Twists Great for Protective Transitioning Hair

This Twisted Hairstyle is really cute to me. I think the twists are an elegant look. It's fun because you can manipulate the hair and create looks just with that. This twist isn't with any hair but my own. I like the sweet organic look of it. I think it's feminine and chic. You can dress up or down and still make it look beautiful. 

This is also a great protective style. I often manipulate my hair 2-3x a week. Even now as I'm testing to transition. But styles like this can allow me to not manipulate as much. Roping the hair like this allows it to grow and get stronger. Especially the top of my head which is tight coils from my observation. This hair is stronger when you pack more of it into a section. 

Twisted Sista

I am embracing my Twists hairstyle. Quite often, twists are the interim of a hairstyle. The style isn't complete until you take the twists out. But I've been loving how the twists are when I leave them as is. It has a unique quality to it and is very ethnic. The twists can be done in many ways. What I did today was a side twists with several in the back falling down. 

I love how elegant twists look. Compared to braids hairstyle, unless it is micro or additional hair, braids aren't as appealing. Or atleast I have not been able to make mine look appealing enough to wear as a style. But the look of twists is very beautiful. And I think very chic and elegant. 

Embracing this style will be more from my own willpower. People react interesting with twists or braids in. Compared to all my hair out and wavy. They give strange looks as if they are trying to understand it. I'm not quite sure what they are thinking but I feel that I get a weird response as if my hair is unkept. But look at this hair! It's absolutely beautiful. How can people see it as unkept? 

I think people are programmed to undermine twists and braids as a beauty style due to the way that we have embraced them in our culture. Many People associate these looks as poor or homely. Especially braids or "Dookey braids" as I've heard before are portrayed in Slavery movies and therefore many Black people seem to be ashamed of rocking this style unless they play sports. But to me, it is absolutely beautiful. Especially the twists. There are so many ways I can style it. 

I started on freshly cowashed hair. I parted my hair into sections and sprayed my Jane Carter Leave-In and then my Herbal Essence detangler to each section. I combed and detangled. Then i twisted each little section. When i had completely sprayed and detangled my hair. I used the sectioned off parts to map out how I would like the style to lay. Using butterfly clips to hold the hair in place, I retwisted sections to my desired look. 

I would like to perfect this look and find ways to make it stand out and just be so Bomb. The back, I got tired and didn't re twist some sections. I will need to get better at the back.  I will probably have to do a video to show everything step by step. 

As I said before this is a style I don't see used too often but it is truly a cute style that is often only used for pre-styling. It's my goal to play with the parts and how to twist to see what I can come up with. 

This style is really great for transitioning hair because it protects it for the most part. Also, there are certain sections of my hair that are stronger and grow better when held together. This is the double benefit of this style because I am not taking the twists out, the hair becomes stronger the longer it is bonded to a section. 

I plan to keep this style in over night. I will pin the ends to each side tomorrow and workout. Id like to see if the twists hold after sweating. If they do, I plan to take rollers and put it on the ends. And shower and rinse my hair with conditioner with twists still in. Let it dry and then take it out. I will follow up in another post to see if this plan of action works. I know it works with braids. But twists are typically harder to hold together especially once wet. We will see! Feeling like a hair scientist. 

What becomes of the Broken Hearted

Venus RX is all I'm about right now. Learning to work with this energy to benefit me. I've even exploring Mother Nature for comfort and sensuality. Venus is the planet of beauty. All too often we think of this "made-up" sense of beauty that is overly plucked and tucked. Ironed out and perfectly blushed. Yes Venus represents this beauty but she also represents the beauty of Mother Nature. Natural Beauty. 

During this stretch/transition I've gone back and forth of whether I am really doing this transition to natural thing or not. I feel like maybe my reasoning for making that big decision was not clearly defined. And this sort of decision requires a lot of preparation. I thought that going natural would be a transforming choice to embrace my natural beauty. And as I've watched my new growth grow in I'm often faced with some ugly thoughts and feelings. 

I've realized the transformation from relaxed to natural for so many Black women runs deeper than an A++ Hair regimen. The way that we have grown to love and understand our hair in this society is so backwards. And I've felt myself obsessing over hair texture and type. I've fought the good fight in claiming that all black hair is 'Good Hair' except now I see darker feelings towards my own. 

I struggle each day of this stretch/transition to embrace the kinky texture on my hair. But at the same time, I am learning how to love and take care of it. And it's becoming overwhelming. 

The truth that I am coming to is that I may not be mentally or physically ready to take on a full transition from relaxed to natural. It will take a lot of trial and error to re-learn my natural hair. At the same time, I do want to spiritually clean out the dark thoughts that I have about my own kinky hair. 

I'm considering that this will be a stretch and that I might do some long term stretches to prepare to transition. During these stretches I can challenge myself to learn the products that will work well with my natural hair. I can learn and prep and practice dealing with two textures. And I can emotionally prepare to say good by to relaxed hair and embrace my full natural head of hair. This will certainly be a long journey.

 I am willing to take this journey because when I first relaxed my hair at age 13. The relationship I had with my kinky hair was pretty abusive. I could not wait to get rid of it. And when I did have it permed it was a 'burned bridge' kid of energy. I will need to rebuild my relationship with my kinky curls. And it may be a slow process. And I'm okay with that. 

I have come to reason that perming my hair is not an act of self-hate but now of self-love. In 2008, when I started my hair journey, I began developing a lovig nurturing relationship with my hair. And because of this I have been able to enjoy it in ways I never could imagine. I know that when I focus on my hair, I have a really kindred relationship with it. And so even though perming is evil to some. It has a fairly healthy place in my hair regimen. 

Too often, I have heard 'naturals' dispel perming. I have watched documentaries that expose the beauty industry and how harsh it can be. I've desired to be apart of the elevated wave of beauty. But somehow I've confused going natural as being elevated. I've been elevating since the beginning of this hair journey. Yes, I am learning to love my kinky hair again, but I've been putting a lot of loving of my hair already for years. Going natural is about me, and when I incorporate it I will be elevating. As long as I am operating from a place of self love. Some natural women will look down on women who perm, but then color their hair. What makes them any different? Or they will wear sew ins or weaves or wigs. What makes that more elevated than permig your hair? I have come across naturals who claim that because they are natural they are elevated, and yet they are just as ignorant as any other. 

To me it's about how much do you love yourself and know yourself. At the end of the day, we all got work to do when it comes to learning how to love yourself. When we are operating from a place of self-love, I believe there will be no judgements, just a lot of Black women with beautiful kinky, curly, straight or permed hair. We will know ourselves. We will nurture our crowns. And we will build each other up. 

This is my vision. 

The Science of Black Hair

As I've been undergoing this stretch/possible transition, I've encountered a realization about the kind of dedication and commitment it takes to take care of, maintain and style Black Hair. It truly is a Science. And I see now how many Black women who choose to take their 'Hair Matters' into their own hands are Scientists. They are chemists in lab. Analyzing and exploring the texture and style of their hair and how it interacts with other Conditioners, Shampoos, leave-ins (chemicals) etc. I've thoroughly enjoyed being apart of this movement. And I am thinking about writing a blog post about this phenomenon. In fact, I might just get on that right after, 'Decoding The Model Chick' post that I have been slowly producing.

On my transitioning hair, I am getting ahead of myself as I am dealing with at the least, 3 hair textures. And i'm obsessing about my hair type. I really want to understand it, but it will not be an easy road traveled I see. And why is hair type so essential? Well, most would say it doesn't matter. But I think in order to be the excelled scientist of your own hair, understanding your hair type can help you to understand why and which products works best for the kind of styling results you desire.
However, the mere chart of hair 'typing' is foggy. And there isn't quite enough focus on deciphering between the two. Maybe this will be apart of my journey, to truly understand hair type so that I can understand mine.

Detangling, is truly an art. And I have yet to perfect it. However, as much as I am critical of my techniques, I find that I fail to see the good that comes out of my hair styling. I am obsessed over getting my detangling right. I see the new growth is not as detangled when its time to do twists and braids, and the straight ends are detangled, but then right at the line of demarcation, the natural hair spreads and expands the way the hair lays. This spreading or expansion right at the line of demarcation is the true cause of tangled matted hair in stretched/transitioning hair.

As elementary as I am to detangling my natural hair, I have to give myself props. I've been on this hair journey for a few years now, and I have to say confidently that I can style it so it does come out looking decent. I find myself to be highly critical of my hair and I desire internally to perfect it. I think there is a good reason to strive for perfection, but in the interim of where you are and where you'd like to be, its necessary to be happy at where you are so that you can truly be where you would like to be.

I am learning this now. And I see that during this Venus Rx, as I choose to commit my studies of Astrology with my beauty practices, that I will be undergoing the internal process of 'perfect beauty" and what that means and looks like for me.

This will certainly be an interesting phase.

2 day old twist out & better habits

I'm proud of myself this morning as I've often fallen into the trap of just getting ready for work. But I did my hair early today; hours before I go to work. This is about feeling like you are presenting your best self to you and your day; not just your part timer. I am encouraging myself to be even more experimental when it comes for dressing up for my day! 

Today, I did a top Bantu knot on an old braid out. I am enjoying my two textures as I play with the idea of transitioning. I do feel like I'm going to miss my relaxed ends, but I'm curious to give my natural hair a try as she never had a chance. Not in this society. 

HAIR SUPPLIES LIST & YOUTUBE Channel Brainstorm

Okay,

I'm back for real. I've journeyed through my hair since 2009. But now its time to test the limits of my stretch/possible transition to natural. During this period I'm stocking back up on old staples; shampoo, conditioners, leave - ins and oils.

PRODUCTS:

1. EVOO - Remember back on the hair boards? EVOO was the name of the game. Is it still? a New jar of Extra Virgin Olive oil for deep conditioners, pre-poo and seal.

2. AVOCADO OIL - Traycee from 'Keep it Simple Sista' put me onto this. It gives a great slip. A little goes along way. Great for deep conditioners too!

3. Herbal Essence Long Term Relationship - I can't find it anywhere! So i'm on the search for a new staple moisturizer leave-in.

4. Deep Conditioners - Queen Helene (protein), ORS MAYO (protein),

5. Bee Mine products - Always wanted to try from this line.

6. I still got that Huetiful Hair steamer on my wishlist.


REGIMEN:

• Cleansing conditioner bi weekly
• Clarify every 4-6 weeks - pre-poo before
• Deep Condition on dry Hair 1x week <--- protein bi weekly
• Moisturize & Seal nightly 
• Sleep on satin pillow or with scarf or both

YOUTUBE: Brainstorm ideas.

1. Creating a VENUS RX Youtube Channel. In fact, I might call it Venus Retrograde.

• reviewing hairstyles from top you tubers Titles like : "Nina Pruitt' inspired w 3 strand twistout"
• product reviews
• hair transition to natural diary

New year! New HAIR GOALS!

 I just did a stretch for 16 weeks and will be relaxing/texlaxing this weekend. What I learned about my hair during this long stretch is essential and i feel that I am ready to transition to natural. however, I am going to take the whole year to prep for transitioning. I want to take my time and  revamp my whole routine so that my knowledge about my hair expands and I am prepped with the right products, hairstyles and routines. 

I found some serious problems during this last stretch. Problems that if I don't solve, my hair will lose the health that I've worked so hard for. Honestly, some days turned into weeks of me not even touching my hair because I was overwhelmed by the two different textures. I love my relaxed hair, and I am falling in love with my natural hair! So I want to use 2015 to merge myself into my natural hair, while paying homage to my relaxed strands. Also, it will be easier to learn in sections. This is what i learned about my hair during this last stretch and some areas that I will need to revisit in order to have an even better experience with my stretch in the summer. 

What I learned about my natural hair this stretch: 

1. The hair by the crown of my head grows faster than any other part of my head. 

2. I need to revamp my leave-in, something more watery, and moisturizing. Maybe i'll make it at home

3. My hair does not take any of my favorite styles after 13 weeks  (braidouts and twists are dull looking)

4.  My ends are the hardest to gain curl during transitioning, they stick straight out even with curly styles

5. Flexirods was my most successful hairstyle! maybe because of the stretching that they do at the root.

6. I need to re-learn moisture and protein balance for my kinky curlier hair.

7. I love the curls growing out of my head! They are bouncy and cute. Can't wait to see my whole head natural in one year!

8. Coconut oil is fantastic on my relaxed strands, but doesn't seem to be as effective when transiting..?

9. Plagued by the fear that I can't wear my hair straight as much as i'd like when natural, i'm on a mission to find a straight hair routine that is not damaging so I can enjoy straight hair too when natural. 

10. Ends ends ends! my ends are too straight and fine and i don't know how to treat them during transitioning, they are extremely different than the rest of the strand. How do I make my hairstyles look banging during the transition? 

If you have any product, or routine suggestions, i'd gladly take them as I experiment and find the right methods. I might even consider creating some videos with your suggestions. i'm really happy that I always have this platform to share my hair concerns, fears, and challenges. blessings.