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: 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