Time flies

End of my 1st year pictures

Almost a year

Hi all. I have to say thanks to all the encouraging notes sent to me since the disaster hair cut.

Its been almost a year since I did the BC and I am still mourning the loss of my bad hair cut. Its such a huge setback. Id been looking forward to this month and all the hair I would have had. I know...get over it. Its still growing and doing great. I can do my puffs and its fine. The bald spot is practically gone. I cant twist very well but it can be done.

I only cowash once a week or two....though I expect to increase that as it gets hotter. I do shampoo once a month or so. My newest favorite thing is apple vinegar rinses.(i part vinegar to 3 parts water) My hair comes out soooo curly and soft. Man gracious the stuff stinks to high heaven....and can burn alittle. Luckily the smell is gone from your hair once you rinse it out. I havent done a clarifying with baking soda yet but it is on the list.

The neatest thing is that I have found a fake puff ponytail. I love it!!! I know its cheating but it is simply perfect! I think my hair will be in the same place by the end of the year if not sooner...I hope. I dont wear it everyday but 3-4 times a week.

Im going to try to post more now that I have more time. The court decided to give our girls back to their bio mom last month. We were granted visitation one day a week for 6 hours. Its been one of the hardest thing to deal with. We know the girls are not safe. The 4 yr old tells us bad things happen and the 2 yr old is...well 2 but more clingy especially to DH. Yet when it is time to go we have to let them go even though we dont want to and they dont either...tell them to be strong and good...and pray nothing truly horrible happens to them. Child services only seems to want to protect kids after the damage is done. Ahh well...i wont get started. Pray for peace and safety.

All that work down the drain. I want to quit.

OMG I am ready to scream. My hair has been growing like crazy and Ive been so tickled with it. Today I went to the barber and told him to cut the top down so its even so I could get rid of the pancake puff.

I have no hair. 9 months of hair GONE! My hair is almost as short as it was when I first chopped it off. I cant twist it. I cant wear a headband. My beautiful puff...poof! WHY???? Why are men so literal? Just cuz I said even my hair up does not mean cut it to the shortest length! I said cut the TOP to make it even. What would anyone think a WOMAN who came in looking like Don King would want such a low cut? Wouldnt you ask to make sure? Should I not go to barbers? It didnt feel like he was doing anything. I saw very little hair fall. Now I'm bald, mad and setback 6 mo! I know there is nothing I can do now. This looks worse than my 1st BC because of the shape. I look like a DUDE! This has been a week from hell. Trying to recover from another round of court hearings for the girls and a stomach bug that has had me and PB weak and cranky. Im just sick. I dont know if i want to start all over. I may have to fork out the cash for braids or invest in a instaweave since I threw all my old hair out. Ooo yall pray!

A picture I was going to post about how bigger twist made my twist out curlier a couple of weeks ago:




This today. Fresh from the shower and mad enough to spit:

Good Puff

Well I had great puff weekend I had to share. I am so loving this natural hair of mine. I love watching the progress. So far I only have 2 or 3 thingies that hold my hair back well enough to make great puff and alas as soon as I went back to the mall they were gone. Bummer. Summer is comming and I hope to find something else. I thought there was anatural blog somewhere that sold them...but maybe they were for locs.

Feb good hair pics

My Funny Valentines

DH and I went to The Melting Pot a fondue resturant with 2 of our closest friends on Valentine's Day. OMG....this was the best stuff EVA!! Now I admit, I went prepared to stop by Wendy's on the way home. I didnt know diddly about fondue except cheese and chocolate but we had a 5 course meal that was simply amazing. The garlic and herb cheddar fondue was delicious! The main course was a platter of various meats: lobster tail, fillet Mignon pieces, salmon, balsamic sirloin, Memphis BBQ, pork tenderloin, honey Dijon chicken, jumbo raviolis, pot stickers that we boiled in this vegetable broth on the stickers. It was so fun and since everything was bite sized it didnt really seem like we ate a whole bunch. Now I admit after a glass of champagne and half a glass of wine babygirl was giggly as hell but it was sooo fun!! The place was pricey but there was nothing that was close to bad. Well worth it. Even the bar has little fondue bowls set up. Can you say Happy Hour!!?

None of the pictures seem to really capture the effect but the hair was on point! She smoothed back and curled up in the cutest puff. I had a brown scarf which was alittle plain but I just didnt want to wear black.

lateast

Find more photos like this on K.I.N.K.Y Keep It Natural Know Yourself

MY Puff

I did it...I did it. hey hey I did it. I got a puff...well..more like a poof at this point but its commin! whoohooo! I've been watching Youtube videos on how to tie the hair back with pantyhose and well...even tho I used a nylon sock it worked. Thats not what I used in the pics here but. Ive bought a few premade things to hold it back to see what works. I look at scarves but at $6-$10+ a pop I dont know.

I put a medium brown rinse in my hair. A first for me and I was disappointed. All it did was get rid of most of my grays. But now I know I wont die and my hair wont fall out.

Im thinking about getting crochet braids for a month or two to give me a break. Plus its just too damn cold and I need a protective style.

Im really not doing anything new as far as products although I do get the bug to try stuff sometimes but again...that stuff cost and my hair is diggin what Im doin so I will let it be. Im washing once every 2weeks or so because the puff shrinks like there is no tomorrow. I am thinking about getting a shape up and ends clipped. I havent done anything since the BC. Well....let me lie. I did try to clip a few ends and clipped too much in the front so Im gonna leave it to the pros before I do damage.

Check out this article on hair and Mrs. Obama.

6 months in review

Twist OUT

I think it worked. After being twisted for 2 days I undid it and ran my shaloe butter coated hands through the curls and this was the result. The more I play with it the more potential I see! Can you believe its already been 5 months and 9 days since I chopped my hair off!!?

2nd try

Progress!! Notice they are smaller. Holding together somewhat better. I think Im going to get some cornrows for a few weeks because I am really just not happy. I was so excited about wearing a hat in the cold but then I have hat hair and i have to pick it out. Im sick of headbands..just Grrrr. I need a change. But twisties!! A few more inches and I would attempt to rock by itself.

I did it!!

My own twist. Course they look a hot mess but I did it all by myself. They stayed together. ANDDD My hair is actually long enough for these man hands to wrap around!!!! Yippppeeee! I did these after cowashing my hair. BTW I am washing less and less. My hair shrinks so much I cant stand it and it takes at least a week before it gets managable. After these twist overnight I just spritzed with my glycerine, vit E, Castor Oil, Jojoba oil and suave conditioner and picked it out.

I finally made Shaloe butter and my hair is soooo loving it!! I melted the yellow Shae butter and allot of aloe vera, some vitamin E and Castor oil. Mixed it all up and BAM! It really makes my hair so soft.

I had to give up on the olive oil. It seemed to kinda just sit on my hair and get crunchy.
I am now at the legnth I need to do something. Wash and go looks weird. I look like whats her name on What's Happening....the waitress that was always mad. The headbands dont look right anymore either. I suppose I should cut the top off and even it up all around but if I loc or braid it I think I want the top alittle longer.

I dont know. Thats it for now. Im going to try to get some decent hair pics up. I never remember until after the fact.

The new face of America

The new face of America

This is the picture that brought tears to my eyes. This black man with his black wife and those beautiful chocolate little girls will be in the White House. If you are not black you cannot come close to understanding the power their mere presence has. My little chocolate girls don't see their likeness on TV very often and when they do it isn't necessarily positive but they stopped playing ring-around-the-rosie last night and watched little girls that looked like them walk on to a stage representing their country. While they didn't truly understand the significance, their mere presence was enough to stop them. While I sat in my husbands arms and watched this new 1st family the woman and the little girl in me cried. As my daddy has only able to say " I just never woulda thought"

Bald spot 1st three months

Not too much going on with my hair. It is growing and getting thick. I still only wear a headband and wash n go sometimes. Its almost too long to WnG. At least I dont like the look of it that way. It needs a few more inches to be a true afro. I get alot of shrinkage lately. I only wash once or twice a week now because of it. The good news is the bald spot is just about gone!! I still love and think i am ready to braid it. One of my BFs got her hair braided into almost micros and man she looked great. I am tempted. I love me with longer hair. I still dont feel particularly "pretty" like this. Winter is comming and im not sure how my hair will handle it but I am excited to be able to wear a hat!!

So howsit goin?

It has been non-stop action in my neck of the woods. My son passed the summer session and is now a freshman at Northern Kentucky University. He also got his wisdom teeth cut out while he was home on break. I went to my 20th high school reunion. Had a family reunion for the first time in 10 years. I turned 38 and my husband turned 42.

Mama is spent let me tell ya!

The best thing though is my hair!!. It is growing like crazy. I officially have a TWA..teeny weeny afro! I am still concocting my own stuff and loving it. I did, however just make my first not so great batch and Im not so sure why it is off. I am now able to wear my headbands without looking crazy. I still do my wash and go's but not so much anymore.

The weird thing is the patches of scalp that are tender at various times like perm burn. Its almost as if my scalp knows it should burnt and is going thru creamy crack DTs. It is also now long enough that I am getting...shrinkage...kinkage...tightness..I dont know what ya call it....nappyness. Except the top. Its still straight.

I got my first shape up at the barber a few weeks ago too. That was funny. I never been a barber shop before but the guys didnt even bat an eye.

Happy birthday

Make a Smilebox postcard

Week 3 and sporting a new do

Make a Smilebox photobook

2 weeks and going

I'm not sure if it is growing but there is definately some curl stuff going on in places. I dont know what I should do about these ends. My hair is still pretty straight in the top when it is wet.




and look...a new style...almost...LOL.....either way I love it. I think if I can put a barrett in there or something it might look cute. Potential at last!! I tried to put aloe vera and the curls whipped cream to hold down the front. It didnt really work but maybe if I try to tie it down tonight.

I loved saw this and loved it

“I want to know my hair again, the way I knew it before I knew that my hair is me, before I lost the right to me, before I knew that the burden of beauty—or lack of it—for an entire race of people could be tied up with my hair and me.” - Paulette M. Caldwell