10 Feet Long Syndrome

I self-diagnosed myself yesterday when I was talking to my sister about all the hair treatments I've been doing. I explained to her that I am treating my hair like a princess right now. Between natural oil hair masks, gentle finger combing, and scalp massages, my hair has never been treated this well. While this is all good and well, I have a serious problem to come along with this. Whenever I put a mask in my hair, or take my time combing the knots out, I always look in the mirror afterwards and expect to see 10 feet of hair! Would you believe it-- it never happens :(

This is actually pretty serious. I kid you not; I expect to see long hair after a super moisturizing treatment. Then I get into my mental dialogue with my hair.

"Why aren't you long yet? Don't you feel how healthy you are and see how well I'm taking care of you? At least give me a few inches! Please?"

Yeah, something of that sort. Yesterday I did an extra good Sweet Almond Oil and Honey treatment for my hair and I left it in for 2 hours and I could freakishly feel my hair growing while I was waiting to rinse it out. I know, I know. I'm completely mental! But it's just my impatience coming out ten-fold. When I rinsed the mask out, I expected this:

Okay, maybe not the golden color, but you get the idea.

I reasoned this by a similar feeling I used to get when I used to be on weight-loss plans. I would have an extra tough workout and come back to my room expecting to see an eight pack! Obviously it never happened. In our generation, we're expected to see immediate results. Everything is immediate these days. The second we have to wait a while for something, is the moment we give up on it. Well, I'm not gonna be one of those people. I will toil through each day, each month, each year until I reach my goal. Even though I don't see Rapunzel when I look in the mirror after a hot oil treatment, I have to tell myself that I'm going to see her soon. And someday, it will come true. 

Goals Complete

My monthly goals are complete with two weeks to spare! I guess I still have protective styles to uphold for another few weeks for me to say this but I did everything else. I substituted sweet almond oil for my coconut oil mask goal. Other than that, I did the olive oil treatment and I did a deep conditioning this past weekend. The results were absolutely incredible. My hair was shiny and soft up to 3 days after! I barely needed to put oil in it, which I did anyway because I love me some scalp massages.

I found my new staple product. Aussie's 3 minute miracle is a must have for 3B curls and I'm sure it would work for other curly types as well. It's only 3 dollars! Can you believe it?

I literally just squeezed a couple of dollops into my palm and spread it through my freshly washed hair and left it in for 30 minutes. It says you can leave it in for 3 minutes (hence the name) but I like to leave it longer so it has to to heat up on my head. I cover my head with a towel and turn my A.C. off so that my room gets nice and hot. With only five minutes left, I take the towel off and let my head cool down a little bit. Finally I rinse it all out with cold water. I finish off with a tiny bit of my leave-in conditioner. The treatment allows me to put a lot less leave-in then I used to!

This past wash day, I tried something different after the deep conditioning and leave-in. I braided my hair right away instead of doing a wash-n-go. I wanted to go for a more wavy texture this week.

I put my hair in 4 braids and I also made a braid headband. I thought it looked very renaissance which I liked!! I left it in until the next day and this was the result:

Isn't the shine incredible!!?

I loved the result so much! And you wouldn't believe how soft my hair felt! Again, this lasted 3 days! I wash my hair every 4 days, so it was perfect. I will definitely be doing this technique again in the future if I want something different from my crazy curlies.

Protective Styling

If you want long healthy hair, protective styling is a must! It is easy, convenient, and effective!!

First off, there is difference between protective styles and protective styling. I will explain why in a moment.

About three or four days a week, I braid my hair/ bun it and then don't touch it at all during the day. I decided to incorporate this into my regimen for many reasons. First, if my hair is bunned then my ends are tucked away nicely and won't get damaged. Second, if I'm not touching my hair, then it won't get as frizzy. Finally, by leaving it in a bun or braid, my hair will not get knotted up which saves me loads of time on wash day when I detangle it.

The reason I mentioned the difference between "styles" and "styling" is because there are many misconceptions about protective styles. Some people braid their hair really tight and then leave it for weeks without touching it. They think because it is in braids or twists, they don't have to do anything to it. This is wrong because your hair still needs to be moisturized and sealed. You also have to remove the hairs the shed daily at least once a week or else it will build up and result in a ton of shedding and knots on wash day. Finally the super tight braids could potentially damage your hair and stunt growth.

Instead, by using protective styling you are helping your hair stay healthy and strong. Low manipulation styles mean less breakage and damaged ends. Here are some pictures of styles I use for my protective styling technique.

My go to style! Bun my hair (alternating where I bun
it; high, middle, low) and then wear a nice headband
to accessorize the simple 'do!

My bangs are still a little damaged from all the heat I
used to use before I started my HHJ, so by braiding them
I am reducing more damage.

Super easy to do- make two braids, join them together
and add a fun accessory!

Here is the above look from the back. I added
a flower clip to my two braids. Very Pretty!

Another easy style: make two braids and then
use a banana clip to attach them for a Chic look!

Once I'm done styling, I do not touch them at all during the day. I will massage some oil in at night, put my satin scarf over it, and then I can wake up and go without even touching it! Since I am generally a lazy person, this method is absolute perfection.

DIY Luxurious Hair Masks

I've been making great progress with my monthly goals so far and its only a week in! I've been tweaking my regimen A LOT but I think I'm finally starting to find my comfort zone. Part of my regimen will now officially include Natural Hair Oil Masks. They were fantastic. My hair absolutely loved the moisture and shine that came from them. I will show you exactly how I did it and I recommend you try this in the very near future!

Olive Oil and Honey Hair Mask

You will Need:
- 3 tbs. of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbs. of honey
- a plastic hair cap
- microwave save bowl

Process:

1) Pour the olive oil and honey in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk the mixture quickly for a minute.

2) Put the bowl in the microwave for 20 seconds. Whisk the mixture some more after you take it out.

3) Touch the oil to make sure it is not too hot. If it burns your skin, do Not put it in your hair.

4) When it feels hot but not scalding, pour some onto your scalp. Massage into your hair and proceed to use your fingers to generously apply the oil to your head. 

5) Once all the oil is in your hair, Clip your hair into a bun.

You can see how shiny and oily my hair looks.
This is a good thing- you want to
completely saturate it. 

6) Next wrap your hair into a Plastic Cap.









7) For 4 minutes, put your head upside down. This will stimulate the blood flow in your scalp.





8) Finally, leave the mask in your hair for anywhere between an hour and a half to two hours. Rinse out with shampoo and proceed to wash your hair as normal. 




The Olive Oil and honey really helped my hair feel soft for days afterward! The next mask I decided to try was an Almond Oil and Honey mask. The smell would be sweet and Almond Oil is great for dry and frizzy hair which describes mine perfectly. The results again were a success!

Sweet Almond Oil and Honey Hair Mask

You will need: 

- 3 tbs. of sweet almond oil

- 3 tbs. of honey

- hot towel

- microwave safe bowl

Process:

1) Pour the almond oil and honey into the microwave safe bowl. 

2) Microwave for 20 seconds.

3) Mix the ingredients until they have blended almost completely. 

4) Prepare a hot towel: Use a small towel and you can either run it under scalding hot water from a faucet, dip it in water and microwave it, or boil water and pour it onto towel. The first was the easiest so that's what I did.

5) Make sure mixture is hot but not scalding and pour onto scalp. Massage it in and apply the rest of the mask by hand, making sure you hit every area of hair. 

6) Once all the mixture is used up, clip hair into a bun and wrap the hot towel around your head. 






7) Flip your head upside down for 4 minutes to get the blood flowing in the scalp. Leave mask in for 2 hours.

8) Finally, rinse out and shampoo hair until mixture is out. Wash your hair as normal.








These results were awesome. My hair immediately felt softer and moisturized. The smell was amazing, and the hot towel helped me feel like I was at a spa. Definitely a Must-Have experience. I recommend both masks wholeheartedly. Here is what my hair looked like after the olive oil and almond oil masks.

Shiny and Healthy!!

Treat Yourselves to these Luxurious Hair Masks Today!!

Happy Healthy Hair Journey!!

Monthly Goals

Since my length checks are on the 15ths of the month, this will mark the beginning of my month. I read from another blog that setting up small hair goals go a long way in the growing process. Plus I am realizing that I am extremely inpatient with my growth so doing these small goals will help me feel like I accomplished something.

For this month I will list four goals that I hope to accomplish.

1) Make and use an olive oil mask.

2) Deep condition my hair with a spray leave in.

3) Make and use a coconut oil hair mask.

4) Use protective styles 3 days a week.

As I mentioned in the previous post, my regimen is still changing and I am trying to tackle some difficulties I've been facing. The number one thing that I am having trouble with right now is moisturizing. The leave-in conditioner I have right now is awesome but I'm having trouble with surface frizz by day 3 and 4. I want to try different things and see what my hair likes best.

2nd Length Check! Success

A month has gone by, and I was itching with excitement to see the results. At this point, any type of length was going to make me happy. My ultimate goal was between .5 inch and 1 inch. I got just that! Around .75 inches, so very close to 1 inch! 

Just about 1 inch! Specifically .75 inch. Great growth so far!!

The name of the game is consistency. My journey is going to be about staying consistent to my regimen (which changes weekly; hopefully I will have a stable one soon) and always being patient with my ends. Just because the honeymoon stage is getting close to finishing, doesn't mean that I'm going to start slacking. 

If I can keep up with at least .5 inches every month, I will be at my goal in less than 3 years. I will pass where I was at before my cut in only 2 years! It astounds me that by being healthy and safe with my hair, I am cutting down 80% of the time it took me to grow it the last time! 

My next length check will be in 3 months, so hopefully there will be a bigger difference at that point! My goal is to be between lines 2 and 3. Let's see if I can get there!

Sometimes it's the little things...

While I've been working this summer, I have taken some pictures with my work shirt on. I'm starting to see a clear difference in length. Even though it is very slight, I'm excited to see the change! When growing out our hair, it's important to keep in mind that these small milestones are sometimes the push that helps us to keep going.

6/12/13

6/26/13

7/10/13

Using the "A" as a guideline, I can already see some growth! The first picture was a month ago, and the second was two weeks ago. Looks like I'm definitely on track with my +.5 inch of growth or more!! 5 more days until Length Check Day!! This is just the sneak peak ;D

New Updates

Just wanted to share some quick updates!

In a few weeks I am going to be trying an olive oil mask on my hair. If anyone is interested in trying it, I will put a post of the ingredients and my experience with it! I'm excited to try it and I hear it gives great results!

I got caught in rain twice, and the leave-in conditioner worked wonders for my hair! The curls stayed in tact and I didn't get too much frizz. The humidity is not touching my curls either which I am really happy about :)

There is only 12 more days until my first length check! I will post pics to see how my first recorded month went and review different parts of my regimen.

I'm finally getting consistent with my vitamins, so hopefully this helps my length in the long run.

Finally,

I'm going to start doing more scalp massages. I hear they are awesome for our hair because the improved blood flow in the scalp we get from them. So, I will see how that works out.

Until next time, curly girls!