Why do I look like a blowfish?!?!

Blowfish syndrom…lol thats what I’m labeling this condition that I have!  Please tell me I’m not the only one who goes through this 😦  So every so often (more often than I’d like) when I wake up in the morning my face is puffy, mainly my eyes. Sometimes the swelling will go down after I get out the shower, sometimes after a couple of hours, and sometimes even LONGER than that!  So your girl is fed up with this and about to fix this…or attempt to…hehehe.

Here are some of the things that I plan to try.  If you know of anything else that may help please leave a comment below.

– Drink more water …So I already do this but I do skip some days of drinking as much water as I should.  I need to keep a journal to pinpoint when this happens and if my water intake could be the problem

– Dip face in ice filled bowl a couple of times, then rinse with cool water…not gonna be a fan of this but I think it MAY be worth it.

– Use a chilled water filled mask or gel pack for 10 minutes in the morning…thinking this is the way to go for me. I’m going to do this more often but until I buy one ill be doing the ice filled bowl above.

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Water Temperature Matters

When we wash and condition our hair the tempeature of the water makes a difference in our end result. Without doing research most of us will wash with warm water because its more soothing and doesn’t come with a shock factor like washing with cold water. Research may reveal that cold water is best for you. It is for me because of my hairs porosity level. But before we get into that lets talk about the differences between the two temperatures. Our soothing and relaxing friend warm water swells the hair causing it to open thus allowing moisture in as well as causing frizz. Our chill friend, cold water, makes the hair shaft lay flat closing the cuticle which causes a smoother turnout…no frizz. Of course none of us want frizz, it just doesn’t look appealing.

This is where porosity comes into play. Low porosity hair can make good use of warm water to aid in opening the cuticle to allow the moisture in. High porosity hair will benefit best from cold water to help lay there cuticles down after moisturizing to seal it in. Early on in my natural journey and after I found out about porosity, as part of my regimen I would first wash with warm water to open my cuticles then I would DC and wash that out with Cold water. And I would do my daily co-washes with warm water also. Now I do everything in warm water because after I DC I moisturize my hair, so I want that to get in also. So I have decided to work around the frizz that my warm water regimen produces…Its honestly not that bad once I style it.

Stress To Your Tresses

We’ve all heard that too much manipulation, weather,  lack of moisturizing, not sealing and of course heat can damage our hair.  But did you know that our mental health also can play a role in a healthy mane.  Stress can play a role in your hair’s healthiness, or rather, lack there of.  The next time you are upset, angry or worried – LET IT GO!  Notice I didn’t say don’t do these things, cause we are human, life has a way of making us experience different emotions.  But what we can do is control the emotion so that it will not dwell within us and cause us to be stressed over the situation.  On the other hand if you just cannot control yourself – which i doubt 🙂 – just show your hair some extra TLC during this time.  Drink more water, make sure your hair stairs moisturized inside and out. Be sure to lock the moisture in by using your sealant. And certainly protect it from the elements, be it your bed spread, the heat or the cold.

Keeping Moisturized Hair

Without moisturizing our hair it will be damaged beyond recognition!  This is the key to healthy hair whether you are natural or relaxed.  Unmoisturized hair not only looks dry but it actually is and as a result split ends will development.  Unmoisturized hair will be weak, brittle, and eventually break…all… off.  People who wonder why their hair stagnates may be suffering from an unmoisturized mane.  When you moisturize and how you moisturize will depend on your specific hair needs…no two people are the same.  This is one of the those things you will certainly have to experiment with early on in your journey, to find out your hair’s moisture requirements.

There are many ways that our hair gets moisturized: butters, creams, oils,  conditioners, deep conditioning, baggy method, and primarily WATER.  Most of us have been training to look for the ingredients in our hair products and water should be a key ingredient.    This water supply should be gained applying topically to the hair and consumption.  What we put in our bodies is shown in our hair and skin.  Your skin and hair will be hydrated and will be visible and provide for an overall healthier you.

A great way to moisture is to make sure your product contains a humectant.  Humectants pull moisture from the air into the hair which in turn help keep hair moisturized (it has an opposite reaction in dry climates…there it will pull moisture from the hair). Here are a few natural humectants that are pretty easy to get your hands on: honey, glycerin, glycol, and aloe vera.  As part of my regimen you will notice that all of these items are included either as a daily moisturizer or as a DC.

Now once we get the needed moisture to our hair we have to keep it sealed.  Sealants are discussed at Moisture Sealants.

A well sealed moisturized mane has to be kept so and this is achieved by wearing a satin/silk cap to sleep.  Sleeping in the satin cap will not cause friction like cotton or other fabrics.  This friction causes the hair to break.  In addition to breaking hair the moisture we attempt to seal will be stolen by cotton whereas silk or satin will not rob us our moisture.

Dandruff… Oh no u will not

Okay so in anticipation of winter I have been thinking about changing my regimen due to the temperature. This has nothing to do with catching a cold. I do not believe that you catch a cold from going outside half naked or wet hair… Colds come due to bacteria. Okay that being said, let me tell you why I AM concerned about the extreme temperatures that we may face here in Maryland 🙂 I STAYYYYY cold!!! There is no way I am going to leave out of the house with a wet head which will lead to me being colder 😦

So I started playing with twist out to see how long I could go without washing restyling my tresses. This is what I did two weeks ago: Friday washed and did DC. Sunday twisted my hair with moisture mixture. Rocked twist out Monday thru Wednesday. Wednesday night my hair started itching bad! So Thursday morning I co-washed and again on Friday morning. So my test revealed that my hair needs moisture on the 3/4 day. So the next week (this week) I planned ahead to watch on Thursday. Like clockwork my hair started itching on Wednesday, again it was a bad itch. As I went to rub my scalp I noticed a patch of dandruff at the top of my head. 😦 😦

So I’m going to amend my regimen to start oiling my scalp with jojoba oil, tea tree oil, and vitamins during the days I don’t co-wash.