Friday, August 26, 2011

Old Dog Needs New Tricks

First I would like to say hey to my new and very first follower! Thank you for taking an interest in little ol' me. I really appreciate the support. Ok, now onto what this is really about...

I started reading this book the other day called "The Science of Black Hair." I saw a review on it on youtube by a youtuber named kimmaytube. So I decided to go purchase it and see what it had to say. So far, it is very informative. It has me even rethinking my own hair care practices

As some people may know I have been natural all of my life. My mother never allowed me to put a perm in my hair no matter how many times I begged her. I am grateful for that to this day, even though back then I hated the fact that all my friends had perms and I didn't. Clearly she knew something that I didn't. My hair has pretty much always been somewhere around bra strap length. Maybe a little longer or shorter depending on how often I got trims, or let my split ends linger. Thinking back now, though, for as long as I can remember my hair has, for the most part, always been pretty damaged at the ends.

While the past couple of years I was partly focused on healthier hair and partly on getting it to be longer, I think that now that I've shown that I can retain longer lengths, it is time for me to really focus solely on the health of my hair. With just the little bit of the book that I have read, I realize that there is definitely room for improvement in my regimen. I haven't decided what exactly I'm going to change yet, but I definitely want to make sure I come up with a process that is maintainable. That basically means it can't take for ever. Back in '09 and '10 I would spend a LOT of time on my hair. I don't really have that luxury anymore though. That could be why my hair has been suffering. I have pretty much mastered the maintenance type of regimen which basically maintains length and doesn't cause my hair to break off faster or slower than it grows. That's about what I have been doing the majority of my life. But I still get plenty of split ends. Not as many as I used to back when I straightened my hair all the time, but they are still there.

So I've decided to do a little mini chop. Nothing too drastic. I mainly want to get rid of the split ends and damaged parts of my hair. This will likely leave me once again right around bra strap length. And to be honest, I don't really care how long my hair is.cause whether it is down to my waist or half way up my back, if it isn't straight, you can't tell the difference. Kinda sucks in a way though because it is almost like all my work for the past two years is about to be for nothing. maybe not totally for nothing though since that hair is still on my head. If I think about it I'll actually be cutting off the last of the 'bad' hair from when I wasn't taking as good of care of my hair. Reminds me of my friend (whose blog you can find here) who just cut off the last of her permed hair. I hope she continues to blog about her experience. I'm sure there is someone out there who can benefit from it. Next week may be the first time she actually has to tame a full head of 100% all natural hair all on her own. WHEW! I can't even imagine doing that for the first time, especially not now. I'mma pray for her.

Well that's about it for now, I think I've rambled on enough. I'll update with a book review once I finish The Science of Black Hair.