Wash Day: Success!!

My week has been hairmazing!! Yeah, I went shopping .....whooooop whoooop whooooopie!! I'm sure you're gonna scream when you see my stash.....and I need to add I'm not done yet so won't show for now. I'm still trying to get hemp oil and grapeseed oil. 

I continued my wash the next day in this order:

1. Prepooed with Roux Porosity Control Conditioner (Oh My Gosh....where were you already!! *LOVE*)

2. Shampooed with ORS Aloe Shampoo (I love it desperately already).

3.  Deep conditioned with Kuza Cholesterol without heat. (Woooooow, it's a keeper!!)

4. I trimmed. I did this by sectioning hair as though to rollerset and then I trimmed off the thin ends. Most parts were about 1 inch long. I am yet to do my U-shaped cut and will get it done this Saturday by a stylist I had visited about a year ago to flatiron my roots. I saw how she trimmed off another customer's hair. She did well to trim in very small sections. But she took quite a lot off .....well, the ends were pretty bad........but the end result was really nice.

5. Applied T444Z to scalp, Hawaiian Silky Leave-in and IC Hair Polisher (New New New....Love Love Love) to 80% dry hair.

6. Moisturised with Hawaiian Silky 14-in-1 Miracle Worker and sealed with a mix of coconut oil and black castor oil. 

 7. Styled my hair into a sock bun. 

I'm very, very happy about all the new products I have bought. My hair hasn't rejected anything so far and I will review all products after using it for at least 3 months.

I have that good feeling about my hair though it is now shorter than armpit length. Then again, that goal is for the year and I still have 3 months more to get there. Oh, and see the colour now and how shiny it is!! Going to henna more starting this weekend. 

My hair is shedding pretty bad but I'm not too worried about it. Life goes on....and my hair will grow back. I will continue to tea rinse, massage my scalp with black castor oil, apply t444z 2-3 times a week now, and take my prenatal vitamins more religiously. I am still taking Pregnacare Plus...with Omega 3.

Are you taking any vitamins or food supplements for hair growth?

Cheers,

Star.

Wash Day - Knocked Over!!

I was so excited about having some of my wishlist products; Aphogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair, Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor and Roux Porosity Control that I just had to have a wash!! 

Ghanaianemprezz......thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks!

1. Preheated a mix of coconut oil and black castor oil; applied on scalp and hair for prepoo.

2. Massaged my scalp for 5 minutes and inverted my head for 5 minutes.

3. Covered with a plastic bag and scarf and went right to bed. Was too tired to continue.

So I woke up very early this morning to find that it was raining. Yeah right, bad ...but I'm gonna have my wash thanks to my hooded dryer for rollersets (Oh, I've not told you all about my Carmen Hooded Dryer...*huge grin*) or my fan if I want to air dry.......Got that "nobody can stop me" feeling......hahhhahah!!

 

Somehow, surprisingly; I decided to set up the dryer first (assembled already, just kept the hood someplace real safe) so that I could get right into it as soon as my wash was done. And noooooooooooooooooooooo!! Only then did I realise that we had no power!! Today of all days!! Geeeeeeeeeeeeez, how much worse can my morning get.......My heart sunk.

 

Then came the light bulb moment.  I bought a new wig !! 

So, my wash day just got knocked over...but thanks to the new wig....I'm loving it right now!!Can't promise not to tuck away my hair with all the rain these days........

Do you use wigs to save the day when you can't complete a wash?

Cheers,
Star.

6 Months Post Relaxer Day: Update #2

My joy knows no bounds!! I'm extremely grateful to the good Lord for giving me good hair....Yes, Good Hair....lol!! Though I am experiencing post-partum shedding, I still retained some length. I used a lot of products that helped but top of that long list are T444Z Hair Food, Hawaiian Silky 14-in-1 Miracle Worker, Vitale Mayonnaise.............and Coconut Oil!!

After another successful 6 month stretch, and a relaxer day that went well; here are my progress pixs:

Relaxer Day...used Vitale Life and Body Lye Relaxer!

Those ends......................hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!

One can always get away with a ponytail...lol!

Can't hide my joy!!

Next day after wrapping my hair ....thanks for all your support. Your subscriptions, comments, likes are what keep me going....xoxo!!

I know that with time and patience, I will reach my goal of Armpit Length by December 2013. I just pray that my post-partum shedding doesn't give me a huge setback. I am going to do tea rinses every week without fail and use T444Z Hair Food more than once a week. Hopefully, that will help. I trimmed off about an inch off each section as I rollerset yesterday evening but the ends were still thin. May have to trim off some more but will wait for a week or two for my hair to recover from the relaxer shock...lol!!

I'm sure most of you have made a lot of progress too and I would love to share your progress with my readers. Please send a mail to ghlonghairstar@gmail.com. Let's journey on together.

Will I reach my Armpit Length goal by December? 

Cheers, 

Star.

Marathon Wash Day!

So, I just thought these pictures should do all the talking today.......

Top bundle of hair after detangling right after weave, second ball after wash and rollerset.

 Thought I lost a lot of hair this time...too much though I detangled as carefully and patiently as I could. Maybe post-partum hair loss issues coming up now..........

This was the hardest wash day I've experienced in a year!!

My hair matted real bad after I began washing it.....really, really bad!! Had to keep detangling all through wash process, even while rollersetting. It was so bad my sister had to help though she was quite scared of the puffed up new growth in the beginning.

Thank God I ended up with any hair on my head at all...believe me, I was totally scared but didn't cry this time because I knew African Hair Grows Long.......the main challenge is Length Retention and nothing else..........lol!!

Any advice to a new mama struggling with hair loss issues?

Cheers,

Star.

Weave Take Down!

Finally, I took out the curly weave after 7 weeks!! (Horrifying.....I don't keep weaves in for that long). I honestly didn't realise how much time had passed since wearing the weave as most of the weekends were full of activities for me. I totally lost track of how many weeks had passed. 

As soon as I took out the weave, I got to detangling it with VO5 Moisture Milks and coconut oil that I had purchased that day, last Saturday. I was kinda amazed that there were very few tough knots to deal with as I detangled quite easily. So I just grabbed a big tooth comb and combed each detangled section out. I was sure I had detangled completely.

My sister advised me to prepoo (eyaaaaaa, she's becoming overly obsessed with everything hair....lol) overnight but I was feeling too tired to have to wait the next day to wash so I just prepooed for about an hour and then proceeded:

1. Shampoo washed with Odeon shampoo infused with onions.

2. Deep conditioned with Vitale Mayonnaise mixed with black castor oil made in Ghana which I call, Ghanaian Black Castor Oil (GBCO). You can't blame me....lol!! My hair totally loved this.

3. Followed with Kuza Indian Hemp Cholesterol (new addition, first use). The directions didn't say to sit under the dryer so I was confused a little. But I covered with a plastic bag, went under the dryer anyway for 10 minutes because I wanted my new growth to get as soft as possible. 

My hair did not feel any softer than it was after I got out of the dryer. I realised that my hair had become very stiff and was matted. Yikeeeeeeeeeeeees!! I had just used the last bit of my Vitale Mayonnaise and I was totally freaked out.

What next? Crossroads..........................................!!

4. I decided to put in some Vitale Corrective Conditioner (new addition, first use) after reading the promises and hoping it will help somehow, covered with a plastic bag, sat under the dryer for 5 minutes and then rinsed out. It felt softer than before and I was relieved, but my hair had matted so bad.

Then I remembered watching and reading hair journey bloggers and vloggers talking about washing their hair in twisted sections!! My goodness...I should probably have washed my hair in sections!!

Coming up next: Weave Take Down continued.......stay tuned.

Has your hair ever ended up getting matted during a wash?


Cheers,
Star.

Product Review: T444Z Hair Food

One of the best products I have used for my hair and totally keep as number one on my product wishlist is T444Z Hair Food. I read about this product on a blog about a year ago when I was desperately hunting for products that could grow my hair in record time as I had a cut from shoulder length to neck length. I needed to hide my hair and grow it out real fast because I had no style ideas for short hair as I had been stuck at shoulder length for years and that was my comfort zone. Being at neck length left me feeling insecure about my hair...totally vulnerable and huge feeling of nakedness. Yes, I felt naked somehow.

I decided to find more reviews online and was amazed at how much people loved the product. I got in touch with someone in the UK who agreed to send one her sister in Nigeria for me. Some great friends brought it to me here in Ghana as I had already left Lagos by the time it arrived. I read the label, smelt and felt the contents of the small jar; and that was where our love started. 

Let's check out the ingredient list: Aloe, Herbal extract, Rose oil, Chamomile, Menthol, Rosemary Leaf Extract, Castor Oil, Peppermint, Papaya Extracts, Vitamin A, Carrot Extracts, Shea Butter and Essential Oils. 

Promises: For massive hair growth, volume and thickness. Repairs hair line, stops balding, dandruff, scalp dryness, itchiness and hair loss.

Directions: Wash your hair and dry it thoroughly. Apply T444Z massaging into the scalp. Apply to the whole head once a week. For damaged areas such as bald patches and hair line, apply daily.

My first impressions: This product comes in a small jar and weighs 150 grams. Having checked out what a 150 gram jar looked like already, the size did not surprise me when I received it. My friends thought I was kidding to still want it at a price of 5000 naira ($30) when they got to the agent and saw the size. For the price, they thought they were going to buy something real big....hhahhahahhaha!!

Likes:

1. It is all natural: 100% pure and natural. It is not easy to come by products which contain only natural ingredients which are all great for promoting hair health, growth, strength and thickness.

2. It is very fast and effective: Within a month of using this product, I realized my hair grew faster, thicker and felt stronger. I saw an increased decrease in the rate of breakage of my hair throughout the time I had been using this product. 

3. Great Scent: The scent is sweet..I love it. I still can't pinpoint what exactly it smells like but it could pass for a flower scent.

4. Ease of Usage: It is solid at room temperature, but is very soft and melts as soon as your rub it on your fingers. It makes application very easy and a little goes a long way. Just as I use my oils, I just put a bit in my palm and apply it to my scalp with my fingertips. I make sure to complete my whole head with that little bit.

5. Lasts very long!! Imagine using a 150 gram jar of product for more than 5 months!! Yes, I used my first jar that long because you can use this product only once a week on your clean scalp and that's it. It still works perfectly. I never got to religiously using it more than once a week though I intended to do so with my subsequent jars if it was readily available. I realized I didn't need to. I however apply to my edges and nape as often times as I can in a week.

Dislikes:

1. Very expensive: This may depend on each individual but this product is surely one to be classified as expensive especially here in Ghana for the average woman. But since I use this product more than 3 months, it is as worth it as the many bottles of regular and deep conditioners or oils I buy and use within the same 3 months.

2. No seal: I was disappointed that a product that expensive didn't come sealed or in a great-looking jar and label. Hmmmmm....I was worried about it being a fake. But soon, after making lots of enquiries and contacts in efforts to bring it to Ghana, both for personal use and for sale; I was happy to find that this product is not sold in shops or online. Only through  a few agents in a few countries so it might be difficult to slip in fakes. 

3. Scarcity: The biggest challenge is that though it is now available in Ghana for GHC 70, it is not as readily available as one would love it to be. The product has still not been officially launched in Ghana such that agents can be found easily. I currently know of only one agent in UK, who sends to Ghana to be sold through mini agents such as myself. Yes, though it is scarce, I am one of the people in Ghana from whom you can buy T444Z Hair Food. The awesomeness of this product......it was really hard to refuse the offer to be a mini agent. 

So the BIG question: Would I buy this product again?

ABSOLUTELY!! I would buy this product again and again and again. Indeed, I have established as many contacts as possible with agents in most of the countries where it is sold. This is the product I would say helped me get optimum hair growth in the first few months of my hair journey and 8 months forward, I still love the results I'm getting. My hair has definitely grown a lot from neck length; past shoulder length, feels stronger and healthier; and is much thicker than before. 

Call or whatsapp 020 1979795 for more details. Happy T444Z Hair I am.

Which hair product is the most expensive staple in your stash?

Cheers,

Star.