Update 12/15

I cannot wait for my hair to grow long enough so that I can put into protective style mini twists. If there is any strategy that I can vouch for and say that it helped grow my hair during my previous journey, it would be doing mini twists. I loved doing them, because of their ease, their flexibility in styling and because of how much thicker my hair would be after I took them down. They are the perfect low manipulation hair style that offer styling options so you won't ever feel bored about keeping them in for 3-4 weeks. I cannot wait to put these tresses in twists but ofcourse I need some good length for that, which is soon.

I'll try and get back to my youtube recording. Since I have started my job, I have been so busy (doing a course every monday evening after work) and just wanting to relax after work, but I have been so inspired by this post on Humans of New York. I think it is the best post I have ever read. This man still feels energised and not only is he active, he refers to discipline as being key in his life. If you want to be consistent, be better at something, you require discipline. And I believe that's what school and university is for, to instil discipline by routine. That's why I need discipline for my natural hair regimen to flourish and for my youtube channel to flourish. Consistency is key in every aspect of life.

My goal for next year is to be consistent.

What has happened 2015

Here are a few pictures to highlight the events that have taken place so far this year:
- Found the love of my life (didn't know, now I do haha)
- I finished my finals
- I cut my hair!
- I celebrated my birthday
- I graduated
- I passed my driving and earned my driving licence
- I got my first job

And it was all amazing. It is definitely worthwhile to take some time to look back and reflect on the great moments, and really appreciate them and be grateful for them.

My birthday 

My TWA Regimen

I still use the same products as shown in My Hair Regimen.

But now:
I spritz with water daily. 
Lock the moisture with cream and oil or butter.

Wash and condition every weekend in the shower - being able to wash your hair so quickly and effortlessly in the shower is amazing.

I feel great to be able to experience a low-cut/twa in my natural hair journey. When I initially transitioned, I cut it above twa length.

New beginnings: The new regimen begins.

Cutting my hair down is so addictive. But June/summer has arrived and its time for me to start growing out this hair again. I am currently near bald but I miss my tresses! My hair feels soo soft and I cannot wait to feel the lengths again. Starting with a bentonite clay detox refresher treatment.

I love my bob! :)

There is nothing better than a suited style, that protects my hair growth and literally takes no time of my day. If you want to read about my short and simple regimen, see previous posts.

Daily regimen: Brush and comb out. Done.

  

    

I have received so many great compliments! To my friends not being able to recognise me, to them thinking my natural hair had grown so long (although similar in length) to them thinking I did a blow out! It looks natural, and I am super pleased. On the other hands, as much as I had friends who were sad that I cut my hair, most of them were happy for me, and liked this protective style :)

New hair! *WIG REGIMEN PROTECTIVE STYLE*

I have never had problems wearing wigs...

My custom U-Part Wig, November, 2014:
I made my own u-part wig in November, last year. This was my first time trying to make a wig and it came out so good. I will post pictures of the process in later posts. In the picture below,  I looked back and realise how much this style suited me. Also, it is almost the same length as my natural hair before I cut it.

AFTER: Cutting Hair April 2015 - Back to my u-part wig.

I cut all of my hair, but I left a middle part as a leave-out for my U-Part wig. I would straighten this leave-out to blend it in.
I went to my aunts salon so she could give me a professional sew-in and straightening (although I could do it myself and at home), there is just something brand new about having your hair pampered by someone else. My aunt braided around the perimeter of the U and braided a horizontal line at the bottom of my nape (as the hair was still long enough) and sew the hair around those perimeter. She then straighthened my leave-out and blended it in with the human hair. This hair is a kinky-textured hair.

My regimen: It stays the same (click the link above). I take out the wig every month and wash it, wash and condition my hair and put it back on. I avoid wetting the leave-out to try and maintain the straightness for two months. This keeps it healthy and definitely minimises heat damage. Currently, the hair underneath is not twisted up or anything, but as my hair grows, I will consider braiding it or twisting it down. I love this protective style!

  

AFTER: Cutting hair! :)

Although it is not too obvious in this picture, I left the middle part out to create a leave-out for my protective style. See following posts!

   

  

BEFORE: Cutting hair (2/2)

BEFORE: Cutting hair (1/1)

I cut my hair!

Hey guys,

I know this will come as a huge surprise, but (sortof) even to me but I decided to cut my hair. Here are the reason why:

• Two different textures: I slowly began to feel a new demarcation line between a new thicker, looser and softer growth was emerging and it was causing combing problems. I realised that all those years of 1-hour long relaxing had done some harm to my hair, and my hair really needs that time to regenerate. I am happy to start again. I have actually noticed my new growth as much softer and thicker.
• Yolo! A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life. I really just felt a beautiful urge to facilitate a fresh start in my life. I am about to be a graduate, get a job, travel and do many more things that have always been at the back of my mind. My hair has been such a huge part of my body maintenance in the last two years. I am not saying that that was a bad thing, or a waste, FAR from it! It has all been a learning experience - my two years natural hair journey. But with this new growth, I wanted to apply all of my knowledge experience to this new start. Ofcourse, keeping things very simple. It's just hair... but its not just hair. Hair continues to grow, and being able to mentally detach myself from my hair anxieties gave me huge pride, and immense liberation. Honestly, it feels liberating. I did not feel any anxiety about it, before or after. It still feels great, and I am glad to have seen how long my hair grew before I cut it. 
• Time: Honestly, my hair was frustrating me also, after having bunned it up for a week, through the nights. Twisting up your hair everyday right before bed, is NOT easy. It takes effort, especially when you have readings and projects to be dedicated to in the evenings. At such a crucial period in my life, I needed time and space from my hair. And it felt liberating to be able to start this journey. My hair was tangled up, and I was frustrated with my texture because it likes to hug itself. But what I have learnt is that that's the nature of my texture. Just because it clumps together does not mean it is tangled up, it has no other choice. Did I have the time to dedicate to detangling this hair? No. That's fine.
• Health > Length, always. It's normal to be obsessed with length when you first begin your journey, but once you have learned everything about your hair, and you become used to it, you embrace its presence and you realise that this hair is here to stay! (No more relaxers, ever). And because you are happy with that, you realise that its just hair. My hair continues to grow. What matters, is that our hair is healthy, regardless of what length it is at. We don't have to prove that black women cannot grow long hair anymore, our natural hair blogs 4chairinspiration.com attest to that! :)

I shall be posting pictures of before and after shortly. Also, I should be recording a video about it on my Youtube channel. I am not looking for support, and I may lose some followers, but I love that people follow youtubers for the journey, not for parts of the journey that they like. I learn equally from naturalistas of all lengths, styles and textures. It's all a journey. Our journeys are unique, despite our shared textures.

Hot Oil Treatments + No more combs!

One treatment in particular should just never be overlooked in your hair regimen - H.O.T.! I was just reminded by it after resuming it.

I recently came back to it, as I stopped because of the extra time it takes (but it actually doesn't take long, when incorporated into my prepoo routine) but now I am back at it. Result? I instantly felt an increased thickness and density in my hair. It's amazing. My hair feels thicker, soft throughout the week and more manageable. Who needs a volumising moisturiser product??

Combs: I was watching this informative youtube video about detangling and the woman spoke about the point of detangling - being not to separate the individual strands but to work through the hair. 4C hair naturally clumps together. I noted this. I had also been experiencing lots of single strand knots at the ends of my hair which lead to tangles. I will be trimming my hair next week, so that I can start this year ahead with a finger-only detangling method.

What's in my H.O.T: In my applicator bottle: jamaican black castor oil (75%), jojoba oil (20%) and rosemary oil (5%).

A typical wash day (updated and added to My Hair Regimen):
0) The night before: I prepoo my hair with coconut oil - softens up and conditions the hair in prep for detangling! I then use my applicator bottle with my Hot Oil mix to oil my scalp. This is left on the whole night until morning and it leaves me with super moisturised hair.
1) I detangle before anything: I fill in my spray bottle (with detangler & a little water) as my detangling liquid. I finger detangle. After detangling a section, I twist it up in mid-sized twists.
3) I shampoo my hair in the twisted sections to keep my hair from retangling. It's disaster otherwise.
4) Then I dry my hair with a shirt, apply conditioner and leave it for 30 mins-1 hr
5) After that I rinse it all out and with a final cold rinse and I am done.
6) I apply my leave-in and seal with almond oil. I apply castor oil to my ends and let it air dry into beautiful curls with a twist out or bantu knot out. This helps it to stretch out for any style during the week.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (2 Years Pictures)

Shrinkage is real!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2 MONTHS OF MINI TWISTS TAKE DOWN