My Cottony Hair Journey

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2006

1-2004
A New Year

I really enjoyed my twistouts last year. I perfected it for my New Year's celebration with my b/f--it looked so cute, but I don't think I took pics ('cause we were celebrating at church). This new year, atlest for this wintertime, I'm holding off on the twistouts because 1) they don't allow me to wash my hair frequently during the week, and 2) I'm trying to grow out my dry ends so that my twistouts can look fresh at the ends. I'm really happy with my success from last year with experimenting with products to use on my hair. I found many good products that I'll be sticking with. I started caring for my hair again and now the first few inches of new growth are fresher looking (soft and have more sheen) than the second half of my hair that doesn't look as healthy. I learned a lot and plan on improving upon it this year.

11-2006
Analyzing 2004

I figure that it would be good to reflect on where I left off in 2004 and add my comments to my "2004 goal":

VO5 conditioner washes every other day. I love the smell of their new line of conditioners. They're less than a dollar (so don't get them at the 99¢ store!) I actually feel like my hair is being cleaned. I think this is because I stopped using heavy creams in my hair. And, from the looks of my past entries about the "no poo" method, Practice Makes Perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "cheapies," as I like to call them, are still very good. I still absolutely love the Suave Milk & Honey and the Coconut as well. I douse my hair with them before & during shower.
Using less to no heavy products in my hair. When I used CD's Healthy Hair Butter for example and tried to conditioner wash it out (with a 2 in 1), my hair stunk like a skunk until my next wash. I found that it was because the stuff I had in my hair was so thick that it needed to be shampoo'd out. I think it mainly has to do with the beeswax content in the Healthy Hair Butter and the Mimosa Hair Honey. I 've almost completely stopped using these products, gels, and oils in my hair! My hair still feels soft and healthy without them anyway.

I think the thicker products are okay for styling, especially for fine hair like mine. I think I just had to learn that when I use thicker products, I should wash & condition... and to only condition-wash when I know I don't have much product build-up in my hair.
"Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize"! So many women would repeat this line over and over in the message boards that I frequent, but I would never know what to moisturize my hair with! After splurging a couple times at Sally's, Kmart, Sav-on's, Trina's (in L.A.) and wherever else hair products are sold, I've finally found moisturizing products. Protectiv, Elastica, and Pantene are some companies I've been experimenting with recently. I've also taken a liking to my once hated CD's Hair Milk; once I got rid of most of the oil in it, it actually felt like a very moisturizing white cream that feels good when rubbed into my wet hair. The smell doesn't get to me anymore either. Long gone are the days of using oil for moisture!

Very true... and I'm still experimenting!
Every-other-day rinsing. I work out atleast 3 days a week, so I've been trying this thing of rinsing my hair in the shower after a workout. I usually let conditioner sit in my hair after rinsing while I shower, and rinse it out minutes later. This works best for me if my hair is in twists, so I don't have to worry about parting, combing, brushing, or anything and can just run off to work or classes as it dries. I love this conditioner wash/rinse thing because I noticed that going a whole week without washing my hair put my hair in bad shape. If I was wearing a ponytail for the week, for example, my hair will stretch straighter everyday until my hair is so stretched and stiff that I can hardly do much with it. Daily use of products also makes my hair feel weird after some days when I used to wash just once a week. I'm hoping that this frequent rinsing will help my hair grow!

This changes, either when I don't work out as much anymore or if the weather changes on me. Cold weather is not the greatest weather to wear your hair wet in. Warmer climates are better to do this in.
Eat right. I've gotten the gym down, now I need to practice eating right--or eating at all! Since I've been living on my own I haven't been splurging at Jack In The Box or cooking big meals nightly (like when I lived w/ my b/f). I've been watching my money, and inturn I've been watching what I spend on. With the Ramen diet (lol), I lost 10 lbs of unnecessary weight last year (whoo hoo!) But now, I find myself unknowingly skipping meals and in the long run that won't be too good for my health. I plan on adding lots of greens and fruits to my weekly eating regimen, along with "hair growing" foods like Horsetail, Molasses, and protein shakes (yum). Throughout the year I'll be experimenting with these kinds of foods and incorporating them into my daily eating.

Well I do have to admit that I have definitely lost a lot of weight since 2004, lol. I fluctuate for 5lbs, but definitely not up to what I used to be. I still need to work on consistency though, and ease up a little bit when I'm eating my mom's food.
Taking care of my ends!! This is why my hair doesn't seem to "grow". It's because I haven't been tending to the hair I already have. And since my ends are the oldest part of my hair, I should be taking even better care of them :) I used to remedy bad ends by cutting them off. If I keep on with this I will never be able to realize any length with my hair! I am now concentrating my moisturizing creams to my ends... before I go to bed, and in the morning b/4 I leave for my day. In addition, I started running my fingers down bunches of strands of hair to feel for knots at the ends of my hair. When I feel one, I whip out my trimming scissors and clip it off, one by one. This is a good way to get rid of the obviously bad ends, without having to chop off hair all around my head when I could just get that one bad hair.

Oh lordy, lord lord... well isn't this the battle of the century! goodness, ladies, I can't tell you how important it is to take care of your ends. I must have cut close to 10" off my ends in the past 2 yrs becuase of bad ends maintenance.