my sister is getting married in less than a month. so i'm trying not to latch my hair. cause when i latch a good chunk of new growth at one time, it comes out looking smoother and neater as opposed to when i latch just a half an or so of new growth. but its hard!!! i feel like an inch or more of unloced hair at my scalp and i want to just play with it and poke my finger through it. my hair feels so soft at my scalp. i don't remember my natural hair being that soft. but then again, how long has it been since i've seen and felt my natural hair? there was that short period when i was transitioning from the perm to the natural, but that was only like a month or so, then i got the yarn to start my locs.
anyways, i've joined the gym...AGAIN!!! this time with some friends. so i have a partener now, lets see if this works any better for me. so now i'm getting all sweaty at least twice a week (i'm aiming for three days a week, but we gotta start out small. baby steps, y'all!) so i'm not oiling my hair cause i think its nasty to add oil over a dirty sweaty scalp, even though its the next day or even two days later. so i have a dry, itchy scalp. and so i have to wash my hair more often. i was doing once a week, but i think i'm gonna have to up it to twice a week, i tried to just do a water rinse, so i'm not drying my scalp out as much with the shampoo. i couldn't do it! i had to throw some shampoo in there. i didn't feel clean! so we'll see how this more washing goes. i love the feel of fresh clean hair and walking around with my hair damp as i let it air dry. but i shower at night, so i end up going to bed with wet hair and then i have to sleep with a towel over my pillow to keep it from getting too wet. its a little bit of a pain. maybe i'll figure out something later.
i made another yuotube video. but it came out all pixilated. i'm probably gonna delete it and do it over whenever i get a new camera. i actually made two videos, but the second one was SOOOO bad, i had to delete it on the spot! the second video was of me doing the hairstyle that i'm gonna use at my sisters wedding. no hairbands, no pins!
on another note, i have been experiencing some scalp soreness/tenderness. i'm not sure whats the cause of that. i almost feel like if i latched, the tenderness would go away. i don't know. we'll see what happens with that.
I love my hair! But there is so much I have to learn about it!! This is my first time with locs. I thought it would be an easy, carefree (literally "Care Free")hairstyle. Boy was I wrong. Every hair style carries its own set of needs. And I'm learning what my locs need to be the healthiest, best locs they can be.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
I'm going through that funky period again!
i hate my hair!!!! yeah, i'm going through "that" period again. it seems every few months or so since my hair has gotten past shoulder lenth, i go through this funky few days where i really don't like my hair. i've never in my life has my hair this long before. i really don't think i'm a long hair type of girl. but i'm really curious to see how long my hair will get. but now the weather is getting to be hot again and i'm starting to experience that "wool blanket" feeling with my hair on my neck, and that makes me start to think again about cuttting it. i'm wearing it in ponytails almost every day, and that alright. but, my problem is i always make them loose-ish cause i get headaches really easily. and so sometimes the pontyails come out looking CRAZY! well, at least to me. i'm sure other people aren't as critical of my hair as i am. but you know how it is, if you don't feel inside that you're looking cute on a particular day, you feel kinda yucky and self consious about your appearance the whole day. and i'm going to the gym again with one of my friends, so i'm washing much more often, so my hair in more frizzy and doesn't look as neat. and you all know that the hairline is the most important part to keep neat for a groomed appearance. so i've been trying to wear some headbands, cause that helps disguise the messy hairline, but that gives me headaches too. the only time i'm happy, even when my hair looks messy, is when its in a braid out, but it takes time and effort to braid my entire head up and then i have to wear the braids around for a day until my hair dries. that was cool when i was washing every couple of weeks. sitting for an hour to braid and band all my locs wasn't a big deal. but now that i'm washing 2 and 3 times a week (cause of the gym thing), i don't have two to three hours a week to devote to braiding and banding! thats crazy! but i'm gonna have to figure out something, or else i'm never gonna be happy. geesh. i can be such a finicky, whiny person sometimes!! i thnk i'm just really missing the red hair right now. i'm not really 100% loving this more muted color. there. i said it. i'm not completely happy with this color. i tried to talk myself into it, cause i saw how damaged my hair was getting with the color, but i MISS it! i'm not happy! okay. its almost 3 in the morning. i'm going to go to bed and stop this ranting and raving!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Yet another Youtube video
yeah, i did another one. i was playing around with the movie maker and i wanted to see if i could do a movie with music in the backround. this one is of some of the hairstyles i've had over the years
My sister and I did a video together!
so my sis REALLY wanted to do a video together, so we did one. this one just talks about why we went natural and what it means to us.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Another Youtube video
i did another youtube video. this one is about the products i use in my hair. my sister says i look angry in the video. and thats becasue i WAS!!!!! i did that video over and over again. like FOURTEEN TIMES!!!! i kept stuttering and slurring my words so i would start over again. originally, it was like 8 minutes, but by the fourteenth time doing it, i was down to 4 minutes! anyways, enjoy. i want to do another one with one of the hairstyles i do, but my hair is curly now from the braidout i just did, and this particular style looks better with straight hair. maybe after i wash my hair this weekend. we'll see...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Henna, the day after
so, its the next day, and let me tell you! i am so excited! the color definately got better. it looks much more reddish and less brown! but let me start from the begining:
so i bought three 4oz containers of henna from the natural food/hair store. two were persian red. one was sherry red. there were only 2 persian reds left, so i bought the sherry too cause i didn't think 2 would be enough. so the directions said mix each container with one cup boiling water. for dry hair, add one egg and 2-4 tablespoons olive oil. so i mixed one package of the persian red with half of the sherry (roughly 6 oz of henna), 2 large eggs, about 3 oz of olive oil, and roughly 1 and 1/4 cup boiling water. the henna stunk at first. it smelled like decaying leaves. but it makes sense, henna is a dried crushed plant product. so i seperated my hair into 8 sections, four on each side, rubber banded them off where the color started, and got ready to color the first half of my hair.
it was an EXTREMELY messy process. the henna was about the consistancy of cake batter. i was putting it on with my hands and smooshing it in. if i took too much, little globs would roll off and into the sink or on the floor. a couple of times i dropped my locs and they smacked me in the face and left smears of henna on my face! i was freaking out cause i thought it would leave stains on my face, so i was hollering for my sister to come help me and wipe my face off. i couldn't do it myself! i had on gloves that were covered in henna! so, it took a long time to finish the first half of my head. probably about 20 minutes or so. i got henna on the floor, on the wall, and all over my shirt! so my sister made me a garbage bag cape! i felt ridiculous, but it was the only solution! so i mixed up the rest of the henna for the other half of my head. this side went faster. i aslo made sure to really smear on a thick layer of henna even after i put my hair in the "princess Leia" buns. then i used some plastic shopping bags to wrap my hair and sat on the phone with my fiancee for a while, watched some tv, chatted with my sister. but the buns were on opposite sides of my head and the henna made the buns REALLY heavy, so i was getting pain along where my hair was parted. it was really uncomfortable so i ended up wrapping a headbacnd around the buns to hold them closer together. i looked like a flippin' fool! thank god there are no pictures to document that part!
so after about 2 hours i rinsed the henna out in the kitchen sink. this was the most grueling part! i rinsed for over half an hour!! now, this may not seem like hard work, but i have carpal tunnel in my hands. i had to squeeze water through my locs over and over to make sure i got all the henna out. my hands went numb and felt really weak after the first ten minutes. i have a good amout of hair, and its pretty heavy when wet. it took so much work to get all the henna out. i was ready to just give up and go to bed with the henna still in my hair. at one point i was slumped over the sink almost ready to cry! i was so tired and my hands hurt so much and i still had so much henna in my hair! that was the low point of the night! but i just took a minute rest leaning over the sink and i got back to work! first i rinsed with hot water, then with cold, as per the directions on the henna package. then i shampooed and rinsed some more!
so, after all that was done, i ran to a mirror to see my shining red glory! and what do i see! BROWN!!!! i was so upset! but it was late and i had to go to bed, so i put my hair in a bun and wrapped it with my silk scarf on and went to sleep with soaking wet hair! yeah, i got a pretty big wet spot on my pillow, but i was so pissed, i didn't care!
the next morning i noticed the color was a little more orange-ish. by the time i got home from work, it looked more orangy-brown. i remember reading from the free henna e-book that the color takes a few days to settle, so i can only hope as the days wear on that the color will start to look more reddish. i am satisfied with the way it loks now. i will try it again in a month or so. heres the youtube video i made
2 quick notes:
(1)the e-book said not to mix the henna with boiling water, that it would make the color fade and its better to mix the henna with lemon juice and let the henna sit over night for a brighter, more vibrant color. so next time, i'm gonna do that. heres the link to that free e-book:
http://www.hennaforhair.com/freebooks/
(2)when i did mix the henna with boiling water for the first batch, i added the water first and then the eggs. for the second batch, i added the eggs first and then the water, and when the hot water hit the egg, it started to cook the egg!!! so if you ARE gonna use boiling water, add the egg AFTER you mix in the water!
so i bought three 4oz containers of henna from the natural food/hair store. two were persian red. one was sherry red. there were only 2 persian reds left, so i bought the sherry too cause i didn't think 2 would be enough. so the directions said mix each container with one cup boiling water. for dry hair, add one egg and 2-4 tablespoons olive oil. so i mixed one package of the persian red with half of the sherry (roughly 6 oz of henna), 2 large eggs, about 3 oz of olive oil, and roughly 1 and 1/4 cup boiling water. the henna stunk at first. it smelled like decaying leaves. but it makes sense, henna is a dried crushed plant product. so i seperated my hair into 8 sections, four on each side, rubber banded them off where the color started, and got ready to color the first half of my hair.
it was an EXTREMELY messy process. the henna was about the consistancy of cake batter. i was putting it on with my hands and smooshing it in. if i took too much, little globs would roll off and into the sink or on the floor. a couple of times i dropped my locs and they smacked me in the face and left smears of henna on my face! i was freaking out cause i thought it would leave stains on my face, so i was hollering for my sister to come help me and wipe my face off. i couldn't do it myself! i had on gloves that were covered in henna! so, it took a long time to finish the first half of my head. probably about 20 minutes or so. i got henna on the floor, on the wall, and all over my shirt! so my sister made me a garbage bag cape! i felt ridiculous, but it was the only solution! so i mixed up the rest of the henna for the other half of my head. this side went faster. i aslo made sure to really smear on a thick layer of henna even after i put my hair in the "princess Leia" buns. then i used some plastic shopping bags to wrap my hair and sat on the phone with my fiancee for a while, watched some tv, chatted with my sister. but the buns were on opposite sides of my head and the henna made the buns REALLY heavy, so i was getting pain along where my hair was parted. it was really uncomfortable so i ended up wrapping a headbacnd around the buns to hold them closer together. i looked like a flippin' fool! thank god there are no pictures to document that part!
so after about 2 hours i rinsed the henna out in the kitchen sink. this was the most grueling part! i rinsed for over half an hour!! now, this may not seem like hard work, but i have carpal tunnel in my hands. i had to squeeze water through my locs over and over to make sure i got all the henna out. my hands went numb and felt really weak after the first ten minutes. i have a good amout of hair, and its pretty heavy when wet. it took so much work to get all the henna out. i was ready to just give up and go to bed with the henna still in my hair. at one point i was slumped over the sink almost ready to cry! i was so tired and my hands hurt so much and i still had so much henna in my hair! that was the low point of the night! but i just took a minute rest leaning over the sink and i got back to work! first i rinsed with hot water, then with cold, as per the directions on the henna package. then i shampooed and rinsed some more!
so, after all that was done, i ran to a mirror to see my shining red glory! and what do i see! BROWN!!!! i was so upset! but it was late and i had to go to bed, so i put my hair in a bun and wrapped it with my silk scarf on and went to sleep with soaking wet hair! yeah, i got a pretty big wet spot on my pillow, but i was so pissed, i didn't care!
the next morning i noticed the color was a little more orange-ish. by the time i got home from work, it looked more orangy-brown. i remember reading from the free henna e-book that the color takes a few days to settle, so i can only hope as the days wear on that the color will start to look more reddish. i am satisfied with the way it loks now. i will try it again in a month or so. heres the youtube video i made
2 quick notes:
(1)the e-book said not to mix the henna with boiling water, that it would make the color fade and its better to mix the henna with lemon juice and let the henna sit over night for a brighter, more vibrant color. so next time, i'm gonna do that. heres the link to that free e-book:
http://www.hennaforhair.com/freebooks/
(2)when i did mix the henna with boiling water for the first batch, i added the water first and then the eggs. for the second batch, i added the eggs first and then the water, and when the hot water hit the egg, it started to cook the egg!!! so if you ARE gonna use boiling water, add the egg AFTER you mix in the water!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tried the henna
ok, this is gonna be short cause i don't want to say too much yet. i tried the henna. it was SUPER messy and smelly and it looked like baby poop. once the henna was on my hair, it was extremem;y heavy and uncomfortable. i kept it on for 2 and a half hours and i just washed it out... and i'm not happy with the results. it looks brown! i got the brightest red one at the health store. but i think i read somewhere that it brightend up in a few days, so we'll see how it looks wednesday or thursday. i also did a video. its not finished yet cause it doesn't have the final results. i'll probably post it on youtube a little later. i'll link it. alright. we'll see how this turns out...
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