My Hair Care and Maintenance Presentation

If you've been following my tweeter feed, you'll know that yesterday (evening), I got a text and in it I was asked to make a presentation on hair care and maintenance today. So, I just got home from it a few minutes ago. It was pretty good, actually. I demonstrated stuff on my hair right there without even looking at my hair while doing them. I talked about a whole lot of stuff, but didn't go that in depth to like pH values and all that because of my audience. I actually had to try and really simplify it and use synonyms and stuff. It was all good.

I started off by saying, "good morning, everybody," and my voice sounded so nervous that everyone started laughing and I joined in. Lightened the mood a bit. I put up pics of my hair in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and showed that my hair didn't seem to grow longer (it was nape length in all pics and relaxed) and explained that that was because of my improper hair care back then. At the end, I showed two picture from my first month in my hair journey, one from my first year natural and four pictures from my second year (ending with a picture from the fundraiser I performed at). The pics showed some pretty obvious hair growth.

I was told that I might need to come back for a Q&A and to practicalise what I talked about, but I doubt that's going to happen. It's going to be on a Sunday and next Sunday is my last Sunday here in Africa and I haven't been asked to do it next Sunday.

Okay! So, the audience loved my presentation and a guy came to me after it to ask about his hair and how he could fix something (and other guys were nodding and getting tips for their wives during it). One thing that annoyed me was that the guy who asked me to make the presentation (I'll call him the host) came out after it and was like, "that didn't make any sense to me," all the ladies and the rest of the audience said that it did make sense. He then was like, maybe it's 'cause he's more or less bald. He then went on to say that each time he's seen me, he thought I looked rather unkempt. I was like, "what the heck?" but didn't say it out loud. I never leave my house without my hair being styled or held up neatly, 99% of the times he's seen me, my hair has been in a puff and I never wear messy puffs. I'm thee kind of person who spends about a half hour making sure my puff is perfect, I also do not leave my house without being dressed presentably. *sigh* All, but three of the peoplee in the audience knew me (they see me about once a week or so) and they've always thought I looked good. Once, they saw my mum with a scarf over her hair and they were like, "why didn't you style your mum's hair the way you styled yours today?" Some people try messing in my hair or try to figure out how I styled it and see if they can imitate it. Then he turned to my mum, mic still in hand and said that when he noticed my mum was doing something with her hair (that is, going natural), he was wondering if she was becoming more spiritual or what. Back here, there is a church called, "DeeperLife," the people there are said to act very spiritual. Here's how: they don't wear ear rings, don't wear nail varnish/polish, don't chemiccally alter their hair's texture, don'y wear trousers, et cetera. Anyways, so I was glad when my mum voiced out, right there, that she wasn't going natural for spiritual reasons. The guy was laughing thinking he was so funny, but he was the only one laughing. No one else found what he was saying funny. My mum, wore her hair in an absolutely beautiful twist out today! I put her hair in twists last week and she took them down this morning and styled her twist-out  in such a nice way.

Anyways, so I was pissed, real pissed with the host, but he is just one man and what matters is what the audience thinks and what God thinks, not what just one man does.

It annoyed me that I put so much effort into this anad he just laughs it off and says such things. If you follow my twitter feed, you'll know that I had been working on this and a graphic representation yesterday evening, when he sent the text till about 5:40am. I have been battling with some pretty bad insomnia so, I went to bed once I was done and 6am passed and I was still awake, 7am came and I was asked to get ready and head out so I could get there on time (no sleep). I was worn out, tired, my back hurt from standing while doing the graphic representation (hooked it up on a wall while working on it) and.....gaaah, he was so ungrateful. Even after giving me such short notice.

Anyways, I forgive him.

By the way, I was asked to speak there today because he heard that I got an award for my bkog and that award is, The Awesome Blogger Award  :) So, once again, thank you, Tia, for giving me that award. It's opening doors for me :)

SammyWithTheBigHairChallenge!

Hey!

So, I've decided to challenge myself. And you can do it to! :)
Till the end of this month, hopefully, I am going to try not using any detangling tools. No wide toothed combs. No Denman Brushes. Just Fingers! :)
Fingers!
Fingers!
FiNgErS!! :)


Some time ago, months ago, I decided to use only natural products (no commercial products) on my hair. I didn't really succeed with that at first because I was using the John Frieda Conditioner, Shampoo (only once a month) and Heat Protectant, Vitals Leave-in Conditioner, Organics Tea Tree Gro Conditioner (and I believe those were all the products I used). I also used things like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, homemade rosemary oil, shea butter , avocados etc on my hair. As a matter of fact, I only DCed with natural things then (and I still do). Okay! so, I stopped using the Vitals Leave-In Conditioner shortly after I started using it because it made my hair feel bad, like BAD. Totally didn't work for me. I added things to it, but still couldn't get it to do something good for my hair. Also, I noticed it had ingredients I didn't like getting on my hair in it (didn't notice that the first time I checked). So I was like, "mum, if you want a leave-in, I have one I can give you," and stopped using it. The Organics Tea Tree Gro, I added shea butter to it, canola oil, rosemary oil, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. It just sat on my hair and made it feel hard, and really dry, so, I stopped using it too. Shampoo, I quit using that...wait!...how many months ago? I'm totally CG right now. I used to use shampoo once a month, but now, not anymore. It always left my hair dry and stripped. Heat Protectant, just once in a long while because some natural things natural have heat protection in them. So, I was using only the John Frieda conditioner (and homemade things), but my bottle was like __ this close to finishing. I like the John Frieda conditioner I have, but I can't find it anywhere now. So, I kept it for an emergency and I started making all my hair products. Right now, the only hair product I use is my Organics Lock&Twist Gel and that's because I'm letting my aloe vera plant be for a while so it grows some more. I haven't used my OLTG in a while now (ever since I took down my twists (or shortly after that)).
My hair does feel and look a whole lot better since I cut down on all those products. So, try it sometime! NO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS! Homemade is the way to go for me now (or well, after graduation and I'm away at an IB College, I'll order the Bee Mine Botanical line and keep it just incase I can't get something done).

Why do I make such long posts?
Anyways, CHALLENGE: No combs! Fingers only! :)
See you later, okay?
Bye

Mini Twist (wash, maintain....A-Z)

So, I've had mini twists for a week now and I'm keeping them in for 3 more weeks (a total of 4 weeks).
Okay! So here are the basics:

Deep Conditioning (DC):  This is most definitely possible with your twists in. I think it's easier and safer to DC with oils like coconut oil, however, I've only DCed with an avocado-mayo-honey DC with my mini twists in. had like 4 sections of my mini twists separated. I had a ball of yarn nearby. So, I got the DC mix onto my mini twists in semi scrunching motions moving down my twists and not rubbing, smoothing or whatever. When I was done with a section, I sorta African threaded it leaving a lot of space between rolls and then I rolled the remainder of the yarn, that was cut out for that section, round the root area of the minitwists so it was sorta like a bantu knot. I did that for each section to prevent my twists unravelling. Next, I put a plastic cap on then tied a scarf over it, I then rolled some yarn round the bottom of the scarf (the bit close to my forehead) and tied it then I tied a piece of scrap material like another scarf round those then I tied a bigger scarf round those to keep it secure, trap in body heat, get a better DC effect and so on.

Wash: I don't use shampoo (CG). However, I didn't co-wash today, because I had an inkling about my homemade conditioner/co-wash. I need to change a lot of things in it as some of them don't work well with my hair and some other things. So, I washed my hair with my homemade Herbal Hair Cleanser (you can request a copy of my recipe. I like this cleanser. I love it's smell, what it does, it's ingredients....). I used my overhead shower (fixed shower) for this. I first turned it on and took the yarn off one section then I slid my fingers under that section and let the water run through then I did the semi-scrunching motion thing and then I rinsed out that section carefully, but thoroughly (don't want my hair smelling like bad food). I did that for all sections then I rinsed my mini twists as a whole to make sure my whole hair was thoroughly rinsed out. Next, I got my homemade herbal hair cleanser (I'll call it HHHC now) onto my hair and scalp. Worked a lil magic (gently and carefully cleaning my scalp even though there was no buildup and also doing a bit of the scrunching thing to the twists. After that, I turned the water back on and rinsed out my hair well.
I'm going to try washing with a sock cap next time to see how it works out.

Drying: I don't use heat on my hair (air dry). So, I also don't use normal towels on my hair, I only use shirts on it for now (need to find a good microfibre towel). However, I didn't use a shirt on my twists, I just let them be, like totally dry by themselves.

Moisture: I got a towel round my shoulder (note that I did this right after washing my hair, my hair wasn't even a tad bit dry) then I got some olive oil, homemade rosemary oil and some shea butter onto the twists in a semi-scrunching motion moving downwards (from roots to ends). I used the EVOO first then the rosemary oil next and finally, the shea butter, to lock in the moisture.

Styling: I'm in a really weird school lol. It's a good school, I might add, but when it comes to hair, and some other things, really weird. I say this because unless you're a full white, you have to get your hair braided or twisted, 'out' styles aren't allowed, your hair must go backwards (*cough* *cough* receding hairline, traction alopecia cause-r), many styles aren't allowed and braided extensions are banned. So... yeah. All I do is section my hair unevenly in 2 ( in this --> direction) then I used banding hair bands to hold each section and tuck in the ends to prevent them from brushing on my shirts or neck. This style actually looks pretty cute on me :) though really simple.

Sleep: I sleep with a scarf tied round my twists (without taking out the style) and I sleep on a pillow wrapped with satin PJ bottoms (haven't found a satin pillow case yet).

Maintenance (frizz, fly-aways, set style...): Now, I use a product (that's not homemade, for now). I use my OLTG (I mentioned in my last post that I'll start calling it that instead of, "Organics Lock&Twist Gel"). If needed, though usually not, I take off the bands on my hair and scrunch some OLTG onto my twists in random sections, if I don't need to take out the band, I'll just get some OLTG on the front bit of my hair then tie a scarf over it. I do this once I get home from school and keep the scarf on till I leave for school the next day, Trust me, this works in making you hair frizz-free, fly-away free and keeping the style you choose to keep your hair in, in place. It just might help with giving a good "out" look too :)

Stretching: I don't really need to do this, but banding your mini twists work or you can wrap you mini twists round your head using bobby pins like you might have with relaxed hair and tie a scarf over it (sleep with the scarf on or with the bands in, take them out in the morning and..voila!)

What else do you need to know? Comment and let me know, okay? It's like 1:11AM here now so, I've got to catch some zzzs for now.

Hope everything above helps somebody (or people)
~Sam