The Dash Between

So - went camping this weekend, and rocked a twistout the whole weekend - and can I say it looked FABULOUS!!! I was - kinda shocked by how - appropriate it looked on me - even on the second day after dousing my hair to get rid of any bits of pieces of STUFF that might have been in my head. And my hair felt GOOD all weekend - I think that the combination of the WP I did the twists with, as well as the SS oil I had used - 3 or 4 days last week - really made a difference.

I got HORIBBLY lost coming home (I seriously thought at one point I was going to have to pull over and have a good, frustration releasing cry), so I got home MUCH later (2 hours!) and MUCH hotter than I planned on, and I said - screw the twists.

However! Because I'm addicted, I did NOT say - Screw the henna. I was in the house for MAYBE 10 minutes, and one of my henna packs was already out and sitting in a cup of water to defrost. I took a quick shower (to clean grime off, yes, but more to get my hair wet) and mixed the henna with a wee bit of honey and a BOATLOAD of conditioner. It seemed REALLY thick, so I added a bit of water, then a bit more.

As I began to put it on my head, I swiftly realized that it was so thick because there were still slightly frozen bits, and as soon as they hit my head, they started melting, and I had drips, drips, DRIPS for days. Messy, that was - looked like someone had an explosive accident all over the bathroom sink and the floor. Luckily, it wiped up well.

It only took me about 30 minutes - mixing, applying, saraning, papertoweling, shower cap and scarfing it - to have it all in my head. I sat with a towel on my shoulder to catch the drips that insisted on escaping.

I had PLANNED on rinsing it out before bed (because of the drips) but by the time I went to bed, they had mostly stopped (and I was EXHAUSTED) so, I just went straight to bed.

I got up especially early this morning, rinsed out the henna (once again, green only and SUPER easy) and - this here is the shocker - I combed through my hair with NO conditioner. True - there was conditioner in the henna, and true - it was on for a long time - but STILL! Also - as I sit here and play with it (yes, I'm playing in it - but I'm not pulling, I'm not tugging, and I'm rather anally checking my shoulders and very strand of hair that comes out to be sure it's SHED, not broken - so far, so good) I don't have a lot of the knots and tight tangles I had before. Now, I'm not saying it's not tangling - because it is, and it's going to be interesting 'untangling' it this evening so I can put the twists in, BUT - the tangles are coming apart much easier - I can only imagine how they would act if I had put some oil in my hair this morning.
I just used a bit of HH and put my hair into a puffro after getting out the shower - I'm DEFINITELY going to twist it tonight - even though I'm being gentle with it, I'm worried about being rough with it.

The color is gradually getting darker - still reddish/oragnish/brownish/goldenish color - I don't think there is a word for this color, but I LOVE it. The conditioning effects are definitely seen - I'm not seeing much more loosening of the curl (which is fine), and I think I'm actually seeing more - definition! The shed hairs that I'm seeing tend to be in tight, tight circles, that resist being mashed flat rather vigourously - so, I'm thrillllled about that.

What else is new, hair related?
Ah! I'm going to go home and make some cayenne oil tonight - I noticed a few 'bare' patchs in my hair line this morning (the spots where my locs were too thin and pulled the hair out at the roots - I hope I haven't ruined them) and I'd like to dab a lil oil right on top of both of those spots to stimulate them to grow, grow, grow!

I'm currently jabbering on another hair board about the politics and perceptions and desires of black women for long hair.

I SWEAR, my hair is longer. Seriously.....it's - amazing. I need to take another picture of me pulling down the front of my hair again - jsut to see if I'm really deluded.

I'm getting some liquid pectin at some point this week - I want to try to henna without any conditioner, and I think that the combo of pectin/honey/henna might work wonders. Or - I could do the henna/yogurt combo...... I've heard really good things about that - and I wouldn't have to buy anything new. But..... I don't know if my hair likes/needs/wants protien, and I'd hate to mess up a good thing. I think I'll try the pectin this week, and the yogurt next week.

Bugger, just broke a hair.

Okay, off to run errands now!