Compliments

It's so nice to get compliments when you wear your hair natural...especially when the world seems to adore long straight hair. I wore a twistout yesterday to work and my manager commented on how much it's grown in a year. I told her if I didn't take pictures frequently I wouldn't believe it myself :) I hope that I am a silent testimony to the beauty and versatility of natural hair.

On another note, a friend of mine told me that she wished her hair was naturally wavy. That made me a little sad, but I didn't comment...

Cleaning My Scalp

What an exciting title LOL! So, I had read about cleaning your scalp with witch hazel or some type of astringent when wearing braids an such, so I decided to give it a go. I really need to wash my hair oncea week, but these darn twists are lasting 2 weeks if it kills me. I think it worked okay. I also put some coconut oil on my scalp afterwards. Hopefully, this will keep the flakes at bay. I may even try this if I see a few flakes. For some reason, I thought I'd end up with qtip lint in my hair, but I didn't. I love these twists so much. I may rinse them and rollerset them later in the week. I'm not sure yet. I was looking at old pictures of that experiment just a few minutes ago.

Next experiment

My next experiment will be the bantu knot out. The trick is going to be to time it so that my hair is dry when I need it to be. I may have to sit under the darn dryer for at least 30 minutes. I really don't want to, but it may be the only way around the time issue. My hair has always taken a long time to dry. Even under the dryer, I had to sit longer than an hour for rollersets and wraps. Now, right before I bc'd, I would rollerset my hair and I think I would sit under the dryer for 30-60 minutes and then let it dry overnight. I can't remember if it was 30 or 60 minutes. I may try it, though.

Toe Length Hair Challenge

We have a toe length hair challenge in progress on NP. We have about 121 people who have signed up! Mamochan started it...the title is a joke: "i Want Toe Length Hair!", "For those growing their hair to incredible lengths" spinoff

So I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, we could have a length challenge thread here? I was checking out the other thread and since there's so many of us, why don't we try doing it together? I join a lot of length challenge threads on other boards, but it's a lot more fun if it's on NP. Y'all are all natural..y'all aint crazy and you're more fun. So how about it?

We just created a new fotki album so everyone can keep their photos in there to track their progress. I absolutely love the idea and have about 4 in mine already. I'm going to put the comparison shots, only, in that one. I hope we have a faithful few who will keep it up over the long haul. It would be really great to see the progress over time.

This thread is awesome too! It's just that eventually it will end up on page 3 or something and no one will update it...or it will reach 10 pages and no one will start a new one for a few months.

My goals:
Short term - Chin length hair in front (currently it's to the bottom of my lip)
December 2007 goal - 10 inches at the top
Long term goal - Bra strap length (I may have been close before I bc'd but I don't thnk it actually reached bra strap length)

I cut 10 inches when I bc'd, but that probably means that I had about 12. I'm going to try to still with my protective style challenge. This recent strategy worked well...washing and stretching overnight...wearing a braidout the next day...twisting that day or the next day. Twisting that day is actually a better idea. I didn't particularly like the hair loss from detangling dry hair.

Other People's Hair

So there's a girl who rides the bus with me and I noticed some waves along the edges of her hair (new growth) and was secretly hoping that she was transitioning. Well, Monday, it was pretty obvious that she had a fresh perm and a mini haircut. I was disappointed. I know it shouldn't matter to me, but I just have this hope that one day all Black women will be free from the lye...Corny, but true.

Another lady on the bus asked me how long it took me to do my hair (current style: mini twists). I told her 3 hours and she did not seem happy with that idea. I know it seems like a long time, but I told her it lasts 2 weeks...I love my twists! Another girl on the bus said she thought I got someone else to do it...of course I have to say...I can't pay someone to do my hair :) I didn't say this...but I stopped doing that years ago. I didn't necessarily think that they did a better job than me. It was just nice having someone else do it. I think all women, particularly nappies, should learn to do their hair themselves. To rely on someone else for the health of your hair is not a cool move IMO.

It's been a long time

I haven't blogged in so long...I have plenty of random things to say about my hair journey...

I have gotten my NP addiction under control and sometimes go a week or longer without logging on, but when I do I realize how much I miss our sisterhood. It's so refreshing and inspiring.

I'm moving right along with my growth. I'm at 7.5 inches and the front reaches my bottom lip :) My short term goal is chin length for the front. I'm hoping for a solid 10 inches by December. I think I'll get it professionally trimmed once I reach 11. That way if I lose 1 inch, I won't have a conniption [I have never seen this work on paper before, but I think that's the correct spelling]. And yes, I will have a conniption if I lose too much hair. It's been such a challenging experience growing my nappy hair that I am more attached to it than is probably healthy LOL.

I had a short moment when I wanted to trim the back so it could grow into a bob, but after I did my mini twists, I realized that I was trippin' :) I love the way the back looks just like it is.

So I finally figured out the whole stretched hair thing. I think I imagined the hair stretched to almost straight, but that's not it at all. It's weird, because it doesn't appear really stretched but when It's twisted it hangs. I can't really explain it but it's cool. I also did a halfway successful braid out last week. I still need to time it right so it is actually dry when I get up in the morning. My ceiling fan helped a little. The top is always frizzy. I think it will just be that way; I'm not really sure. It's more wavy than coily and if it's not dry all the way it's just fuzzy. At any rate, I love my hair and I'm glad that I'm finally figuring some things out. This enabled me to split up my hair styling process, which was great.

My grandmother told me she stopped getting relaxers...I guess I did give her something to think about. I don't know how long that will last...can't really see her rocking a fro or twists, but I'll keep you posted.

I just read the cutest thread about ladies' significant others and husbands loving their hair and feeling it...I'm gonna pray for one of them :)

I hope I'm an inspiration to others. I hope that by seeing me switch up my hair that they realize they could also do the same. I know everyone has their "but my hair isnn't like yours" comments, but it's still a testimony to what our hair can do. I personally think that coarser hair looks more beautiful...especially twists...oooo!
I love it that people saw me when I bc'd and now and can see very clearly that nappy hair grows! Hopefully, it will make them think about why they are not seeing the same growth with their permed hair. And as most of us NP'ers know...it's not so much about the growth as the retention of that growth. Note to self to stay twisted up!