I'm Back =D

It has been a while since i've posted. I've been really focused on school (20 credits) with midterms, papers, and finals and haven't been able to update. But i'm back! =D

This winter has been HARD on my fro. Ironically, I've been doing more wash and go's since my curls have been coming in beautifully. I've noticed, however, that eyelash sized pieces (and some bigger) have been breaking off and i'm not too pleased with that. Now, i'm on a journey to keep my ends. I'm going to trim my ends once i get some clippers and then we'll see where it goes from there.

While i was gone, I turned 21! I wore my signature style: a puff in the back and my mini bang fro thingy in the front. I did a wash the night before and a twist out the day of.

I'm still using my concoction of shea butter and coconut oil. It provides great moisture and I haven't really been using it as often as i should, but I noticed that once I started up again, my hair thanked me. This whole maintenance thing is new too me, but i've realized that this is all a work in progress and I'm willing to do this work.





This winter break, I put my hair in mini twists for a week and then wen I was going out, I untwisted it for a mean twist out. It was looking quite sexy if I do say so myself ;)

So far, in spite of this terrible winter, my fro has been flourishing. The bottom line is that I love my hair. I love the curls, I love the maintenance, and I love the outcome. I'm taking this journey all the way.  Length check coming soon....stay tuned!!

Low Maintenance Hurr

Does anyone else practice low maintenance hair like me? I sure hope so! Here is my daily routine.

Come home from a long day of school/work,
take out my band and pins from my puff,
and go to sleep (on my satin pillowcase, of course)

and in the morning, I:

wake up to a flattened fro,
spritz with water,
massage with my shea butter mix and my none of your frizzness leave- in (occassionally, i massage my scalp with some coconut oil or castor oil),
re-puff,
and leave!

simple, right?!?!?!

SEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?!?!?!

What is your daily routine?

shea butter for easy detangling???

Last time we spoke, I told you guys that I was going to try whipping the shea butter with coconut oil to prevent it from rehardening and for easier application aaand I did!I followed that tutorial I said I was going to follow and surprisingly, it worked. Not only did my mixture not harden, but my concoction was straight success. I applied it to my hair overnight and my hair felt like cotton for a straight week. It was sooooooo soft! I'm really thinking about packaging and selling it. What do you guys think?

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: On the Couch with Joey Mazzarino

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Curly Hair Care: On the Couch with Joey Mazzarino: "It's time for a Youtube pop quiz... Who is Antoine Dodson? If you answered 'Mr. Hide Ya Kids, Hide Ya Wife,' you'd be correct. Too easy?..."

New Additions to the Staple Product Family Part 2 [shea butter and coconut oil]

Okay so, if you peruse hair blogs like I do, you've most certainly seen/heard talk about shea butter in its natural state (unrefined) and/or coconut oil. Let me tell you, they aint lie [jay-z voice] lol. Recently, I discovered that the BSS (beauty supply store) in my neighborhood now carries unrefined african shea butter...imagine my PJ (product junky) excitement :D! So yesterday, I went out and bought a 16 oz jar for around 7 bucks (not bad considering that when whipped it's like 32 or more oz.) and decided that I would try to make shealoe (shea butter and aloe vera gel) little did I know, shea butter rehardens when cooled -___-   It still kind of worked tho, even though it was hard to work with. I washed my hair last night and melted my concoction in my hand and applied and them curls were poppin like L'il Mama's lip gloss! Anywho,  i did some research and found that in order to prevent shea butter from rehardening, one needs to add a carrier oil...hmmmm....yeaaaa idk what that means either, but upon further research, I learned that coconut oil does the job so, when I get home, I'm going to try again. Stay tuned!!!!

Here are links to the recipes I was going to combine and try:
1. http://www.agrlcanmac.com/2010/01/mixtress-chronicles-shea-pudding.html
2. http://mixology101.ning.com/profiles/blogs/shaes-pudding-curly-pudding

Here is the tutorial I'm going to use later:
http://blackhair.about.com/od/products/ss/howtowhipsheabutter.htm

BTW....
i also discovered that the vitamin shoppe has an entire line of natural products!!!!! (that's where I got my coconut oil and essential oil)  yaayyyyyyy!

Braid Out v. Twist Out

When I was transitioning, I despised braid outs. The pattern was just sooo not cute to me, it waved instead of curled and that's NOT what i was going for. Twist outs (well 2 strand flat twist bantu knot outs) gave me more of the curl that I was looking for.  Now that I'm natural, I've noticed that things are just the opposite. Twist outs, although they do give me the desired curl pattern, cause a lot of shrinkage and more frizz.  Braid outs, although they produce a wave rather than a curl give me the length I desire and makes my from so much more appealing to me. What I do is 2 strand flat twist the very front (bang) portion (cuz it makes it look oh so sexy) and braid the rest. I get the bangingest morning do's =D

P.S. I also recently learned that my length isn't qualified to be a TWA anymore, (womp, womp) because it's over 3 inches, so i am calling it post-TWA lol.

P.S.S There's a poll at the right side at the top of this page. I want your opinions on your favorite wet set styles this fall/winter season.

Shoutouts!!!

I have new followers!!!!!! Thank you all for following my little ole blog. I hope I don't disappoint! Like always, stay tuned!  And be sure to leave comments!!! 

 

Determined

I'm determined to be able to do this by March...that'll be my one year grow out mark and my 5 month since the BC mark. My hair is the perfect texture for this! AHHHHHHH can't wait!! I'm thinking bout coloring Renee too. Although she looks fab in her shade of brown, i've always wanted to experiment with lighteners. There's this hair lightener that some stylists use that has no bleach or peroxides...it's purely oil. What kind of oil? No idea, but when I do lighten ( when I have money) I will be using the oil lightener and putting in this color. I think it's like a 33 in weave. I'm excited =D

I have no idea who she is or where this picture is from, but her hair is to die!! <3

never been happier with my hair...BUT

I just did a little dance inside when I remembered/realized that I was completely natural (it's still kind of unreal to me to put the title to the state of being since it's only been a week). But, at the same time I cringed for my little sister. Today, yet again, my mother insisted that she needed a touch-up. From what I saw, her roots weren't even showing and at the crown there was hardly a quarter inch of new growth.  On top of that, she still had huge scabs from her last touch up which was over a month ago (probably why there's no new growth).  I said to myself (phew!) but at the same time, I was kind of sad because she's only 13, she doesn't want to perm her hair anymore, and as if that's not enough reason, her hair is falling out, breaking, AND her hairline is receding. If those aren't red flares, I really don't know what is. It's a damn shame I tell you, a damn shame! My sister insists that when she's old enough, she's going to go natural..my only fear is that by then, her thin hair will be far beyond repair. I only hope it works out for her.

Thank You Sesame Street!!!!

I'm sure many of you have seen this video on tons of other natural hair blogs, but you know I gotta get my 2 cents in ;).  I love this video! When I saw it on the Wendy Show, I was smiling sooo huge because this is exactly what little kids need to hear. When you are small, all you know is what other people tell you until you're old enough to observe the world for yourself, and by that time, you're already corrupted.  When I was small, all I heard about my hair was how much I had and how hard it was to deal with. By the time I was 6 years old I had already had my first relaxer. When I wasn't getting my hair relaxed, I was getting it hot combed. DAMAGE, DAMAGE, DAMAGE!!!!  Not only damage for my hair, but more importantly, damage for my self image. From that young, green age of 6 years old, I learned that my hair wasn't pretty unless it was relaxed and pin straight. Now don't call DYFS or anything on my mother (lol) she didn't (and still doesn't) know any better because she, like many black women out there is uneducated about how to take care of their natural hair because for soooooo long,black women have been told that black hair is unmanageable and ugly. Well, here's the duh for you...If you don't know how to do something, how are you going to do it? Uhm...learn!  DUH!!!! Granted, there were no resources back in 1995 (when I was 6) that aided black women in taking care of their natural hair, but we have no excuse now. It's time to start learning, educate yourself!!! I am so glad that Sesame Street made this video to show little black girls that their hair is beautiful and they are beautiful even if they don't look like the shiny hair girl on the perm box. :D