Saturday, April 07, 2007

finally

This is bound to be a long, wordy post. The past 48 hours have been full of hair excitement.

I'll start at the beginning.

So I finally caught up with Ola, who was happy to trim my ends this past Thursday. When she was finished, she had enjoyed touching my hair so much and marvelling at it's growth & softness that she couldn't help but put some cornrows in it. I was happy to let her go right ahead.







Obviously the R. Kelly look was not appropriate for work, but I wasn't ready to take the braids down straightaway the next morning. So, I wore my newest "hat" to work the next day.

(For some reason the picture of me in the new wig won't upload. I'll try again & update this post whenever it works.)

Whew, Lawd...."they" didn't know what to think about that!

So this morning I went ahead & took the braids down. I would have been happy to keep them in a bit longer but

1. I had planned on doing a whole deep condition, etc. routine today
2. I can't really do anything tomorrow 'cause it's Easter & I gotta cook & eat & be w/ family and stuff, and
3. I ain't really trying to rock them braids or that wig any more.


So, what I was hoping would be a super cute preview of how my braid-outs & twist-outs will look when I have more length, turned out to be a dud. The only thing I see is that it doesn't take much for my hair to dry straight - it looked like I had a relaxer.



...then I put in some of the "old" Leave-In Conditioner, from Aldrea's site...



I keep trying to find a way to show y'all those coils that are all over my head all the time. There's got to be some angle, just the right amount of light. [grrrr]

So after much B-Sing and procrastinating, I finally got started. I did a brief co-wash, then a Baking Soda Rinse. This is my third time with the Baking Soda Rinse and I'm still fascinated by how it whips those coils right into shape. And how clean it makes my hair & scalp feel. It's pretty intense. I'm thinking that I probably could have skipped the co-wash and just done that.

Baking Soda Rinse (in case you missed it the last time)

1 tablespoon Baking Soda
2 cups warm water

Then I took my new Giovanni 50:50 Conditioner and added about a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and about a tablespoon of Unscented Amla Oil to it. I have been researching the Giovanni Organic line for several months now. I really like the ingredients in their products a lot. They hardly have any chemicals at all, and the few that are included are like 20th on the ingredient list!



Ingredients
Aqua (Purified Water) with Rosemary Oil , Nettle Oil, Thyme Oil, Birch Leaf Oil, Chamomile Oil, Clary, Lavender, Coltsfoot Leaf, Yarrow Oil, Mallow, Horsetail Oil, Soybean Protein, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Acetamide MEA, Cetyl Alcohol (Plant Derived), Trace Minerals, Citric Acid (Corn), Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, Grape Seed (Citrus Derived)

See?!

So I slathered a bunch of that concoction into my hair.







You can kinda sorta see the coils jumping out of my head, right? (I'm obsessed with those things!)

Next step in my day of beauty...wrap my hair up in saran wrap, cover it with a winter hat & chill.

[cue the Jeopardy music]

I left the Deep Conditioner in for about 6 hours, during which time I baked a cake and uploaded all these pictures so I could start this post. I had also spent some time this morning using white vinegar to clean my coffee pot, shower drain and iron (I know this seems totally irrelevant, but...) so since I was still trying to flush the crap out of the iron, I decided to put that steam to use on my hair. I held the iron over my saran-wrapped head about 6 times, for about 2 minutes at a time.

When I finally rinsed the Deep Conditioner out, I finished the whole process off with an Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse followed by some cold water.

1 tablespoon Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cups water
10 drops Essential Oil of Peppermint

The ACV rinse and the cold water was supposed to seal the cuticle of my hair (whatever that means)and make it shiny. I have no idea about any cuticles being sealed or unsealed or anything, but my hair certainly has a sheen that I haven't seen before. It's pretty darned soft too. And of course it's full of those coils that I'm so excited about.

I finally had a chance to try out MotownGirl's routine. So far I'm pretty pleased with it. It wasn't as cumbersome or tedious as it looks written down and I love how my hair and scalp feel.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

love love love the coils. but please please tell me what "they" said about the wig? i can only imagine...lol i so wish i could see what kind of wig you wore

and i'm avoiding my hair. i haven't washed or twisted it in way too long. my excuse right now is that i'm waiting until right before i leave for Japan but i don't know. but i feel like i'm mad at my hair or something. i don't why i won't deal with it...it's weird

Piscean Princess said...

I don't know what is wrong with the picture of me in my wig - I tried to deal with it this morning at work and it still won't work. If you give me your email address (in stealth mode, of course) I will email it to you. It's from the show I just closed a few weeks ago...I played a Harvard educated lawyer.

"They" are so confused about my hair at this point anyway, the wig was really just the icing on the cake. Half of them just have to have a comment or series of questions every single time I change my hairstyle. The other half of them are scared to say anything to me at all - partially because they don't know how, and partially because I discourage workplace discussions about my beauty & personal hygiene regime.

Two guys asked me straight out if it was a wig. I didn't waste any time trying to be coy or funny, I just said yes. Then both of them had the same response..."Well I was gonna say!!! Boy does her hair grow fast!" They seemed relieved that they didn't have to spend any time figuring out how Black people get their hair to grow so fast.

Most of the other people (women) went on and on and on exclaiming about how much they liked it, it's so pretty, that is sharp...just sharp. These are the people who I gave the coldest possible shoulder to, 'cause I know that what they really wanted was for me to tell them it was ok to have some deeper conversation about my hair and all it's different looks.

Because it was Good Friday, a lot of the usual suspects weren't at work, so I was spared a bunch of nonsense, truly.

Stuff like that happens with the hair sometimes. Where we use our hair as an outlet for whatever we're going through this day, week, month, year... Maybe you're bored with your hair right now? Maybe it's trying to tell you something?

How long will you be in Japan?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Piscean Princess said...

damali said...

i remember when i used to wear braids back in the day...white people just didn't know how to act! i hope you didn't get "hair molested".

i'll be in Japan for only 4 days. A more detailed entry on that is coming soon :)

Piscean Princess said...

oh, they were pretty mystified by the braids too. my buddy from China used to always say, "where is your other hair?" she got so confused, she just gave up. there was the other guy who, every time I'd get a new braid 'do, he'd have to ask "now can you wash that?". With the micros, there were lots of people walking up & touching me, which is quite possibly the most annoying thing EVER! And the last time I took them down I did the Big Chop, so they are thoroughly freaked out. At least once a week, some brave soul will ask me some variation of "so which hair is your real hair?"

They're so naive, it's pitiful. If I had a magic wand, I would make it manditory for everybody to have a black friend (emphasis on the true meaning of the word friend) and they would have to read Essence, Ebony, The Crisis and Black Enterprise each month, they would have to spend at least one Saturday morning at a beauty shop and they would have to watch one non-coon Black move each week.

If only I had a magic wand...

Anonymous said...

"can you wash it?" is the most insane question ever. i might have to start answering "no. i can't. ever." just to see the horror on their little faces.

and you're so sweet to protect my email address. i can be too careless sometimes

Piscean Princess said...

You know I got your back on the "stealth" thing, girl.

I literally laughed out loud, almost spewing tea all over my monitor when I read..."i might have to start answering "no. i can't. ever." just to see the horror on their little faces." That sounds like so much fun.

Tam said...

Oh my goodness. Others and their comments, sideways glances and total cluelessness about our hair.

You know I am growing my hair back from five years of hair liberation. That was the easiest five years of my life.

While having a conversation with a co-worker about the idea of growing locks. The Other coworker gave this odd semi retarded look. Anyway she makes the comment "Don't those things stink?" I know, I know this would have been the perfect time to get all Project, all indignant, all Al Sharpton her ass. You know Al Sharpton from Tawana Brawley fame all jogging suit, gold medallion and pimp hair. Not smart, articulate, presidential hopeful Rev Sharpton.

You wait all your life for a chance to go off on someone that makes a stupid comment like that and you sit there too dumbfounded to give the appropriate verbal thrashing. So in retrospect perhaps it was me that too retarded. Come to think of it my co-worker had that same look.

We were so amazed that we just started a new topic.

The moral of the story make sure you practice your comebacks in the mirror, otherwise you end up like us unprepared.

Piscean Princess said...

i always need to be working on comebacks - these "others"/"they" at my job are always hitting me with some nonsense. and you know you can't just be nasty or stank 'cause then you'll be the one in the wrong; the angry black girl; god forbid there's any eye and/or neck rolling......

"they" just cannot get it through their skulls that I can go to my choice of 8 stores within a one mile radius of my home & purchase hair of any texture, color, length, etc. I haven't put up my "new" braid pics yet, but "they" are just outdone now. I got some cornrows w/ some hair added ('cause the back is tapered). It's the dumbest damn thing...

Anonymous said...

I just love you and those eyes!!!

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