Proteins

I've read a lot about people who have "protein-sensitive" hair and for a long time I believed that I was not one of them. However, looking back, most of the products I use have little to no protein in them anway. So on Thursday I went and I got my hair dyed (just a demi-permanent to mix it up). Just as the stylist was putting the styling products in my hair she said, "Oh your hair will love you! That dye was just loaded with proteins." It didn't really register to me until today, when after I did my normal routine and my hair was totally dry (and looked and felt like a haystack!) that I might just belong to the aforementioned group... Hmmm... not sure, but I think I will likely avoid proteins in my hair in the future. This sucks, but at least it washes out in 6 weeks!

Curl Mart

Just made my first Curl Mart purchase! Here's what's a-coming:
- Jessicurl Too Shea conditioner (x 2)
- Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper (x 1)
- Curl Junkie CoffeeCoco Curl Creme (x 1)

My week is more fun if I have something to look forward to :)

Of course, I'll post results!

BTW, I'm having a great hair day. Maybe I don't need to try more products?? Ha ha, yeah right!

I am not normal.

One of my very sweet, well intentioned friends asked me the other day if I would ever wear my hair "normal" again, meaning straight. I gently explained to her that I am a former straight-aholic. I cannot, must not, go near a flat iron right now. It has only been a month and a half into my curly hair recovery. Maybe one day I can try it again, but not right now. I know how addicting it can be. I am afraid of a relapse. And, of being normal...

February 2008 Hair

Okay, here are my picture updates as of February 14, 2008:







Top: Doesn't look much different from January, but the curls look healthier, more defined and less voluminous.
Middle: A little dark, but it was the best picture of what my hair looks like from the back.
Bottom: Later that same day, I pulled my hair up for work. I will never bun again! The claw looks cute :)
And, I am heavily contemplating wearing the flower in my hair everyday... So many compliments that day!

I recently added biotin vitamins in addition to my multivitamin, so I decided to measure my hair monthly as well. Seeing as I will probably continue to trim my bangs, I will only measure a dry coil underneath on the right side every month just to track growth progress. I will also measure the coil in two ways: first, the curl in it's natural state and second, the curl pulled out straight.

Curled: 5.5 inches
Straight: 7.75 inches

A little over 2 inch spring factor underneath... My guess is that for the longer pieces the spring factor is closer to 3 inches, though.

Shea Moisture

Just to begin, BeautyofNewYork.com rocks my socks! My package arrived right on time, much to my delight, in spite of the horrific rainy weather. My inner PJ says, "Sweeeeet!!"

I digress, on to more important things... In my humble opinion, Shea Moisture Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioner is the best product in the entire world! As I mentioned before, this product arrived smack-dab in the middle of a monsoon, so I was very curious to see how it would hold up to the inclimate weather. I immediately integrated Shea Moisture into my routine: Vanilla Mint Tea co-wash, Jessicurl Too Shea condish, Shea Moisture, and just for kicks I used only Jessicurl Confident Coils. That's it, nice and simple.

I have had amazing hair days for the past week. And I truly mean amazing. Soft, touchable, crunch-free, frizz-free, bouncy defined ringlets! This routine has happily rendered me silicone and sulfate free. I guess my lil curls were thirsty, is all! One imporant thing I noticed is that my hair has less volume than it did before, so finer/thinner hair that easily gets weighed down might not benefit from this specific item.

So, the product itself is very thick. Hard to squeeze out of the bottle and the consistency reminds me of squeeable butter. I'm not too excited about the smell. It reminds me of homemade playdough. Someone on NaturallyCurly.com suggested the smell is reminiscent of banana cream pie. I can kind of see why she thinks that. The smell is tolerable for two reasons: my hair looks great and it doesn't linger.

I will definitely repurchase this product again!
Rated: 5 curls out of 5

Current Routine

I finally went and purchased the Curly Girl book by Lorraine Massey which is heraleded as the bible for caring for ringlets. It certainly lives up to it's reputation! I learned a lot about the scientific "why's" and "how's" of curly hair and how to care for it. It is an easy read with a lot of good information. Funny, cute and helpful. It was only $10, so I definitely recommend any curly girly picking up a copy. So, from the book and from the unending support and advice from the girls at NaturallyCurly.com, I have created a modified "Curly Girl" (or CG for short) routine:

Daily
- Conditioner wash (Co wash) with V05 Vanilla Mint Tea Clarifying Conditioner (leaves my hair squeaky clean, smells good, and doesn't leave my roots greasy)
- Condition with Jessicurl Too Shea
- Use two quarter sized dollops of Jessicurl Confident Coils and Rockin' Ringlets (in that order) and use my fingers to rake through
- Then I separate my hair down the middle into two sections and then I break up each section into 2 or 3 more little sections and put Garnier Fructis Soft Curl Cream in my hair
- I also take a multivitamin and 2500 mcg of Biotin everyday.
With this routine, I get great curls and neglible frizz. The only problem is the SCC has dimethicone in it. Since I don't use cleansers (shampoos) with detergents, there is potential for build up, but I have experienced very little, if any, so far.

Nightly
I put a little bit of sweet almond oil (found in natural/health food stores) in my hair, concentrating on ends and put my hair into two little piggy tail braids. Oil is absorbed by morning, has yet to stain my sheets, leaves my hair soft and bouncy.

Weekly
- Do a "lemon-aid" rinse (recipe found in "Curly Girl")
- Do a deep treatment with Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment
- I do not put anything else in it and sleep with my hair wrapped up in an old tee-shirt

My hair is starting to look really good! The curls look happy and healthy! Yay!!! I am thoroughly enjoying being a curly fry :)

Official Product Junkie

So, now I just ordered Shea Moisture Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioner from Beauty of New York as it has come highly recommended for adding moisture and creating beautiful ringlets with no frizz. I'm excited! My hair responds well to extra heavy moisturizing conditioners, so I can't wait to try it, especially because New England's weather is so erractic: always humid (I'm on the ocean), cold, windy, snowy, rainy... I did the UPS 3 day ground shipping for this one though. It was only$3 more and I learned that I am an impatient person when it comes to caring for my hair! LOL I will definitely update sooner rather than later.

Also on my hair-care-to-order list:
- Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper
- Deva Angell
- Joico Joiwhip Mousse

Hmmm... I'm sure there are more, so I'll get back to you later.

Jessicurl Review

So, I've been lazy about posting lately... I did get my Jessicurl products. It seemed to take forever though. I placed the order on a Sunday night and didn't recieve it for 10 days! That's a long time for someone with a hair crisis! So here's my verdict, now that I finally tried all of the products included in my package:

1. Hair Cleansing Cream- Only used once as I do not shampoo my hair often. Didn't lather but got my hair sufficiently clean.
Rated: 5 curls out of 5
2. Too Shea- Light-er weight than I thought it would be. I use it after my cowash and let it sink in for at least five minutes. Not my favorite conditioner so far, but that might be because I'm used to using stuff with silicones.
Rated: 4 curls out of 5
3. Confident Coils & Rockin' Ringlets- They are okay. Using them together with no other product in my hair gives me fluffy, frizzy hair but not super horrible. They are not strong enough for me alone, but in conjunctin with another gel or mousse, I get better results. But, then I'm using 3 products in my hair, which is annoying...
Rated: 3. 5 curls out of 5
4. Awe Inspiraling Spray- I don't really need a refresher during the day, so I use this on second day hair. Kinda sticky once it starts to dry, but gives great hold.
Rated: 4.5 curls out of 5
5. Weekly Deep Treatment- Awesome!! Leaves my hair soft, shiny, frizz free and gives great clumps! My hair feels nice and moisturized for days afterwards and that's huge since it's the middle of winter and my hair usually feels like straw.
Rated: 5 curls out of 5

I got the Island Fantasy Scent: coconut, vanilla and citrus. I love the way it smells! It is light and fresh. Reminds me of de islands... Not overwhelming at all.

Overall, just okay, but I think that it's simply because my hair needs more hold.

Would reorder:
- Too Shea as a conditioner to rotate (Update 02/17/08: l-o-v-e it combined with Shea Moisture)
- Awe Inspiraling Spray because it's awesome in my second day hair
- WDT because it's just what the doctor ordered
- HCC whenever I happen to run out of it
- (Update 02/17/08: Would reorder CCSS to use in conjunction with Shea Moisture)

Hair Products

So, I just snuggled onto my couch, flipped open my laptop and began my usual website rounds: email, facebook, news, and I generally check out a site designed for the curly girly every now and then. I'm not sure which one I came across today, but under the products section it stated that their personal fave was products by Jessicurl. I have seen those products referenced before on other various websites, so I decided to check it out for myself. WOW! is all I can say... Jessica McGuinty has created a fantastic website! I am very impressed. She features instructional videos that are easy to follow, extremely relevant, and useful to help style curly hair (even without her products). I also love that she explains the "why's" of everything: why you should not brush your hair, why you should not touch it when it is wet, why the product you use leaves your hair crunchy, why you should use which diffuser and when, etc. She has certainly shed some light on how to handle curly hair. I also love that the products are created for different types of curly hair. Richer, thicker products for thick, long, heavy hair and light, airy products for shorter, thinner, finer hair. Brilliant! I find myself to be a very frugal person, but I was so impressed with her line of products (and how stunningly gorgeous her own hair is!), I purchased a combo pack of 6 products designed for thicker hair. I bought the products in the "Island Fantasy" scent which is a yummy concotion of coconut, vanilla and citrus (coconut is hands down my favorite scent of all time!). Buying that combo pack also addresses another one of my gripes for curly hair: It is difficult to find worthy products that all smell the same... My hair ends up smelling old lady-ish with the combo of products that I have to use. So, with all this said, the jury is still officially out on the effectiveness of Ms. McGuinty's products, however, when they arrive some time in the next week I will surely update you on how they stack up to my current cache of hair prodcuts. I'm so excited! Can't wait to try them all!! :)

Curly Celebs

Here are just a few of my favorite naturally curly celebs...








Gorgeous hair, right? :)

January 2008 Hair

This is what my hair looks like as of January 14, 2008. Not as bad as I thought... Maybe just a little reshaping and I could actually like the way it looks... Oprah-ish or no? I vote no...

A little timeline

From top to bottom:
1. Natural curls March 2006
2. Long, shiny and relaxed March 2007
3. Growing out. Top half curly, bottom half straight. 3 or more inches of relaxed ends. This is what transitioning hair looks like when it is raining. October 2008, on my birthday, right after my first chop.
4. November 2008 after my second "sugery." 2 or more inches of relaxed ends. Forced to straighten every day.

Hopefully, I will have a current picture posted tomorrow with my hair curly. One of my friends said its style resembles Oprah's... Not sure if that was a snarky comment or not, but I think Oprah knows what she's doing!

Oh, the begining...

Well, both mama and papa have curly hair and neither of them like it - Dad keeps his hair cropped short and mom diligently straightens her hair on a daily basis. Lucky for me, out of the three kids they spawned, I was the only one to inheret the curly hair gene :) Mimicking my gorgeous mother, I have spent the majority of my 24 years tugging my ringlets (often to no avail) straight. I am a long hair girl, meaning I always wear my hair long and prefer long hair on women in general. So in my neverending quest to achieve long, silky, pin straight hair I finally cracked and let someone relax my hair. For those of you who are not familiar with the term 'relaxing', it simply means perming your hair straight, as opposed to curly. Ah, September 29, 2006 was destined to ruin my life. On that day, I let a reckless stylist ruin my hair... At first, I loved it! Shiny strands, reduced straightening time, frizzless on the most dreary New England day, but then, very shortly thereafter, the honeymoon ended. My hair became very dry and took on this fried appearance, clumps started falling out of my scalp in random spots, and then the regrowth... Fuzzy curly roots became the bane of my existence for the next year or so. Imagine having two different textures in your hair! It was simply awful... Which leads to me why I am writing this blog. Eventually the fried, straight, gross hair had to be cut off. I decided it was time to just reconcile the fact that Mother Nature put every ringlet on my head for a reason. I decided to cut my hair on October 4, 2007, shortly before my 24th birthday. Traumatic, seeing as I only had a year's worth of regrowth which really only amounted to about 6 inches of virgin hair. So my stylist went slowly: at first just past the shoulders, then brushing the collarbone in November, and finally in December hovering above the shoulders. All in all at least 5 solid inches was shorne from my cascading mane... So devestating! But I quickly got over it once I decided that having my hair short(er) in its natural state is worth more than having long fuzzball hair. So here I am, slowly learning to love, nurture and maintain my ringlets. As hard as I am working to enjoy what nature gave me, I am quite eager to enjoy it at a longer length. So for the next year (or more?) I will lament the trials and tribulations of resisting the urge to chop and letting it grow. I will furnish this blog with photos of the progress and rap philosophical about my triumphs, pitfalls, envies, products, and just life in general. I hope you at least get a kick out of a girl whose vanity leads her to spend actual, valuable time to muse about her hair...