Random Hair Questions

I've been roaming KISS this weekend now that I am just in a holding pattern to find out about next phase of employment and some things popped into my head tonight and others I've been wondering about for a while.

My blow dryer died probably four months ago.  I haven't really missed it and wasn't using it that much before it died.  Should I replace it or just keep going with the hood dryer as needed?

I've been around for almost a year and still don't fully understand the whole moisturize and seal thing.  I moisturize my scalp as needed but specifically what is the seal portion of this equation lol.

I prepoo but don't always deep condition afterwards because my hair feels great usually after my conditioner routine in combo with the prepoo.  What's the benefit of deep conditioning if you prepoo?  Or is that an unnecessary step.

For anyone using more than one leave in, do you mix them up or just put one on and then the other?

Anyone else understate where they think their hair length is because they don't want to get overly excited about progress?  Like right now I think the front is at my shoulders but I keep second guessing cause the back isn't as full or long.

Anyone else using the kimmaytube leave in?  How's it working for you?  Feels like that boost of castor oil has made all the difference in my hair overall.

I think that's it for my randomness for tonight lol.

Long long day

I have had an interesting week.  I have officially put in a resignation for my job to disappear in a few months.  I'm actively looking for a new job (thank heavens there are openings where I want to go).  Feeling a little betrayed by people who I used to love and respect.  And it's the anniversary of my dad's death.  And in my push to reach 12 weeks post I forgot that until I was waking up and remembered my hair appointment.  I was the only client for my stylist so that didn't take long and we always have a good conversation about everything so it was good to see her, get some outside perspective and get some prayers from a good friend.  Spent a while talking about any and everything after she was done and went home.  I also dyed my hair with a black rinse because the contrast between the salt and pepper hair and the used to be blowout burgundy hair was bothering me.  No more after this though.  I kinda like the salt and pepper so it will be allowed to come back in on its own.  My hair feels a lot healthier, thicker and it's still growing.  Not sure how much, I need to take a photo to compare it to the last shot.  But it wont happen tonight.  I'm so sleepy I can't see straight.  I was a little sad I may not be able to use my length check shirts with my current stylist but the Lord is telling me this part of my journey may be at an end.  Nothing wrong with moving forward to something new.

Length Check Shirts

I had been debating getting one since I wasn't sure I'd keep taking care of my hair for any length of time.  But now that I'm two months away from my first full year of hair journey I figured it was time to take the plunge.  Just found affordable and cute length check shirts unexpectedly so I'm happy.  Spreadshirt.com has them from lots of folks (including Hairlista) but I chose http://justgrowalready.spreadshirt.com/ for the shirts I would pick.  I found the store through the main Spreadshirt page but the shirts were 2 or 3 bucks cheaper through the link I shared.  I'll say this too these shirts mostly start at NL but there are some on the main Spreadshirt page that start at a variety of lengths (SL, APL, BSL) with cute designs all around. Ahh well enough spending money for the day lol.

Updates

I have just finished washing my hair and I'm really enjoying it looking healthy and happy lol.  I haven't been cowashing as much but the As I Am Coconut co-wash is great when I do and my hair looks and feels great.  I think I mentioned that I grabbed the As I Am leave in conditioner but that has been added to the leave in part of what I do and that feels amazing on my hair.  Smells pretty good too.  My hair looks like it's grown a bit since the last perm but I'm not sure if it's the milder weather or my hair is just cooperating for a change.  The biggest thing I've noticed is my new growth isn't feeling like its out of control or super dry or not holding my hair styles like it could sometimes in the winter.  It's more tightly coiled and actually just feels strong and healthy.  I can't say I've mastered the flexi rod set but I'm enjoying it when I do it.  The perm rods are hard to sleep on and I was getting tired of the basic roller set.  Now I have to learn a different style lol because I'll get bored with this one eventually too.  Maybe I can try the bantu knots or twists out next when I have patience to get the twists SUPER tight so they don't come undone as I air dry.  The lack of heat is still clearly helping out and I enjoy that.  The other thing I'm getting a kick out of us is I have a clear demarcation on my hair of when I stopped coloring which is around the time I started my hair journey so I can see where my hair has come in almost the last year.  I'm two much shy of my year ha, hadn't thought about that.  I think I will rinse or dye it the next time I go in for my relaxer but to a black likely.  My hair is growing in salt and pepper and I don't think it will be as shocking to people who haven't seen me in a while.  Plus right now it's making me a look a little older only because it looks like my hair just gave up and went gray lol.  I'm a full ten weeks post now and I'm not having the same kind of issues I normally do at this point.  My hair is normally on poof patrol and begging for creamy crack.  If I hadn't been so exhausted recently it would be doing better than it is but it's still holding up well.  I'm going to try to make it to twelve weeks this time if this next week goes well.  I think a full three months may be all I should do right now.  But when I go in we're also talking about potentially just going natural which could mean a texlax or continued stretching.  I'm not up for a big chop now that I've finally got my hair growing but I also may just keep my perm as I feel like I've learned how to work with it now.  I'd take a picture but it's just me in flexi-rods right now so nothing to show.  I want to thank everyone who youtubes because you help inspire me when I'm super tired of the 90 minutes it takes to wash and detangle and set my hair.  And that's just with my hair grazing my shoulders.  No telling what it will do whenever I actually hit shoulder or armpit length.  Oh that's just amazing to think about.  So excited about what's to come with my hair.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Good Wash Day & Trying a new Hairstyle

Thanks to allergies I seem to be developing I was in most of the weekend after a brief trip to PF Chang's to use my 20 percent online discount.  The code is DUNK by the way and good through tomorrow IF you want to order some takeout online lol.  I came back and added my Red Pimento Oil prepoo and tied it down.  I let that sit for nearly a full day and my hair was good and wet after I untied it to wash it out.  Need to restock my Aussie 3 minute miracle and my Aphogee Keratin treatment but hair felt good when I was finished with it and I FINALLY found the patience to carefully do a flexirod set and had enough of the right size to do my who hair with the exception of two tiny strings of hair that wouldn't roll up or would be silly to put on a full flexirod.  I put those on tiny perm rods and will see how it looks in the morning.  But I finished all of that by 6 after I got a workout in too.  I roll my hair a lot and let it air dry but want to see how the flexirod comes out.  If it's workable I MAY start to transition.  That will require me to stay off the lazy track but I'll have to think about it.  The only reason I got a perm in the first place was because my hair was getting so thick as a teenager that my mom was getting hand cramps trying to work through it.  Ehh I'll figure it out.  I have a good hair dresser who has been working with me about what to do with all of this hair lol.  Hope you all had a good Sunday. HHJ

Tried a new cowash tonight

Okay so I managed to run my errands in the time frame I wanted and got home in enough time to prepoo with the red pimento oil and then cowash my hair before it got too late.  It's As I Am Coconut Oil Cowash.  I like the way it felt as I was cowashing but not sure how my hair will look until the morning.  The last wash went well I think because I upgraded the Aphogee Keratin 2 minute formula from the old version to the new one lol.  If it's still nice and shiny I'll be happy and go from there.  Ahh well just glad to get a cowash in and stop on the lazy routine.

Woot Woot Progress

Okay this will probably seem like a silly post and make folks wonder what I'm normally doing to my hair and that's okay.  I started my hair journey about nine months ago after both my hairdresser and I were noticing some thinning and my hair was just being difficult in terms of growth.  We had both agreed to abandon the sew ins because they were aiding in me being lazy so there wasn't a whole lot going on after we cut it to even it out a bit.  I did become diligent in the cowashing, regular washing and trying to keep my hair moisturized.  First thing I noticed was thickness--love that lol--and gradually growth.  I was prepping my hair for my deep conditioning pre poo (yeah for Red Pimento Oil treatment) and felt like I should add a bit to my ends.  Before I realized it I had grabbed my hair into a ponytail and dabbled the ends and then went well damn it I have a real thick ponytail.  I never try to pull my hair up into a ponytail and the few times I thought about doing a bun on my hair I abandoned it because it didn't feel like the back of my hair was long enough to pull it off.  However, based on where I placed the ponytail I just may be able to do a low bun one of these days when I'm looking for a rain proof style.  Go healthy getting longer hair.  Definitely made the bathroom cleaning part one go faster and with less boredom.  Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement over the last almost year and keep it up for all of us that get frustrated along the way.

February Update

I am six hours removed from the hair salon and am feeling pretty good.  She's still getting rid of thinned out ends but even with that I'm fully neck length everywhere now and will need to spend some special attention the back center of my hair.  It's growing out but not at the same clip or thickness as the rest of my hair.  Still no dye but we have come up with a tentative idea for when my hair has grown out a bit more so that there's not such a stark contrast between my formerly burgundy do and the salt and pepper mix that is happening everywhere else.  We may just dye the ends a dark brown or black and leave the rest of my hair alone.  Got a good eyebrow arch in as well and let mom get hers done too since she managed to sit through the appointment without saying I needed to dye my hair.  I REALLY need to stay on the moisture because my hair is shedding a bit more than either me or my stylist would like.  Even with that though, hair is feeling thicker and fuller and I'm loving healthy hair.