Candids

Candids: Maxi Dress

Candids: Makeup & a Camera

Um I tried pink lipstick from the above photos you can see I didn’t wear it out of the house.

Well Braided Hair but Hair GHETTO Still???

As always, my posts are inspired by my real world experiences…

A couple weeks ago a girlfriend of mine arrived to school with her hair braided. The quality of the braids were excellent, you couldn’t tell the roots from the braided in portions and the overall effort was a 5/5.

The roots weren’t fuzzy.

The hair colors matched.

And yet, one fellow had the gall to mention that her hair looked “ghetto”.

Bearing in mind that this is the same guy who said my hair on my head looked like pubic hair I know we have to take this comment with a pinch of salt, but still I was flabbergasted.

What century do we live?

Now, I’ve seen some ghetto hair and this certainly was not it; so now my question is: “How can perfectly braided in hair be considered ghetto?”

I have to contrast this situation with a woman who wears weave, now there’s well done weave and there is “ghetto” weave. Notice how I take his inference to suggest that “ghetto” weave looks down right awful or indicative of social status.

In fact, either she looked cheap or she looked too black.

Anyway, I certainly don’t think he would use the term “ghetto” to describe a well done weave even if he does know that it’s weave in the girl’s hair and yet, when it comes to braids the first terminology is “ghetto”?

Dealing with Natural Hair Compliments

Let me start by saying I hate to use the phrase “white people”, however for the purposes of  this article I shall be using it as my identifier.

That said, followers of my blog would know I attended the 58th National Prayer Breakfast as well a student retreat immediately after. The diversity of the attendees was thin and primarily for the student retreat I have to point out that there were about four persons of color, two African males, one American male and then myself.

Thus we defined the term “minority”.

As the only black female in the arena it is needless to say I felt like an example.

Thus my hair which is close and dare to me came to the fore.

Honestly, I think questions about my hair were bound to happen and if they didn’t then that would mean that nobody opened their mouths to say what they were thinking, which in my opinion would be much worse.

Now to the hair compliment of the century.

“I like your hair.”

…

Candids: Student Retreat at Carroll Valley Resort in PA

After the National Prayer Breakfast I attended a student retreat.

I’m just adding this photo because I think seeing is believing when it comes to natural hair and seeing photos of how other people do it lends to a genuity and provides visual reinforcement.

Candids: National Prayer Breakfast 2010

I recently attended the National Prayer Breakfast at the Hilton Washington in DC.

It was hectic, but in hindsight a wonderful experience.

The dress code was business professional. How did my hair fit in? It didn’t. I’m sure I could count black people on one hand and I saw only one other chick with braids in. I definitely didn’t catch a glimpse of anyone with a fro like mine but nevermind that, your girl represented anyway.

Toward the end of the weekend I received various compliments about my hair.

Questions about hair color, how I styled my hair and why I have the hair I do.

I could tell some people were having whoa moments but it was cool.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt as though my hair was out of place- with all the length and blonde and brunette and type 1 hair.

Why does it matter?

Candids

So I really just want to get down to brass tacks and get into the nitty-gritty posts but as things are now I simply haven’t found the time to focus and collect my thoughts.

I figured as I’ve had such a lull in between the good juicy posts I’d just post some candids to keep any readers updated.

Below is my sister. Really this is another post in progress. A short tutorial really.

From the left: My sister, my mum and me.

My sister has nearly my hair type and texture while my mum’s hair is much softer; so much so that the hair at the nape of her neck is nearly type 1. I’ve always thought that that was pretty cool!

Survey Response Report

This is a sample of one the responses I got in one of my surveys.

I think it raises a very pertinent point.

Q.6  What is/was your biggest challenge during transitioning?

 ”Lack of visual reinforcement that natural is beautiful… It was also hard to date because I look better with longer hair, but I now realize that longer hair does not equal straightened hair.”

Now that there is the truth!

One inch at a time,

Hair Update: The No Comb Thing

After officially ending my no comb journey with a nice combing, I have yet to  do a post about it.

This should address that little oversight.

     Overall, the experience was interesting, it’s always nice to see and understand how your hair responds to different conditions. However, I have to say that I discourage anyone from everrrrrr doing it. In case you didn’t know, I went for two months (possibly a little longer) with combing my hair and while there was no noticeable difference in the amount of breakage (there was little to no hair in my comb when I did comb it) there was the matter of knotted strands.

     By the end of my experiment, many of my hair strands that I managed to get a look at had knots on the ends. I know that this is as a result of not combing because I had only ever spotted a knotted strand once or twice. Previously the only reason I knew about knotted strands was because of my research and having seen some photographs. From my research knotted is not good. Basically, the knot creates a stress point for the hair strand and a highly increased potential for complications such as breakage. Still, my fingers are crossed that with good care I won’t run into these issues :s .

     So two months is definitely too long. I actually wouldn’t even recommend a week. I recommend that a couple of days be the maximum duration of time you go without combing your hair.

     One last thing. If you are not combing regularly you get these hair strands I can only call hangers because they are hooked up with other hairs and won’t come out unless you comb your hair. You end up having your hair look like you need a trim and instead of shedding all at once (through combing), throughout the day you find yourself pulling out hangers. Ugh!

     I guess what I really really learned was the overall importance of hair combing and why it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary that we do it!

To lessons learned,

Top 5 Things to Do WHEN You Grow Out Your Natural Hair

This is short and sweet.

1. Be patient.

     Doing the natural hair thing takes time. Even if you’ve tried and failed before, it doesn’t mean you are doomed to short hair or ugly tresses. As with all things, learning is a process, just be patient and soon great things will come.

2.  Experiment.

     We all fall into our personal bests. Mine is the slicked back afro. It doesn’t hurt to try something new or different. Especially if you are completely new to your hair, experimentation is the best way to know what works for you in a rush, when you’ve got time and when you want to look smack dab GORGEOUS!

     Of course, with experimentation you can have an accident which lets you discover a whole new way to do things. Follow my blog and you’ll see I discover many things by accident and through experimentation.

3.  Ask questions.

     Every natural maned chick is a source of knowledge, from time to time stop and ask a question or two. Not only is it a great way to meet people with whom you already know you have something in common, it’s also a great way to find out what the norms are and new things you can try.

4. Tap into the community.

     Especially if you are miles away from another natural maned human being, researching blogs, websites, twitter accounts ( try the tag #naturalhair to see what the natural hair community is talking about), YouTube videos and literary materials is another wonderful way to ensure that you make connections which keep you on the path delighted and informed.

5. Create, and stick to, a manageable daily, weekly and monthly hair routine.

     It is my personal opinion that there is no way you can attain the awesomeness that is natural hair without doing the proper maintainance. Don’t be fooled, the work you put into chemically relaxed hair, blow dried hair, flat ironed hair even weaved hair all has to be transferred to the natural side of things. Just because you are natural doesn’t mean you are good to go, no troubles no worries.

To learning a thing or two,

Blog Notice

 

So Sunday I will be going to back to Barbados for about a week so my whole back to school upchuck of blog posts will have to be postponed.

That said, I have about 20 drafts just sitting there so today and tomorrow there will be a definite increase in my blog posts.

I have so many ideas it’s so hard to keep up!

Don’t stop visiting,

Out and About with My Twists

This is out and about in Union Square, Manhattan.

 

Hair Update:Twists (Two Strand Twists)

Back when I was initially natural, I would get a full head of twists all the time.

Since I’ve been newly natural, I have been meaning to do it but just never got to it.

Caught with boredom, I sat down on the couch earlier this week and just started the marathon.

     I recommend doing your twist when damp. Not wet, damp. If its too wet then the twists won’t hold initially. If it’s not damp enough then it’s hell for my 4b hair- parting, moisturizing and the like.

     

Just realised this is my debut of new glasses.

     Anyway, everytime I twist my hair I’m always tempted to locs. Who know what will happen this time, though I think I want to wait till my hair is way longer before I do another drastic hair change.

To getting  it twisted,

My Successful Wash and Go!

 This was purely accidental.

I’ve had my hair in plaits since right after school ended so perhaps a month or so and last week I was using vinegar mix in my hair before I shampooed.

Thus, my hair was in plaits while wet.

When undid the plaits to go wash my hair, hey presto!

 

Now that’s more how I like it!

It was nice and piecey all over and this is more of how I envision it should look.

I think that leaving it in plaits before wetting it meant that it kinked up less and didn’t end up looking short. Of course the duration that it was plait probably had some input it how well it set.

Now the trick will be to recreate this at some other point.

I’ll get around to that sometime during the spring/ summer or some extraordinarily warm day out.

To nice accidents,

My Natural Hair and How I Feel When I Meet A New Guy

1. I feel as though he’ll see short, picky hair, especially when its twisted and not huge.

2. I feel he might think- “beware of her, there goes an angry black woman”- especially when my hair is out in some kind of fro.

3. I feel he might think my hair is nappy and not as pretty as 1,2 or 3 type hair and I couldn’t deal with a guy who thought of my hair in that way.

4. I fear that because he’s not use to 4b natural hair (I hardly ever see anyone with it) that his first impression won’t be of a beautiful girl but more of a “uhh I’m not quite sure but she’s ok” because I know the definition of beauty has been impacted upon by the popular media.

Please use the poll below and sound off in the comments area as well.

Throw Back Picture: My TWA

This was taken in may of summer 09.

Wow how quickly time flies!

     You may think your hair will be teenie weenie forever but don’t worry, time will fly and you’ll be thinking but I just cut my hair!

On Blast!!!! The Indian Hair Company

What can I say?

     This commercial from the Indian Hair Company got me so peeved that I had to jump off my couch and write a heated post.

First off, her hair has never looked so fabulous before?

     All the celebrities are wearing…virgin human hair? What the hell ever happened to wearing your own natural hair? Kinky or straight?

     I was so incensed when I first saw that ad and the more I think about it the more I’m really really annoyed.

In the description section the company states

At Indian Hair Company we specialize in 100% genuine unprocessed virgin Indian remy hair. It is virgin, because it is guaranteed to be unprocessed, free of any hair color or chemicals. Our exceptional quality Indian virgin remy hair is authentic, genuine, pure, and unaltered by chemicals or color. What you receive is hair in its perfect state naturally strong, beautiful, and healthy.

     I’m confused, obviously it remains at your discretion but how is “beautiful, healthy hair” the selling point of this Indian weave?

     Why do I never hear of kinky hair being touted as such a godsend to the weave wearing women of the world.

     I admit that it may be my heated opinion but why is a black woman used as the sole advocate of this wonderful hair company?

I can think of two reasons:

1. Black women are the leading consumers.

2. Black women suffer from a bad hair image which makes them a vulnerable and viable target market.

     Altogether this reinforces my need to help others embrace their natural hair (however it grows) if only for a little while. My whole thing is that you can do the weave, you can do the straightening, but please, please don’t consider what pops out your scalp naturally to the least beautiful, or healthy kind of hair to have.

Be yourself,

Hair Update: Wash n Go

If you’re a close follower of my blog you would remember my recent complaint about wash n go hairstyles.

Well I took another photo to demonstrate my reasons for distress.

(Excuse the bits of white stuff, my leave in conditioner had not yet been absorbed.)

I don’t know. Is this what a wash n go is supposed to end up looking like?

Whatever the case may be though, I’m not comfortable walking out of the house looking like this.

Help me wash n go,

Hair Update

     If you have been keeping up with my posts you would know that I recently just ended a no-comb journey. One would have expected that after two  months of not combing my hair that it would have been quite a field day to comb my hair. However, I had virtually no hair in my comb after I combed my hair for the first time in two months.

     So imagine my surprise when I combed my hair a couple days ago and ended up with this in my comb

Ok maybe it doesn’t look like a lot (please give me your opinion here) but it is quite a lot of hair for me. I usually get less than half the amount of hair on the comb. It also hasn’t been more than two weeks since the last time I give my hair a comb.

Anyway, I’m not really alarmed, I’m more intrigued than anything else. Will pay close attention and see if this might be something that happens on a routine basis.

DIY Hair Accessories with Xmas Ribbon

 I recently posted about how you could recycle ribbon taken from presents and gift bags.

Heres a shot of what I managed to collect

Yes, that is a Bed Bath and Beyond ribbon and I will be using it .

Here’s a look at a simple way to use your ribbon as hair accessories

 

My hair isn’t very neat but I like the way the ribbon becomes a hair accessory

To recreation with ribbons,

The Blog on Mobile

 

This is totally unrelated to hair but I just took some photos of my blog viewed from and iphone and it’s so coooooool!

Everything shows up well. Nice layout. So go ahead and view me from your mobile phones!

Take me everywhere,

Oh and Uh…

A Xmas Hair Accessories Tip

So it’s Christmas time and some of you are getting a whole host of Christmas gifts.

Here’s a tip, save all that ribbon and use it to create hair accessories like bows or head bands or head wraps.

That’s what I did and you can bet a picture is coming soon.

More ties, More bows,

What to look for in any of your hair products

Honestly, I recommend using aqua/ water based products. I used to use hair products that were alcohol based regularly and my hair never ended up any better. I’m not saying ditch such products altogether but do make sure you use those kinds of products as little as possible and ensure you weigh the pros and the cons because alcohol based products will dry out your hair. In the long run you can end up undoing all the moisture you put in and especially as it’s winter you mightn’t want to use anything that has even a small chance of drying your hair out.

The long and short of it is, if you use five hair products I would recommend no more than two be alcohol based.

If you need any more convincing you should know that water based products aid in moisture retention and actually penetrate the hair shaft easily.

This takes us to the issue of hair grease/ mineral oil/liquid petroleum/ liquid paraffin/petrolatum.

The problem with petroleum products, instead of moisturizing, it coats the skin and clog the pores not letting in actual moisture and toxins out through the skin. The skin may feel smooth to the touch, but its actually coated with the oil.  As a result, it can cause acne, dryness, dandruff and other skin irritations. (GreenandChic.com)

The same applies to the scalp. The scalp needs to BREATHE! The same applies to the hair follicle it needs nutrients not something akin to plastic wrap with lets nothing in and sucks moisture out. By coating the hair, petroleum also accumulates particles such as dirt  onto the hair shaft which leads to dirty hair, dirty hair is a major reason for inhibited hair growth and hair dryness.

So you’re rubbing all that petroleum goop on your hair thinking it’ll make your hair better but in all actuality you’re plugging your hair up, not feeding your hair, or dealing with the real problem. Repeat, PETROLEUM is not a MOISTURIZER! (Sidenote: it may be considered a good hair smoother if nothing else)

Moreover, according to Health Report UK , the body absorbs 60% of all chemicals we use on our skin and hair. If your interested in doing further research look into comedogenic substances.

Moving on, remember my Mane Tip which advocated that water is best moisturizer you could ever possibly find? Well then it should come as no surprise to you that water based products are the best when it comes to moisturizing hair. As always try to find all natural products or organic ones.

If you can’t do the organic/natural thing search out products which have water/aqua or aloe vera as the first ingredient (or near as possible) on the ingredient list.

As always though, I can’t help but recommend that you use what works best for you, just be mindful and aware.

Happy XMAS EVE!

DIY Seal Your Ends

To seal ends, you coat your ends (and your hair) with oil or a butter.  If you have longer hair, you may want to braid or twist your hair first and THEN seal the ends of your braid/twists.  (Dairy of a Kinky Curly Transitioner)

So after trolling a few hair care blogs I’ve come up with this list of hair products you can use for sealing your ends. I’ll probably add more as time goes on because I don’t want to recommend things I haven’t researched or that I haven’t been able to try.

*Jojoba Oil

*Castor Oil

*Olive Oil

*Almond Oil

*Coconut Oil

*Shea Butter

JC Nourish and Shine

Quemet Biologics

Blended beauty butters

Gueye Mother Nature’s Best Fast Grow Hair Oil L-31

*I’m more for the all natural alternatives but if you can’t find or afford them try looking for products which list anyone of these products at the top of their ingredient list.

Make sure you check out my post on how to check for ingredients.

A Sample Hair Routine (For all my BC’s and TWA)

The chart below is a very good idea for those of you who are new to the natural hair thing or just never bothered to develop any kind or hair care routine.

This chart was borrowed from the www.texturedplayground.com. Original post made by Fleurzty on March 9, 2009.

	Wash	Condition	Deep Condition	Moisturize	Styling	Other
Daily or Every other day		Rinse with a conditioner		- Ends with butter or pomade	-Leave-in conditioner-Styling gel for hold	- Vitamins daily- Silk scarf every night
Weekly	- Mild conditioner diluted with water	- Tea rinses	- Deep conditioner for 30-45 minutes with a plastic cap and towel	- Use butter to seal moisture into the hair	- Leave-in conditioner- Styling gel for hold	- Steam treatment
Monthly	-Pre-wash with oil- Use a clarifying shampoo or a homemade clarifying mix to remove build up	- Tea rinses	- Deep conditioner for 30-45 minutes with a plastic cap and towel	- Use oil mix and massage the roots- Butter the ends to seal in moisture	- Leave in conditioner- Styling gel for hold	- Trim ends every other month (as needed)- Length check

Hair Update

I’ve been a bad girl!

Recently, I’ve taken to tying my Barbados scarf on my head so it’s now become my head tie.

The problem is cotton is not on the recommended list of things to use as head ties…

But I’ve been lazy lately and I’m living out of a suitcase…I just haven’t had the oomph to go digging through two suitcases just to find one measly head tie.

Never mind though, my hair isn’t as dry as I thought it would be. This might have something to do with the fact that every day I spritz my hair with some glycowater.

This reminds me!

I used some of my facial toner- you know the one with tangerine and other essential oils- in my glycowater…now it has an awesome smell!

I used some of my personal stash of honey which turned the glycowater water a golden brown ish color, but it’s lovely!

Add some, gain some,

p.s. I’m going to church today, so I’ll have to undo my plaits. Stay tuned for the natural- hair- is- great- even- for- church picture post!

p.p.s. Perhaps I should consider sealing my ends with some shea butter given the harsh weather and all.

Tip of the Day

     If you are going to do a twist out and you are like me, you take advantage of the two stages of hairstyle 1. the prestyle where you can now put beanies on and 2. the actual style.

     Well I’ve noticed that how long you leave the plaits or twists in has an obvious impact on how crisp and how long your final hairstyle lasts. Unfortunately, the crispness of your hairstyles decreases after some length of time due to the shedding of hair. You might notice if you’ve had your hair in plaits for longer than 4 or 5 days that you actual pull some strands out while your undoing your hair. All this shedding hair (depending on how much you do shed) looks messy and means you have drag your hands through your hair enough that it affects how the final hairstyle looks.

Tip of the Day

I know this might seem strange but this is a tip I’ve had on my mind for ages.

After you wash your hair, shampoo, condition, deep condition anything that involves putting some kind of substance in your hair in the shower, clean your ears!

Honestly, I’ve noticed that after any type of conditioning my ears are clogged with the product be it suds or whatever, it’s like my ears produce wax overtime or something.

I know. I know. Eeeeew gross but it’s the truth.

To q- tips,