Natural Hair Journey: 10 Months Natural

It's been 10 months since I went natural. I can't believe in two months it will be one year since my big chop!

Overall this month has been pretty easy. I decided to join the February Mini Challenge and have been wearing updos all this month. This allowed me to experiment with styles and give me a break from constantly manipulating my hair. 

Current Length: I'm not sure. Since I've been wearing my hair up this month, I didn't really focus on the length. My current plan is to do a length check in April.

My Go-to Styles this month: Updos 

 All of the updos that I tried this month were from YouTube. I always watched tutorials but thought I couldn't achieve a certain style due to my length. But, I learned that I change or adjust the hairstyles based on my length. 

         

                               

                  

Hair Regimen: This month I reduced the number of times I washed my hair each week. Instead of two wash days a week, I went down to one. At first I was nervous that my scalp would be greasy or dry but so far it's been okay. I also bought several new products that I am currently testing out. 

Plans for next month:  To combat my issues with single strand knots, I'm going to wash my hair in sections from now on. I will also need to look at my regimen to see what else might be the cause of the knots. And because I love trying out new styles, I plan to do that more as well.

Until next time!

~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

February Mini Challenge | Updo #4: French Roll/ French Twist with Bang

Happy Monday everyone!

Can you believe it is the last week of the February mini challenge? Crazy, right?! This week I wanted to have a little of my hair out, to spice it up a bit. So I chose the French Roll/French Twist with Bang by BlakIzBeautyful. I love her tutorials because they are easy to follow and the hairstyles are cute.

        


I'm going to wear this style for a few day, then take it down to moisturize it and put it back in the same updo. I had less tangles on wash day and perhaps adding more moisturize during the week played a part.

Front

Back

Side 1

Side 2

                                           What are your favorite updo styles?





Until next time!


~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

Wash Day Recap

[1] Exfoliated with Lisa's Hair Elixir Fortifying Spray. I  massaged it into my scalp and left it on my scalp for  five minutes before rinsing it out.
[2] Hot Oil Treatment with Lisa's Hair Elixir Restoring Oil + Soultanical's Knot Sauce  for 30 minutes.
[3] Co-Washed in sections with Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner.  In an effort to eliminate my single strand knots.
[4] Protein Treatment:  ApHogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor
[5] Deep Condition: Perfect Moisture Deep Conditioner by Tangles and Beyond for 40 minutes.
[6] T-shirt dried my hair for about 20 minutes.
[7] Leave-ins: Jia's Carribean Dream Cream (another sample from Tangles and Beyond) and SM's JBCO Leave-in Conditioner.
[8] Prepare hair for bed: Applied Perfect Moisture Shea Butter Blend, Argon Oil, Mango Serum with Sulfur. I also put in ponytail holders to stretch my hair.


There were a few less knots this wash day. So maybe changing my prepoo/hot oil treatment and co-washing in sections made the difference. I'm going to keep tweaking my wash day techniques and see if that continues to help.  Be sure to check back tomorrow to see the updo I'll be rocking this week. 

   How was your wash day? Join the linkup and share your #WashDayExperience .

February Mini Challenge | Updo #3 Inspired by NaturalMe4C

Happy Monday Everyone!

At the end of yesterday's wash day, I still didn't know how I wanted to wear my hair this week. I had a few styles in mind but didn't know if I could pull them off. When choosing a hairstyle, I try to be realistic about my styling abilities. I try to choose quick and easy hairstyles for my hair. This week I went with a hairstyle inspired by NaturalMe4C:


          


     
Now, my results are a little different from the tutorial but I still love it.  One of the things I've learned during this challenge is that it's okay to adjust a hairstyle to make it work for you. My hair is shorter than NaturalMe4C's hair, so I tweaked it a bit.

My plan for the rest of the week: I plan to wear this style the rest of the week. To keep my hair moisturized I will spritz my hair every night and in the morning. I noticed I had a lot of single strand knots yesterday, which means I need to change a few things this week. I'm going to wear this style until Wednesday and then take it down to moisturize it. I'll redo the style and wear it until my next wash day (Saturday or Sunday).

                                              What styles are you rocking this week?

Wash Day | 2.15.15

Hey loves!

I hope you had a great weekend and a wonderful Valentine's Day. I planned on washing my hair before Valentine's Day but I never got around to it. Instead I rocked my updo for a couple extra days.

Here is a breakdown of what I did today:

[1] Exfoliated with Lisa's Hair Elixir Fortifying Spray. I  massaged it into my scalp and left it on my scalp for  five minutes before rinsing it out.
[2] Hot Oil Treatment with Lisa's Hair Elixir Restoring Oil for 10 minutes.  I made sure to to pay attention to my ends. 
[3] Shampoo: Rhassol Whip from Tangles and Beyond . This is one of the products I got in my recent product haul .
[4] Protein Treatment:  ApHogee Intensive Two Minute Keratin Reconstructor
[5] Deep Condition: Perfect Moisture Deep Conditioner by Tangles and Beyond for 40 minutes.
[6] ACV Rinse: After rinsing out my deep conditioner, I use this mixture of apple cider vinegar and water to get rid of any product buildup. It gives my hair extra moisture and keeps my scalp clean. I've skipped this step recently but I decided to incorporate into my wash days again.
[7] T-shirt dried my hair for about 20-30 minutes.
[8] Leave-ins: Jia's Carribean Dream Cream (another sample from Tangles and Beyond) and SM's JBCO Leave-in Conditioner.
[9] Prepare hair for bed: Apply Perfect Moisture Shea Butter Blend, Argon Oil, Mango Serum with Sulfur (testing a small area to make sure I don't have a reaction to the sulfur). I also put in ponytail holders to stretch my hair.


I'm still deciding what updo I'm going to wear this week. I have a couple in mind but I'm not sure if they will work for my twa. I hope to have an updo to share with you all tomorrow.

           How was your wash day? Join the linkup and share your #WashDayExperience .

Until next time!

~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

Natural Hair Product Haul + Winner of the Blogiversary Giveaway

Happy Friday everyone!

When I first started my natural hair journey, I tried to keep my natural hair products to a minimum. Now that I'm almost ten months in, I've decided to branch out a little and try new products. So I wanted to show you the new products that I've purchased within the past month.



Soultanicals Knot Sauce

I've heard so many great thinks about this conditioner that I wanted to give it a try. Knots have become a common occurrence and I am looking for ways to make detangling easier. In addition to the Knot Sauce I also received a packet of the Mango Dip Detangling Slip. I plan to do a product review of the products in the future.
                                                 

Mango Serum with Sulfur by Bee Mine 

Bee Sensitive Oil Free Serum has been a godsend especially now that I'm trying to wash my hair once a week. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try their sulfur serum. This particular product has great reviews so I'm excited to see if I like it as well. 

Tangles and Beyond

One of the great things about social media is that you get introduced to new products and companies. When I saw the that they were having a drop sale in January, I made sure I scooped up their sampler. I plan on trying some of the products this weekend. If you're interested in buying products, their February Drop Off Sale is next Friday (February 20th). Be sure to check out their website to learn more about their drop sales. 

I don't plan on buying any new products until I use up what I have, I'm not a product junkie...yet and I want to keep it that way. I'll be sure to post my reviews of these products after I use them for a couple of months.

Winner of the Blogiversary Giveaway

First, thanks to everyone for your well wishes on my 1st Blogiversary. It has been a great experience and I really enjoy interacting with other bloggers. I would also like to thank everyone that entered the giveaway. The winner of the $35 Ulta Gift Card is Kris from Beautifully Curled. Be sure to check out her blog! Stay tuned for another giveaway in April :).

Until next time!

~Adventures of a Nappy Chica

Adventures of a Nappy Chica One Year Blogiversary + Giveaway!

I can't believe it has been one year since I started sharing my natural hair journey. What started as a way to keep me motivated through the transition process, has become so much more. I have enjoyed sharing all of my adventures with you. This year has been filled with success, failures and new discoveries. I hope my journey has helped or inspired someone to start their own natural hair journey.

Thank you to everyone that has commented, shared their own experiences and given me advice along the way. To show my appreciation to everyone that has followed my journey, I am giving away a $35 gift card to Ulta.  The giveaway starts today and ends Friday, February 13th. Be sure to enter and share as well :)!

                                                                 Good Luck!

                                     

a Rafflecopter giveaway