Journey to Date

June 2010
This was a mile stone for me. For several months
I was wearing my hair in braided styles (without added weave)
with a Afro puff attachment. In picture my hair was now
as big or bigger than attachment and it looked better.
I was very happy.

July 2010
First blow out and heat application in 8 months or more

Aug 2010



Sept 2010
This was the beginning of a downward spiral for my hair.
I just moved back to LA and the difference in weather was
quickly taking a toll on my hair. I needed to find new products
and create new maintenance routines. Unfortunately I wasn't
motivated to do any of that too quickly and my hair reached a bad
place before I did something.  My hair looked like it was in shock,
it looked gnarled and dry, if you can imagine that. I desperately
needed moisture.  

Jan 2011

This was rock bottom for my little strands.

For Christmas I tried blowing my hair out

and pressing it using a blow dryer that

wasn't hot enough and a worn out pressing comb...bad, bad

 idea. My hair looked like it was in shock;

it looked gnarled and dry. 

Jan 2011
In my first journey I was using
old school curl activator products like S-curl. They did the job,
but they were sticky and smelly. I felt, surely, the Black hair care
market has progressed since the 80's and there has to be something
 that appeals to today's Naturals. I went on a mission to find products
specifically for Black, natural  hair that moisturized and smelled good.
I tried Motions Salon Herbals and Motions Motions Marula Natural
Therapy hair and scalp oil. The Solon Herbals hydrated 
 my hair instantaneously, though it didn't work out because I had 
to use so much of it and it had a lot of oil. The tube only 
lasted two washes, and at $6 or $7 that was not going to be cost 
effective. Lastly,it has paraffin in it and I didn't want that in my hair.

Jan 2011
This was my first twist out in my attempts to rescue my hair
using only the two products above.



Feb 2011
To help motivate me and to get ideas I started searching
through the natural community on YouTube. That's when I
discovered KimmayTube and Nikkimae2003. I learned about
protective styling. I didn't know it as this before, but in my
first journey, while going without heat I was wearing my hair in braided
 styles(without added weave) to give my hair a rest. I only twisted 
my hair after washing as a means to curly hair the next day (twist out). Since
I'm not at the place to get my hair braided like before, I tried
what other Naturals are doing, twists. This was my first
attempt at styling my twists. My goal is to maintain neat
twists from wash day to wash day.



Another early attempt at styling twist. I'm getting better at washing
my hair on the same day every week. I believe by this time I had found a
product trio that worked for me. Lots of you-tubers were raving
about ECO styler olive oil gel so I tried it. I ended up with
Motions Marula Natural Therapy hair and scalp oil and  Motions Weightless 
Clear Hairdressing. I put the oil on my scalp, the weightless
hairdressing on my roots and the gel on my ends. If I deviate from this
trio it would be to try something like Kimmaytube's conditioner
side note: You can see how loose my twists are in the  back nape, but
are much tighter toward the front. My hair in the back is much softer
with a looser curl pattern and its difficult to keep the hair twisted
  



March 2011
My twists are looking better and staying longer



March 2011
I'm really happy wit my twists now.

March 2011
I had never had an Afro like this before. I bought myself a pick and
had fun. I'll only fro my hair if I'm planning on washing on the
same day. I don't want to go to sleep on loose dirty hair only for it to
dry out and tangle.

March 2011
 When I wash I start by sectioning my hair making twists
using shampoo to give my hair a lot of slip to help detangling. 
This is how it looks when I get out of the shower. I begin
adding product and making neat twists at this point. I've been using 
Dove Moisture Therapy shampoo and conditioner for several years now, 
but I want to move into sulfate free products.

April 12, 2011
5day twist out. I untwisted my hair before my wash day and since
I don't like sleeping on loose hair I had to do something with it

I decided to try a Bantu Knot twist out. My hair already was
due for a wash and had a lot of product in it so I just wet it to make
it pliable and made the knots.

Ummm...right...that didn't work. My hair was still very wet after
being in the knots over night. This style works best on blow dried hair.
Here's what it should look like.