The Crown Update

I have so much that I would like to talk about. I barely know where to begin. Since this blog was originally began on the topic of hair I figure I should start there.

so let us begin. As I said in my last post I am officially 2 years natural. I in no way regret mydecision to go natural. It was and still is a liberating experience. Now I have had my ups amd downs. Mainly right now I am kind of overwhelmed by those pesky knots on my strands. I do also get frustrated with my hair bit thats something that comes with the territory of having hair on your head period. As far as a regimen I don't have one. I always try to make a schedule but it doesnt work out. Now I think I am probably washing my hair every two weeks. Lately I've been doing mini twist. I usually wear those for a week then wear them untwisted for another week. Depending on my scalp I might wash my hair like a day or two before I untwist my hair. That is basically it. I used to just do a regular twist out but I always ended up wearing a headband. so I decided to do the mini twist as a way to give my edges a break from the headbands. I admit I wear the headbands sometimes when I work out though.

So since I am 3 years into my healthy hair journey, and 2 years into my natural journey the pj phase is long gone. Not to say thay I don't want to try new things. Trust and believe I do bit I used to have to buy every item exactly when I wanted it. Now as long as I have some conditioner, moisturizer, and oil then I'm good. I actually gave away a ton of my hair products before I moved. I eventually want to get into mpre natural products but for now I focus on what is accessible to me. So here are the products I have been using the most:

L-R African Pride Olive Miracle Moisturizer Lotion, Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner, Now Sweet Almond Oil, and Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

As I've said before these products are what I have been using consistently. They are not staples in any way.  Granted I can find an accessible place to find sweet almond oil that will become a staple. I might make the olive oil too for mixing purposes. I do love the AP Moisture Lotion and if my switch to more natural products doesnt work out I will consider making this a staple. Next are products I have used every now and then:

L-R ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion, ORS Replenishing Conditioner, Wild Growth Hair Oil, Cantu Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream, Mixed Silk by Silk Elements Nourishing Deep Conditioner, Let's Jam Shining & Conditioning Gel, Aphogee Pro-Vitamin Leave In Conditioner, Sammy Get Curls Curl Activating Lotion, Aphogee Deep Moisture Shampoo

I'm not too crazy about the ORS hair lotion. I usually use it mixed up with something. I only got it because it was accessible and cheap. The ORS conditioner was my go to deep conditioner for a long time. Now that I'm fully natural I don't use it as much. My hair needs more moisture but protein once in a while helps. As far as the wild Growth Oil I try to use it with my mini twist but forget. Most of the time I use it in a conditioner mix. I got the cantu because it was accessible and to temporary take place of my African Pride moisturizer. I've used it in the past so I got it again. I love the consistency but for some reason when I used it before putting in mini twist my hair didn't like it as much. I think because my hair was semi dry. I noticed it works better when it is applied to my hair when its wet. I decided to try the Mixed Silk deep conditioner since I don't like to use my ORS one as much. I actually like this conditioner for the most part. The first time I used it, it did leave my hair soft Despite that I probably will try something else one it runs out. For the most part I use the Let's Jam for most of my twist outs. It keeps my hair conditioned for a good little while. Also it makes taking my twist out a breeze.I did experiment and used the Sammy activating lotion on one of my mini twist. By day two I had to unravel my twist because they were far too frizzy. However the twist out was actually amazing. Now for the aphogee products. I only got the shampoo to replace my ORS clarifying shampoo. I wanted to get something a little more moisturizing. Its a good shampoo but I rarely use shampoo other then to clarify so it sort of defeats the purpose of me buying it. The pro-vitmain leave in is good. I mix it with olive oil and spray my hair once I finish washing my hair.

I didn't want this post to be this long. I planned to post some pictures of my hair, but I will save that for another time!

Peace, Love, & Blessings~

Pushbacks...oh yeah and lets not forget doubts

So I guess I'll begin with the push back. I will once again be pushing back straightening my hair. I won't be going out of town this weekend unfortunately. I thought about flat ironing anyway but my cousin is having a 70's theme party tomorrow so I figured I'd rock some curls. I think I've learned my lesson and won't put a date on flat ironing this time. It will happen when it happens. I should be starting a new job in a few weeks so maybe I'll do it then. Though I doubt I will.

I'd also like to say despite buying my staple HBC items the other week I'm still buying stuff. Like I have no idea why I completely disregarded my 1 month no spending challenge. Like it's ridiculous. lol The sad thing about it is at this moment I have the urge to go to Ulta and look and buy some hair products. The other day I went to the a BSS here and looked into some wigs there. I'm looking for a nice cheap yet realistic wig that I can throw some berets and scarves on. Just to give my hair a break once in a while. I also to my surprise saw some JBCO. OMFG ya'll I'm so surprised I found it there. I was like 110% sure that I'd have to order that online. So yeah I will definitely be picking some up next time I go there. I actually didn't buy all that much stuff when I went there just a few hair accessories. WHich I will get to later in the post.

Now to the doubt part of the post. Well many know that a lot of people on their HHJ(Healthy Hair Journey) turn to YT for inspiration. At night when I'm moisturizing and sealing my hair I watch many videos. One fellow YTber who inspires me is Nunaavane. People she is not only inspiring because of her hair journey but also spiritually inspiring. Well the other day I watched her relaxer day video. Her progress was amazing. I started thinking maybe I should get a relaxer. I mean I want my natural hair, but at times I want straight hair too. Is that so bad? I know I can go to the Dominicans and get my hair blown out. I don't even know if there are even Dominicans here to blow my hair out if that is the case. So yeah after watching her video I started to really re think if I'm making the right decision. I don't want to cut my hair off then completely regret it. Even though I may have been super psyched before I got it cut. Uh I tell you this is such an emotional roller coaster but I'm sure w/e the decision I make in the end I will be happy with.

Finally we have this months purchases for the most part....

I picked up the conditioners from work.
Herbal Essence None of Your Frizziness Smoothing Conditioner
Tresemme Thermal Recovery Replenishing Conditioner
From the BSS:
3 flowers(clips/ponytail holders)
Purple Beret
(Not Shown)
Dove Intense Damage Therapy Conditioner

I was also going to pick up these cute sparkly berets but they were $8 so I decided to wait on those. They were sooo cute though. Maybe I'll go back and get them tomorrow. The only reason I got the Dove conditioner(besides the fact I'm a PJ) is I had a $2 CVS Extra Buck coupon plus a $1 coupon for a Dove Shampoo/Conditioner(from newspaper). So I basically paid .99 for it. Don't just be a PJ be one that saves people lol. I actually have another $1 coupon for the Heat Defense Therapy Shampoo/Conditioner/or Mist. I actually got that because I signed up for a sample at their website. Which is still available by the way so check their site out. Speaking of which I signed up for a sample from Joico for their humidity blocker which I still have not recieved. I was so looking forward to trying it too.

Well that is it for the time being. I think I'm going to start a new blog. I'll just keep this one hair related and my other one will be random talk I guess. Peace & Love

That time has come sooner then I thought...I THINK!

So the other day when I washed my hair I planned to detangle in the shower. I felt some tangles the day before and I had to do something about them. To be honest detangling in the shower freaks me out. I'm always afraid I'll have tons of breakage so I never fully detangle in the shower. Well after I washed and my hair was 85-90% dry I started moisturizing and sealing like usual. Well when I started I found out the true extent of my tangles. It was CRAZY! I had no idea how I could have no idea that my hair was that tangled. It was crazy. It literally took me 3 hours to do my hair. I actually made a YT video explaining the whole situation but I have yet to get around to posting it for some reason. Forgive me.
After I got all the tangles out a few days later I noticed another one. I don't know what is going on. My hair does not usually tangle like this. Which is why I THINK it may be time to BC. I don't know how it was even as easy as it was to detangle my hair. I just think the longer my hair gets the worse the tangles would be. So maybe it is best I just cut my hair off now. So on Wednesday I plan on going to this natural hair salon and seeing if they will cut my hair off. NOT YET! Eventually lol.
Oh yes let me not forget. In my last post I said I would not purchase any hair products for a month. I did however go out and buy my HB Olive Creme as well as my HB Carrot Creme. I NEEDED them. Seriously. I would have not gotten all of those tangles out had it not been for my carrot creme. As far as my Olive Creme I live by that stuff. I love it soo much. I use that a lot more then the Carrot Creme.

Well I washed my hair not too long ago so now it's time to do something with it. Peace & Love~

Welcome to the JUNGLE!!!!

No fun and games here though. Ok I've hit that point that every transitioner and stretcher alike dreads. You know what I'm talking about.... That moment that tempts you to break down and get a relaxer because you just can't take it anymore. Lucky for me I've hit the "hair gone wild" point BUT I actually have no desire to perm. I mean don't even get me wrong. I do think about how great all this growth would look if I got a relaxer. I would love to see how much growth I truly retained with a relaxer. That being said I'm just over actually having one. It was nice while I had it. Now it's time for me to move on. This wild hair just makes me want to BC now. The only thing is...ok I know this is corny but I was looking forward to the wash and gos. It's almost winter though I won't be able to truly appreciate them during this time. Unless I want to get sick that is.

Since I'm feeling the urge to BC now I think I may not make it to next year. So I'm probably going to do it once I get settled in my new job and start school. Then again like I said earlier winter is coming. That makes me want to reconsider. I'm always cold. Now that winter is coming I'm going to need the extra hair to keep my head warm. lol

You know what I forgot to mention in my last post about my length check. I guess that's what I should call it. Well I pushed it back to next week after I was supposed to do it last week. Well I'm pushing it back again. I'll be doing it the week after next. I'm not sure if I'm going out of town next week but I'm definitely going the week after next. So expect some pictures from that. Also this month I'm going to try a PJ rehab challenge. A personal one. I'm just going to try not to buy any hair products this month. Lets hope I accomplish it. I was going to post some pictures of my new growth but I'm feeling extremely lazy now so look for those in the next post. Well that is it for now. Peace & Love!

I'm not gone yet.

So I haven't posted much the last week and I apologize. I'm working out the kinks on my youtube videos. I did make another one, but I'm having problems with the volume. I did manage to finally get my shea butter. I love the smell of that stuff. I also picked up some more flexi rods and hair bun. So far I'm doing well on my castor oil challenge. I originally planned to start on the beginner one. Somehow I ended up on advanced. Which I technically wanted to do anyway.
One reason why I think I ended up on the advanced one, is because my hair has been feeling weird. Kind of dry like. I'm not sure if its because my hair may be porous or if it is because my hair just drinks up the moisturizer and oil. I'm thinking about getting some of that Roux Porosity Control Conditioner. If that happens to be the case.

I blow dried my hair on Monday. My cousin wanted to hang out and I was in the middle of my washing process so I had to dry it quicker then usual. I usually just let it air dry. I plan on flat ironing my hair out at the end of the month to see my growth process. After that I'll probably get some braids done. I really want to get twist but those are a lot more expensive.

Well that is it for now peoples.
Peace & Love