Hair: Starting Point, Part 1

I woke up to the state of my hair in 2008.  

As sad as that sounds, it's actually true.  Oh, prior to 2008 I was a hard and fast true believer in the power of a salon trip.  I went and paid at the beautician's alter at least once every other week, if not, once a week.  I had my trips down pat, I took snacks, an iPod, magazines and books.  I sat patiently waiting for my stylist to do her magic on my head.  I spent premium dollars for the cause.  I mean, really, weren't you taught as a black woman to keep your hair tight by any means necessary?  I couldn't possibly be bothered with doing my hair myself (since I didn't have the skill) so I paid for someone else to do it for me.  My hair was fried, dyed and laid to the side.  Occasionally, I would ask questions like:  

Me:  "So, how is my hair doing?  is it really growing?

Her:  The answer (now looking back should have been the real clue) "Oh, its doing good.  Just a little chewed up on the ends, but yeah it looks good so far."  

Me:  "Hmmm...[looking pleased now] Thanks!"

Then I woke up.

"Oh, its doing good...."

Its funny looking back now.  I still get a little misty when it gets down to it, so obviously its not a haha kinda funny.  But, let us consider what "Oh, its doing good.  Just a little chewed up on the ends...." really meant in 2008.  Are you ready for some graphic pictures?  Lord knows I was NOT when I actually saw them.  Perhaps I should explain it first before the pictures.

In 2008, I got laid off.  It was a clear no-brainer that I could not afford to support my $350 weave plus the cost of weave hair habit.  A habit I had had since 1999 or so.  I am a very loyal person, so treat me good and I will big up you til the day we part.  I found a stylist I really liked and I followed her blindly from shop to shop.  I thought she was doing right by me.  Maybe in some bizarre way she did right by me and it was really my fault for blindly following her.  Either way, I was about to wake up in a big way.

So, I was excited as heck.  I was, in a way, tired of the weave after nearly ten years.  I needed a new hair style and look to go with a new job search.  Out with the old weave, in with my new HOT inner Halle & Toni B. short hair cut.  I studied a few pictures, solicited help from the chicks in the know, ya know, those fashionista types and dreamed of my new 'do.  The weave came out quickly and my natural hair revealed for the first time in years.  It had a nice little length to it.  But, honestly, after years of artificial fullness, my real hair looked thin and lacked fullness.  It looked flat.  The color was atrocious.  But, onward Christian solders,  I got to live with this hair now and a new hair cut was going to fix it all.  Or so I thought.

Well, its short now what?

My cut looked cute.  That was all I could say at first.  It was short and easy to manage.  It was artfully styled by my stylist and we both were pleased with the final results.  I was still excited to the possibilities.  I bought some hair stuff for the first time in years and dusted off my old curling irons.  I didn't even have a flat iron at the time.  Then, I washed my hair at home for the first time in what seemed like a million years.  I dried and realized that it was a bit more thin then I initially thought.  Undeterred,  I  attempted to straighten it by blow drying and curling the hair.  When my hair was sufficiently flat, I realized it was EXTRA flat.  Skin was showing through in a few spots.  I thought I had combed it wrong so I re-combed before it dawned on that the skin showing through hair wasn't natural.  I checked the mirror several times and realized the following:

- A larger than a silver dollar bald spot at the crown
- Significantly thin spots on the right and left temple just above the hair line
- Dry, thin extra wispy hair with no weight or fullness
- Sore areas on my scalp.
- Scaly bumps on my scalp in several areas

Somehow, this did not seem to be what I thought my stylist meant when she said, "Oh, its doing good.  Just a little chewed up on the ends...."  I mean, really?  Really?  REALLY?  This ain't my definition of good.  Shoot, it's not my definition of alright either.  But, perhaps mirrors lie. (Yeah, right)  Just to be one hundred percent sure, I made a trip to my local Hair Club for an expert (albeit, somewhat biased) opinion of what was happening.  Remember those graphic pictures, well, here they are.

(insert pics here)

After that trip, I really woke up for real.  More about that in my next post.

First One

This one is the hardest right?

Welcome aboard.  This blog represents my year long experiment into growing my hair.  Well, maybe a minor correction to that since I am starting the blog nearly two full months in.  There is a connection between hair growth and overall physical appearance.  So, I simply went from starting with the simple goal of growing out my hair to learning a little about makeup (now hold on I won't go crazy with it..lol), a slight foray into being fashionable and working on my weight.  I am in no way a fashionista.  I really dislike makeup but realistically I understand its place in someone's life.  Now I need to find if it has a place in MY life.  That's a big IF.  But, I've reached this stage in my life where I want to do better.  Wow, I said it aloud.  But, yeah, I want to walk down the street with a theme song playing, hair blowing in the wind, skin flawless and a twinkle in my eye.  So here's to hoping that by the summer of 2011, I can try my best to reach the following lofty goals, and boy are they lofty.

The goals:

Hair
Starting point:  My starting hair length was between shoulder (SL) and collarbone length (CBL) when blown out.  Due to previous services (more about that later), my hair in thin in areas with visible bald areas.
GOAL:  Thickening, fullness in general and below bra strap (BSL)

Skin:
Starting point:  Decent softness with areas of hyper-pigmentation, monthly breakouts on face, chest and arms.
GOAL:  Improve the hyper-pigmentation and breakouts.

Body:
Starting point:  Tight upper body, spine and tight lower body.  A 'fluffy' body (LOL).  I do not wear jeans.  I haven't worn jeans at this point in nearly seven years, so obviously I can't fit my old jeans.


GOAL:  The tightness CAN be addressed with yoga and stretching.  I mention this because there are some very specific positions I want to achieve in yoga that I cannot to date achieve due to the extreme tightness in my upper body.

Meet the Eagle pose (Garudasana).  I can currently get my arms to cross at the elbows but they do NOT meet at the wrists.  I can get my wrists about 2-3 feet close to each other.  No more.

So, I simply hope I can get my wrists and hands to wrap by the summer of next year.


<----Addresses upper body tightness

  Meet the Hero (Virasana) pose.  See how the model sits comfortably between her bent knees and feet?  I, currently, can sit uncomfortably between the air, my butt, and feet.





<----Addresses lower body tightness





Well, those are two of the killer positions, although they in no way represent the only positions I have problems achieving.  More on yoga later.

Fluffy Body?:
Well, what can I say about this?  Best I can do is try my best to drop my body fat levels from its current gut busting 29% down to something more sexy like say 18%.

Jeans:
I am tempted to quote Joan Collins here.  But, I will promise to get a lovely pair to wear for the summer of 2011.

So there you have it, a broad look at my starting point and goals.  I will break each one down and try my best to explain how I plan to get there.