Length Check - Dang

I can't believe I forgot about this!

 How did I manage to do that?! 

Maybe I am so swamped by other things that this failed to be a priority?

Or maybe, subconsciously, I'm still sulking. 

Er, let's not just assume that's it's one over the other.

This was taken in November, because...er, I've been too lazy to take another one since?

Not armpit length yet but positive thoughts that 2013 will be the year I break my pattern.

On a completely related note, I noticed I still had some dyed ends from the last time I dyed my hair.

Sweet, I thought, excellent time to measure and accurately work out my growth rate.

9 inches from my roots to the dyed ends. 

                                                          In 23 months. 

                                                                           0.4 inches per month on average. AVERAGE.

Snap. I am a slower grower.

And look how small an inch is! Takes me about 3 months to do that even.

I...just...can't...deal....

This is me to my hair scissors right now

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Erupting with awesome

Messy my back foot...

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My Twist and Curl......former set

So, during the Christmas holidays, I chanced upon pure, unadulterated hair gold. 

For me, at least.

I was bored and simultaneously feeling extremely inspired to play with an idea I'd had for a while now. I'd always wanted to try a twist-and-curl, but I don't own any rods or rollers (any more) and was loathe to buy any for a simple experiment.

I parted my hair off into six sections (I got the number from Shelly, who also has quite fine hair like myself) and my fringe and dampened them as I went along with a vinegar water mix, since it was...week 1 of not having washed (a pattern that sadly continued for another 2 weeks). I flat twisted the roots to prevent too much volume there and for increased definition.

Also meant I minimised the amount of handling I had to do on my wet hair. I only twisted until 2 inches of hair were left, to minimalize tangling at my fragile ends. They kept trying to undo, so I ended upholding some of them in place with hair bands/ponytail holders. First time in my life I've ever had to do that!
I also applied Eco-styler gel on the ends of my hair, in the hope they would keep their shape.

 On the fatter twists, I used a curlformer on each twisted section, so some twists had 2 curlformers per twist.

Just to note, this was far nicer and easier to sleep in than when I do my whole head full!

The next morning, I admit, I was holding my breath a little when I took the Curlformers off. 

I shouldn't have worried. Perfect curls, every time, no?

The first unravelling had me a little nervous and unsure, but then I fluffed with my fingers to mess and place it some...

Turns out I still love big hair. After all this time.

Wheeee! Look at me! I'm Curly Nikki!

I'd never really gotten the fuss about the twist and curl until I tried it.
Instantly, my ends didn't look as raggedy. Immediately, it felt so much more fun, and bouncy and lively!
Genuinely, the pictures don't do it justice. I fell in love all over again.

 I loved it so much, I wore it down and out, as it was. And I never do that! And this was despite my woollen scarf and the wind and drizzling rain.....

Yeah. By the end of the day, my hair had gotten so obnoxiously big, I had to tie it up from fear of it being a hazard in the car, and people staring at me... but man, it felt great while it lasted!

For other people's adventures with a twist and curl (and my references, really) check these out:
Curly Nikki's original tutorial here and a small update here.
MahoganyCurls' tutorial here.
Shelli of hairscapades tutorial here.
Shelli also talks about the progression of her T'n'C here.

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Going, going....

"Due to poor restocking from the company we have no choice 

but to discontinue the range. Please stock up while you can, 

as once our current stock goes we will be unable to get any 

further stock."

I know a lot of British bloggers have been talking about and loving these products lately, so if you're one of them, you may want to get some before they're completely gone...

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Your Shortlist

Wrinkled clothes for  the win!

It was only last year really, on my search for more British (hair) bloggers (mainly for product accessibility) I discovered that I was part of an international community.

A group of my friends and I were eating in a restaurant. I piped up to ask a question about the hair of one of the ladies - I was pretty sure that when I'd first met her, her hair was curly, but for the past few weeks, her hair had been straight.

I simply asked her whether she'd used a blow dryer on her hair. She said she had, which elicited a noise of surprise from one of the other ladies and another question:

"So, is it actually your hair?"
The first lady nodded, bemused "Yeah, it's mine. I get annoyed when it's curly, it tangles too much and I hate combing it so I just straightened it (I think the word she used was 'glissant')."

 Hair-wise, we were a motley crew - straightened natural, chemically untouched wearing a weave, relaxed, natural in the cutest and roundest afro, braid extensions and...er, me. It was kind of nice that we were all different.

We chatted some more about it, more questions were asked:

Braids: I know you're Brazilian, so is your hair yours?
Under Weave: I'm Brazilian and so is my hair! *laughs*

Me: People do hair tutorials on Youtube -
Everyone else: - Hair?! On Youtube? Really?

They found the idea of it so very bizarre.
 I admit, when I first started, I never really considered looking on Youtube, only ever in forums. Fortunately, someone sent me a link and it was upwards from there!

I ended up scrawling some notes on the back of our food receipt for the cutest afro, of some people she might want to Google for style ideas. I know she could probably understand what they were saying, but for me, hair is a leisure activity and sometimes you just can't be bothered to go and look up what they say, because it's too darn hard and it simply shouldn't be.
She doesn't speak a load of English and she loses track when it's spoken to fast, so I tried to think of people who used a lot of pictures and words on their screen, demonstrated what they were saying with actions, didn't have videos with too much superfluous chat and whose names I could remember how to spell.


My list was woefully short and, in hindsight, maybe more inspirational than practical:

Naptural85

JustGrowAlready

Fusionofcultures

TigaBelle

Hairscapades

Which makes me wonder what other people would have chosen - 

who would have made it onto your shortlist?  

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Bun Challenge, Week 3

My scalp had been really oily for the last week. Like, rubbing-my-finger-on-my-scalp-meant-I-didn't-need-to-use-oil-my-cuticles oily. I reckon this is because I only did a Cassia last week instead of a cleansing wash. If it continues to act like this, I'm going to have to do a proper wash every week, despite the other shenanigans I may be planning.

 The thought of having to do a Bentonite mask...then a Cassia treatment...then a deep condition....all in the same day is seriously filling me with dread.
I'll try it out eventually - not today though!

On a fantastic note, I checked out my ends the other day to check for splits. I have to do this every month, since my hair is so fine, they tend to pop up regularly.
Over the entirety of my head, I only found two.

Yeah, that's how excited I was. Two splits? Over my entire head of fine hair? Including my crown? 

Hello happiness!

I snipped them off, because they were pretty huge BUT I think this is a definite sign of progress!

 - I oiled hair with coconut oil, finger detangled and then left it overnight.

- Mixed up bentonite clay with water and ACV, slathered my head and scalp in it. Left on for 30 minutes.

- Rinsed thoroughly, making sure to aim the shower head at my scalp to remove any debris.

- Gently wrung excess water out of my hair and applied the oily conditioner from last week. Left on for about 5 minutes and then rinsed.

- Applied home made leave in, and then sealed with a few drops (like, 6 per side) of hemp seed oil, and then coconut oil to cover the smell. It's so...pungent that it makes me really paranoid that I'll be stopped by the sniffer dogs at the station.

Then I flat twisted the hair in two parts back into a ponytail. Divided ponytail into three twists and finally, pinned them up into a bun.

Yeah, the lighting is pretty appalling...

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