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.

Flaking Issue resolved!

So remember in the last post I talked about how I got so much flaking with the Komaza Care Coconut Pudding? So when I twisted out the last style with the flat twist in front, I got NO FLAKES! I was very happy because my technique of squeezing every twist with a towel to get the excess product out, worked!



The twists from the twist outs are very very defined. Not frizzy, and just plain old cute!! Seems like it might last the whole week. We will play it by ear.

More Isn't Always Good

So the style (twist outs) I rocked for Thanksgiving only lasted that day because the next day when I tried to revive my hair, my hair was very flaky! I couldn't even do a style because there were so many flakes. I wonder if this is how the coconut pudding is or if I used too much of it. The reason why I think I was using too much is because while I was doing the twists, so much of the white/cream colored excess was left on the twist.

I decided to wash it, that was the only way to get the flakes out. I washed with conditioner only (co-wash). This was the 3rd time this week I washed my hair. I am not getting a lot of hair coming out on the comb when I detangle, so that's a good sign.

I did the twists again, this time a little differently. I did them smaller, trying to keep the size consistent throughout. I still used the coconut pudding but this time after every twist, I took a towel and squeezed the twist to get out all the excess pudding. Hopefully this works or I will be very disappointed with the Komaza Care products. These were the twists I did; I am loving that I am doing my hair!! There is so much room for experimentation. I still don't know how to cornrow my own head. Can anyone give suggestions on how I can learn, or a technique they use on their own head that is different when they do others people's hair? I can cornrow other people's hair but for some reason I can't braid my own.

Do you see how defined those twists look? There was very minimal frizz.


I flat twisted the front, I'd like to experiment more with that. Maybe flat twist around my head into a puff pony tail. The possibilities are endless. Suggestions are welcome!

Not bad right?

Komaza--> Swahili for Encourage Growth

So I was researching some natural hair products that are effective for type 4 hair. As I was researching, I came across Komaza Care (http://www.komazacare.com/). I was very excited because this is a small African American owned business that specializes in making products for type 4 hair. After reading testimonials I decided to order. I ordered their Califa Care Leave-In Conditioner and their Coconut Hair Pudding. Shipping was $9! Five dollars too much! But I ordered it on Sunday and it got to my house on Wednesday. The leave-in conditioner smells soooooooooooo good! And it makes my hair feel like silk! the coconut pudding is awsome, but I think i was using to much of it. It actually tamed my ends! I did a co-wash (meaning only with conditioner, no shampoo). Then I applied the leave-in. I used the coconut pudding while I was twisting my hair. So Thanksgiving Day, I twisted them out, and this stuff really holds your hair! These were the results!!

Hair Dresser

Nicky has been giving the hair dresser she goes to, rave reviews. So I decided to check her out. I had been watching youtube and some naturalistas doing their hair with cold rods. I don't know how to put rollers in yet so I decided to go to Nicky's hair dresser to have her do them for me. I thought it would be cute for Thanksgiving. She also has natural hair. She said she did the big chop 8 months ago. So that was encouraging. Her prices are good. She did a wash with her shampoo, used my deep conditioner and my Suave conditioner and put the rollers in and it was only $18! She was very eagar to do new natural hair styles. And this style was new to her. It was cute, once again this is all experimentation. I had no idea how it was going to come out. But this is how it looked.

The ends were poofy. I need to find something that will tame my ends. So far its been fun experimenting! People on the trains are looking at me, I don't know if they are looking at me because I look crazy or because they are admiring the natural look.

I need products!

I finally twisted out my hair. There is even a technique to doing that! I realized that when I do twist them I have to make sure I twist them all the way to the end. These were the results of the twist outs.

I have been battling whether I want to make my own products or if I want to buy them. I finally came to the decision that I wanted to buy them. I was so excited to go to the beauty supply store. But of course a few nights ago I had done my research and made a list of all the chemical ingredients to make sure I stay away from when buying products. Can you believe that every product I picked up had at least 2 of the ingredients that I wanted to stay away from?! So still my hair is without a leave-in conditioner and a shampoo that doesn't have any -cones in it. What will I do?

Day 2 of the twists

Before I went to bed I decided to knot my twist so they can come out curly. I have no experience with this and this was just pure experimentation. But I am enjoying experimenting with my hair. I brought some shea butter to use at night to conceal my ends.



Next morning I took the knots out and these were the results.

It came out pretty curly. I was surprised, something as simple as the knots worked to curl!

The itch to take out my braids got the best of me!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 is when I got the itch to take out the braids. I was ready to start on my natural hair journey! I had been watching many youtube videos and reading a few black hair care forums on how to take care of my hair. The picture above is after I took out the braids but before I washed them.

I learned that I have type 4 hair. This means my hair is very dry, has 75% shrinkage when wet, and is tightly coiled.

I wanted to eventually move to using products that were organic or all natural in their ingredients. But all I had in my house was Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner. So I washed my hair, used the deep conditioner I brought from Cathy Howse at the Circle of Sister's Expo, and then proceeded to twist them. I noticed that all of my hair has transitioned, but some of the ends of my hair are straight from the texturizer.

Circle of Sisters Expo 2009

I have always been the one to do something with my hair for a while and then get tired of it and want a change. I had braids in for a while, they were pretty and I liked the way they looked on me. But I began getting the itch to see my real hair again.

I went to the Circle of Sisters Expo at the Javitz Center, in NYC. It was my first time, and to my surprise there were many hair vendors. I fell upon Cathy Howse's table. Her products are called Ultra Black Hair. What was appealing to me was that she had written books on black hair and her hair was a testomonial to her products being effective. Her hair was very long and thick. Her products work at thickening your hair so that it is strong enough to grow long. I was eagar to try it, so I bought her deep conditioner, moisturizer and leave-in spray treatment. I still had my braids in and were not going to take them out until the week of Thanksgiving. But I couldn't wait to take out my braids because my edges were starting to come out. The braids were too heavy to support my real hair.

I have been wearing braids for about a year but before that I had a texturizer in my hair. It was no longer in my budget to get the texturizer and keep up with the new growth. I did a big chop sometime in the sophomore or junior year of college but then I immediately put the texturizer in. My hair grew a lot. But I wanted more thickness to it. I wanted it to be fuller, that is when I decided to get it braided.

I've finally decided that I want to go natural, no more chemicals! I want to learn how to do my own hair, and learn what my hair likes and what it doesn't like. I've always viewed my natural hair (without chemicals) to be rough, & unmanageable. And it didn't help that I am tender headed. But I was so ready! I am an aspiring doctor and it only made sense that part of being healthy was also having healthy hair. Some of these ingredients that are in the shampoos, conditioners, etc. are known to cause serious health problems. We have to be more proactive about our health and our life. Just because society is selling us things, does not mean we don't have the responsibility to research the ingredients in these products for ourselves.

The picture above is when I had the texturizer. It was nice but I didn't always want my hair dripping wet.