Yarn Braids - Yarn Braids/ Genie Locs Photos Finally

Drum roll please!! I know I promised to post pictures of my yarn braids forever and a day ago. Better late than never. Here they are:

This set of yarn braids has been in for about 6 weeks. I re-did my edges after about 3 weeks, so they are due to be re-done again soon.

I'm really enjoying these braids. But I'm still yet to improve on the styling front.

This has been my only attempt at a real style. I'm going to go through BlackOnyx's Youtube channel again and look for quick yarn braid styles. Another trick I found is to also looked at styling videos from ladies with proper locs. The end result with yarn braids is very similar. Clearly, I haven't really been putting effort into trying all the beautiful styles I've found. lol. That's about to change the! In one of my next posts, I'll make a yarn braid video directory of sorts so that you won't have to dig around too much.

Anyway, so far here are the pros and cons of yarn braids:

Pros

• Easy to maitain
• Light
• Gentle on my edges
• My hair was soft and moisturized when I look out my edges

Cons

• Take ages to dry when washed
• Laborious to take down

Clearly the pros are outweighing the cons. I'm really happy with the way my hair is coming along. I've also had good growth:

The red line is at about 1.5 cm (around 0.6 inches). So give or take, I'd say I'm hair has been consistently growing at the normal average hair growth rate of 0.5 inches per month.

A maintainance/ washing/ conditioning/ regimen post will be coming up soon. Stay tuned!

I'm back! Out With Pixie Braids, in with Twists.

Finally done with exams! Wooohoooo!

Ok enough of that and back to the point of this post. I removed the pixie braids I had. They ended up looking so so so frizzy, had to hide them under a wig. It's probably because I co-washed them about 4 times over the last 5 weeks. But they did the job. Kept my hands out of my hair and they were really hassle free.

I got some good growth too over the last 5 weeks. Here are some pics. Disclaimer: I know, I know, this probably wasn't the best way to measure the growth, but it gives me a rough idea which is all I needed, really. I got a little more than a centimetre ... that's about 0.5" or a little less (what I've marked in red is where I cm begins and ends on the ruler, then in black where the braid begins). I'm happy with that : )



After undoing the pixie braids I DC'd on dry hair with Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise with heat. My first DC with heat in more than 6 months! I'll post a review on the ORS Hair Mayo after a couple more uses. I then put my hair in twists because I'm thinking of doing a twist out tomorrow. Yes yes, if I do I'll be posting pics : ) . The pic on the left is the set of twists I did today and the one on the right is a set from October/November.



: ) Couldn't be happier with my hair at the moment.

Hair Progress: Length Check - January 1 2010

Ever reached one of your goals, but felt really indifferent about it? Even a big milestone like Neck Length to BSL, and just feel 'meh'? Then you probably have what the ladies on LHCF have dubbed Hair Anorexia (lol!). Hair Anorexia is feeling unimpressed with any progress and that your hair is never long enough, despite reaching your goals. A while ago there was an LHCF thread about this, and I remember posting that even though I'd reached APL, I didn't feel like my hair was long at all.

Today I was looking at old photos and came across a 'length shot' from back in April when I was SL. Did a side by side comparison with a photo I took today ... I must say, I'm really proud of myself!! I've really come a long way.

So if you're having a hard time appreciating the progress you've made, I encourage you to start taking length shots every now and then. Start now, because I remember when I started my hair journey, I'd always put it off and now I hardly have any photos of my twa stage. If you have a camera, take a quick one, it doesn't have to be perfect. Then every few months you can do side by side comparisons. It really helps!

Without further ado:



I'm also thinking I should get one of those hair progress T-shirts. Hmm... I did see another really clever way of keeping track of hair growth on Mane and Chic. How resourceful is that???

Hair Growth Progress - Thicker

So over the weekend, I was looking at photos of my hair from a few months ago. Apart from length, I noticed a marked improvement in the thickness of my hair too! I'm so stoked about it and hopefully my hair will continue to thicken:



YAYness!

From what I know, what we normally refer to our hair's "thickness," can be attributed to 1) the thickness of each individual strand 2) The number of strands we have. I'm finding that my hair is still as fine as it ever was ... so I believe my progress is a function of growing in and retaining more strands (for example having some of my edges back. That is, my hair has become more DENSE. I think it's a result of several things like more washing (cleaner and healthier scalp = 'happier' follicles?), reducing mechanical stress to the follicles by not braiding or weaving for the last few months, and conditioning allowed me to retain more of that new growth.


Of course I'm interested in achieving even more density. My goal:





LOL, clearly, I've got a long way to go. But I'm getting there, that's the main thing : )

Hair Growth - Growing Back Edges with Emu oil - Update 3

Hi guys,

As I promised, here is an update of my edges to date:

From top to bottom 12 May 09, 12 June 09, 15 July 09 and 31 October 09

So it's been about 5 months now and I think my edges have done pretty well. They're not only getting longer, but also continue to thicken. I couldn't be happier!

I also wanted to address other factors, besides the Emu oil, that may have contributed to the growth.

• I think, obviously, one of the biggest contributers has been not braiding my edges with extensions. Research tells us that hairstyles, such as braids, allow pulling forces to be exerted, causing mechanical damage on the hair follicles. This damage, if done repeatedly will cause inflammation and eventually lead to reduced hair growth (Khumalo, N.P., Jessop S., Gumedze F., Ehrlich., R. (2008) Determinants of marginal traction alopecia in African girls and women. J Am Acad Dermatol, 59, 432-438). So not braiding my edges would have reduced mechanical stress on my follicles and allowed proper growth. I have however left my hair/ edges unbraided before and my edges didn't grow back, so I assume that although it was a huge contributor, it wasn't the only reason for an improvement.

• Moisturising would also have helped retain the length that I got. If my edges were dry and brittle, they would have broken right off and I wouldn't have seen any improvement.
  

• Hmm... can't think of anything else. Can you? The reason I decided to do this list is that I don't want people to think that they can just slap on Emu oil and they'll go from neck length to waist length in one month. You still need to take care of your scalp and the hair that eventually grows as well. This along with the Emu oil that I believe has alleviated some of the inflammation caused by tight braids and weaves is what I think helped my edges grow back.

They're still not as full as i'd like them to be. But I'm certainly proud of the progress thus far : ) . I will continue to use Emu Oil regularly on my edges, but I'm also going to start incorporating Megatek to see if the results are any different.

Have you tried Megatek? Any Megatek hair growth success or failure stories?

Hair Growth - Growing Back Edges With Emu Oil Update 2

Hi Ladies and Gents,

Apologies to those who've been coming back to check for updates, only to find nothing : ( . I won't beat about the bush, here are my edges after using Emu oil for two months consistently:


I think the dates I put are a bit unclear, so from top to bottom 12 May 09, 12 June 09 and 15 July 09.

I didn't take pics for the third month ... out of pure laziness and being busy with school. I have 'pixie' braids/ plaits in at the moment, so I'll take more pictures when I take out the plaits in the next 2-3 weeks.

I've also had people PM me on BHM and LHCF to ask what brand I use. It's an Australian Brand called Emu Spirit:



I don't know whether this is available in the States. There was also the issue, raised in the literature that I 'reviewed', about the quality of Emu oil varying greatly between brands. So I'd be interested in knowing if others are getting better results with other brands.

Hopefully it won't be as long until my next update!!

Hair Growth - Growing Back Edges with Emu Oil - Update 1

I know, I know, I deserve a good hiding for being slow on the updates! I'm sorry ... Exams have been murder! They went well though, thank you for asking. But I'm definately glad it's all over and I can get back into some serious hair growing.

Ok, back on topic. So I've been applying the emu oil to my edges (and to most of my hair for sealing) every other day ... I'd say on three or four days per week. I'm really pleased with the results so far and will continue to do this for the full three months. So before y'all start wishing you could just post up the "this post is worthless without pics" emoticon, I'll just save you the trouble lol. Here they are:

Right Side Edges:



This side is worse than the left side - I think it's because it's the side I sleep on????


Left Side Edges:



I think both sides are coming along nicely : )

Now, I'll just say this. I'm not saying that everyone should go out and buy Emu Oil, I'm not saying it's a miracle in a bottle and will grow your hair back overnight. I've done a lot of research on Emu Oil and I found that it has properties which would be beneficial to my stressed edges. You can read about those properties in the first Growing Back Edges with Emu Oil post. It seems to be working really well for ME and it might not work for you. I'm just DOCUMENTING and sharing my experiences.

I'm really happy with the progress and hopefully it continues to grow this well over the remaining 2 months.

So.... go on, add your 2 cents! I'd love do hear your thoughts on this.

Hair Growth Progress Pics

So I've had these braids in for about 3 weeks. Thought it was hair growth progress pics time! I can see a teeny weeny bit of growth. Can you see it? I haven't measured it yet, I think I'll wait a bit.

My edges have to be re-done this weekend. A few braids have come out during the week, especially while washing, so I need to put those back in too. My edges look like they're doing well (I'll try and do comparison photos of those too sometime).

Had a wash day yesterday. I shampooed for the first time in about a month. Then deep conditioned. The hair where the braids have come out looks so shiney and feels really strong. I'm stoked! : )