My Month In Hair: February

The Regimen:

• Co-wash weekly with As I Am Coconut CoWash which i adore! you get a great amount, no lather super soft and creamy cleanse and it has a nice sweet tangy scent because of the tangerine
• Condition with As I Am Hydration Elation which i have raved about on my channel it defines like nobody's business and is super moisturising.  It's a tad pricey but it absorbs well into my low porosity hair but i admit I didn't deep condition which would have been beneficial.
• Then i cornrowed my hair and wore it under my wig which is the freetress 'patsy' unit which was originally 18 inches but it was chopped to around 12 inches 
• Throughout the week i would spritz my hair with water and apply shea moistures restorative conditioner and then seal with shea butter
• the few days i filmed hair tutorials or for example wore twists to valentines day meal instead of my wig i styled using curls goddess curls gele and i really like it! light hold, not sticky and supposedly great for humidity (anti shrinkage!)

I will be doing a full product line review on my youtube channel soon so look out for that! I loved wearing this wig i could wake up super late and not have to worry about taking my hair down or the weather messing it up. The cut length works great for me as its more my style than super long and straight and i love the ombre it was cool to see how my skin tone looks against light brown/blonde. I wouldn't say it was super duper protective though because the constant braiding plus wig balancing on my hairline caused my edges to look worse for wear again. My hair was clean so i could have gone longer between co washes however my scalp was crazy itchy and flaky maybe because the scalp between braids was exposed and the heat under the wig dried it out even when i applied my oil mix.

This wasn't a bad month in retaining moisture etc but my hair did tangle even though it was braided so takedowns were stressful plus my scalp was dry though my hair itself was clean and smelled like it was freshly washed.  

m.

My, my, my edges.

I've had a serious battle with my hairline. As alot of us do but it seems to be more so in the black community. I do actually have a few of those coveted baby hairs but i rarely catch and gel them so they look non existent and yes i do have a large forehead but i am unashamed in fact i have a slight dislike for fringes on myself; i love showing my forehead, and i share the forehead sisterhood with some good looking intelligent people. However something i was slightly embarrassed by was my edges- or lack there of. Back when my hair was relaxed i had trouble trusting stylists to do my hair as they were scissor happy and often experimented with old fashioned hairstyles i never asked for. The problem with this distrust was that i kept trying different salons and stylists meaning i would get different chemical relaxers (everything from QP to Olive Oil by ORS) and different techniques of applications which left my hair over and under processed. Alongside that I wore my hair in high buns and ponytails and straightened my hair more often than i should. A combination of this caused me to lose my fragile hairline. No not just lose a couple hairs but go BALD. Here's some pictures of the offending edges!

It was first brought to my attention in january 2013- the last time i relaxed professionally. I thought nothing of it until again i saw small thinning around April. Then in June 2013 i really took a good look and saw it was bald, about 5cm on the right side and about 2cm on the left.

(RIGHT SIDE) Look at those stringy relaxer ends. LAWD. i am holding my wispy hair back i can't believe i've cut this all off.

(LEFT SIDE) So plan of action: do a long stretch before the next relaxer (i used to stretch 3/4 months it was suggested i do a full year), stop manipulating my hair, massage emu oil into my missing patch and basically leave it alone.

The above image in september 2013. I stopped relaxing in July and rubbed emu oil in every night. You can see its starting to fill in.

Fast forward to the present and i fell in love with my ringlets and coils and decided to transition to natural.

My edges have grown back i won't say fully as there is still thinness but i no longer pull on my hair in anyway and stopping the relaxer truly helped not only with my hairline but to embrace my true self.
If you want to see how i grew my edges back with tips and tricks check out my youtube channel.

Hope you enjoyed this post, and had a good giggle! x