Should I BC?

I know I have been neglecting you guys with hair updates. But there hasn't been much going on. I have been weaved for 8 weeks now. The break from Sunday hair days has been great. Now I am officially missing my hair.

I'm shooting to BC in the later part of November which will be 17+ months of transitioning. I plan to let my mom do it. You put the perm in, you cut it out. LOL. But am I ready? Since I plan to keep my weave for another 3 weeks, and my edges are mostly natural, I will use those to help me decide.

Soaking Wet

Added a little Giovanni gelto see what my wash and go may look like.

Twisted and stretched

Shrunk

Do I have enough growth to BC?

Mini Chop

So... I got a hair cut this weekend. It was much needed. It's been four months since my last trim. Toots kept saying that I should wait till after her wedding to cut. But by then I'll be ready to cut again. My no heat regimen and prenatal vitamins really have my hair growing like weeds (not a complaint).

The day before

Stylist begins the chop...

Hopefully, after one more chop I will be all natural! Then the real fun begins.

Blow Out Experience

I had my first blow out experience since October today. I was nervous to say the least. I have not been using heat on my hair for fear that it would look limp and tired. I went to my normal stylist who is natural herself. I did my own dry deep conditioner before I arrived. I'm like why pay them $15 to put conditioner on my hair and stick me under the dryer when I can have that out of the way before I arrive. So I donned a crochet hat on top of my plastic cap and kept it moving. When I got to the shampoo bowl, the assistant is like "is this glue in your hair?" She then shampooed twice (first shampoo since October as well). She added conditioner and tried to comb through. She had already asked if I was growing out a relaxer, yet she proceeded to comb from the root. I had to ask her to start from the ends, or we would be here all day.

Then off to the stylist chair. My stylist Tiffany said that I had a lot of growth. She jumped right in with the blow dryer. I was expecting it to hurt. It didn't though. Next she went through my whole head with the oven flat iron. She let me feel it afterwards, it was silky smooth. I asked her to clip at least 1 inch. She replied, I'll clip what needs to go. At a closer look, Tiff says "No, I'm not taking that much off, your ends are not terrible." So she did minimal clipping. I was a little disappointed. I was ready to see 2 inches go. So that I could see some progress in the natural vs relaxed hair length battle. After my trim, she went back over my hair with the regular flat iron to give my hair some bump. All ended well.

Side Eye Worthy Stylist Statements:

1. "Your hair does not feel as soft or manageable as I would have like". She suggested that I start using the Pantene for relaxed or natural conditioner as my DC. (Cones and Sulfates all up and through)
2. "We need to start training your hair." (bish how you know I want that?)
3. "It is ok to flat iron once a week." (Really? Is this a ploy to keep me in the salon and your pockets fat?)
4. "Flat ironing/ training has loosened my curl pattern. But my hair still curls when wet and I am able to do a wash and go." (Where do you draw the line between training and heat damage?)

Keep in mind, that yes Tiff is natural, but she keeps at least 18 inches of Remi Velvet down her back. (Weave Master!) So her perspective on things is a little different.

In conclusion, I liked the end result and I still love Tiff as a stylist. I told her that while transitioning I was limiting heat for growth purposes and to preserve the health my relaxed ends. Once I am all natural I may become a salon regular again. At the rate she is trimming, I will be transitioning until 2012. IDK. As for now, I'm sticking to my no heat regimen with a salon visit every three months.

Length Check Before Salon

After 

Something New

I tried something new with my hair this weekend. I did my normal deep and cowash. But then I set my plaits on the grey rods that I recently purchased.

Pros:

• Extremely quick. Since I only purchased 10 rods I only did 10 plaits.
• Very defined

Cons:

• Took forever to dry. I was finished setting it around 6:30pm on Sunday. I let it air dry until Monday at 9am. At this point I could feel moisture just by touching the roded plaits. So I sat under the hairdryer for 1 hour. My hair was STILL not completely dry. Luckily I didn't anywhere to go. So I pin curled the plaits for the remainder of the day.
• Tighter curls than I would have liked (negative hang time). This may be due to it being roded/pin curled for 2 days.

Summary: Not worth the drying time. I should only try this on a dry braid out.

Rod Results

I look, I feel, I smell like money....

I'll never have a bad hair day again with these in my back pocket.

Dry Rod Set

It's been 5 days since I curlformed. And lets just say the curly fro was getting a little to fro for me. So my original thoughts were to dry braid tonight and keep it moving. But while at work I realized I had misplaced (not so much) my satin pillow case. On top of the fact that I had a 15% off Sally coupon burning a whole in my purse, all signs pointed to a beauty store run. Of course I never walk out with just one item. I did almost run out of curlformers last week, so hey I'll take a pack of those. Then I saw the Flexi Rods. My girl Tracy has been having wonderful results from her rod sets, and I secretly wanted to try them anyway. So....you know I bought some.

It was then kid on Christmas day ish. I had to use them tonight. So I separated my hair, added about 5 sprays of Giovanni Leave In, a pump of mousse, and then roded. I used one pack of rods, resulting in 10 sections.

We'll see what the morning brings.

My Neck Of The Woods

A friend noted that I should measure my new growth. With only a few weeks until my 9th month of transitioning (where has the time gone?), I gave it a go. Yeah, I failed. All I had was a tape measure (seamstress in me). It was difficult to hold the tape, hold my hair stretched and get an accurate reading all at the same time. So I settled for pictures instead. Also Tootsie recently asked me if I had some canche donche (sp), a nice way of asking if I had that Kizzy Kinte. You be the judge.

Curlformer part II

Ok, so I gave the ol curlformers another chance. Well, I was determined to pull it off actually. I was not about to let them get the best of me again. So on a recent snow day I decided to just take my time and get r done. It took about 3 hours from co wash to finish. I did stop for a snack break though.

I did an overnight DT with Honeysuckle Rose and EVOO. The next morning I did my normal co-wash with HEHH. Then I got down to business. I combined my back sections ( I co wash in 4 sections), and began to tackle it in rows. I separated the rows into medium sized boxes. I sprayed each box with my leave in mixture, slathered on one pump of Mousse then finally curlformed.

I know it sounds convoluted. But it worked.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Ugh

So last night I spent 2 hours working on my hair. It was my first attempt at using the curlformers. They were a bit frustrating to put in, but I got the hang of it about 30 minutes in. My back ached, and feet were in serious need of a rub when I finished. I just knew my hair was gonna be fly so I didn't complain. Low and behold, I woke up to a monsoon this morning. The curls fell immediately, and dare I say it, I had a bad hair day. This was probably the first time that I was not satisfied with my hair all day long. I made it work by pinning it up. My coworker gave compliments. She said it looked like I got a relaxer. *Kanye Shrug*

I don't have the nerve to post an after pic. :( maybe next week.

I plan to pin curl tonight to salvage my hair. If that doesn't work, back to the handy dandy braid out.

Dilemma

I think I need a trim......well I want a trim. My hair has not been professionally done since October 09. I had my mom do a quickie trim in December. I trust my kitchen beautician, but I just want to make sure I don't have ends splitting up to the white meat. The problem is that I do not want heat on my hair. And to my understanding most naturals get blown out to trim. No? I need suggestions about to how to get my trim in February.

A friend suggested getting a roller set at the hair salon and then allowing my stylist to trim from there. I don't even think my salon does roller sets. I have been going there for over 2 years and have NEVER seen anyone sitting under the dryer with rollers. The dryers serve only to deep condition, pre-dry, and dry lace fronts.

I think I just had a light bulb moment though. Maybe I can set my own hair on curlformers and the go to a great clips or where have you and let them trim it. Since the formers will stretch my hair without heat and allow a comb to get through. Thoughts?

Dear FbN: What's your regimen?

A transitioning curly was interested in the regimens of the FbN contributors. Here goes:

Sunday afternoon:

• divide hair into four sections
• I deep condition with Aubrey Organics - Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner  on dry hair for 30 mins to 1 hour
• co wash and detangle with HEHH
• take down one section
• spray with Infusium-23 (Moistur)ologie Leave-In /Glycerine /water mix and sometimes DevaCurl Set It Free, or HE Totally Twisted Mousse
• do about 4 finger parted plaits
• curl the ends of the plaits on rods
• continue until all four sections are finished
• let air dry if time permits (sometimes an hour under the hooded dryer to speed up the process)

Monday morning:

• oil scalp with Jojoba Oil
• moisturize each plait with Oyin burnt sugar pomade
• unravel and fluff each plait

Wednesday night:

• grab a small section of hair and plait
• continue until whole head is plaited randomly
• spray a plait with Infusium 23/glycerine/water mix and sometimes DevaCurl set it free, or HE totally twisted mousse.
• curl the end of the plait with a rod
• continue until all plaits are damp and have rods on the ends

Thursday morning:

• oil scalp with Jojoba oil
• moisturize each plait with Oyin burnt sugar pomade
• unravel and fluff each plait

I may be purchasing a set of curlformers this weekend. If so, I will replace the Sunday braid out with a set of curls.

Readers, we are also interested in your regimen. Please share.

Dear FbN: Can I Get and Keep a Man with Natural Hair?

Us at Fierce by Nature want to hear from our readers.  We welcome emails with any questions, comments, or stories you want to share about your natural hair journeys.  Today, we will share an email we received from Tracy who wants to know if it's possible to get/keep a man with natural hair.

Dear FbN:

As you begin your blog, I want to go ahead and put this out there and state what I consider to be the single transitioning girls biggest concern: "Am I gonna be able to get a man with natural hair?"

I ask that those women who 1. may already be natural, 2. have a man supporting their quest already, or 3. don't care what others think of them in any aspect of life, not to judge and write this off as a shallow question that we need to "get over". This is a valid concern many women have because of the pressures that have been put on us to look a certain way. We have been programmed to think that guys like hair they can "run their fingers through"; the kind that blows with the wind! First, let's be reminded this is not just an issue Black women face. Women of all races and in other countries around the world hold stock in having straight and silky hair. Countless commercials and products make women of all races feel their natural curl is not beautiful and luxurious. Sarah Jessica Parker even forgoes the natural curl all of us SATC lovers know she has, to advertise hair care products with a silky straight mane. I say all of that to say that the pressure is even greater than some may think. Many women across the board just don't embrace their natural curl and will spend tons of money, time, and energy to cover up what's naturally there. 

So, do men really care about a women's hair as much as we think they do? Well, I can say the one word answer to that is NO...BUT many men do care about the way the woman handles the hair. What's her attitude?  Is she still seen as graceful and regal? Does she look well kept? (yea, I said it, because there are some ignorant men and women that associate some natural styles with not caring about appearance). I had to begin to ask myself "do I want a man who can't see me in my natural state as being beautiful?" No! We all deserve a man that will be our greatest encourager in this quest. Now don't get me wrong, we all gotta "keep it tight" and look fierce at all times! I'm just saying we must redefine what that means and realize that many real men out there love us as a whole being, natural hair and all. 

Tracy

What do you think Readers of FbN?  Is it possible to get and keep a man with natural hair?  We have our opinions (which we will share in the comments section) but we want to hear from you.

Miss G Chic

Yeah yeah yeah. I know I jumped right in on a rant without introducing myself. So here goes...

I am G. I became interested in going natural when Toots told me I could. LOL. We had discussed it and always said we had to wait till we had a ring on it in case we had some bad hair days. So randomly while getting a sew-in in July 09, (8 weeks after my last relaxer) I decided that I was gonna give being natural a try. Well I guess it really wasn't random. Almost everyone I know has stopped getting relaxers and I seemed to be the only person in the salon with one. So why was I paying $80 for a relaxer and all the other girls were getting blown out and flat ironed for $40 achieving the same results? Anywho, here we are 7 months and 2 weaves later. My transition has been pretty easy. But now I'm challenging myself to a month of no salon and no heat. So I'm sure I'll be trying all kinds of things. Let's Go.

Unbeweavable Oct 09

Twist Out Dec 09

Dry Braid Out Jan 10

Allow me to Introduce Myself...

My name is Toots..TO to the OT(s)...LOL, let me stop.  After much talk, Miss G Chic and I finally went through with starting a blog for us naturals.  I know there are plenty of other natural hair blogs and websites, but we wanted a forum that would allow us to share our journey with others and serve as motivation for us to keep it Naturally Fierce.  I'm sure G Chic will soon bless us with her own introduction of sorts, but let me go ahead and get mine out the way.

So the obvious first question would be, 'how long have you been natural?'..Well, that's an answer that I don't have an exact date for.  I got my last relaxer at the beginning of September 2008, so I've been natural for about 15 months.  Go me!  I haven't had to do a Big Chop (BC) or anything, as I've been trimming my relaxed hair off as the natural hair has been coming in.  I'd say I'm 97% natural.  I've begged my stylist to cut the ends to be sure but she says that it is all natural...so yeah.  Thankfully, I never had any problems with breakage or other things that so many other naturals complain about.  Throughout the past year or so, I've worn weaves and braids to help with the transition process.  I've also had my hair straightened and done other natural styles such as braid outs, flat twists, and sets using Curlformers.  I've enjoyed the ride and now I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner?  I've posted a few pics taken over the past year and a half so you can see what I'm working with...but I have to admit, I haven't been the best at that.  I'm sure having this blog will force me to be better though.

Relaxed Sept 2008

Weaved up

Braids

Set Using Curlformers

Fresh Press- Holidays '09

I'm excited about what's to come.  Hope you enjoy the ride!