nappylove

I left half my hair on the floor...

Let's start with the things that went right.  It felt great to have someone else wash my hair, it was actually worth every penny just to have someone else massaging my scalp, ahhhh. The stylist actually trimmed my ends, she didn't cut off 5 inches.  And that's about it.  She was very nice. 

What went wrong?  I guess I'm too much of a "natural" nappy, I kept thinking, "Is that a sulfate shampoo, are there cones in the conditioner?"  More than likely, the answer was yes, but I tried not to think about it.  Then she grabbed that little small tooth comb and I knew I was in trouble.  I almost told her to just blow it out, but I just suggested she get a comb with larger teeth.  Even then, there was some serious pulling and tugging. 

Why do people fight the naps?  How is all that snatching and pulling conducive to healthy hair?  I even washed and conditioned my hair beforehand so I could detangle it myself.  I guess I missed a few kinks.  I was too scared to look at the floor afterward. 

She twisted my hair with her own concoction that she'd named "cream oil" which may very well have been a combination of pink oyl moisturizer and something else.  Whatever it is, she swore up and down it made my hair "softer and more manageable."  It's already starting to itch, that's for sure.

So that's it.  I'm done.  I'm going to have to find a reliable light-handed person to braid my hair for the winter because what I went through today--for the birds.  I was physically tired afterward and needless to say, my head hurt like hell.  I started having flashbacks to when I was used to get my hair wrapped right after a retouch and they would take that little evil comb and scrape the burned flesh off my scalp.  Uh uhn.  No more. 

On the upside, my sister thought the twists were cute.  I disagree which is why there is no picture...

Knots and Tangles, Daughters of Neglect...

I've not been very good to my hair lately.  I was previewing my winter protective style, I figured I could do 2-strand twists for three weeks.  I would twist my hair while dry, the next week I'd wash it and wear it like that, then the last week, I would wear the twistout.  I'm currently in week 2, my hair was so tangled and I had so many, many little black knots on the ends that I just got the scissors out and trimmed.  It was ridiculous.  Not only did I have tangles and knots, I found several mid-shaft splits.  That was a disappointment.  I don't know, it's hard when you get wrapped up in your hair and you see damage.  I blame myself for not taking the twists out, but I'm trying to keep my hands out of my hair since I've been thinking about cutting it.  I'd pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't going to color it or cut it, but now...the color is out, no way am I going to subject my tresses to any potential chemical damage at this point.  As far as the cut...I honestly don't know.

My sister...a nappy?

Whew!  Been a minute.  I've been meaning to blog, just about every day I would say I was going to, but then...something (probably school related) would happen.  But here I am, with *shocking* news to report.  My sister called me today to tell me that she was thinking about letting her perm grow out.  She even told our mama, so I knew she was serious. She'd been complaining about her hair breaking off and I told her about Aphogee (can't stop praising it enough), and Humectress (love it, love it).  She got the Aphogee, but since Nexxus products ain't the cheapest, she skipped the condish for now.  I may just give her one of my many, many bottles.  I had a real problem for a while, I bought a new bottle every time I went to the store.  I was like Elaine and the Today sponges on Seinfeld, remember that? 

Uh oh, I'm feeling chatty tonight.  Might be a long one.  In other news, I rescheduled my coloring/cutting hair appointment for the 31st.  I figure if it turns out bad, it'll already be Halloween I'll just take the kids trick or treating as Angry Black Woman Having A Bad Hair Day.  I'm actually reconsidering the whole thing.  I realized this past Sunday, which I spent deep conditioning and detangling my hair, that I love my hair.  I have been so unhappy with it lately, and I was trying to find the source of my unhappiness--as well as a cure.  All kinds of craziness went through my head, including THAT.  But only for like, two seconds.  The thought of my hair being limp and lifeless against my head just does not appeal.  But I did consider texturizing it for about five minutes.  I seriously thought about locking again, but I know I'm not ready. I don't know, I want something different.  Maybe the color will do it.  I'm torn between keeping the length or cutting it down to about 6 inches.  We'll see. 

Latchhook Locs

It is time, once again, to tighten Bri's locs.  It's funny because when her hair was loose, it seemed as if it didn't grow at all.  I wonder if I'm tightening it too often, for aesthetic reasons I just can't wait until there is a 3-inch afro under these ittle-bittle locs.  For the record, if I had it to do over again, we'd be palm-rolling for maintenance.  For some reason, her locs are dry all the time and I have no idea what to do about that.  No amount of spritz has made an impact so far...maybe she isn't drinking enough water.  Who is though?

I've reached the point where I can see a beautiful set of locs and appreciate them without being envious.  I consider this an important milestone.  I still miss my locs, I was looking at some pics of my sister-in-law's  baby shower, I had my locs all cute and curly--but I can honestly say I don't want that back.  I've actually been thinking about cutting.  Serious cutting, like down to 3-4 inches.  I don't know.  I JUST celebrated this milestone birthday and...I don't know.  My hair is like nappy-curly.  Too nappy to be curly, too curly to be nappy.  Of course, I'm going to think this over for a minute before I do anything.