Month 9....

The picture up above is me on the day that marked my 9th month into my natural journey. In this month I started exploring the CurlBox. I had heard so much about it and was really, really anxious to get my hands on it. I had been on the email list for the upcoming subscription box for months but seemed to never be available on the date and time the subscription boxes came open. One weekend I got the alert on my phone that the subscription box was available and I got my first subscription box in June. I was so relieved and eager to try out the products in the box.

Watch my Youtube video below to see the products for the June CurlBox.

 

 

My 9th month was all about me experimenting with different products. Up until this point I had used all the same products for my hair, simply because I knew what worked for my hair and I didn't want to take a chance and mess up the growth of my hair due to product change. This may sound silly to some of you all reading this but I literally swore by my regimen and products because they hadn't let me down and they kept Nunu growing well so I didn't want to disturb the life of my hair by adding new products that didn't work for my hair. Because I wore so many protective styles in month 8 I decided in month 9 to wear my hair more loosely in a puff or fro, whatever I was feeling at the moment. I really missed my hair. Below are two of the styles I wore mostly during this month. A puff or in it's natural state as a fro.

 

 

check out my Instagram to see more of my pictures:

http://instagram.com/nunusstyles_#



 

Month 8....

                      The pictures above are of me on my 8th month naturalversary.

 

After months and months going through with styling my hair differently almost every day I decided on my 8th month I would embark on my first personal protective hair challenge. My hair had really taken off with the growth and I wanted to challenge myself to keep my hands out of my hair by using protective hair styles. I started this challenge in hopes of only washing/co-washing my hair twice in that month but that was short lived after I was a few days pass my usual wash day. (hehe) My hair had been washed or co-washed every week at that point for over a year and I just couldn't take it, just pampering my hair wasn't enough so I had to tweak my challenge and go back to washing/co-washing each week. In addition to washing/co-washing my hair I also pampered my hair wash day and at least once during that week, always keeping my hair in one particular protective style. I must say my hair did grow. I can't really say whether or not it was due to the protective styling or if it was my natural growth but either way it grew so that was a plus! If you want to see my videos on my challenge check out my playlist "Protective Style Challenge #1" on my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1aNPuH0LxIsapzKT1BriBAMx8T2-d9-Y

 

Here are a few of my protective styles I wore during the challenge:

 

 

Month 7.....

month 7 of my natural hair journey

Month 7 was a month of continued growth. Nunu was pampered properly and continued to do her thang. In this picture above my hair was nice and fluffy so I wore it as it was; in it's fro state but for the most part of this month I wore updos, protective styles (usually flat twists), puffs and styles with scarves and flowers. Check out my Instagram to see more of my pictures.

http://instagram.com/nunusstyles_#


Also in my 7th month I learned about flaxseed gel, how to make it and what a great moisturizing gel it is.

my first batch of flaxseed gel

Check out this webpage below to find out the benefits of flaxseed gel and the recipe to make it. This is another all natural product that gives you great moisturized hair!

http://www.curlynikki.com/2012/02/flaxseed-gel-fsg-benefits-and-recipe.html

Month 6.....

Throughout month 6 I focused on perfecting my two strand twist outs. I finally got my hands on shea butter and I learned how to make shea butter whip. What a difference it made in my twist outs! My hair felt so amazingly soft and it shined liked never before. Now shea butter is one of my staple products in my hair care. I use it to twist my hair and as an additional product in my pampering process. Newly naturals if you don't have this I highly recommend it! You should love it, especially if you have moisture problems or very thick hair like mine.

The first picture is my 6 months naturalversary and the best twist out I had achieved at this point in my journey. The second picture is my first batch of shea butter whip.



 

 

 

What's In The Bottle?

This is one of many spray bottles that I have. This particular one holds up to 6 oz. 

After I BC'd I quickly realized how thirsty my natural hair was so I incorporated the use of spray bottles in my daily hair care. As I mentioned in my regimen, I spray or spritz my hair at night before applying my satin scarf and/or bonnet. Nunu loves some water and water is the BEST moisturizer! 

What's in the spray bottle? Well it varies from time to time. I may use water only, water and EVOO, a DIY leave in recipe, or a DIY detangler recipe. For the most part I use vegetable glycerine in all my water mixers. If you want to know why click on the video below to watch my review on vegetable glycerine, also check out my video on DIY leave in conditioner.

If you're looking for a great DIY Detangler Recipes. Click on the link below. Personally I love the DIY aloe vera detangler. Hope this is helpful for someone.

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curlykids/detangling-curly-kids/homemade-detangler-recipes

 

Favorite Conditioners....

Theses are my staple conditioners. Yes, cheap Suave and VO5 conditioners. I love, love, love these cheap conditioners. Both Suave and VO5 are great conditioners that do exactly what they are suppose to do, condition your hair. They have great slip when detangling my hair in the shower. I use these for several reasons; 1) as a cowash 2) ingredient in homemade deep conditioning 3) ingredient in my DIY leave in conditioner and 4) prepooing. When I'm in the dollar store I usually get a few bottles at a time. They run from 75 cent to 1 dollar, so not bad at all. The one thing I've learned is natural hair has to be washed often and because I don't always shampoo my hair I use lots and lots of conditioner in place of shampoo. If you are newly natural I definitely recommend these conditioners!

Months 1-5 of my natural hair journey....

Transitioning Days.....

When I started my transitioning phase I was super excited. Finally I was going to have healthy hair again. I spent a lot of my spare time watching YouTube videos on transitioning hair styles or looking up all kinds of information on oils and hair products and I jointed the curly nikki forums to read the posts about hair care and what other transitioners were doing and experience in their journey. I have met some awesome women via social networking and we all find ourselves stalking each others hair from time to time through YouTube, Instagram etc.(in a good way of course LOL). My transitioning phase didn't last as long as I wanted it to when I first started it but I learned a lot about how to care for my hair, mastered how to do flat twists, how to moisturize my hair and developed a regimen for my hair that hasn't been changed much even to this day. My transitioning lasted from May 12, 2012 (the day I decided to transition without heat) to the day I BC'd September 22, 2012; 4 months and 10 days...with a total 5 months 15 days post relaxer.

May 12, 2012 the day I started my natural hair journey

twist out with two strand twists and flat twists

flat twist out

bantu knot out with a pump

flat twists out added a goodie band

flat twist out..




If you want to see more of my styles check out my instagram page: http://instagram.com/nunusstyles_# 



Relaxer Days.....

With relaxed hair I had no idea what I was doing with my hair. I usually relaxed my hair faithfully every 6 to 8 weeks, sometimes sooner than that. My hair was usually in a bob like the pictures below. I didn't moisturize my hair properly, had no idea when to shampoo my hair, condition or any type of treatment. I just couldn't get nor understand that the lack of hair care was causing my hair not to grow properly and break off. Basically I was afraid of water on my hair because I didn't want to wash out the relaxer so any form of hair care with water was minimum. Oh but I did use a scarf most nights to protect my hair when I remembered and I thought that was enough.(boy was I fooled!)  Now as far as a routine hair care...ummm no it didn't exist. These pictures below are of my signature cut during my relaxer days.  

 

 

 

 

 

How long have you been natural?

This picture above is the day I BC'd, which was September 22, 2012. For those who don't know what BC'd stands for it is Big Chopped which simply means cutting all the relaxed ends out of your hair. My last relaxer was April 7, 2012 and I decided to transition without heat on May 12, 2012 so my transitioning phase lasted a little over 5 months from last relaxer to BC. Some people are long term transitioners and others are short term transitioners like myself. I just couldn't take the straight ends for longer than 5 months so I BC'd earlier than I originally wanted too.

Thinking back to September 22, 2012, I remember it as plain as day. I came home after a long morning in the dentist office with one of my twin boys and I started playing in my hair, which was nothing unusual... that's what I did most of the time in my free time.That morning I started out with a cute twist out from bantu knots but by the time I got home my hair was a hot mess so as I began trying to style it, all of a sudden something came over me and I picked up my scissors and started snipping my hair until I cut all the visible straight ends. After I literally butchered my hair I immediately called my cousin, who had been natural for a few months and my biggest influence in my transitioning days, to check out my hair and help fix what I messed up. She and her mother came to saved me, cutting the remaining straight ends I missed. After they left I immediately hopped in the shower and co-washed my hair with  Aussie Moist Conditioner, one of my favorite conditioners, lightly dried it with an old t-shirt and added coconut oil, my staple carrier oil, to seal in the moisture. From that point I have been in love with my hair.

 Has my journey been everything I wanted it to be? No way but even on my worse days I've learned how to embrace my textures. Yes, I say textures. One of my main reasons for BC'ing so quickly was to eliminate the different textures but what I failed to know is even our natural hair can have different textures and there's no way to get around them so even though I'm nearing my one year Naturalversary I still have days where my hair doesn't want to do what I want it to do but on the flip side to that, my hair can be manipulated a whole lot easier with my natural textures than with relaxed ends. I can honestly say I've never have had a bad hair day. Some days twist outs are not the best but there's always ways around a bad twist out to make your hair look super cute! :-)