nappylove

Homemade Hair Products...

I joined the Homemade Hair Product challenge on Nappturality.  I have so many basic ingredients sitting around that I haven't been using, the challenge will be a good way to try some new things and get rid of them.  It just so happens that I ran out of spritz the other day, so I used an old Bath & Body Works bottle and made a new batch. I used a handful of the herbs I had on hand-- burdock root, rosemary and watercress-- and made a tea, then I added a shot of Trader Joe's Refresh conditioner.  I microwaved it so the conditioner would melt into the water, actually microwaved it a few seconds too long, then added a shot of glycerin and four drops of Ylang Ylang.  My slightly warped bottle of spritz:

Been a long time…

Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. Life intrudes. I would love to say that I've been really, really, tremendously busy writing, but that just ain't so. Since my last post of so long ago, I found out that I got accepted to grad school here, which is the only place I really wanted to go. I really didn't want to move the kids away from family and friends (not yet, anyway) my son will be in the eighth grade next year and he was completely against moving from his middle school friends, so, we'll be here for a few more years. I'm still wearing my hair in two-strand twists with braided roots.

I decided to stop using Henna. I like the reddish-brown color I get when I use it, but it's just way too much trouble. I actually started to dread the process. The last time I did it, I washed my hair with an entire bottle of Suave Coconut – family sized! - and still had grit in it the next day. I can't be going through all that. So, I went back to Aphogee and regular deep conditioning treatments. My hair feels better too; henna left my hair feeling dry and hard. Always took a few days to bounce back.

Why has it been so hot lately? My daughter's ran a 5K yesterday and my son and I were on the sidelines sweating and cheering for them. I had on this cheesy visor – not unlike the one in the picture. I started thinking about how I was protecting my face, but not my hair. I'd read that UV rays can damage hair and one of the ways you can avoid or minimize damage is to wear a leave-in with sunscreen. I use Giovanni Direct at least every other day, and I was happy to read that it has sunscreen "properties."

I really wonder why this happens. Liv's hair does this in several places on her head; the twists get really puffy at the ends. I wonder if the hair is damaged? Kinda makes sense, because this is the hair closest to the ends and the hair that was locked for the longest. But, it's not like this all over her head…I don't know. I did make one great big discovery about Liv's hair. She's always been extremely tender-headed, which was why I locked her hair in the first place. It was either that or cut it short and keep it short. Her hair has always been webby - I wash it and when you pull it apart, the strands stick together and look like a spider's web. Since I've been using Aubrey's GPB on a regular basis, her hair isn't so webby; I can actually comb her hair without having to give her a Vulcan neck pinch.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I finished taking Bri's locs down, um, right before Memorial Day. She had twenty-something locs left and we just sat down and banged it out in one day. I took them to the Columbus Zoo the next day and it was soooo hot and I didn't notice until we were leaving that my left hand was swollen. My ring was cutting off my bloodflow; I couldn't make a fist – I was hoping it was the heat, but…just to be safe; I ain't taking down any more locs. I'm afraid I'm going to do some serious nerve damage (the pain felt like sciatica) if I continue messing around like this. So, that's it for me. I'm not trying to discourage anyone else. I already had a nerve injury from years ago, and I think the process of taking locs down (holding my hand so stiffly) aggravated my injury.

Anyway, Bri was the last locked head in the house, so we're all loose now, at least for the moment. My son has been begging me to let him grow locs…we'll see.

Step by Step Loc Detangling

I'm going to break this down, step by step.  I got pictures and everything.

First I have to say that it is NOT necessary to cut your locs.  Even if your locs are five years old, you don't have to cut them in half before you start picking them out.  My youngest daughter's hair turned out to be almost twice as long as her locs were and if I'd cut them, I would have been cutting into her length.  I cut off the very tips of my locs, because they were "sealed," but I did not cut more than 1/2 inch off the ends.

You'll need something to pick the hair out with.  I use rattail combs and lift combs, like these.  A fork will work too, but I found that the tines were too large and I was ripping out more hair than necessary.  You'll also need something to give the hair some slip.  Any cheapie condish will work, I've used both White Rain and Suave.  Adding oil to the conditioner helps too, it doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive, vegetable oil will work fine.

Wet the section or loc of hair that you're going to work with and slather on plenty of conditioner/oil. Slip the teeth of the comb through the end of the loc and begin detangling. I'm right handed, so I hold the loc with my left hand and hold the comb with my right.  Work slowly and make sure the hair stays wet and coated with conditioner.  Notice that I've broken two teeth from my comb, but that's why I prefer using a comb with five steel teeth over the rattail comb.  I've taken down two complete sets of locs and I've gone through six or seven of these combs.

It's important to work your way up the loc SLOWLY.  If you move too fast, you'll end up ripping out the hair, which totally defeats the purpose of picking out your locs, right?

15 minutes later. It took an average of 40 minutes per loc to pick out my 5 year old locs.  My youngest daughter's locs were 3 years old, but slightly longer, and hers also took about 40 minutes.  Her locs were started with twists, mine with comb coils.  My older daughter's 1 year old locs (that I'm working on now) were maintained by latch-hooking.  Her locs are fairly short and they take about 15-20 minutes to detangle.

Obviously, this ain't something most people can do in a weekend.  It was a six-week project for my own head, and even longer than that for my daughters (I was a little more laid back with them).  Patience is key.  I worked from the back of my head up, and wore a LOT of headwraps as I was nearing the end.

That's basically it. If you're thinking about untangling your locs, shoot me an email and let me know how it goes.

Locs & Bantu Knots

I've been wearing my hair in twists with braided roots since the beginning of the year.  I cowash weekly, and about every 3 weeks I'll take it all down and rebraid/retwist and put it in bantu knots.  The bantu knots make a really nice curl that keeps for the entire week.  I think I'm going to keep wearing it like this--at least until it gets really hot. 

Bri had, at last count, 92 locs left.  Since they're on spring break this week, I'm trying to get this done before she has to go back to school.  I hope I never have to do this again.  There are little balls of hair all over my house and my left arm is numb from the elbow down to my fingertips. 

Her locs are shorter than either mine or Liv's, so it's taking less time per loc, but since her hair is also thinner, she has more locs than we had. She's looking forward to wearing Afro puffs to school next Monday.  I'm just praying my hands hold out that long.

Blog Links?!

I'm trying to put together a list of links specifically for nappy blogs.  So if you have a nappy blog, email me your links so I can add you to the list!

Why did I choose to take them down?

I used to work as a bank teller.  About 3 years ago, long before I had even considered going "loose," I had a customer ask me about my hair.  She was a young black woman that liked to wear this cute little curly wig and as I'm counting out her paycheck on the counter, she asked, "How do you discontinue them?"  I was confused.  Discontinue what?  "Well," she continued, "How do you take them out?"

Okay, I understood.  It seemed like once my locs grew to shoulder length, I started getting more and more comments about how pretty my hair would be if was straight.  I explained to her that you have to cut your hair (going on the info I had at the time), that there was no way to "discontinue" locs.  She picked up her money and shook her head (one of those "damn shame" head shakes) and said, "Well, that would have been the whole point of getting them, so I could grow my hair out."

I always wished I would have said something like, "No, you're missing the point," but I didn't.  But I'll say it now.  If anybody is getting locs to grow their hair to shoulder length or bra strap length or ass length just to pick them out and enjoy long flowing hair, they're missing out on a wonderful experience that is just about enjoying the process.  And since long flowing hair probably ain't gonna happen anyway (due to shed hair, breakage and pure nappiness), they're probably wasting their time as well.

Growing locs was probably--those were the best years of my adult life.  I had an awesome loctician that became one of my best friends. During this time, I met my boyfriend; I started writing again.  Y'all.  I fell in love with me. 

And that's at least part of the reason why I didn't want to cut my locs off and toss them in a large Ziploc bag somewhere.  Silly as it may sound; I wanted to keep some part of that experience.  It was right for me.  And I don't regret it.

Of course, that's only half of the story.  When I first went natural, I only stayed a loose nappy for about 4 months.  Less than that, actually.  And then I was locked. Again, it felt right at the time and I have no regrets, but knowing that I had never experienced my hair in it's natural state for more than a couple months was also a deciding factor in my decision to pick my locs out instead of cut them off.

Since I went natural, I've gotten some off the wall comments.  I've been called lazy, cheap, unprofessional and my favorite: "too pretty to wear your hair like that."  Someone told me (which I thought was rather bold) that I obviously had too much time on my hands to go through all the trouble to taking my locs down.  Whateva.  When I took my locs out I had a job, I was a full-time student and mama, I was in a relationship and I was finishing up a manuscript.  What folks consider a "waste of time" is relative to that person.  I picked my hair out while I was helping the kids with their homework, or when I was reading or studying or watching TV. 

I've been "loose" for almost a year now. I experienced so many ups and downs, growth, breakage and split ends, not to mention my rudimentary styling attempts.  I discovered henna and Qhemet, Nexxus and Trader Joe's (stuff I never paid attention to as a low-maintenance locked head).  It was NOT easy, but I've been loving this chapter of the journey.

Scissors starting to look real good...

to a sista right now.  I saw this commercial the other day. I forget what it was for, but the woman had a really nice twist-out, maybe about 5-6 inches. I don't know, I've been thinking about changing up a little.  I've even been considering locking again.  This winter weather has been brutal; I have so many split ends it ain't even funny.  I've been wearing 2-strands since the end of January and it's still too cold to wash and go.  I've decided not to do anything until Mother's Day.  Maybe by then I'll know what I want to do.

Bri and I are still working on her locs. She actually learned to to pick one out herself. It seems like it's taking longer, because her locs are thinner and there are so many of them.  At least they are shorter than mine or Liv's were--it's different too because Bri's locs were latchhooked.  With mine it was more like I was detaching the hairs from each other, her locs have to be unraveled.  She's excited, and hopefully, we'll have it done by her birthday in May.  She'll be 11 (I'm seriously trying to cope with the fact that my daughter may possibly start menstruating soon.  It's freaking me out!).

Thanks, you guys, for your encouraging words. My boyfriend and I were best friends.  I think that was the worst part, thinking that I couldn't just call this person up and say whatever.  He and I are okay now--not back together, but I didn't lose my best friend either.  I'm just going to use this time to work on me.

Ciao

Here we go again...

Yes, I've been MIA lately.  I don't know, I guess I have good reasons.  My boyfriend and I broke up (after 5 years), I'm still waiting on my grad school apps to come back (trying not to stress--and failing) and I've been watching Good Times non-stop, which, now that I think about it, is really depressing.  Hair has been the last thing on my mind.

I finally got Liv's hair down from those microbraids.  It took me forever and I will not be doing that again any time soon.  It was cool while her hair was in the braids, because I didn't have to be bothered with it, but the take down--jeez.  Bri has decided that she doesn't want locs anymore.  She told me she wants me to take them down, and I really didn't think it was possible, since I latch-hook her locs, but she begged me to try it, so I did and lo and behold, I got that sucka down.  I was surprised.  So far, I've taken down 3 locs in different parts of her head, just to make sure that one wasn't a fluke.  So, I guess I'm doing it again.  Damn.

The weird thing about her locs is how much lint they have collected.  She's only had locs for a year or so, but almost all her locs have little lint balls at the root.  I don't know if it has something to do with her hair being latched--maybe I wasn't tightening them enough, I don't know.  I'm trying to wrap my mind about the long tedious process that I have to endure AGAIN.  Hopefully, I can have it done by the summer.

As far as my own head, I bought some Keraphix the other day.  I was really trying to let the Nexxus go, since I'm trying to be all-natural and all that, but, uh...I really like it.  The last couple times I've hennaed my hair, it started to break off and my souped up Trader Joe's wasn't cutting it.  The Humectress saved me.  I think I'm going to start doing henna glosses (with Trader Joe's) and stop doing the full application.  I think it was the lemon juice I was using that made it break off, so I'm switching to all ACV from now on.

I'm still wearing two-strands with braided roots.  I'm scared to take them down though, because I feel like cutting it and it's probably best that I keep my hands out of my hair for now.

It's been WEEKS...

since I posted. I was trying to limit the number of distractions so I could finish my grad school apps.  The Internet is a HUGE distraction for me and I had gotten so lazy- "I'll just watch this one episode of Good Times and then I'll starting writing." -After Good Times, The Price is Right, then Y&R and next thing I knew, it was time to pick up the kids from school.  OR, I would play in my hair and read for hours, so I had to sequester myself for a while.

To prevent myself from playing in my hair, I put in two-strand twists with braided roots.  I took them down yesterday after about 3 weeks.  I think I'm going to do that style a lot more often, they were so versatile.  I did bantu knots, buns, twist-outs, and puffs. I twisted the two-strands together and wore them like that, then untwisted and wore them curly.

I started taking down Liv's micros this weekend.  We're about halfway done, thankfully, they don't have school tomorrow so I can finish.  The braids were a great protective style, but I think I'll only do micros once a year.  It's taking me just as long to take them out as it did to put them in.  Jeez.

I was thinking about my "Celie's" the other day when I had my hair in bantu knots.  Bantu knots are also a style that I never thought I would wear in public (at least not my haphazardly parted bantu knots), but I did go to the mall with them.  Nobody stared, nobody said anything rude, nobody offered me a make-over or their stylist's business card.  So obviously, my previous insecurities were all in my head.  I thought they looked good, so they did. And why the hell was I worried about what other people think anyway?