So You Want To Be Natural Pt. 6 – The Regimen

Now that you have all these products and tools to grow your healthy natural hair you must decide when and how often you will apply them, this is called your regimen. Most curlie naturals (there are naturals who wear their hair straight…yes it’s natural because there is no chemical being added… we’ll save my thoughts on this for a separate post) use a regimen to make sure their hair is on a schedule of health. How you put together your regimen will depend on the needs of your hair. The needs of your hair will be determined by trial and error and things you already know about your hair.  For example if you already know your hair is dry and brittle, you may need a protein treatment to be done monthly. If you know you have type 4c hair, you know your hair is tightly coiled and if you want it longer you may want to add a stretching technique to your regimen on wash day.

A simple regimen: cleanse weekly if cowashing and shampoo monthly, deep condition weekly, protein treatment monthly, moisturize and seal daily. Again this is very basic for a more detailed realistic regimen click here.

Previous: Pt. 5

 

Disclaimer: Everything listed here is basic and is meant to be a starting point. The links I’ve including will take you to some of the products I use for the various steps of maintaining my natural hair. I am no expert on hair care, I do not have my cosmetology license, nor am I a chemist, biologist, or scientist. I am a natural women who’s been researching natural hair care since 2012. I am however an expert in my own hair story and that’s what being natural is all about…developing a relationship with the hairs on your own head. I share what has worked for me in hopes that it may work for you as well. 

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So You Want To Be Natural Pt. 4 – Product & Hair Typing

Your tresses will be protected at night now, so let’s get to the products right?. Before that you have to decide if you will purchase products, make your products, or a combination of the two. After doing a lot of researching and learning what products really where i decided to make most of my products like my DC and my moisturizing spritz. It is also at this stage that some nature’s determine their hair type. For some it determines what type of products they will use. Several manufacturers separate products by hair textures and types while other say their products are for any natural. I know my hair type, I only use two products that were directed towards my hair type: my Elasta QP and my Naturalista shampoos are for dry hair. The rest of my products are not specific or I make them myself.

Previous: Pt 3

Next: Pt 5

Disclaimer: Everything listed here is basic and is meant to be a starting point. The links I’ve including will take you to some of the products I use for the various steps of maintaining my natural hair. I am no expert on hair care, I do not have my cosmetology license, nor am I a chemist, biologist, or scientist. I am a natural women who’s been researching natural hair care since 2012. I am however an expert in my own hair story and that’s what being natural is all about…developing a relationship with the hairs on your own head. I share what has worked for me in hopes that it may work for you as well. 

So You Want To Be Natural Pt. 3 – Bedtime Protection

You’re now either sporting your beautiful TWA or you’re  ready to start rocking gorgeous transitional styles (or protective style). Next you’ve got to keep that hair of yours protected when you go to sleep your first night and each and every night for the rest of your natural journey. Our natural tresses are easily damaged by our cotton bed sheets. The cotton robs our hair of moisture causing it to break and it also snags our hair again causing it to break. The tool to stop this…satin! Satin is a type of threading which is smooth without loose threads. It can either be silk, polyester, or nylon  satin or other types if satin. These mentioned are the popular ones. The silk type is more expensive and it feels very sleek on your skin and hair.  You can either invest in satin sheets,  satin pillow case(s), or satin hair bonnet, or all of these products. Either of these satin products are needed to protect your hair from the elements of sleep. I don’t sleep with pillows at all, I just cant…lol so I utilize satin bonnets and silk and polyester scarves.

Previous: Pt 2 Big Chop Or Not
Next: Pt. 4

Disclaimer: Everything listed here is basic and is meant to be a starting point. The links I’ve including will take you to some of the products I use for the various steps of maintaining my natural hair. I am no expert on hair care, I do not have my cosmetology license, nor am I a chemist, biologist, or scientist. I am a natural women who’s been researching natural hair care since 2012. I am however an expert in my own hair story and that’s what being natural is all about…developing a relationship with the hairs on your own head. I share what has worked for me in hopes that it may work for you as well. 

Length Check

I think I’m doing something right on this natural journey of mine!  Not going to do a whole lot of talking (okay maybe a bit…lol) because this is just to capture where I am lengthwise: BSL  baby!!! Aiming for mid back length by the end of the year then tail bone length.

If there is anyone reading this who feels some kind of way about those of us naturals who want long hair remember it’s a personal journey and as sisters while we may not agree with our sisters choices we should respect them. Cause at the end of the day what makes you happy make not make me happy and vise versa. What makes this natural girl happy is healthy LONG hair. If I decide to cute it off next week that too will be my decision and thus making ME happy. I respect your decision to be whatever kind of natural that makes you happy …I only want that same respect in return.

Okay okay enough so here are a couple of pics of my bra strap length hair. And yes it’s bra strap from the nape and not the top  but it’s just the way all people measure hair.  I noticed someone commented on someone hair not being  BSL because if this person measured from the hairline it would not be BSL.  ***side eye***

Back of my hair presently.

The picture on the left is the lenghth of my hair for the majority of my adult life prior to going natural. It would get a little longer than this but only by an inch or so. The picture on the right is me now (couple days ago at work) 2.5 years after my big chop. Comparing the two: 30+years of growth vs 2.5 years. Wow!

This is a comparison on my naturally kinky hair (in a flat twist out) vs my natural straight hair. Shrinkage is too real lol. I just love the versatility of natural hair. I love both looks but I do know if I want to continue to grow healthy I have to be cautious of my heat usage.

New Year’s Hair Resolution

I remember  thinking out my  New Years resolutions when I was younger then when I got a little older I started writing  it down.  The end result in both trials was that I never actually took those vows serious, so I stopped making them.  I instead make Goals (short and long term).  And I make them as I see fit not just at the beginning of the year.  But as to not cause confusion with my hair goals I have decided to call this goal my hair resolution and it is this: To retain the actual amount of hair that I grow.   So in a nutshell, since the hair is said to be able to grow .5 inches  per month, at the end of 2015 my hair should be 6 inches longer than it presently is.  My hair is currently 13 inches.  Just before loc’ing in January of 2014 my hair was 10 inches. So in  11 months I retained 3 inches… BUMMER!  I’m sure I know why: towards the end of my loc journey I stopped sleeping with my satin cap.  Its really amazing how something so small can contribute to the total downfall of your hair growth.  But ladies (and gents if your here) if you dont do anything else to retain growth, WEAR a protective head cap at night or sleep with satin sheets.

If you’ve been following me or you’ve read some of my previous post you know I’ve been natural since May 2012.  I did my big chop at that time and had about an inch of hair.   In months, I’ve been natural for 32 months TODAY 🙂 Had I retained all growth my hair would be 16 inches. SO I’M SHORT BY THREE 😦 😦 I can never get those lost inches back but moving forward I can say that come May 2016 my hair length will be 19 inches!