Slump

Slumps.

Every now and again we all fall into one, right?

I fell into one by accident, really. At my retightening, my consultant commented that my hair seemed unnaturally dull; that is, although African-American hair doesn't naturally shine as much as other hair types, I still was missing even the little bit of shine that my hair should have.

I've heard this before, so I wasn't surprised. (I may need to stop shampooing it as much.) My consultant then suggested that I put a rinse on my hair, just to even out the color (my hair is a little bit of a lot of colors), and bring some "pop" and shine to the hair and/or at least deep condition my hair. I thought I would try both suggestions, but I was especially excited about the rinse because I am always admiring women with Sisterlocks that have beautiful colors (my consultant has some beautiful ones herself!).

Now, I should say that I have never, ever colored my hair. Ever. Not even when my hair was relaxed. That being said, I did the rinse, not expecting it to come out some dramatically light color because 1. I did research and knew a rinse was not as strong, and if you want "real" color, you have to actually color your hair for that and 2. I had read up on others who have colored their hair and knew the color on the box would probably be 10 shades LIGHTER than what my hair would actually come out to by the time it was all finished.

It did take.....

a little.

Well, very little. It looks like the tips MAY have lightened....a little. (See the pictures.) It is hardly enough for anyone who knows me to stop and say, "Did you do something to your hair?" I didn't even bother to probe people by asking, "I put a rinse on my hair. Can you tell?" I just didn't want to see the disappointment in their eyes when they would probably have told me, "You did? I can't tell."

But the disappointment lasted only a few seconds. I wanted color, but I didn't get it. No biggie. BUT, what I didn't expect, which completely irritated me, was the dry hair. My hair was SO dry, I almost couldn't believe it. If my hair was going to be that dry, the color could have at LEAST taken, right? Instead, I ended up with no color and dry hair. How does that happen?


I actually skipped a week's washing (I normally wash every Saturday) just because I thought my hair was so dry that shampoo would only strip it even more. I was trying to give my sebum time to build up again. This was May 6.


Now, today, my hair isn't as dry, but still not to my liking. I can't pinpoint it, but somehow I just think that my hair was better before the rinse.


And that's how I ended up in the slump I'm in. I wasn't even thinking about color, and then when it was brought to my attention, I wanted it, and now I don't have it. And the past few months have been rough for me because I feel like it is one thing after another. First, I had a hard time finding a consultant. When I found one, I found out I hadn't been rinsing my scalp well, and I am still, right now, having issues trying to get shampoo completely out of my hair and keeping my scalp dandruff-free. And now I get to add dry, dull hair to all of that.


However, I am still optimistic. I've decided to take it all the way back to what I know works: healthy eating and healthy living. I think this is something a lot of us, me included, miss because we are hoping some product will "fix" the "problem." Products target symptoms, but they don't cure anything. Instead of focusing on the symptoms, I am going to work on focusing on the root of the problems, and then working to heal those.

This and That

I may start writing more than once a week, because so much happens, and when I sit down to write a blog entry, I have too much to say. This leads to either long posts, which I can guess many don't read, or I leave some things out, and who wants that, right?

RETI
I got my second retightening with my consultant in Houston on this past Thursday. It took her only 3.5 hours. There was no complaining....only positiveness. I am thankful I found someone who appreciates that I have smaller-than-normal Sisterlocks and who is skilled and fair in price. When I thought about it, the money I gave one person in town to retighten my hair was MORE than it cost me to put gas in my car to drive round-trip to Houston, pay the lady, give an optional tip for services, AND eat on the way and back. Wow! I thought it would be a hassle to drive 2 hours just for a reti, but it isn't bad at all. The drive is easy, a straight shot, and my sanity and confidence are intact. I do still plan to take the retightening class offered in Dallas in Septbember by Sisterlocks.com. I intend to alternate between doing my own retightenings and getting them done in Houston.

COMPLIMENTS
I have made a conscious effort to notice women's hair and compliment them when I think their hair looks great....especially when they are wearing a natural style. We do so much fighting and back and forth with our natural hair, and our individual journeys are each a struggle in their own ways, and in some ways initially it may take a lot of adjustment to go from wearing relaxers to wearing natural hair....and not to mention that there are those who make negative comments about natural hair.....and us women deserve to be complimented and encouraged when we look nice! Just the other day, I complimented a woman wearing a short afro in Wal-mart. She was so surprised and yet she started smiling. Let's encourage each other, ladies!

HOW DO OTHERS SEE MY HAIR?
When I first got Sisterlocks, I could not walk a block without getting a compliment on my hair. I couldn't believe it. Everywhere I turned someone was asking about my Sisterlocks, and I was always referring them to my consultant in DC for consultations (I lived in DC at the time). At some point, the compliments stopped, which is fine :)  My ego is intact because I can appreciate my hair even when no one else does or says so. But just the other day, someone I know who wears natural stopped me to explain that they have been trying to get their natural hair to come out like mine because it is so beautiful, and they can never get the curls that I have. She said she just concluded that I had a texturizer and gave up trying to get the style. She and I both laughed when I told her I had Sisterlocks. She said "No wonder I could never get it right!" I went ahead and told her about Sisterlocks since she kept the compliments coming. Later, when I thought about the situation again, she made me wonder, do women even know I have Sisterlocks? Or do the women I see think I have some sort of mousse in my hair or texturizer? I have even been asked at times whether I have braids. I wonder have other women with Sisterlocks had this same experience.

Hair truth or myth?

I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the challenges that women with Sisterlocks who live in the South have. I do not know whether this is a permanent change to my blog or just a topic I will focus on until the next new topic comes along...

Q. Is it true that Texas has hard water?

I've heard Texas has hard water, especially when I went to college in West Texas. At the time I and my friends wore relaxers. Showering and putting on box perms in our dorm rooms were both horrible experiences we thought were related to the water. It wasn't so much the roughness of the water or the realization that we used massive amounts of soap or shampoo just to lather. It was more that we all started looking at each other's hair, noticing that we all had the same texture: very, very rough, and coming to the conclusion that it must be something in the water. (In fact, I lost significant inches of my hair within a few semesters of living in that specific area. I moved to that area with hair that was growing and regularly maintained by my hairstylist.)

A. Yes. Most parts of Texas do have moderate hard to hard water. (In fact, according to my research, hardest waters were measured in streams in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona, and southern California.) I looked at water quality reports specifically for Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Angelo, and San Antonio. (You can too. Every city is required to make public their water quality reports annually.) So...what the heck am I talking about, and why should you, a natural hair wearer or Sisterlock wearer, care?

What am I talking about?

As I explain this, please note that hardness of water does not mean the water contains harmful chemicals that should not be consumed by humans or that the water itself is unsafe to drink. Water is hardened by naturally occuring elements, which experts say are harmless as far as consumption is concerned.

Hard water is water with a high dissolved mineral content, while soft water has a relatively low concentrated of dissolved minerals. Hard water contains high levels of calcium, magnesium and iron. I have found that the general guidelines for classification of waters range from soft, slightly hard, moderately hard, hard, and very hard.

Who cares?

You, my natural hair wearer, should.

Greater amounts of soap and shampoo are needed to clean, and hard water doesn't rinse as well as soft water. Calcium, magnesium and iron coat your hair (and the follicles). This buildup makes your hair dull, unmanageable and very dry. Soap residues also remain, leaving hair less shiny. This is in addition to the natural hair type you have being less shiny on its own and tending to be dry. This is in addition to Sisterlocks wanting to hold on to everything....like lint and shampoo....on its own and already needing to rinse Sisterlocks many more times in areas with soft water. This is in addition to shampoo drying out your hair. How much more difficult do these issues become when you live in an area with hard water?

According to my research, moderately hard, hard, and very hard water contain minerals in sufficient amounts to make water softening a viable option.

What can you do to combat the fact that you live in an area with hard water?

To get rid of hard water, either you alter your water or perform extra treatments to your hair to counteract the state of your water. If your water is too hard, you can purchase a water softener. Otherwise, you can use an extra clarifying shampoo and nourishing and moisturizing conditioner to restore health to your scalp and life to your hair. (Remedy information from Livestrong.com). If you are a newbie with Sisterlocks, you know that for now a nourishing creamy conditioner is not the answer until you are farther along in the locked process. At the natural hair event earlier this month, Miss Jessie's briefly spoke about hard water, suggesting that women who live in the Texas area get a water softener or, at the very least, use distilled water to wash and spray their hair.

In conclusion, let me give you an example of how the water hardness numbers read. Very hard water has a general classification starting at 180 parts per million. Right now in San Angelo, Texas, the water is 477 parts per million. 477 parts per million. I guess my college friends and I weren't far off the mark years ago when we said that it must be something in the water!