Henna: Exactly How Does Henna Work?

How does a powder, natural dye adhere to hair strands and improve texture and thickness? I found the below infographic to be direct and simplistic. It very effectively explains the hows and whys at a glance.

Length Check!



July 24, 2009



September 21, 2010



I did my big chop (removing all relaxed ends)
 one month prior to this photo on June 20th This length is with 3 trims.
Not too shabby for a 1 year and 2 months!
I wonder what next year's length check around this time will bring?

Hair Idol - Kelly Rowland

I know as well as you do this be a wig....but damn..it's looking fly, right?

Where U Been?!?~

Yeah..it's been a little bit since I posted...working on a machinima production (animated vignette) for the World Expo in Shanghai, China, so been a bit busy with filming that in Second Life.

 I've posted the trailer I made below for you all to check out. :-).  If anyone is interested in taking a look at Second Life - email me or leave a comment and I'll give you a tour. :-)  We are planning to have an event in-world and I would love to see all of you there to support!



Now...for the hairs...all I can say it THANK GOD IT"S SPRINGGGGG!  I can definitely tell a huge difference in my hair moisture in the past two weeks.  I was joking with my cousin Rob over at Luvbenet's Coily World that our hair moisture returning is going the be the way we mark the coming of Spring every year from now on!  LOL!  As far as a hair cut..I kept putting it off and putting it off until I finally just pulled it back in a pony tail in the shower with conditioner in it and cut off a half inch in the back.  It needed it..I also ended up trimming a bit off each curl on the sides to make sure I got some of the ends off on the sides. 

I've been washing and going every day this week except today.  I'm going to do a deep condish with a mixture of deep conditioners I have little bits left of and sleep in tonight.  It's suppose to be in the low 80s for the next couple of days and then get cooler again after that. 
Update hair photos! First one is before trim second one is after trim. I can't tell you how glad I am summer is here!

Comparison & Length Check

Besides the apprehension about my upcoming hair trim, I am pleased overall at the progress I've made from my self inflicted BC in 4/09, to the one I had in the salon on 6/09 to now 02/10. I've not had any form of heat on my curly locks.  I'm really not all that anxious to straighten my hair as some parts are barely wavy and I am extremely worried that the curl will not come back. Although I have specific goals for my hair, I'm really enjoying my hair journey and enjoying all the stages and learning process.  I've sold some of my hair tea bags from my Etsy shop and my next goal is to add an oil and a deep condish to the the inventory (working on formulations). :-) 

As I mentioned before, this length and cut on Alicia Keys is what I'm looking at as a hair style goal.

This was my hair relaxed and long.  It was mid back in length and I mostly wore it in two pig tails. LOL!

Hair Trim Strategies...

I'm definitely on deck for a trim and shaping of my curls.  It is growing like mad and I can see longer strands and overall uneveness on the ends which leads to less clumping of the curl and frizziness.  I'm also seeing some "strand chaffing and/or halo" which means breakage is happening somewhere along the shaft of the hair.

I am still at odds on what approach I should take for this task.  The way I see it my options ad concerns are the following:

1-Go to Salon DelaCruz in NYC and get a cut.  Concerns: Getting too much cut off by an over zealous cutter I've never worked with before and getting bad, uneven cut.

2-Wash, condish, rinse out, leave a light leave in and wrap it backand tie with a satin scarf in a ponytail until dry. It will be wavy after it dries.  Then lightly flat iron with a very warm iron, go to my old hair stylist and have her do a trim straight.  Concerns:  Not really any.  I do want to keep the tri-level cut I currently have and she can follow the line of my current shape with a trim.

3-Wash, Condish, leave in a small amount of condish and braid into four braids on top layer of hair and 4 braids on bottom layer of hair.  Seal he ends and clip off 1/4 of an inch off of each braid myself.

I'm looking at the second week in February and will schedule my cut in accordance with the Morrocco Method Chart. 

I'm interested in what the readers out there have to say about the options I've listed and any advice/opinions you have on them.  Also share your own experiences in the comments!! Thanks!!

This is the length and cut I am shooting for as my hair goal.

2010 Hair Plan

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking about my hair goals for 2010 and roughly putting together an outline.  I had my big chop on June 20th of 2009, plus I did two end clippings of my curls.  I want to get another salon cut in the first quarter of the year (probably February) but I'm in a quandry on if I should get a curl cut or get it cut straight.  I've not put heat on my hair at all in 2009.  Recently I've seen on other curly hair sites photos of what incorrectly straightening your natural hair can do to your curls.  My hair has some straight parts, wavy parts, curly parts and frizzy parts so product plays a big part in making it all come together as much as possible.  Another issue I need to take a good hard look at and try to minimize are the dreaded "fairy knots".  Those little hair strand destroying knots that cause breakage if left unattended. As my hair gets longer I'm starting to see these cropping up.  Deep conditioning and sealing with my aloe butter helps some, but I want to try to do more to address this.
I had my big chop done at Devachan and although he did an okay job with the cut, the styling job was a hot mess so I don't think I will be going back.  A salon called Salon Santa Cruz was recommended by Wes over at Honey.Brown.Sugar.  I'm thinking of giving them a try. I'm looking forward to the continued discovery journey of what works and what doesn't work for my hair.  I do know that it's healthier than it's been in years.  I'm starting to narrow down what products work for my hair type and what doesn't.  The hair steamer was a good investment and definitely helps with the dryness my tresses tend toward.  I'm definitely going to continue with my Henna/Alma treatment every 3-4 weeks, as well as deep condish once or twice a week. 
I'm still on the fence about any heat styling in 2010, so I will have to do a bit more reasearch and talk to a few people to see if I want to do it. I might try a roller set and go under the hair dryer and see how that works. Anyone who might have so feedback on heat styling experiences, please do email me so we can chat!