What's Gibbie Been Up to? Part Deux

So.. what do you say to the person that last had a blog post titled "What's Gibbie Been Up To" months later doing another "What's Gibbie Been Up To"? Don't say much about that. I beg of you. I'm super sorry that I haven't been around in a bit. I thought about doing a post last month ..but after a trim (I often call it a chop) of about 1"-1.5" off due to breakage, I wasn't feeling it. I was so upset with myself for having to hack off that much hair. I'm still not over it to be honest, because I was gaining some length and now it's like I have a twa feeling all over again :(. 

I saw Rosemary Godwin on YouTube discussing her Water Only method update and I decided to "man up" and do this hair update.

Anyway, here are some updates on my hair:

1 year post BC

I big chopped (BC) my hair on June 2014 and my "hair anniversary" was in June 2015. I did a little collage on Instagram of where I started from to where I was on that day. Here's a picture of a length check of it:

..and the trim thereafter..

After a bad taking to the Water Only Washing method and just not listening to my hair, my hair suffered some breakage all over and I had to do a 1"-1.5"trim/chop/hack. The ends were rough, brittle and dry. They just could not stay. I don't have a set way to trim my hair and I basically cut to the point where my hair felt "normal" and where it felt rough. This was a little to my detriment because I'm certain I cut off more than I wanted. Also, my hair shrinkage level has increased..which freaked me out more that I cut off too much of my hair. It's when I did a length check after the trim that I realised that it wasn't as bad as I thought. Here's a picture grid of my length check after my trim:

Water Only Washing Update

As I eluded to above, I was doing the Water Only Washing method. It was a easy peasy method for using water to wash your hair. The idea is to initially clarify your hair, do a little massage, then do a daily wash of your hair by scratching/scritching your scalp and moving sebum (our hair's natural oil) down the hair shaft. I did this method for about 6 weeks and it was going great. My hair was the best it's been for a while, I had sebum coming down my hair shaft, I had BOMB ass twistouts etc. etc. etc...

..and then the niceness stopped. I figured my hair needed clarifying - I did an aloe juice wash. I figured my ends needed to be sealed because the sebum didn't reach down the ends as yet - then I started using shea butter after every wash. Then coconut oil, then I used olive oil - nothing worked. And I went on for about another 3 weeks trying to fix it. Then I said NO. 

And I started cowashing like crazy. 

But by then, it was too late.

I eventually had to cut off what seemed to me like quite a bit off my growth - up to 1.5" and immediately felt like a failure. 

What I've been doing presently is just leaving my hair alone. It's been in crochet braids for the past 2 weeks ..with two failed DIY marley hair installations (I just take the marley hair out and crochet in new hair), and it will continue to be in for at least another 2 weeks with some new synthetic hair.

I'm avoiding combing/touching my hair like the plague. I moisturise then leave it alone.And I'm sticking to that.

Hopefully time will pass by quickly and my hair would've grown back or longer. I'm protective styling and moisturising like crazy.

Otherwise I'm keeping cool. I'll do some updates on protective hairstyles if they turn out well lol.

Be well
Gibbie

Read more →

What's Gibbie been up to?!

Lol. Hey guys! How ya been?!

Geez I've been super out of it! Sheesh!

My deepest apologies for the drop off on posts but I've been super busy. For one, I got a job promotion (yay :)) which entailed a not so quick transition from my previous position; I've also started my Masters (one module at a time however), and I recently accepted an offer for a directorship in my Rotaract Club! Turn up! Turn up! Lol.

And my hair..well my hair was just angry with me. I bought more castor oil, more shea butter, moisturised daily with my diy aloe vera mix, sealed with said oil and NOTHING was working - up to the point that my hair started BREAKING.. Breaking by way of feathering/tapering at the ends and had just an overall dry and TUSTY (thirsty) look.

When I saw the breakage, I surprisingly did not freak out. I paused, cut the breaking ends (about 1-2 inches) and tried to figure out what my hair wanted. And a couple weeks after, it would appear that it just wants..water.

Plain ole water.

So so water.

And that's what I've been giving it. A post from Rosemary Godwin-Ese on YouTube peaked my interest on Water Rinsing or Water Only Washing as it is commonly called. And it is just as it states, washing your hair with water only - but on a daily basis. I have since then been doing my own little research, doing the method (but adding oils to my ends) and it seems to be working for my hair. The daily water rinsing would have ordinarily been an issue, but since I'm in the field almost every day and my hair (that is presently in mini-twists) dries quicker than it usually does (scalp first, then ends), I'm quite fine with it.

Now this water rinsing business has been working surprisingly well thus far, but since I just started (about 1.5- 2 weeks in). I'll be able to give a better idea of how well (or not) in the coming months. Here's a picture I posted on Instagram recently in between washes:

When your Water Only Wash method is doing WONDERS for your hair and your camera and face are liking each other 😊 😁 💧 #WaterOnlyHairWash #AfterWorkFace

A photo posted by Gibbie J. (@gibbiegibbie) on Apr 7, 2015 at 8:18pm PDT

Aaand that's it. Again, my deepest apologies and some in advance if I don't get to post as much but I'm trying to bring some normalcy - as soon as I can - around all this (good) chaos around lol.

I hope you all are doing wonderful and you'll hear from me again soon.

Be well!
Gibbie

Read more →

Wash Day Prep: Crochet Havana Twists

Hi guys!

I took down my last protective style - which felt very moisturized on the take-down by the way - the crochet braids with afro kinky hair.. Only to install another one! Lol. This time, I installed a crochet braids "Havana Twists" version! All these exclamation marks are because the install turned out well lol! Anyhoo, more of that later. Here's how my #WashDayExperience went:

[1] Applied a 10:1 ratio ACV rinse to my scalp and massaged it in for a bit.

[2] Applied the remaining VO5 Tea Therapy Clarifying Conditioner I had left and some Tresseme Naturals conditioner to further clarify my scalp.

[3] Deep Conditioned with a mixture of Tresseme Naturals conditioner, Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner and Castor oil. After ensuring the mixture was saturated throughout my strands, I put my trusty shiny steam cap on and let it sit for about 35 minutes.

[4] Air dried my hair for about 20 minutes.

[5] Applied my DIY Leave-in, Castor oil and Shea Butter mix. Then, I put my hair in hair ties/bands so it would stretch in preparation for my protective style.

Eventually, it took too long to dry so I took the hair ties out and let it air dry.

Then I went on to my install.

The hair was pre-twisted before the install so, after doing a "two-braids-meet-one" braid pattern, I crocheted the twists in. Here are some pictures of the result:

I think it turned out well. I plan to wear this style for 4 weeks.. But we'll see how that goes. How was your wash day? Let's hear it! 

 

 

In the mean time,

Be well. 

Gibbie 

Read more →

Wash Day: Crochet Cowash Quickie

Hi there,

So I've been wearing my crochet braids with afro kinky hair for about 2 weeks now and, because I've been experimenting with styles and such, I've actually changed the curl pattern & texture of the hair. I've manipulated it soo much that it's become super dry. Nonetheless, I've been wearing it and I'll be wearing it til the wheels come off (.. Or until it reaches the 3 week or more mark).. But that's what synthetic hair is for, right? Lol I loved it. Here's a picture of how I've been wearing it EVERY. DAY. :

Anyhoo, on to my #WashDayExperience:

[1] Saturated my hair with a 8:1 ratio of ACV & water and massaged my cornrows and scalp for about 5 mins

[2] After rinsing the ACV mix out, I again saturated my hair with a mixture of Tresseme Naturals (first time trying this - finally) + Castor oil + Aloe Vera juice.

The remainder of the mixture was put on the extensions (because they were DRY and TUSTY). I combed the extensions out, put them in braids and then Rinsed everything out. I let the extensions stay in braids until I'm ready to hot water them again.

[3] After rinsing I let my hair dry for about 15 minutes, then applied my DIY Leave-in (aloe vera juice + boiled water + coconut oil + Castor oil + a tups of conditioner) to every cornrow and re-twisted my leave out using the LOC method.

I must say my hair is steadily coming back to life. I think the "crispy" reaction was due to the imbalance of the moisturising/detangling mix I use and not following up with the LOC method (I keep leaving off the "C"). It's behaving much better now. Next up, the takedown and another protective style install. All in all, all is well. 

Be well, 

Gibbie

Read more →

Kinky Hair Frustrations (and what I'm doing about it)

In a bid to keep my hair moisturized (and not having to re-moisturize every day) I have been..

deep conditioning overnight (light protein),

prepoo-ing overnight,

rinsing with warm water,

doing final rinses with cold water

.. And nothing has worked. And of late my ends have been feeling fried, crispy even. And I'm not sure exactly which stage caused it. 

Those are my kinky hair frustrations.

So I'm going back to basics. 

My hair is now in a protective style (Crochet braids).. And I think it's going to stay that way in the foreseeable future - or at least for a couple of months. So I suppose I could say I'm going on a protective style spree..or challenge. 

During my routine blog reads, I've stumbled on Black Hair Information's "Staggered Protective Styling Regimen" (click here for info) that sounds like something I could work with - with one tweak however, I may keep my styles in a little longer than the stated time. 

I feel like my hair grows more when undisturbed and these "trial and error" things I've been trying has not been helping.

So back to protective styling I go. Hope it lifts my kinky hair spirits.

Be well,
Gibbie

Read more →

Wash Day: Twist-Out Game on Point!

Hey Peeps! Happy Holidays!

I took my marley twists out and figured my hair needed a good ol' deep conditioning after. So that's what I did (on Friday morning). So here goes my #WashDayExperience:

[1] Deep Conditioned with a warm mixture of Creme of Nature Argan Oil Intensive Conditioning Treatment, Roux Porosity Control, a dollop of Organics Hair Mayonnaise and some Castor Oil. I put my hair into 6 sections and applied the product one section at a time. I did this because I was getting worried that the products I've been putting in my hair were not being distributed evenly..But man was it time consuming! And the fact that my hair is very dense did not make it easy on me! Sheesh!

I then used my blow drier to warm each section as best as I could for about 15 minutes. I let it cool then rinsed it out.

[2] Conditioned with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner (HEHH), again section by section. Rinsed it out.

[3] Spritzed Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV).

[4] Air dried for about 20 minutes.

Now on to the BOMB.COM niceness! The twists!

[5] Applied my DIY Leave-in (Aloe Vera juice + conditioner + Coconut oil + Water) then a little more Coconut Oil then my DIY Shea Butter mix and twisted my hair. 

GLOREHH for Aloe Vera juice! Omigoodniss! It was exactly what my hair needed! I put it in my hair and instantly my hair felt softer! Lol you guys don't know how much it means that I've finally found something that softens my strands. Aloe Vera juice (we call it Sinkle Bible here in Jamaica) is easily accessible and I can get it for free from co-workers and colleagues so I am beyond ecstatic lol.

Ok. So I twisted my hair for an event I went to on Friday. The twists turned out wonderful. I didn't get to take pictures of the twists only. Bummer.

The next day they shrunk and resembled chunky twists ...and because I had another event to go to (Rotaract Christmas Dinner - Go Rotary!), I re-did using the same LOC method mentioned above and they came out spectacular - again. I remembered to take some pictures. Here goes: 

Since it's the best twist-out I've ever done last weekend (and from a Wash Day no less!), I now feel empowered to wear my hair out more often :). I'm even considering wearing my natural hair out for the holidays!

Hope you all had a great Wash Day and a great weekend!

Be well,
Gibbie

Read more →

Quickies: Marley Twists - Redux

Hi there.

Remember this post about how my Marley Twists were a Protective Style fail? My natural hair was stickng out all over the place and it was just not neat enough to keep in. I was seriously thinking of taking them out when I did a "last look" on YouTube to see if there was anything I could do to salvage the hairstyle.

And it so happened there was.

After looking at a few videos, I started to unravel the twists and re-did them - this time using half (or less) of my natural hair per twist and more of the Marley hair to do the twist. I did this process one twist at a time. Eventually I used two (2) packs of hair (Yah Man brand) to re-do my whole head. Here are the results:

Yay! (in my Rotaract shirt #GoRotary)

I'm glad it turned out well! I feel so accomplished! Lol. So now I have installed (in my whole head) Marley Twists and Crochet Braids! Styles with my own natural hair are next! Woot Woot!

Be well,
Gibbie

Read more →

6 Month Length Check (6 Months Post BC)

Hey guys!

It's now been six (6) months and one week since I did the big chop. Time seems to be going nicely and my hair has been flourishing since I asked my boyfriend to cut off my relaxed ends in June 2014. There were a little bit of tears. There was a lot of bit of shock lol.

But without further ado, Here are some pictures of my 6 natural hair month progress:

The morning after the Big Chop - June 2014

July 2014 

 

November 2014

December 5, 2014

Aaand there you have it folks. Now that the pictures are up, I can see the difference in growth over the time period..and I'm happy \o/ lol. It would also seem that my regimen is doing okay thus far..so at least technique-wise I won't be changing anything.


Some things to bear in mind (or err..disclaimers? lol)

1. I transitioned for about 7 months before I cut my relaxed ends off (so I had a little over 2" before the big chop)
2. My hair grows a little over 1/4 inch per month (0.375 inches exactly lol)
3. I cut off quite a bit of relaxed ends in about July (apparently I was even cutting off my natural hair with it -_-)
4. I wear protective styles about 85% - 90% of the time

Be well,

Gibbie

Read more →

Wash Day: A Thorough Deep Condition & PS fail

I rather, my curl-friend Trudy did a "shingling" or what others would call a "Wash & Go" on my hair on Tuesday. I used water, extra virgin olive oil and Curls Unleashed gel to smooth the hair until ,y curls set. That lasted until thursday. It isn't for me..it was what seemed like a crazy amount of gel to get my hair to form some curls - it was almost like I was forcing my hair into something it's not. I did realise however, that there are at least three (3) textures on my head: curly in the middle and crown, little to no curl definition almost everywhere else and a straight section at the front of my hairline. Crazy. Anyhoo, here goes my #WashDayExperience:

[1] Cowashed with VO5 Tea Therapy Clarifying Conditioner. I did this to get out the crazy amount of gel residue that was in my hair. This conditioner is more moisturising than the VO5 Herbal Escapes Clarifying Conditioner and it's the best VO5 conditioner I've used thus far. After rinsing it out, my hair felt softer than expected and I was happy.

[2] Deep Conditioned with Creme of Nature Argan Oil Intensive Conditioning Treatment for about 1 hour. I put my hair into five (5 sections), went through and detangled each section, then added some of the DC at the ends and sealed the sections with some castor oil. I was using this product during my texlax and transitioning period and it worked well then. I was searching for a new DC and I would start with an old faithful.

[3] Cowashed with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner.

[4] Air dried for about 25 minutes.

[5] Added my DIY leave in + castor oil + DIY shea butter mix.

[6] Flat-twisted my hair and left in until the next day. And on Friday night, I twisted my hair with some marley hair extensions. I was inspired by NaturalRose on YouTube (love her voice), where she installed marley hair extensions as a protective style see link here). It was simple and it was easy and I liked it.

I underestimated a couple of things: 1) my hair's density/thickness 2) my technique (still don't know where I went wrong) and 3) how many packs of hair I would need - I had to use 2 packs..and even now my hair is jumbled with hair sticking out under the extensions. I didn't like it. Here's a picture of how it turned out:

The plan was to keep the style in for 2 weeks..but if it stays in any longer I'm going to poke and prod at it, which would defeat the purpose of a protective style. So that's that.

Some observations I've noticed from my wash days of late: 

• I had to readjust my technique for applying product. I am now just noticing that when applying product, I tend to put the product on the top of my hair and "rub it up". Madness. Knowing that now, I've started to section my hair off, go through my hair with the product, applying from root to tip on all strands and a little extra on the ends. I hope no damage has been done. My hair ends have been feeling a little rough so I surmise that has something to do with it. If more deep conditioning doesn't result in better ends, I'll be snipping them off.
• 
  
• I have also noticed that my hair doesn't like "out" styles. It gets soo dry so easily. And, since I'm not really that verse on combing my hair at this length (still waiting on that length for roll, tuck and pin styles lol), I think I'll be doing more protective styles just to be on the safe side.

I hope you all had great wash days as well and I look forward to reading them all.

Be well,
Gibbie

Read more →

Hits & Misses: Vixen Crochet Braids

Hello there,

After 5 weeks of having my last protective style in, I took them out and installed another set of crochet braids in - this time using a vixen crochet braid technique. I learned this style from Mary K on YouTube (click here for the technique), where the hair is parted in four sections and canerowed/cornrowed into a beehive style. The hair is then crocheted and can be worn in a series of styles and which makes it more natural looking when parted and styled. Here's a picture of how it looks:

(Source: Goog;e images)

In the link above, Mary K uses Kanekalon "braid" hair, crochets the hair in, blow dries and flat irons the hair, then flat irons her leave out (the section that meets in the middle in the diagram), and everything blends flawlessly. 

So anything nice and simple, mi inna it.

And I attempted it.

Didn't work out so well.

Gibbie wasn't going to flat iron her natural hair . She also cannot canerow/cornrow well. so she asked a friend to do the braid pattern and used a Kanekalon braid hair that has a more natural look to it called "Nappy Annie". 

The results? HORRIBLE.

The leave out was too much.

The hair had too much sheen, would not blend with my natural hair, barely curled and would not maintain that curl.

It was no bueno. It had to go.

I did the style that date mainly because I had an outing to go to and now it didn't turn out well. After panicking and trying every possible way to make the style work, I finally came up with this:

I'm grateful no one did a close up lol.

On Monday, I cut the hair out, bought regular kanekalon hair, crocheted it in, braided the hair into about 6 sections and dipped it in hot water.

By Monday evening, it looked something like this:

and on Friday:

I was unable to fix the middle how I wanted it, but it was fairly decent.

Call me the fixer lol.

I think I've figured out my mistake with this install (my natural hair is not long enough/shrinks too much for a vixen crochet style) so next time around I'll be doing a partial leave out (just the front). 

All in all, I'll be taking this style out shortly. It was originally installed last week but I doubt it will be in for long. It was still good to try something new and I'll be doing another (adjusted) crochet braid style soon.

UPDATE: Today I was feeling a little better about this style. This morning I wore the style out after hot-watering 4 braids and twisting the leave out (my natural hair). I took this picture 5 minutes ago:

Not looking too shabby and the blending of both hair types looks good to me! Lol. I'm redoing this style (with some tweaks here and there) soon and I'm adjusting my previous comment as to how long I'll keep this style in - it's going to be around a little longer than I initially thought. I don't mind it that much anymore! Cheers and have a good one! 

Be well,

Gibbie

Read more →