Monthly Archives: July 2015

Two year nappiversary!!

Posted in hair journey, hair update, hairversary, Length check, nappyversary by

Two years!! Can you believe it? If my hair were a child, it’d be a toddler that could walk and talk! 

Remember the goals I mentioned in my one year nappiversary post that I planned to achieve by now? Let’s see how I did:
1. Kick dandruff’s ass. (Sadly, no)

2. Beat hand-in-hair syndrome. (Yes and no. It changed from hand-in-hair syndrome to hand-in-edges syndrome which is worse)

3. More length and thickness at my edges and nape. (Yes but not as much as I’d have liked due to my newly developed hand-in-edges syndrome)

4. Growth/Length retention. (Yes but not as much as I’d have liked)


I didn’t measure my hair in terms of inches but here are my length check pictures:
   

     

Not so bad ei? But not as good as I’d hoped but I have repented so… 
A couple of things I’ve learnt this past year:
  1.  Don’t let it frustrate you because frustration leads you to quitting! Let whatever you do fit into your regular routine and ability; don’t go all out and overwhelm yourself with stuff you can’t handle because the “gurus” say you should do it. E.g. if you can’t handle washing your hair weekly, don’t. Because if you do, you most probably will get frustrated and think of giving up.
  2. Don’t compare yourself with others and don’t be solely goal oriented! Have a little fun! Remember I talked about it in this post? If you want to dye your hair or straighten it or get a tapered cut, do your research and go for it! 
  3. Do what works for you! If it ain’t working, dump it(no matter how many rave reviews it has) and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (no matter how many bad reviews it has). In the end, you are the boss of you.
  4. Encourage yourself! Don’t always think of the negatives(e.g. What your hair can’t do); try to see the positives (e.g. What your hair can do).
  5. Learn and experiment! Don’t get stuck in your ways. Read blogs, watch vlogs. You will learn a lot; not all will work for you but you just might hit the jackpot with some. 
I don’t want it to turn it into an epistle so I’ll put a pin in it right there. 
If you follow me on Instagram (@nigerianandnatural) you would have seen most of these but here are a few (boring) styles I did over the last year: 
   

      

Not the same day as the previous picture. I just really like this shirt! LOL

    

Wig

      

Crochet braids

    

Kinky twists

           

Wool/yarn twists

 

And my latest style: 
 

Two week old twists. So proud of myself for keeping them for that long

 
Here are my goals for the year ahead:

  1. Get a trim and try to get trims when needed from now on.
  2. More protective styling.
  3. Growth and length retention.
  4. Stop hand-in-edges syndrome. 
  5. Kick dandruff’s ass (for real this time).
  6. Be more adventurous with:

  • Styling
  • Products
  • Techniques

    That’s all folks! 3rd nappiversary here we come! 

    What are some things you’ve learnt along the way in your hair journey? What are your short and long term goals for your hair? Please share.

    Oh and Eid Mubarak! I know this isn’t the ram-sharing sallah so I shall patiently await that one.

    My failed straightening experience

    Posted in hairxperiment, product review by
    Hi beautifuls! (yes I said that)

    I’ve been dying to straighten my hair but I had planned to get it done professionally.

    However, one evening about two weeks ago, I spontaneously decided to straighten my hair.
    About two days prior, my mum had bought herself a bottle of Design Essentials HCO Leave-In Conditioner and Blow Drying Lotion(long name so let’s call it the DE lotion shall we?). So I decided I would use that as my heat protectant.
      
    I washed my hair in my usual fashion and then applied some of my regular leave in and a bit of oil. I then proceeded to apply the DE lotion and blow dry in sections but my hair seemed to be getting really dry and ‘seizing up’ (I tried to blow dry my hair like a year ago and the same thing happened!). 
    I decided to skip the blow drying and just straighten from the get-go. 
    I would take a section, apply some more DE lotion to my ends and straighten.
    My hair no gree. It would not become bone straight no matter how hard I tried or how many passes I made with the straightener. I decided to get it as straight as it would go and not stress it. 
    Imagine my surprise when the sections I straightened started reverting 2 minutes later.
    I said “lai lai, you must be straight oh” and straightened them again. Two minutes later, same thing. After trying like 3 times, I gave up!
     

    I know I look like struggle

      

      

    That afro section was actually straight 2 minutes before!

      

    I gave up and spritzed my hair with water

      

    Happy to see those coils back. The fear of heat damage is real

     

    Here’s what I learnt:
    1. My hair seems to hate being blow dried.
    2. My hair does not want to be straight.
    3. My ends are as shitty as shitty can be. They were basically like dead looking, knot filled thread when I straightened my hair.
    What I’ll do next time:
    1. Try a better product.
    2. Trim my ends.
    3. Get it done professionally.
    4. Maybe try one of those straightening products that last weeks e.g. ORS Strengthening and Straightening Treatment which Tuke tried here

    Any tried and trusted straightening methods/products you’d suggest? Any advice for my next attempt? Have you/would you straighten your natural hair? Please share!

    Goals versus the experience

    Posted in hair journey, Not hair, Random by
    Hey guys, 
    I just dropped by to share some of my thoughts with you very quickly.
    As I approach the 2 year mark (peep my countdown at the side/bottom of the page), one thing has been on my mind. Length! 
    A major feature in my thoughts is “is my hair long enough for 2 years? It should be longer than this at this stage”. 
    I’m going to share with you a quote from Okechukwu Ofili’s book, “How Stupidity Saved My Life: Life Lessons From An Overanalytical Engineer”

    Unfortunately, it seems that as we get older, we lose that focus on fun. Instead, we focus on graduating at the top in college, being the number one employee at work, or being the best speaker in a speech contest. While all these may be commendable goals to strive for, what is not commendable is allowing them to displace the pleasure and excitement of the experience… We can all choose to embrace life more fully by moving our focus away from winning and instead enjoy the moment.

    Let me summarize that quote in terms of hair: “Many of us are obsessed with and focused on length and hair goals and making our hair do things we see others do. We forget to enjoy the little successes and failures, the things our hair can do, the experience. We are so focused on other things that we forget to enjoy the moment”
    That’s why I will never understand people who ALWAYS have their hair in a protective style to protect their hair and gain length. Why bother when you can’t enjoy the hair you protect and the length you’ve gained because your hair is always covered up.
    I’m not innocent as I explained earlier. Many times I allow length to rule my thoughts and I look at my hair with disdain because it’s not as long as I want/expect. Thinking about it, my standard of length is based on other people’s hair. I forget that my hair is most probably different from theirs and that I am on my own journey. I forget to enjoy the experience. 
    This quote really made me think. It applies to so many things in life. 
    We let our goals, both self imposed and those imposed by society, cloud our minds so much that we forget about enjoying the moment, enjoying the experience, enjoying the journey, enjoying life.
    If you are like me and you are guilty of not enjoying the experience (whether it’s hair, work, school etc) for any reason at all, let’s all hold hands now and scream “I repent!!!!”.