It's a hair thing

I truly do love my hair. On November 1, 2011 I officially celebrated being fully natural for one whole year. That was a clinical day, so I couldn't show out too much, but once Thursday rolled around I whipped my hair back and forth and 'round and 'round.

Couldn't tell me I wasn't cute!!! That there is a flat twist-out, which I have become quite fond of. It is safe to say that on non-clinical days, and days when laziness does not take over me, the flat twist-out and various styles achieved on top of said twist-out is easily a staple for me. A "go-to" if you will. I'd be lying if I said I don't abuse the wash-and-go puff something serious though. Don't let me get to lyin'.

I am quite proud of how far my hair and my spirit have come in this journey so far. I remember starting this simply because my son's curls were so full of life. I also remember reaching inside and finding so many things to value in myself through this process. It's been a beautiful ride and I look forward to continuing along the road. I looked back at some length-check photos, and I am pretty impressed with what a little TLC can do. Lets take a look.

This is about a week after my big chop, which was November 1, 2010 and about a week after my nappiversary. Not bad as far as I'm concerned. Not bad at all.

So, clearly my hair grows much faster in the back. That is also where the curl pattern is drastically looser and  the hair is a little finer. I've learned so much about my curls in the last year I feel like a brand new person almost!

My regimen has become considerably simpler, thanks to nursing school monopolizing most of my time. I still deep condition once a week, but I've recently switched up the products a little bit. I still use my beloved Suave Professionals Almond and Shea Butter conditioner, but I've taken to mixing this stuff in for my weekly treatment:

That combo leaves my hair soft and shiny, smelling and feeling good. I've also stumbled upon a couple "new" products to use for my staple style, which we discussed up top. I am a FAN of the twist-out, and when I say it like that I am putting it rather lightly. Anyhow, I tested out what has been called Soft Sheen Carson's answer for Miss Jessie's products. Since I've never used Miss Jessie's products, I can't offer anything in the way of a comparison. I can say, however, that these products worked well for me...somewhat. Let me explain.

This stuff is wonderful. I raked it through each section of damp hair before I twisted it. Actually, I probably raked it through, concentrated a bit on my ends (which need desperately to be clipped, but we will get to that in a bit) then ran my Denman brush through the section for good measure before twisting the section up. The resulting twist-out was luscious and all kinds of yummy. My hair smelled absolutely divine, and I fought myself to keep my hands out of it.
My test for how good my hair smells actually has to do with my boyfriend. On one of our first dates, he spent a great deal of the night with his face in my hair, just smelling it and "breathing in the natural thing" as he put it. He kept commenting on how wonderful it smelled. Months later, he still keeps his face all in my hair like that, so when I used this stuff I paid particular attention to how he received the scent. I was already in love with it, of course, so him loving it the way he did was a bonus. And boy did he love it. Ha! Ok. Back to hair.

This spray is unproductive on its own. It dries my hair out. It makes it somewhat crunchy, and it makes it feel a little stripped. Weird, since it claims to revive my curls. It provides a nice 1-2 punch effect when I use it as a detangler before I apply the partner product and put in my twists though. Not exactly perfect, but close for $7.
I'd planned to keep using these two in this fashion before I ventured over to Target and bought more castor oil, sweet almond oil, avocado oil and glycerin. Now, what Target is doing with these supplies, I do not know. What I do know is I was looking for some castor oil to start my "protect and repair my edges" project and got a whole lot more than I set out for! Once I picked those up I went home and mixed up a quick spritz. I plan to use that as my leave in and now I'm not sure how I'll use this revival spray. I'll figure something out. Hate for it to go to waste, but it might have to.

On to my upcoming challenges!!! So, I have been doing quite a few wash-and-go puffs lately, because the need to get out of the house (with the kiddo) and into the hospital for clinical by dark thirty is real these days. All that washing, going and pulling that hair back is beginning to make my hairline sad...at least that is what my mind thinks. As such, I will be starting up a castor oil on the edges challenge with myself. Castor oil on the edges every day, whether I am wearing a wash-and-go puff or not. I started 11/20 and I plan to go through this way until spring, so maybe until April!

In addition to my castor oil challenge, I am also embarking upon a protective styling challenge! It's a chilly fall season here in SoCal, and after I rock today's twist-out, I'm planning to put in protective styles all through winter, which means this will go on (hopefully) until April as well. I plan to braid my hair up once winter break starts, so that will be part of the challenge as well. We'll see how it goes!!!!

Did ya miss me?!?!

I have not forgotten about my promise to take time out to chronicle some things. In fact, I've been meaning to pop back around for the past two weeks, but I've also been getting my behind kicked royally (and loving every minute). I lucked out and got a clinical instructor that will push and push and push us all and insist we maximize our potential. I am thankful for her every Tuesday and Wednesday, but this coming Thursday I will be thankful for a break! And some good food.

Anyhow, nursing school is going well. I am officially official, as my clinical instructor says, for giving injections. That makes me excited. I'm official with doing Accuchecks as well, which means me and a couple of my classmates are a walking dream to the nurses on our floors. On any given day we're doing the Accuchecks for 8 to 10 patients and covering the insulin if necessary. The fact that we get it done without any difficulty gives me a bit of a rush.

In addition to Accuchecks and injections, last week was my week to pass meds. I usually choose pretty complicated patients, so for my med pass days I went for easier work. My instructor was having none of it. The patient I chose for Tuesday only had three oral meds. The rest were IV. We don't learn IV drugs until next semester I think. Anyway, she let me pass those three whopping meds, which ended up only being two meds because his nurse had to give his blood pressure medication early because his BP was extraordinarily high, then after that my instructor went and found my second patient for me to pass meds to the next day. Really? This patient had 10 meds, and they were not all oral!!! Talk about issuing a challenge. Go figure, I made it through that mostly unscathed and ended up loving that patient to pieces. Clinical instructor knows best!

Next up: exam on pain management, perioperative care and cardiovascular care (with emphasis on congestive heart failure)

Me trying on scrubs (which NEVER fit)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention I have a new stethoscope coming soon! It's actually at the post office waiting for me to pick it up. I'll probably snag it after my exam Monday. My son destroyed my old one, but I am mostly to blame. I always have it around my neck and I tell him "let me listen to your belly!" so when he was playing with it, and essentially distorting the drums, he was probably just trying to listen to his belly. Good. That stethoscope will now belong to him. Hopefully he's now on the fast track to medical school. Hahahaha.

So, um, yeah...

The fact that I have not posted in over a year is evidence of how absolutely crazy things have been for me. Let's get us all caught up to speed, shall we?

In my last post I was all sorts of excited about my new growth after I returned from Atlanta. *sigh* Well, shortly after I wrote that entry, I became absolutely frustrated when I attempted to style my transitioning hair as though it was fully natural. I'd watched a darling tutorial video on YouTube, and I was sure the style would look just too good on lil' ole me. Not so much. The ends that should have been robust and springy came out limp and stringy. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. The funny thing is, I went to school that day looking passably cute, but because the style did not look the way it was supposed to I walked around with the ugh face on (in my mind) most of the day. That led to me going home and dramatically chopping off all my permed ends. That is right, I have been fully natural since November 1, 2010. My hair is happy and thriving more than ever. With my Nappiversary coming up in a week or so, I plan to post some length photos that will likely blow my mind. I am TOO happy with my kinks, coils and curls. See?

That's about what it's looking like these days -- all full, free and fun-loving. Except on clinical days, which brings me to my next point:

I GOT INTO NURSING SCHOOL!!!!

Now, this did not happen overnight, as you all well know. As a matter of fact, I applied to four schools and was systematically rejected from each of them. Well, I was rejected from three and waitlisted at one. I felt a little down about that, but I vowed to gear up to try again come spring application time. In fact, in June I re-applied at one of the schools that had rejected me, and I was readying my files to apply to another school I hadn't even thought about before in September. Getting into nursing school, by hook or by crook, was going to happen for me, ya know?

One hot day, and I do mean hot because I was chillin' in short shorts and a colorful wifebeater this particular afternoon, I received a phone call from a program secretary as I sat in my living room thinking up my next funky-unky new hairdo. I wish I could remember the exact wording of the conversation. I really do. All I know is she said "We have a seat for you in the fall class" and I pretty much went deaf and numb with excitement. She rattled off some information for me, but I had to have her repeat everything because I couldn't stop smiling and celebrating long enough to behave like a responsible adult. Yes, my son was watching in confused amazement.

When I got off the phone I felt like the family in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory after the glee of finding a golden ticket had somewhat worn off. "Classes start the 15th of August? That's in three weeks! I've got a bazillion things to do before then!!!!" Cue this face:

Last week we wrapped up our first quarter (ya girl pulled out of that with a 4.0 -- holla!), and we have pretty much jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Real sick people in a real hospital...very little room for games. I'm so excited. My friends who are further along in their programs say I am still in the honeymoon phase. Whatever. I intend to enjoy my experience and absorb every bit. I want to look back on these days and be reminded why all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it. Yep. Honeymoon phase. Hahahaha. First real patient in Med-Surge next week. We'll see!

There have been a couple new developments as well while I have been away. One would hope to have some new developments in the course of an entire year though, right? Sheesh! Growth, change and progression are all the names of the game! 

First new thing: I am actually interested in (gasp) sewing! That's right. One day I read another blog (shouts out to xoJane) and was inspired. You see, the writer challenged herself to not buy any clothing for an entire year and to sew her clothes instead. Well, as much as I like clothes (and shoes. and accessories.), I could totally see that being a challenge. I browsed through my own closet and realized most of the things in it are either from my Spelman days (which were almost 10 years ago) or when I was pregnant (and my boobs are so not that big anymore). I am definitely due for a revamp. With that said, I am taking a break from clothes shopping (shoe and accessory shopping will never cease), and I will be systematically replacing each item in my wardrobe with something deliciously handmade. I have an abundance of fabric, an awesome computerized sewing machine and hundreds of buttons (I love buttons) and zippers. This, my friends, is what life is about!

I made that shirt

My last development is about my love life -- I actually have one!!! While I am an open book about the things I blog about, I actually am a private person. I probably won't chronicle the story of my new love the way I will certainly (try to) detail my journey through nursing school and my natural hair experience, but I did want to mention here that I found this wonderful man on a dating website. And he is neither a stalker nor a serial killer. Will wonders never cease?!

So, to sum all this up (fat chance), I will be sewing and blogging mainly to give my mind something to retreat to when I need to approach nursing school material with freshish eyes. I'll keep you up on my progress, and since I may be too busy to really get in the kitchen and mix up lotions and potions like I used to do, you might find a hair product review here and there. A toast, good folks, to not totally disappearing into obscurity because Iggy and Taylor (the inanimate objects known as my textbooks) demand it! Until next time, which will not be 365 days from now, live life!!!