3-0 is STARING me in the Face!

So, I just turned 29 and I feel like 30 is staring me right in the face. I'm not a kid anymore! 

Okay, I haven't been a kid for a long time but you know what I mean. The 20s will officially be over! It's scary.

By the time I turn 30 next year I want to have accomplished something. I  want to feel good about these last few decades. 

So like the organized person that I am, I've made a check list.

  Said list is titled: "Things to do by the time I'm 30." 

Now, I have less than 12 months to do all these things, which means I had to make the goals reasonably achievable. There's nothing more discouraging than having those months go by with nothing to show for it because I was too unrealistic.

This is not a Hollywood movie. This is my life. As such, these are things that are important to me even if they are not earth-shattering to anyone else. So here we go.

1) Run as many races as possible (especially trail races) to prepare for my ultramarathon in 2015.

In the first version of my list I put "run an ultramarathon" but that was impossible with my time restraints. First off, the only ultras in Spain are either too long (think 100+ miles) or all completely trail (think goats climbing mountains). 

There is no way I can run 100 goat miles by next year. This is much more doable. In addition, when I started running I was always training for something. Now my motivation will stem from the pure joy of running and staying in shape. 

I figure I can run at least one race every month. In fact this month of September there are about 3 races in my local area I can run. 

I'm also setting myself another running challenge: run 5 days a week--no excuses.

2) Get a 6-pack

I want rock hard abs! I know a lot of it is genetics, and I have a really short torso...... but I want visible abdominals people. In my opinion, this is the hardest goal of them all because it will mean losing more weight and lifting more weight. Plus, I'm not really sure how much more of my diet I can change...

3) Shave my head

This speaks for itself. As for now I plan to enjoy my hair by wearing it out more instead of always putting it into twists. I will probably do a final length check before I cut it. I guess I just want to be able to say, yea, I wasn't afraid to cut my hair off!

I'm also tired of obsessing over length. My hair is healthy and will continue to be. I'm just at a point where I'm sick of doing the same thing. Hopefully this move will give me an even greater appreciation for my hair. I'll probably leave an inch of hair instead of cutting it completely off.

4) Buy a LBD (little black dress)

Turning 30 is definitely the right time to care a tinsy bit about fashion. So my goal is to scourge the Internet and shops to find a nice form-fitting dress I can use to show off my 6-pack!

5) Go to Prague

Always have wanted to go and I figure turning 30 is as good a time as any to fulfill this dream.

6) Have a full body spa experience every month

The point of this list is not to go broke. So I plan on having a spa experience at home with my own homemade, all-natural, ingredients. There are a bunch of oils I plan on getting immediately like: avocado oil, grape seed oil and almond oil. I figure I can get the essential oils little by little to not break the bank as they say. 

I need to incorporate a way to relax from daily life. I eat right and exercise but I don't take much care of my mental health. That's all about to change. Plus, who doesn't like manis and pedis?

7) Get some all-natural makeup and learn how to apply it

Again, 30 is the perfect time to at least try to create an everyday look and "party" look for when I want to go out. There are various websites out there that sell all-natural makeup products and I've been meaning to buy some for awhile now. 

I'm most excited about the nail polish! I LOVE nail colors but haven't worn them in a couple years because of the harsh chemicals. This summer I wore some on my toes only because I have runner's feet (black toe nails) and that's not cute when wearing open-toed shoes!

8) Read all the books by my favorite author: Isabel Allende

There are 14 books that I haven't read yet. Ambitious you say? Yea, you're right. But I've been meaning to read these books for so long and now I have no excuse....(except maybe time?) I'm currently reading Eva Luna. Oh, and did I mention I'm reading them ALL in Spanish?

Okay, that's the extent of my list. Maybe I'll keep adding to it? Dunno.

Nothing super extraordinary but all things that I have not done because of laziness or some other such reason. I'm still in the planning stages of all these things and I think I will go through a lot of trial and error. I'm excited though!

I plan to update the blog with all the tips, tricks (and failures) I encounter along the way. Especially websites and information I use to either purchase products or get my mind and body into gear.

Whew, it felt so good to finally write all this down...

HOTD: Hair of the Day

This is my very first HOTD post!  Today I was having such an incredible hair day that I had to share. I couldn't wait!

I did what I said in my last post about preparing my hair for bed. I just applied a dab (literally a dab) of Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie to the ends and then put them in chunky twists.

This morning I had to run (I did 8 miles) so I put a headband around the perimeter of my head and then my workout headband. When I showered I wrapped my hair in a scarf so that the condensation wouldn't frizz my hair out.

After I got dressed I untwisted and this is what I was left with.

This is by far the absolute BEST twist-out that I have ever had! I was so excited when I saw my hair! I hardly ever wear my hair out, as in I  never do, because I don't like how it looks. It's usually frizzy, dry and has no movement.

The curly girl method is doing wonders for my moisture retention with very little effort on my part.

The only thing I had on my hair was the conditioner from when I detangled my hair. With the CGM I don't rinse out the conditioner I apply to my hair to help me detangle. To put in the twists I just applied some gel.

I wore my hair out yesterday and today without applying anymore products. Tonight I'm going to try putting it in a bun to see how my hair looks. However, I'm going to wear a protective style because I said I'd only wear it out twice a week.

Tomorrow I should re-wet my hair but I think I will wait until Friday afternoon to redo my hair. I'm loving this style and can't wait to try it again next week!

Don't you love it when you have a complete hair success day?

Curly Girl Method: Week 3

While I'm enjoying the CGM method, I find that I don't have time in my schedule right now to "shampoo" twice a week. I'd prefer to re-wet my hair after my initial "shampoo" day so that my hair stays nice and soft but it's not possible.

Here's another style that I wore last week after I did my wash and go. It wasn't that cold outside so I just decided to go with the flow. I wasn't convinced of it's "cute-ness" (yea, I made up a word) but my husband liked it.

This week I put in my pre-poo/deep conditioner on Sunday but I was too lazy to rinse it out. So I just slept with it in my hair. I rinsed it out and shampooed with my conditioner and detangled on Monday. The detangle process is much easier and faster when I do my hair twice a week instead of once a week. Hopefully I have more time in the summer.

However, this week we are going through a cold spell, so I knew I wasn't going to wear my hair out wet. So I put it in some medium-sized twists and wore my beanie. This afternoon I took them down to rock a twist out and I loved the results! This is going to be my go-to style until the warm weather starts.

I will do my hair, twist it up and leave them in for 24 hours. I will rock a twist out for 1-2 days, then after that I will put it in updos. The only thing I had on my hair for the twists was my leave-in conditioner, and some gel. I got the best twist-out results I've ever had.

The pictures below don't even do it justice. It looked nice and full and defined and super soft. These pictures show what my hair looked like before I separated the twists.

I didn't put any oil or anything on my hands when I separated the twists because my hair was incredibly moisturized. The CG method is the best! I then separated them and what I ended up with is below.

I haven't decided how I'm going to prepare my head for bed yet. I will probably put it in a bun (got the idea from a youtuber) or twist it back up in bigger twists.

Then tomorrow I will wear it out and then following days it will be up until I wash it again. I'm truly loving this Curly Girl Method journey.

Hair Update: 1-month In

I mentioned in my New Year's Eve post that I had some new hair goals this year. (Read that post if you want to know in more detail). In that post I promised I'd come back each month with an update on how things have been going.

Well, so far I have been loving taking a break from twists! On wash day it makes the process so much easier and quicker. It's a breeze to detangle my hair and after my deep conditioning I don't have to waste time putting in twists. I just moisturize and then put it in 4 chunky twists for bed.

I've also been experimenting with oils in my deep conditioner. I love castor oil in my deep conditioner because it makes my hair ridiculously soft. Last week I also added some sesame oil to it (not the toasted sesame oil you put in Asian cuisine!) in addition to my olive oil, jojoba oil and castor oil.

Besides the ease of wash day, I've also been able to be more in tune with my moisture levels. When I wore twists it was harder to gauge when my hair needed moisture. Sometimes I wouldn't even moisturize because I didn't want my twists to get fuzzy.

Since I take my hair down every evening to prepare it for bed (and every morning to style) I can feel and see when my hair needs something. I'm also able to pay special attention to my ends. I get a lot less tangles.

In the morning it does take me longer to do my hair but the benefits outweigh the cons. I'm also forced to actually learn to style my hair without the aid of twists. For the past two weeks I've been trying roll, tuck and pin styles courtesy BlakIzBeautyful on youtube.

Every so often she has a winter protective style tutorial that is just so easy to try. So I'm getting better with experimenting with styles that aren't too complex for my skills.

This style here is just a roll, tuck and pin with a bang and the back rolled up.

The next one also features a bang but the back is my version of a french roll.

The last style is super, duper easy and a definite go-to style when you don't feel like doing you hair but want it to look decent. Here's my version of the high-bun.

As for the Curly Girl Method, I bought the book but my sister has to ship it to me from the US. Once I receive it I will read it (obviously) and see whether it's something feasible for me to do. Right now I'm simply enjoying my hair and re-realizing the joys of being natural!

Hair of the Day

I had a little bit of free time today so I decided to do a hair-of-the-day kind of post. Nothing special but I just bought two very cute hair accessories that I wanted to show off.

They are hair combs. The other one was in my hair. ;)

My hair is in about 4-5 big chunky twists and the front is in smaller, individual twists for my bang. I just pinned the bang up and pulled the other twists back. Super duper simple. It takes me five minutes in the morning. I just spray my hair with water and smooth it back with my Cantu leave-in. I put on a scarf while I get ready and then put in my hair comb and go.

 

After my henna process this weekend I didn't feel like twisting my hair up. So the twists that are in are what I put in to go to bed after washing. This will hold me until the weekend. I will just put my hair in a ponytail for the marathon. When I get back I will rinse my hair and then decide whether I want to twist it back up or leave it out.

Next week marathon #2: Ciudad Real

I just realized this morning that my 2nd marathon is next weekend!

Clearly, I have a lot on my mind....

The goal is still to finish in 3:30 and although I'm nervous, I am NOT going to psych myself out! Last week I ran 20 miles (trail running) in 3:03 and I felt great afterwards. So I hope I do myself proud.

Either way I've decided that I need a break from training. My initial goal was to (after my marathon recovery) start training for an ultramarathon. However, my mind needs a rest from restrictions on my running for awhile.

Honestly, I miss running and racing simply for the joy of doing it. Actually, I haven't really run just for the joy of running...ever!

Of course I like running but once I was able to run 8 miles easily I immediately set out to train for a marathon. All of the races I have run (including 5Ks) have been during training.

To date I have run 2 half-marathons, 2 5Ks and after next week, 2 marathons.

What I plan to do is to run when and how long I feel like it. I might or might not record my runs. I also plan to sign up for more races because the thrill of being part of a race is something else! It just motivates you to keep running and improving and that's what I need right now.

I might even run the Córdoba half-marathon in November if I so choose! The possibilities (as they say) are endless!

Before the race on Sunday the 28th I will come back with a quick post on what I'm wearing race day and how I'm feeling. This race is also different because I have to pick up my bib number the day of the race. I can't wait until training is over!

Oh, and quick hair update:

I plan to do a henna gloss treatment tomorrow. For the past 3 months or so I've been doing my henna like clockwork. This week I just wore it in a ponytail because I needed a break from the twists.

Since I wore it all week I didn't want to put too much stress on my edges. To combat that I didn't wrap the ponytail holder around twice. I just made sure it went over my hair and then left it loose.

With the headbands I was also able to avoid using gel. I just spritzed my hair in the morning and added some moisturizer and the headbands. It was super quick and easy.

Summer is over!

I never thought I'd be so thrilled for summer to be over, but I am. While it's not "officially" over, the temperatures have dropped significantly making it so much easier for me to run.

But let's back up here a bit...

Yes, I am still here, alive and preparing for my second marathon (October 28th 2012). 

This summer has been hectic for me so I have been completely MIA as you well know.

There were some unfortunate deaths of family members at the school where I work so I had to substitute teachers. It was a lot of work because I was just thrown in the proverbial deep end. Actually, the last two weeks of August I didn't do any running because I simply didn't have the time. I started work at 845am and didn't leave until 9pm!

I'm back on track so far even though yesterday was the first day of classes for the fall semester. I did a 20 mile run on Sunday and today I'll do a 6 mile run (RP or race pace) after work.

This time around I'm finding myself a lot more nervous about the marathon. I have a goal in mind (3:30) but I've had a sporadic training schedule what with work and life and such. So I'm nervous. I can't believe that soon I'll be tapering...

A lot has been going on but my most exciting news is my new running shoes! I got some super cute Asics. I'll take some pics and post them on the blog when I have another breather.

What about hair?

Well, as for hair...it's doing what it does. Last week I put in another henna treatment (Henna gloss). I've been doing well with that. I think I might do another length check at the end of the year just to see what my hair is up to.

Life is good though. I recently moved and me and the hubby are happy and healthy. Oh, our 1-year vegan anniversary comes up this month around the 20th. So I will definitely give my thoughts and show some recipes I've wanted to post for awhile but haven't gotten around to.

So happy October to you all and I hope to make my presence on the blog more regular in the future!

When technology strikes back!

This post is not running related, training related, vegan recipe related (I need to post more recipes!) or anything to do with hair, but I had to share.

For Christmas 2011 I was gifted with a Kindle Fire.

GoogleImages

It was such an odd gift because I am really not into technology. Or, more accurately, ever since my Macbook Pro broke on me after only 3 years of use. 

(i.e. "planned obsolescence" Click here or here for more info on that. Definitely check out youtube as well!) 

My attitude towards technology became cynical.

I refused to purchase another Mac product and the iPod nano I have was another gift. The computer I'm currently using to type this post was a gift as well. 

I sold my TV last year and my cellphone is basic. It does have a camera, which tempted me to throw it away, but I guess I need one in this day and age.

So when I got the Kindle Fire I was thankful (it's the thought that counts) but had no idea what I was going to do with it. 

With the purchase came a 1-month free trial of Amazon Prime. It allows you to watch all the free movies and TV shows you want. I'm no dummy. I took advantage of it.

After that month was over my Kindle Fire pretty much just collected dust. I'd use it when the hubby was on the computer doing some work and I wanted to check my email or watch some youtube hair videos. But that was it.

Since I've been on vacation I've noticed that I have a lot of free time that I need to use up. There's only so many videos on youtube to watch in day, only so much running I can do, and, finally, only so many movies I can watch.

With all this free time I rediscovered the novelty of my Kindle Fire. I started downloading tons of free books. These were books that I would never buy in "real" life like: 

• romantic novels
• thrillers and even
•  fantasy 

I would read on that device for hours. I was having a good time.

Up until I started having this localized pain on the left-side of my upper back, right between the shoulder blades. Not only did I have that pain but I also had a painful burning sensation in my chest, above my left breast, whenever I would move. 

That pain progressed into:

• shoulder pain
• neck pain
• pain at the base of my neck 
• even pain behind my ear

My first thought was to google my symptoms and, of course, the first thing I thought was that I was having a heart attack! 

Now, it seemed pretty unlikely because of my age and my lifestyle but that's what google told me! Suffice to say I was freaking out until I really started thinking about the type of pain. 

When I would stretch it seemed to give me some type of relief and I didn't have shortness of breath, dizziness or nausea. All symptoms that are related to heart attacks. So I did some more digging.

Apparently, having your arms extended for long periods of time, or in my case, having your shoulders rolled forward or pulled up, can cause pain in the trapezius muscle. These same activities can cause your chest muscles (pectoralis) to shorten and thus cause upper back pain.

This is the trapezius muscle.

As you can see, these are the parts of the body that are affected by the trapezius muscle.

Now, I'm no doctor, but basically the chest and back muscles are connected. Who would have known? Not me!

Long story short: my extended time on the Kindle Fire was proving disastrous to my muscle health. 

Once I found out the root of the problem I stopped using the Kindle Fire immediately. Right now I'm thinking of limiting the time I use it to 30 minutes a day. 

When I do use it, I will make sure not to round my shoulders or have my head down for the entire time. 

I will practice proper posture (as much as I can anyway)!

To help loosen up my muscles I perform stretches everyday that help to lengthen the chest muscles. As well as stretches for the trapezius muscle.

The moral of the story: 

• Be careful when using technology, specifically computers and tablets!

•  Don't use them for extended periods of time

• Make sure you have proper posture 

• Stretch when you are done. 

• If you feel any pain definitely stop and stretch

While I'm still suffering from pain in those areas I know I won't make the same mistake again. It will take some time to fully alleviate the pain. But at least I'm not exacerbating the situation because I now know what caused it.

Listen to your body!

May Reflections: Hair and Running

HAIR

Another updo with two daisies.

Last month was my 1-year HHCJ anniversary. It's strange but I didn't celebrate it with any bells and whistles. In fact I didn't really celebrate it at all! Last year when I started this journey I felt like a year was a long way off. Now that it's been a year I'm wondering where the time went.

In general I'm content with the progress that I've made. My continuing goal is to maintain healthy hair. I'm not obsessed with length, although I do want to continue to retain length. However, I doubt I'll do any further length checks.

I'm still figuring out what my hair likes and how to cope with my hair given my schedule restraints. I mentioned in the post Henna Application 2, that I wanted to try washing my hair every 2 weeks to cut down on manipulation. I don't like it. A clean scalp is important to me especially with all the exercising I do and 2 weeks is simply too long.

Now I want to try washing my hair with my twists in. (Check out Week 50 hair for more info) So this weekend I will wash and deep condition my hair with my twists in. When I apply my kimmaytube leave-in I will unravel each one individually, detangle, and then apply product.

On Tuesday of this week I did a "quick fix" because my hair needed some attention. I rinsed my scalp with a cheap conditioner really well and then applied my Aussie quick fix deep conditioner while I showered. My twists were still in the whole time. I rinsed it out and then applied my kimmaytube leave in, my Qhemet Biologics moisturizer and some coconut oil.

Since my hair gets very frizzy, I retwisted the perimeter of my head just so I would look presentable. I loved the results, my hair felt and looked great.

Overall, I'm trying to spend less time on my hair without sacrificing the health or appearance of it. I've learned to love my hair and how to manage it so that it's not only healthy, but also looks great too. I'm so happy I had the courage to embark on this journey because it's given me much more confidence in rocking my natural hair.

RUNNING

The conditioning program I started back in March has been going well. While I don't always get every, single, run in during the week and weekends I feel good. I feel like I'm still in shape, taking care of my body and am ready to start training on July 1st.

I've also already signed up for my second marathon in October! (more on that later!)

I've learned so much from when I started running in 2009 until now. I've gone through injuries, life-changes, and everything in-between, but I've stuck with it. I'm still running and still enjoying myself.

My goals for the future are to try trail running and ultramarathons! I plan to run my second marathon in October and the Seville marathon again in February of 2013. After that I want to concentrate on trying some trail running (smaller races at first) and then some ultramarathon training.

My over-arching goals are to stay fit, stay healthy, stay injury free and to continue to enjoy running! For the blog there's much more updates, thoughts and goals to come!

Week 50 Hair Part 2

In my haste to post my hair update this week I completely forgot to share one of my new hair purchases: butterfly clips! This is one above that I bought and I also bought three other smaller ones in different colors.

I'm really into hair accessories for the summer as well as head wraps. Tons of scarves have just been collecting dust in my drawers with no real use. 

They are too thin to wear during the winter and some are too small to wear around my neck at all! However they are perfect to be used as hair accessories. 

Youtubers have really inspired me by showing me how to tie and rock them in cute ways. I've already tried a bunch of different styles that I hope to share in the upcoming weeks.

Also, my puff that I showed in Week 37 Hair is going to be my primary protective style over the summer. As I've stated before, Córdoba weather is incredible drying and I'm already noticing that I have to apply more product to my hair.

So to protect my ends from excessive drying I've decided that when the real heat arrives I will tuck my hair away. The headbands that I showed in Week 46 Hair I plan to rock to spice up the puff along with any further hair accessories I buy.

My goal this summer is to retain moisture so that I don't experience any unnecessary shedding or breakage. I will definitely come back with pics of my scarf styles and once I finally start rocking my puff.

Week 50 Hair

Well, it's almost Week 50 Hair. It will be this weekend but I actually washed my hair yesterday because I had to.

I'd gone almost 4 WEEKS without shampooing my hair! It was simply because of lack of time (work is no joke) and laziness. So it had to be done.

This time around I think I will just wash my hair with the twists in. So I will shampoo every week but only once every two weeks I'll take the twists down.

I want to see how it goes because I really don't like having a dirty scalp, especially with the weather getting warmer and me about to start training. Even now I sweat A LOT! 

So I know this is a super short post but just wanted to let you know what is up with the hair. Maybe I'll come back with pics next week as I wash with the twists in. 

I'm nervous because I know I'm going to have to battle frizz. We'll see how it goes...

May is Upon Us

Yes, it's me at la batalla de las flores.

So I'm gone for only about 2 months to find that blogger has a new interface! Grrrrr...annoying... 

I've switched to it now because I put off the Google one for so long that when I was forced to switch I had no idea what I was doing. Actually, I still have no idea what I'm doing so I don't know why I'm typing in the past tense. Might as well force myself to learn it now...

Anyway... I'M BACK PEOPLE! 

I am alive and well and still running and being vegan and taking care of my hair. 

This month will soon mark 1-year since I started my healthy hair care journey (HHCJ)! 

While I won't be doing any length checks I do plan to post some "before" and "after" pics of my hair.

I don't want to make this post too long...since I have A MILLION things to catch up on like...

1) My new running program (conditioning)

2) Future races

3) New vegan recipes

4) Hair stuff -- including styles and my 1-year anniversary!

5) May favorites

All of that and more is yet to come. Instead, here's some pics of what I've been up to today. 

Today is el día del trabajador (Workers' Day). So I have the day off. This also coincided with demonstrations to protest the recession and other politics in Spain that have hurt "normal people." The hubby and I went to show our support and protest! This is only the 2nd demonstration I've ever attended.

Also, in May, there is a month long festival in Spain full of events like: la batalla de las flores (battle of the flowers), el concurso de los patios (contest where people decorate their homes and the most lavisly decorated with flowers is the winner), and la feria (the fair). It's an exciting time!

La batalla de los flores was today.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and please come back to the blog! I'm here!

Week 43 Hair: Henna Madness!

 So yea, I finally got the courage to try Henna. I LOVE how it had made my hair look and feel! It feels stronger, longer, fuller and heavier...all good things to me! However, for my schedule, and the realities of life, this is NOT something I can do every month. 

I got up at 8am on Sunday and wasn't finished with my hair until 11pm that night and I am not exaggerating.  The thought of sleeping with that stuff in my hair grossed me out. I am not a person that "sleeps pretty" so that gunk would have been all over the bed. That's why I had to do it all in one day. I actually mixed it the night before and then applied it the next morning.

The Henna process takes extreme patience in the application and rinsing out of the product, especially the rinising out of it. I can see myself wanting to do it every month because of the benefits but getting lazy with it. 

You really have to be careful to rinse that stuff out of your hair. It takes awhile. Right now I'm thinking I will do it once every 2 months. When my schedule slows down (in the summer) I might consider doing it on a monthly basis.

In the post Week 41 Hair, I didn't actually shampoo my hair. Since I didn't have the aloe vera juice I didn't see any real point in starting the process and having to finish it later. So I sucked it up and just wore my hair in updos for the rest of the week.

Last week is when I applied the Henna. Many people don't use shampoo to rinse out the Henna but I did. Partly because it had been 2 weeks since I shampooed and I wanted to have a clean scalp, and partly because I wanted to make sure the Henna rinsed out completely.

So here's the step-by-step process in pictures, Curly Nikki style.

This is how the bathroom was prepped. People aren't lying when they say it's messy. So if you are thinking of trying it make sure that you protect your bathroom. The Henna I used didn't have any color in it so nothing was stained anyway. Kudos to my husband for buying the plastic I put on the floor and cleaning up when I was done!

This is the mix. I made mine exactly how Curly Nikki makes her mix. I added 4 green tea bags to warm water and let it steep. After that I mixed it in with the Henna and then added about 2 tbsp. of honey. I made 200g of the Henna and froze my leftovers. Like I mentioned above, I let it sit overnight (approximately 8 hours).

This is my hair before the application. I wet my hair and throughly detangled before applying the Henna. It's important to do so because you don't want to manipulate your hair much in the application process.

This is at some point in the beginning of the process before I got super messy. The technique is to "smoosh" the Henna on your hair and not rake it through. Make sure you have some plastic gloves!

It is so hard to get this stuff evenly on the hair, or at least I thought so. Next time I will try to make it a tad bit more watery. I think it was too thick. But I did a decent job for my first time.

Now I'm one the second half of my hair. I split my hair into two sections and started each section in the back.

What my hair looked like before I put on my plastic bag. Again, the application was not exactly uniform but I did my best.

Here's a top shot.

 As you can see, I was filthy at the end. Make sure you wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty (or staining if you use Henna with color).

 Here I am again after cleaning up a bit. Now this stuff stayed on for 8 hours.

 After the 8 hours I was itching to rinse this out because it started leaking. Imagine sleeping with this stuff on!

 Yes, it is a complete mess!

Me in the shower right before rinsing it out.

I don't have any post-Henna pictures because, like I said, I didn't finish until 11pm and I was tired. But after rinsing it out really well (I used up all the hot water doing so!) I applied my deep conditioner. I added honey, olive oil and coconut milk to it. My hair felt great afterwards. I didn't have any problems with excessive drying.

I left the deep conditioner in for 1.5 hours and then applied my kimmaytube and twisted my hair up. It was a long process but I truly believe my hair reaped benefits from it. 

I recommend Henna but warn that it is an involved process. Only do this when you are in the mood and don't have to leave the house.