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Good morning. I hope you all had a wonderful mother's day.

I took out my braids on Friday, and then did a quick wash, DC and airdried in African threading as per usual. Had a ton of shedding, but it may be due to skipping a washday last week. My ends still look good and are very blunt. I do have a hairline issue from when my baby nephew snatched my wig and pulled out hair. Anyway, Time to baby the hair, and also enquire, will V-part wigs hurt the hairline?
 
I've decided to get some knotless braids..I might add some body wave boho pieces..I have to decide ASAP.

Last appointment she has is on Friday, until mid June.. so I went head and booked it.

I haven't had individual braids (with extensions) since 2020.

Excited to see how they turnout.

I'll do my full wash day and Blowout early Friday morning. My appointment is a late afternoon one.
 
Had a slight misstep with a product. My hair had been feeling dry for the past week or so and my styling products weren't working as well either. My regimen has been the same so I knew it was a product.

The previous leave- in I had been using ran out so I switched to one I had used a few times before but never consistently. The product is labeled as a detangling leave- in but after my review of the ingredients and instructions, it's actually a "moisturizing" heat protectant. So it was added a tiny bit of moisture but not enough to combat Midwest spring humidity.

I will be able to finish the item, I just added in another moisturizer to keep my hair hydrated. So far so good.
 
I have update photos today from my last update in March.

Right now I am sitting with protein conditioner in and chunky twists while it does it's thing. I'll let it sit for a few hours before rinsing, shampooing and moisture DC/steam.

Pictures tell a story that I definitely did not notice. I have some areas (in the back) that have made it to almost 6 inches. Yay•°

20250516_101331.jpg20250516_101441.jpg
 
i think I need to tweak my routine a little. Ever since I got my moisture DC at the beginning of the year, I’ve been using my protein DC less frequently -I used to mix a little of the protein DC with my regular conditioner every week. Lately I’ve been noticing a small broken piece of hair here and there when I take down my spin pin buns at night.

Either my spin pins have started breaking my hair or my hair just needs more protein. I’m going to go back to adding in my protein DC with my regular conditioner and see if that makes things better.

It’s not a strong protein so I’m going back to what was working before.
 
Braids took 8 hours yesterday..

I do not know how I made it home bc I left that salon suite at almost 1230am..TIRED.

They (the 2 ladies on my head) did a great job, but took breaks. I'm not mad at them for that.

My appointment was supposed to start at 4:30pm.. Braider number 1 began at 5:15pm.. :/

The shop had 6 braiders ..and the evening appointment = myself and 2 other clients in the salon suite. All the braiders spoke French..and only interacted with customers when spoken to.. otherwise they were loudly talking amongst themselves lol.

I'm vocal about expectations (everywhere lol) so I spoke up the times when I felt one of the braiders was being rough/ heavy handed.

I Left my edges out.

My hair was fully detangled and stretched before I went to my appointment so parting etc was a breeze.

They used a braiding gel that has zero alcohol. I called the owner in advance to confirm the braiding gel brand they use to make sure it was on my list of hair friendly braiding gels. It was.
They use- PureO Natural Neatbraid Conditioning Shining Hair Gel


I had to tell one of the ladies how to properly use a comb (vs snatching through my head).. and she took my concern seriously and switched to combing tip to root.

I ended up using close to 2 packs of 20 inch Burmese double drawn loose body wave hair which I ordered from ygwigs for the loose "boho" pieces.

zero tension/ zero pain

Here is how I'm wearing them while at home. They fall to my waist.
20250517_122817.jpg
20250517_122620.jpg
 
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getting my island twists done on Friday!
I'm glad to get my braids done before June. It'll only take 3 hours. I'm using my leftover mousse and braid spray that I already have.

I got a good trim 2 weeks ago when I got my silk press

I also will be using JBCO to oil my scalp and I'll wash my hair biweekly
 
I started 2 new batches of infused oil on Saturday afternoon. This time, I made 2 batches so I can share with my Mom. Each jar should yield 6-7oz of oil.

I ended up giving My Mom 2oz of my current hair oil and she loved it.

The plan is to let them sit for 6 weeks (shaking daily) before straining and moving them to 2 oz nozzle bottles (and also adding castor oil, black seed oil and various EOs which I love).

After being influenced in this thread :) , I decided to add some coffee to each jar- *not much since I've never experimented with coffee in a hair mix.

I also went ahead and purchased the burdock root and included it to the oil.

Ingredients in each jar-

□ Carrier oil- MCT oil
□ 1/4 cup fenugreek seeds
□ 1/4 cup Burdock root
□ 1 teaspoon pure vitamin e oil
□ 20 drops lavendar EO
□ Half a spoon arabica coffee (trying this is May 2025 mix)

20250519_083515.jpg
 
Rocky91 said:
@yaya24 wonderful growth! The braids look pretty. Every time you post a pic, I admire your brows! They have such a lovely shape.
Click to expand...

Thank you :heart3:

I got my eyebrows microbladed Fall of 2023. Best decision ever. I wake up with them "done"

There is a thread on the forum where I shared my journey. My lady did a great job.
I was willing to fly to someone in Houston, but a lady in DFW reached out to me on social media said she would love to do my brows (for FREE) so I could basically be a walking billboard for her. I liked her work from her IG and agreed. *I still tipped her because I just couldn't imagine working without pay.

She was smart :yep:- I have sent her so many women through social media and in real life.

Here are some highlights from the Microblading thread (I tracked my journey in there)-

Day 0/1 (9/9/2023)

Day 19 post touchup (11/16/2023) compared to the before microblading -
 
@yaya24 You have spoilt us with pics today! You know I'm here for it though :biggrin:

Your hair growth in such a short time is awesome, keep at it, you're definitely doing something right!

Your braids look so pretty, they look versatile, you'll be able to do a lot of cute styles with them

Ah, the oils :) You've just reminded me to go give mine a little shake. The ingredients you've used sound like a great combination, I really hope that the coffee works out for you. I would have probably only added it to one of them just in case, but I'm very cautious, I don't want any setbacks.

My oils will have been infusing for about 4 weeks now. I'm planning on leaving them for 6 weeks in total, I'm also considering diluting some with more oils, probably sunflower and grapeseed as I've used mostly avocado oil. The papaya seed oil is too expensive to use as a prepoo, but they are my favourite oils for my hair.

I only plan on prepooing with them not to use them in my scalp/hair outside of wash day. I think the oils will be potent lol. I have rosemary, cloves, avocado oil, grapeseed oil and sunflower oils with vitamin e oil in one, the other is the same except I've added mint to it as well. I'm going to send a little bottle to my friend, that wants to try it out for her edges though. One jar is about 10.5 oz and the other maybe about 13oz.

Now for those beautiful brows..... I love them! I wanted to try micro blading at some point when it was quite new, then I completely forgot about it. You've inspired me to look into it again. How often to do get it done?
 
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Thank you ♡
I'm glad you enjoy the pics. I have so many in my phone bc I am tracking this journey for real! Shaving my head was so surreal & I'm on this journey back to inches while in my 40s.

ETA
* I cannot believe I joined LHCF when I was 24 (why I have 24 in my username) and I'll be 41 in the Fall. My Mom has thinning in her crown that started in her 50s & I'm trying to ward that off.

My oil is only for my scalp. I just use a small amount of plain castor oil to seal (I do love avocado oil now that you mentioned it).

I've luckily been able to skip any pre-oiling before shampooing with the current shampoo I'm using. I'm trying soooo hard not to relapse as a product junkie lol. Its been over 10 yrs since I gave away/ tossed a bunch of things and during my 3 years of having microlocs (before I shaved my head), I truly realized that less is more.

My protein kind of doubles up as a treatment and pre-shampoo. I'm grateful for the suggestion of Komaza Protein- in the pretein thread. It's a wonderful product.

Thankfully I haven't had to touch up my brows.

During the initial microblade process I had 1 touchup at the 6 week mark (which is part of the process) and that was it.

It'll be 2 years in September. Both of my younger sisters had theirs done before me and for them 2 years it was time to retouch. I'm hopeful I can go to 3 years. I do fill them in when I wear makeup just for some extra razzle dazzle.

You should totally get them done if you are on the fence. Find someone really good and come with pictures of your desired look/ how you like to normally have your brows :) .. and be vocal during the mapping/ mark-up process. Thats the part that takes the longest.

Angel of the North said:
@yaya24 You have spoilt us with pics today! You know I'm here for it though :biggrin:

Your hair growth in such a short time is awesome, keep at it, you're definitely doing something right!

Your braids look so pretty, they look versatile, you'll be able to do a lot of cute styles with them

Ah, the oils :) You've just reminded me to go give mine a little shake. The ingredients you've used sound like a great combination, I really hope that the coffee works out for you. I would have probably only added it to one of them just in case, but I'm very cautious, I don't want any setbacks.

My oils will have been infusing for about 4 weeks now. I'm planning on leaving them for 6 weeks in total, I'm also considering diluting some with more oils, probably sunflower and grapeseed as I've used mostly avocado oil. The papaya seed oil is too expensive to use as a prepoo, but they are my favourite oils for my hair.

I only plan on prepooing with them not to use them in my scalp/hair outside of wash day. I think the oils will be potent lol. I have rosemary, cloves, avocado oil, grapeseed oil and sunflower oils with vitamin e oil in one, the other is the same except I've added mint to it as well. I'm going to send a little bottle to my friend, that wants to try it out for her edges though. One jar is about 10.5 oz and the other maybe about 13oz.

Now for those beautiful brows..... I love them! I wanted to try micro blading at some point when it was quite new, then I completely forgot about it. You've inspired me to look into it again. How often to do get it done?
Click to expand...
 
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yaya24 said:
Thank you ♡
I'm glad you enjoy the pics. I have so many in my phone bc I am tracking this journey for real! Shaving my head was so surreal & I'm on this journey back to inches lol.

My oil is only for my scalp. I just use a small amount of plain castor oil to seal (I do love avocado oil now that you mentioned it).

I've luckily been able to skip any pre-oiling before shampooing with the current shampoo I'm using. I'm trying soooo hard not to relapse as a product junkie lol. Its been over 10 yrs since I gave away/ tossed a bunch of things and during my 3 years of having microlocs (before I shaved my head), I truly realized that less is more.

My protein kind of doubles up as a treatment and pre-shampoo. I'm grateful for the suggestion of Komaza Protein- in the pretein thread. It's a wonderful product.

Thankfully I haven't had to touch up my brows.

During the initial microblade process I had 1 touchup at the 6 week mark (which is part of the process) and that was it.

It'll be 2 years in September. Both of my younger sisters had theirs done before me and for them 2 years it was time to retouch. I'm hopeful I can go to 3 years. I do fill them in when I wear makeup just for some extra razzle dazzle.

You should totally get them done if you are on the fence. Find someone really good and come with pictures of your desired look/ how you like to normally have your brows :) .. and be vocal during the mapping/ mark-up process. Thats the part that takes the longest.
Click to expand...
I totally agree that less is more when it comes to haircare. I'm basically trying to create a new regimen that incorporates all of the processes my hair likes. In honesty most of it is not necessary, before my last trim, my hair was around WL, I didn't even realise as I literally washed and DC anything between once a week to once every 3 weeks, depending on how I felt.

I only intend to add steps that I know will be beneficial, I don't intend to do all of them every week An example, I really like how my hair is after a HOT, I only intend to do that once a month. I don't have much need for regular protein, so a balancing DC or a protein cowash is enough and probably not necessary more than once a month.

My weekly regimen will be built on a 4 or 5 week rotation, that way I can add all the things I like, that I enjoy and that will add to my hair's health and condition, also enhancing my journey this time around.

The oils may be helping with your growth, unfortunately, my scalp doesn't like anything on it like that, I can just about get away with my braid spray touching it, that's mainly distilled water and aloe vera juice with a little grapeseed oil.

Avocado oil is amazing! I love it, but I also love the grapeseed oil, the papaya seed oil and the sunflower oil. I spent a lot of time and money using many oils and butters to figure out what ones worked the best for me and those 4 are the ones. If I had to pick 2, it would be grapeseed and avocado.

I will definitely look into the micro blading, 2-3 years is a long time and definitely makes it worth it. I get my brows threaded, I've ruined them from the few occasions I waxed them. My left brow is not as full as the right but they have both grown hairs at the bottom, where hair never grew before. That's annoying! I need to find someone good, I'm not looking for scare brows :laugh:
 
This batch of clove/fenugreek water has lasted 7 weeks.
I have a few days left in my 4oz spray bottle.

I'll start a new batch now for this weekend...adding burdock root to this batch.
I'll let it sit and soak for 24-48 hrs


yaya24 said:
I made a new batch of clove water.
This time I also added fenugreek seeds and let them all sit and soak for 24 hours before draining and adding to a spray bottle, then mixing in EOs and some MSM powder.

Lets see how this goes.
Click to expand...
 
I’m getting bored with my buns. And I’m starting to see a few broken hairs when I take them down. I think maybe my spin pins are getting old and the two spirals are starting to spread apart. I wonder if that causes them to damage the hair. I’m going to try a new set of spin pins and see if the broken hairs stop.

I have a beach trip coming up so I will keep wearing buns until at least the end of June and then I will rethink my hair plans.
 
Tomorrow makes 3 weeks in these braids.

Super easy so far. Trying to decide how I am going to tackle washing my scalp only. I feel like washing the length will result in tangles and annoyances lol.

My new growth is already growing out (as expected)..since I'm still using my DIY scalp sprays and oil. Hopefully I can get a full 8 weeks from these w/o looking too crazy.

I didn't do my 6 big braids last night, so I do have some frizz with the boho pieces today. Thankfully all my plans are inside my house for the day.
I'll be sure to braid them today with some water/ a dash of oil & maybe some mousse.

20250605_110404.jpg
 
I used my Cecred reconstructing mask for the second time. This time I didn’t try to detangle while it was in my hair since it has zero slip. I followed up with my normal Briogeo conditioner. It was fine but I don’t think I’ll repurchase it once I finish this container. I prefer the Briogeo Don’t Despair Repair Mask.
 
I’m still in my extension twist bob style (used human Afro hair). I got round to washing my hair on Saturday after many weeks. I was putting it off because this hair tends to slip a lot when wet. The shampoo was very much needed, and I followed up with a balancing protein con and a moisturising con. I had so much slippage that I had to redo every single twist on my head, but it allowed me to properly layer my leave-in, and oil my ends before retwisting.
 
I’m on an island vacation and spending a ton of time in the ocean and in the pool. My plan to keep wearing spin pins buns fell by the wayside because the buns do not hold up to swimming. Yesterday I put my hair in 2 side ponytails and I noticed a bunch of broken hairs along the part. I have NO idea how this happened. Since I rarely wear my hair parted down the center it could have been like this for some time. Maybe even the spin pins are doing this. I’m sad about this but luckily it won’t show when I wear my hair in its normal styles.

But I do want to figure out how it happened so I can prevent it in the future. This picture isn’t so good but I circled all the area with the broken hairs. If anyone has seen something like this before let me what caused it for you.

IMG_2025-06-26-080944.jpeg
 
GettingKinky said:
...
But I do want to figure out how it happened so I can prevent it in the future.

View attachment 505106
Click to expand...

I had a situation like this, but it was before the hair boards. For me it was due to tight ponytails/ braids and it happened overtime. Definitely not your situation.

Give that section extra TLC.

I hope someone can chime in with some advice and solutions.

Enjoy your island vacation ♡
 
@GettingKinky I'm so sorry to hear and see your breakage, it's an awful experience, especially when you're actively taking good care of your hair. I actually had to look up spin pins to know what you were referring to. Years ago, these were looked at as more protective than hair bands.

I have these, I used to use them regularly for my buns, they never caused any issues for me, that's not to say that they are not what is causing the breakage. When I looked them up, I noticed that the original brand was nowhere to be seen, they all seem like dupes. So I'd expect them to not be the same, or as safe as the original version, at a glance, I didn't think much of the material they were made of.

From the way I remember inserting the spin pins, I'd expect there to be breakage in more than just the area in your pic, or even at the point where the pin stops, which would be more the top of your hair and not the middle.

Is this something that you've just noticed, but that could have occurred some time ago? Do you part your hair down the middle or in quarters to wash, moisturise etc? I only ask this, as it might help you to pinpoint the time the breakage occurred. How you protect your hair at night while sleeping? Do you use bonnet/scarf/silk Pillowcases?

I'd be starting with a process of elimination. Products/ingredients that your hair doesn’t like/new products, tension from braids, heat, detangling, too much moisture/protein. That section of your hair will need an extra dose of TLC while you get it back on track.
 
@Angel of the North
This is something I just noticed, but it could have happened awhile ago. I very rarely wear my hair parted in the middle.

I agree with you I can’t quite figure out how spin pin would cause damage in that section of my my hair. And the ones I have are the original from goody. They are very hard to find now, but I got most of mine a long time ago.

I do split my hair into 4 sections when I condition and detangle. I guess I should pay more attention when I’m doing that. Since I do split it fairly close to the center.
 
End of Feb to now. Post trim.

I didn't get my hair as straight but it's summer and I'm not planning to make this last anyways. I feel like my hair seems more full at the longest lengths but it's hard to tell when it's fluffier.

I'm just glad I made it through the last few months and didn't go bald.
 

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