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. 

Dressing room play

Old pics from my dressing room experience at necessary clothing 

Hair update: stretching season

I feel like I am in such a good place with my hair. And whenever I do my hair I just have so much pride and joy! And when things go awry ... I have less anxiety about it. There is just this inner confidence that says I have beautiful hair and I know how to take care of it! I don't care to much about its length ... If it needs a trim or a dusting I'm snipping ends off. If it is feeling dry I moisturize it. There are days when I fall off my routine completely. And when it happens I just shrug ... Get back on track and never look back. I'm so happy with my relationship with my hair. I've been thinking about going natural and I'm not committed. I'm not goin to get anxiety over that either. If I feel like relaxing I will... If I feel like stretching a little longer I will. Just going with the flow. I am at 8 weeks post now so I am entering a four week stretch phase. Everything I do changes now and I'll just adapt and adjust. My hair is my crown and my pride and joy. It feels good to love myself without any shadow feelings... No anxiety. I am generally prou of how far I've come on this journey. 

Dressing room Hopping

One of my new hobbies as I enter into my fashion journey, is dressing room hopping. It's kind of exciting actually. I go and pick out all kinds of styles and colors and textures. Things that I wouldn't dare to try over the past few years. But doing  it now and finding pieces that I'm actually proud of wearing. I'm excited for this new hobby. Most of the time I don't buy it unless I find it's a really good deal or I just can't live without it. This practice helps me to slowly expand my wardrobe and to not end up wasting money on items I don't need. But most of all, it gives me a platform that is safe and comfortable to go outside of my fashion comfort zone and just explore! Here are outfits I put together after my last outing at UO. 

Face of the day

I wasn't sure if these colors would look too much but it actually worked out. I love the look of this. Now I really gotta focus on making my skin flawless with and without makeup. 

Eyes are the orange in the fergie eyeshadow collection...(love) 

Lips are the stoplight red in wet n wild collection 

Face of the day

I had to redo this look because I tried putting a lighter gold on the inside of my corners but I didn't like it. So I went back to the full lid with this dark plum-ish shade. I've been big on single shades on my eyes but maybe I'll stray and try other methods soon enough. My goal with makeup is to look done up but not too caked up.. Just enhancing my features . I'm still in apprentice mode but I take my makeup practice seriously as I really want to master it. Dark eye nude lip 

Straight hair comeback and long hair realization

Last year I wore curly braid-outs all year long. Yes I did and I loved were bit of it. But it's time now for a change and I'll be braiding still once I hit my 5 week post mark and then maybe even before then because braid-outs are so damned convenient. But I'm pushing now for straight hair. I realized I need to sharpen my skills on what products to use for straight hair and why just like how I learned with braidouts. So I'm hitting up the roller sets. After a little bit of time, I will do a roller set challenge! 

Now that my hair is longer I find that im getting even more attention. For some reason straight and long hair is bombshell attention. (Haha silly) but it's true. However--- and that's a big however --- short hair has more fun and to me more personality and exotic sex appeal. I love my hair short or long. Straight or curly. What I love even more is that I have the choices to do either without fearing hair loss or the ability to not grow back. This healthy hair lifestyle has given me so much confidence and freedom to express. I feel like I have finally come full circle with my hair and I just love my hair so much!!! I'm excited to continue on my journey to hairlista mastery.