Some styles I have been doing with my hair

When is Enough Enough of the Creamy Crack?!

Disclaimer: I am not knocking anyone who has chemically relaxed hair.

Now lets get to business! I know I know, I've been gone for a long time; It's because I didn't have a topic that I felt passionate to write about. But there is one thing that recently has been on my mind. The creamy crack (aka the hair relaxer)!

Now that I am natural I tend to notice and examine hair that is relaxed. Growing up as the older sister, I used to experiment with my sister's hair. It was with her full head of hair that I first learned to cornrow. Her natural hair before the relaxer is/was type 4a. With her hair relaxed, she had very long and thick hair. I used to think I got the bad genes because my hair looked nothing like my sisters. My mom used to call her Indian, she looked like Pocahontas. Over the years I have witnessed my sisters hair get shorter and thinner. I am convinced that it's the creamy crack!

I am saddened to see our hair dying, drying, and frying under "maintenance"with the relaxer. My question is, when do you say enough is enough, I am no longer going to perm my hair? Or if that is too extreme for you, how about starting by saying I am going to get to the root of why my hair has drastically changed over the years. I never liked my hair with a perm because with one, it made my hair look flat and limp, as if I had no hair on my head. And I love hair with body. In fact, if you asked me what I thought "good hair" was, my personal perspective on good hair is hair that is thick and has body/volume.

Ladies if you know that your hair has been thinning out or its just not the same consistency that it used to be, maybe it's time to give up the creamy crack! I am still working on my sister.

My first braid out!

My first braid out was inspired by my sister Allyce! I was skeptical about doing braid outs because it just seemed so much more complicated than a twist out. But I can attest to braiding as a method to stretching your hair! It is wonderful and not as hard as I thought it would be. I braid and then put rollers on the ends to get the affect you see below.



Dry hair twist out.

Rollers to get the curly affect.

Look at the fullness!

I got the 120 eyeshadow palette, do you like?

Peace & Love yall!!

If you could invent any product what would it be?

We all watch those TV commercials like the Snuggie for only $19.99 and they send you a free one for your dog! Simple invention right? Exactly, and they are making more money than you and I have put together! I've always thought about a product that I could invent to make money and I think I have an idea. But of course I am not going to disclose that here, lol!

Many naturalistas on youtube have come up with their own hair care line and jewelry line. That is a creative and innovative way to make money; especially when a lot of people watch your videos. Some of you may have already heard about the young child millionaire Leanna Archer. She appeared on the Wendy Williams Show, even CBS 60 minutes did a segment on her. She is 13 years old and the CEO of Leanna's Inc. And guess what this young millionaire from Long Island got rich off of? She makes her own natural hair products (www.leannashair.com)! Surprised? Well you shouldn't be, after all this is a natural hair blog.

As the beginning of the new decade unfolds, I challenge all of you to think outside the box. We all would like to win the lotto, but sometimes I think creating an invention is more feasible. If you follow natural hair gooroos on youtube such as BlackOnyx77 and ShidaNatural you will see that these women are doing big things. They have launched their own natural hair product lines. It's wonderful to see us coming up in the game of life! But I am very tempted to try their products. But of course I want to finish the products I have from Komaza Care (http://www.komazahaircare.com/).

Every time my mom sees me she says my hair has grown, and Gasky is also always telling me that my hair has grown, so I guess Komaza is working well for my hair. My goal has been to keep my hair moisturized and I must say that unrefined Shea butter in conjunction with the Komaza Califia line has really been giving me the results that I've been looking for. Its so hard not to be a product junkie but it is easier when your broke like me. That's why I am really thinking through this idea that I have for an invention. But don't worry it won't be another hair product line. I went to RPI remember, why not change the world?

So what would your invention be? Can someone please look into starting an ice cream delivery chain?! I love ice cream and the cravings always come when I am nice and cozy in my house and don't want to get up to leave.

2 styles in 1

I'm back!!! With final exams out of the way, we can get back to our regularly scheduled program. Please be sure to comment on the posts, let me know what you think. Remember the style from the post entitled Are You Papering Yourself? Well I wore it in a another style. I twisted out the back that was twisted up and wore the back out. It was gorgeous! The curls were so defined! Take a look:

During finals week I didn't have time to do an intricate style but what I did do was a trist out with about 6 twists. In noticed doing this helped to stretch my hair so there wasn't as much shrinkage. These were the results:


After watching youtube I was inspired to do another style. This style that I did was my version of a mohawk, in fact I call it a curlhawk. I started by twisting the front onto my face then from there I invented the rest. It was a very cute style that lasted a long time. I am going to wash my hair tonight. For Christmas I got the whole Komaza Care hair package/kit. So I am excited to use the shampoo and deep conditioner. My hair is still really hard, I need more moisture to it. So I am going to stop using the Ultra Black Hair products, and substitute it with my Komaza Care products to see if there will be a difference in moisture and texture with my hair. This is the curlhawk in the making: (I bantu knotted the hawk area)

And these are the final results:

Are you pampering yourself?

You know, going natural has helped me get back in tune with myself... Wait, I don't even know if it is accurate to say that because this may actually be the first time in my life where I am in tune with myself. I am always studying or doing for others, which I enjoy, but now its my time to breath life into me & my hair of course!

I don't know how you were brought up, but I was raised on the notion that when it came to your hair, you left it to the professionals. So even now feeling my own hair through my fingers as I wash and style it is amazing! I am noticing things about my texture I never knew before. I had not had the slightest clue, for 23 years! Doing my hair has given me a different outlook on myself, and has forced me to love myself. I spend so much time loving other people, that I didn't really make time to love me. In fact, I've decided once a week when I do my hair, to let that day be the day I pamper myself and just take care of myself in general. It will be my day of relaxation, which to me means no textbooks! Just me, myself, and I.

Women, once a week we should designate for ourselves, to pamper, to hold, & to nurture our whole body from head to toe. Guys always talk about how we don't know our bodies, and many of us don't know the hair that grows out of our head! Ladies, we've got to do better.

Guess what?! There is power in youtube! My mom decided to go natural!!! On Friday I was helping her take out her braids and as we were doing that we watched a bunch of natural hair videos. She loved how the two strand twists looked and she wanted that to be her first natural hair style. Remember I've told you my mom has always gotten her hair professionally done? So I was wondering how she would be able to maintain the natural hair. Well surprise, surprise, she volunteered me to do her twists. She also allowed me to cut off 3-4 inches of her permed hair. I basically cut all the perm out of her hair because the twists were looking horrible with the permed ends. After doing her hair, it was now time to spend time with my hair.

I co-washed with Suave tropical coconut conditioner. Then I put my Ultra Black Hair deep conditioner. I washed out the deep conditioner about 3 hours later (the length of time it took me to do my mom's hair). I wasn't sure how to style it, but it came out looking real cute! After I did my hair, I gave myself a pedicure and a manicure. I feel wonderful & beautiful!

Here was the outcome:

To color or not to color, healthy is the question

My hair's natural color is jet black. I've always liked color because I feel like it brings out the beauty in my skin tone. I went to whole foods today with Nicky and saw henna products. I've watched a few youtube videos about it but I still need to do more research on its coloring properties. From what I learned so far about coloring your hair, moisture, moisture, moisture seems to be the key!

I am not ready for anything permanent yet, but I will continue to research until I feel comfortable and feel good about the decision I will make. At this point I just need to get used to my natural hair, and getting used to what it likes and what it doesn't like. When I feel confident about that, then I will look into possibly coloring my hair.

I discovered this website through a youtube video. This site tells you about all the products you may use on your hair and skin. It tells you how/if the ingredients in the product are linked to cancer or developmental growth/toxicity. Please go on this journey with me, become proactive about your life. Lets start by researching ingredients we have in our shampoos, conditioners, etc. Check out the website http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.