6 Month Hair/Financial Challenge...Ready, Set....GO!!

Start Date: June 4, 2011
Mid Check In Date: September 4, 2011
End Date: December 4, 2011

So, I was perusing online while at work one night when I stumbled across the blog thinkandgrowchick.com. I read one post and fell in love! This girl has some pretty good stuff! And on top of that her writing keeps you entertained to the point where you don't even realized how much you've read! In reading Miss Courtney's (thinkandgrowchick) blog I was inspired to start a challenge for myself and be 100% strict! In the back of my mind I'm thinking "Laura, you are biting off waaay more than you can chew!" but I'm always up for a challenge, especially one that can better me! I'm praying that I can pull it off, I think I can...and I'm determined to do my best! So here goes.....

                                                          The Hair Challenge:

So basically while reading Miss Courtney's blog I decided that I like the way in which she breaks things down for her regimen, and let's face it, the whole point of my doing this challenge is to build a GREAT regimen so that I can maintain HEALTHY, long, thick, BEAUTIFUL hair! So just as Miss Courtney did, I'll break my new regimen down into 3 categories. The Need, The Situation, and The Means.

The Need:

1. Cleanliness: Whereas most naturals are saying they wash their hair 1x a week, I don't think that fits in with my lifestyle. LOL! I will be washing my hair 1x a month, and co-washing 2x a month (every other Sunday that I'm off). I've picked this as my wash schedule because I don't think that I need to put shampoo in my hair every week in order for it to grow. As long as I'm cleansing it in some fashion, I believe that I'll be good.

2. Moisture: I plan to moisturize 2x a day. Morning and night. I plan do moisturize by misting my hair lightly with a mixture of water and rosemary essential oil which of course, is in my spray bottle. If am an not working, I will more than likely mist hy hair multiple times a day. After misting my hair I will seal with whatever oil I feel like for the day and vegetable glycerin.

3. Protection: I plan to protect my hair with twists/braids, twist-outs/braid-outs/bantu knot-outs, buns, and possibly a sew-in when it gets cold. We'll see. :)

The Situation(s):

1. Daily Life

2. Going to Bed

3. Wash Day

These are pretty self explanatory so I'm not going to delve to much into them. If you all have any questions you can definitely let me know and then I'll post something regarding each of these situations.

The Means:

1. With a hair product

a. Shampoo: I plan to purchase Castile shampoo to use as my main shampooing agent. I've heard a million and one great things about it and almost bought it on my bday but for some reason I didn't. So I will definitely be adding that to my hair regimen.

b. Conditioning/Deep Conditioning/Leave-ins: Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do as far as this category is concerned. I haven't found a conditioner that I'm absolutely in love with and can't live without! I'm definitely looking for one so if you have one that you think I'll like let me know. I'm also in the market for an amazing deep conditioner and leave-in too! Let me know! :)

2. Oils: As you all know I've been loading up on oils to put in my hair. As of right now my oil list is as follows.

a. Almond Oil

b. Apricot Oil

c. Avacado Oil

d. Coconut Oil (Extra Virgin)

e.Castor Oil

f.  Jojoba Oil

g. Rosemary Essential Oil

h. Tea Tree Essential Oil

i. Vegetable Glycerin (not an oil for real but who cares! lol)

* I have E.V. Olive Oil as well but I didn't want to name that since its in my pantry to cook with. Ha!!

I will primarily be using my oils to do hot oil treatsments (which my hair loves) and sealing in moisture after I moisturize.

2. With a hair technique: As I said earlier I will be doing protective styles as my day to day.

a. At night I finger part my hair into about 14 twists, M & S and put my satin cap or scarf on.

b. On wash day I will pre-poo (thinking about using honey as Rashana has told me before), puting my hair in 6 chunky twists, washing and detangling in the shower and DC'ing either under my hooded dryer or steamer. After rinsing out about 75% of the DC I will then put my hair in a protective style. On weeks that I co-wash only, I will start with a hot oil treatment instead of a pre-poo.

3. With both: Self explanatory, combine the two above. LOL!

So....this is a very long post already and I haven't even gotten to the financial part! Luckily that part is not as long. So here goes....

                                                   The Financial Challenge:

The first step in becoming more financially secure is to KEEP more than you SPEND!!! Duh right!?! Then why aren't we doing it?? Well, I'll tell you what, I'm tired of being BROKE and not being able to to do the things that I want to do! Sometimes I ask myself why I went to school in the first place if I'm just going to stay BROKE!!! Well....NO MORE!!!!! I have decided to turn over a new leaf and start becoming more financially responsible/secure. Here's how I'm gonna do it...

1. Know your income: You gotta know what you're brining to the table so you know how much you have to go off of. If you are spending more than you are bringing in....THAT'S A BIG PROBLEM!!

2. Know where your money is going: again, that should be a no brainer, but sometimes I look at my bank statement and am like "where the heck did my money go!?" Keeping my receipts is going to be one of my first steps in knowing where my money is going. I plan to do a weekly tally of all my receipts and put it on an excel

3. PAY MY TITHES!!!!!! (this should really be #1) Too many times do I say "well, how am I gonna pay for this, or that if I pay my tithes?" and I don't give God what He has asked for! Why I can't just put my faith in Him when He has told me and shown me time and time again that He will take care of me I'll never know! But its a new day....tithes will be paid!!!

4. Keep 10% of my TOTAL income: This is not just my paychecks from work but any money that I receive. I don't care how small, 10% should be saved! I think I'll be surprised by how quickly that 10% grows.

5. Use coupons as much as possible! This is self-explanatory!

This is all I have for right now....but there will be updates shortly! Also, I took pre-hair photos but because I started this post on the computer at work it won't let me add pics from my phone in the same post. So I'll add another post of my hair pics. :)