It has been a little over 9 months since I cut my hair (only 2.5 months until my 1 year nappaversary! YAY!) and I thought I should come on here and do an update on my hair.

(Left) August 2012. (Right) June 2013. First day twistout.

First off I have to say, I love my hair! I wasn’t so sure for a while, but once I found the right combination of products and styling (through lots of research and Youtube), I can’t stop looking at it in the mirror.

Feed Me…

Through these past 9 months, I have discovered that my hair has a life all it’s own. She has her own personality and she just does what she wants to do. She has her own likes and dislikes (she loves coconut oil, dislikes combs) so I thought she deserved a name. Therefore, I have christened her Audrey II. Or Twoey for short. (100 bonus points if you know where I got the name from.)

Freshly washed hair. No product.

Audrey II is made up of very thick, dense, coarse kinky/curly/coily hair. I have no idea what hair type this is. 4b, maybe? Why don’t you make a guess in the Guess Elayna’s Hair Type game! I really wouldn’t know if you are right, but you can make a guess all the same.

My go-to-style recently has been twist-outs. Putting my hair into twists really helps to stretch out my hair. Like most naturals, I suffer from shrinkage and twist-outs helps to elongate my hair. Twist-outs enhance my natural coils and my hair is way less tangled come wash day thus I lose less hair. My strands love each other very much and love to intermingle and whatnot.

Shrinkage is something else…

I started doing twist-outs after I gave up doing wash ‘n go’s. Yeah it is easier to just slap some product in my hair and go, but boy was I paying for it later. I’ve realized that wash ‘n go’s are NOT for me. My hair ends up a shrunken, tangled mess. And I never used gel for my wash n go’s because I was too scared. I used Eco Styler gel once in a perm rod set when I was transitioning and my hair ended up sooooo dry. I was terrified that my hair was going to fall out. I probably was doing something wrong but will most likely not be using gel on my hair again if I can help it.

For a long time, I struggled with moisture retention. My hair would be so soft when it was wet, but when it dried, it felt like straw. I changed the products I was using and it has been a lot better.

Here is my regimen: On wash day, I use As I Am Coconut Co-wash. I LOVE this stuff. It is a miracle worker when it comes to finger detangling my hair and it is very moisturizing. As a leave-in conditioner, I use Karen’s Body Beautiful Sweet Ambrosia Leave in. It smells delicious and it softens my hair. (I also use it mid-week if my hair is feeling dry.) After that, I then twist my hair with the My Honey Child Type 4 Hair Creme. Jouelzy from YouTube put me on to this stuff. It is very thick and Twoey loves it. It moisturizes and softens my hair. I have to be careful not to use too much or it will leave my hair feeling very greasy. Even if I use a little bit, it leaves a slight residue. I am going to see if I can find another twisting creme that still moisturizes my hair without leaving it greasy. (Any suggestions?) I leave the twists in for at least 1 full day before I take them out. Something new I have been doing is adding Taliah Waajid Curly Curl Cream over my leave in and under my twisting creme just for a little more moisture and curl definition. So far so good.

I get a lot of comments on the street, “I love your hair” and the like. And I don’t know if it is because I am natural now, but I haven’t seen so many naturals around before. Is DC the natural hair capital?

I am really looking forward to having long, healthy natural hair. But I have to be prepared for when my hair grows longer and gets bigger, it is going to get hit a lot more on stuff. I have noticed that Audrey II brushes up against the ceiling handrails on the Metro. I wonder what it is going to be like a year from now? What about when my hair is long enough for the ever-popular top knot? I would probably knock myself out.

Happy Nappy,

Elayna

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