The Glamlush Fro of Late - Unexpected Changes

Hi Doves!

Yes another post in the same month! Congrats to me, seems i've managed to squeeze more effort into being a more consistent blogger.  I would love to keep this consistency up, however my life may be switching into the fast lane in a few weeks. But instead of quantity posts, I want to give you guys quality posts which though not as frequent, will definitely be worth the time between posts. I think at the end of the day that's what i'm in this for, disseminating quality information which I think you will find useful, and just want to share.

Anyway onto my hair update. Last we checked in, I was length stalled and committed to taking better care of it. And this I have managed to do for the most part. Some weeks I did lose my care, going on a three week high manipulation stunt *eek*,  but overall I have been doing much better.

Over the past three months I have:

worn a wig;

worn my faux afro pony puff as a go-to low manipulation style for about two to three weeks;

bantu-knot outted my hair to infinity and beyond;

used the strengthening and straightening kit, and then bantu knotted my hair with that as well;

You can check out the rest of the hairstyles I did in this post on African Naturalistas;

worn cornrows with extensions for a week and 4 days (erm it was meant to serve a short term protective purpose);

...and finally gotten a weave after investing in some Peruvian virgin hair which my pocket has definitely felt the weight of. But it is worth the investment.

Before installing the weave, I got a trim. I realised that because of all my manipulation, I have been growing my hair just to trim whatever length I had retained. Didn't take any pics, but i trimmed off about 1.5  to 2 inches round about. I guess it was needed considering how much playing I have been doing with my hair.

I decided to weave my hair whilst I fully contemplate what direction to take with it. The over manipulation and almost daily styling esp with the faux puff made me tired and frustrated with my hair, which I stated in my last post.

 I have actually been considering a  RELAXER...*gasp*  because of my length stall, frustration and the fact that my life will be getting much bussier than ever in the coming months. I'll talk more about that later, but that's all I will comment about it for now. I don't know if I will be able to invest the amount of time that a natural hair wash day, care and styling requires in light of the changes that are about to come. Yes I can protective style and all that, but what about the times I can't get my hair done? I fear I will end up doing  my hair a disservice by rushing over it and causing more damage, than if I were to just relax it and continue with healthy relaxed hair that I will be able to devote proper time to, since it won't require as much from me.

Yes, it's quite shocking, but I have been thinking about it for a while. It took a lot of introspection to realise that I found a lot of my identity in the label of "the girl with the long/great/healthy natural hair."  And that my identity although linked to my hair, is not entirely it. So if I relax, I'll be the girl with the healthy hair.

Also that I am more than just a girl with great hair, it's just a part of the many wonderful aspects that make me ...me. And if I link my identity solely to my hair, then I would be seriously doing myself a disservice and limiting myself  in so many ways.  

I've given myself a month into my new routine to see if a relaxer will be necessary, or it's just frustration demons telling me to take to the straightener. One thing that is guaranteed is that if I do, I'll miss my curls so much! Anyway time will tell what course to take.

And come December, I know I will not be bra strap length....still apl or somewhere near/below it. Which is a bit discouraging, but i'm the one who slacked and made this year yet another of stalled length. So i'm trying to make up for it by protective styling for the rest of the year and using essential oils as much as possible.

I've never really put up this kind of a post before, i'm finding it therapeutic to share it with you guys actually. Even the supposed "hairxperts" stumble and go round and round in circles from time to time. But i'm picking myself up and that's what matters .....to keep moving forward.

Till the next post..

xx 

Bee