House refurbishment woes

I'm writing this at 2am on a Monday morning. That introduction should tell you that I have a biiiiig, gigantic problem. 

I've taken herbal sleeping pills and managed 1 hour of sleep. 

Our builder has left us with a wreck of a house. After nearly 3 months of excuse after excuse as to why he hasn't finished a single job he'd been paid for, we decided to withhold payment. His wife emails to say she can't feed her ADHD 11 year old son and they have bills to pay. We have paid him more money per week than we earn as full-time employees and he tells us he has no money? 

 

We have paid him for every single job and he has failed to complete a  single one. I've had to change the locks and kicked him off the job. Now we have to get quotes for completing his work. It's just been one big nightmare. 

Four-years natural

My four-year natural hair journey passed last month.

I don't think I have made much progress, but then I've not measured. I'm not feeling like I've made progress though. The hair in the middle of my hair feels as dry and as brittle as before.

Doing a length check tells me that my hair is no longer than my collarbone.

I'm also living with my in-laws so it makes it difficult to do hair stuff, particularly as I'm a little shy about them knowing about my blogging and vlogging.

Long time no blog

Gosh! It's been ages since I last posted an update. If you haven't already, subscribe to my YouTube channel, where I'm more likely to post an update first.

Lots of things have happened since, so I don't even know where to start!

I got married! Yeah me! and my new husband of course.

Erm....we went on honeymoon to Florida, which was super cool. We hired a car and and spent a few nights in various Florida cities. Tampa, was a busted flush. We stayed in the Intercontinental Hotel in the middle of the business district. A nice hotel, but not really tourist friendly. There is a shopping mall not far away which has a Macey's and a few other things.

Weird story. I went into Macey's to buy my dad a watch. Bearing in mind we had spent £000s on our wedding, I was not inclined to spend money I didn't have. Basically, I was on a budget. However, I was prepared to spend money on a nice watch for my dad. Anyway, after perusing the various glass encased array of watches, I was approached by a sales person who asked me what I was looking for. I said I was looking for a watch for my dad. The sales person made some suggestions - some at the high-end and then when they saw my eyebrows knit together in rejection, they recommended a watch at the very lower end. Affronted, I said I would come back later. To which the salesperson said, I could use an EBT card. Now, as I'm not American, I don't exactly know what an EBT card is, but I'm assuming it's something to do with welfare as I've heard and read about it in the context of welfare only. Even more annoyed, I politely said I was no longer interested in a watch and walked away.

Anyway, back to Tampa generally - I think we arrived at the end of the season so it was completely dead. We did go to Tampa zoo and I got to feed the giraffes. That was about the only good thing that happened in Tampa. It was also cold, so not great.

After three days, we left Tampa and went to Naples - a town more for the retired and wealthy and white rather than for a young interracial couple. I felt completely out of place. Our hotel was the Bella Sara. A perfectly nice hotel and not too far on 5th Avenue is a parade of shops, some selling  rather gaudy faux-Italian furniture and housewares. We came upon a cafe which was run by a Scot and had breakfast there every other day.

Next - Miami. I was completely underwhelmed. Firstly, it has plenty of glittering skyscapers, majestic and apologetically jutting into clear blue skies. Plenty of riverside homes, nestling peacefully and as  far away as it can from the poverty that mars the city and as far away as possible from the wealth on display and even more poverty to counter it.

Last on the list was the Florida Keys - Islamorada specifically. That was great. It's a typical sea-side town, a mix of hippy, old world and new.

Anyway, back to reality.
2015!
2014, we bought our first house and gutted it. So basically, we have no kitchen, bathroom, or livable space. Sounded like an excellent idea at the time to start from scratch, but I'm regretting it now. We moved in with my in-laws, who are super. I love them like I love my parents, but the toll of hemorrhaging money is really getting to me. The whole project take between 5-6 months and at the end, we have no money for furniture!

I'm trying to remember that at the end, we will have the house we want and not someone else's vision. And, that we have 3 properties, we're not in debt, we have a wonderful family and friends so life isn't bad. But I still feel in a funk.

I have made no resolutions because I failed to achieve any of the ones I made last year. I've lost my mojo and I'm annoyed at the funk I find myself in. Sigh, I really need a verbal slapping! LOL.

Anyway, that's my update.

Three-year natural hair growth and journey

It's my third year as a natural.

This year has been okay, but not great. I've gained thickness because I've managed to grow the hair around the top and sides of my hair to be long enough to reach the nape hairs, thus giving me the appearance of thickness. In other words, I have fewer layers.

I gave myself a 1-2 inch trim all around and I'm happier with my hair health overall. My hair in the crown is very brittle and dry still, but I've managed to retain the hair as much as I can. Unfortunately, I have areas that are literally 2-3 inches long.

This whole year, I've probably spent no more than 2 months out of protective styles. I've worn wigs all throughout this year and this definitely helped me retain and meant I wasn't playing with my hair all the time.
Overall, I'm happy, I just wish my hair was longer.

Cream of nature Argon oil conditioner + Trim

I've been using coconut oil as a deep conditioner recently. I have heard great things about the benefits of coconut oil for hair and I had at the start of my hair journey used it, however it made my hair feel really dry. I used vatika coconut oil and whilst it smelled lovely, it had very little coconut oil. I later on tried pure unrefined coconut oil and found that it drying as well.

Of course, looking back, my hair was fried and nothing would have worked to repair the damage.

I decided to experiment with this oil and so far have tried it just as it is, not mixed with anything, left in overnight and then shampooed.

Then last week, I tried it with Cream of nature Argon oil conditioner. The conditioner itself has very little argon oil in it, but combined with coconut oil, it's been great for my hair. I moisturised with a mix consisting of almond oil, water, conditioner and sealed with mango butter.  I also gave myself a half inch trim all round and my breakage has improved.

Normally, just a little manipulation results in breakage and this has reduced significantly.

I'll keep trying this and see what the progress is.

Split ends

I mentioned in the last post that I've been experiencing breakage, particularly small broken hairs. I imagine all of this is taking its toll on my strands, so I thought it would be a good idea to post the different types of split ends I've seen so far. All the pictures below are of splits from about 2 inches from the end of the hair shaft.

Mid strand split

Severe split end, split in 3 different places

Split in 2 different places at 1.5 inches towards the end of the hair shaft

This last one is of multiple splits but the hair hasn't actually separated.

So all in all, my hair is in a mess. Time for a trim and it looks like the trim will have to be at least 2 inches. 

Long time no blog

I haven't blogged for ages. Nearly 4 months since my last post.

I've been dealing with a number of personal issues which have made me neglect my hair all together.

Over the last 6 months, I've been experiencing breakage - small crescent shaped hairs or half an inch hairs. Where I get shedding I check the strand and can see half way down splits forming down the shaft and then right at the tip the strand separates into two parts.

My hair breaks when wet and dry, however  when  it's dry, provided it's moisturized it doesn't break as much.

Regime :

Deep condition with herbal essences beautiful ends conditioner or do an amla powder treatment.

Moisturize daily with s-curl and jbco

When I go to bed, I spritz with S-Curl and do chunky twists, but I found that during the twisting process, I get lots of small broken hairs.

I realised that recently I've focused on moisture but neglected protein all together.

Making a change.....

Last week I decided to do a hard core protein treatment with Aphogee 2 step protein treatment.  So far, I'm experiencing some improvement, but the ends are still breaking. I stopped using S-curl and now moisturize with jbco and almond oil. I spritz my hair with water and conditioner and this has helped somewhat.

I'll keep monitoring the situation to see if I experience any improvements.

My crown

My crown area is still much shorter than the rest of my hair and is the most brittle I'd neglected that area too and I can see that the hair is really uneven and just running my fingers through it (gently) sees my fingers coming away with broken hairs.

So, the lesson? Get my moisture and protein balance right.