink, sometimes it turn and orangish brown, sometimes a reddish brown. i'm actually kinda excited to see what my hair will look like brown. for as long as i've been able to color, i've done red. this will be a new look. lets hope this goes well...


and for those of you who are interested, here's the link to the group:



alt="Click here to join lovinlocs">
Click to join lovinlocs

MUUUUUUCH better!

so i re-wet my head and tried the loc loops again. i put some ORS gel in a spray bottle and watered it down. my hair was pretty damp still. and then i sprayed every two locs with the watered down gel as i rolled them, so my hair ended up being pretty wet. then i sat under a medium warm hooded dryer for an hour!!! i wasn't taking any chances that my hair wouldn't dry this time!!!! i put on a silk scarf and went to bed. the next day, i had nothing planned, so i kept the curlers in all day as well. so here are the pics.

Loc Loops, try one

so this is my first try with the loc loops. i made a few mistakes. well, actually, just one big mistake. i didn't let my hair fully dry. i sat under a cool dryer for abour 1/2 hour. i wan't too sure about the dryer part. didn't know if the curlers would melt in my hair. can you imagine?!?! melted foam curlers in my locs!!! so 1/3 hour under a cool dryer and air drying for the rest of the day and overnight. the next day i started taking the curlers out and i realized that my hair was no where near dry. but i had things to do, and i'm not about to go out in public with big curlers in my hair! the curls in the back were really limp with a few tighter ones in the front. the first few pics are of that. i didn't really like the look, so i decided to try to pull some of the front curls out more for a more uniformed look. the last 2 pics are of that. please excuse the pissed-off face. i was aggrivated about my hair and running SO late!!!

p.s. i don't know why the pics are sideways and i don't know how to fix it!