Today is my 9th month naptural anniversary. It's been 9 months since I big chopped my hair to embrace my natural journey. Within these months I have only experienced two setbacks, this one and the first one at my 6 month. Both times I diverged from my regimen so let it be known that for OPTIMAL hair growth and health - A HEALTHY REGIMEN IS NECESSARY.
Anyway...I did a length check yesterday as I was getting to set my hair up for the protective style. It was the exact same length as my December length check which is NOT good. That doesn't mean that my hair didn't grow. Our hair grows an average of half an inch a month. I had been averaging an inch. So what happened?
Well the regimen. Let's see, for one I didn't make any more Shea butter for that month- which I used faithfully to seal in moisture. Also, it was colder in my region the past month and I was not doing any type of protection against it. I wore no scarves, beanies, or anything else. Although I kept up my weekly regimen, I did not keep up my daily regimen. And because my ends are colored my hair is more porous (it lets in moisture quickly and lets it out quicker), which means I have to work harder to seal in moisture daily! in addition to THAT, I was not oiling my scalp with coconut oil (penetrates the hair shaft and is anti-fungal).
Which in turn irritated my once healing scalp; it became highly sore and more irritated. Now my scalp is tender, patches of red soreness, and just overall uncomfortableness. My scalp was damaged over the years of processing with relaxers - mainly in the middle. And that's really where the irritation is. That is also the part of my hair that is thinner (although I can say that since I've been natural it has thickened up a lot because it was virtually no hair there!). For the most part, it was healing nicely as long as I kept my regimen up. It took me some time to realize what worked and what didn't and not keeping it moisturized definitely DID it!! TO ADD insult to injury, I let my newly natural god sisters borrow my peppermint, rosemary, and tea tree oil which are all ingredients I use in healing my scalp.
SOOOOOOOOOO here I am-
Short an inch AND an itchy scalp. ARRRRRRGH!
So here is the game plan.
1) Protective style - that's already done. I plan to keep the twists in for 2-3 months for low manipulation. Low manipulation allows your hair to be fee from tangling and breaking. ,
2) Spray hair with mix of water and organic Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar.
3) Oil scalp with EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil and EXTRA VIRGIN coconut oil.
4) Apply Shea Butter mix to my scalp for sealing and healing.
Hopefully the marley hair won't irritate my scalp more- that would be a tragedy. So I leave you with one thing: please stick with a regimen that will promote healthy hair growth.
I'm out!
#KinkyCoilyCool
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