Wednesday 29 May 2013

She asked to touch my hair!

Those of you who follow my blog will know that I recently went to the hairdressers for the first time in my hair journey.  I love the results.  The other day, I was in a hair shop, looking for products - as you do, and a lady in the shop came up to me and this is how the conversation went...

Lady - Excuse me, is that your hair?
Me - Yeah
Lady - Are you sure?
Me - Yeah
Lady - Can I touch it? Just the ends
Me - Er...okay
Lady touches my hair
Lady - Oh yeah, it is real
Me - Yeah
Lady - Is there anything special that you do to your hair?
Me - No, not really
Lady - Does the dye damage your hair?
Me - No, cos I use a semi permanent colour
Lady - You have nice hair
Me - Thanks
And with that I continued with my purchases.

Now, since I have been on this hair journey, I have seen blog posts and YouTube videos where women recount stories of when they have had similar experiences. This one was bitter sweet.  I was pleased that my hair looked in such a condition that she had to ask me if it was mine, but also taken aback that she did not believe that I was telling the truth until she touched it.  In any case, she was satisfied that it was hair grown from my scalp, and I was pleased that she believed me.

Monday 27 May 2013

Raging Red and Wild Cherry

I have taken some pictures of my hair in natural sunlight to show the colour that my hair reaches when dyed with a semi-permanent dye.  I used a combination of Raging Red and Wild Cherry by Adore.  I always use this particular brand as it offers the colour that I want and produces a vibrant wearable colour.  I dyed my hair on relaxer day, then went to the hairdressers (for the first time since my hair journey began almost 3 years ago) one week later where my hair was blow dried and lightly flat ironed, and my hair trimmed and re-shaped.



Monday 20 May 2013

Relaxer Day - May 2013

2 ORS relaxer kits and the contents
On Saturday 18th May, I relaxed my hair at 9 weeks post, well my sister did it for me (Thanks x).  I used two boxes of the Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil relaxer kit - one extra strength and one normal strength.  This kit comes with the Olive Oil built in protection relaxer base and activator, Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo, the Olive Oil Replenishing Pak, the Olive Oil Incredibly Rich Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion and the Olive Oil Wrap/Set Mousse, along with a pair of gloves and a stick to mix the relaxer base and activator.  See picture

This time I completely forgot to base my scalp and my edges (I know!).  My sister started in the middle with the extra strength relaxer as the middle of my hair is the most resistant.  Once that one was finished, she used about half of the normal strength relaxer on the remainder of my hair.  The application and smoothing process took about 45 minutes (I'm trying to do it quicker, but haven't figured it out yet!).  I didn't feel any burning.  She was really great at avoiding touching my scalp with the relaxer.  I then shampooed about 4 times with the Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo that comes with the kit and towel dried my hair.

Rollers and Set Mousse in spray bottle
I  was going to do the mid protein step, but thought that would prolong the process too much. By this time it was about 11pm.  I asked my sister to apply a semi permanent dye to my hair - Adore Wild Cherry and Raging Red using an applicator brush.I had a full bottle of the wild cherry and a little of the Raging red left over, so I poured it all into a bowl for ease of application.  My sister applied it to my hair using the the relaxer method.  This is a really messy process and I really do recommend having help.  If you can't get that then i would suggest wearing old clothes and covering your floor to protect it from inevitable spillages.  Once the dye was applied, I covered my hair with a plastic cap and stayed under a heated cap for 15 minutes.  I then shampooed twice and added the ORS conditioner.  Again I let that sit on my hair under a plastic cap and a heated cap for 15 minutes.
Raging Red and Wild Cherry

Finally I rinsed and roller set my hair using the ORS wrap set mousse from a spray bottle.  The application took about 1 hour and I sat under the hooded dryer for about 1hr 20 minutes.  Once my hair was dry I applied the ORS moisturiser and sealed with Olive Oil, wrapped my hair and went to bed.  It was a super duper long night, but I love the final product.  I love the results that roller setting gives my hair, it feels soft and smooth and has body and volume.  Love it!!

I went to the hair dressers a week later for the first time in my hair journey and for the first time in about 4 years.  It felt so great to have my hair done professionally, and I think I will be doing it more often. She did a fabulous job on my hair and was super quick.  So I have a few pictures of my hair to so you can see what the colour looked like before and after.  On the left is a pic of my hair wet, after I relaxed it, and on the right is the way the hairdresser did it.



Monday 6 May 2013

Setback due to laziness?

So it just seems as though my hair has not retained any length since my last length check in September 2012!  My goal was to reach BSL this year, so that's not been going so well.  I did have a good trim of about 2-3 inches in January 2013 as I thought that my ends looked horrible and I thought that a good trim would change that.  I was wrong.  My hair is still brittle, it is still breaking and it feels as though it is shedding more than normal.  I am at a loss as to what to do to fix it.  I think that my relaxers will have to happen every 2-3 months and no less, otherwise the breakage just gets out of hand.  Also, I think I am going to revert back to what I was doing at the start of my hair journey.  I would wash my hair twice a week, wear protective styles all the time, airdry my hair all the time and moisturise and seal twice a day.  That seemed to work in the beginning, so I will go back to that.  TBH, I have been a bit lazy in the last year or so - not covering my head at night, (althogh I do have a satin pillow case), not moisturising and sealing, and only washing once a week.

I tried a flat twist high bun as a protective style recently, so here's a pic of the look.  I am planning to relax in a couple of weeks, and I'll check back in then
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