New Year, New Blog

Happy New Year! In honor of the new year and my upcoming 1 year anniversary of being 100% natural I've decided to start a blog. I've chosen to blog about my experiences and adventures in caring for my natural hair so that I may not only share in my experiences but track my progress as well. I will be posting reviews on products, styles,hair tools, a few books, as well as sharing in some of my favorite blogs, websites, and communities.

Now allow me to introduce myself.

My name is KinkySheaPT and I am a 4A/4B textured natural curly. I am a military wife and certified personal trainer currently living in New England. I have been 100% natural since February 2009, with my last relaxer in the summer of 2006. I used braids to transition and finally started living with my natural hair last year. I am still learning the do's and don'ts of natural hair. I've learned about summer routines, deep conditioning, regular moisturizing, etc. As you will see I am still very much a work in progress. So what's my current routine? Well thanks to a fellow curly, a Natural Big Sister if you will, I've found a routine to help keep moisture in my hair in this harsh New England winter air. My current routine (complete with product list) is as follows:

Co-wash (washing hair with conditioner): twice a week with Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deep Moisture Conditioner.

Leave-in/Moisturizer: Herbal Essences Color Me Happy, mixed with filtered tap water (for fluidity), and Wild Growth Hair Oil Light Moisturizer.

Henna: 100 mg mixed with Green tea and lemon juice twice month.

Style: Usually flat twists, with the leave-in. I use the twist-and-curls occasionally.

Tools: Wooden wide tooth comb (from The Body Shop) for styling and to detangle and a Denman 31 Brush (rarely used).

As every natural knows part of taking care of natural hair is taking care of the inside as well as the outside. A good diet, exercise, and a regular vitamin routine goes a long way. As a personal trainer, I've got the good diet and exercise down. The vitamin routine I'm still tweaking. Here is my current routine:

Vitamins: One A Day Women's Weight Smart Advantage, 2000mg of Biotin and 2000 mg of MSM. So far so good. I've been doing this for the last two months and my new growth has been coming in much softer and the curl pattern is looser (could also be from the Henna as well).

Deep Conditioner: Deep conditioning is very important for natural hair (especially in the winter). Earlier this week, I ordered a jar of Jessicurl's Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment. I've never tried this product before and have read great reviews on this. I'm eager to try it tomorrow and will post my results. Hopefully, I will fall in love with it like everyone else. We shall see...

Ciao,
KinkyShea