1 Month Review!!

Today makes it officially 4 weeks since I got my hair cut. It's amazing what I learned in that small amount of time. When I first got it cut, it was done reluctantly. I knew I had to do it, so I swallowed my pride and chopped off my comfort. Now, however, with a month under my belt, I am much more confident in my short locks. I am learning to absolutely love my natural hair, and just let it be.

Here are some things I learned after just 4 short weeks...

1) Products matter!! I can't stress this enough. It is important to invest in products that are good for our hair and help our hair look better. This is an example of the difference products can make:

These pictures were only taken 4 weeks apart

yet the difference is astounding! The one in the

right looks longer because I started using better

products that helped it hang nicer instead of poof

outward. 

I will show you the exact products I use to achieve this look.

(A)

(B)

  

(C)

(D)

(A) Organix Moroccan Argon Oil Sulfate-Free Shampoo-  not only smells great but does not have any harsh sulfates that dry out my curly hair. 

(B) Tresemme Moisture Rich Conditioner- it is perfect for keeping my curls moisturized and gives great slip when I run my Denman through them. 

(C) Moroccan Oil Intense Hydrating Mask- I guess this would be my pre-poo routine, since I add it to my hair 10 minutes before I wash it. It leaves my hair feeling extra smooth and smells amazing!

(D) Suave Moroccan Infusion- this oil is what I use to touch-up my hair when it starts looking fuzzy. The smell is so addicting and even leaves my hands smooth and smelling great! I usually put it on in the mornings and sometimes before I go to bed.

These products keep my hair smelling great and ultra moisturized. The first three I put in my hair only once a week and then it is great for the rest of the week!

2) Patience means "fo-gettabout-it". The first week I was practically trying to watch my hair grow from my scalp. It's not the way to go if I plan on staying sane. I have to let my hair do its thing, and not fuss with it all the time. The less I do and the less I wait for it to grow, the faster it will feel! Already this month flew by...

3) My no-heat challenge is not that hard... This one I thought would especially get me. But surprisingly, I have not had any urges to straighten it! But it is only the first month, so...

4) Finally, research is necessary! I read so many articles and learned so many things about my hair that I never knew about. I always thought hair was simple and I knew everything needed to know. Not even close. The more I learn, the better I treat my hair, and the healthier it is. :)

Stay tuned to JULY 15th. That will be my first measuring day to see how my first month has added up. After my first measure, I will start doing every 3 months, so the length will be more clearly seen. Can't wait!

Moisturize!

Keeping your hair moisturized is one of the most important things when trying to grow it out. When your hair is dry, it breaks easier and you won't retain length. It is super important to come up with a routine to make sure your hair stays moisturized throughout the week.

Since I wash my hair once a week, by day five or six, my curls start to get frizzier and less defined. In order to maintain bouncy curls for at least 7 days, I started to refresh it with water every morning. I take a dime size amount of conditioner and add it to my lightly moistened hair. My curls always look great afterwards and its low maintenance. Sometimes, instead of conditioner, I add some Moroccan Oil to my moistened hair to give it a similar effect.

Here is a pic of my day 6 curls:

My frizz is maintained and there is some bounce to my curls. After six days, I think that is pretty impressive! I have more things that I am prepared to try in the future including hot oil treatments to see if that helps it stay moisturized. I will let you know if I see a difference!

Staying Fit and Healthy Hair?

After reading an article about how exercise is great for our hair, I'm pumped! Now, when I am killing myself with my workouts, I know that my hair is getting great benefits. Here are some awesome reasons to hit the gym today.

1) When you workout and sweat, your body releases toxins. The release of these toxins lead to purer and healthier hair!

2)Stretching leads to better posture which in turn improves the circulation of blood flow to the scalp. The increase blood flow provides hair with oxygen and nutrients which makes it healthier.

3) When you do back bends or are upside down, these positions help relieve back and neck tension. Tight muscles stagnate blood flow, so inverted positions are a good feeling and they are great for our hair!

4) Since exercise gives us endorphins, it helps alleviate stress. Stress is a cause for hair loss, so by being relaxed and happy, we are avoiding that.

There you have it! Now, put on your gym shoes and go get your sweat on!

Growth Starting Point!

So, even though it has been over half a month since I got my hair cut (today makes it 3 weeks!!!), I decided to use my hair growth t-shirt as my starting point to mark my growth since I have no idea how short it was when I cut it. Every 15th of the month, I will take a picture with my t-shirt so you all can see what the current length is. I'm already excited for July 15th! It's silly 'cause it will only be like .5 inch of growth but whatever. Half inches add up, and in a couple of years, it could be feet :)

Here is what my shirt looks like on me

Since my hair is super coiled, I stretch it to find the true length.
There is my starting point! Just about APL

My goal is past hip length. Ultimately, I want the coiled up curls to be hip length without my having to stretch them down, so my guess is about 16 or 17 inches. 

LET'S DO THIS!!!

Hair Growth Tracker T-Shirt

Ever want to keep track of your hair growth in a super easy way but don't know how?

I have finally found the answer. I was definitely way too lazy to try and measure my hair with a ruler and since it's so curly, I had to stretch it out first and it would all just be a huge pain. So I ran into a couple of videos on YouTube showing women using a hair growth tracker t-shirt. It looked so convenient! The ruler was on the t-shirt and showed how much growth they had that month.

So I decided to go ahead and make one. In just five easy steps, you can all make one as well! Here is how you do it.

HAIR GROWTH TRACKER T-SHIRT 

DIY

Here is what you'll need:

- Plain white t-shirt (preferably an older one unless you don't mind using a new one)

- A black sharpie marker

- Shears/scissors

- Tape measure

- A piece of cardboard (or like I did here, a flattened cereal box)

-An envelope (or an edge off the cereal box)

- A friend or a helper 

Now, you are ready to start! 

1) Put on the t-shirt and have your friend mark up exactly the zones you want your hair to grow to and your starting point. Just have them put a dot at each spot.

[For example SL (shoulder length), APL (arm pit length), BSL (bra strap length), WL (waist length), HL (hip length)]

2) Take off the t-shirt and place the piece of cardboard inside the t-shirt so the marker doesn't bleed through the front.

3) Rip off the edge from the cereal box (or use an envelop) and draw two lines splitting the middle of the shirt, all the way down your back. Start the line at your starting point. Connect the lines so it looks like a long rectangle.

This will serve as your "ruler" and track the inches. If the top of the rectangle is the starting point, you can calculate exactly how much your hair has grown since the date you make this t-shirt!

4) Now, draw lines straight across at the zones (BSL, WL) your friend marked up for you earlier and label them accordingly.

5) Using your tape measure, draw lines and numbers to display the number of inches that fit in your ruler.

And voila! You have your t-shirt :)

You can customize it by putting the starting date on top (which I did later on) or any other cute ideas you have. This will be a great guide to show you how much your hair is growing and how long it takes. Plus, it look great in pictures for your hair growth journey!! Enjoy you're awesome t-shirt!

Natural Curls are Beautiful

The other day I heard these two girls talking, and one of them was complimenting the other on how cute her hair looked. The girl, who normally has super curly hair, straightened her locks out and her friend said something that was a little unsettling to me. She said, "Don't get me wrong, your curly hair is nice. But straight hair is totally hot!"

Why has straight hair become our definition of hot or even beautiful? Why do I have the impulse to straighten my hair every time I have an event coming up? I really don't know the answer to those questions but I'm sure it's psychological. Have I been conditioned to think that straight hair is prettier? When I was in the tenth grade, a girl told me I should straighten my hair all the time since I looked better with it straight. For the longest time, I believed her. But not anymore. I'm starting to finally wake up and see that straight hair is not > curly.

Here are some beautiful celebrities with iconic curly hair. I love this because they all stepped out onto the red carpet or other social events with their natural curls! Would I ever have the guts to step out in front of a million cameras with my natural hair? I don't know. But, hopefully someday I will know that the answer to that will without a doubt be yes.

Halle Berry-- does anyone else think her natural curls look better than her straight hair? 

I totally do. But, I'm pretty sure she can rock any and every look.

Rachelle Lefevre-- beautiful red curls!! That color is just so amazing.

Jordin Sparks-- her curls are gorgeous. She definitely became a Curly Girl icon after American Idol.

People even say I look like her sometimes!

Keri Russell-- her curls practically got her famous! Beautiful.

Taylor Swift-- another Curly Girl icon. I love that I see her hair curly 90 percent of the time;

she rarely straightens her hair. 

All of these celebrities should inspire girls with naturally curly hair to embrace it and show it off! Cuz face it; curly hair is totally Hot!

Blast from the Past

When some people grow their hair out, they have no idea what it will look like when it's long because they never got to that point. I am not one of those people. When I was little, I had very long and very curly hair.

Me at 6ish years old; my hair
is larger than life!

I don't remember what it felt like. Back then, I was only concerned with Barbies (see my shirt) and playing on the swings at the park. Vanity meant nothing to me and I didn't realize that my hair was a hot commodity. Oh to be in that place mentally again...

What I do remember from that time was Saturday nights. My mom would stick me in the tub, undo my braids, and start to wash my hair. When the brush hit my head, it was Tears Central. My mom tried to use conditioner, but my knots had a mind of their own. I remember lots of pain and how I begged her not to brush through my hair. It would take forever but when it was done, I had a sore scalp and clean untangled hair. Of course this agony would lead me to beg for the drastic haircut I got when I was 8. From then on, my hair never got back to that length.

I like to look at these pictures for many reasons. First, it gives me incentive and visual proof that if I hang in there, my hair will look like this again. It also tells me the less I worry about my hair and the less stuff I do to it, the longer it will grow. When I was a kid, my hair was either braided or down. I didn't put tons of products in it and I didn't try to straighten it every other week. 

Can't wait to have these back

Me being totally unaware of my pretty
hair.

I really need to let go of my need to control my hair, and let it be. If I channel my inner kid, this just might work. 

Summer Luvin!

So I'm pretty much in love with this hat!

So after reading some articles and researching, I found out that hair is supposed to grow faster during the summer! The warm weather enhances blood circulation in the scalp which increases the growth. Note that this increase is very slight, but who cares? I'll take it! I also read that too much sun can be very damaging for our hair.

This summer I will be purchasing a cute beach hat (like in the pic above) and protect my hair as much as possible. So far I'm having no trouble since I sit in an office all day (#internproblems). But in August when I hit the beach, its cute big hat and big sunglasses for me!! 8)

I also wanted to include this pic of me with a flower in my hair because the flower is so cute! I'm using this opportunity of having short hair to accessorize like never before. Clips, headbands, flowers, and more! Just because my hair is short doesn't mean I can't do anything with it. While I wait for it to grow, I'm going to try out new looks and accessories from time to time.

Next time, I'm opting for a bigger flower :)

Countdown: half way to a month!

Week 2 and counting

It's been two weeks! My short hair is becoming more and more a part of me. I know it's growing, but I'm coming to terms with this short length. Instead of putting it in a bun everyday (which I intended to do when I first cut it), I learned to play around with it until I found the style that suit me best. I learned about the importance of the brushes curly girls use. I recently purchased a Denman brush and it was the best decision ever!

It says on the label that it is a styling brush; it's not lying. It helped shape my curls perfectly!

The rubber bristles add some give to my hair when I'm combing through it so
it does not snap off as easily.

The crown is appropriate; this brush treats my hair like royalty!

Now I will show some proof. Here is what my hair looks like after I comb through it with a Denman Brush:

My curls are soft and defined and there are barely any misplaced hairs! It felt absolutely incredible as well. I wholeheartedly recommend the Denman brush for people with tight curls like mine. And yes I will say that the brush does matter! Invest in your hair tools ladies; the better brushes and conditioners you have, the less hair products you need. I did not put any styling gel, mousse, or hairspray. I didn't need it! It dried nicely as well.

Pictures don't lie ;)

Day 14 since haircut and even though my hair is growing at a snail's pace, I am learning new things about my hair that will make it stronger and healthier and help it grow in nicely. 

Struggle

I've been struggling lately with how short my hair actually is. I don't like short curly hair on me... I guess it's growing on me a little but then I see pictures of beautiful long locks and I just want to jump into a time machine and fast forward five years from now so it can be long again. Anyways, whenever I'm feeling particularly down about my cut, I like to look at pics reminding me why I did this. Here are some good ones. This was taken about twenty or so days before I chopped my hair:

My ends are terrible! For those who can't really tell how split they are, let's compare it to a pic I have from exactly one year ago from that picture. 

Now can you see? My ends were fuller, thicker, and about the same length... A YEAR AGO! The first pic is proof to me that I did the right thing. Ultimately my ends are going to look even better than the above pic here. Notice how my hair was straight in both? I never had confidence that my curly hair was beautiful because of all the relaxers I've gotten in the past. They made my hair a strange texture so I always wanted to straighten it for fancy events. I realize now how wrong that mentality sounds so it really is like I am a new person. Soon, I will have curly hair the same length as the above picture and it will healthy and strong.

Day 11 of the struggle. But I know its worth it.

Hair Routine

So I am including a link in this post because I got this routine from a lady who has an impressive site on growing naturally curly hair. Her hair is breathtaking so you should all take a look :)

http://www.tightlycurly.com/technique/curlyprimer/

It describes in detail what I do but I will show some pics of how my hair looks when I do it.

After I finish washing and detangling my hair, I use an old t-shirt to soak in some of the moisture. Then I do the "curly primer" (see above link) and smooth out my curls individually. I posted a before and after pic so you can see the difference that the curly primer makes.

Left is after I finished washing and detangling. Right is after I smooth out each curl with my fingers.

Left is again after I washed it. Right is after I smooth out each curl. You see so much more definition in the right.

I generally wash my hair with shampoo once a week and sometime I will wash it twice a week but one time I will only use conditioner. It is so important to hold as much natural oils as possible and it makes our curls look awesome. That's why I try not to wash it too much.

At night before I go to bed, regardless of whether I washed it or not, I put my hair in two braids (I would do one if it wasn't so short) and instead of using a hair tie at the end of the braid, I insert the end into the actual braid. Here is a pic to show it better:

You can see how the end is nicely tucked in and voila! No need for hair tie which could make the hair break more. By doing this every night, I am preventing my hair from breaking and tangling. So many positives out of a simple hair style! Then in the morning I take it out and it looks great!

Lots of pretty loopy curls!! Yay!

My Challenge

I'm about to embark on this journey of staying natural. I am going to be very extreme: no heat, no chemicals (relaxers), and no dye.

Please note that I am not saying that everyone should do the same if they want to see optimum growth. Actually, many people can get away with doing the three of the above, but SPARINGLY. That is the key word. If you want to grow healthy long hair, you have to avoid those things. Since I know my type of hair, I realized that I have to avoid those completely if I want to keep my coiled curls. Here are my rules for this challenging au natural hair journey:

1) No heat- this includes flat ironing, blow drying, curling irons, crimping (who does this anymore?), hot rollers, etc. If it burns, it will not touch my hair. This will definitely be the hardest to stick to since I won't be able to see how long my hair truly is since the curls make it a lot shorter. But it is too damaging so...

2) No relaxers- I used to get them twice a year. They flatten my roots but in the process straighten my curls. So this is a big no-no.

3) No hair dye- I went a little crazy with the dye this year, but I usually don't. This won't be hard to avoid. I had my dye fun; it was costly but taught me a lesson.

4)No tight ponytails/braids- I am an athlete so this might be hard. But a loose braid does the trick.

5) No brushing hair when dry- I love how it looks, but I don't love what it does to my hair after the fact.

Well, this is what I have so far! I will update you on my progress and struggles with sticking to these rules. All I can say is I'm very competitive and when I give myself a challenge... I don't disappoint.

Pictures of before and after BC

Before's and Afters

Ends are dead and completely straight. No more coils :(

Right before I cut my hair; the red faded and my ends were so split, there was no growth for 6 months

Before and After; much healthier!

Coils galore! Much too short for my liking but still healthy.

Getting the horrible but Necessary BC

Last week, I went to the hair dressers and got the BC. I went from being inches away from hip length (see picture), to shoulder length.

My Hair before BC- completely straight (almost Hip Length)

My hair before the BC naturally curly- about BSL

It was a huge change, but I definitely needed it. I had not gotten a major cut in over 7 years. I always dreamed of having super long curls like I did when I was 7 years old. My hair is super curly and a little kinky, which meant that even though before it was HL, it only looked like it was BSL (see curly hair pic). I was determined to keep growing it; however, I did some terrible things. In December, I dyed it completely black which was dumb since it is dark brown. Then I wanted to dye the ends red. The first time I did it, nothing showed up. So two weeks later, I tried again, and still nothing. Finally in January, I bleached the ends and then the red finally showed up. It looked awesome but my hair was completely FRIED at this point. The ends of my hair did not even curl anymore. When I realized that my hair stopped growing for 6 months, I knew it was time to do something. So I got the CHOP.

After the BC- now SL

I never dreamed I would do this. I read every hair growing site out there. They all started with the same thing. Cut your dead ends. Get rid of split ends. Start anew. Start afresh, cut your hair. Cut, cut, cut. It was a nightmare! I made so much progress in these 7 years and now it would go down the toilet.

But then I started seeing hope. If I got rid of the dead, the new would come in stronger and better. This wasn't 14 year old me, with the piles of mousse, gel, and hairspray I used on my hair all the time. This is the older more knowledgeable me. I am not going to flat iron, curl, or blow dry anymore because I saw what that did to my hair as it grew in all these years. Chopping my hair off was scary but seriously worth it.

Fast forward a week later, and I absolutely love my hair. It is bouncy, shiny, and practically singing, it is so healthy. But I can’t help but ignore the fact that it is soooo short. I spend my days looking longingly at pictures of long curls on Pinterest to the point of tears, but it makes me more determined. I am making a list of goals for my hair and I will track the progress. I will see what works and what doesn't work. And you all can see with visible proof how my efforts are doing. Enjoy my hair journey and I will try and be patient…