Out With the Curly Weave, In With Mission Edges.

I took out the curly weave. It was matting and frizzing, so it was like a mini civil war every morning to try and get it looking right. Even then:



It behaved for as long as it could, I suppose. I had this hair in for 3 weeks total(when I put it back in after the first round, I used the same batch of hair). I use Amla oil to maintain my extensions. It's not the authentic kind, it's very runny, green and makes my real hair dry and hard. I'm sure it's laden with mineral oil. I'd bought about 4 or 5 bottles, so I'm glad I've found a use for it. I apply it everyday if I can, but I don't put much. It leaves extensions soft and shiney. Because it's fragranced, it doesn't end up smelling rancid, thank goodness.

I also felt my edges weren't protected enough in the weave. I could feel them being tugged at as I slept :(. Yes I used a scarf, in fact, I use 2 scarves. 1 satin, 1 silk. Not surprisingly, when I'd finished taking everything out, my edges looked worse!!! They'd been doing much better before this.

I'm in the process of coming up with a plan to get my edges back. I'll post it up soon :)

Wash Day in a Curly Weave

So I weaved up again on the 17th/18th of April, which means it's been about 2 weeks. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't had a single wash day in those 2 weeks! I know, I know, but school's been really busy and I just haven't had the chance. I guess another reason is that I was too scared as I didn't know what this synthetic hair would look like after a wash. Didn't want to have to go around looking like a scarecrow because I simply don't have the time to re-do the weave if it all went haywire. So I braved up today. Washed a bit differently, mixing:

1) Shikakai powder with a little bit of shampoo and lots of water. I know, you're not meant to mix shikakai and shampoo as it can be extra drying, but I had a LOT of build up and just wanted to make sure that I cleaned properly. I poured the mixture onto my scalp. It was quite difficult with a curly weave, but I did what I could. Better than nothing. I then left it for 5-10 minutes, then rinsed for 5 minutes.

2) Conditioner with water which I poured between as many lines as I could, squeezed excess water out of the weave hair, baggied for about 20 minutes then rinsed thoroughly.

I don't know what I was scared about, the weave still looks fine, probably even a little better than before : ). It's about 80% dry now and I'm about to apply one of my new found loves, an oil, that I'm using as a growth aid. I've been using it for about 1 and a half weeks and I see little hairs sprouting on my edges : ) nothing major, but it's something! I'll post more details in the next few posts.

I've been really bad and neglecting my hair (*lowers head in shame*), but hey, school comes first. Always. After washing today, I noticed 2 braids that were hanging on for dear life and my hair was twisting! : ( I immediately took them out and redid them ... but if I want my edges back, I've gotta do better than that. Edges need to be re-done. Hopefully I get the chance at the end of this week.

Still in Recovery Mode - from my weave woes

So yesterday's post was about how I had to remove my new weave for fear it would rip my hair out and ruin my scalp. I decided not to re-do the weave today, as my scalp still hurts a bit.

Today I wore a braid out. Love braid outs. It was too cute!!!

I'm continuing to treat my hair until I weave it up again. When I did the braid out my hair was a wee bit dry and my ends a bit tangly, but in much better condition than the day I took the weave out. I've learned through experience and from others that properly moisturized hair is something you have to build up to, it doesn't happen overnight. One of my favourite natural youtubers, RusticBeauty has a great video on this.

I moisturized heavily with my glycerine/ aloevera juice/ water mix which helped a lot.

This evening I've saturated my hair with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) again. It's amazing how much it softens, limits tangling and knotting. EVOO is rocking my world right now. After applying it, I'ved twisted and baggied. I'll leave it like this over night, and plan to cowash with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration then twist up again in the morning. Will let you know how it goes.

Ciao my lovlies!

My New Weave - Take 2!

They say "If you want something done ...." The day I got my weave done, my scalp was quite painful, but I thought it was normal and the pain would go away. Well, it didn't. The next day I asked my mum to take a look at the most painful spot, and it was swollen people!!! Apparently my skin there was also pulled up, like really taught. Didn't even think twice about it, and took that baby (the weave) right out! As I took it out, I found another 2 or 3 swollen spots. Arrrgh!!! Anyway, my scalp felt so much better. Put my hair in plats and went to bed.

Today I prepood for the first time. Primarily because when I undid my hair it was soooo dry, I was afraid to do anything to it (remember how I'd said I didn't get the chance to treat my hair properly the way I normally do inbetween braids and weaves?).

1) I applied EVOO, saturating my hair completely. Sat around for about 3 hours (I know it's Wednesday, I'm on break from uni lol, I'm not being a bum).

2) I then mixed up and applied some Multani Mati Powder (fuller's earth) - I normally use Bentonite Clay, but I've moved and haven't found a place to get some yet.

3) Rinsed off the Multani powder after about and hour and shampood (I mixed in some glycerine into my shampoo)

4) I did a strong amla tea rinse. I let it sit for about a minute, squeezed out the excess tea, but did not rinse the tea out.

4) I then applied some ORS Replenishing Conditioner. I used the "reconditioning method" (I'll definitely do a post about this soon, it worked great!) and DC'd for about 25 minutes - then rinsed.

5) At about 50% dry, sprayed my glycerine/aloevera juice/water mix, applied EVOO and waited about 15 minutes, then applied a shea butter mix. Then put my hair into 8 plaits.

My hair is back to it's normal soft self!!! YAY. I'll be redoing the weave myself tomorrow or within the next few days, depending on how my scalp feels.

That's all for now. *I'll post pics tomorrow of what my hair looks like*

Ok here are the pics I promised. I love it when my hair is like this, so soft and fluffy : )




Ciao

P.S. Ever had any weave/ braid mishaps? How did your hair recover?

Black Hair Weave Styles - I got a weave y'all! ... and other things

I'm all weaved up! I was beginning to give up on weaves, but I think this one's a keeper. I've never had big hair so it's taking some getting used to ... It's braids in the front and weaved at the back.

It was quite imprompt tu, so I didn't really get the chance to treat my hair the way I normally do between braids. I only got to shampoo and did a quick DC with cholesterol (baggied with a plastic bag and used a blower on top of that) and then got weaved up!

My hair has grown, and is in the best condition it's ever been. One lady just looked at my hair and said "I never knew natural hair could look like this!" Although it was meant to be a complement, I was really disheartened. Black people don't even really know what our own hair looks like! So sad.

When the lady started doing the weave, she started to comb my hair while it was dry. I felt the comb ripping at my hair and saw few hairs fall to the floor. I immediately asked her to stop. I realized she didn't even see the damage should would have caused to my hair. Breakage is so normal to us, that we continue to rake and break our hair, all the while expecting it to get longer. One of the girls there even told me that combing my natural hair with a wide tooth comb is what enoucouraged knots, and that I should infact be using one of those small tooth rat tail combs ... she said she knew because she'd also had natural hair in the past. She continued to berrate me until I told her that I was glad that she'd found that that's what worked for her, but it wasn't going to work for my hair! That's one lesson I learnt with my hair, if someone else is doing it, speak up when you don't like what they're doing. Because at the end of the day, it'll be you that's dealing with the damage. [/rant]

All in all, I think it turned out ok, my scalp is a bit tender in the middle. Hopefully that goes away soon. Will let you know. Any of you had a change of hair style lately? Had someone else do your hair? How was your experience? Thoughts on my weave?