Post Mastectomy and other stuf

Nine weeks post-mastectomy, and I'm happy to be over the initial pain.
The pain as gone down, but my upper chest is still a bit swollen.

During my annual MGUS exam, my Oncologist examined my chest and said that despite mild swelling,  I appear to be healing well. She also gave me a referral for PT and Lymphedema, just in case I feel the need additional support.
Right now, thankfully, my proteins are stable, and my MGUS does not appear to be progressing. One less Cancer to think about for a few months at least.

In addition to Cancer, I've been dealing with crushing depression and fatigue.
I finally broke down and took a genomic test to verify which anti-depression medication will work for me. I've tried so many in the past that didn't work, and it Frustrating!!
I'm so blessed to have no evidence of disease in my body (for now)I don't want to wast a minute being depressed. Feeling depressed seems so ungrateful. I'm not ungrateful. I want to be happy and live life to the fullest.

Now the fatigue is a different story. I could have fatigue due to my lower hemoglobin count as a byproduct of my MGUS, or it could be a result of perimenopause. I'll be 50 this year!
Regardless of the reason, fatigue sucks.

I'm not able to create Art the way I once enjoyed. I'm so tired that I have no emotional energy to create anything of quality.

Wow it’s been years since I’ve updated this blog. So much has happened in life and with my hair. Since this blog is very low key, I’m going to start blogging and journaling here. 

See ya soon 😘

Day 4 braid out hair

Day 4 braid out hair.


More like a soft wavy/slightly frizzy afro.
Tonight I'm just going to sleep instead of putting it in loose pony tail.

3rd day braid out hair

3rd day braid out hair. I'm too tired to typed anything else. :(

Second day Braid out hair

Okay so my hair is not long enough to "pineapple" so I put it up in a loose ponytail and my satin bonnet.

It was okay as second day hair

I dont really know how 3rd day hair is going to be. 

Which really sucks because I would like to get more days out of my style or else what is the point!

We shall see. I will be back tomorrow for 3rd day hair results *fingers crossed*

Tonight I'll try putting my hair in two loose pony tails..

braid/plait-out results

Wet Plait out results. Monday I did not take the braids out because it was raining---no point. LOL

Today this is the result at the end of the day.

I was really pleases and will do this style again. Sadly, i never get 2nd day hair.

Hello ! I'm back

It has been a VERY long time since I posted here. 2014 will be my year to keep a regular blog.
Nothing new really except I've been wearing my hair straight once or twice a month. I find that when I wear my hair straight its less maintenance and I have less shedding.

Flat Ironed hair

Today I'm  re-visiting the chunky braid/plait-out on wet hair. I have never been able to achieve this look. But my hair is a bit longer now so it may be more forgiving.

I started with freshly washed and conditioned hair.

Shampoo: Nizirol

Conditioner: dove Aragon Oil

I also used a leave in Reconstructor (I forget the name now but I will post it tomorrow with follow up pictures)

Stylers: Afroveda Heepseed twist and roll 

         Oyan Handmade:Hair dew 

         Sesame seed oil and more Hempseed  

         oil.

My ends tend to come unraveled so I rolled the ends on some of the plaits and put bobby pins on them.

I'll date tomorrow with take down photos :)

Straight

minimum product goal

Ok, so I remember me loving my hair the first year I BC's around 6 months into it. And I could never get that feeling back and I did not know what what was different.
Not I think i know what the difference was.

NO USE of Gel except for a small amount on my edges.

Its totally undefined and fluffy and  a bit frizzy but I think i'm okay with that because get this....its softer and more manageable.

I think somewhere I got lost in the perfect ringlets syndrome.

So I gave myself a major trim and left the gel alone.

THis is 2nd day hair. I made the mistake of putting my hair in a pony puff as I would have done if my hair was coated with a layer of gel.
Bad idea, because my hair w/out get stretches out very easy and the fluffiness was gone and the ringlets stretched and were less defined:

YaY one week of protective style completed!

Okay I feel really good about completing one full week of low maintenance hair. I wore my hair up in 2 strand twisted all week and it felt great!
It was also nice to NOT have to mess with my hair during the work week. Not having to do my hair meant one more hit on the snooze button :)

The down side was that I noticed more knots and tangles when I took them out to wash and condition my hair.

So here is my hair washed and conditioned. I use my Almla and Heavy cream, Hempseed twist butter and gel to mold my two strand twist.

Fingers crossed for a successful week two!

5 day hair YAY

I maintained my co-wash for 5 days


No co-washing at all for 5 days! it felt great and it was not even something I was trying for. It happened by accident.


Tuesday Morning I did a co-wash and returned home and got ready for bed as usual. I normally just sleep on a satin pillow and do nothing to my hair. I get up wet it and go.

But lately my hair has been really wild and it was getting oil on my face so I decided that I would put my hair in a low ponytail and wrap a silk scarf around my edges to keep them flat.

The next morning I woke up, took my hair down and to my surprise---no fuss hair.

I only needed to fluff my hair out a bit and I was then ready to start my day.

I never expected that it would keep happened every day. LOL


Grrr,  I wish I took pictures showing each day. To be honest, I like my day 5 hair better than day 1!


May hair was stretched a bit and the girls became soft and fluffy. It looks more NATURAL albeit not as defined.

Brief hair update.

Since I've been adding a bit of castor oil to my hair I've noticed that it has held moisture longer. However, if i use to much it coats my hair to the point where it gets really dry (if that makes any sense) so I found a solution, a happy balance:

This product applies to my edges and lightly on my hair before I apply my gel

And I get glossy control with out making my hair to "greasy".

Having said that, my hair is going through a bit of a "bratty" stage. For some reason some of my curls are bouncy and some are hanging. I blame it on the multi-texture element of my hair. My finer ringlets hang longer because of the heavier oil :(

Protective style update #1

Okay so my protective twist style did not last. I just did not like how they looked, my hair is just too thin. 

That did not stop me from trying a mini plait style LOL :): 

THen I took them out (it was not a good look at all!!) and decided on the protective Pony.

I found my beloved CASTOR OIL

and used it to moisturize and add shine to my hair. My hair just LOVES castor oil, I'm not sure why I stopped using it. Maybe I left it behind when I went through my " product junkie" phase LOL

I also added a bit to my Aragon EcoStyler, to control my ends.

I like my little pony puff. But shrinkage is a beast!

My New homemade spritz that I'm in love with includes:

Aloe Vera juice, caster oil, Kukui nut oil, tea tree oil, rosemary oil and Oyin Handmade dew moisturizer. 

OMG my hair is so so soft!

Protective Style Challenge!

Well I'm Back! I know I've been MIA for a bit but I'm back on track now.
So, I've set a bit of a goal for myself: protective styling for one month. Today is day 1 and I'm actually hoping I can keep my hair in protective style until the summer. My goal it to have more length for a cute summer pony!

So her is my first set of twist,
I think they came out better than the last time I tried. Mainly because I have more length to work with.







I really like them :)
I decided to sleep on a satin pillow case and not wrap my hair. My hair is so thin, if I wrap it, by morning it will be flat to my head and very unattractive.

Wish me luck!

End of Day 2 CG Method

So tonight I noticed that my scalp was feeling a bit dry in the areas that I diffused. Time for a DC and oil treatment, so I pulled out my BC (big chop) staple: "Olive oil" and put some on the parts of my scalp that were feeling dry and for added dc (deep condition) on those areas I added a small bit of castor oil. I then coated my hair with my Nourish spa conditioner and added a bit of Olive Oil to my ends and let that sit on my hair for about 15-20 mins. I followed up with my Daily fix Condition wash.
I tried my best to follow the instructions from the curly girl manual of squashing the the condition w/my paper towel to help blot and train my curls.
To elevate blow drying I'm trying the technique that the book also suggested while the hair is air drying put clips on the parts of the hair you want more volume. I DID notice a bit more curl to my hair and a my hair is loving the moisture!

Trying for volume and No diffusing

 Curls !!

Moisture

Conditioned

2nd day hair-CG Method

VLog: 2nd Day hair-CG Method: 

You know I'm committed when I don't use my beloved Volume Pick

Not Bad :) it definitely does not look as good as my first day 

  I wonder will I get 3rd say Hair........?

Conditioning Wash with Curl Junkie Daily Fix and Trader Joe's Nourish Spa

Added Curl Junkie smoothing Lotion Oyin Honey Dew, curls in Bottle and Eco Styler "aragon"  

Summary of results

I'm very please with the results!