The Dash Between

So. Many things have been going on in the world of hair lately!!

I think I've found a style that I'm actually - *gasp* HAPPY with. It gives me the feeling of long hair, it's protective, it's easy to do (takes less than 1/2 hour) and it's PRETTY. Basically, what I'm going is parting my hair from ear to ear (behind the ear, not on top of it) and then parting the front portion down the middle. Then, I cornrow the front starting at the center of my head and ending with a little 'tail' that fits PERFECTLY behind my ear.
The back, I part into thirds from top to bottom, then make three flat twists, then braid the 'tails' of those together, and tuck them under the middle twist.

It's easy to do, it's VERY secure, I don't have to worry about my hair being blown around, it fits my face WONDERFULLY, it's protective, and it's easy enough to do that I'll be willing to do my hair every other day or so - which will allow me to keep my hair more moisturized! Beyond that, the style just - feels right. I have a tight little 'cap' of hair somehow, and it feels WONDERFUL. I definitely need to pay more attention to my hairline with this style - I'm not pulling it tight at ALL - but you can clearly see the 'thinner' bits of my hairline. *sigh* babyhair. I'll have to be sure to love on it regularily with the SS oil and the ACS oil.... maybe I'll alternate days.

Speaking of moisturized, I'm thinking that *sigh* I HAVE to go back to moisturizing my hair every other day like I was doing while I was wearing it loose. It's funny - I'm slowly learning what works and what doesn't - sometimes going to far one way and ignoring something else I should have learned. That month that I was wearing a puff everyday, I deep treated my hair ABOUT every other day - and it LOVED it. But - my hair was getting fried and damaged on the ends from not being in a protective style. Then, I went to the twists - a VERY protective style - but I was also only moisturizing once a week (okay, I WAS getting it wet, but that's not REALLY moisturizing it), so it got dry and brittle - plus the henna overkill.
Now - I've got a protective style, and it's easy enough that I CAN take it out, Deep Treat, and put it all back in - and the style itself won't take more than an hour - to take out AND to put back in! So. I'm happy with that.

I wonder what the next thing I'm going to learn will be?


I've also been thinking about (spawned from a thread here) why I want long hair - and the main thing I kept coming up with is that it FEELS right. My inner vision of me involves having - this huge mane of hair - and interestingly enough, I'm pretty okay with it being my natural color. Now, because of how my hair is, huge is a relative term - if I had hair that was slightly below my shoulders unstretched - it would be HUGE loose (and I'm thinking about BSL or longer stretched).

It's interesting, thinking about me & my hair. The one time I had reallllly long natural hair (between APL and BSL) was immeadiately after the second relaxer of my life when I was 18, and I promptly chopped it off to a pixie cut. I think I did that because having straight hair just - didn't FEEL right. From there, I had braids most of the time - anything between shoulder length to BSL. Then, when I got sick of dealing with my natural hair (because I didn't know what the hell to do with it!!), I put it in dreads, and loved it - but as they got older, I hated the denseness /flatness /stringiness of them.
Under it all, I've always KNOWN that my natural hair, grown long and free, is what I want/need/desire, but have always believed that it just wasn't POSSIBLE with my hair type. Lies, dammed lies!
Anyhow, I'm thrilled with my hair for right now.

In an effort to STAY thrilled with my hair (and to use some of the WONDERFUL hair gunk that is slowly filling up my bathroom cabinet), I've been scoping the recipe forum for some good ideas. I REALLY want to create a Whipped Pudding knockoff. I'll have to post the ingredients - but basically it's butters, oils, honey and aloe. I'm not sure if my hair likes aloe (I know my nose doesn't like it - WHEW does that stuff have a tummy twisting aroma), but I figured as much as my hair likes WP, it can't be ALL bad. I also want to make a nice deep conditioning treatment - I'd VERY much like to wean myself off of using commercial conditioners. So far, the recipes that I've lined up have been these:

Fox's SheaButter
1 part Shea Butter
1 part Conditioner
1/2 part Oil
A few drops of essential oils that compliment your hair type and scent preference

Mix all ingredients together well. If your Shea has been melted, you may have to chill the mixture a bit before you can get it to blend. Fox uses Shea at room temperature. Once mixed, place in a small, sealed container.

I like this one - but it has the conditioner in it. I'm wondering how this would work if I used honey in PLACE of the conditioner. Hm, hm, hm.

SunCat's Cocomanshea Conditioning Butter
1 Part Coconut Oil Unrefined which is solid at room temperature
1 Part Coco Butter
1 Part Mango Butter
1 Part Shea Butter

Place ingredients except coconut oil in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave until melted. Add the coconut oil and stir, if the coconut oil doesn't melt completely then reheat until it melts. Stir well and let it cool slightly. Pour into desired containers.

I love this one - all butters and oils - and I HAVE all this stuff (well, except for the unrefined coconut oil, but I could substitute some jojoba.....). I'm jsut worried about this being a little TOO oily for my hair.

So - I'm thinking that my recipe will be a mix of this stuff - plus a few extras of my own (I really need to find that citric acid thread).

Firstly - I want to map out my recipe for the new CASH oil (ASC oil plus Henna). Hah! That's perfect. Or SHAC Oil....... Or.....HACS Oil..... Or HASC Oil (isn't that a line of hair products??) or CHAS Oil..... or ACHS Oil..... or CAHS oil.....or.........

Anyhow! I think I'll stick with my first idea. :lol:

Kiya's CASH Oil

2 parts jojoba oil
2 parts coconut oil
1 part castor oil
1 part cayenne
2 parts amla
1 part shikakai
1 part henna


Simmer for hours over VERY low heat, strain herbs out of oil, place into glass container, seal well.
Use in conditioners, SMT's, henna, scalp massages, butters - anywhere you want to!!!

Kiya's Conditioning Creme

2 parts shea butter
1 part cocoa butter
1 part mango butter
2 part CASH oil
1 part honey

Liquify all ingredients, mix together well, let cool slowly. Use as a moisturizing treatment on damp/dry hair.

Now - this is my PLANNED recipe. I wonder if I can find a tiny crockpot (dammit, I knew I should have kept that rice cooker!). I want it to be light and fluffy, so I plan on melting everything in a crockpot (low, controlled temp) then removing the pot from the heater, putting in an ice water bath, and whipping it as it cools - should prevent it from getting grainy as it solidifies, and make it a little lighter. I might try this weekend after next....if I'm actually in town.
I'm thinking that I don't have to worry about it going bad, because I'm not using any water to introduce buggies into the honey. Still, to be on the safe side, I might put a few drops of my grapefruit seed oil into it - and I think that once it cools a bit, I might also put in some of my Egyptian Musk Oil (my personal scent) to give it a light bit of aroma.

*grins* I can't wait to start experimenting!!