Six months post relaxer

August 10th 2013 made me 6 months post relaxer!

That date also marked my mini chop, leaving me with 2-3 inches of relaxed ends attached to my new growth. So far, I can already tell that my natural hair texture is different from when I was a child, and I'm excited for my big chop when I'll finally be able to appreciate and critique every kink and coil.

Currently I am very inspired by this video uploaded by one of my hair crushes, Mae.

She is four years post big chop and I love love love her hair! Her video encourages me to be patient in my transition, as well as to put in the hard work necessary for cultivating healthy, gorgeous natural hair.




After enjoying my short haircut for about 2 weeks, my mother installed another set of braids. Honestly, I would like to maintain my hair myself but since university has started again and my mom is going back to St. Kitts, I know that my laziness and impatience would sabotage my hair-care efforts.




I plan to keep these braids in for 8 weeks, which should last me until the end of October.



How's your hair journey going?
Love!
~Hatter

Snip snip! Short Hair!

Last Saturday 10th August my mom mini-chopped my hair!

I've been thinking about doing the big chop for weeks, but my mom thought it better to keep some inches of relaxed hair- i.e. to transition rather than be 'drastic' and chop all my length off. Now I'm glad that I listened to her...I don't know if I would have been happy with only 2-3 inches of hair!

Note: I still have 2-3 inches of relaxed ends, so I would not consider my haircut a big chop. The cut is one phase closer to being fully natural. 

After the chop, I washed and conditioned my hair and honestly...I was at quite a loss about what to do next. After an easily detangling session, I proceeded to twist it, gave up, and settled for large cornrows. However, my mother took pity on my desperate efforts and kindly fixed me up with smaller, neater cornrows. Then she twisted the ends up like bantu knots and pinned them down.

Girrlfrieeend! I felt so much better when she was finished with my hair. I'm an impatient person, and I can lose hope easily when faced with a difficult challenge. So to see a light in the tunnel and be encouraged by my mama to have patience with my hair really helped me to get more enthusiastic about my new look. 

The night before...

I then slept with my hair in the braids and on Sunday my mom and I loosed them and styled. Viola! After some picking out with an afrocomb, I was left with very curly, cute hair. I pinned back both sides and the front piece, leaving the rest out.

...the morning after!

When my hair was first cut, I felt like I was thrown in a boat on rough, rough waters. Did I make the right decision? Oh my gaawd what did I do to my hair?? lol I think I've gotten over that now and I look forward to relearning how to care for my hair. Since Sunday I've been re-braiding or re-flat twisting at night, and in the day wearing curly styles. Yo it's not easy!! But I know I'll become more patient and adept with time. 

So I'm still transitioning to natural hair. When will I cut off the rest of my straight ends? I would like to say I'll do the big chop at 1 year post relaxer (February 2014) but I know that depending on my mood and how my hair grows out, that date may change. 

I'm on my way!

Love,

~Hatter

Mobile Update: summer beauty shopping

Greetings from Boston, MA!

I'm finally on my official summer vacation and both my mind and hair are on a much needed break.

My hair is back in braids (shorter and lighter braids this time) so I really don't have much to say hair-wise. Instead, I'll share my recent beauty haul.


Who doesn't like sample-size products? I purchased a small, 2oz dropper bottle, a mini Nexxus Humectress Ultimate Moisture Conditioner, a mini Satin Care shaving cream and Purell hand sanitizer.

Next is this cute reusable bag I bought from Barnes and Noble. "This Side of Paradise" is one of my favourite books by F. Scott Fitzgerald and I already have "The Great Gatsby" tote. 

 Last are the Satsuma Body Polish and Beautifying Oil I purchased from The Body Shop. Satsuma is apparently a funky citrus fruit that has a bright, zesty scent. I'm loving it so far!

Not too exciting eh? I am trying to control myself from buying too many unnecessary hair products, especially as I can't even use them while my hair is in braids!

However, I must buy some Carol's Daughter hair products before I return home to Trinidad since it's waay cheaper to purchase in the US. Plus, I want to be prepared when I take my braids down again and  battle with my transitioning hair.  >.<

I'm now five months post relaxer and it's been smooth sailing since I don't really have to manipulate my hair. The only issue I've had is my dry, flaky scalp. I want to buy some tea tree oil and add it to my trusty jojoba oil, using my new dropper bottle to apply the mix easily to my scalp.

Have you done any summer beauty shopping?

Cheers,

~Hatter

The braids are out: 17 weeks post relaxer!

Today I finally finished taking out my waist length braids. It took me three days to undo them, mainly because I started with a little at a time and I wanted to work as carefully as possible. 

My patience has definitely paid off! Below is a photo of how much shed and broken hair I lost after having my hair in braids for 4 weeks.

I think this is a moderate amount of hair compared to the amount I have lost in the past when my hair was braided regularly as a child. I was pleasantly surprised that I did not experience heavy breakage. Most of the hair in my hand are shed hairs. While I wore my braids I deep conditioned twice, used my African Pride Braid Sheen Spray weekly and occasionally I sealed my hair with jojoba oil. Now, about three days after my last wash day in braids, my hair is soft and surprisingly manageable. Cheers to successful protective styling!

I used my jojoba oil to lubricate my braids while I took them out. I think the oil did a great job of loosening tangles as well as keeping my two hair textures soft and moisturized.

My new growth @ 17 weeks post relaxer.

For the present I'm wearing my hair in twists for the next few days. Next weekend I have a formal event to go to, so I plan to shampoo, deep condition and hopefully do a proper curly braid-out style to blend my two textures.

My new growth is extremely obvious now that I'm 17 weeks post relaxer. I'm so excited for it to grow out!


Love,
~Hatter

The Forgotten Conditioners

Dusty, forgotten and shunned...

...When I returned home I was confronted with the miserable sight of instant conditioners I had bought when I first started my hair journey...Conditioners that I soon forgot and have now come back to haunt me.

Okay, to be fair, I did like the Vo5 Moisture Milks, and that's probably why I have two bottles. Because it's cheap I decided to leave it at home when I went to university. I'll give that same reason of cost for why I abandoned the Garnier Fructis Fortifying Cream Conditioner, but the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration just wasn't very impressive. 

Finally, I only used the Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut conditioner once on my relaxed hair and I hated it.

However, I'm willing to give it another chance...in fact, I plan to use up all of these conditioners.

Using them up might be a bit difficult since my hair is in braids, but I think that once I take my braids out, I'll mix each conditioner individually with hair oils and use them as pre-poo treatments.

I hope I remember to use them when the time comes!

How do you use up old products?

~Hatter