Reason for no recent blog entries

Hallo!

I miss talking to you guys. I really do.

You see, the reason for my absence is that I recently moved to London (yup! the big ol' city!). I'm still getting used to living here and being at uni. Uni's great, if you're wondering. However, I'm not used to getting home late because I'm working and voluntarily going to school on the weekends, but that's okay. What has to be done has to be done.

I am getting more accustomed to where I live and being at uni here in London so, expect some new posts soon. I might pre-write them if I have a few minutes/hours free and just upload them every few days. Here's what to expect (in no particular order):

• A reveal - y'all have been wondering what I look like. If you've checked out my Facebook page, you know what I look like. If not, you could either go check out and 'Like' my page or wait till I upload the blog post that is 'My Big Reveal.'
• Rocking a....not day 1, or day 2, but day 5 bantu knot out. I have perfected preserving bantu knot out without having to completely reset your hair every day. Trust me, every morning, my hair looks much better than the night before and I don't have to redo the bantu knots daily.
• I can also make advice videos for freshers especially those studying architecture as that is the course I'm taking, in case you didn't know what I was doing at uni.
• Quick hair styles for people in uni is also something I'm considering posting.

And more.

My big reveal will probably come up before the others. I don't know when I'll do it, but I will some day soon. Just hang in there and please be patient with me, okay? Danke.

~SammyWithTheBigHair

My New Hair Routine

I waited about a week before uploading this.

So, as I mentioned before, now that my hair's longer, I have realised that I need to wash it more often. I actually need to wash it every 2-3 days. Due to this, my hair routine has changed quite a it. It is stable now and that's why I'm uploading this. So, here it goes, my hair routine:

Shampoo
I wash my hair with shampoo once every 2-4 weeks using Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus shampoo. I haven't reviewed this product yet as I have only used it once since I received it and I feel I have to use a product more than once before reviewing it especially if I've been protective styling for a month or more (with extensions). I focus on my scalp, but I work the lather down my hair shaft before rinsing it out of my hair. I would usually shampoo once, but depending on how much build up I feel, I might shampoo twice.

Condition/Co-Wash
I condition my hair after every shampoo wash and I co-wash my every 2-5 days using Shea Moisture's Coconut & Hibiscus conditioner. I really like this conditioner. I had a better experience with it today than I did prior to reviewing this product. I focus on my hair shaft when using this product, but if I'm co-washing, I put a bit of the product on the pads of my finger and massage my scalp a bit before rinsing out the product.
I also use about a dime-size amount of extra virgin olive oil, working it in on the two halves of my hair before leaving the shower. Some times, I partially rinse out the oil, other times, like today, I leave it in.
As a leave-in conditioner, I tend to just use a little of Shea Moisture's Curling Gel Soufflé as I have found this product to be rather moisturising and good at reducing the amount of frizz I experience.

Other forms of cleaning
I rinse out my hair and water-wash whenever I decide not to co-wash, but I need to get my hair wet and ensure my scalp is hydrated/cleaned to an extent. I plan on using my Terressentials Mud Wash every now and then to cleanse my hair and scalp too. Also, I might invest in to Bentonite clay or Amla powder as I find these work really well in cleansing and conditioning the scalp and my hair looks awesome and my curls clump and look amazing after mud washing.

Detangling
I try to keep detangling to a minimum. I thoroughly detangle my hair whenever I wash it so that's 2-3 times a week. However, I might run a comb through it a bit if I want to achieve a really big and neat puff.
To detangle, I first part my hair in two and saturate each section in extra virgin olive oil while moving my hands down my hair shaft in closed fists. This makes some of the shed hair slide out easily. Next I repeat this process, but using Shea Moisture's Restorative Conditioner, but I do not saturate my hair in it because....well....this product is rather pricey and you actually don't need to saturate your hair in it for it to do its job. Some times, I put on a heat processing cap (I have a foil-like one) while I sort out some things then I hop in the shower, rinse out my hair and then start my co-washing process. After applying the Coconut & Hibiscus conditioner, I run a comb through my hair (usually under the shower stream, but I can do it without this). As my hair is longer now, I spend less than 5mins detangling it as the tangles just slide out (whether or not there is product in my hair - as long as my hair's under the shower stream, the tangles are out). I do not comb or really finger detangle my hair before this.

Styling
If I'm not leaving my house, I wouldn't bother styling my hair. I would just leave it in whatever it's setting it - braids, twists, bantu knots, et cetera. If I am heading out, I would've had my hair stretched so all I'll do is take it down from its stretched state and either style it with bobby pins, put it in a bun, do a tuck-roll-and-pin or put my hair up in a puff. I try to keep styling/manipulating my hair to a minimum and most of all, I try to keep the need for a comb to a minimum too so I always end up doing a tuck-roll-and-pin quite often as it saves me from a bad hair day or old-looking hair. When styling my hair, I seldom put any product on it, but if I do use a product, it would be Shea Moisture's Curling Gel Soufflé and a little goes a VERY LONG WAY with this product.

Night Routine
I sleep on a pillow wrapped up in a satin material (or I cover my hair in a satin-scarf). If I feel lazy, I just put my hair up in a bun and go to bed. If not, I re-braid my hair or add flexi rods to the ends of my braids/twists if I never took them down. At times, I will use some of the Curling Gel Soufflé on my edges and wherever my hair was parted and that's pretty much it. My night routine is very minimal. Ain't nobody got time to be going through a long process when they're tired.


And that pretty much sums up my hair routine. It's pretty simples, I guess. I try to keep manipulating my hair to a minimum and I try to avoid using combs more than twice during a week (if not just once).

My routine might change slightly in the next few weeks to months. All that would be different would be that I'll invest in a blow dryer and be using it on the cool setting after washing my hair on weekdays especially because I'll be doing that after working out in the morning and as a student at uni (who lives about 30mins, using the tube, away from school), I need my hair to be easily sorted out and stretched before I need to start heading out to school.

This routine has been working pretty well for me as my hair has been breaking less and I've been having less shed hair. Also, my hair looks much better and as most of you know, my hair got really damaged from my last protective style.

Product Review: Flaxseed gel

Picture from LetMeLetYouKnow

So, I tried this out for the first time a few days ago. I made it using 1 part flaxseeds to 8 parts water followed by a bit of extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin coconut oil after straining out the gel.

This product acts like a gel, yes, it did it's job. HOWEVER, it left my hair flaky and looking dirty. It was so bad that I had to cowash my hair TWICE (after covering it up to go for a mini party to celebrate my friend's court wedding). The flakes were crazy!

Despite the flaking, the gel left my hair feeling soft, moisturised and nice, actually. I liked what it did for my hair.

I'm sorry, I'm jumping around here.

Applying the gel was not really messy. It was an easy application. I do plan on retrying this product before I completely write it off. The next time I use it, I'll use less on each section and pray that that leads to no flakes and still defined curls and a good hold and set.

So, this was a short review. Shorter than even I expected.

Remember, products work differently for people and I know quite a number of ladies who did not experience flaking from using this gel (and I know others who got dry hair from it. Not sure how that happened, but hey! we all have different hair!) :)

Growing Out Your Edges

Hola, chicas!!

So, some of you know that during these sat few months, I have been able to grow my edges out to lengths that many don't think the edges can grow up to. I just thought I should share with you tips on growing out your edges because I'm sure many of you want to grow yours out.

D'accord! On y va!

• Keep your edges detangled at all times, but don't necessarily comb through them or brush them daily because that'll cause breakage
• When protective styling (and you know how I love my protective styles), never put your edges in them. If you braid your hair, twist it or whatever, do not put your hair in the braid, twist or whatever because our edges are more prone to breakage (especially when they're still short) so tugging them back with a braid or up with a lot of hair in a twist or box braid can lead to them being pulled out or breaking
• Keep your edges moisturised at all times. Moisture! Moisture! Moisture! oh! did I forget to say, MOISTURE! Your hair needs moisture in general and let's just say that your edges need paying attention to. Remember to use some water and then seal it in with a light butter.
• It is best to keep the pH value of the hair on your edges balanced. My shea butter mix has some apple cider vinegar in it to balance it out. If the pH is balanced, your hair cuticles will lie flat and therefore, retain more moisture and appear healthier.
• Keep your edges clean. Zero buildup, tu capisci? Sulfate free shampoo, mud wash or natural/organic hair and scalp cleanser.
• When you deep condition, try your best to make sure the plastic cap or bag covers your edges.
• Drink a lot of water too.

Do this and you will notice a your edges growing out!

~SammyWithTheBigHair (and growing edges!)

The Test

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Hola!!

So.......I am going to be trying out some products on my entire head of hair in a few days.....or weeks. You see, I've been in a protective style for about 4 months now and I miss my hair. Yes, I miss my hair. I'm going to take down this protective style soon and then I'm going to try out the Terressentials mud wash (I have two different ones, but I'm trying out just the lavender one), Shea Moisture Restorative Conditioner, a Greek yoghurt deep conditioner and a WetBrush given to me to critique and review by TheWetBrush. Unfortunately, I don't know if the WetBrush ever arrived at my house 'cause I can't find it anywhere so I'll need to ask family later to know who received it and where's it's at.

So excited! Can't wait to try them on my bird's nest!!

Oh! and I'm going to do a length check! Can't wait to see how long my hair is now when hand stretched and when left to shrink. :)

I'm also trying out a new brand of coconut oil for the first time. From the look and smell of it, if any coconut oil is fully real, it's this one. It's 100% organic and raw, nothing added and it looks and smells divine! Like coconuts!

Hehe :)

Anyways, I'll post a review of all those products after trying them out! :)

~SammyWithTheBigHair

My (sorta) New Routine + Update

Hey everyone,

So, I know it's been almost a month since my last post on here. I have an excuse. Yes! And it's a good one. I've been laptop deprived. Yup! And my iPhone, for some reason, won't let me post anything on here. *sad face* :(

Anyways, so I'm here now and yes, I have graduated. :) Oh! yeah! so, I said I was going to tell you guys what I'll do with my hair for my graduation and prom. So, I had my hair up in a cinnabun for graduation and then for prom, I picked my hair out into an afro and pinned off part of the front-left-side. The prom do shrunk so bad at my prom, but it shrunk beautifully, people were still going, "I love your hair!" even after it had shrunk till it could shrink no more.

So....back when I was still in high school (which was like 12 days ago, I know, it's been so long since i graduated), I was so busy with exams and stuff (exams started in February and ended on the 12th of June - an almost daily thing) so I started to deep condition less and take care of my hair less. Fortunately, due to my previous regimen, my hair still remained moisturised and soft even without being deep conditioned weekly, it did need a protein treatment real-bad, though, my ends, those babies suffered :( Another thing is that I started to wash my hair less. Like I normally would wash my hair once a week and during really dry weeks, a sulfate-free shampoo wash during the weekend and a co-wash mid-week. Well, the shampoo and co-wash, both were out of my equation. Don't get me wrong, I didn't become a smelly-haired, dirty girl, my hair looked and smelt fine. I just didn't have the time to wash it and like I was always so tired so even at night, I wasn't really up for washing my hair and I didn't have enough time to do it in the morning. And please don't being up the weekend 'cause I was at school on Saturdays AND SUNDAYS too doing exams. During that period of washing less, I noticed something, umm.... dirt is good. Okay! let's just put that as "washing less is good" 'cause the whole dirt is good thing gives me the image of a dustbin, trash can, rubbish bin, dumpster, whatever you want to call it. My hair actually felt better without being washed as often and it stayed stretched longer. I guess it's because it's retaining nutrients longer and losing its oil less. I'm getting this vibe that some of you might be thinking up something rather nasty right now, so I'll just set things straight with y'all, I didn't go without washing my hair from February till June! Okay! so it's out there! I washed my hair a couple of times, just not as often as I usually did. Like I could go 3 weeks without a wash. But hey! I only washed my hair with a shampoo once every 4 weeks while I was transitioning (but I believe I co-washed between that, so it's still different, hmm..... but anyways!)

Right now, I'm out of high school (yup! :) ) and well....I've been sleeping so much. I'm still not washing my hair as often as I used to, but it's not as bad as while I had exams. Right now, I'm just letting my hair be unless I need to step out of my house. Like I had messy bantu-knots in for almost a week and even stepped out with them (under a satin scarf with a cotton scarf over the satin scarf).

It's been raining practically every day and when I'm rocking a short style (rocking some shrunken hair), that's a bit of a rinse for me. I would wash my hair this week, but I've got rehearsals for a fundraiser (concert I'm performing at on Sunday) and I'm heading out to the beach with a bunch of friends (something I haven't done in quite a long time) on Saturday I guess I can try squeezing in a wash after the beach 'cause of the salty water and stuff, but it takes a day for my hair to dry nowadays so, I'm not guaranteed it'll be dry by the time I'm heading out to church and I need it to be sorta stretched out so I can easily style it for the fundraiser.

Okay! So, I'm going to force myself to wrap up this post now. I'll just put up my sorta new routine:

• Wash whenever time is found, but don't go longer than two and a half weeks before a wash.
• Alternate between amla and BeeMine Botanical Shampoo (sulfate-free) or make an alma-shampoo mixture to wash with (weird....this just came to mind....."alma-poo")
• Co-wash more often and with a conditioner and oil mixture.
• Condition after every alma or shampoo wash with a conditioner and coconut oil mixture.
• Twirl hair in random, but medium-small sections with fingers or twirl/roll and bantu knot (to secure) hair immediately after washing till it dries to aid the clumping (my hair doesn't clump everywhere and it usually loses it clumps especially when manipulated or it gets frizzy)
• Finger detangle and style rather than comb-detangle and style,
• Spray hair with a mixture of water, apple cider vinegar and coconut oil every morning and every night (ensure every night before bed incase the one in the morning doesn't work out) and seal it in with a 1p coin (never more than a 50p coin) amount of coconut oil (I'm sorry, but I don't know what size the different cent coins come in). This helps to keep the hair moisturised and soft. Oh! yeah and I have to caps of a bottle of Heinz ACV (poured the ACV in the bottle top/cap twice and poured it into a very large spray bottle that's half full with water).
• Deep condition before every wash, with a moisturiser, with coconut oil, with damp hair, with a mixture of honey, mayo and an egg (preferably egg yolks) and deep condition with coconut milk (mixed with coconut oil, honey and cornstarch (cornstarch for thickness)) only when I don't mind getting myself and my bathroom messy.
• Don't manipulate hair unless leaving the house and going for something quite important (that is not the grocery store/supermarket).
• Rock twist-outs (flat and two-strand), bantu-knot-outs or a flat twist going through the ends of my hair whenever leaving the house. Avoid rocking puffs often (even though it's your signature style). Rock puff only when you have concert. Save 'em edges! (and ends)
• Shower without hair covered (I usually left my hair with a satin-scarf on when showering to prevent frizz due to the humidity 'caused by the hot water, but right now, the steam gives my curls a wake-up call and helps keep it moisturised).

That's basically it!

Toodles!

(can't believe I just said that!)

My Protective Styling Challenge - Week 2

Hey everyone,

So, I guess this just lasted for 2 weeks for me. I'm going to try keeping my braids in that long from now on (or longer if possible). Truth is, midweek of my second week, I just didn't really care anymore so I let my hair frizz and do whatever it wanted to. Anyways, here's my week:

• I co-washed on Wednesday and Friday using the BeeMine BeeLovely Conditioner and Tresemme Naturals (silicone-free) Conditoner.
• After co-washing, I tied a scarf down on my hair till I need to head out for school.
• On Friday, I took down the braids and twists (entirely) and deep conditioned with Tresemme Naturals conditioner, BeeMine conditioner and Moisturiser. I kinda wish I had DCed with palm oil instead, but this was a last minute thing and I was tired so I just grabbed a handful of the Tresemme, worked it into my hair, donned on a shower cap (because I couldn't be bothered to tie a plastic bag on). Tied a couple of scarves of that to secure it in place and lock in heat and I slept.
• On Saturday, I washed out my hair with the Tresemme Naturals Silicone-Free Conditioner then some BeeMine Botanicals Shampoo (sulfate free) then condition with the BeeMine BeeLovely Conditioner.
• After washing, I got a tiny but of WonderCurl 'Butter than love pudding' onto my hair. Mum was calling me. I totally forgot to moisturise and do all the other stuff I do after a wash and my hair was mad at me for that.
• I braided my hair in two to stretch it.
• Unfortunately, I had to head out of the house before my hair was dry and OH. MY. DAYS. THE. SHRINKAGE. AND. TANGLES! My hair did look good, though. :) And I think I've figured out a wash and go hairstyle.
• Sunday night, I braided my hair in 8 cornrows and I'm keeping them in till Thursday 'cause I have to take my hair down for some event.

Next week, Sunday, I'll make more braids, smaller ones and try keeping them in for 2 weeks or more.
I believe this will help me retain more length and grow my hair out.

~Sam

p.s I'm considering doing crotchet braids sometime later this year. Maybe during the winter or fall (most probably winter). I'll just get my aunt to flat braid my hair for me then I'll try to do the rest or I'll get some friends together and we'll do it together. I just need to get crotchet needles (for the braids) for them.

My Protective Styling Challenge - Week 1

Hey,

So, I've decided that I'm going on a protective styling challenge to grow and retain as much hair as possible till the end of June.

I normally keep my hair in flat braids for 5 days a week, deep condition every Friday night till Saturday morning, wash on Saturday, rock a beautiful puff on Sunday and head back to flat braids by Sunday night. With this challenge, I am still deep conditioning on Fridays and washing on Saturdays however, my hair's staying in the flat braids (with the hair twisted from the point at which it lifts off my scalp. I haven't kept braids in my hair since my first few months going natural (transitioning) so this is new for me. However, I guess I'm doing a pretty good job with it. Here are some of the things I've done so far that are working pretty well (by the way, I started this challenge last Sunday):

• When the flyaways get a little too much, I get some BeeMine curly butter onto my hair and tie a scarf down onto it. That does the trick and lays all the flyaways down making my hair look as good as new. (This is what I do on week days).
• I co-wash between the week using the BeeMine BeeLovely Conditioner. (This means that I wash twice a week now, but the second wash is strictly a co-wash while the Saturday wash alternates between a sulfate-free shampoo wash and a co-wash).
• After co-washing, I tie a scarf over my hair till I need to leave the house (school).
• On Friday, I take down only the twisted bits of my hair then I deep condition with coconut oil, olive oil and honey. This is because they're easier to wash out that things like avocado (plus, I did an avocado deep conditioning treatment last weekend).
• On Saturday, I wash out my hair with the Tresemme Naturals Silicone-Free Conditioner then I search for build up. If I find any, I wash with my BeeMine Botanicals Shampoo (sulfate free) then condition with the BeeMine BeeLovely Conditioner.
• After washing, I get some WonderCurl 'Butter than love pudding' onto my hair (good stuff!) then a tad (teeny-weeny) bit of shea butter onto my hair especially the ends.
• I hold up the ends with an ouchless band then I tie a scarf bun-style on my hair and leave it on till my hair is fully dry.
• When my hair is fully dry (and I'm ready to take down the scarf), I redo the twists, but instead of each braid being twisted at the ends, I twist the ends of two braids together then hold them together and hide my ends using an ouchless band. 

My results: My hair looking as good as new with zero flyaways.


I just might be able to keep these braids in for 3 weeks :)

~Samantha :)
(haha! I used my full name for the first time on here)

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Do any of you want to join me in this challenge?

It like a growth challenge.

So, if you're interested, comment below and say something like, "I'm in" :)