Three Hours.....

Three hours...

Three hours of my life wasted.

Wasted on a henna gloss. A henna gloss that I'm doubtful did anything aside from drip down my neck.

I had what I'm guesstimating about 50 grams of mixed henna frozen from my 1st henna application. I defrosted it in the fridge for slightly over a day. I took it out around 8 or 9pm Saturday. Mixed and applied it about 11am Monday morning.

I didn't measure anything so the measurements below are eyeballed

-Abt 50 or so grams of leftover henna mix
-Abt 1 cup of Proclaim Argan Oil Hydrating Mask (Conditioner)
-1.5 Tbsp Raw Honey
-3-4 Tbsp Olive Oil

I first clarified my hair with Tea Tree Tringle Shampoo mixed with about 1 tsp baking soda. (first time doing this too....yeah, my eyes are rolling at my own self) I then applied the Henna Gloss and covered it with 2 plastic caps. I left it on for exactly 3 hours. I then rinsed with tepid water. Squirted my hair with some Apple Cider Vinegar (to close my cuticles) then another another splash of tepid water.

I squeezed my hair with a towel and checked it out in the mirror. I couldn't detect any visible difference in my hair. My hair didn't necessarily 'feel' any stronger like the first time I did the straight henna application. Actually, my hair felt a tad oily.....and almost as if there was a bit of residue in my hair. It also seemed frizzy. My coils weren't springing like they normally do when I've deep conditioned. I have no idea how my hair is supposed to feel after a gloss so I let it air dry and I decided to plait it up for a braid out with rollers on the ends. I'll see how it looks and feels tomorrow. I probably will end up washing my hair on Thursday bc I think my hair has some kind of residue in it. I've read other people's account of feeling like their hair was 'coated' with something. I think that's a good way to describe the way my hair felt when I rinsed it earlier today. It just felt coated.

I guess my henna had already demised the day it spent in the fridge or perhaps all the olive oil prohibited dye uptake (which is how you get the conditioning benefits) AND/OR the dimethicone in the conditioner I used contributed to blocking dye uptake. I've got another 16 oz container of the Proclaim Argan Oil Hydrating Masque. I'll use it up but won't be repurchasing this product. On top of the dimethicone it has Isopropyl Alcohol. In the middle of the ingredient list. Unfortunately I didn't read the label thoroughly before I purchased it.

I'll be trying the Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose as a deep conditioner after I run out of what I'm currently using.

Anyway, that waste of time.

August: in some words

STRESS! Stress Stress Stress Stress!!!

oh my goodness have I been stressed for the last 30 days.

We've relocated. We ARE NOT settled. It took 18 days to receive our goods. We had no hot water for the first 4 days when we arrived and I had to wash my hair. HAD TO.

We've got ants.

Oh good Lord the ants. I have fought ants since I arrived! I broke down an called Terminix to get some serious ant busting action out here because...I just can't...I can't deal with pests in my home...not where I'm living and laying my head.

I. JUST. CAN'T.

So the great part is that the ants...I think they are FINALLY gone...I haven't seen one in a few days.....

My hair. Some stuff has happened that definitely needs documenting.

First of all, during all the driving and the first few days after arriving. I researched Henna. I read a lot of articles, forums, and personal experiences with Henna. I spent hours upon hours researching and decided that I indeed wanted to try it.

Im in for the long haul. So I need to strengthen my fine fine strands. I know I flapped my gums a bit about chopping early but I just don't have enough hair. At the end of July I had 3 inches of natural hair stretched. I've got serious shrinkage so those 3 inches looked very much like an inch at best in it's natural shrunken state. Granted...early in my journey I doubt I would wear my hair completely shrunken. I hear the detangling session after that can be off the chain. But still....I want some more growth.

Unfortunately the stress of the move and EVERYTHING else (gah!) has stunted that growth. Here I am about a solid month since my last measurement and I'm still at a solid 3 inches...not even a quarter more. This...this is discouraging. I stopped torturing myself with weekly measurements. That's just insane. Monthly seemed more realistic and reasonable. I'm more likely to see some kind of result with a monthly measurement. But this time....nada. absolutely no movement. I snipped some hair right in the front so I could accurately guage growth (and shrinkage)so I know I'm measuring the right hair...

I've lost a whole entire month of growth potential presumably due to the sheer stress of what's going on around me.

That sucks pretty bad.

Anywho...back to the henna. I did all that research...then purchased some henna from Mehandi.com. With relaxed hair still on my head...I'm not taking any chances on getting henna that might not be pure. I did my first henna application back on August 12. I made a note of my first impressions in my phone but it seems that note didn't save or was mistakenly erased.
.....sigh.....

I'll do a full henna post seperately.

I feel like I'm all over the place in this post. I really just wanted to get back into the groove of posting and hope to organize my thoughts a bit better soon.

I've been washing my hair roughly every 5 days. Not where I originally wanted to be but at least it's not a full week or more. I want to get back down to every 3/4 days because my scalp is happiest on that schedule. Before I left Pittsburgh, I did purchase

I've been using it ever since we left and I really like it. I use it as a leave in conditioner/moisturizer. I have not used it as a rinse conditioner. I'll do a full write up of my impression of that one of these days too.

If this isn't scattered enough I did snip a few more pieces of hair free several days ago on the back right side. Why? ....Well...I'm not really sure. I was just kinda playing in my hair one night before knotting it up for bed and was applying aloe vera gel to various section to watch the roots. there were some corkscrews in the back that were curling in a rather stunning fashion and the relaxed hair attached just looked....pitiful. I asked my husband what I should do (bc I was trotting back and forth between the living room and bathroom showing him what my hair 'did'). He offered to snip them for me...but I wanted to do it myself. so I did. the patch is about the size of a silver dollar. It's another area where I can monitor growth. The texture if different from the front. Definite corkscrews where the front is corkscrewy but tends toward a bit of s-curl as well. I've got this random patch over my left ear that travels down to the nape that just won't do anything at all. At best it waves up after a deep conditioning treatment but that's it. Usually that hair is just 'textured'....It just lays there. It's almost straight. It's the wierdest thing and unfortunately annoying bc I think this will keep me from doing straight wash in go's in the future. How can I wash n go with this random straight patch on the side? smh.....lol. That would look a hot mess. The sad patch won't even finger curl right. I'm interested to see if that will change at all after I chop.

ok..ok....enough rambling. I need to go do laundry. oh my gosh...the laundry. and I have to go to the laundrymat bc we don't have a washer yet. I really don't like that. sigh...

i'm just gonna say it because it's my journal and if I don't put it here then where would I put it?

I don't like it here. There. That's it. I don't like this new place. I don't like this house we're renting. I don't like the heat. I don't like how far away we are from either coast. I dont like the fact that I have to drive to the city to get stuff I'm accustomed to having withing minutes from my home. I dont like the way my neighbors refused to speak to me for the first 2 weeks and now another full week later only one of them does. I don't like the fact that there are barely any black people here. I dont like it that we have no idea where any churches are and haven't found anyone to ask about a black church anywhere......

I dont feel this move was a mistake. I know it wasn't. I just dont like it yet. I hope that changes soon.