Hairline: Then and Now

Then ----------------------------------------------------- Now

Then ------------------------------------------------------- Now

I just wanted to provide some comparison shots from pre-surgery until now...

The Good News...

is that some of the hair from my donor site is now long enough to lock! Of course, it will probably come aloose, but it felt good to be able to somewhat mask the gash in my head. As you can see on the left, she was able to totally conceal the hole in my head.

So far, so good. I just wish I had more patience!!!

It's ALIVE!!!!

So here's why I typically don't go anywhere after a retightening! This was taken last Saturday after returning from a retightening. I have been locked for 15 months and some change, and now they really look like locs! If you have been keeping up with my journey, you will know that these locs are considerably shorter due to a butchering from an inexperienced consultant (all consultants are NOT created equal). Thankfully, my new consultant was able to somewhat salvage the massacre and cut my locs into layers. However, they still look like they are all over the place, so I typically don't freestyle. If you see me rocking the locs "AS IS", I was just being lazy. In fact the last time I free styled was when I had the flu and a bad lupus flare up and couldn't braid my hair because of the joint pain in my knuckles. Not cute...

Here's a bit more of a close up...

Another close up. Yep... chia pet!!!!

Hairline Update

So I have been trying to make the best of the hairline situation, and for the life of me I don't detect any growth. Most recently, I have been itching like crazy and had had unbelievable dandruff. According to a dermatologist (it helps to work with them every day), the "shedding" is probably a sign of activity going on below the epidermis (scalp), i.e. growth. She thinks that the new hairs that are trying to emerge are causing my skin to go haywire.

It makes sense, but it is SO embarassing! I have been trying to use a dandruff shampoo, but I can't really wash my hair as frequently as I like because my edges have not locked yet due to my hair texture. So I am left to either deal with the flaking and keep my hair from unraveling or wash every 4 -5 days and sport my UN-locs (he, he!). Homer Simpson said it best...D'OH!!!!

Everybody sing... Dashing through the snow... The dandruff is kinda gross, but here's my current hairline. As you can see it's quite red and inflamed. It's so itchy! Is it growing? I can't really tell because I look at it every day!!!! Stay tuned... I will add some comparison shots in a later post.

Call Me Cover Girl!!!

...not as in the makeup, but as in covering my huge hair flaw! My signature "do" is usually a braid out. Depending on how long I want my hair to last, I will either cornrow it back and band the ends overnight or simply braid it in about 12-14 random braids and twist them into nubian knots overnight. Both give me a wavy look, but the cornrowing option gives a more relaxed look and only lasts a couple of days before going flat. The random braid method can last up to 10 days, but the first few days the curls are really tight (not feeling the Shirley Temple look).

For the most part, the braid out does a good job of masking my usual issues like bunching and multiple textures (curses to the creamy crack!!!!!!!), but now that I have a section of unlocked hair, there is an odd space left in the back of my head that I can't mask.

So after playing around with some different options, I came up with a "new do" that covers up the gash. I call it my corporate look!

Sorry about the flash and the hole in my shirt (that's what I get for rushing!), but as you can see, I simply pulled the back of my hair up into a high ponytail and made some nubian knots with the ends and secured them with ouchless ponytail holders. I did a braid out in the front (about 6 small cornrows) and voila! New do!

This look lasts about a week. I tie a folded scarf around the back of my head and knot it in the front (Think Morris Day from Purple Rain) and wear a satin slumber cap over that to keep the braid out in the front neat. I just had to be careful where I placed the knot because I ended up with a huge round bruise on my forehead a couple of days!

Anywho.... problem solved. Gash was covered, I looked cute and once again confused my white coworkers ("Your hair looks different. Did you cut it?")!!! They are always so.... enough said.

Epiphany: I need to add some styling pics to my blog. Hmmmm.....

Back to Hair

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, even longer since I gave a hair update. I have been keeping track of my healing process, and I am happy to see that the hair in my donor site is starting to come in nicely. I have also been tracking my natural hair texture since I will be able to see it as it comes in.

The only thing I can say is... If I knew then what I know now... I would have NEVER put chemicals in my hair! I just remember how I thought my hair was "nappy" and how I wanted silky hair cascading down my back. Now that I see my natural texture, my hair's curl pattern really isn't that tight, quite pretty actually.

Oh well! Better late than never!

I took this pic before a re-tightening session. Since my hair has quite a relaxed curl pattern, I have to retihten avery 4 weeks. I still have sections of hair that come completely aloose after a year. The amazing news is that you can hardly tell that a few weeks before, I had a baseball like stitch crawling across my scalp! The hair is filling in quite nicely. You can also really see the texture. See my little curly q's?

I am a little apprehensive about the stages of my hair, because the donor site will have to endure the whole locking process again (which has taken in excess of a year). Obviously it was too short to lock, so I had to come up with some creative ways to mask the gash!!

Back to Hair

So now that I was on my path to enlightenment, I needed to continue to focus on my hair journey. Since some personal setbacks hit at the end of 2009, my diet and exercise regimen had gone down the tubes, but I decided to work on my inner self throughout the winter and plan to re-connect with my body when the weather warmed up (I hate the gym. I would rather exercise around nature).

In the meantime, I decided to re-visit a strict vitamin regimen to see if it made a difference. I am typically a "slow grower" (about 1/8" a month), so anything I can do to speed up the process would make me ecstatic. I did some research on the web, and decided to try Hairtopia. To date, I can not report any results, but the intial pros and cons are as follows:

Pros: Quite a few reviews claim they are effective.

Cons: It is a LOT of pills... 10 A DAY!!!! They can cause stomach upset and elevated body temperature. You MUST take them with food and drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. I have noticed that they increase the appetite. I would advise against using them if trying to lose weight simultaneously. Luckily, I am petite, but I find that I have to keep healthy snacks around or I will splurge. Finally, they make your hair grow EVERYWHERE! I have to visit the waxing salon a lot more frequently these days. I even found a hair growing out of my neck! I was mortified! Pretty soon I will look like this:

Remember Cousin It from the Addams Family???

Enlightenment

It's hard to believe that we are already into the third month of 2010. I must admit that 2010 has proven to be a year of many challenges. Of course, with the hair, I am in the midst of the waiting game. I have now returned to my pre-transplant hairline (which is normal), and I am ridiculously frustrated. A watched pot never boils, but between the gash in the back of my head from the donor site and the hairline that appears to be receding even more, I am once again struggling with self esteem.

I have chosen the symbol of the butterfly to represent me during this time of transition, because they start off as something seemingly ugly but end up as something beautiful. Unfortunately, I feel like I am in my ugly stage. I am hoping this part of my life will pass quickly...