After the Twists are out

this pictures shows how much growth was made during the challenge. the top white fuzz ball is where the extenstions met.

Once I took out all of the twist I oiled my hair and did a 24 hour hot oil treatment. Once that was done this I carefully detangled each twist strand by strand, so I could retain as much hair as possible. Until now, Ive always just combed out the knots which is probably why my hair "never grew" I know now that I just wasnt retaining length. I learned this technique of detangling twists from Grow Afro Hair Long and I think that was the best piece of hair information that I have discovered thus far,

The big puff of hair on the right side is what came out from me detangling each twist, strand by strand and the left side is from when I detangled while co-washing.Here is my hair after the whole ordeal.

remember how I told you that my hair got completely pulled out in Feb 08? Well here is the current state of that section of hair. There is no longer a bald spot and the hair in that section is growing fine. Im so Happy. Ive been waiting so long to do some "Chiny Bumps" or Bantu Knots, whatever you wanna call it, becauseI couldnt because of the hair loss in the middle but now I can!!!

Playing catch up

Ok so I have a BUNCH of pics that I took while I was on my work hiatus and Im going to post them in several different posts. While I was doing my 90 twist challenge, I did some research on doing a banana and coconut milk deep conditioner, I forget who I initally saw doing this but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.

I took 1 can of coconut milk and one banana along with some honey and blended it, then smooshed it into my freshly washed twist and donned a plastic cap then rinsed the next day. It left my twists feeling very soft and moisturized.

Here is the final result, soft and moisturized hair. zero products were added in this shot and you can see the shine. I braided up the hair to air dry when I slept and then released in the morning.

Sat's dinnerdance

this pic is from sat @ my job's family and friends dinner dance. Im just about over the half way mark with my 90 days, im at day 52. I have A TON of new growth and I have an idea for a new hairstyle but no time to devote to taking these out and putting in a fresh set. with in the last couple of weeks I havent been as diligent with my routine as I would like but Im trying

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So Sorry...

for the hiatus, my work schedule has been nonstop for the last month.. I have so many pics to post and things to say but dont have the time to do it. I will try to get this up to date. I am currently on Day 37 and Im thinking that I need to redo my hair but Im going to try to redo it close to my trip to Miami which is the end of May. Im at work so Ill try to post this sunday which seems to be my only free evenings but I end up catching up on household chores and other things.

finally.....

Today is the day, Im finally going to wash my hair. YYAAYYY for my hair. its been over a week and a half since my last co-wash. This work week is going to be a little crazy so I have to do it know. Im going to cowash with HE Hydralicious the purple one and Im going to try a homemade deep conditioner. I was researching some things other naturals put in theirs, I have most of the common ingredients but Im just going to wing it and see what happens. Also I have to make another batch of my whipped Shea Mango butter mixture. Since Ive been using the raw Shea butter on my face Im going to whip some up as well as a body cream. So Ill back on later tonight with an update.

Day 20

I havent really been keeping up with my routine as much as I would like to but my new growth is coming in at a steady rate. I still spritz my hair with the Infusim 23 and water concoction I made and seal with Shea Mango butter, when I remember, and it seems to be doing a good job. However I haven washed my hair since Fri the 7th. I keep telling myself I need to do it but tonight I will. Im going to the gym and Ill probably do an oil treatment while Im working out and then come home and finally wash my hair.

Im suppose to be doing the same kinky twist on my sis's head before she goes back to school on Sun and my mother wants me to do hers as well. I have my work cut out for me.

I do think that at the half way mark I will redo my twist entirely, I mean this set still looks pretty decent but I think I just want to start a new. Also I might be going to Miami end of May so I might keep the twist in longer than the 90 days, I 'll keep you informed

Day 8....UPDO

I had to leave work early yesterday and didnt get to post so I just posted it today. Anyhoo, so I went home lastnight and didnt feel like washing my hair so I left the oil in and did an almost 24 hr hot oil treatment. Around 1pm today I was able to tend to my hair.

I put the twist in 2 loose pig tails. I ran some warm over to rinse out the oil, then I used V05 chamomile tea cond to cowash. I liked it because its very light and I was able to put some on my hands and apply it between the pigtail. I let it sit while I washed up then I stood under the stream to let the cond rinse out.

Once I got out I put a t-shirt around the head to catch the water and got dressed. I sprayed some Infusim 23 all over the roots, then my Jamaican castor oil concoction all over as well. I made a Coconut oil, Castor oil mixture with some EO and I poured some in my palm and rubbed it down the parts. My scalp gets dry so this was my way of "greasing" my scalp. Lastly I melted some Shea Mango mixture in my hands and smoothed it down the twist stopped about where my natural hair ends.

I wasnt exactly sure how I was going to replicate the accidental updo I did yesterday so I just did a completely new one. I like when the back of the hair is woven like a basket weave, where you basically alternately pull hair up from each side of the head as you go up. Once I got to the top I grabbed a section and rolled it onto itself and then pinned it on top of the hair from the basketweave and did the front section the same way.

It came out very cute and the entire process took about an hour give or take 10 mins. As I was pulling out of my driveway this guy who's apparently my neighbors brother , approached my car and told me how I was pretty and this that and the third, so I know I did something right lol

Day 7..(yesterdays post)

only 93 more days to go lol. So far things have been going well. Tonight when I get home Im actually going to be washing my hair. Im at work right now and Im doing a hot oil treatment to my scalp and hair. What I did was before I left for work, I massaged in a mixture I made, dont really remember what I put it but I think its EVOO, peppermint EO, Jojoba oil and I cant remember i made it awhile back. I did a 5 min scalp massage and donned a clear shower cap then a black crocheted beany so you cant really tell.

According to my coworker, however you can see the plastic , as she pointed out lol. I did this to treat my scalp because it been a little itchier than usual. I had my br check to see if the scalp was dry but it wasnt Idk why this has happened but I figured the heat from my scalp and the oils do rectify this issue.

Today my son had a check up and while I was waiting for the Dr to see him I had unintentionally put my hair up in some kind of bun with no mirrors, no pins, no anything.

My bf happened to take a pic of me and the baby as I was consoling him after his vaccines and the updo was captured...might I say how nice it looked, so now Im not sure if I want to recurl the hair or wash it and wear it in an updo.

Now that im thinking about it, this week I will do an updo to change up the look. When I get home I'll try to post the pic of the updo, how I wore my hair tonight at work and the updo results. This should be a quick hair night, considering Im doing the longest part now.

Also almost every other day Ive be spritzing my hair with Infusium 23 and then a mixture of Jamacian Black Castor Oil, water, Rosemary and Lavendar EO's and a little Suave Trop Coconut cond. then I melt some of my Shea Mango butter mixture and smooth that on the ends then go.

Day 3

Hey guys,
So this is day 3 of my kinky twist 90 day challenge. I did the twist on Friday evening after work, it took about 6.5 hours, with a couple breaks to tend to my son. The reason I am doing this is my life is a little hectic at this moment and doing my hair everyday is something I wish I could do but Ive proven that it cant be done they way I want it to, so Im taking a break and giving my hair a chance to do its thing.

What I will be doing:
co-washing my hair every week
spritzing my scalp and moisturizing the ends
"pre-poo" hot oil treatments

What I will not be doing:
combing my hair
no cutting
basically not really touching my hair

I still havent decided if Im going to redo them every month, maybe half way through Ill see if it needs re-doing. Im at work so Ill be posting pictures later when I get home for you to see .

My hair was in twist after I had washed it the night before and I twisted my hair twist by twist. I applied some more Shea Mango butter mixture to each section then twisted, just as a final moisture attempt. After each strand was twisted I set it on blue or grey perm rods. Once my entire head was completed I dipped the rollers into hot water and then took out the rollers.

The final result wasnt what I had envisioned. I wanted tight curls and I know where I went wrong. 1st I ran out of blue perm rods and the beauty supply store was closed already so I had to use the grey ones which I normally use to curl my natural hair. Needless to say the diameter was too big for the look I was going for. So some curls came out very tight, like I wanted, and others very loose. I spend the better part of Sat morning with my mom attempting to recurl the ones that didnt take. 2nd the next time I might do the twists a little smaller, I did them medium sized because I didnt want to spend all night doing my hair. Overall I am happy with the results but I see that I will have to recurl the ends every week, well the ones that have gotten straight.

ETA: Here are the pics

washed and conditioned

I bought 3 packs of hair and used almost all of the 3 packs. I cut the hair in half right down the middle instead of using the entire length of the hair. This way gives you a shorter twist set

The final results

not the best but not the worst, theres room for improvement

90 day challenge

I know Ive been MIA for the week, but I had to handle some personal issues that arose over last weekend, which resulted in me not really touching my hair all week. So sad I know.
Update: Im starting my 100 day twist challenge today!!
last night I clarified my scalp and hair with Giovanni 50/50, this time only putting it on my scalp. Oh wait no first thing I did was do an oil treatment with a mixture that I made up, then I clarified. (Sorry if I seem a little rushed, Im at work and Im trying to make this post quick :-)) Then i put some Giovanni LID, Jamacian Black Castor Oil, and then my Shea Mango Butter mixture. I did these in that same order. Oh wait I forgot that I did an Organic Root Stimulator replenish pak treatment. I put that in after I detangled with VO5. Ok this is the order in which I did it:
Oil treatment-Homemade
Clarify- Giovanni 50/50
Detangle- VO5
Protein treatment- ORS Replenish Pak
Moisturize- Giovani DLI
Seal- Jamaican Blk Castor OIl, homemade Shea Mango Butter mixture.

I did an overnight treatment with the ORS and my hair was in big twist the entire time. I woke up and rinsed that out and sealed the ends. Once the hair was mostly air dried I pinned up the twist because I had to work this morning. Once I get home Im going to start the twist.

Change of plan...

Like I told you guys before in April I was going to do 90 day twists....I think Im going to start next month..well actually in a weeks time. Im moving it up because this week Ive barely touched my head and I wanted to wash it yesterday but that never happened and its still out from the last time I did it. I need a break from it always being out and my hairs grows better when its braided up.

I plan on doing the twist myself, because its a lot cheaper and ...well..yea its cheaper and I need my little pennies now more than ever lol, Im going to plan to put the twist in on Tues March 3, my day off. It will probably take me most of the day especially with the baby. Im going to wash my hair with Giovanni 50/50 clarifying shampoo Monday night and do an overnight deep conditioner with ORS hair mayo with an egg mixed in, and I plan on repeating that every month. Im not sure if I want to redo the twist every month or just let them stay in the entire 90 days..Ill keep you updated on my decision.

Im having big expectations for my hair this summer. Ive been doing A LOT of research on henna and cassia obotava and its effects on hair and Im convinced that thats where I want to go next, Ill do another post on that. I believe that the best way for me to achieve my expectations is to do this 90 twists.

What to do...90 day hair Challenge?

Ok so its Friday night and Im still at work. When I go home I have to do something to my head..but Im not quite sure what to do. Im thinking of doing 2 strand twist and taking that out in the morning for church. I cant wait for my hair to get longer so that I can rock the 2 strand twist on its own or pin it up and wear it like that. Right now its still too short to pin up in a nice enough style.

Im really thinking of doing a 90 day challenge where I keep my hair in, lets say kinky twist, so I dont hav to really touch my hair because Im thinking the less I manipulate my hair the better. I would redo the twists every month and do a clarifying wash to the hair. During each month that my hair is twisted up I would do a weekly co-wash and moisturize daily. I said that I would give myself 3 months to see if I can develop a routine so that would bring me to the end of March. I think I am going to do that starting April 1, Im going to wash and clarify my hair then do kinky twist, myself and redo them every month. Then Ill check my hair progress from there.

For tonight however Im still not sure what I want to do, but I will be co-washing, moisturizing then sealing.