The Dash Between

So!

Much fun with hair to be had.
Last night, I finally sat down and rubbed a healthy bit of my ASC oil mixed with SS oil into my hair, working it in well around the hairline and the like. Didn't feel much tingling, which tells me I can use more cayenne next time, and decided that the smell is like burnt sugar. Interestingly enough, the oil was - thick. Syrupy, somehow. I'm starting to wonder if there was a bit of sugar in the pot that I cooked it in.
The interesting thing is that today - my hair feels - AMAZINGLY strong - almost, not LIKE hair....at least not my hair. It doesn't feel like it's baby fine strands - it feels - wiry - it's not as elastic as it usually is either - but I have to pull REALLLLY hard to break a strand - it doesn't stretch, it just *pop* breaks - and it's still SOFT.
The breaking could be because my hair hasn't been properly moisturized all week, but still. I'm in love with this stuf - I LOVE how it makes my hair feel. I'm not going to make anymore until I use up this bottle I've made already though - even though I've figured that I'll do the next batch in the crockpot so that the Amla won't react with the metal and turn dark brown - I think it will end up being a gorgeous oil - red and orange from the cayenne and henna, and maybe a little brown from the Amla? This current batch is a dark brown syrupy color, so who knows.

Also - I got my shea butter yesterday!! It's really smooth and soft - I need to test it again today to see if it's still so soft, or if it was maybe a little softened from sitting outside before DH got home. My FNWL shipment went out yesterday as well *happy dance* and it's scheduled to be delivered on Monday, so YAY!!! Though booooo! because I won't have a chance to play with ANY of it until the weekend. *sigh*

Ah! On LCHF, there is this discussion going on around straightening your hair with 'natural' items. The current one (and the one that I'm considering doing) is coconut milk and lime juice - mixed, allowed to sit and curdle into a cream, then putting the cream on your hair. I'm SERIOUSLY considering doing this - but only to the 4b section of my hair on the left hand side. From what I've heard, it acts like a 'blowout' on your hair, without the use of heat. Verrrrrrry interesting. So - I think that I might do that this weekend, between henna'ing (my next to last one!) and deep conditioning and the like.

I've fully accepted two things - one, I'm going to have dark brown hair until I start going gray - even with the henna, it will just be a sheen of red. With that said, I'm STILL going to henna on a regular basis - the conditioning/strengthening aspect of it just plain rocks and two - I'm going to have to stay in protective styles until my hair is long enough to do some more 'fun' stuff with it.
I've been checking out the Hairstyle board on NP to get more ideas as to what I can do with it, but I'm going to have to do more of that at home, as the netnanny blocks most picture sites. I also wonder - how much TIME do these women have? Or am I just lazy - having been spoiled by YEARS of having wake up & go hair - literally not having to do a THING to my hair on a daily basis besides get it damp and go? I think that's another reason I'm eagerly looking forward to having longer hair - I can do LESS manipulation to it, and still manage to get it into a lovely style - without having my ends exposed. Yes, Yes, I'm going to be a bunning & braiding fool.

Along those lines, I'm going to do the crowning glory method during the winter time - you are supposed to keep in braids for 7 weeks, leave your hair free for one week, and then repeat. I figure I'll do three - C&G cycles each winter. 7 weeks is 49 days, which is a little under two months, so if I get my hair braided October 14th, like I plan on doing, I'll be taking them out December 2. Give my hair a week of rest, put the braids back in December 9th, taking them back out January 27th. Another week of rest, put them back in on February 3rd, and take them out for the last time March 24th - that's close enough to the start of spring that my hair will be growing faster, AND will need more exposure to the sun to be happy.

So - three cycles, that's not too bad. And considering how much of a hibernator I am during the winter - anything that allows me to sleep later is a VERY good thing.
I just called to set up a time for a consultation at the salon that I plan on getting my braids done at on Saturday - which is PERFECT, as I'm going to do the coconut milk/lime bit tomorrow night, and I'll just get up and go out early, so that I can come home and do my henna. Fun, fun, FUN!!! They'll be able to see my hair in it's most gorgeous, blown out status (cuz you KNOW I'm going to most likely go to sleep with the stuff in my head - smelling like a tropical drink).

Okay, I think I'm done.