Merry Christmas!

I pray that each and every one of you has a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of love, good food, and family!

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Homemade Moisture Mist

In case you guys haven't noticed I have been on a major protective styling binge lately. I'm totally enjoying the ease of rocking mini protective styles during the week and now that I've finally created my own moisture mist to keep my tresses soft and supple I thought I'd share it with y'all! In the past I've always bought moisturizing spritzes and would end disappointed every time with how they would leave my hair feeling or with the price. Y'all know we healthy hair divas can go through a moisturizer in the blink of an eye so with all that being said I tapped into my inner 'Kitchenista' in the words of KLP of SavingOurStrands and created the perfect moisture mist for me! Here's what I did (Understand I don't guestimated all measurements!):

• Purchased a .99 cents spray bottle from Target
• Filled the bottle about 1/4 of the way with Aloe Vera Juice
• Filled the bottle with 1/4 of water
• Add Giovanni Direct Leave In (enough to ensure my mist wasn't too water, but wasn't too thick). 
• Approximately 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• Shake well and spritz until your heart's content! 

This mist has done an excellent job of keeping my hair soft and moisturized while in my mini protective styles and has helped to ease my fear of avoiding hairstyles simply because I wouldn't be able to moisturize and seal. Now with this mist I can do both with just a couple of spritzes! Have you all tapped into your inner 'Kitchenista' lately?

Don't forget to enter the fabulous giveaway that Finally Growing is hosting along with the lovely ladies of Savingourstrands and Relaxed Thairapy! 

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Wash Day!

So after rocking my fabulous twisted bun updo for a week it was time for my hair to be washed. Here's what I did:

• Prepooed with the last bit of my GVP Nexxus Humectress for about 2 hours 
• Rinsed and shampooed with my Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo. You can check out my review here. 
• Rinsed and deep conditioned using my Gold N Hot Conditioning cap with Kenra Moisturizing conditioner on the length of my hair and Macademia Natural Deep Repair Masque on my ends for about 30 minutes. 
• Rinsed and applied my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment for about 2 minutes. 
• Did a final rinse and applied my turbie twist for about 20 minutes. 
• Applied my leave ins using the LCO method (Chi keratin mist, quarter sized amount of my kimmaytube leave in, Macademia Natural healing oil)

Style: Honestly I had the best of intentions to try an infiniti bun inspired by one of Mahogany Curl's youtube tutorials, but between packing to go home for the holidays and last minute Christmas preparations I just didn't have it in me. Instead I decided to go with a chic low bun that I accentuated with a cute side part. Of course I used my kanekalon hair to create this style! Even though time didn't permit me to recreate my infiniti bun I'm totally pleased with what I came up with. It's cute, simple, and best of all low maintenance! 

Want to try out the Macadamia Natural line for yourself? Finally Growing along with the lovely ladies of SavingOurStrands and Relaxed Thairapy are hosting an awesome Giveaway!
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Macademia Natural Oil Giveaway!!!

I am soooo excited to share with you guys that Finally Growing has teamed up with the lovely ladies of SavingOurStrands and Relaxed Thairapy to sponsor a fabulous giveaway if I do say so myself! I'm even more excited about this giveaway because this is Finally Growing's very first one! This is just a way to show you guys how much I love and totally appreciate your support. There will be a total of 3 winners! Now let's get into the prizes! Each sample pack includes the following:

• Deep Repair Masque (0.5 oz.)- An instant hair reconstructor that penetrates and rebuilds stressed, damaged hair for improved health. shine and elasticity without weighing hair down.  It leaves weak and damaged hair silky, conditioned and full of movement and bounce.
• Healing Oil Treatment (.34 oz.) - Lightweight and instantly absorbs into hair.  It provides intense nourishment, eliminates frizz, reduces blow drying time and extends the life of color treatments.
• Rejuvinating Shampoo (.34 oz.) - Ideal for dry, damaged hair this shampoo gently cleanses while replenishing moisture and protecting hair from the elements.

Now that you know what the prizes are what are you waiting for? Go ahead and enter now!

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Product Review: Macademia Natural Oil Healing OIl & Deep Repair Masque !

Price: $2.99 0.34 Oz (Healing Oil). $20.69 8.5 Oz (Repair Masque)

Place of Purchase: Amazon.com

Ingredients: 

Healing Oil: Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Tocopheryl Acetate, Macadamia Temifolia Seed Oil, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Parfum/Fragrance, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexylcinnamal, Butylphenyl Methypropional, Coumarin, Linalool, Limonene

Repair Masque: Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Cetyl Palmitate, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone, Trideceth-12, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Sodium PCA, Dimethicone, Triethanolamine, Citric Acid, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Benzoic Acid, Chlorphenesin, Sorbic Acid, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional , Citronellol, Limonene, Yellow 6 (CI 15985), Yellow 5 (CI 19140), CI14720, Fragrance (Parfum).

Promises: 

Healing Oil: The Healing Oil Treatment is instantly absorbed, weightlessly infusing the hair with moisture and nutrients for silky smooth, healthy looking hair while providing natural UV protection from photo and sun damage. Dry, brittle hair is miraculously rejuvenated with increased shine and control and drying time is reduced by an amazing 40-50%

Repair Masque:  A combination of macadamia oil and argon oil along with tea tree oil, chamomile oil, aloe and algae extracts rejuvenate and rebuild the hair, leaving the hair deeply nourished for improved elasticity and shine with long-lasting conditioning benefits.


My Thoughts: 

Healing Oil: I wasn't really sure what to expect from the healing oil because in the past I either really love or really hate a serum, but have found very few that have been totally awesome for my hair. I've been using this healing oil to both style my hair and as apart of the LCO method during my weekly wash days. So far I have to say that I am LOVING this stuff! It isn't heavy and absorbs into my hair easily and to make it even better a little bit goes a long way so it's long lasting. I've probably used my 0.34 Oz bottle at least 6 times and I haven't even used 1/4 of the bottle! Lately I've noticed that when sitting under my hooded dryer on a low heat setting my hair dries in about 25 minutes, which it has never done. I didn't realize until I started working on this post that this product actually promises to reduce drying time by 40-50% and that is a promise that this product has definitely kept! Somehow this tiny bottle of amazingness has worked it's way into becoming a staple in my regimen!

Repair Masque: I've used this product 3 different ways. The first time I used it by itself. The second time I used it mixed with a bit of olive oil and the third time I used it just on my ends. After trying it 3 different ways I've realized that the way I love to use it the most is on my ends for an added bit of strength. The first thing that I noticed about this product is that it is REALLY thick and a bit hard to work into your hair, however after applying heat it sinks right in. I've noticed since using this conditioner my hair seems to retain moisture longer. I even managed to get away with skipping my midweek cowash this week! Overall I've been really pleased with this product and would be willing to buy it again (on sale...as it normally retails for about $30 a jar :/). This is a nice light protein conditioner to have around and will definitely be in rotation in between my monthly egg protein treatments! 


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Second Day Hair (Flexi Rod Set)

So my hair is finally long enough to make preserving my flexi rod sets easy! I used the pineapple method to maintain my curls and tucked everything under a satin bonnet. The next morning I was heading out to finish my Christmas shopping (yay for being done early!) and decided to pull my curls up. I ended up creating a big curly puff that sort of resembled a bun. I absolutely loved the look and the best part was that it was off of my clothing! The only products I used that morning were about a quarter size amount of my Giovanni Direct Leave In and a touch of coconut oil.

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15 Minute Flexi Rod Set!

Have you ever had somewhere to go and wanted a different hairstyle besides the traditional bun? Well that was definitely me on Friday! I had an Ugly Christmas Sweater party to attend and had been toying with different hairstyles all day. Finally I decided to do a flexi rod set on dry hair. Now with only 3 hours to spare between styling my hair and having to be at the party I was a bit nervous because well it kinda takes all of the fun out of a party when you HATE your hair! Here's what I did...

• I parted my hair using a comb and then sectioned my hair into four sections using my FINGERS (this is important because it allows you to style your flexi rod set with less manipulation, which means less frizz!)
• I then spritzed my section of hair with a mixture of water and aloe vera juice. I used just enough to get my hair slightly damp.
• Dusted off and applied approximately 1 pump of my lotta body foaming wrap lotion (to give my hair a slight hold) for each section.
• Next I rolled my hair using 4 flexi rods per section for a total of 16 rods.
• After this I sat under my hooded dryer for about 25 minutes to help my hair to set and to remove any dampness that may have remained. 

That's all I did! After sitting under the dryer I left the flexi rods in until about 40 minutes before it was time for me to head out the door. I gently removed each flexi rod and then using a bit of my Macadamia  Natural Healing oil separated my curls. Here's what my curls looked like before I began separating them.

I was quite impressed with how nice my set turned out considering I left the rollers in for about 2.5 hours max! I spritzed just a bit of my Mizani Humidity Resistant Mist to help give my hair an extra bit of hold in the elements and was out the door. Over all I was totally pleased with my results even though one small section didn't curl the way I wanted it too. I'm you guys see that one loose curl lurking around in the pictures, but for a 15 minute flexi rod set I wasn't mad one bit! 

Of course I had to include a few pictures from the Ugly Christmas Sweater party! And yes Rudolph's nose lights up! 

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Hair Porosity Test

Many of those in the hair world have heard about the Hair Porosity test as well as what Low Porosity vs High Porosity means for your hair. I'll admit that while I have heard a lot about porosity I personally did not know what it means for my head of hair! While enjoying a lazy post Thanksgiving Saturday and doing a little reading on BlackHairMedia.com I was inspired to give the hair porosity test a try!

How do I Perform the Low Porosity Test? I went into my kitchen to grab a small glass and filled it with tap water. After running my fingers through my hair I found about 3 shed hairs, which i dropped into the water and then set my timer for 3 minutes. After the 3 minutes were up I looked into the glass to see that my hair was still floating at the top, which means that I have low porosity hair.

What does having Low Porosity hair mean? Basically it means that my hair is resistant to moisture...there's a shocker! Ultimately because I 'suffer' from low porosity hair many products may 'sit' on my hair instead of absorbing into my hair. From various articles and forums I've noticed a trend that hot oil treatments, DCing with heat, and use moisturizing products and/or humectants. Some also recommend minimal protein treatments.

Will this information effect my regimen? The short answer to that question is not really. Most of the information and tips that I've read about low porosity hair I've actually already learned throughout my hair journey! Knowing this earlier in my hair journey probably would've reduced the dry hair struggles I went through. However now I deep condition regularly and normally throw in a mid week cowash because my hair tends to be on the dryer side and doesn't hold moisture quite as long. I've also found my holy grail moisturizer that keeps my hair soft and supple (Giovanni Direct Leave In). The one thing that I did learn is that Roux Porosity Control isn't really a product that's made for my hair as it is intended for high porosity hair, which would explain why I've never noticed a true difference in my hair since using the bottle that I have at home. Even though minimal protein treatments are recommended by some I will continue my 1x/month protein treatments because I firmly believe that all hair needs protein as some point and too much of anything include moisture can be bad!
    

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Wash Day & A Top Knot Bun!

Today's wash day was quite long simply because the weather sucked and I was in no rush! I'm sure y'all will also notice some random products coming out of the wood works and the reason is because I'm tired of products that I don't care for taking up space in my stash so I'm on a mission to 'use em up!' Here's what I did...

• Prepooed with my VO5 moisture milks conditioner mixed with Hemp Seed Oil on the length of my hair and my tropical isle red pimento oil on my scalp for about an hour. 
• Rinsed and then shampooed with my Shea Moisture  Raw Shea Butter Retention Shampoo.
• Deep conditioned under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap with Macadamia Natural Deep Repair Masque mixed with a bit of olive oil and tea tree oil for about 30 minutes. 
• Rinsed and applied my Jazzing clear rinse. I sat under my heating cap for another 20 minutes or so. 
• Rinsed and applied a bit of my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. 
• Did a final rinse and wrapped my hair in my turbie twist for about 20 minutes. 
• Applied my leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist on the lower half of my hair, Kimmaytube leave in, Macadamia natural healing oil) using the LCO method.
• Sat under my hooded dryer for about 25 minutes.
• Moisturized and sealed using my beloved Giovanni Direct Leave In, coconut oil, and JBCO on my ends. 

Style: After rocking a bun with my own hair and then a lovely flexi rod set for a few days I opted to create a top knot bun using kanekalon hair. I plan to rock this style until my midweek cowash (unless I see fit to skip although I doubt it) and will redo it then. As for moisturizing and sealing I will make a moisture mist using a bit of aloe vera juice mixed with water, my giovanni direct leave in, and coconut oil. Basically my daily product in the form of a sprtiz to keep my tresses moisturized. The great thing about this style is 1) Super quick in the morning 2) Ultimate protection for my ends, which means length retention!  

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Wash Day!

I thoroughly enjoyed rocking my hair out this past week, but it was definitely time for a good ol washing! Here's what I did:

1. Mixed an egg with grapeseed oil and some of my GVP moisturizing conditioner and applied to the length of hair. 
2. I left my homemade protein treatment on for about 15 minutes and then rinsed with cool water. 
3. Next I cleansed my scalp with my Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo
4. Wrapped my hair in a towel for about 20 minutes to absorb the excess water
5. Deep conditioned with the Macademia Natural Deep Repair Masque (*Newbie Alert*) for 20 minutes under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap.
6. Rinsed and applied a bit of the Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. 
7. Rinsed and wrapped my hair in my turbie twist for about 30 minutes
8. Applied my leave ins using the LCO method (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube Leave in mix, Macademia Natural Healing oil). 
9. Sat under my dryer on a low cool setting for about 30 minutes.

Results: Incredibly soft, fluffy, shiny hair! My hair felt AMAZING! In fact it felt so good that I almost skipped moisturizing and sealing, but I know better so I didn't. Overall this is the most successful wash day I've had in a while. Let's hope I can get these type of results consistently! Here are some pictures of my hair with nothing except my leave ins. 

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November Goals Recap & December Goals!

Hi guys! Can you believe it's already December...where did the year go?! Well it's time to recap my November Goals so let's see how I did!

1. Massage JBCO mixed with grapeseed oil into my scalp every 1-2 days. Done!

2.  Successfully remove my braid install. Done! 

3. Do an egg protein treatment. Didn't do, but I'm actually planning on doing one today so it'll be a December goal!

4. Complete my Jillian Michael's 30 day shred program. This was by far my hardest goal, but I did it!!!

5. Lose 5 lbs. I'm not quite sure where I stand with this seeing as though Thanksgiving just passed and I REALLY enjoyed myself, but what I do know is that I'm back on track and excited to get back to my healthy lifestyle! 

Overall I managed to successfully achieve 3/5 goals and I am super proud of myself for doing so! Now onto my December goals:

DECEMBER GOALS:

1. Do an egg protein treatment
2. Exercise at least 5 days a week leading up to Christmas. (I want to be in tip top shape for my trip home!).
3. Try the Inversion Method for a week. After reading tons of information on this I've decided to give it a try. I'm interested to see what my results will be!
4. Finish my Christmas shopping by December 14th. I'm about halfway there!
5. Apply JBCO to my edges daily. They are a bit sparse from my braid install, but I'm determined to help them make a full comeback! 
6. Use up at least 1 hair product!

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Thanksgiving Day Hair!

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First of all I want to take the time to wish everyone a Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I pray that each and every one of you enjoyed the time that you spent with your family and were able to reflect on all of God's blessings!

On Wednesday I decided to cowash my hair because quite frankly I was over the flat relaxer hair feeling and wanted my hair to have more body!

1. Spritzed my hair with a mixture of aloe vera juice and water and applied my Kenra Moisturizing Conditioner to the length of my hair. 
2. Sat Under my heating cap for about 25 minutes
3. Rinsed and applied my Hair One Cleansing Conditioner to my scalp for about 2 minutes
4. Rinsed and wrapped my hair in my turbie twist for about 20 minutes
5. Applied my leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube Leave in, Macademia Healing Oil *Newbie Alert*) and sat under my hooded dryer for about 30 minutes.
6. Moisturized with my beloved Giovanni Direct Leave in and sealed my hair with coconut oil and my ends with my JBCO. 

On Thanksgiving Day I decided to do a Caruso Steam Pin Curl set. What is that you ask? Well to put it simply I used my Caruso Steam rollers to curl my hair and then pin curled my hair to allow the curls to set. 

So far I'm absolutely loving this newly discovered way to curl my hair. The best part is I can either take the curls down and lightly finger comb or leave them in overnight! This is a great alternative to the normal way of pin curling for those who struggle with it like me!

Here's a picture of my Thanksgiving Day Outfit.

I'm a huge Black Friday shopper so in order to prepare for the cold weather I put my satin bonnet and cute black winter cap on my head. My curls lasted all day. I'm in love! 

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Relaxer Update #7 + A Giveaway!

Hi lovelies! On Saturday I went to the salon to get my hair professionally relaxed at 12 weeks post. I absolutely love the results and it feels great to have my hair back! Check out the video below....and I'm hosting a small giveaway on my youtube channel! Enjoy :)

Here are a few pictures of my relaxer results!

Liebster Award!

I am so excited to have been nominated by the lovely Abbi N of Below The Waist for the Liebster Award! I've been wanting to this award/slash tag for quite some time so to finally be nominated totally made my day!

I'll go ahead and start with the 11 interesting facts about myself...Warning: I'm not sure how interesting they are, but hey I tried!

1. I LOVE cheese...like the way Steve Urkel loves cheese...yea
2. I took dance classes (Jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop, etc) for over 8 years and yet I'm still lacking in the rhythem department :/
3. Christmas is absolutely my favorite holiday ever! I even start listening to Christmas music on November 1st and watch all of the cheesy Lifetime Christmas movies.
4. Dogs are my favorite animal. I even have a Chilhuahua Daschound mix named Mango. She's such a sweetie :)
5. I've been an exchange student in Cuernavaca, Mexico and had the opportunity to do research on the Bearing Glacier in Alaska.
6. When I was in middle school I ran into the glass door at my best friends house. I completely shattered the door and still have the scars from stitches to prove it!
7. I'm an only child and so is my mom.
8. My dad is the baby of 14...probably why he only had 1 child!
9. I'm rather short...as in 5'1" short
10. Almost 2 years ago I lost 30 lbs and have kept it off *whoot whoot!*
11. I LOVE football both College and Professional. My favorite team ever is my beloved New Orleans Saints...WHO DAT!

Next Up is the Question and Answer Section:

1. What's your goal (length or otherwise) for your hair?
    MBL (Mid Back Length)! *Insert dreamy sigh*

2. What do you love most about your hair?

    I love my natural hair color. It looks darn brown until the sun hits it and then you can
    see the lighter brownish red color.

3. What's your favorite deep conditioner?
     I'm actually in between conditioners, but currently my favorite DC is the Silk
     Elements Kera Minerals DC.

4. What's your hairstyle at this very moment?
    Senegalese twists!

5. What's #1 on your bucket list?
    Hmmmm....to meet Jennifer Hudson!

6. How many blogs do you follow?
    50+. What can I say...I love reading about hair, beauty, and cooking!

7. What's on your Christmas wishlist?
     The 1 thing that I really want is a Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor!

8. How will you spend this Christmas?

    With my family and close friends eating Gumbo and tons of seafood!

9. Name an interest besides blogging.
    I'm kind of obsessed with youtube. I watch youtube videos more than I watch actual tv!

10. One place (country or city) you'd like to visit.
      Fiji

11. Have you ever been to Jamaica? Would you like to go? (I know that's 2, sue me lol)     No and heck yes! Hopefully I'll be going within the next couple of years.

I'd like to nominate:

Sharday of The Awkward Stage
Sdestra
Ebony C Princess of Longing4Length
Kim of FancyFlairLady

The Rules: 

• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you 
• Paste the award on your blog
• Choose 5 blogs to pass this award to (they must have fewer than 200 followers)
• Let the recipients know about their nomination by leaving a comment on their blogs.
• Write 11 interesting facts about you.
• Answer my 11 questions.

My Questions!

1. What's your favorite food?
2. What product can you absolutely NOT live without?
3. What is your #1 favorite deep conditioner?
4. What's your favorite holiday and why?
5. What's your favorite protective style?
6. What's your biggest hair fear?
7. Since all of the lovely ladies that I've nominated are relaxed why have you chosen to remain relaxed?
8. How long did it take you to find your staple moisturizer?
9. What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
10. How do you keep yourself encouraged while on your hair journey?
11. If you could buy one thing at this very moment what would it be?

Cowash Wednesdays!

On Saturday I had a fabulous wash day, but of course due to my workout schedule and this temperamental fall weather we've been having on the east coast it was time to cowash my hair! Not to mention I will be heading to the salon for my relaxer on Saturday (Yay!) so I always try to get in one last wash in order to soften and detangle my new growth. After taking down my lovely 4 day old Goddess Braids protective style here's what I did:

• Finger detangled to remove any shed hairs
• Deep conditioned with Trader Joe's Nourishing Spa conditioner on the length of my hair and Tropical Isle Red Pimento Oil on my scalp for about 35 minutes.
• Rinsed and applied hair one to my scalp and the length of my hair. I let it sit for about 2 minutes. 
• Rinsed and applied a bit of my Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment. 
• Applied my leave ins (Kimmaytube leave in, Chi Keratin Mist for a shot of protein, and about a dime sized amount of the GVP Smoothing Serum) 
• Sat under my dryer for about 25 minutes
• Detangled again to remove any remaining shed hairs 
• Moisturized with my beloved Giovanni Direct Leave In and Sealed with coconut oil on the length of my hair and JBCO on my ends. 

My face showing that I am so over these 12 weeks of new growth! 

Style: I styled my hair in a Faux bun using the Kanekalon braid hair from my goddess braids.  I'm really loving these temporary protective styles as of lately! 

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