A Survey and Something to Think About for Trendspotters

 I read about this survey over at Loving Dee Naturally.

The author sponsoring the survey has written one of my favorite books about textured hair care, "The Science of Black Hair."  The approach is balanced in that it doesn't demonize relaxers or overly glorify hair that is not chemically altered. It shows causes and effects of common hair care practices.

As I read the survey I spotted some things that have been on my mind lately regarding hair care in the black community. I'd love to know how many of you see what I see.

Take the survey and come back to my blog and let's talk trends, money and our sense of self.
 
The survey link can be found on this page.

Have a Groovy Day!

Protective Styling and What I'm Learning

This is my latest creation and I have to say that I'm pretty darn proud of it. For those of you who don't know, I spent most of my life wearing relaxers and I've only worn braids a few times.

After deciding to return to natural my biggest challenge by far has been learning to style my hair myself. I'm still learning to part and section correctly and I've yet to master corn rowing or french braiding.

My hair is very tightly coiled, thick and dense. Because of it's thickness and density, I prefer to style it in styles where the hair is not on my neck. I also don't like heat stretching my hair so most of my styles are created on hair that has been either banded or dried in braids.

I love styles that are attention getting as well so when I see something eye catching I try to duplicate it the best that I can. The idea for the front "waves" came from a photo by @sharonthestylist on Instagram.

Most of my hair styles also have my ends tucked in in some fashion which has allowed for great retention. In almost two years I've only trimmed my hair once. I cut of 1/2 inch when I allowed single strand knots to become an issue. I switched to using a home made Shea butter mixture on top of my oil and have almost completely eliminated SSK's.

I'll probably always wear twisted styles of some sort because of how they work so well in my lifestyle.

What are some of your favorite protective styles and from where do you draw your inspiration?

Watch out Youtube, Here I Come!

I've had my page done and waiting for quite a while. I Coogled my plan, visualizing what I wanted to use the platform to say. I had some vague ideas, but I wanted concrete talking points that I could share about natural hair.

I knew the content would never be tutorial and/or product review heavy because of my own journey and approach to being natural. I could make a video on how not to give up, but let's face it anyone who has watched me style my hair has seen my struggle and progress over the last two years to learn to do what I consider simple things, like parting uniformly and french braiding.

In the midst of my ruminations and planning, unexpected life experiences came my way that helped to focus and define what I want to say about natural hair.

I'm looking forward to sharing what I know, learning new things and joining in a global discussion regarding natural hair in the African-American community.

I don't have a set posting schedule yet as I want to have enough time to respond to comments and such and maintain my life outside of what goes on YT.

Did I mention my other blogs, Beautiful Sweat and The Journey of a Descendent of Kings, Queens and Slaves?

I am passionate about many things, and I plan to ramp up my blogging because I believe that my blogs will show the spiritual, mental and physical growth and progress each of us can attain while adding my voice to the global conversation regarding African Diaspora, and specifically those born of slaves in the Americas.


You can find me on Instagram under ms_twisted_n_turned.

First blog of the year (I know I'm late!) :)

 I started the year off by measuring my hair, something I hadn't really done in the past. I borrowed the technique from Sistahwithrealhair on youtube. I cut a 1/2 inch off all over in November 2012 my first full trim in almost two years. I only trimmed that much off because I allowed too many single-strand knots and splits to develop after I straightened it. The front is a bit over 12 inches, the sides are 13 inches and the back is about 10 inches. To keep down the stress I chose areas I could measure with ease on my own.

 The next day I got up and made sure the hair was detangled before I washed it. It looks straight but trust me when I tell you that the roots were starting to curl up quite nicely. :)

 Here is my hair after I washed it. Although I co-wash most of the time once per month I use a hard water shampoo because my hair does not like the build up of minerals. There is a picture below of my shampoo of choice. I normally wash my hair in 4 sections but because it had been stretched I didn't need to.

I used Reshma henna that I purchased at my local Halal market. The bowl pictured was too small to hold all of the henna so I switched to a larger one after I took this photo. I don't add a lot of acidity to my henna. As a matter of fact for the two boxes pictured I only used a tablespoon of lemon juice and I've decided to not use any in the future. I mixed the henna and let it sit in a cupboard for 12 hours before I used it.

This is a picture of the supplies I used to henna my hair. I didn't comb my hair with the henna in it, the rat tail was used after I had washed it out to separate the hair for air drying. My shampoo is by Ion, I use an inexpensive cholesterol conditioner and Hot Six Oil to deep condition, and the bottle with the red tip is my Hair Hooch. I got the idea for the formula from a hair forum and tweaked it to make it work for me. The mud-like substance in the purple bowl is the henna after it's sat for 12 hours. If you're going to henna your hair make sure you use gloves as it will stain the skin on your hands and feet.

 My technique for applying the henna is to make a central cinnamon bun shaped mound at the crown of my head. Once I have that going I simply take hair from around my head, paint both sides with henna and wrap it around making sure to smooth all of the hair down. 

 Here is my hair about half way finished with the henna application. Notice that it looks like a beehive. I like this technique because it keeps the hair up and out of the way so that I can do other things while it sits on my hair. I leave the henna in my hair for 2 hours or so. It hardens as it dries so I make sure to drench it with watered down conditioner which I work in before I start rinsing. You can see the pattern/direction of the hair as I was wrapping it in this picture.

When all of the henna has been applied I have a nice tight mound that stays out of my way while the henna does it's magic. The smell of Henna is very earthy. It reminds me of a wooded area after a heavy rain. You can find great information about henna at Mehandi.com

 After I washed all of the henna out and deep conditioned my hair (I sat under my dryer for an hour with my conditioner/oil mix in my hair) I used my Hair Hooch, which is a combination of Coconut Oil, Sublimated Sulfer, Peppermint Oil and Jamaican Black Castor Oil.

 I have a new technique for stretching and air drying my hair. I use a barret clip that I place over satin I've wrapped around my roots. I plan to attach the satin at some point, I just have a lot of projects in front of that one. Once I have the ponytails in I add large rollers to hold the tension while the hair dries. Most of the time I allow it to air dry although I will hop under the dryer if I'm short on time.

I created this hairstyle after being inspired by a look on another blog. I'm still learning to twist, braid and style after wearing my hair relaxed for over 30 years.  The back shot shows a bit of the henna's tint, which on my hair gives it a reddish glow.

Let me know what you think of the process and the style.

Have a groovy day!