Review Yo Mada: Ettenio Moisture Infusion Deep Penetrating Conditioner Review

Protective Style: Inspired by Itsknotsoeasy

Four styles on Mini Twists

Braided Mohawk inspired by TheChicNatural

If y'all are not familiar with TheChicNatural, oh my you're missing out. About two weeks ago my friend and I were looking for a protective style for her to wear to school. We started box braids but those weren't going so well. Then I remembered seeing a style by TheChicNatural that I thought would compliment her so well.

No Longer Hidden: Alopecia Monocularis

I really started to notice that I had less hair on the right side of my head in high school during 2nd form/8th grade. I thought that I was seeing double or my eyes were merely fooling me. It wasn't until 5th form/11th grade that I saw that I was almost completely bald on that side. It made me very insecure and I felt that everyone was always staring at my bald spot (imaginary audience). I did some research and gathered that this was called Alopecia areata Monocularis. Which is baldness in only spot of the head. It was when I started my hair journey in November 2010 that I visited many forums so as to find remedies for it. I've done:

• Garlic rinses for the area
• Rubbing the area with garlic
• Massaging area with castor oil
• Olive oil infused with rosemary leaves
• Tea tree and Lavender essential oil massages

 The garlic rinses didn't do much for my alopecia nor my hair and it had become a pain to my regime. Rubbing my scalp with the garlic required me to wash my hair frequently and that wasn't working too well. Castor oil seems to make my hair shed more and so I stopped using it on my scalp. The olive oil with rosemary leaves wasn't too bad but yielded very little results. I went on to a website and started reading up about EOs. Tea tree and lavender oil were recommended for hair loss and other ailments and I found a combined blend by Now Solutions. I started using coconut oil and a few drops of the above mentioned essential oil (EO) and that was when I started to see results. When I first started using it, I irritated my scalp as I didn't dilute the EO properly. Over time I narrowed it done to 7 drops of EO to 2oz of coconut oil. I oil and massage my entire scalp with this mix; however, do a thorough massage on the alopecia area. There is a type of tingly cool feeling when I apply this and massage the area. I also add the essential oil to diluted shampoo so as to properly clean my scalp as the essential is anti-bacterial. The first picture in the image above is not the beginning of my alopecia; I had a picture where that section only had a little speck of hair and it was "very bald". But I lost that image. My alopecia is inherited but my tight pony tails and relaxer burns on the area were contributory. I try to avoid putting a lot of tension on this area whenever I do flat twists I do not use a rubber band to hold the flat twist at that area. That is where the halo came into play; it was my way to mask my bald area. I have a longer way to go but here's my alopecia story.

Now Solutions 100% Pure and Natural Lavender and Tree Tea
Benefits: renewing, cleansing and stimulating
Mixes well with: lavender oil, eucalyptus oil, rose absolute oil
Extraction Method: steam distilled from leaves and flowering tops

Feature: Then and Now my Cuz's journey

This is my cousin's hair and she's been on her journey for almost two years. When I first started learning about this whole hair care thing she was the one who was in total support of me going natural. 














Her regime is as followed:

• She washes her hair once every three weeks; alternating between Carol Daughters and Doo Gro products.
•  Once every two months she comes to my house for styling and a trim/dusting. 
• She moisturizes and seals almost every night for she's in the sun very often. 
• She wears mostly twists, buns and hats to protect her hair
• I use castor oil on her edges and my shea butter mix for styling and sealing in moisture

Challenge Time: No Length Checks Until September 2013

Sidenote: Being on my hair journey for over 2 years I've created a challenge for myself; and I've been doing it for over a year now. Prior to this everything revolved around my hair and I was impatiently waiting for the day I'd have long hair. Pulling at my strands to see how far they had grown, as such I challenged myself to not check my hair for xyz time. So I've decided to share and invite others to participate. My previous length check shows my length retention after my challenge. I've decided to do official length checks twice a year because I have a better illustration of the length gained and retained.

I've started this group because I know from experience the anxiety and disappointment that I went through by frequently tracking and checking my hair length. So..

I will not be implementing a lot of strict rules other than 1 LC over the period of this challenge.

The challenge will begin July 23, 2013 and ends September 17, 2013

This will be a 8 week challenge

Rules are as followed:

• Stay Hydrated
• Massage scalp to encourage blood flow
• Take vitamins
• Low Manipulation
• Maximum of 2 heat passes  
• Protective styling (optional)

Whenever you start feeling frustrated or that temptation to check:

Read a book

Call a friend

Write a blog

Cook some food :)

Find something to occupy your time so that you wont do so.

Additionally, if you're on hairlista you can join the challenge using the following link

http://www.hairlista.com/group/no-length-check-until-november?xg_source=activity

Also I've decided to start a google page for the posting of starting pictures and after completion.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/106888882845343832050?cfem=1