Friday 24 April 2015

They see me rolling......





Firstly where did the last couple of weeks go?
We have been busy buy here with school, college, homeschool, courses....... whoooaaah not to mention house stuff. I am STILL trying to find the special life balancing card that will grant me the secret of juggling every area my life annnd allow me to have enough spare time so I can relax and enjoy a hobby or two... oh and sleep. Since I haven't found it yet my blogging has taken a nose dive... AGAIN!!

Last week, I tried another roller set to stretch my hair, my last attempts were fails+ but I have been seeing such great results from vloggers/bloggers/Intagrammers and decided that I'd have another go and if it was a fail I'd just brush my hair up in a bun and call it a day. I think the fact that I have wearing my hair curly for a while has allowed me to be less stressy when it comes to shrinkage and frizz etc.
I needed to stock up on my Dominican conditioners so while I was at the hair shop I picked up some magnetic rollers along with some hair goodies and couldn't wait to roll up (my hair of course... not... well you know what.... anyway...).

I washed my hair and wanted to add some protein as I had been using alot of moisturising conditioner during the week to refresh my wash and go. I didn't however want to do a heavy protein treatment so I added some Motions Professional Oil Moisturizer Deep Penetrating Silk Protein Conditioner
in my deep conditioner mix.

When my wash day routine was done I started with the rollerset. Originally I planned to wash my hair and deep condition for a few hours and then rollerset allowing my hair to air dry before I went to bed or maybe use the dryer on cool, something came up which meant I had to scrap the plans and ended up rollersetting right before bed and sleeping on the rollers, surprisingly not as bad I thought it would be, turned out not painful but awkward.

I followed some tips that I gathered from the many different posts/videos:
*Making sure my hair was wet.
*Using adequate amount of wrap lotion ( I used Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Frizz Free Curl Mousse)
*Keeping the rollers taut while rolling and clipping
*smooth the hair onto the roller.

I had to re-roll a couple rollers and to be honest I need a little practice to perfect my rolling technique but it was much better than the times before. I used bobby pins when needed
I placed my hairnet over the rollers and went to sleep.

I kept the rollers in for a while during the day to make sure my hair was fully dry and when I took the net off I was surprised to see the hair on the rollers was smooth! when them down my hair was smooth and shiny, I was amazed as I hadn't used any heat at all!! As the whole point of the rollerset was to stretch and straighten my hair, I brushed it out and wowww I loved the results. I could also get a looksie at my hair growth so far, I was shocked at how much it has grown in the last 2 months or so, it may be the wash and go's and twist outs that's doing it as I don't need to comb my hair so often plus I used conditioner to style them so my hair has been loving the moisture.

I forgot to take pics straight away and remembered a day or so after doh, soooooo the following pics aren't as straight and slightly frizzy and my face looks very strange in one and my eyes weird in the other so I blocked it out buttttttt it's the hair that counts right? ..... yeah:


rollerst: Fluffy and stretched
rollerset: side part




















When I got tried of wearing my hair down, I put it into a side parted low bun, the rollerset made the bun very sleek indeed:





I'm thinking of rollersetting again soon as I really did like the results, I will probably try the saran/cling-film wrap method and see how that goes.


Saturday 4 April 2015

Wash Day "chronicles"



Clarifying Wash Day Items



I realise my blogging has been sporadic... ok it's been baaaad. I am trying to juggle so many things and getting everything done is becoming a dream rather than a reality and the things that are not absolutely essential remain undone, blogging is one of those things and all the ideas, posts and thoughts remain in my head and not on my blog *sigh*

My last Wash Day post has been ages ago but I (obviously) have been washing my hair since then, every week actually and I have been making little changes and reintroducing items that I stopped using for some reason. I thought it would be a good idea to post about the changes so I can see if they make a difference to my hair - for the good or bad.

Only one pre-poo - I put oil in my hair and leave it in overnight and use that as my pre-poo rather than doing one before the shampoo. I use coconut oil overnight, depending on the way my hair feels/looks I decide whether I need to add a conditioner or not and also if I need to use a different oil altogether. This has helped to cut down on time and hasn't caused any problems.
Coconut Oil right after last rinse - Another thing I stopped doing for no reason at all, I don't even know what made me start again but I am glad I did, it really makes a difference.

Essential oils - For some reason, I stopped using EO's during wash days but I added them again a couple of weeks ago (or more, I'm losing days lol) I add them to my tea rinses and also to my conditioner mix. 

Adding oil(s) to my Conditioner Mix - I have started to add oil again, I stopped as I thought it was overkill with the oil as I use oil overnight but I love the way my hair feels after deep conditioning with the oils and my hair is soft and shiny.

Finger detangling only - I didn't mean to omit the comb during my wash day routine, I just forgot to comb my hair out lol, I normally comb the conditioner through my hair when applying in sections and then again just before I rinse it out. Somehow I forgot to detangle on wash day, I only realised that I forgot when I was putting in my leave ins. I didn't notice any added problems caused by the lack of comb. When I forgot again I decided to leave comb detangling out for a while to see how my hair gets on without it.

Allowing my hair to dry more before adding leave ins - I found that doing it this way made a difference to how my hair felt and looked the next day. I used to just remove the excess water but letting my hair dry more has become part of my routine that I will keep. I think adding the coconut oil straight away makes this work so well.

Banding - When I wanted to stretch my hair I reached for my trusty thread and did the African thread technique but it takes soooooo long and I found my ends would keep getting ripped off *gasp* I am sure its my technique that's wrong as I sometimes knot it in a way that tangles up my hair but I bought a couple packs of hairbands and went back to banding, I loved the way my hair looked and can't even remember why I stopped in the first place.... I think maybe it was harsh on my hair or something but for the time being it's going well. I'll keep an eye on the bands to see if and hair gets caught in them.


Sulphate-free Wash Day Items

Sooooooo there it is, wash day changes, additions and omitions (is that even a word?) so far it's working well for me.

Friday 3 April 2015

Good Friday!!

Today is Good Friday, The day when Jesus died for our sins.

Although I am aware that Jesus came to earth and died and rose again everyday, it really seems to resonate over the Easter period and on Good Friday especially.

I have many battles to face, daily I am faced with my own inner voice taunting, shouting and bringing me down. Then the external voices weigh in and make me stop in my tracks at times.
I am going through a hard time at the moment but know this will pass.
A few months ago I had a down phase and it knocked me for six. I really had to dig deep and claw my way to get out of the tangled chains but I made it and now I feel the dark cloud threatening to engulf me I am trying to do the same thing and pull myself out.

I am using the significance of Good Friday and remembering that every hurt, pain and depressive thought I have was nailed on that cross with my Saviour.
I am comforted to know that He feels my hurts and pains, He knows how I feel and cares.
When He arose, He conquered everything that could keep me bound and set me free, even when it doesn't feel like it, I AM FREE.

Life can be hard at times but I am thankful for life, that I am living, that I want to live. There was a time when I really didn't want to be but I really do want to live and that alone is reason to be thankful.

With all that being said, I hope you all are having a great Easter so far. Here's one of my fave songs that really bring the Easter theme to life, enjoy xxx