Hair Diary *4*

I've had the crochet braids in for a minute but am totally dying to take them out!!

I'm way too impatient.

I still do love the style but I want to change it up. I made the mistake of washing it (a few times) and obviously because this is synthetic hair it has caused it to go a little ratty. I have been cutting the ends out almost daily to try to keep it feeling nice.

It looks fine but it just gets a little more tangled than it probably should or would if I had not have washed the hair.

I really just want to get in there and detangle my hair to see the amount of shedding I have going on.

I also really want to do a good Henna treatment and a Roller set. Once I do those 2 things I think that itch will be gone for the most part and I will put it back up into another set of crochets.

When I take them out I will also do a measurement to see exactly where I am at compared to before.

Here are a few shots of the hair washed and detangled with the denman brush. They clump nicely and after the curls dry I separate with my fingers.

Because its wet, you can see the braids in between. Plus I didn't add as much hair as I should have in the middle, but thats cool with me. I hadn't noticed but since I have been chopping into the hair I can see that it is a little crooked. I'll go back through later and even it out, but it doesn't seem like much reason to if I do decide to take it out within the next few days.

I've had them in for 2 weeks. I said I was going to wear them for a month. I think, I should probably go another week before I take them out.

I shampooed today with my rosemary shampoo and put coffee into my spray bottle with suave conditioner and castor oil. Going to spray my scalp and massage it in a little later.

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - TOLT *4*

Thinking Out Loud

Hair

• The Crochet Braids are holding up great, after I hit them with the scissors.
• With a little neglect because of our loss of Dawnyele over the weekend, I haven't been doing anything to it. I could see how easily matted and tangled it could get.
• Even though I have not had these in for a month yet, I am itching to take them out and do something different.
• I get hair bored very fast and very easily.
• I have been doing the coffee to the scalp and I actually like the way it feels.
• I ended up tossing the last coffee mix I made. Definitely needed a preservative.
• 
  

Everything Else

• My favorite shows playing now are The Voice, Grimm, Homeland, The Walking Dead, and Revolution.
• Of course The Walking Dead and Homeland are top 2.
• I am NEVER using MAC foundations again.. After months I got my skin looking great and the second I apply my ProLongwear I look jacked up again...
• Now working on getting rid of it. Actually not taking pics because of that. It looks really bad.
• Just got finished reading Breed by Chris Novack... Eehhh... Don't waste your time.
• I have yet to start reading 50 Shades of Grey... Don't even ask why.
• I realize that I have a really short attention span.. Not cool. lol
• I have a problem with people who try to compare one persons situation to someone else's in an attempt to make their point seem valid. Its BS. You cant compare people like that.
• My nails are holding up great, but I'll need a fill soon 
• Its very difficult to get back in the swing of things without my friend Dawn around.
• :(

For Baby Zaylen

Dawnyele Partee's gift list on MyRegistry.com

If you would like to contribute and help out Dawnyele's family the link above will direct you to a registry with everything the baby may need.

I will be sending what I can as I would feel horrible not doing so.

I've known her far too long not to.

R.I.P. Dawnyele

I'm in tears. I'm in shock.

How could this have happened?

She was one of my first followers when I started youtube. She was one of my first followers when I opened up my twitter account and the same when I recently opened my facebook page.

She was one to comment on each video I posted. She was funny. She was great to talk to. She was a beautiful person, inside and out.

We got to know each other on a personal level and even though we were not extremely close, as I tend to keep a lot of people at a distance for my own reasons, I considered her a real friend. I always thought of her when I posted a video. I always thought of her when I did a new hairstyle.

She was the queen of twist outs! I could never get mine to look as nice as hers.

I never got the chance to meet her face to face but often thought of just taking that long drive, just for a quick visit.

I had actually been thinking of her, wondering if she had the baby yet. I hadnt seen her post on twitter, facebook, or youtube. Come to find out that this is what happened.

In the back of my mind, I keep hoping she is going to pop up with a new video telling us all that this was a publicity stunt.

I'm in utter denial.

But obviously, this is real.

This is life.

This is crazy! And I know some people would think I am out of my mind for crying so hard over someone I never met before, but I didn't need to meet her to know her. She was a true friend. There are always those certain people that you feel connected with. for me she was one of those people.

I started out being her hair inspiration and she ended up being my inspiration. I'm so sad because she will never know that.

I pray that her baby makes it out of this well.

R.I.P Dawnyele

Preventing a Major Setback and Maintaing Healthy Hair

Sometimes you get a little breakage, but then the breakage never stops. You try this and that to help, but it doesn't.

How do you fix this problem? How do you prevent another setback??

When I begin dealing with any hair issues, if I don't do something about it right away the issue continues and ends up becoming much worse than it started out to be. There are steps that I go through that help me to diagnose and fix any of these issues.

Step 1

Stop! Sit down and think about the issues I have been having and how long they have been going on. Go over all of the things I have been doing to my hair or not doing as well as the products I have been using. Writing these things down will help tremendously.

Step 2

Figure out which things may have been the cause of my hair issues.

Step 3

Come up with new ways to approach the hair. What can I get rid of? What should be replaced? What can I add to my regimen to make it better?

Step 4

Begin implementing those plans! After a while if you are still seeing these issues start over again and see what else you can do to help.

Here's a Scenario

Hair starts feeling weird and breaking, so I look back through everything and realize that the only thing that has changed in my regimen is a new conditioner. I look at the ingredients and see that it is totally full of silicons.

My hair hates too much cones! My solution is to stop using this conditioner completely. I need to get rid of the cones coating the strands of my hair, so I am going to shampoo with a sulfate based shampoo. This will strip the cones from the shaft of my hair and give me a fresh start.

I need to deep condition my hair, so I am going to use something moisturizing but with some protein to help curb the breakage, like Motions CPR or Aphogee reconstructor. I'm going to let that sit overnight so it soaks in really well. I realized that the longer I leave my conditioners in the better my hair feels, and I use heat as well.

Within a few days you should notice a difference in your hair. You have to figure out and know what works for your hair, what your hair likes and doesn't like. Experiment with different types of products. Maybe your hair hates protein. Maybe your hair loves cones.

Figure out what works for you and it will all come very easy.


Be Consistent!! That is the best way to see results and keep seeing them. My issue over the past few years since I cut my hair was consistency. I had so much going on in my life, my hair was the last thing that was on my mind. Thats not good because if things would have been easy enough so I could focus on my hair then I would probably be close to WL by now.

I now have that time. I can focus more on my hair and I am going through that journey again. Figuring out what works for my hair again. Going back and actually watching my old videos and reading my old posts for advice, like I used to read advice from other people.

Its actually very interesting and enlightening. To go back and see where I started and how I got to that high point, is amazing.

When my hair was at its peak I experienced ZERO!! breakage and very few shed hairs.

It takes a lot to get to that point and now I do have very little breakage. Its the shedding that is currently bothering me, which I think is worse than breakage to a certain degree.

Everyone's hair is different. I found that my hair loves protein, so whenever I am experiencing breakage I do a hardcore protein treatment or a reconstructor. This really helps my hair a lot. Keeps it very strong and healthy.

You need to also be able to see ahead of time what your hair needs. You don't want to wait until your hair starts breaking at the ends to do that deep conditioning treatment.

Keeping these things in mind will help prevent many, many setbacks in the future and your hair will grow healthy and long for sure!

:)