Grow African Hair Long GAHL: 2014

Hi ladies, I am finally back after my long silence. Even though I don´t like sharing much about my personal life on the blog. I think it is only fair that you should know what kept me away for so long. On October 4th I got a call from my younger sister Eva that my nephew had passed away after being hit by a car that had lost control. My heart was broken because he was only 7 years old and he held a very special part in my heart. We had to say goodbye to him. Those of you who have children never ever forget to pray for them for you never know what kind of dangers they may come across. I hope you now understand why blogging was the last thing on my mind.

See you in heaven baby boy!

But I thank God for His healing hand. I miss my nephew everyday but I am glad that he is with Jesus now and that all of our hearts (me and my family) are getting healed everyday.

As for my hair, well I am still on the Gahl length retention challenge which ends on 1st December and I am really looking forward to see how much length I have retained.

My high Bun!

My hair is currently in medium sized box braids which I had done in Nairobi. I have had them in for three weeks now and I intend to keep them in for another three weeks to five weeks. I am really enjoying the fact that I do not have to detangle my hair and I have not seen any knots in three weeks!! The lady who did them was not only gentle but she did them as big as I wanted them, especially on my hairline. I instructed to do them big so as not to pull out any hair.

I have not washed my hair since having the braids done because they are so long and heavy and it is quite cold where I am so I keep wondering how they will dry up if I wash them. But I have been moisturizing and bagging my hair for a little moisture once a week. I hope my hair will not suffer too much because this is a major diversion from my usual routine.

How do you ladies care for your braids?

God bless you all abundantly for your continuous support.

We really appreciate you!

It has been a little over a month and the Gahl length retention challenge is on!!! I know I have not shared much about the challenge so far, but I promise that this post will inform you about everything I have been doing with my hair during the first month of the challenge.

My hair products

My hair care routine is very simple right now. I wash my hair once a week with plain water and condition it using the Herbal essences hello hydration conditioner. I know that this conditioner contains silicones but it works for my hair. After washing I apply a mixture of water, olive oil and a little herbal essences as my leave in conditioner. I do not recommend using a rinse out conditioner such as the herbal essences as a leave in but until I find a leave in that really works for my hair, I will keep on using it. after applying the leave in conditioner I part my hair according to how I want to style it for the week and then I let it air dry. Very simple don´t you agree?

texture shot, wet natural hair

texture shot wet natural hair.

My hair has got three different textures which I am really trying hard to understand because they all behave different. The back of my hair and the edges have very loose curls, the middle has corkscrew spirals which look amazing but shrink like nobody´s business ( during my long-term transition to natural I thought that the middle had really tight curls but that is actually not the case) I will try to take better pictures so you can understand what I mean. The front of my head definitely has looser curls with little definition when compared to the rest of my hair. I am still very amazed that one head of hair can have many different textures African hair is just amazing!
The pictures above show the texture of my hair right after washing and before applying any product to my hair.

pony puff: I wore this hairstyle for almost two weeks

As for styling, I recently started making my hair lie down using gel, a soft hair brush and a scarf. This trio never backfires on me. I thank God for this discovery. Normally after air drying my hair, I try as much as possible not to touch my hair. This way my curls stay defined until my next wash (I just spray a little of my leave in conditioner nightly). The only thing I deal with every night are the edges which I moisten, apply some gel and then slick down with my hands and brush. The rest of the magic is done by the scarf.
This method has made protective styling quite easy for me because it helps mould my hair and keep it in place. and it looks good too!

Protective styling: slick edges thanks to enliven Gel.

Protective styling: slick edges thanks to enliven Gel.

My tools of trade. soft brush, Enliven hair gel and wide toothed comb

I hardly ever comb my hair these days, I literally detangle my hair about twice a month. Most of the time I just use my fingers and conditioner to detangle my hair and so far it is working very well. I choose not to detangle using the comb too often just to give my hair a break from too much manipulation. Low manipulation keeps the hair from breaking off unnecessarily.

The challenge is still on click HERE to join

I have been meaning to write a blog on transitioning to natural for a very long time now. I am going to share all i have learnt during my transition. It has been over a year since i started my transition to natural It was not always easy but now I can confidently say that my transition has gotten a lot easier with time. Here is my One year transition update if you missed it.

Here are a few tips that have made transitioning a whole lot easier for me. They might be of help to you too.

1. Do your hair in sections.

Doing your hair in sections makes detangling much easier and helps distribute product evenly to all hairstrands.

2. Maintain protein -moisture balance.

You will need to use a protein conditioner to keep your relaxed ends and especially the line of demarcation from breaking off. Moisture on the other hand will give your hair the elasticity it needs to keep it soft and manageable. A balance of the two = healthy hair.

4. Do not comb dry hair.

Combing transitioning hair while it is dry will cause breakage especially at the line of demarcation. It is advisable to comb the hair while it is wet or moisturised. I only comb mine when it is freshly washed and conditioned.

5. Finger detangle your hair.

Using hands/ fingers to detangle transitioning hair will cause less breakage especially if the hair is prone to tangles. A comb will pull out hair and cause breakage every time it is used.

6. Find a go-to style & protective styles

Curly styles such as braid outs, twist outs, rod sets, roller sets e.t.c are usually the best while transitioning because they help to blend in the relaxed and natural hair these styles can be achieved without the use of direct heat. Straight styles are a lot harder to achieve and maintain because natural hair reverts. The above mentioned styles are low manipulation styles and require little to no combing at all. Low manipulation hair styles can be changed to protective styles by turning them into buns or other updo's. A protective stlye is any hair styles that keeps your ends safely hidden, tucked away... These include buns, applying scarves, braids, weaves, cornrows e.t.c check out my First natural hairstyle

7. Don't be discouraged.

Only you know why you have decided to longterm transition to natural. It will be important for you to set your eyes on your goal which is healthy, beautiful natural african hair. There will be people who will say negative things about your hair but just keep going.

Find a good support system of women who have either done a longterm transition or are still transitioning for advice and inspiration.

9. Be patient

Hair grows slowly so please be patient you will get there.

11. Do not put expectations on your hair just accept it as it is.

Avoid comparing your hair with anybody elses, keep in mind that your hair will be unique in it's own way. Some women have curls, coils, kinks, waves and they are all good! Embrace your own hair as it is!

12. Co washing instead of shampooing

At some point I had a feeling that my hair was getting more tangles when shampoo was used on it. Other than that shampoos can dry out the hair especially if they contain sulphates. Washing with conditioner will help improve moisture levels in your hair and ease detangling.

13. Cut down on heat

While heat can be used to blend in relaxed and natural hair, it is not advisable to use heat to transition to natural. Heat can damage the hair's curl pattern. Always use a heat protector when you use heat.( blow dryer, flat irons, curling irons...)

14. Trim your relaxed ends off gradually.

As the new growth increases, the relaxed ends start to look very thin. If you don't want any rude schocks and are not comfortable with the length your natural hair is now do not cut off too much of the relaxed ends. Plan for small trims until you are satisfied with your length.

15. Pre shampoo treatments.

Pre shampoo treatments have been a life saver for me. Just applying an oil to my scalp and hair and finger detangling before washing really makes a big difference.

16. Wash your hair on a regular basis.

Transitioning hair likes to matt/ tangle at the line of demarcation. Leaving this kind of hair unwashed and undetangled for too long means that all the shed hair will attach itself to the tangle and keep growing as a result you will experience breakage.

I had to cut off all of this because of a bad tangle. I had not washed or detangled my hair for two whole weeks.

17. Satin/ silk Scarf and brush

If you love smooth styles then a scarf and a soft bristle brush will be great investment for you. All you need to do is to moisturise your hair, seal the moisture in with an oil then brush/ comb your hair as desired. Lastly apply a scarf to you hair especially on the edges and this will get them flat in less than 10 minutes.

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