Asian Suggests Hairstyle

I went to pick up my dry cleaning today. The owner, I presume, says he likes my hair and proceeds to describe it as a NY style. Then he goes further and draws me a picture of this style he thinks I should try with curls coming down in the front and something else that I couldn't quite understand. Interesting. I just smiled and nodded. Wow.

I bought the famous Denman Brush - the D3 model. I'm trying an experiment tonight. I read it on NP - blowout without heat. Although, I'm not sure what I hope to achieve, I figured I'd try it and see what it looks like. I wet the front and top a little, brushed it with the Denman and tied a scarf around it. Okay...I just took a peak and the first inch or so of my edges is straight. What in the world? I don't know what I have on my head. I mean, I know it's hair, but it never ceases to amaze me. I'll have to check it out in the morning. I can't wait until it's longer and I can wear a ribbon as a headband and it will be long enough to stick up high and have true dimension.

Pressing

Found this on NP. It's taken from another source. The author is responding to a question about damage:

However, as you witnessed, this process is not without risks, especially on fine, fragile hair like yours. Pressing combs typically have a temperature range of 350F to 500F, which is intense heat when you consider that water boils at 212F! The more resistant your hair is to being straightened (as is true for most African-American hair), the more heat (and tension) is needed to achieve results. What can happen when the pressing comb comes in contact with the hair, especially if you leave it in one place for too long, is that the water inside the hair shaft literally boils, which causes the hair to break or rupture in that area, resulting in patches of frayed, broken strands. It also burns away the hair shaft's protective cuticle layer, exposing the fragile cortex (the inner portion of the hair strand) and making it more vulnerable to damage. And this type of repeated damage to hair adds up quickly.

Oyin Update

I really wasn't impressed with the products, but I luuuuvved their smell. Mmmmm!!! The mango butter has been most moisturizing. I've recently been adding olive oil and aloe vera gel (the same one I use on my face) to the mango butter.

Random Thoughts

I went to the library today and the librarian, a really nice white lady, said, "I like your hair. I wish I could wear that style." I said, "Thank you," and proceeded to my car thinking...If you hair was tightly curled/coiled, I could bet you lots of money that you would not like it. Interesting, I thought, quite interesting.

I went to a Christmas party last night and saw some people who I haven't seen since by BC. They were surprised and I received the same positive feedback that I've continued to receive...thank goodness. I'm so afraid that the moment someone says something ignorant about my hair, I will show my black azz. At any rate, I am still quite curious about people's reactions to my hair in a year.

It's actually growing quite nicely. I have 3 inches in some spots. I think my fro has a chunky look. I think I'll just have to accept the level of chunkiness I get from a wash and go. I love Bai's chunky fro the best, but texture plays a role and the diversity of the texture from head to head and even on one head is so amazing. It's all beautiful, versitile and eye-catching.

A girlfriend of mine remarked that she didn't want to sweat out her press and curl. I declare I cannot adequately express the joy that I feel because I have freed myself from that existence. Whoo!

I just read a really good thread on NP about heat. It discussed it from a scientific point of view and was really informative.

I had someone say that they couldn't even remember what I look like with long, straight hair...Good, cause you'll never see that again :) I'm still really excited about my growth. I need to do a deep conditioning treatment tomorrow. I'm going to visit my daddy later this week for about 1 week. I'm going to start packing tomorrow, so I don't forget anything. I must have all of my hair products - shampoo, conditioner (regular and deep), mango butter. I can't forget my olive oil and aloe vera gel for my skin either.

Another Experiment

I ended up using all of the Oyin products by 3:00 p.m. today. Not the plan. They all smell wonderful. I don't think the Shine and Define or Greg's Juice provided enough moisture for me. I added the Whipped Pudding after the fact, then spritzed my hair with water...then I got this idea to twist it. So, I flat twisted the front and did individual twists in the back. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the twist-out looks like anything. It was pretty easy to twist it wet, which is what I thought. I think it will look pretty good when it's longer. I hope to have plump twists.

My Oyin Arrived!

Woo hoo!!! I'm deep conditioning this morning with the Honey Hemp Conditioner with Aloe and Silk. It smells sooooo good. Everything smells really good. I want to try one product at a time so I can get a good idea about how my hair likes them. The Whipped Pudding is first. I'll be back to report my findings.

A Cautionary Tale (not mine)

In the 'heat' (pun intended) of all these burning the hair straight/blow-drying threads popping up, thought I'd add my own cautionary tale.

I am pretty new to this site and before I found Nappturality, I had this mindset that my natural coarse hair had to be tamed into submission with blow-drying, but not burning the hair straight, oh no, because that would damage my hair and I didn't want that...

So every week, or every time I took down my extensions, I'd heat up that blow-dryer to the *hell* setting, saturate my hair with moisturiser and fry my hair, of course, it would be just a teeny-tiny bit brittle but that didn't matter because I was going to protect it under those extensions. HELLO - THE DAMAGE HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE!

So, if you want to blow-dry your hair regularly, remember what will happen:

1. You will LOSE YOUR NAPS

Yes you read that correctly, you will L O S E them! Now, I used to think I didn't have naps, that I just had course afro hair that was a bit wiry on a bad day. Then I found NP and decided to give up the heat and learn to be kind to my hair result, softer, coilier hair. Granted, I'm a 4-a but there is a bit of a kink in there. But I digress.

About a week ago, I was looking in the mirror with my hair all combed out and I notices that while the roots were nice and healthy, the ends were limp and wiry. Then it dawned on me: it was heat damage. This made even more sense because I had a couple of patches in the middle with short stubby hair and some limp bits hanging out - and I know I hadn't taken scissors to any patches in my hair. Now I realised the truth, I'd been too blow-dryer-happy on my hair.

2. Your hair will break and split

In addition to the limp ends, I had the most a atrocious breaking, with split ends going all the way up the shaft. Some split ends had splits; some splits even began right in the middle of the hair shaft! So when I pulled out a clump of hair to gauge the length of the healthy hair, I had nearly two inches of breaking splitting ends!

So much for protecting the hair while blow-drying! I thought if I put enough moisture on my hair it would protect it. Think about it: when you put oil on food and apply heat to that food, does the oil protect the food? No, the oil helps it to fry!

3. You will lose length

It's no biggie if you're not going for length but I was. The hair on my longest side was reaching then end of my neck, now with all the trimming and levelling a rocking and almost gown-out TWA. So much for getting a BAA by the end of the year! Still you live and learn, and I'm glad I learnt my lesson sooner rather than later. So please remember, blow-drying can be just as damaging as burning the hair straight and the damage can be irreparable, so look after your God-given naps.