7 Months Post Relaxer!!!

I'm currently 7 months post relaxer and I'm really surprised I made it this far without wanting to slap a relaxer on my head. I think I've only considered it once this past week. I think the thing I love most is not having to do much with my hair. Before it took 2 to 3 hrs out of my Saturday to wash, dry, and flat iron my hair. Now its about a hour maybe depending on how long I decide to deep condition my hair. One of the major differences that I've notice with my hair is less breakage and shedding. When I clean my bath once a week there is hardly any hair on the floor at all which is a sign my hair is healthier now. I'm continuing to avoid heat on my hair. I've thought about it a couple of times to see how long my hair is now but I'm a little afraid to do it because I don't want to mess up my hair. I might just let a stylist do it whenever I decide to get my hair trimmed. Anyways...I thought I'll give a little update since I haven't posted in awhile about my hair.

Here are a few instagram photos of myself and my hair from the past few months:

High Bun at the beach

My faux puff from an old braid out

This was either a braid out or a twist out...can't really remember

Another faux puff with a second day braid out gone wrong 

Happy Transitioning!!!

Monique

Tips for Transitioners From Napturals85

One of my favourite natural hair bloggers posted a new video recently with some valuable advice for new transitioners like me and anyone else reading my blog. I thought I'll post it here to share the love. I love with bloggers that have been natural for a while do post like this because it helps keep me motivated to continue with my transition. They all went through it already and its nice that they offer support for those of us that still have a long way to go.

Enjoy the video!!!

Happy Transitioning!!!

Monique

Hair Slips: A Beautiful Disaster

Saw this video on Urban Bush Babes blog and fell in love with it. Great inspiration for transitioners and naturals.

Happy transitioning!!!

Monique

Hair Slips: Nappy Love Houston Meet & Greet

This past Saturday I went to my first natural hair meetup here in Houston. I had such a wonderful time chatting with other naturals about transitioning and hair care. There was a lot of beautiful ladies there and all of them had gorgeous hair. Here a few pictures from the event:

Photos are courtesy of VIP Studios

Joy and Riyike the host for event

Rocking a braid out with two cool chicks I met at the bar while waiting for our tables. The one in the middle has these really cool yarn braids...yes her hair was really braided with yarn. 

I won a giveaway for Afro Angel Oragnics

Review coming soon of her hair products

All of the current transitioners and our Carol's Daughter transitioning kits

Review coming soon

Group photo with some of the lovely ladies I met

Going home with loads of goodies to try

I had such a great time and I think for people transitioning like me these events are great to go to and learn from those who have already completely transitioned and are fully natural. The awesome thing is that everyone there transitioned for the same reasons they just got tired of putting harmful chemicals on their hair and scalp. I feels great not having the burning feeling on my scalp and not smelling those harmful chemicals I was  putting on my hair. I love that it takes half the time to do my hair now and that my hair is so much healthier now. I will be trying my new goodies soon and I'll post a review for you guys. Also I'm due for a length check since I started my hair vitamins...look for that in the next couple of days. Until then....

Happy Transitioning!

Monique

Hair Slips: My Hair Survived a Camp Out Weekend

So, my hair and I survived this weekends camp out with my running group. I was so worried because I haven't exposed my hair to any really harsh conditions until now that I did know how I was going to manage. I took a duffle bag of my hair stuff with me and paid very close attention to my hair the whole weekend. With having two textures of hair right now (relaxed and natural hair) I have to be very careful with my hair because I don't want it breaking to much. 

My hair regimen this weekend:

The first night I just put leave in conditioner in my hair after playing in the river most of the night. Saturday I did a co-wash at some point in the day and anytime I felt my hair was dry I put some leave-in conditioner in it. Sunday I did a wash with my Giovanni 50/50 shampoo, conditioned, added leave in-conditioner, and my shea butter. When I finally got home Sunday evening I washed again with my shampoo and then did a deep conditioner for about a hour followed up with some leave-in and shea butter. 

Along with all this I did keep my hair in a clip all weekend and tried to protect my ends as much as possible. The most my hair was dry dry was after riding on the jet ski on the river. I think all the wind took a big toll on my hair. My tip for anyone that will be attending a camp out or going to be swimming all weekend on a trip just remember to get your hair moisturized. Co-washing and using my Giovanni leave-in really helped out a lot. Protective styles are also helpful too. 

Happy Transitioning!

Monique

Hair Slips:So you want to Transition with Fusions of Cultures

Thought I'll share this video from Fusions of Culture. Love her youtube channel. Great advice for new transitioners like me and anyone else reading my blog. Check out her channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FusionofCultures?feature=watch

Happy Transitioning!!!!

Monique

Hair Slips: Summer Hair Routine

Summer time can be harsh on your hair especially for someone like me that go to pool parties a lot and run out in the heat of day. I've noticed that since it started getting hot in Houston my hair feels drier when I'm out in the sun and this weekend I plan to be in the sun a lot and playing in the river at my running groups camp out...So,what to do with my hair. Just from research online for summer hair care this is the regimen I have planned for this summer if I don't get braids:

Co-washing 2x per week or when I feel its needed (after a swim or sweaty workout)

Shampooing 1-2x per month or as needed. 

Continuing to wear my hair in protective styles

Wearing my hair in a high bun when swimming or at the beach to limit my ends exposure to the elements. 

Keeping my spray bottle with my water/aloe vera juice/veggie glycerin mix with me (I'm considering getting a travel size spray bottle to put an oil/water blend in for on the go)

What Products am I using right now:

• Co-Washing: Tresemme Naturals Condition with Aloe Vera and Avocado
• Shampoo: Giovanni 50/50 Balanced Shampoo
• Leave-in conditioner: Giovanni Direct Leave-in
• Homemade water spritz
• Homemade creamy shea butter to seal

That's my planned summer regimen....What's yours?

Happy Transitioning!

Monique

Hair Slips:Co-Washing transitioning hair

Co-washing is a popular topic around the natural blog community and even on relaxed hair blogs. I've never considered co-washing until now. I guess the reason I never did it was because I'm just used to my routine but now I'm embracing it because I feel it'll be something that will help reduce breakage during my transition. I've done it twice so far and love it. I've decided that I'm going to co-wash at least 1-2 times per week and only shampoo 1 -2 times per month depending on how my hair feels. 

So, why co-wash versus shampooing and then using a conditioner....well most people co-wash because shampoo tend to strip the hair of its natural oils along with product build up. If you shampoo to often even with conditioner you hair will be dry all the time especially relaxed or damaged hair. Most conditioners not only clean the hair but moisturize it as well. So, its like getting the best of both worlds. The good thing is that some of the cheaper brand conditioners are silicone and paraben free so that's a plus for most naturals that are against having those chemicals in their hair products. They also contain only the good alcohols so another plus for most. I haven't decided what cheapo brand I will use for my co-washes but here's a list of frequently reviewed conditioners for co-washing from several blogs I read:

VO5
Herbal Essence
Sauve Naturals
Tresemme Naturals

I'm a little weird about using cheapo brands because you usually get what you pay for but I'm willing to try them out because I hate to use a more expensive brand for co-washing several times a week. Anywhoo...loves. I hope this is helpful. Here are a links of a blog with info on co-washing:

Curly Nikki
http://www.curlynikki.com/2011/11/are-you-down-with-co-washing.html

Happy Transitioning!!!

Monique

Hair Growth Challenge: Measurements

This morning I decided to measure my hair to see where I am at as far as length.

Current hair length stats:

• new growth after 5 almost 6 months post relaxer
• 2 inches in the front and crown 
• about 2 1/4 in the back and some what in the middle
• new growth and relaxed hair
• 5-6 inches in the front and crown
• 7-8 inches in the back and middle

I tried not to stretch my hair when I was measuring it so these stats should be close to actual length. My hope is that I gain an 1/2 inch to an inch of new growth in the next 30 days. I'm not really worried about the relaxed hair because it'll eventually get cut. I'm just hoping that with increased hydration, vitamin supplements, and extra care with my hair I can speed up my natural hair growth and possible have the length I want to gain before my big chop. I'm still considering braids as a protective style for summer but I'm not really sold yet. I just don't think me and braids go well with each other. We'll see.

Wish Me Luck!!!!

Happy Transitioning,

Monique

The Hair Growth Challenge

 So, I decided a while back I wanted to try vitamins to help in maintaining healthy hair and promote hair growth. I read on a lot of sites that a combination of MSM and Biotin helps promotes hair growth and overall healthy hair. The only bad thing I read was that Biotin had some side effects (acne break outs on the face and back) so I decided to go with the Hair, Skin, and Nails vitamins instead. I'm not sure these will work but I thought why not try it out for a month or two and see if it helps with my natural hair growth. I'll start taking these tomorrow morning. The recommended dosages are 2 per day of the MSM and 3 per day of the HSN vitamins. I plan to only take 2 of the HSN vitamins because I think 3 is just too much for someone that eats a healthy diet. I will measure my hair tomorrow and post the stats on here for you guys to follow. In a months time I'll do an update.

On top of adding the vitamins to my regimen I'm also increasing my water intake. I only drink water, various teas (mostly green tea), and alcohol on occasion. My daily water intake is usually only about 3 16oz bottles per day not including water I get from veggies, fruits, and my daily cup of green tea. Online I read that a person my size and as active as I am should drink about 2.5 liters of water per day. With the summer heat rolling in I might have to drink more since I run out doors weekly. So, how does water promote hair growth? Well in order to grow healthy hair you must stay hydrated. All of the bloggers I follow push the fact that drinking enough water daily is essential to growing healthy hair. I actually love water so increasing my water intake is no problem for me.

So, hopefully by adding vitamins, more water, and more veggies/fruits to my daily diet I can see a slight increase in my hair growth. Like they say beauty always start from the inside.

I'll see you guys tomorrow and hopefully I'll have good news in a month on my hair growth.

Happy Transitioning!!!

Monique

Hair Slips: Protective Styling......

Photo Source: Nikita of Urbanbushbabes.com

Protective Styling is one of the big topics on a lot of the natural hair blogs and youtube channels I follow. I pretty much wear my hair in a protective style all the time...which is my sock bun. I decided to change it up today and did a side bang with my scarf and bun. I love this look. I was going to roll my bang under like hers but I decided against it. Here is my rendition of this style.

Protective styling is important for me and should be very important to other transitioners because it protects your relaxed hair especially if you are holding on to it for a while before you do your big chop. Protective styles can be buns, twist, braids, wrapped up in a scarf...whatever as long as your ends are tucked away and protected from the elements (wind, heat, dry air, etc.). They also help in retaining length and preventing lots of breakage. So, for the most part you'll see my hair like this most of the time...well different variations of this but I am watching videos and learning styles so ya'll might see something different in the future. Look forward to more protective styling tips.

Happy Transitioning!

Monique

My Hair Care Regimen.....

And my attempt to do my first video blog....ahhhhhh. The video quality sucks but it is what it is. I'm hoping to get a new camera soon so look forward to better videos but yeah. This video just talks about my current hair care regimen.

Here are the links to the homemade products I made from Napturals85.com

http://youtu.be/X3Ok14CgADM
Shea butter fluff and creamy shea butter recipe

http://youtu.be/aWaH8GIbLrM
Flax Seed Gel recipe

The water mist is a combination of 2 parts water, 1 part aloe vera juice, and about 1 Tbl spoon of veggie glycerine.

Please leave comments I'm on the hunt for a deep conditioner, co-wash, and clarifying shampoo.

Happy Transitioning!!!!!

Hair Slips: Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: 5 Attributes of A Successful Transitioner

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: 5 Attributes of A Successful Transitioner: by Danielle of Long Natural Hair Care Transitioning from relaxed hair to your natural hair texture can be a very rewarding and interesti...


One of my favourite blogs to follow is Curly Nikki. Her blog is full of good advice for transitioners or current naturals. Here is the link to a blog post with information about how to be a successful transitioner.

Happy Transition!

Let Me Introduce Myself......

Hi, My name is Monique and this is my blog Fraudian Slips. I'm currently blogging on Tumblr but I decided that  I change over to Blogger for the simply fact that it is a better choice for the direction I want to go with my blog. I decided after many failed attempts to go natural with my hair as well as my lifestyle in general. I started my transition in January of this year and is now 5 - 6 months post relaxer. Along with my transition I decided to make some lifestyle changes as well. I feel that if I'm going to go natural with my hair I should also use all natural beauty products and household products as well. Its slow crawl but I'm getting there. I decided that in order to get through this year of change I needed to blog about it. I started blogging on Tumblr but I feel that its hard to get followers on there and there is no ability for people to comment on your post and give you advice. So, here I am on Blogger. I'm already in love with how easy it is to customize my blog because I am definitely not HTML savvy. As far as my blog goes I've been taking a lot of inspiration from other bloggers I follow (and I follow a lot) on what I want to focus on. My blog is really for women like me that I want to live a happy healthy life. My post for now will mainly be focused towards my hair and lifestyle journey but I will add some post here and there pertaining to fashion, music, and books. I'm a big style and music junkie so I feel those are things I should post about too. I plan to do a lot of reviews on products I'm trying, hair styles, and regimens. There will also be healthy lifestyle post because I'm currently working on maintaining my health and weight so I'll share with you guys what I'm doing along those lines too. I hope you here from my readers and please leave me comments and suggestions on post or things I can do to help me along my journey.

Happy Transitioning!!!