Being Thankful

I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends and tried out new techniques with my hair.
Here is my Thanksgiving look:

I tried Flat African Threading as shown on the YT channel Chocolate Hair/Vanilla Care. I enjoyed trying it out although the next time I do it I'll make sure to use a curved needle. My fingers and brain didn't always want to agree on what we were doing and a straight needle made it more painful than necessary.

Here is a close up of the front:

The back was styled using Curl Formers and although it took me a moment to get the handle of it I have to say that I enjoy wearing them more than Flexi-rods. However, I'm tender headed so I won't sleep in them again. The next time I want a "until I go to bed" curly style I'll just do my hair early in the morning and sit under the dryer.

The style lasted all day even though I didn't remove all the Curl Formers correctly or go back and make them all lie down neatly. I knew I'd have to do something different with the back the next day so I wasn't super worried about it.

The little white sparkles you see are beads that I threaded in as I was doing the flat threading. I've never attempted something like this but I will be doing it again because I like the look.

With the versatility and moisture retention of African Threading, I'm fairly sure that I'll be rocking threaded looks for all of 2014.

If you've ever mixed techniques or styling options I'd love to see what you've done. Feel free to post your creations here.

My Lastest Creation and My Love for Learning

If you follow me on Instagram (if you don't you should *Smile*) there is a post that shows my newest style from various angles. I consider them my glamour shots and for those who are interested I'll take "after" photo's when I take the style down.

The sides were parted into eight sections, four rectangular and four triangular, that I threaded before twisting two together to make the swirls. I knew that I would be twisting and pinning them up so although the thread is attached firmly at the root it isn't too tight.

Learning how to hold my hands and complete the movements to keep the thread taut against my hair was a bit frustrating, but I was really happy when I finally figured it out. I love that this is a traditional African technique that I can incorporate into my life.

I did have some concern about the thread cutting into or tearing my hair, so I made sure to coat each section in beeswax before wrapping to help with slippage. The additional beeswax on my hands made moving the thread around my hand fairly simple as well.

My husband and I went out for a late lunch today, and I was amazed by the number of people who stared and stopped to talk to me about my hair. I'm glad that my styles can encourage conversation and that most of the time I have the time to stop and share.

My plan is to leave this up until Thanksgiving or so and then try out another style that I'm dreaming up.

If you've ever worn a style that incorporated African Threading/Ghana Braids, I'd love to hear about it!

Regimen Changes, Cultural Appreciation and the Happy Dance

After my experiences last night I have come to fall in love with two new techniques one of which will become a part of my hair maintenance routine.

Although I finger detangle, my hair is so coily that as soon as there is nothing to make it hold it's stretch it begins to twist upon itself so even when I'm taking down a style I have to re-twist each section after I finger detangle.

I used to comb my hair while in the shower usually under running water to ease the discomfort but I found that it was too easy to exert too much force and I would still have to comb through my hair when I got out of the shower in order to style it.

One of my she-ro's, Mahogany Knots, featured oil rinsing in a YT video and I put it on my to-try list. So after I rinsed out my DC I went back over each section with a generous amount of coconut oil. Once I had the oil on I ran my fingers through the section and then re-twisted it. I immediately noticed that there wasn't much hair coming away in-between my fingers but the real proof of it being the bee's knees was the fact that by adding just a bit of my Shea Butter mix I was easily able to comb through each section before stretching.

I decided to attempt African Threading to stretch my hair because I see an endless possibility for future styles if I can master the technique. I was inspired again by Kiki, but the actual tutorial came from Girls Love Your Curls YT channel.

You can see from the picture that I need to practice a bit to work out the tension needed but I have to say that it was almost as fast as banding and was less frustrating for me. I'll be attempting an actual style tomorrow so we'll see how it works out.

I appreciate seeing the examples of African artistry available for those of us of the Diaspora who haven't previously been exposed to it.

Have you tried African Threading and if so what was your experience like?

My Two Year Hairversary and Why I didn't do a Straightened Hair Length Check

I  had plans to straighten my hair for my two-year "hairversary" but as the day drew closer I was less and less inclined to do it.

I had a variety of reasons but the ones the ultimately kept me from doing it are these:

• I rarely, if ever, wear my hair down so why would I step outside of my normal because of hair growth?

• Where I live the temperature and humidity are incredible in August. It just didn't make sense to invest the time and energy when I knew that reversion would be almost instantaneous.

• In sharing my story in a public venue I have vowed to be authentic and true which for me includes showing the parts of my life that I choose to share as they really are. I want people to meet me on the street and recognize me and what I stand for.  

None of my reasons mean that I don't care about my hair growth/retention but rather I don't want to show myself wearing my hair in ways that don't fit in with my lifestyle choices. I did take a picture of me taking my hair down for my next style right around my anniversary and it does show how long my hair had up until that point.








How about you? Do you feel that your on-line and/or public persona is a reflection of the real you?

What's Inside Matters

I would be lying if I said that I didn't go through a short period of "productjunkyism." I believe that most people who transition back to their natural hair patterns do.

Mine was short-lived because I started really reading labels when I made purchases. Because of my health concerns I had been told by my doctor's to avoid soy so I stopped eating tofu and thought that was the end of the matter.

When I started researching more about soy and it's potential side-effects I began to search through all of my beauty products and was astounded at how many things it can be found in. Combine that with its commonplace use in processed foods and I realized that I hadn't been avoiding soy at all which I believe contributed to a health crisis a year or so ago.

Now that I am equipped with more knowledge I make sure that I take my time researching products, ingredients, suppliers and all the rest. My money matters, my health matters and what's inside of everything I purchase matters.

 

Has returning to natural inspired other changes in your life? If so what have they been? Feel free to share! 

This Weekend's Hair Adventures

I have been making my own deep conditioner for the last few months and while I love the fact that I'm not putting anything on my hair that I couldn't eat, it can be a bit of a pain because for the best blend all the ingredients should be at the same temperature.

Finding a deep conditioner that contains no soy is so difficult that I'd given up even looking until I came by a Shea Moisture product that doesn't have any in it along with no parabens etc. I'm pretty excited to try it out on my hair before I move on to exploring products by Morrocco Method. I love the fact that they are proudly non-gmo no soy and other things that I try to avoid like the plague.

The second new thing that I will be trying this weekend is African Threading. Unlike a lot of naturals I don't want to use it to stretch my hair, I want to create a style that will last for a few weeks without the shrinkage I experience with regular two-strand twists.

I'll be sure to post pictures and my thoughts on everything I try this weekend.

Have a groovy weekend!

P.S. Please feel free to post anything new that you'll be trying.

Natural Hair & Sassy Manicures

I love creating interesting manicures but I found that they don't last very long when I'm in my hair too much. My hair products contain a lot of oils and such which are nourishing to both my hair and nails so I guess it's a trade off.
There are a few pictures on my Instagram account that showcases my funky nail style.

Growing What I Need to Nourish My Hair Inside and Out.

A plan for food security

I tried my hand at growing food this year and I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt empowered when we ate what we grew ourselves.

I have also started growing aloe, and other herbs that promote and enhance hair health and growth.

Supporting Black Women because the World still Overlooks Us Outside of Stereotypes

One of the things that really changed for me is how I viewed myself as a black woman when I decided to return to my natural texture. For most of my life, I had been thought not "black enough" because of my "light skin" "talking like I'm white" being "so articulate" etc.

Although my parent's provided inspiring information about our African history it wasn't shown in our day-to-day lives. The rest of that story deserves a blog of its own.

My natural hair doesn't look like, react like, or style anything like my relaxed hair. I had to step back and re-evaluate what being a black woman meant to me. I had to re-define what professional looked like for me. It was a real eye opener.

When people saw me in my business suits and TWA, their reactions were almost comical. In my preferred heel height, I'm 6'1 and I'm a woman of substance, so I tend to draw attention when I'm out and about. The first time I wore a head wrap in public, people seemed genuinely surprised that I spoke English "so well." It took a minute for me to realize that they thought I was an immigrant. Up until that moment I didn't realize that I'd added another layer of being a black woman in America to my experience.

Drawing on all of my own experiences gave me a greater appreciation and love for black people. It sparked an awakening of my consciousness that is continuing to evolve. I've become more active and vocal about our situation and also more active in community service and politics. I hope to express this more thoroughly in my vlogs because I feel that our hair is so much more than just keratin that has grown from our heads.

I came across this blog and it made me glad to see that someone outside of our community sees this truth and spoke up about it. I don't have to hate or denigrate other races in order to say with confidence that #BlackGirlsRock

Has returning to natural changed your views or your lifestyle in anyway? If so please share your story!

An Example of Nourishing My Body, Soul and Hair from the Inside

At the very beginning of my natural hair journey my health began to take a turn for the worse. While there was a plethora of symptoms it took time and testing to get to one of the major issues. This issue has led to other issues which include carb sensitivity. Because of this I've had to experiment to figure out how many carbs my body needs to reach my health goals which of course include my hair.

If you're interested in a more in-depth explanation of my issues and my plans to overcome them please feel free to follow my progress on my fitness blog Beautiful Sweat.

Tonight I'm sharing a fabulous soup that I found in my Cook'n Low Carb cook book by DVO. I can't praise this software enough nor the company that keeps evolving it's product to meet today's demands.

Although I don't normally follow recipe's exactly in this instance I tried to do so, although I did add an extra 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese because I was using regular cheddar instead of sharp. I used a pale ale as my "beer" and I must say this soup was yummy.

When I make this again I will double the recipe, add a bit more Worcestershire sauce (homemade) and top it with a crunchy cheese chip of some kind, probably something sharp. My husband has requested sourdough biscuits as well, which I'll try to avoid.

If you try this recipe, please post and let me know what you think.

Just Straight Enough is Good Enough for Me

I wore my hair out for a while after straightening it for trimming. When people see the length and thickness people often me why I don't wear it "down" or "out" more often.

I really don't have a quick and easy answer for them. I spent most of my life with my hair relaxed in a variety of styles and for me being natural has become about embracing my hair as it is and within the realities of my life style.
 
Here is a small portion of my condensed list of reasons I don't wear it straight which will probably expand to be individual blog posts at some point because like most things in life there are layers, levels and history behind each point:

1. I consider myself a "curly natural" which means that I don't wear my hair straight often.
2. I am on a fitness mission (you can follow my blog on that here) and I sweat A LOT.
3. I'm still learning to style my hair without it being chemically straightened.
4. I'm learning to love me from head to toe. 
5. Hair is much more than just something that grows from my head. It's a statement, an investment, an entrepreneurial avenue, a testimony, and so much more.

 
Here are pictures of my hair after it had been straightened and trimmed. By the time I had taken the pictures my hair had begun to shrink but things like thickness, health length are fairly recognizable.

 I'm sticking my tongue out at my daughter who is standing in front of me giving me a hard time.

I didn't put on a bra outside of my shirt to show my length but that is how long it is. I know the picture looks a bit awkward, but that has more to do with my large arms than it does hair length.

As a natural do you prefer to wear your hair in protective/low-manipulation styles or loose and free?

Participating in NaBloPoMo

I don't remember how I found the link about NaBloPoMo but once I read up on it I realized it was something that I wanted to be a part of. I enjoy writing and although I just started blogging about my natural hair experience I have a lot to say.

Making time to blog every day will help me re-focus on my writing, which has suffered greatly since my thyroidectomy in mid 2011. Between complications, new issues and medication changes I have been on a fairly stressful journey that is just now getting to a place where I have real hope that the worst is behind us.

I can't wait to read the blogs of other participants as well. As time passes I have come to appreciate the life journey's of other people even more. Tiny peeks into realities other than my own offer insight, wisdom, laughter, learning, pain and hope and makes me think of the world outside of my life.

I skimped on putting the banner in each of my posts and just placed it on the side although for aesthetics sake I should probably re-size things for a better fit. <--I'm probably just going to leave it.

I'm also participating in NanoWriMo I guess I'll wrap this post up since I've already given my reasons for participating and I need to hit my word count goal for the day.

If you're participating in either challenge, let me know so that I can cheer you on.

Back in Twists and Loving to Learn

I mentioned previously that I straighten my hair once a year in order to trim the ends so I thought I'd share a picture of my hair right after I finished. It's big and full and starting to curl and shrink at the roots because I only straightened it enough to get make sure the ends were taken care of.

As you can see my hair isn't super straight and is showing it's fluffy side. While the picture doesn't show it clearly the ends are even. I'll show more complete views in another post.

By the time I had lunch with my daughter and grandson and done a bit of shopping I had had enough of the heat from having my hair down (it was still in the low 80s where I live) I decided to stretch my hair and cool off with two pony tails that I pinned on top of my head as a style the next day.

When my hair was dry again I decided to try my hand at a french braid/twist style. I've been learning to french braid and twist my hair since going natural. I wore my hair permed for 30+ years so it's been a learning experience to be sure.

I really liked the final results.

The french braids are not at a professional level but I love knowing that I am learning to do them for myself. I pin curled the twists in groups of 3-4 for the fuller look. The bit hanging down made me feel sassy.

Let me know what you think. Also, I'd like to know what new hair care/styling techniques you may have learned as a natural.