Acronyms - hair lingo

in response to a comment from a reader, thought i'd post a list of commonly used acronyms with respects to natural hair care and their meanings.


2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4a, 4b, 4c = curl types
2nd Day Hair = Hair that looks good enough the day after styling that it can just be misted with water or have a little product added try to revive and refresh its style.
ACV = Apple Cider Vinegar
AOHR= Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose
AOMM = Aubrey Organics Magic Mandarin Jelly
AOWC = Aubrey Organics White Camilla
APL = arm pit length
AVG= Aloe vera Gel
BAA = Big-ass afro
BB=Blended Beauty (product line)
BC= Big Chop
BSL = bra strap length
c. = Coarse texture
Canopy = the top layer of hair, which is exposed to the elements the most, and is prone to frizzing
CG = Curly Girl routine or "Curly Girl," the book by Lorraine Massey
Clarify = remove build-up from the hair via ACV, lemon juice, or shampooing
Clumping = strands of hair clumping together to form bigger, chunkier curls
CO = conditioner or "conditioner=only" as in not using shampoo
CO wash = conditioner washing
Condish = conditioner
Crunch = the hard, crunchy feeling left by some gels when they dry, which can sometimes be scrunched out.
DT = deep (conditioning) treatment
Elucence MBC = Moisture Balancing Conditioner
EOs = essential oils
EVOO = extra virgin olive oil
f. = fine texture
FSG=Flax Seed Gel
GDLI = Giovanni Direct Leave=In
GioDLI= Giovanni Direct Leave In
Giovanni DLI/ GDL= Giovanni Direct Leave-In
HE = Herbal Essences
i, ii, iii = Fia's hair-typing system descriptors for volume
JC N&S= Jane Carter Nourish and Shine
KCCC = Kinky Curly Curling Custard
KCKT = Kinky Curly Knot Today
m. = medium texture
NG= Nature's Gate
OC = Devacurl One Condition
ORS = Organic Root Stimulator
pineapple = gathering hair gently on top of head with a scrunchie to preserve curls for 2nd day hair
Pixiecurl diffuser method= leaving diffuser OFF, using the bowl to scrunch hair up to root, turn ON for 30 seconds=1 minute, turn OFF, and then repeat on next section of hair. Minimizes frizz and reduces the amount of disturbance on the rest of your hair while diffusing.
PJ = Product Junkie (addicted to trying the next new, possibly better hair product)
Plop/plunk= Method for putting your wet hair into a towel to encourage curls (video on jessicurl's website)
'poo = shampoo
PVP = A polymer found in most gels
'quats = polyquaternium polymers found in styling products
SAO = Sweet almond oil
Scrunch = encourage curl or apply product by gently squeezing/pushing hair upward from end toward root.
Shrinkage = shortening of length due to curl tightness
SL = shoulder length
SLS = Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (surfactant found in most shampoos)
SOTC = scrunch out the crunch
TTO = tea tree oil
TWA = Teeny weeny afro
Understory = hair under the top exposed layer

Check out Naturally Curly for a more exhaustive list.

Update on my simplified regimen

hellooooo,
guess who's back, back again, guess who's back......... Eminem....

c'est moi.
in my last post, i mentioned i would be wearing wigs for a bit. un hun, indeed i have all this while. i actually bought a couple new ones to to spice things up as it were.

me believe my hair loves a simplified regimen. no fuss, no tears. after 5 weeks or so of wearing wigs, i am now ready to wear a sew-in weave. i have fixed an appointment to have my hair fixed this weekend. hope to carry it for 3 to 4 weeks max. it will serve as a protective style.

Over here in Lagos, the dry season will set in any moment now, and then the hair care regimen wil have to be reviewed. 

while wearing the sew-in weave, i hope to continue washing my hair once a week. weave and all. i'll use castor oil to oil the scalp during this time. i still have the Jaimacan Black castor oil, will use it.
i'll like to finish the bottle i bought before i'll comment on whether it's thickening or growing my hair or not. so far, i'll say not exactly impressed.

Face/skin regimen
i have continued to use African black soap to wash my face and body  in the mornings. for a while i used raw shea butter as my facial cream in the mornings. i got bored with it last week and satred using my body moisturizer for my face.  did i hear someone shout 'lazy babe'? LOL my body moisturizer isn't greasy like shea butter.
for evening wash, i am currently using tea tree facial wash (from Superdrugs) and moisturizing with Johnson Tissue oil. been doing this for less than 4 weeks, so a bit too early to comment on the results. the pack did say 6 weeks to see visible results.
Patience, patience the best quality  i say.

2 items i jsut added to my face regimen in the last two days is honey and olive oil.
olive oil as a make up remover at night before using the facial wash. started only yesterday actually. massaged on face and around eyes (gently) to remove eye makeup. then wash off after 3 - 5 mins.
the honey i use in the morning, after washing with black soap. i put a little on my palm, and rub my hands together, apply to my face. then rinse off after 2 to 3 mins. well, as soon as i'm done washing my body.

Olive oil and honey have been said to benefit the skin and body generally for centuries. since i have quite a bit in the house, thought i might as well incorporate them. by the time i use up what i have, i'll assess the results and know whether to continue with them as staples in my skin care..

anyone used any of the items i have written about in this post? will you like to share your experience? pls feel free to comment.

thanks for reading,

ciao!
xoxo

New hair care regimen

hello........
sorry i've been silent for a while. been hectic and totally disracted with other aspects of life. :-) there's more to chikeebee than hair......

In my last post i told you how i had my hair in twists. well,  i had them on for 6 weeks. and they still looked nice when i took them down.  big thanks to all the natural hair blogs, curlynikki.com and Coilybella blog for their tips on maintaining hair while in mini braids with extensions.
My hair was well moisturized and had little breakage when i undid the twists. that, my dear reader would be the first time i would put extensions in my hair with little or no damage done to my hair.

next thing i'll try would be to braid without extensions.

for now, i'm wearing wigs. i did chunky braids, about  10 and put on a wig. been wearing wigs for the third week now.

i did say i was going to write about my new simple regimen.  silly me, getting carried away....

taking a break from all the oils i have. if you ever met a product junkie, it would me moi!! got products i don't even remember where i bought them from. that bad.

the in-between washes care i do now is to just spritz with water + oil+ aloe gel mix and and use whipped shea butter (from Kinky Apothecary) as sealant and styler. nothing more nothing less.
going to do this a month and report back to you on my observations.

thanks for reading

xoxo

Protective styling - mini twists

Decided to try a new approach to growing my hair. For a couple of days a washed each time I took a shower. An attempt at wash n go. My hair shrunk like crazy.

Hair was so shrunken that I shuddered when I caught a glimpse of my reflection while out and about from a car glass. Oops!!! Wasn’t what I had in mind. Looks like my hair does not like wash n gos.

So put my hair into mini-twists with extensions. The brand the hairdresser used is ‘Expressions’ .

She did a good job because everyone suddenly gushes over the new look and say it suits me. and then they add, I shouldn’t  wear my natural hair out again.

Feel like a deflated balloon.

Well, refuse to take a defeat in my attempt at naturalness. So re-strategizing. Will do protective styling to grow my hair out. Hopefully my hair will be better accepted when it’s long.

Will continue to treat the twists like it’s my hair. Moisturize and seal daily.

Castor oil for the scalp and edges.

Hope to keep the extensions in for 5 to 6 weeks and then decide on the next style to do.

Sorry about the lack of pictures. As soon as I am able to I’ll do a post containing pictures only.

Later peeps!

First Finger curls style

I have to admit that new naturals can learn a lot on how to care for their hair from the online community. In another post, I’ll list the online resources I have found invaluable.

Before washing my hair this week, I checked online for styling ideas.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 (Guess you will have figured out my washday is Mondays by now. For some time now, weekends are choked and I hardly can find the time to wash my hair. I hate to rush so I don’t bother with weekends any more. Hopefully, my schedule will change soon and then I’ll be back to weekend washes and have a fresh style Monday morning.)

Finger curls looked easy and the subsequent ‘out’ looked nice. Well, in the pictures I saw on google. So, decided for it. And wow!!!, it was very easy to do.

I used aussi moist conditioner as  leave in and my  eco custard mix as styler. Before that, I’d co-washed with TRESemme Natural conditioner only.  Noticed how curly my type 4 hair looked when wet. Super moisturized and curly. I felt tempted to leave it to air dry and see if it would still stay curly.  (will save that experiment for tomorrow evening. Being Friday, if it gets all frizzy when dry, I can always re-style it Saturday morning.)  I then put in the finger curls. Took me about 30-45mins. Hopefully, it will be quicker next time

By morning, my hair wasn’t thoroughly dried, but since I had to rush out of the house,  I quickly separated the curls to get a fuller look. Had been tempted to wear the finger curls straight up, but changed my mind when I saw the picture of it. The subsequent finger curl out was nice. The hair dried in the course of the day, and it didn’t get frizzy or anything. That  was Tuesday.  As at today, Thursday, I still have the same style, and the hair looks great.

Maintenance

At night I spritz and wear a satin scarf. In the morning I rub my hands with oil and lift the hair up, then use an afro pick to fluff out the curls. Spray oil polish on it and I’m good to go.

Gotten 3 full days out of the finger curls. I think that is just wow!!

I haven’t done any flat twists or two strand twists this week and my hair is presentable.

I plan to co-wash this evening however. My scalp has been a bit itchy and that’s probably because I haven’t been oiling it since I did the finger curls. Usually, I oil with JBCO every day,

Oh well, will keep you posted.  Wanted you to know how my first attempt at finger curls went.

Woohoo!

L8r peeps,