The Dash Between

Remember the cartoon doggie? The one, that when you gave him a treat, he would shoot straight up in the air, then come floating down like a leaf to land in a puddle of utmost contentment?

My hair is that dog.

Okay.

To start with, I took my hair down on Thursday - I was taking Friday off, so I got a little start on the hair playing. And. Omgs! My hair was - soft, supple, smooth, strong, and barely breaking.
It was - lovely. I actually wore it OUT in a shake & go pushed back with a headband most of Friday, and all I did to it was mist it twice - and - it was LOVELY. Tight little soft curls, so moist - not breaking - and - curly! I mean - truly, tight, curls.
My hair is LOVELY! It's really going to be amazing long - and finally, because I've figured out how to stop the breakage (it was really bad ya'll) - I'm actually going to RETAIN all the hair I grow. *happy dance* Wooot!

Friday night, I bestirred myself, and put on the Remedi Protien mix - it smelled sooo good. Like - bananas and coconuts mixed. Yum. I slapped it in, and left it in for far, far, far too long. I rinsed it out Saturday and - my hair was STILL dreamy. I was able to comb it out in the shower - and - STILL barely any breakage. I mean - the amount of hair (shed & broken) that I've seen ALLL weekend is less than the amount of hair that would come out after fingercombing it as I was taking it down last month - heck, two weeks ago!

I was considering putting a moisturizing conditioner on top, but it felt SOOO good, that I didn't think it needed it. I made my usual fat twists, using the CoN ND (I really think this helped A LOT in making my hair so moisture-retentive through the week), and tied it all up while I worked on the kitchen.

So - things are going SOOO well, up on top of my head. Well. Almost everything. I have a thin layer of - gunk on my scalp. VERY thin, and I have to scratch pretty hard at it for it to even come up. I can't see it in the mirror, and when I look under my nails, it's a creamy white - stuff. Is that sebum, I wonder? I'm thinking it might be buildup from the mister/Lenzi's request - but, next week is clarifying week, so if that is it, I'll clean that up quickly.

I realized, that really, I only 'wash' my hair once a month - when I clarify. The protein treatment isn't cleansing. The moisturizing treatment is KINDA cleansing - assuming I don't add honey to it. Ooooooh - I've GOT to add honey to it next time, oh, that'll be FABULOUS. I might start adding honey to everything again - except the henna! *thinks*


What I'm trying to do is lighten my hair, and use henna at the same time to give a more obvious red tint to my hair. So, I'm thinking that if I take advantage of the lightening effects of honey all the time (hmm, honey in the mister?) EXCEPT when I'm hennaing, that might acomplish that. So..... that would change my mixes a little, but not really how I do things. Hrmm. I think I'll go one more month with this set of products, and then add back in the honey.


The moisturizing treatment is KINDA cleansing - assuming I don't add honey to it. The henna is kind of cleansing - but that is the week after the clarifying treament, so I doubt there is much to cleanse at that point.

I'm kind of interested in maybe trying something different for clarifying - I'm doing baking soda + cheapie condish + humectress now.... I've been thinking about maybe going with some herbs. *LOL* I love having a framework! I realize that just because I know what works, doesn't mean I always have to use the same thing. *wiggles nose* So. I might do a search for that later.

Oooh! I got my box from FNWL - tea tree oil, rosemary EO, shealoe butter, and TWO POUNDS of henna!! :hollie: *contented sigh*
The Rosemary EO is going in the mister - I LOVE the smell of rosemary, and - heck, it stimulates the scalp too, which is a nice side effect. And it's strong enough that I can use just a TINY bit so I avoid the risk of side effects. The henna - well, that's obvious. FNWL's henna is the - it's damn good. It's *grins* almost snotty. It hangs together VERY nicely with just water in it, and it rinses out like a DREAM and the color release happens in like 1/2 hour.... *strokes bags of henna*

I have no clue what I'm going to do with the shealoe butter, but it was on sale, and I've heard such great things about it, that I said What the Heck! The TTO is going into my mister - it's a good antifungal, and I figure if I'm going to be keeping my scalp damp 1/2 the time, that might be a good idea.

That's another reason I would like to find something herbal that cleans the scalp - I'd LOVE to have some of that handy to mix into my mister.

*forlornly tugs on a twist*

My hair is SO. SHORT. But then, at the same time, I know it's getting longer, because it's doing new things.

Like - the little sideburn thingys? They go almost to my jaw now. When I have my hair out, and I'm sitting on the couch, I can feel it brush against the nape of my neck - it tickles. There is hair all along my hairline that sticks out in these long stretched out curls when my hair is wet.

Oh!

(My, but I'm chatty tonight.....)

Something else I was thinking of while I was getting in the shower to rinse out the Remedi - how much my perception of my hair has changed. Or - is it how much my hair has changed?
If you would have told me back in 2000 that I would be in love with my natural hair (not just tolerate it because I refused the other options, but really LOVE it), I would have laughed in your face. I endured my hair, natural, because I hated the look of jherri curls, I hated the smell of pressing combs & relaxers, and I hated the price of extensions. So, by default, my hair was natural. It was the same default that ended up with me being in dreads, but that's another branch of the same story.

Anyhow. I wasn't fond of my hair. It was dry, and hard, and tangled, and was dull and bleh looking and really didn't suit my face at all. It took too much time to do, and it still felt - not quite - natural - I felt like it didn't suit me, but I did it because I had no other choice.

Now - I still don't have a choice - well, I could always go back to dreads - but - I'm okay with that, now. Because even if I DID have a choice, I'd chose (now, that is) what's authentically growing out of my head. Maybe it's a matter of age, and growing more comfortable with who I am. Maybe my hair HAS changed, through a combination of supplements and products. Maybe my hair is actually healthy for the first time - ever - and this wondrous crown is what I've ALWAYS had, hidden under neglect like a secret garden.
It's a delightful adventure I'm on - with myself! With a part of myself that - that was so sorely neglected and - dismissed - because I didn't know how to actually take care of MY hair.

Oops, I forgot to warn ya'll bout the rambling, again. I've been thinking about hair alot lately (obviously) and just haven't seemed to have the chance to sit down and write it all out - this is what happens when I don't journal for a week at a time. :lol:

Urm.

I think I'm actually done.


:wannabe: