Knots in my hair

So as my natural hair grows longer, I’ve noticed that I have small knots on few, but random strands of my hair. These knots are so small that I can’t find a way of unraveling it from my strand, so I have no other alternative except to cut it. This is becoming a problem for me, because not only am I regularly dusting my ends every 6-8 weeks as should, but I’m finding myself having to cut these knots from my hair on random occasions. You may be thinking why is she ranting about cutting small knots? Well if you keep snipping and snipping all over your head on random days, this can lead to a major setback in the long run. After reading different hair forums I’ve noticed that a lot of naturals are having problems with combating these knots, and don’t know why the hair does this. I try to detangle 2x’s a week and no more, because I try not to manipulate my hair to often. Some ladies suggest that the knots could be due to shrinkage. BINGO I didn’t think of that. My hair shrinks up so bad its like a wet sponge drying. So after reading the suggestions of the members to the lady who was having this issue, I figured I would try keeping my hair stretched and see if this combats the problem. Since my hair is a little longer now, I can put my hair in two strand twist. So this is what I will be trying to do in the future to combat these knots. I also put a little coconut oil on the ends, to keep the strands from knotting together. Since my long-term and ultimate goal is healthy, natural, waist length hair---I’m hoping to keep my ends clean from nasty ends, and knots. So we’ll see how this goes.

here's what i've learned about knot culprits:
1. Wash n Go's- hair is wet and shrinks up when dry causing knots
2. Puffs- wearing puffs often, causes hair to evenutally knot
3. not detangling enough
4. not keeping ends moist
5. not trimming/dusting enough.
6. not keeping hair stretched.

My decision to join the Navy

So to begin this blog let me rewind a chapter. Four years ago I started working for a company named AIG. most of you should know who this is from all the dramatic media about it..ie using the taxpayers money and going on lavish resorts in CA, the millions of $'s in bailout money. I started as an office assistant when i worked there and a year later i got promoted to a Business representative. in late march i was laid off with a severence, and thought about what i would do next. My ex-boyfriend suggested that I should think about the navy. now if anyone know's me, the military never crossed my mind, ever!, but after hearing such good things about the navy, as far as traveling the world, education benefits etc, i thought now would be the best time for me to give it a go. a month after my layoff i called a navy recruiter, set up a time to meet and took the pre-qualification test. i passed that, and later had to take the navy entrance test, best known as the ASVAB. i studied for two weeks and passed that. Next i went to MEPS where i had to take a physical and choose my job. i prayed through each step i had to take, because in my opinion none were easy. my recruiter told me there's a lot of people who fail or get disqualified before they even get to meps, being that the entrance exam isn't that easy. the job i really wanted was a Hospital corpsman. in the end i did qualify for that job, but in fear of getting deployed to iraq i turned it down, and enlisted in Adminstrative support. I am super excited about all the great opportunities the navy can offer me, nonetheless i'm looking forward to where i will be stationed, all the new friends i will me, and dreading bootcamp. so i leave off in mid-january for bootcamp, but my mind is still thinking on where i would love to be stationed at. my recruiter told me that during bootcamp they give us a paper where we get to write down 3 of our dream locations & out of those three they "normally" choose one. so if you had to choose between any of these locations, and you had to live there for 4years...where would you want to go? (Japan, Italy, Spain, California, Florida, Cuba, Hawaii, Singapore, Bihrain, Greece).


The moral:
When one door closes, another one is there to open. in times like this w/the recession its easy to lose hope, and to lose focus on your goals. no matter what life brings, keep going, keep striving, and in time success will be closer than you think.

My first Avocado DC

THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF AN AVOCADO:

• Avocados are an excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids, potassium, vitamin E, B vitamins, and fiber.
  
  
• Avocados contain glutathione, which functions as an antioxidant to scavenge free radicals. Avocado is also an excellent source of vitamin E with antioxidant and health benefits. Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition has stated that evidence suggests that glutathione may help prevent certain types of cancers and heart disease in humans.
  
  
• Of 8 plant oils tested (almond, sesame, apricot kernel, safflower, peanut, jojoba, coconut, olive) avocado oil was found to be the most effective sunscreen. Avocado oil strengthens the skin by stimulating collagen, thereby reducing wrinkles and improving skin texture. Avocados are also rich in vitamin E, a free radical scavenger that will assist in slowing the aging process.Avocado oil has better skin penetration than almond, olive, or soy oil, and will be able to transport nutrients through the outer layer of skin to the deeper layers.

MY AVOCADO HAIR STORY:

May 16, 2009 I decided to try my first avocado DC. I've heard so many good things about an avocado. My avocado recipe consisted of: 1 Whole avocado, Honey, Goat's milk yogurt(its less in protein than most other yogurts) and EVOO(extra virgin olive oil). Long and behold, I didn't realize that getting the avocado in a pudding like consistency would be work. I tried mashing it, blending it, processing it, even double boiling it, and it still wasn't creamy. The final consistency that I could accomplish was that of rice pudding. So I started putting it in my hair, but it seemed like the more I slapped in my hair, the more was falling out. So I hurried up and threw it all in real quick and put a plastic cap on top. I believe I left it in for 45min-1hr. I rinsed it out of my hair, but the more I rinsed the more avocado pieces were reappearing. It took me soo long trying to get those avocado pieces out. A matter a fact I still think I have little pieces in my hair.


In the end my hair felt, and still feels soft and moisturized. So i'm happy, but

The next time I do an avocado DC, the avocado has to be super ripe, or i'll just have to buy the avocado oil, or butter because these clumps just wont do.

*** oh yeah, & I didn't realize Avocado's have protein in it :-x

So I decided to go natural

On April 3, 2009 I decided to chop my hair off. It was a renewing experience, and something I know I needed to do. My relaxed hair was thin, frayed and overprocessed. One day while searching through youtube, i came across Traycee's hair video's. I've never seen such beautiful long hair before. I stayed up all night watching her 1st video to the last, and later discovered her hair website(keepitsimplesista.ning.com). I learned a lot of things through her website on how to care for my hair and grow my hair. After I began taking care of my hair in the proper way, the relaxed hair compared to my newly growing natural hair was just a turn off to me. I decided not to transition, and just made a hair appointment, and got it chopped off. Actually I got a BC twice, less than a week apart. My first BC was apprx 4 days before the 3rd of April. I didn't feel like I BC'd short enough, so when i got it chopped again on the 3rd of April, my hair length was apprx 1/2 inch long. Since i'm now natural. I decided to find things for my hair that have mainly all natural ingredients. I'm happy i've went natural. I feel like a brand new me. like i've adapted a whole new identity.