Satin Lining

In the winter, I always wrap or pin up my hair, put my silk or satin scarf on, and put a hat over it. I have seen a big difference in the amount of moisture I retain by doing this. I've been doing this way before I started my healthy hair journey. I hate being a cold, so a hat is a must, but I also realize that most of my hats are wool or cotton, which wreaks havoc on my hair.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a yard of satin fabric because I like satin scarves at night better than silk scarves. After I cut out a square for my night scarf, I still had plenty of fabric left over, so last night I sewed a satin lining into one of my hats. I wore it today, and I loved it. My head was just as warm, and I didn't have to worry about combing my hair out when I got to work. I also won't have to worry about wrapping and putting a scarf on before I leave to go home. I want to do some other hats, but I wear a lot of my man's hats and I don't think he wants a satin lining in his hat! I do have a couple of my own hats, so I'm going to buy more satin to match the colors of my hats. I'm also thinking about lining my baby's hats. His hair is so cute and curly before we leave the house in the morning, but when we get to daycare and I take his hat off, he looks like Don King!

Vacation Hair

I just came back from a fabulous vacation in the Caribbean. For the first time during vacation, I loved my hair every minute of the time I was there. I had gotten a relaxer a week before my trip. I didn't wash my hair before I went, so it was pretty straight the first 2 days. After that, I washed, air dried, and did a bantu knot out. I was a little worried that my hair wouldn't look full since it was so recently relaxed, but I was wrong. I loved how wavy and full it looked. Sometimes it looked a little wild, especially on the beach when the wind was blowing, but I loved it like that too! My girlfriends asked me what I did to it. When I told them, one of them said, "that wouldn't work on me because I don't have good hair like you." WHAT?! In all of my 30-something years, no one has ever said that I have good hair, lol. Even my man kept telling me how much he liked my hair and that I should wear it like that more often. He loves my longer hair!

This is making me think about air drying more often to get a thicker look.

Product Review: Clairol Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solution

I've been using the regular Beautiful Collection semi-permanent colors off and on for years. I've seen the gray solution for the past year, but for some reason, I've been hesitant to try it. My stylist told me that it works pretty well, even if I just want to use it in the front, where most of my gray hairs are. I was in the beauty supply store yesterday, so I decided to try it. I bought the Light Golden Chestnut color. When I colored my hair a few weeks ago, I used Toasted Chestnut by Jazzing, so I wanted to use something similar.


Product Description
Cover more gray, longer with Beautiful Collection Advance Gray Solution. Clairol Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solution Semi-permanent Color gives relaxed hair intense gray coverage, while adding back moisture and shine. The gentle, semi-permanent haircolor leaves hair feeling silky soft and looking beautiful.Professional Features:-All tones are excellent for refreshing color treated hair -Gentle no ammonia formula allows use immediately after relaxers -Formulated to cover more gray -Covers more gray for up to twice as long -Penetrating, saturating color that leaves hair feeling moisturized and full of shine -No peroxide. Advanced Gray Solution shades cover up to 50% gray.

Advanced Gray Solution’s breakthrough SynAIRgy technology contains an oxidative dye that uses oxygen in the air as a color developer to form a large dye molecule, eliminating the need to use a product with hydrogen peroxide for longer-lasting coverage.

Directions
Apply directly from bottle generously and thoroughly to shampooed and towel-dried hair. Can be used immediately following a relaxer. Be sure hair is thoroughly rinsed and shampooed per relaxer directions before applying any Beautiful Collection shade. All Advanced Gray Solution shades are intermixable for custom colors. Intermixing with Beautiful Collection Moisturizing Color is not recommended. No developer is used with Beautiful Collection shades. Process up to 25 minutes at room temperature. Use of heat is not recommended. Rinse well, do not shampoo.

Ingredients
Water, Oleic Acid , Toluene-2 , Ascorbic Acid, Undeceth-3, Cetearyl Alcohol, 5-Diamine Sulfate, 2-Methylresorcinol, Alcohol Denat., Glycol Distearate, Fragrance, 2-Amino-6-Chloro-4-Nitrophenol, Ethanolamine, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Resorcinol, Disodium Edta, Hydroxyethyl-2-Nitro-P-Touidine, Basic Blue 99, HC Red No. 3, M-Aminophenol

My Experience
I'm glad I read the directions, because they said not to use heat and not to shampoo it out- both things I do when I apply a semi-permanent color. I noticed that this product is a lot thicker than the regular Beautiful Collections colors, or any other color I've used. I thought this was a good sign, because maybe there is more conditioner in it. I applied it to my whole head, not because I had a lot of gray to cover, but because I wanted to see how much it would moisturize and condition my hair. I put a plastic cap over my hair and let it sit for 25-30 minutes. I rinsed it out, and deep conditioned with Aubrey Organics White Camellia conditioner. I then used diluted Infusium leave-in conditioner and roller set my hair. When my hair was dry, it was shiny and bouncy. My grays in the front were covered, and looked pretty dark, considering I used a light color.

I liked this product, but I'm not sure if I'll use it again. Today, my scalp is a itchy, which makes me think that there is something in it I'm allergic to, because my scalp never itches. I'll also have to see how long the color lasts. If it doesn't last long, I might as well use the other colors I've been using.

12/16/10 Update: Okay, I couldn't take the itching (and a little burning) yesterday, so I washed my hair last night. I also didn't want to cause any damage to my scalp. I'm not sure what ingredient I'm allergic to, but I will not be using this product again. Even after I used a clarifying shampoo and conditioner, my nape still itches/burns a little!

December 2010 Relaxer

I got a relaxer after 9 weeks. I could have gone longer, but I have an important event coming up, and I didn't want to have to deal with my new growth for that. I got a little trim because my ends seemed a little scraggly to me.

I'm officially claiming armpit length! It took a little longer that I expected, but I'm glad I can close out 2010 having reached my length hair goal. Now, I'm working on my thickness goal even more. Whatever additional length I achieve is great, but I'm really focusing on thickness and moisture. If I can improve upon those, I plan on getting a full trim after my next relaxer in 12 weeks.