Its been a long time...

heyyy!!! so its been a few months since i wrote something on here so i thought i would stop by! its been about 1 yr and 4 months since i cut my hair for the first time, and I believe that I have experienced some truly astonishing growth for my personal hair journey. I have never experienced this much growth RETENTION as i have since i went natural, and i am truly appreciatice of all the the knowledge that i have attained from different resources, whether they be natural hair blogs or websites, YOUTUBE, which is my love, or anywhere else. some of the most informational youtubers i have come across are Kimmaytube, Shidanatural, BlackOnyx77, InnovativeThinking, as well as many, MANY others that I can't think of right now. I am so grateful to them for putting so much information out there for lost puppies like me to find (lol) and to learn from and grow from, and in turn i can go out and teach others what i have learned from them! yay! ok thats all for now.
~Regina
I am, and will forever be, BeautifullyNaturale

PRODUCTS

Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose shampoo and conditioner.... where do I start??? Hmmm....ok well let's start off with the smell. It smells like.....medicine, or something like that. I don't know, but I'm not too fond of the smell. AT ALL. So the Aubrey Organics Shampoo....it is supposed to be moisturizing, and make hair soft. IT DIDN'T for my hair. It left my hair with that "squeaky" feeling that we all HATE!! I thought that the conditioner would possibly counteract this, but it didn't! At all... When I washed the conditioner out, my hair felt hard, and sticky. It was NOT a good experience and I will NOT buy their products again. I don't know what I am going to do with the almost FULL bottles....I would feel bad giving them to someone knowing that I don't like them...I guess I'll just have to throw them away (**sigh**).
However, I have been using this Suave Humectant Conditioner (just a cheap substitute for the Honeysuckle rose) and I LOVE it!!!! It makes my hair feel soooo soft and moisturized after I wash. It makes it very easy to detangle, usually without even a comb! my hair just comes apart on its own! I bought the complimentary shampoo, Suave Humectant Shampoo, and I love that too! It did not leave my hair squeaky at all, so it did not strip my hair of anything except dirt! I know that I was supposed to try Giovanni products next, and I think that I might, but for right now I am loving these Suave products! And they were very inexpensive (maybe $5.00 for the pair total). LOVE! Definitely recommend that everyone try these products. If you don't like them, it's not like you spent an arm and a leg for them, they are only like $2.30 each...DO IT!

New products!! (yes, I'm becoming a junkie!!!)

So yes, I am going to be trying some new products!! BUT, I am not COMPLETELY a junkie because I have already used all of my Honey Hemp Conditioner (OYIN), AND my ORS Replenishing Conditioner, and my Honey Wash (OYIN) is almost gone...so I'm not just building products on top of products, I use one up before I buy another....right?? LOL. So anyway, I am going to try the Aubrey Organic Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner, As well as the OYIN Shine and Define, Whipped Shea Butter (not sure if I'm going to get just one of those or try both), and the Burnt Sugar Pomade. AND I need to replenish my Juices N Berries (I FOUND IT!!!!) So I am very excited to try these products!!! I am also coming up with a line-up (yes already!!) of products that I want to try after AO, in case I don't like it as much as I hope. After AO, I am going to try the Giovanni products, and if I don't like those, I am going to try Elasta QP products. I have heard very good things about all of these products, and hopefully they don't cost too much!!! I LOVEE LOVEE LOVEE new products!! But hopefully I don't have to search much further for my "staple" products, because I want something that I can stick to!!!

Oh yeah, I have NOT forgotten that I said last blog that I would post pics of my twists using ShidaNatural's products!! absolutely love her Moisturizing Cream!! It kept my twists sooooooo moisturized and bouncy!! Here they are:

look at those shiny roots!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE HER PRODUCTS!!!! DEFINITELY CHECK THEM OUT ON HER WEBSITE:

http://shidanaturals.webs.com/

5 mos. and counting!!!!!!!!

Hey everyone!! So remember a while ago when I said I was going to try some new products? The Honey Wash, Honey-Hemp Conditioner, and Juices & Berries from the Oyin line?

Well, they are AWESOME! and I mean, a-w-e-s-o-m-e!! The Honey Wash leaves my hair feeling moisturized and clean (no "squeaky clean feeling!). The Honey Hemp condish gives my hair the mosst amazing slip EVER! It's 10x easier to detangle my hair, and it smells great (in my opinion, like pineapple and citrus)! The Juices and Berries spray smells like heaven in a bottle pretty much. Everyone says it smells like skittles, and I have to agree! Its amazing! And it keeps my hair moisturized throughout the day, without making it greasy or weighing it down (expecially when my hair is twisted!) I love these products, and I definitely will be ordering from Oyin again, although not for a while, because a little of their products go a long way! I still have more than half a bottle of the Honey Wash, and about half a bottle of the Honey Hemp condish. The Juices & Berries I left at home (sad face) so I have to get more of that!

Also, I just ordered some products from one of the women I subscribe to on youtube (ShidaNatural). I got her Moisturizing Spray and Moisturizing Cream.

Her products are made from olive oil, what can be wrong about that?! haha. I tried her spray on my twists two days ago, and I haven't put anything on them since! My twists are still THAT moisturized. And it smells amazing! I haven't used the moisturizing cream yet, but I plan to use it on my next set of twists instead of shea butter to see what the differences are. Her cream is supposed to be a lighter moisturizer, so I'm excited to use it! I can't wait!

ps.- there has been sooo much growth in my hair! i will do some comparison pics below!

When I first BC'd:

5 MONTHS LATER!!!

FIRST SET OF TWISTS: AUGUST '09

NOW!!!: JANUARY '10

2 mos!!! (progress is a slow process!)

Wow so I have been natural for 2 months as of 10/15! This is amazing, I think that my hair is steadily getting more and more healthy, and I am definitely seeing less breakage in my hair and alot of growth! I just ordered some new products from Oyin Handmade. I've heard alot of good things about them, so I decided to give their Head-To Toe Honey wash, Honey-Hemp Condish, and Juices N' Berries a try! I am so excited for them to get here I can't wait! I hope that they are worth the money cuz that stuff was not exactly cheap! But I definitely feel that they are at least worth a try, and if they don't necessarily work for my hair, I guess thats a way for me to slowly narrow the field and find the right products for me! But I have a good feeling about these!

I definitely need to trim my hair tho. I have not trimmed it since I chopped it off! I know that I should trim it, so the next time I wash it I definitely will!!!!

GROWTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been seeing ALOT of growth since i chopped, i wanna say close to 1.5 inches! this is pretty amazing because its only been about 6ish weeks, and my hair has never grown this fast before! but i guess that's because i have never cared for my hair like this before. i have never EVER been so informed about what i am putting in my hair and what effects it will have on my hair. i am in LOVE. and this seems like it will be a long-lasting relationship!

Are you Jamaican?

LOL. So today I was at Women's Soccer Practice @ OSU, and I was asked by a coach if I was Jamaican. I had my hair in an afro, with a headband around the front, and I believe that this is why he asked me. I'm not offended or anything, I just think it's kinda funny that others feel that my hair makes me look "exotic" or something like that. Because I guess "normal" Black girls don't wear their hair in afros, so I must be from another country.. I mean I guess the dark complexion of my skin plus my natural hair could make some, more "sheltered" people think that I was from another place... Hmmm I wonder what people will ask when my hair gets longer and I do twists or rodsets or something else like that.
While we're on the subject of people thinking I'm from different places, there is this maintenance guy who works in my dorm who asked me pretty much everyday that I was here last year if I was going back to Kenya for whatever break was coming up. I am pretty sure he is African, and he is just dead-set on believing that I'm from Kenya. I have told him soooo many times that I'M FROM CLEVELAND I am not African. But when I got here last week, he asked, "Is this your mom? Is she from Kenya too?" and I was like "We aren't Kenyan sir. My Mom was born in America. We have never even been to Africa." He just doesn't believe me though I guess... Oh well.