All That is Wrong With my Hair: Where the Hell is my Length?

Lately, I've been taking a good look at my hair. Ever since the beginning of my hair journey 4 months ago, I've been washing and deep conditioning my hair weekly, moisturizing and sealing almost daily, protective styling (bunning), alternating moisture and protein and staying away from heat. So where the hell is my length? My progress? Some of you might think that 4 months is not long enough too see any real progress and that I'm being impatient. But I really don't think so. When I look at the amount of new growth I've gained in the past 12 weeks, I realize that my hair grows pretty fast. So why aren't I retaining  length? Well, I  examined my hair and here are some of the issues I believe I need to correct in order to obtain healthy relaxed hair and retain my length.  

Dryness. That has always been the main issue. Regardless of how much moisture I infuse into my strands, my hair just won't stay moisturized. It's unbelievable. No matter how soft my hair feels after a good deep conditioning session, it will go right back to being dry in the next two days, if not earlier. Sometimes I moisturize and seal twice a day and I still end up with dry hair the morning after.  This issue has lead me to conduct a few tests on my hair and the jury has reached a verdict: my hair is highly porous. 

Breakage. As you know, with dryness comes brittleness which results in breakage. My has been doing a lot of that lately. I swear, it just snaps whenever I touch it or pull it just a teeny bit. Especially my ends.

Split ends. Trichoptilosis. Whatever you call it, no one likes them. Especially me. They, however, seem to be very fond of me. It doesn't matter how often I trim them. They just keep coming back. I even get the ones that are way up on the hair shaft. As a result of this unrequited one-sided love,  my ends are breaking-off, thin, see-through and aren't retaining length.

Shedding. My shedding has been out of control lately. I've never been one to lose more than 10-20 hairs a day. I know studies say that the amount of hair we shed every day is between 100 and 150 strands, but not my hair. I just don't shed that much. I detangle once a week on wash days and even then, I have very few hairs on my comb. However, these past few days, I've noticed a lot of long strands with the white bulb still attached to it coming off. Maybe I'm a little paranoid. But I still plan on doing that garlic mask I bought the other day.

Sore, dry, itchy scalp. I don't know what's up with my scalp lately. It's always sore and itchy. I'm unusually tender-headed. I'm always careful  of not putting anything directly on my scalp for fear of blocking my pores and preventing hair growth. But maybe that's the problem. Maybe I neglected my scalp.

I should probably take some of the blame: I have been known to sometimes sleep without a scarf or a bonnet, although I haven't done that in awhile and I haven't always been very diligent in moisturizing and sealing my ends everyday (I would sometimes do it every 2 days). Not to mention that I have a severe case of hand-in-hair disease. I know, shame on me.

But really it all comes back to one thing: porosity. Hair that is reasonably porous will receive and retain moisture, thus preventing the dryness, brittleness and breakage I am currently experiencing.

Stay tuned because I'll be writing a couple of posts in the coming weeks to tell you guys how I plan on tackling these issues and also to keep myself in check.

So what are some of the issues you ladies are battling on your hair journey?

Hair Regimen Additions for 2012

Henna powder

As a newbie, it's really hard not to jump on every bandwagon. You see these ladies with gorgeous hair and you think ''Oh I'm gonna do whatever she does so my hair can look like hers!'' So you want to try it all : co-washing, pre-pooing, hot oil treatments, clear rinses, GHE, etc. But I realized pretty fast that it would get crazy if I tried to do it all at once so I decided to master the basics first and I think that was a wise choice. I started my hair journey on October 11, 2011 so  I've only been at this for a few months.

Here is what I've been doing religiously: washing and deep conditioning weekly, protein treatments, moisturizing and sealing, sleeping with a satin bonnet and keeping my ends away from my shoulders. Now that I feel like I know what I'm doing, here are a few things I would really like to incorporate into my regimen this year.

Texlaxing: Ever since I started my hair journey I realize just how thin my hair is. And I don't like it. So I've decided to transition to texlaxed hair and stop being relaxed bone straight. Texlaxing is basically  under-processing your hair on purpose by either leaving the relaxer on for a shorter period of time or diluting it with some ingredients like oils or conditioner. It leaves your hair healthier and thicker then if it were bone straight. My hair is currently shoulder length so I figured now is the right time to do it. The process of dealing with three textures (natural, texlaxed and relaxed) is only going to get more tedious as my hair gets longer.  I plan on adding some olive oil to my relaxer to achieve my wavy texlaxed look. For more information on texlaxing, click here and here.

The Baggy Method: Baggying your ends is basically putting some moisturizer or oil on your ends and wrapping it with either saran wrap, a shower cap or a grocery bag. By doing this you are locking in moisture on your ends and allowing yourself to retain more length by reducing dryness induced breakage.

Protective styling: Now don't get me wrong. I do protective style my hair: I mainly bun. Which is pretty boring, I know. But for some reason, I just don't feel like half-wigs, braid-outs, twist-outs and Bantu Knot-outs would look pretty on me. Specially because my hair is not long. I guess I'm just gonna have to find out.

Henna: Henna is plant that grows on dry climates. Some of the benefits of using henna on your hair include smoother, stronger and shinier hair. Also, henna contains an all-natural dye that can be used to color hair in a red-brownish taint without any damage to relaxed or natural hair because it doesn't contain any chemicals. I plan to do it in the summer so the highlights can show up better in the sun.

Black Tea Rinses:  Black Tea Rinses are great for stopping shedding, stimulating growth and strengthening the hair. It can also darken the hair over time.

Regular Hot Oil Treatments & Pre-pooing: My hair is as dry as as it gets. I could pour an entire bottle of moisturizer or oil on my hair and within the next hour my hair would have soaked it all up. And although I understand the argument for sulfate-free shampoos I just haven't found any that work for me. Right now I'm using Joico Moisture Recovery, which does have sulfates in it and I absolutely love it. But I feel like pre-pooing on a regular basis with conditioner or oil could only give me an extra boost of moisture and softness.

Vitamin Supplements: To be honest I probably don't eat as healthy as I should so my hair is probably not getting all the nutrients it needs. Supplements are a great way to make sure my body and hair are getting all they need in order to maximize growth.

What are some of the things you ladies want to try?

Product Junkism: A Few Tips to Keep it Under Control

So...you're sick. You go straight to the hair care isle whenever you walk into a store, the inside of your room looks like a Beauty Supply, you have more products under your bathroom sink than you have food in your fridge and your paychecks disappear at the speed of light. If you have more than two of the symptoms listed above, you most likely have a mean case of Product Junkism. Like in any 12-step program, the first step is to admit you have a problem. The thing is…you’re not actually ready to stop being a PJ. You actually like it. Now what? Well, hopefully my tips will allow you to still indulge without going broke in the process.

1. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
I know you ladies have heard this saying a lot but it is true.  Some of us seem to always be on the lookout for the next best thing, the product that's going to change your life. Chances are it doesn't exist. If you already found your staples and love the way they make your hair feel, why chase in vain after a miracle product?

2. Use up what you already have.
 Is your current stash already used up or do you still have a ton of products waiting for you under your bathroom sink? If so, don't buy anything else. Finish what you already have. If you don't like a product, give it away. Not only will it make room for your new products but it'll also give you a good idea of what you already have so as to avoid buying things twice.

3. Don't be too quick to dismiss products.
It's very easy to use a product once, not be impressed and dismiss it. Overtime, this practice ends up costing you a lot of money and taking up a lot of space on your shelves. You know what they say. If at first you don't succeed try, try again. Well, this applies to hair products also. For instance, if you've tried a deep conditioner on wet hair didn't like it, try it on dry hair. Try adding your favorite oil or heat to it.  Unless a product gave you a setback or caused breakage the first time you used it, you should try it at least a few times before giving up on it.       

4. Research the product before buying it.
 Before deciding to spend your hard earned money on something you should always do your homework. 1) Check the ingredient list: does it contain any ingredients you're not comfortable with such as mineral oil, petroleum, petrolatum, sulfates or parabens? 2) Look for reviews from people with your hair type. If you're relaxed don't base your decision on a natural's review. Look for a relaxed person's review. The same thing applies to naturals. Youtube, LHCF, Hairlista, Kiss and personal blogs are all great sources of information. 3) If the product is salon quality, go to a salon that carries it and ask for a professional’s opinion.

5.  Make a wish list and stick to it.
Make a wish list of all the products you've properly researched and want to buy. It's very important that you try to not deviate from the list. It will help you not make impulsive buys. You can try to organize the list in a specific order. For instance, the ones you need most first. Also, every once in a while, check the items listed and make sure you still want them. If you don’t, cross them off.

6. Write out a budget and stick to it.
Determine an amount of money you can spend every month or (on more extreme cases) paycheck on ‘’hair stuff’’ without going broke and don’t go over it. This will help a lot, especially if you’re on a student budget, like me.

7. Buy from stores with a return policy.
Do I even need to explain why? You get your money back if you’re not 100% satisfied. It’s fantastic!

8. Get sample/ travel sizes products if you can find them.
Sample sizes are quite a bargain. Most of the time you get a good amount of product to try out for only a fraction of the price of the full size item. What’s not to love?

9. Be on the lookout for sales!
Again, this is pretty self-explanatory. Why pay full price for something you’re not even sure is going to deliver?

10. Swap out with your friends!
If you have close friends on a hair journey you can check each other’s stash to see if they have anything you’d like to try. If so, you can try to trade with each other.

Hope this helped!

Product Review: Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner

Price: 8,99$ CND for 250 ml

Why I bought this product: So when I  first started my hair journey (in October 2011)  I have to admit I was really confused. My brain was in information overload. One of my main sources of information was Youtube's Ulovemegz. I remembered seeing her talk  about this deep conditioner and how much she loved it so I went straight to the drugstore and picked it up.

What it claims: Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner combines the restorative power of a deep treatment with the ease of a quick conditioning rinse.
Dramatically improve your hair's softness, smoothness and manageability with this daily conditioner that acts like a deep conditioner. Even extra dry or over-processed hair feels soft and smooth all day after just a single use. Olive, Meadowfoam and Sweet Almond extracts penetrate the hair strand to defy dryness. Just a little of this rich, creamy formula goes a long way to condition, detangle and add shine.

Ingredients: Water, Cyclopentasiloxane, Behenyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cyclohexasiloxane, Dimethicone, Amodimethicone, Behentrimonium Methylsulfate, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cetrimonium Chloride, Panthenol, Sweet Almond Oil (prunus amygdalis dulcis), Olive Fruit Oil (olea europaea), Meadowfoam Seed Oil (limnanthes alba), Glycol Stearate, Ceteth 2, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Citric Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxide, Mica, Fragrance (Parfum)

What it did: Oh. My. God. The. Dryness. It was absolutely awful. My hair felt like hay!  I shampooed with Aphogee Shampoo for Damaged hair then I worked the conditioner through my hair, put a plastic cap on and let it sit for about an hour. When I rinsed it out it felt fine, nothing to write home about. I applied my leave-ins and as my hair started air drying I realized the hot mess that it had become! I couldn't believe it! I was actually pretty sad about it because this was the first deep conditioner I ever purchased and my hair reacting to it that way made me feel like I was starting this journey on the wrong foot. I also really wanted to like it because not only is it very affordable but I can also easily get my hands on it. In all fairness, I didn't use it with heat and the Aphogee Shampoo does have proteins in it, which could possibly account for the stiffness. I guess this just goes to prove that products work differently for different people. I managed to use up half of the bottle by adding oils whenever I used it but I ended up giving it to my best friend. Hope it works better for her than it did for me. Would I ever repurchase this? Sadly, no. I can find better ways to spend 9$.