MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! I know we haven't posted in a couple of weeks. With the holiday's we have been busy, busy, busy. Beginning the 1st of the year we will make the utmost attempt to keep this blog and our hair journey's up to date. We will do more product review posts, progress posts, how do I do it video's etc... We haven't forgotten about you guys. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!

Hair Inspiration: Who is yours?

I once read somewhere that when you start your healthy hair journey, it is helpful to have a hair inspiration, or someone who has hair like yours, to motivate you through your journey. There are a lot of women out there with gorgeous hair, but when looking I take into consideration someone who has similar hair texture like mine who is relaxed and who really takes their hair care seriously. My first Celebrity Hair Inspiration is Jada Pinkett-Smith. Granted, she does not relax her hair, but when it is straightened and it looks like it is relaxed. Her hair is so beautiful and it looks like she is currently mid back length. Her hair is versatile because she wears it natural. I absolutely love it! Look at how healthy it looks in this photo:

My 2nd celebrity hair crush is Keshia Knight Pulliam. Ever sine she was little Rudy Huxtable on the Cosby Show, I loved her hair. She is another one who (surprise) does not relax her hair. She flat irons it to get it straight when she is acting, but most of the time she wears it natural which is sort of curly. I realize that even though she is natural and I am relaxed, I can still benefit from some of the same natural hair products because they promote moisture in the hair. They key to healthy relaxed hair is moisture moisture moisture. You have to have the delicate balance of protein as well. I can do a post about that later. Currently my hair is grazing armpit length. My overall goal is waist length. Here is a good photo of Keshia's hair:

Who is your Hair Inspiration?

Natural Hair: Co Wash(by Lisa)

Wednesday night I decided that I needed a regimen to follow. I am now realizing that relaxed hair and natural hair are totally different. Because of the tight kinky curl in my natural hair, its more dry then a person with relaxed or straight hair. The Sebum in our hair is a natural oil and the oil covers straight hair better than curly hair, which is why straight hair can appear shinier then curly hair. So my Regimen will be, Wash Day on Sunday's , following with a deep conditioner. I will Co Wash on Wednesday's and Friday's. Saturday night's I will pre-poo for Sunday's wash. So tonight I Co Washed with Aussie Sydney Smooth.

I used Mixed Chicks leave in Conditioner

I part my hair moisturize it from scalp to ends with Shea Moisture

I seal the moisture in with an all natural Coconut oil then I Corn braid it.

In the morning I will wear braids out ;-) I condition my scalp daily with Virgin Hair Fertilizer.

Natural Hair: Co Wash Day(by Lisa

Ok so because I'm in transition from relaxed hair to natural hair its been pretty hard to find products that works on my new growth and my relaxed ends. So i co-washed with Miss Jessie's Super SweetBack treatment

This is a great conditioner. from my roots to my ends my hair was very soft and moisturized. After co-washing I used Shea moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie.

I used this moisturize and its good. Its moisturizes my hair really well and it smell really good. I seal my ends with coconut oil and I condition  my scalp with Virgin Hair Fertilizer

I've been hearing great reviews on this product I have only been using it for a week. It make my scalp tingle but so far so good. After conditioning my scalp I corn braid my hair in 5 braids and I will wear the braids out style in the morning.

Relaxed Hair: Wash Day (By Monique)

Today was wash day for me. Normally I would prepoo (pre-shampoo treatment used to condition and protect the hair before wash)my hair with a hot-oil treatment, but I just recently got back from a trip to London, England and I my hair felt a little weighed down when we got back. So here is what I did:


Shampooed with Mizani Puriphying Shampoo and followed up with Paul Mitchell Clarifying Shampoo Three. I clarified with both because the Mizani is a clarifying shampoo and the Paul Mitchell is a chelating shampoo. (I can do a post about the difference later).

I then followed up with a normal moisturizing shampoo, Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger Moisturizing Lather Shampoo. I love this shampoo because my hair feels so soft when I rinse.

Afterwards, I used Roux Porosity Control Conditioner and left it on for 30 seconds. This conditioner really helps my hair absorb and keep moisture. This is definitely a staple product in my rotation. I followed that up with Aphoghee Reconstructor Conditioner for 2 minutes and rinsed it out.

I deep conditioned for about 3 hours with Vanilla Silk Cream Moisture Dream. It was in for that long because I actually fell asleep. I rinsed and added my leave-ins: Darcy's Botanical leave in conditioner, Biosilk Serum and CHI Silk infusion. I then roller set my hair which took a little over an hour to dry under the hair dryer.

When I took it down, I flat ironed my roots and then wrapped my hair and I am done. Overall it will normally take me about 3 1/2 hours to do it all. It took longer because of my nap in between (hey my trip took a toll on me).

That is my wash day. Until next post.

Monique

Introductions

Hi,

My name is Monique and I am the relaxed hair sister.  I am 30 something years old and I have decided to take my hair care in my hands. My hair type is 4b/c. RIght now I am in the middle of my hair journey, which I began in Oct 2011. My overall hair length goal is waist length. RIght now I am just grazing armpit length. I want to use this blog to document the remaining part of my journey to reach waist length. I plan on doing product reviews, posting pictures, documenting my highs and my lows. My sister, Lisa, is also joining me on this hair journey where she will be documenting her natural hair journey to healthy hair.

Hi,

My name is Lisa the natural hair sister. I'm in my late 20's and I'm just beginning my natural hair journey. My hair type is 3c/4a. I decided to go natural because the relaxers burn my scalp and my hair is so thin. So this has motivated me to bring you on my natural hair journey. With that I will also be doing product reviews, posting pictures and documenting my highs and lows. Right now I still have relaxed hair and I will be doing the Big Chop with you guys. My hair length goal is also waist length. My big sis inspired me to grow my own hair and that is why we decided to do this together. Currently she lives in Germany and I live in New York.