I'm Back!!! - a Special "Whats Rachie Been Up To?" Post... :-)

Hey There Guys!!! 

I'M BACK,
Finally!

Hope you all have been doing well on your Hair Journeys.

I feel awful that I haven't been keeping up with you guys for the last almost 2 months,

I had so many things going on at once this April/May it was unreal!!

Whew!
I have started serious studying for exams again - because in medicine the studying never ends,
Working and Studying is no joke, hats off to all those who get their degrees and other certification while working and still maintaining some semblance of normal life... I salute you!

Hairwise...

Lots and LOTs and LOTS has happened since you guys last saw/ heard/ read from me :-)
and it AINT all that pretty... sad to say...

I guess hair-wise this will be one of my "What's Rachie Been Up To?" Posts.
Long and short, with the onset of lots of things to do, my hair, being spoiled as she often is, didn't like the reduction in attention. I was still moisturizing and sealing, I still deep conditioned once a week, sometimes once every 10 days, but yeah it began to get dry. And worst of all I started noticing breakage.

It was soooo frustrating!!!

It was like I was trying my best at everything, going back to basics and trying to make sure my hair had enough moisture, I manipulated my hair less, and it had adequate protein, so what gives???

Looking back on it, I think the stress had a lot to do with it...

I dunno if I'm just to emotional about this hair journey, but I started to feel so depressed! 
I mean I put effort effort and still more effort, and my hair had the audacity to tell me, nah I feel to break now, full stop, end of story.

So I flung my hair into low manipulations styles: basically plaits or twists that Id keep in for a week, then let down on the weekend...

I still saw a few broken hairs (not shed hair) on take down - despite being gentle (At least I think I was being gentle).

I was tempted to cut it off at one point and that's when I knew I had to put it away for both my AND my hair's sake....

Guys....

So I did the unthinkable in my desperation, Smh, I did a corrective relaxer at approx 5 weeks post on March 22nd 2014. 
CRINGE
Why? because I was still having breakage, so I figured with was because my hair was so under-processed the last time "Yayness, I Finally Passed BSL!"

Now the hairdresser was excellent at the relaxer part she did it in tiny sections then washed and neutralized each one individually, but alas when it came to combing with conditioner in,
WOI! (A Jamaican term indicating exasperation, lol)
I suspect that I lost hair AGAIN. 

Man, I have no one to blame but myself, I know since the cassia in December my hair is a strange texture after washing out conditioner so its easy to snag and break. My ends looked thinner. 
Fruits of my hard labour, slipping away...
The Panic Continued...

So after that ordeal, I put my hair in twists and plaits and deep conditioned every 3 days with plaits still in, and air dried as normal. I was going to alternate plaits and twists weekly and then I just decided: 
I neeeeeeded a more long term protective style, 
I needed to put my hair away so I can care for it with minimal manipulation, I can have access to it so I can wash it and deep condition and moisturize and seal as necessary, 
and I just needed to not see, hair fall, my heart couldn't take much more. 

Would you believe, that my hair was still giving me trouble? I sometimes wonder now, looking back, if I was just panicking because I was under more stress than usual, so maybe my hair was just SEEMING to be behaving 10 times worse than usual... its a thought...

Seriously though,

I was gonna take the scissors and chop it to APL and start again in my frustration, but luckily I know better than to use my scissors when I'm angry with my hair.
So......
On April 23rd, I put in my first weave ever ever in life! Shocker!
Yep, this hair journey has caused me to seek out new life, new civilizations, boldly go where no Rachel Thwaites has gone before.... Dwl

Ok no, seriously, it was weird for me not being able to feel my own hair as I brushed or combed, but I was determined to do a long term protective style and try something new. I figured the braids would be rougher on my ends than a weave would be. I was considering going with the Kurly Klips  first, but I talked myself into trying something new...


Results? 

What have I learned?

• That sometimes "Learning" really sucks! grumble grumble... LOL
• Weave is bad for my hair on take down, because my hair tangles around the thread
• My hair likes the long-term protective styling but its all for naught if the take down just undoes your progress
• STOP & BREATHE!- Soooo Important! I think that in my panic, things seemed a lot worse than they were, so I ended up resorting to something I wasn't fully prepared for. Stress can do that to you!
• I found out about Rosemary oil for scalp massages and gave it a try - My hair loved it! - Will be posting on this soon.
• Lastly, but most importantly, This week I've learned to be thankful! I'm happy to have hair still on my head, it could have been much worse!

Sometimes you just have to, as my friend Hilary says, have your moment, breathe then move it along...
I tried that yesterday as my mourning period was wearing off, but its more difficult than I'd like to admit,

 LOL!
I was still not fully amused...

But I'm definitely better today! :-D

I feel bad that I didn't share all of this earlier with you guys, 
I know I prefer when a blogger carries you on their journey as opposed to just telling u what they did abruptly after the fact.
Please accept my humble apologies you guys,
I definitely missed blogging!

But now that I have more of a routine with studying, and working and trying to live healthy, I'm definitely ready to get back into the thick of things with my hair journey.

I have so much more to fill you guys in on, like new purchases, vitamins, scalp massages with Rosemary oil... but this was a looong post, so Ill fill you guys in a bit more gradually.

Thank you all for stopping by! Hugz to you all, 

I really appreciate the views, advice and support!

Have a great Friday!

Xoxo,

Rachie :-)