Thursday, November 29, 2012

Objects of desire - Santa, pay attention!!

I am having the worst case of holiday brain. And with a case of holiday brain comes a case of seeing things and wanting them BADLY. And one such object of desire I encountered this morning, and then I realised that I have quite a wish list actually. now, Santa, if you're listening, I have been a good girl this year, and I feel I deserve some of these things. Yes, some I'll work out myself how to get, that's how life works. Others I wish would simply appear at my doorstep! Guess I should visualizing intensely and they miht just appear on my doorstep!

Well, let's hop to it. I have two lists - objects of desire for me and my life, and objects of desire for my hair. 

Objects of desire for me and my life:

  • An E-book reader. I am a avid reader, but if I want to read the way I used to, I would be spending pot loads of money at CNA and Bookden and I would barely eat. Now if I got myself a Kindle or another e-book reader, I could have thousands of books at my fingertips at any given time. Santa, take note!!!
  • The entire Platinum range of PlayStation 2 games, as I have lost quite a few due to being robbed and as collateral damage at the end of my last relationship. I would like my game collection to return to the former status quo. 
  • In that same vein, an Xbox 360 and LOADS of games to go with it. If I had my way I would own every console with all my favorite games of each. Right now console wise, the Xbox is my object of desire. 
  • A new digital camera. I have had two cameras stolen from me, so I am praying that nr 3 stays put whenever I get her, and I really pray that I get her soon. 
  • A nice fat shopping voucher to one of my favorite clothing stores - I need a new SUMMER  wardrobe. I have been wearing the same little summer dress for the past 3 or 4 consecutive weekends. A change is as good as a holiday and I need new clothes! 
  • And lastly, a new external hard drive, at least 500gig. I have SO many movies and series stored on my laptop and current hard drives and I want so much more, and I have MANY friends who are willing to share what they have. All I need, is the space. 

Objects of desire for my hair:

  • A hooded drier. I can step up my game regarding deep conditioning and treatments and drying my hair using indirect heat to a whole new level with one of these babies.
  • A hair steamer. After reading on sooooooo many other ladies' blogs of the benefits of a steamer, I can't help but drool at the thought of one. 
  • Other types of rollers - mesh, perm rods, flexi rods. Now that my hair is so much longer than ever before I want to be able to experiment more and be creative, but one needs the correct tools. 
     
  • Pretty 100% silk scarves, and satin bedding. 
   


Well, there you have it folks. As you can see, the second list is short, but that's because I feel that once I perfect my regimen and streamline my product choices that these items will give me a BIG boost. Regarding the first list, I'm already salivating at the thought of any of those items in my hands. 

Anybody been good with lists for Santa?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

So I went swimming...

and it was absolutely awesome! 

I have holiday brain to a huge degree already and lounging in a pool for most of the past Saturday just made it worse. But it was so much fun and I can't wait for the next pool day.

Which brings me to my poor tresses. On Saturday, prior to plunging into the water, I was rocking my first braid out. i didn't come out THAT great, but it looked okay and I got complimented, so I will definitely try it again. Of course, after a few hours of just floating around on the inflatables (and a few Jagers!) I jumped in the pool, fully emerging myself and beautiful braid out all gone. No regrets, the water was too freaking awesome. The next day however...

After our swim I took a shower, washing and conditioning my hair using Tresseme products, honestly, the specific variants I can't remember right now. My hair FELT fine afterwards, so I simply let it hang loose and let it airdry while we barbecued. My the time I got home I was so exhausted I simply crawled into bed and that was the mistake of the weekend. The next day I woke up with this massive POUF of hair on my head, and I realised that I can NEVER just climb into bed with a damp head of hair. It needs to be dry and smooth and WRAPPED in satin before I dare get under the covers.

To remedy my faux pas, I detangled using my usual moisture spritz, first finger combing then going through with a wide tooth comb. I was VERY lucky. Even though my had looked disastrous, I lost very little hair. After detangling (which took FOREVER) I decided to prepoo using a cheapie Pro-Vitene Conditioner that  had on hand, diligently applying it little section by little section. After all of that it was night time and so i decided to rather put a plastic cap over my head, cover that with a cotton scarf and go to bed.

The next morning I washed my hair with my Repair and Nourish shampoo and conditioned my hair in the shower using a combination of Pantene Sleek and Smooth conditioner and ORS Olive Oil Intensive Treatment Masque for about 5-10 minutes. After I rinsed my hair felt ten thousand times better than the previous afternoon. I blotted my hair dry with a t-shirt, applied my usual leave-ins of Avon 3D Rescue and Bone Strait and proceeded to rollerset. I dried by hair with my blow dryer using the cold air setting, and after removing the rollers applied a bit of ORS Glossing Polisher Serum before putting it up with an EZ comb and headed out to work. My hair felt smooth and soft and I felt generally happy with it. Until the afternoon when I realised my ends look a little off. So I moisturized it using a combination of my usual spritz (water, cheapie conditioner, glycerin) and ORS Olive Oil Moisturizing Lotion, sealing with the ORS serum. Before bed I wrapped my hair and this morning they felt SO soft and nourished. For the sake of low manipulation I pulled it into a cute little ponytail with my bangs out and went on my merry way.

This coming Saturday it's the birthday party of my godson, which will also be next to and probably in a pool. In preparation for that I think that I am simply going to bun my hair for the day (no trying out new styles!) and if I am going into the pool, slather my hair in conditioner, bun it up again and only THEN venture into the water. I want my summer to be as painless as possible when it comes to my hair care whilst still enjoying it as much as possible.

Does anyone have any special "rescue methods" that they use on their hair in similar summer/pool/seaside situations??

Anyhoo, have a great week folks. And remember, just because we all have holiday brain, doesn't mean it's the holidays yet. Suck it up people, just a little bit to go!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

What works for others....

...won't necessarily work for me

A review - CoN Argan Oil Deep Conditioner

I am truly coming to the conclusion that certain products simply do not work for me the way they work for others. so many women have raved about the Cream of Nature Argan Oil Deep Conditioner packet, claiming how it leaves their hair soft and how it has lots of slip. Well this past wash day I decided to deep condition with exactly that. I washed with Clicks Repair and Nourish Shampoo, instant conditioned and detangled with Pantene Smooth and Sleek Conditioner and then applied the CoN on my hair after towel drying it lightly. 

There was quite a bit of slip as I applied it. The conditioner is not very thick and doesn't feel as rich as ORS Replenishing Pak. The fragrance was very subtle and it seemed as if my hair soaked in the conditioner. The whole packet just barely covered all my hair, so someone with longer hair should purchase two. I left the DC on with a plastic cap over it, which I then covered with a scarf and a silk bonnet, trying to trap as much heat as possible as I do not own a hooded dryer or heating cap. I let it sit like that for a good hour before jumping back in the shower...and this is where my disappointment starts. 

As I was rinsing the conditioner, my hair started feeling weird. I don't quite know how to describe it. It felt rough to the touch and as if it was not detangled at all, it felt as if the length of the hair was matting together. I detangled once more with the Pantene Conditioner and even then my hair did not end up feeling smooth, and my hair is freshly relaxed. So, yes, it felt very wrong. 

I put in my usual leave ins - Avon 3D Rescue and Bone Strait and proceeded to roller set. During the process of roller setting I tried to be as gentle as possible as it felt as if my hair suddenly became brittle. After the roller set I let it air dry for about an hour before blasting it with the hairdryer on the cold setting. After removing the rollers my hair felt smooth, but my ends felt terribly dry and thus I decided to dust it. I took off very little, literally less than 1/2 a cm, but it made a difference in how my hair and specifically my ends looked and felt. 

At the end of the day I am starting to really know what my hair likes. When it comes to those packets of deep conditioners (and the market is FULL of them) my hair loves the ORS Replenishing Pak and I'm going to stick to it and stop experimenting with the rest. My product junkie days may soon be over. 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Very close to claiming SL.

This past Friday I relaxed my hair at 12 weeks post. I think I'm going to not stretch longer than 12 weeks, which also means that my projected next touch up would be on the 8th of February. I used the ORS Olive Oil No Lye Relaxer kit Regular strength. My BSS was out of stock of the kit for girls, which is the one I prefer, but I thought it would be best then to stick to the ORS brand, and honestly I'm not disappointed. For the most part. 

The process - I based my scalp with petroleum jelly. The kit does not contain a scalp protector, which the girls kit does. Secondly, I covered my previously relaxed hair with Pro-Vitene Conditioner,  cheapie conditioner I picked up at Clicks, since the regular kit doesn't contain a product for that either, which the girls' kit does contain. (Get where I'm going with this??? Kit for Girls is BETTER!) Then started applying the mixed relaxer to my new growth with the help of a friend. We started in the middle of my head as I have experienced some breakage around my nape and wanted to avoid that area being over processed. The nape and hairline received relaxer last. 

Even though my scalp was thickly based, we had to work pretty fast. This regular strength is still quite a bit stronger than the Girls' formula and my scalp is pretty sensitive. Application and smoothing in total I think took about 15 minutes and then I immediately got up to rinse. Hair was still relaxed nice and straight, I also think that parts that were slightly under-processed previously were corrected by the chemical run-off as it now feels like I have a uniform relaxed texture again. I rinsed and shampooed with the supplied packet of Creamy Aloe Shampoo. I HATE not neutralizing with a colour indicator neutralizing shampoo, as I'm never sure then whether I neutralized correctly. To make sure of that, by the time I applied the shampoo for the third time, I left it sitting on my hair for a good 10 minutes, after which I rinsed and shampooed at least another two times. Of course I loved the provided Replenishing Pak, deep conditioning with it for a good half an hour. After rinsing that i applied my usual leave in of 3D Rescue and Bone Strait lotion, roller set, dry and straighten with a single heat pass as I wanted to do an official length check. 

My hair felt soft and smooth and straight and I'm generally happy with the results. My ends feel pretty dry though and I'm going to pamper them for the next few weeks so as to soften and nourish them as I do not want to lose any of my progress which I am pretty happy with, and I feel that I am super close to claiming full  shoulder length. 


Sorry lovelies, picture quality is sucky as always but I think it's clear enough to see the progress I've made so far. 

The V of my hair touching the top of my tattoo.  I think it's officially the longest my hair has ever been in my adult life.

Still very much in layers, not quite SL yet, but I can practically taste it!

My last official length check will be on the 31st of December 2012. We have 6 weeks to go until then and I am planning to protective style, moisturize and generally pamper and baby my hair for the next 6 weeks so as to retain every millimeter of growth, and I think I should be able to attain at least 1-2 cm of growth during that time. I love having longer hair and I love that my hair is in such a better condition than it was when I started this journey. I love that I haven't had any major setbacks so far and I pray that it stays that way. Considering where I was when I started, so far I am pretty happy. 

PS I'm thinking of trying a few more available relaxers in the coming year. So far I'm pretty satisfied with ORS, and I've used Dark & Lovely most of my life, but just maybe what is PERFECT for me is something else completely...I'll make a final decision on that in February 2013. 

Breaking Dawn: Part 2 - My review

Yesterday myself and a group of friends all got together to go see the final installment of the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn: Part 2. I have always been a Twilight fan, of both the books and the films. I find it slightly disconcerting and definitely annoying when people compare it to the Harry Potter series or the Hunger Games trilogy, especially comparing the lead female characters. In my mind one must regard each story on its own and not compare apples to oranges. 

That said, I did enjoy the film, specifically with regard to some of the visual effects, such as Bella's first impression of the world around her as a new born vampire, the sharpness of her senses. In my opinion it was brought across quite beautifully. I also think that Kristen Stewart might have felt more comfortable in the role of a new vampiric Bella, she portrayed the character with more life than the annoying mouth breathing that we've come to experience in the previous installments. Bella was also more emotive, although I think the impression of Stewart as a cold fish may just stick for quite a few years to come, unless she finds herself a few comedies and fast. 

SPOILER ALERT: The most impressive scene in my mind was the fight between the Cullens and their friends, including the wolves, and the Volturi. The scene evoked many emotions in the viewer, the greatest one I think being disbelief. The scene was also quite sufficient in making this "chick flick" a little bit more guy friendly for the guys who're taking their girlfriends to see it. The fight does not however end quite the way one would think. 

In my opinion the book to film adaptation was more than adequate; certain elements were portrayed very well, others not so much. The human element of the story was skated over, whilst in the book Stephanie Meyer focused more on the emotions that ran through the characters due to the intense developments - Bella as a new born, Renesme's development, Jacob's imprinting, Aro's desire to acquire the "Cullen" treasures. They focused so much on the visual aspects that they forgot a little that essentially at the end of the day the Twilight stories are less about the fantastical and more about a love surviving and thriving within the fantastical. Regardless, it was a fitting end to the franchise, nicely tying up all the loose ends, and the entertainment value of the film was high enough that I walked out of the cinema satisfied and smiling. I would gladly watch it again. My personal rating is 7/10. 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Looking forward to Friday!

Well, that sums up most people's feeling on a Wednesday, everybody looks forward to the weekend, and Friday is easily most people's favorite day of the week.

Personally I'm looking forward to Friday as I'll be 12 weeks post and I will be doing my touch up, finally. My new growth is ridiculous - thick and wiry and I am fast approaching the stage where my stretch will be doing me more harm than good, I've already started experiencing increased breakage around the demarcation line and I AM NOT HAPPY. To a certain degree I feel a little despondent, as I try to be as gentle as possible with my hair, especially my new growth and still every morning way too many hairs lie in the sink, a mix of long shed hair and short AND long broken hairs. The shed hair I have kind of made peace with - it was simply their time to go. But the broken hair - NOT COOL.

I've noticed that my retention is very good during the first eight weeks of my stretch - very little breakage, even shedding is minimized. Now, I'm not going back to relaxing every 8 weeks, but I do have a plan for that period where me and my new growth don't "get" one another - after this touch up, around week 6, I'm going to have braids installed, which I'll be wearing for 6-8 weeks. I won't have to "deal" with the new growth, the new growth will have a chance to simply grow and I can step up my retention. Braiding in my mind is simpler than weaving as I've had a bad sew in experience after which my hair was very damaged (the track were braided SO tight I had a migraine for 2 days after the install and when it was removed the hair simply broke quick fast and i a hurry in my stylist's hands), and I don't wish to go through that again. So, box braids it is for the remainder of the summer. I did do it once and in my opinion  looked pretty darn cute.

Roger Goode party 2009 - with my friend, the lovely Ms Ashante Manetti and rocking box braids. 

So, very soon,  am going to be walking down that road again, and I'm actually quite looking forward to it. 

Okay, quickly, regarding the touch up. Since I'm doing it on Friday, I will not be washing my hair before then, as it opens up the pores of the scalp, which could lead to scalp burn - ouch! Also, I'm skipping workouts this week - I've got a terrible cold and exercising also opens the pores. Thirdly, to keep on looking presentable I shall continue to M&S every night, wrapping my hair to keep it tamed. On the day of the touch up I am going to protect my previously relaxed hair with a protein conditioner to protect it from the chemical run off, and also because I didn't have time to do a protein DC in this week to prep my hair properly. I will once again be using the ORS Olive Oil No-Lye Relaxer Kit for Girls, after which I will roller set and flat iron my hair to do an official length check, and I am praying hard that I will be able to officially claim full shoulder length by the end of 2012.

And there we go. Plans for the week, plans for the weekend( kind of) and plans for when hit 6/7 weeks post already. Happy hump day everyone!!

PS I've come to the conclusion that the best moisturizer for hair truly is WATER - as long as you SEAL it in. No more buying fancy moisturizers for me. Now just to find the perfect LIGHT oil with which to seal. Yay! Only 9 months in and I'm actually streamlining my regimen. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Everything hurts!

Well, hello there everybody. Today I sit here in some agony. I have decide to get off my lazy ass and start working out AGAIN with vigor! And the result 2 days in - PAIN. It's nice though, walking around the office and feeling that I actually exercised some muscles properly. I'm planning to visit the gym at least 4-5 times a week from here on out and I am praying that I can keep up to the point that NOT working out feels weird and unsettling. 

There is one little con, and it sucks because in the grand scheme of things my health should outweigh it so massively that it's not even an issue, but it is. And that is my hair, eish. I have been sweating like a pig the past couple of days and thus I have been washing my hair every night as well. Yesterday I rocked a knot out  made on damp air dried hair which still looked good. Last night I did a co-wash and simply air dried with a scarf around the edges, which was not that good of an idea since I'm 10.5 weeks post, have a ton of NG and this morning looked a little worse for wear. 

I am BEYOND tempted to either braid these babies up or relax them asap because I don't want my hair to suffer under my new goals of fitness and losing weight, but I also don't want my health and weight to suffer because of my freaking hair. I'm gonna take the rest of the  week to make a decision. One thing is for sure though. If push comes to shove, I would braid it up and forget about it so that for at least a couple of months at a time I can focus on becoming fitter, healthier and THINNER! Anybody else have this issue? Have a great day everybody!

Monday, November 5, 2012

It's Monday...not sure how I feel about it...

My weekend was AMAZING. The Windhoek Jazz Festival was off the hook, my personal high points being the stunning Lira and the amazing Shishani. Lira worked the stage in a manner I have never seen before, and her band, holy mother of Zeus, her band gave me goosebumps! Shishani is truly a local gem, every time I see her perform she steals my heart yet again with that soulful, powerful voice and her meaningful lyrics, wrought with emotions across the spectrum. It truly was a night to remember. Thank you once again to Ms Ashante Manetti - awesome friend of note AND she rocked the stage as the MC!

And now it's Monday, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I feel like I need copious amounts of coffee. Also, I need my shuffle function to read my mood and put together a playlist accordingly. I do have a couple of goals for the week specifically. I need to get to the gym, I have been very lazy in that department. The irony - this morning I'm wearing a shirt that only months ago I couldn't even consider wearing as it was too small. Somehow I'm becoming smaller whilst not putting in nearly as much effort as I should. I'm kind of hoping that my metabolism got a bit of kick in the nuts as that would be awesome!

Second goal is to up the moisture to a high degree to the hair growing out of my head. I'm rocking a knot out and somehow instead of  waves and coils and a few curls (which have been the results of past knot outs) today I look like orphan Annie (from the musical) or Curly Sue - the curls are tight and springy, and I think it may be the go to style for the week as the reversion from sweating in the gym won't be as obvious and would actually aid the curls in being more springy, lol. The down side?? I feel like I lose more hair than usual during the detangling and retwisting processes. At the same time, as I'm a good 10 weeks post, my NG, if stretched, is going to shrink like crazy whilst working out and that's a pain in the butt that I simply do not have the energy for. At the same time, I need to baby my entire head considering that I want to touch up in a week or two. I really feel like I'm not sure what to freaking do! I do know one thing for sure - I am LOOKING forward to the touch up, lol. It is becoming nicely hot and humid and it'll simply make my life easier. Third goal is also hair related - protein treatments in preparation for the touch up. I'm planning to use the ORS Intense Masque again, this time for a good 15 minutes, to make sure that my hair is at its optimal strength when the time comes.

Goal nr 4 - sort out my freaking wardrobe!! I swear, every morning I stand in front of my closet and I feel utterly clueless! Clueless I tell you, and the reason for that is because I have not packed AWAY my winter clothes yet and a lot of my summer clothes are DEEP in the closet, which means scratching like a crazed person and leaving a mess before having to go to work, smh. So, I need to start properly packing away the winter clothes, organizing the summer stuff and also, I need to find something to serve purpose as a linen closet - my linens are with my clothes, taking up a lot of space, and it's making the entire situation a little too cramped!

Goal nr 5 - go see where I can get shelves that I can easily install myself to my walls. I'm planning on printing and framing a LOT of pictures and I don't have the space to display them, so I need to CREATE space. I need to check out the places that sell them, compare and choose and then work out the budget for next month as I'm planning to do it then as birthday gift to myself.

And lastly, but in my mind more pressingly - I need to find a turkey for Thanksgiving! And a birthday gift for my godson! And it's already the 5th of November!! See, things like these make me unsure of how to feel about the fact that it's Monday...again...

In the meantime, have a good week everyone!


Saturday, November 3, 2012

On our way to the 2012 Jazz Festival

We are moments away from going to the 2012 Windhoek Jazz Festival and every year it has been a roaring success and soooooo much fun, and I highly doubt that this year would an exception. The greatest thing about the festival is the combination of good music, great friends and being out in the open air. 

Today I need to state that it's the God honest truth that all things happen for a reason. I thought that a year and a half of my life has been wasted, but I realize now that I had to go through that experience to learn things about myself and about life that I never knew of. I learned that I have an amazing temper, the kind that people tremble before. I have also learned how to control it and how to determine when and where it is appropriate to flip my script. I've learned that just because someone says they love you does not always make it true, even when you feel love for them. Sometimes the sad simple truth is that they don't even know what love is. I learned that I am sometimes susceptible to change my behaviour in my quest for happiness, but I've also learned that changing who I am for the sake of someone else is never the answer, and that I would simply lose myself in the process. I've learned that it is not that easy of a task to find yourself again, but it sure as hell is not impossible. I've learned that true friends stick by you, no matter what, and that fair weather friends are many, and they are fickle. I've learned that happiness resides within oneself and that one must not look to someone else to make you happy, nor should anyone burden you for their happiness. At the end of the day I learned that life is what you make of it. 

Now to get back to the Jazz. If I was still in that train wreck of a relationship, I probably would have gotten into an argument to go to the biggest festival in town, and now I'm free to support my friend and have an awesome time. So yeah, I'm happy, truly happy. 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Here comes summer, but hot sticky hair is not sexy!

Hello lovelies, yes, it's been a minute, but life sometimes has this thing...it goes on and sometimes it moves fast.

It is officially summer. It is hot and sticky and humid. All I want to do is run around in short skirts and tank tops and lie in a pool as often as I can. Which brings me to the fact that I need to switch up my regime a bit if my hair is to flourish through the sweaty summer months, especially considering that I still have a good 2 weeks to go before I touch up and my new growth is driving me slightly insane.

But lets rewind first - were October's goals achieved?? Well, I did moisturize and seal more often but it still felt insufficient, specifically around my NG. I think I will have to find a richer moisturizer. I truly attempted to baby my nape, I think I've stopped most of the breakage, but it's still a bit of a sad sight. I cheated on the heat usage, I straightened my hair with a ceramic straightener for a Halloween party on the 26th. It took me FOREVER, since I took small sections, and the next day it was a massive puff again due to the fact that I wore a hat as part of my costume, it was hot as all hell and I sweated like Ms Piggy. The next day to salvage as much as I could I put my hair in some rollers with moisturizer and after it was dry again pinned it up. Due to breakage during detangling I've given the bantu knot outs a rest for now, rather simply roller setting, wrapping and pinning my hair for the past 2-3 weeks. So, all in all, October wasn't truly a miss, nor was it a roaring success.

Now, to move on to the month to come. I'm scheduled to have my touch up in 2 weeks, the weekend of the 16th of November. I'm actually looking forward to it, due to my hair being longer than ever before in my adult life, it truly is easier working with one texture instead of two, and right now I'm rocking 3, with bone straight ends, some texlaxed hair and my 4a/b (depending on location) roots. I'm contemplating to, during my next relaxer, correct the texlaxed parts and having all my hair bone straight to combat the breakage from working with multiple textures. I now know that I am not adept enough for multiple textures and thus if I wish my length retention to be out of this world, I need to do what's best for ME and my hair. In the meantime, the next few washes I'm going to step up the protein a bit in preparation for the process, as well as keep moisture levels high and manipulation low. I truly need to baby them if I want to keep up my level of retention.

I'm going to do a black tea rinse this weekend  (either tomorrow or Sunday) as I've also been shedding a bit more than usual and I'm going to get my hands on apple cider vinegar and do a ACV rinse for my porosity issues. I've purchased the Creme of Nature Argan Oil Deep Conditioner and am going to try it soon, and that is going to be the extent of my experimentation this month. I have succeeded in trimming down the supplies and streamlining the products I use, as well as slightly simplifying my regimen on wash days.

This morning I had to do a quick wash (my hair felt AWFUL) and  I gave the ORS Olive Oil Intense Masque another try, and this time it worked SO much better. I'm guessing the reason for that is two fold: 1 - I used Pantene Sleek and Smooth Conditioner beforehand (following the shampoo) to detangle. 2 - I applied the Masque in sections from root to tip on SOAKING wet hair. I had plenty of slip and the 5 minutes in the shower felt sufficient, my hair felt strong and smooth and soft and roller setting was a breeze. I can rollerset my entire head in 20-30 minutes using the mohawk methodology, I'm going to try to keep that time, especially due to the porosity of my hair, if I don't work fast, by the time I'm done with only half my head, the other half would feel dry already. Also, it means that I can shower, wash hair, roller set, dry (using fast cold air on the dryer) get dressed, style my hair and be ready for work in an hour and a half if need be!!

Wow, I have been rambling today! Tomorrow is the Windhoek Jazz Festival, to which me and my ladies are all headed, and of course we'll most probably run into practically everyone we know. As it's festival time, we'll be outside and therefore one on a HHJ like myself need to consider the elements' effect on her tresses. My plan of action would include the following - doing a major wash day tomorrow morning, including an overnight pre-poo and decent DC with CoN, roller setting and air drying, moisturizing and sealing, and pinning up the curls from the rollers. Since it's a big party, I expect nastiness the next day, so I will most probably also do a wash on Sunday, perhaps a co-wash only to increase moisture levels, but will see how it goes. What's everybody else's weekend plans? Have fun and be safe!