Loose or locs . . . all are welcome

I wear my natural hair loose (afro, shake and go, etc.) or in protective styles, but do not have locs.  Whether you wear locs, keep your hair loose, wear protective styles such as braids, or are just transitioning to natural hair, I welcome you to be part of this blog.  I will be doing interviews later so if you are interested in being interviewed, please send me an email.  Many people just want to use a screen name, so I respect that.  You will need to provide me with your photo when you respond to the questions if I have not taken a picture of you myself so that we may see your beautiful tresses.  This blog will be interactive, so please stop by often and comment on the posts so we may get a dialog going and help each other along this hair journey.

Pulling hair up into small bun. . . careful with those edges

Over time when you visit this blog, you will see that I like to wear a variety of styles.  Sometimes, I pull my hair up into a small bun like this.  This style was created by spritzing my hair with homemade leave in spray and then some distilled water when I ran out of the spray.  The style that it was in before this was a shake and go that I had done the day before, so my hair was in curls/coils.  I just dampened my hair and then stretched out my curls/coils with my fingers by holding a large section of  damp hair and then just pulling the curls/coils until they were all stretched out.  I have alot of hair, so it took about six or seven sections to get it all done.  The hair was then finger picked out into a giant 'fro.  I used a hair brush and gently brushed my damp hair up into a small bun and took a large elastic that I usually use for big afro puffs by wrapping it once around and wrapped it three times around the small bun.  This was done so that the hair was not pulled to tightly, which is not good for those edges.  I then used a little Kinky Curly Gloss Pomade on the smooth, brushed parts and finished it off with a little clear Eco Styler styling gel. 

Here is a picture of the products and tools that I used. 

Lots of growth. . . MAJOR SHRINKAGE!

I did my BC (big chop, i.e., cutting off all relaxed hair and leaving only natural hair) in October 2008 after transitioning for about 5 months.  My hair stylist cut nine inches of relaxed hair and only three inches of hair were left.  I have experienced good growth and have not had a hair cut since then, although I have dusted (minimally trimmed 1/4 to 1/2 inch) the ends while I had it in small double strand twists.  These photos show the length of my hair when it is stretched out by me pulling it.  I am trying to grow it at this stage to APL (arm pit length) and am getting close :)  I have major shrinkage as you may see.  I sprayed my hair with my homemade leave in spray then finger picked it into an afro.  When my hair gets wet, it shrinks a lot after it dries!   It doesn't bother me, though.  I love my curly/coily hair and its texture gives me lots of options for styling.

What do you feel about shrinkage?  Do you experience a lot of it when your hair dries?  Please leave your comments and also take my poll that will be open until December 31, 2010.

Welcome to JDNatlady's Natural Hair Blog

Until now, I have only hung out on other sites such as http://www.nappturality.com/, http://www.fotki.com/ , and various hair blogs.  For the longest time, I was meaning to start a blog, but I was trying to finish my gospel CD and deal with other commitments.  The time has come for me to get going with my hair blog where we may discuss styles, products, and similar topics.  Please stop by again.  Take care and God bless.