Hey ladies!

It is so nice to come on here and see all of the beautiful faces to my right! I hope you ladies have been enlightened by this blog. I have learned so much about my beautiful, fragile hair. I have added deep conditioning back into my regimen. I think it is helping me to retain moisture better. I used the S2S (www.sizta2sizta.com) Halt Breakage Control Mask on my hair (as well as my daughter's) this weekend and I really liked it. One thing that I liked was the way that the product felt while I applied it. The other thing that I liked was the way that it felt after rinsing. I think that this product will help with breakage. I have also been using her daily oil moisturizer. Like most products, there are good and bad ways for me to use this lotion. First, let me list all of the benefits:
1) it provides moisture without being greasy.
2) it does NOT contain mineral oil, silicones, propylene glycol, or anything like that.
3) it is VERY affordable, though her shipping charges are a DOOZY! In fact, most companies shipping charges are a DOOZY these days.
4) her products last, so you get even MORE bang for your buck!
5) her products do NOT cause any scalp or skin issues for me, which is HUGE!

These are the cons:
1) I cannot apply her lotion to my SHRUNKEN hair for more than two days in a row. The first time I tried that, I ended up with stiff, dry hair. I don't know why, because her moisturizer works really well for me.
2) it has to be ordered online. This isn't a REALLY big issue, because I don't mind ordering online. I just wish that I had consolidated some of my orders.

All in all, I think I'm going to REALLY enjoy using her products. They seem to work really well for my daughter as well.

IS IT OR IS IT??

Well, I thought the ORS conditioner was causing my acne, but I haven't used it in a few days and I'm STILL have the same pattern of breakouts. I'm not really SURE what is causing my breakouts. I just know that conditioner was AMAZING and I miss it!

I ordered some S2S products and my hair feels great, though not as soft as before. Either way, I'm still doing well!

I enjoyed it while it lasted...

Well, I enjoyed my stretched out hair while it lasted. I did a couple of styles, but my hair SHRINKS so easily that by day three it just wasn't worth it to tackle the bush and put it in twists just to have a semi-stretched fro style. I ALWAYS get tired of this after a few days because right now my hair is so short and shrinkage is just not very forgiving. I am still using the ORS replenishing conditioner and I actually got it in the big bottle. I LOVE the way that my hair feels after rinsing this product out. I also feel that my hair is getting softer with each use of the conditioner. I have been using my Qhemet Amla and Olive Heavy cream as a moisturizer instead of the Blue Magic. To me, Blue Magic works better when I'm stretching my hair stretched out vice wearing it shrunken. When I wear it shrunken, I prefer to use hair lotions or creams. I have S2S on order again since I am using a good conditioner. My hair might actually be softer now. I remeber giving it a not so good review in the past. We'll see. As far as my hair being fragile, it has gotten MUCH easier to deal with now that I have a great conditioner. My hair is growing for SURE and I hope to get the six inxh goal by the end of the year.

HAIR TIP- When sectioning off the hair to do nighttime twists, /I tend to use my fingers instead of a comb. I pick the strands apart if they tie themselves together. It is best to lift the strands out of the knot as opposed to pulling downward on the knot. Pulling downward will tighten the knot. It also helps to put a little oil or moisturizer on the knot before attempting to loosen it.

Back to the shrunken fro

Well, today I went back to my shrunken fro. I had forgotten how cute I look with it. I put on some lipstick and I will probably take a couple of pics. When I wear my hair shrunken, it really doesn't look as if it is growing very much. Let me tell you, it IS!!

I LOVE the effects of the ORS replenishing conditioner. It has actually changed my my hair for the better. I never thought I'd say this, but my hair is actually softer after drying SINCE I started using the conditioner. This from a lady who had SWORN off conditioners. To THINK that my holy grail has been sitting on the shelf of Wal-Mart all of this time!

I am very happy with the state of my hair these days. It looks VERY healthy and is QUITE easy to manage. All I do when I style it is use my fingers. I did a twistout yesterday, but due to the length, I didn't really like it that much. Unless I grow 8-10 inches of hair, I probably won't be wearing twistouts.

I did YET another experiment this morning. I shampooed and conditioned and then applied the ORS Olive Oil sheen spray vice my Blue Magic. It will be interesting to see how it feels after it dries. So far. it feels pretty soft. If that WORKS for me, then I will just do that from now on so that I can get to my scalp.

ORS Replenishing condish is a keeper!

I tried the conditioner a second time and got the same superb results AND my hair is actually SOFTER after drying than normal. Needless to say, I'll be keeping this around. I like the detangling effect that it has on my hair as well. I plan to get some pics in my fotki of my crazy twists. They are very short and they kinda go every which way since I have so much shrinkage. They will look better as my hair grows out. I only have four inches, so I don't have a LOT to work with. Hopefully in time. Still no combs for me. Too much pain!

I used the Sulphur 8 shampoo and lathered three times because Blue Magic seems to be very hard to shampoo out for me. It is good stuff, just difficult to get out of the hair. I ended up buying some Proclaim (Sally's knock-off) wonder oil for my scalp. It was itchy and flaky.

My daughter's hair is holding up well. I kinds did a spot trim on her hair last wash day. I will try to go through it more thoroughly at a different time. Right now, I think I could use a trim as well, but it is a lot of work for me to trim mine and I don't have enough hair to let someone else take a stab at it.

Hair length update

I measured my hair a few days ago and I have about 4 inches of length all around. It has taken quite a whie for my hair to gain length. I looked in my fotki album and back in May I wrote that I had 4 inches and then a month later I wrote that I had 3 1/2 inches. So, if I had 3 1/2 inches in June, that means that it has taken 2 months for me to grow a 1/2 inch of hair. All things being normal, at this rate, my hair COULD grow 6 inches in one year. However, I think I actually grow 4 inches of hair in a year. We shall see...

I DID get the ORS conditioning pac and I actually liked the results that I got. That was one use, so I really can't make an assessment until I have used it for a little while. My hair was somewhat easier to manage but still tied itself together a bit.

I am at a loss as to what to do with my hair (that will make me happy and the NAVY happy) so I feel a little frustrated. I only have 4 inches of hair, so no ponytails or even bunny tails can be made. I tried all that back in the day when I had a little more length and my hair always looked a mess. I think it would just be so much easier with actual length. I can't wear twists, either. Cornrows HURT my scalp SO bad!! I don't know what to do!!

CORNROWS- FINALLY!!

I decided to try to cornrow my hair again. Now, this has always been quite a feat, as I FIRST have to stretch my hair out so that it can be more manageable. In order to do this, I have to put my hair into several plaits. My product of choice for this endeavor was good ole-fashioned Blue Magic. This stuff makes both mine and my daughters hair amazingly easy to comb AND it minimizes breakage, though we will ALWAYS have some breakage. Well, I shampooed my hair, applied Blue Magic and went to town. My cornrows came out okay. Now that I have survived that styling session, I might venture out and let someone cornrow my hair since it it now stretched out VERY well. I don't know, one step at a time. Most braiders yank and pull. I have a tender, sensitive scalp. This usually leaves me with sores on my head. I think I'll just do it MYSELF, because it is less of a headache (no pun intended) and it is free. I don't like tight braids, which is what I tend to end up with.


Deep conditioning....so, there I was, standing in Wal-Mart eyeing a bottle of Olive Oil Replenishing conditioner. As I recall, this stuff was amazing, but quite frankly, the orange oil scares me!! I MIGHT give it a shot since the Cathy Howse stuff made rashes break out on my hands and I spent over $50 on a conditioning bonnet. We'll see how it goes. Orange oil is pretty high on the list of ingredients and it is a KNOWN irritant to my skin. Perhaps I'll start off with a packet and see how I do. I shuld be able to get tw uses from one packet and that should be enough to help me see whether or not I can tolerate it. Sitiing under a heat cap will surely put it to the test. This conditioner seems to contain all the right ingredients for strengthening my hair. I'll try it out on my DD as well. We could both benefit from a strengthening deep conditioner.

Her hair is growing nicely. I just did a set of cornrows and her hair looks fab. Of course, her patches are filling in slowly, but they ARE filling in.

These days I have not been too particular about products. I just find that MOST of the things that I use DON'T have special characteristics. Shampoo is shampoo. As long as a conditioner has slip, I'm pretty much good to go. I know that the ORS condish will help with softening an detangling (as I remember) especially since it contains some silicones. I always keep a bottle of Suave daily clarifying shampoo handy as it seems to work well without stripping my hair.

It's growing ya'll! I can't be certain. but I think I might have 4 1/2 to 5 inches now. I haven't measured and I would like to get into a regular cornrowing routine so as to keep my hair tangle-free and neat. I love my shrunken fro, but it just wasn't doing it for me. I needed a style. I know that the more that I practice cornrowing my OWN hair, the better I will get. We'll see how it goes.