Hiya everyone,

It has been a long time since I have update and I’m sorry for that. In short, life got in the way. And while I can give ya the “411,” that is not the reason you are reading this. So, I figured while I am pre-pooing and catching up on the first season of “Being Human” (the BBC version), I can let you guys know what is happening with my hair.

May

Hair
I wish I could tell you that I did some amazing stuff, but, with my sister’s Prom, I barely did anything with my hair other than washing it every time I needed to. HOWEVER, at the end of April, I found something that made me have a heart-attack … a braid that WAS NOT attached to my head. I will tell ya that I nearly lost my natural mind. After I finally calmed down (it took a while), I made myself readjust my routine. When I air-dried, I tried to keep the braids from weighing down and adding extra stress to my hair by pulling them up into a ponytail. I also went ahead and made a appointment to get my sides and nape redone. Those are my more weaker spots and I’m pretty sure that is were the “dreaded” braid came from.

Also, shortly after my initial post, I read about tea rises and I used them after every wash. I was using black tea (Lipton) to help with the shedding. At that time, I was watching two lovely YouTube videos from naturals by the name of Chesalocs and MsVcharles.

Health & Fitness
Health-wise … yeah we aren’t going to talk about that.

June

Hair
Ah, it is now three months and I am ready for these lovely braids to come out of my head. I was ready to take care of my loose hair again. However, I don’t think I was ready for how long it would take for them to come out. Now, at this point, it was already three months and I knew any longer and it would be dangerous to the health of my hair. I thought that, because I have watched YouTube videos of take down methods … Yeah … those weren’t applicable to my hair for two reason: Most people only kept the braids in for a few weeks to a month at the longest and their hair was four times shorter than mine, which meant that I could not comb out the yarn with a rat-tooth comb.

So, with a bottle of cheap conditioner, scissors and water, I took them down. And it took me 77 HOURS OVER 11 DAYS … this is not made up folks. It is the real business. Braids take longer than twists to take down in my mind. The picture of the two hair balls that resemble something Cousin It hacked up are my shed hairs from a normal weekly process (left) to the yarn braid one (right).

And yeah, that looks like a lot of hair, but I promise you that 90% of it is shed … and, well, the other 10% was when I got vexed late at night taking it down. So, the only cons I had with this style was I hadn’t learned how to curl the braids, how long it took me to take it down and how long it took for me to air dry. But, I am going to try it again in the fall, but maybe twist this time.

I got back to my usual schedule of washing and co-washing. I will wear twists during the week, since at my job there is a high chance of getting random pieces of cat/dog hair in them and it easier to pick out of my hair in twists than when it’s loose. And, the weekends, I wear twist outs and braid outs. I finally got down the method of pin curls and braid out thanks to another YuTube natural, Naptural85. I have a pic of a hair style I used of hers recently, where, if you are lacking volume in your ponytails, you can “fake it.”

I also learned how to detangle my hair when in twists easier with the help of Urban Bush Babes … detangle not from the bottom but from the top. While I wasn’t crazy about it, it made sense when you think about it, because shed hairs comes from the scalp, not the ends.

I also had something very important happen … I FOUND MY FIRST GREY HAIR … right smack dab in the front on my right side. I have no problem with this other than it seems as if this little guy didn’t get the memo about what it’s supposed to be. It is as straight as straight can be … not even a wave. Not cool y’all.

Health & Fitness
So, once again, health-wise … I lost weight and while that is usally a good thing for some, for me it’s not. It’s more of a stress thing. I started taking Biotin, but it wasn’t for my hair on my head. It was more for the hair loss I got in other places (like my eyebrows). I haven’t noticed a change other than when I was taking it more than three times a day … my face had a fit. So now I take it two to three times a day.

So, that’s really it. And now, introducing my hair for the first time to you lovely people. She doesn’t have a name yet, but that is her in all of her glory (well, in a streched out, pin curl style really). See you guys next month. And if anyone has any tea rinse combos, I would love to hear them.