Moon Phase Trimming & The Farmers Almanac

Ever since I could remember, I always remember my mother saying she was trimming with the full or new moon. No, I never knew what difference it made or even thought it made any sense, but I know my mother has always had a head full of long healthy hair, so she must know a little something. As I got older, I really realized how much connection we have with our beautiful world and universe, and like my mother, started to become more interested in astrology, which is where trimming with the moon comes in.

As a natural who enjoys her hair regularly, I also need to keep a regular trimming regimen to keep any splits from daily styling from progressing up the strand. With my quest for fuller, longer hair, I'd basically do anything (nothing too crazy, lol) so I decided to start trying out the trimming with the moon for myself. Now unfortunately, I can not give any results on this trimming cycle method just yet, but I will update you all on what I think as I continue to trim my hair with the moon.... I  have been doing it for the past few months.

I have been using the Farmer's Almanac to keep up with a list of best days for trimming, as the days are different for fullness, growth, and retarding growth. Im actually a little scared cuz I accidentally chopped off my braid on a day for retarding growth, so I hope it doesn't stunt the growth of the hair in that area. Here is an paragraph I found on the Farmer's Almanac website, explaining things a little better than I can...

"Best Days Explained...

According to Farmers' Almanac tradition, when the moon is in the appropriate phase and place in the zodiac, it's widely believed that activities will be more fruitful or lead to improved results. The period between the new and full moon (first and second quarters) is considered as the best time to perform tasks that require strength, fertility and growth. The period between the full and new moon (third and fourth quarters) is best for harvesting, retarding growth, etc. Consideration is also given to the relationship the moon has with the 12 ruling signs of the zodiac."

Today is one of the days for trimming to increase growth, so with my hair being out, I decided not to wait to trim my hair because my ends were really bad. I waited until after midnight last night to make sure it was the 16th (we just entered a new moon) and got to trimming. I took about an inch off in the back, and dusted about a quarter inch everywhere else.

Goodbye little bit - o - length in the back
(you can see one of the accidentally cut pieces sticking out)

Snip! Snip! Snip!

My hair after trimming the back

My hair before trimming the back

I didn't trim my hair quite as short as the pieces I accidentally cut, but it's a lot closer to being even now than before. I'm actually really happy with the hair in the back having a good trim, as it gave the appearance of being a fuller, more blunt bob! yay! My ends and I are both happy, and growing :)

Your TWA, Your Ends, and Styling

People would look at me like I was crazy whenever I told them I needed to trim. They looked at me like it was bogus to trim my hair because I'm trying to grow my hair out... doesn't mean I shouldn't still keep my ends as healthy as possible. 

One thing I definitely have learned while in these 2 years having a TWA, especially one that is styled and worn out regularly, is that keeping your ends fresh and healthy makes a big difference when you're styling.

On longer hair, we are able to see more of the hair strand's length, with the ends being at the bottom of the hair. On our short TWA's, the hair is sticking out from our heads so the first thing we see are the ends. 

Over time, if my ends would look dry and frazzled I would try re-wetting the ends only or twirling them around my finger with a little curling cream to try and make them look better. Once it got a little longer, I would just try to put my hair up somehow or go into a protective style until the next trim, so my horrible ends wouldn't be making my hair look dry and frazzled.

I'm not afraid to trim my hair as needed, and I never do huge trims, just a dusting of hardly even a quarter inch at times, usually anywhere from every 2 - 4 months. Though I may retain an inch or two less a year than other girls, I have healthy ends which makes detangling easier and prevents further splitting, not to mention my ends aren't thin and stringy as I reach my goals. As my hair gets longer and I can wear styles like buns that keep my ends protected, I'm sure I will need to trim my hair less. 

Lesson learned: Keep your ends healthy. Keeping split ends and single strand knots at bay keeps the problem from exacerbating any further, and your styles will also look, and hold better.

Do you feel like having fresh ends makes your TWA styling look better? How often do you trim your TWA?

A Transitioning Story: Influencing My Mom to go Natural

My mother's beloved weave

A little over two years ago I influenced my mother to go natural. She didn't put up much of a fight at the the thought of fuller, longer hair, but definitely was not going for a big chop. I weaved her up for a year straight during the initial part of her transition, but for the rest of it, she either wears buns or straightens her hair. Whenever I can I'll snatch her up and try to give her a curly style with her luxurious curls, like I did the last time I made a little post about my mom, but of course she always reverts back to her die hard buns. lol
One day after washing her hair, she decides its a good idea not to detangle, or condition, throw a hat on her damp hair and walk out the door to run some errands before coming to see me. OY VEY! This lady gets here and the back of her hair is as matted as I dont know what! After about an hour of trying to detangle one small section with loads of oil and HEHH I gave up, and told her to get over it because it was Big choppin' time! (It might sound mean, but  that was a matt to remember and I was OVER it!)

 Because she still wanted to be able to pull her hair back for ponytails and have a bit of length to rock her weaves, we decided that since the front hadn't matted that we wouldn't chop it off as of yet... so I guess you could say she had to get half of a Big Chop.

Since then she hasn't worn any weaves for over a year and has been sticking to her good ol' buns and flatironed hair.

My mom has a super, simple hair regimen that basically consists of washing her hair, blow drying, or air drying in twists, and wearing a bun slicked back with water and JBCO. Sometimes she also braids and/or twists her ponytail before bunning. When she decides to straighten her hair, she generally wears it out and ends up putting it in a loose ponytail so it doesnt get all messy if she's busy and moving around a lot. 

She has told me of a few times when she's wore her hair natural (I still haven't seen her wear her hair out and natural to this day unless I did her hair that day) so she was super excited to show me this shot a friend snapped of her wearing her hair down the other day. 

I know I will be doing her hair again soon because she's due to come see me for a trim soon, and I'll definitely be doing a length check on her also so stay tuned!

 Is your mom also natural? Did you influence her to go natural or did she influence you?!

Anyone have a cool Transitioners Story they'd like to share? We'd love to hear some cool stories from all of you transitioners out there! Send your stories to Yais.nyc@gmail.com

Silk Wrapped Twist Out on Blown Out SL TWA

 I blew my hair out 2 days ago to dust my ends with the full moon on August 31st and didn't know what to do with my hair from there. I had thrown my hair into 2 braids to sleep and the next day, with surprise news of going out that night, I quickly needed to figure out something to do with my hair. 

There's a girl who works in the Crumbs Bakeshop around the corner from me who is always sporting an amazing chunky twist out on blown out hair, so I figured I'd use her as my inspiration and do some 2 strand twists on my blown out hair. I used a little Murray's Cream Beeswax to twist my hair, and decided to saran wrap my twists since I wouldn't have the overnight time for my twist out to set. I sat under the dryer for about 7 mins and removed and fluffed my twists before heading out the door. 

I have to say, I really felt like I had one of the best hair nights of my life last night, lol. I really loved my hair and I couldn't stop staring at it or keep my hands out of it. I definitely think my hair came out better since I decided to try saran wrapping my twists. It seemed to give my hair the hold it needed at the last minute, plus added to the silkiness and overall shine of my twist out. I will definitely be trying this with my twists again!

My hair was soft, supple, bouncy, flowy, and all mine! I'm so proud of how my hair is growing out, so I'm just doing my best to care for it, as I continue my lifestyle of daily styling.

Have you tried silk wrapping your braids or twists? How'd you like the outcome?!

And yes, I guess I'm  claiming shoulder length :) :::takes it and runs!:::

Flatironed Natural TWA

 Step 1. Co-washed and  Finger Detangled using HEHH
 Step 2. Applied Vatika coconut oil, CHI 44 Iron Guard Heat   protector spray, and CHI Silk Infusion
 Step 3. Sectioned and Blowdryed
Step 4. Added more CHI Silk Infusion and Flatironed
Step 5. Silk wrapped
Step 6. Trimmed

There is nothing wrong with a natural girl wanting to rock the straight look every once in a while, but if your ends are bent out of shape, it's gonna show. In my opinion, if i'm gonna wear straight hair, i dont want afro ends taking away from the silky flatironed look. Afro Ends? Just me referring to the way split ends look on straight natural hair. I silkwrapped my hair (wrapping the hair and then wrapping taughtly with Saran wrap) and sat under the dryer for about 10 minutes to see if i could get my ends to straighten out a little more... i wanted to make sure that i wouldnt be trimming too much. My hair grew quite a bit since my second chop and i do love the shape it's growing into.

More under the jump :)

Trimming Natural Hair

So Lovely followers of YAIS, i know i have been talking for 2 months already about the Video i made of me cutting my own hair (Thanks to Curly Film Chick for help with the editing) but i finally got it done and put up on YouTube so here it goes, Our First Vid!!! This is a first of many to come so enjoy and if you have any questions, comments or anything, please feel free to ask!

For more information on hair trimming and hair growth, read Hair Growth, Layers, And Trimming

i hate you single strand knots.

Straightening, Trimming, and Shaping

As CFC mentioned last week in her post The Conundrum of Coloring Henna'd Hair, she got her hair high-lighted at an Aveda Salon by her house... here's a little sneak peak.... Aren't they lovely?!

I then met up with her at her house to straighten and trim after her highlighting appointment...

First thing's first, Whoa! I always forget that she has enough hair for 4 people on her head and it's going to take me all day to do! Lol I've only met a few women who have had heads worth of hair and i have to say, i tip my hat to you ladies because that must be a lot of regular work!

I am always drooling over her hair so i never mind getting the chance to dip my fingers in =D I flatironed from dry curly to straight using Chi's silk infusion, trimmed/shaped, and silk wrapped her hair.

What is Shaping you ask?

When i say Shaping in this instance, i mean trimming her hair as little as possible, mostly to shape-up the shape her hair already has and/or add shape, as opposed to just trimming only the the length or giving her more of a haircut. As you can see in the pictures, i took off a lot of weight when i shaped her hair which will help it fall nicely when she wears it curly or straight, especially since she has a lot of hair.

 

The Left side are the Befores and The Right side are Afters...
She said she loves the shape!




  

Tackling My Hair

So.

I mentioned previously that I was experimenting with my hair and then due to lack of interwebs at the new place, I was unable to upload pics. But now I can. And I can explain what I've been doing. For the past couple of weeks I noticed that I had had enough of single strand knots and splits in my hair...

iCan't.

And so as I practiced with a rollerset, I decided that while my hair was stretched out and feeling kinda rough on the ends, to just do the search and destroy method, by sections with my hair scissors and then twist each section that I was done with...

Then I realized that once most of the SSK were out, I still had pretty rough ends which I saw were some splits. So while my hair was wet and my curls were defined, I saw each split in indivudual curls and snipped them off. Altogether, I think I took off half and inch of my strands. Which is fine with me, because my hair feels soooo much better! Although I'm certain my hair will be uneven and lopsided, I can deal with that later!

Happier hair, happier me!

On Trimming

Okay naturals...to trim or not to trim? I hear some of ya'll don't think it's necessary and some of ya'll do. Some say you don't do it because you don't wear your hair straight. Others say you do because you want to keep the hair's shape...

I personally used to have my hair trimmed (or trimmed my own hair) because I had some heat damage and crazy split ends. So when I ran my hands through my curls I heard snap, crackle, pop. My last drastic trim was last November or December, because I really was sick and tired of my hair being tangly and fragile. I neglected my ends, which are the oldest part of the hair and lost nearly two inches but they were the best two inches I ever lost. My hair became smoother and easier to detangle.

I realize that my ends need dusting every three months or so. I get these damn single-strand knots ("fairy knots") so when ever I am arbitrarily touching my loose hair and feel or see a knot, I reach for my trimming scissors and snip them off. I know that I still have some splits because a the last couple of months of my college semester was so terrible stressful and I ignored my hair. Trimming, at this point is necessary for me because I do like the option of wearing my hair straight. Although I have no desire to do so right now (probably won't till November-December) I still need to be able to run my hand through my hair without snapping and I'm still learning to manage my ends.

So what's the verdict for you guys? To trim or not?