Hair Care 101; Coconut Oil Treatments

I was talking with a Sister tonight about using coconut oil to help prevent breakage. A few people have told me they started to do the treatments and one Sister's hair has improved greatly and even grew! She was telling me about it a week or so ago and I noticed the difference in her hair!!

So with that said, I have been doing this for as long as I've been a Christian (almost 10 years). My first Pastor's wife showed me to use it on my ends before I curl my hair, but my WHOLE head at the time was dry from a perm I got right before I got saved, so I put it all over and since then I still do that!

You don't just dab a little on. You actually COAT the hair in oil - drench it. I normally do it on Sunday night since I normally just clean the house on Monday and I can leave it in a long time. Since tonight it was time for a treatment, I decided it would be helpful to others to show just what I mean by drench it! Hubby took photos for me after I coated my hair (which takes me a good 15 minutes).

I do it in sections and from root to tip I put it on, putting a lot more on my ends because they are double processed from perms. You may ask why I put it on my new hair that is not processed - well, I want it to be in the best condition it can, because it will one day be my ends!

Once I've done all my hair, I use a fine tooth comb and comb through from roots to the ends all over. Then I flip my hair and add more oil on the hair while its flipped over and then I comb it again and wrap in a bun or braid.

I do this twice a month and use the Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo when its time to wash it out and then follow that with Finesse Moisturizing Conditioner. You will notice you will still have some oil left in your hair but that is ok! It will come out in the next wash, 2 or 3 days later and you should still be able to style your hair normally.

Click the photo to enlarge if you need to:



My hair (the permed part) has been really dry lately because of all the heat I've been using. I've been straightening my permed part so it matches my new growth or curling it. So if I keep using the heat on the permed portion, I may increase my coconut oil treatments from twice a month to every week. I used to do it every Monday with my first perm back in 99/2000 and it worked wonders, so I may have to do that again or just not use heat and let my hair be half permed/half straight and wear it back like I do sometimes. When I do this, I use the Garnier Fructis leave-in conditioner on the permed portion and then let it air dry and put the sides back.

Ok hope the photos help you all in some way realize I'm talking about drenching the hair, not just barely putting it on there! If you have permed hair, this will help. If you have un-processed hair - well it might help if you use heat a lot on your hair, but usually un-processed hair looks great already and that is what I'm headed back to as soon as my perm grows out (which will be probably 2 years!).

Growing Hair Long Challenge Update; Week 1

Growing Long Hair Challenge

Here is my update for Week 1:

The permed portion of my hair (since it is twiced permed) will eventually all break off. I've been through this before with my perm back in 1999. It all eventually departed lol. Once you have processed the hair (this time being double processed), I don't care what you may do to it to prevent the breakage, it is inevitable as I have learned! If it wasn't for my new growth, my hair would be around my bra strap right now but right now it rests at a little below my backside.

My hair has improved the past few weeks because of the following:

  1. I went a full month without fast food in January and ate healthier
  2. The past week I've ate a well rounded diet with correct ratios of proteins, carbs and fat
  3. I'm doing more scalp massages (I will be covering this in later posts when I continue on with my Hair Care series)
  4. I'm stressing less - yes, stress causes hair loss and slows down the growth rate, not to mention it causes physical illness
  5. I'm praying more for my hair - asking God to help me during this time of 'growing out' from my old perms and praying for my hair to be like it used to be naturally - silky and easy to manage
  6. I'm rarely using heat and/or product on my "new" growth - I do flat iron JUST the permed part or curl it and put product on it

Growing out a perm is a trying time but I've done this before about 10 years ago and the results in the end were worth it all! I'm treating my new growth very gently and one time I had to blow dry my hair because we had to run somewhere quick and I almost cried because I didn't want heat on my new growth! I prayed and asked God to protect it because I had to get it dry quick and then I had faith he would and went ahead using an Ion blow dryer that is gentle.

I've noticed a lot of breakage this week, mostly because my double processed ends are ready to leave and I have no idea how short my hair is going to get but hopefully my new growth will continue growing at a good rate and make up the difference!

Here is a photo of me this morning (it was early, so hard to smile hehe)  Even though I flat ironed my permed portion, you can tell where it starts because it is lighter and coarser and not as smooth as my new growth, at least I can tell lol. =0


Love, Children and Baking

I just read an article that made my jaw drop! Here was a feminist lady who embraced the so-called "freedom" of a woman working and not being 'tied down' by husband or children confesses that:

......loving relationships and children bring more happiness than work ever can.

She is looking back and sharing with the rest of us women that the whole "career woman" mentality is not all its cracked up to be. I knew that already.....been there done that, it wasn't fulfilling like my marriage and daughter are to me, not to mention taking care of my home. Here are some more quotes from the article:

To that end I have spent 20 years ruthlessly pursuing my dreams - to be a successful playwright. I have sacrificed all my womanly duties and laid it all at the altar of a career. And was it worth it? The answer has to be a resounding no.

WOW! The words 'laid it all at the altar of a career' is so visual to me that it just shocked me to hear this lady say that. Her honesty is amazing! Notice, this lady has spent 20 years running after this "freedom" to find that in the end, it was not worth it. It is sad that she had to go through her life without the joy that a child brings or loving relationships but her words echo to women out there what we are made to do.

Notice in the next quote how she tells about this instinct:

Somewhere inside lurks a woman I cannot control and she is in the kitchen with a baby on her hip and dough in her hand, staring me down. She is saying: “This is happiness, this is what it's all about.” It's an instinct that makes me a woman, an instinct that I can't ignore even if I wanted to.

Then she ends with a summation of it all:

I have always felt a huge pressure to be successful to show men that I am their equal. What a waste of time.

May women glean from the experience and lessons learned of this feminist woman. She learned the hard way but you don't have to!

God made us and I think he would know how we were designed: to be keepers at home, bearing children and loving our husbands! It's that simple....that is our purpose.

You can read the article in its entirety here:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article5662099.ece