Pomp-Pomp-Pomp It Up!

So about a week ago I attended the Kirk Franklin Fearless tour.  It was SO POWERFUL!  The concert started ON TIME (a pet peeve of mine...concerts starting late) and Kirk did a phenomenal job of meshing his old songs with the new.  He had about 4 opening acts, who also respected the time and did great jobs as well.

One of the opening acts was Amber Bullock, winner of this season's Sunday Best.  She's a natural, so I was definitely peeping out her hair during the show.  I loved the pomp in the front, the french roll in the back, & the braids on the sides.

I decided to put my own twist on the style...literally.  I did mostly twists in the back & front of my head, then flat twisted up the sides.  I took the front two-strand twists & made a pompadour, but was quite disappointed with how it seemed to lack volume.

Thankfully, one of the gals from the Naturally Flyy natural hair fashion show I was in, Doyonna, posted a tutorial on how to make a two-strand twist pompadour fuller.  Her suggestion is to use false hair as a filler...it really works!

I found a bag of "afro-kinky" in my closet (one day I need to vent/blog about being a product junkie/hair-monger).  Then I curled the back twists using those tiny, cheap, plastic blue rollers.  Here's the final result!

Pieces of Me

Last nite I went with a couple of friends to see Ledisi in concert.  I absolutely ADORE Ledisi; she's such an amazing singer & performer!  This was the first time I've seen her as a headliner.  Her opening act was Eric Roberson.  I had never heard of him before, but the boy KILT it!  That's right.  I said it.  He. KILT. it.

Anyway, the nice thing about going to a Ledisi concert is that you are sure to see the natural hair community come out and support.  I definitely felt at "home" as I scanned the theatre during intermission & saw locs, twists, twist-outs, knots & 'fros.  I saw a sister a few rows ahead of me sporting a style with her locs & decided to try my own version of it this afternoon.  Here's the results.

So, like the front corner of my head is just individual twists that I rolled up.  The other side is just the beginning of some two strand twists that wrap around my head.

Then I did some horizontal two strand twists in the back.  I can't cornrow, so I can only twist.

I am very pleased with the final product!

It's Meet-Up Time!

Today was another Naturally Flyy Detroit Meet-Up!  Every meet-up feels like Christmas to me; I love the anticipation, surprise, and comfort it brings.

This time, I had the honor of being a model in a mini hair & fashion show.  I have never modeled before, so I was a little nervous.  Since I'm a dancer, I tried to convince myself that it would be like dancing...only slower...yeah...

Anyway, this is what I had on.  I was demonstrating corporate attire.  The outfit included a brown & yellow pencil skirt, brown belt, & brown knee high boots.

As usual, I picked up some great finds.  I purchased two sets of earrings from Shionne Design and some hair jewels from Mo Williams.  I was especially geeked about the earrings b/c I have always wanted peacock earrings AND I now have some Tigers spirit wear the next time my school celebrates the Detroit Tigers!

I don't have much else to say, other than it's always a blessing to be in the company of like-minded people. I just want to share beautiful pix of the event & fantastic, unique styles that stood out to me. Thank God I'm Natural!!! :-)

Something New

So, I've been slacking on the hair-do's recently.  I think I did a bun for two weeks, and then this past week I did an afro simply because I did not feel like trying to conjure up something.

After perusing the Essence Hot Hair special issue & looking through some natural hair blogs, I still came up short...I knew that I wanted the back braided up and a low part on the side, but couldn't figure out the front.  Then I saw one of my friend's new profile pix on facebook, & knew that I wanted to roll the front. (Thx Jay!)

I've never done this before, but I came up with this:

In other news, I won a Roots Only comb from Her Best Hair!  I'm very grateful.  My plan is to use it to oil my scalp.  We'll see how that goes.

3 Month Check In

I think about 3 months ago I started the Kim Coles' Grow Out Challenge.  I know heat is a "no-no" during this 6 month challenge, but this weekend, time & curiosity got the best of me, so I blow-dried my hair for the first time in forever.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the length of my ponytail!  My hair has not been this healthy since I was in middle school.

Even though I have fallen off a couple of times, I am still trying to conquer the 64oz. of water a day thing.  I have been pretty faithful in keeping up with my vitamin intake (a women's vitamin & a cod liver oil pill) every day.  I have also been making sure that I eat my "5 a day" fruits & veggies, especially green veggies. Supposedly, I'm anemic, so the green veggies are rich in iron & keep me from dragging.

I can honestly say, if anything, this is the most energetic I've felt at the beginning of a school year during my whole stint as a teacher (4 years)!  Perhaps part of it is finally getting the swing of things, but I have been less stressed, more active, and overall just feeling plain good.  This challenge has yielded some EXCELLENT results!

Um, Yeah...We're Done!

So, this year marked my 10-year anniversary of my on-again, off-again, quite complicated relationship with Proactiv.  We are getting a divorce.

I can't even get all of this crap to fit in my trash can!

As a high schooler, my acne seemed to go from bad to worse.  My mom would try to "help" me, but I wanted to be left alone.  I kept hoping that if I didn't talk about it, it would just go away.  Well, that didn't happen. And by the time I was a senior, she went on a limb & ordered Proactiv.

It worked pretty well.  Except for the side effects.  The solution has a bleaching agent, so many of my clothes, sheets, pillowcases, etc. are/were discolored because of it.  Also, the mask uses sulfur, so I was walking around smelling like rotten eggs.  Yeah.  Not the business.

Over the years, I have realized that what it truly comes down to is that I have extremely sensitive skin, especially on my face.  I can't use scented anything (lotion, detergent, soaps, etc.); I have to keep things that touch my face (ie. the phone) really clean, & I can't have things (or ppl ;-) ) touching my face for long periods of time.  Otherwise, I WILL break out.

I've mentioned it before, but I've been on a quest to use beauty products that do not have synthetic ingredients.  Which is why I was OVERJOYED to find that SheaMoisture has an acne treatment kit!  It's at Target.

It costs more than the regular SheaMoisture products...about $16, but it's well worth the purchase!  I have really smooth, clear skin & I LOVE that it uses natural ingredients.

I also think that drinking a TON more water, keeping my hands off my face, & changing my communication methods have helped a whole lot.  I changed my cell phone plan so that I finally have unlimited texting...so I do that a lot more instead of calling.  Also, if I know I'm going to be on the phone for a long time, I have been using Google Talk on my computer, so that I don't have to hold anything to my face.

Finally, the skin I always wanted! :-D

Shedding Season

When I was a child, my mom used to take me to this kiddie salon to get my hair pressed by a woman named Ms. Regina.  I liked Ms. Regina a lot.  She knew how to get my kinky hair bone straight, and, unlike my mother, she didn't slip the hot comb and accidentally burn my ear or neck in the process.

Every once in awhile, she'd notice that my hair was coming out, but would assure me with these words--"It's ok; it's shedding season."

I thought about those words, "shedding season," the other day when looking at the flowers on my balcony.  About 3-4 weeks ago, I looked out my window & noticed that NO flowers were growing, which shocked me.  I saw this:

Most of the flowers had died & dried up on the stems

I decided at that time that I needed to prune my little plants, so that (without getting too scientific) new growth could form.  I pulled off all the dead flowers & hoped for the best.  Several weeks went by & nothing happened.  Then, the other day when I came back from my FABULOUS vacation to West Michigan, I looked out and saw the following:

New life formed!

Forward movement has been on my mind a lot lately...frankly, all year.  The verse that I decided to "claim" for 2011 has been Deut. 2:3, "You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward."  I have been declaring that I would move "northward" in all areas of my life, no matter the cost.

Honestly, moving forward can be a bit painful.  It's easy to get comfortable where you are or to hold on to unnecessary items.  But, what I am learning, is that God can't bless you with something new if you're still holding on to the old.  It's shedding season, y'all.

Stay encouraged.

Cuts Grease...AND Oil!

I don't know about the rest of you naturalistas, but I can sometimes get a little carried away when applying castor oil or EVOO.  And when I say carried away, I mean to the point where I have oil spots on my clothes.

A couple of weeks ago, I was styling my hair right after work...I shoulda changed out of my work clothes...smh.  When I finished with my hair, I looked down at my clothes and saw this:

Notice the castor oil stains on the bottom of my sweater & near the crotch area of the shorts.

Thankfully, a while back I learned (from a source I honestly can't remember) that dish soap gets out oil stains in clothes.  Remember, dish soap is used to cut grease, so it makes sense for it to work with oil stains.  I applied some Palmolive to the spots on my clothes & let it sit for some time, then put them in the wash.  Here's the result:

The stains are GONE!  YAY!

Celebrations!!!

I'm currently in a state of euphoria because I just found out I am a recipient of a $1200 grant for my classroom in the fall! WOW! :-D Thank God!

Anyway, while I'm in this upbeat mood, I have a couple other things that I'd like to take the time to celebrate.

1. Many thanks to Dominique on All Things O'Natural!  Last week, she featured my story on her blog.  You can read about it by clicking here.  Thank you to those who have come over or joined this blog after reading my story there.

2. I have been finding only a little amount of hair in the hair catcher when I have been washing my hair lately!  This is exciting to me because I really wanted to work on length retention this summer.  I attribute a lot of my success to sealing my ends with castor oil after I cowash.

3. The Naturally Flyy Meetup group had their one year anniversary last week, with appx. 500 in attendance!  How cool is that?

The theme of this meeting was "Faces, Fro's & Funk," so I decided to switch it up from my usual twist styles to an asymmetrical 'fro.

My ace-boon Michelle & I at the end of the meetup

I love going to the meetups because there is so much positive energy.  Everyone is celebrating each other's hair & just showing love.  It's beautiful.

Since it's warmer & the weather is nice, we got to use all of Artist Village.

See, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!  Natural sistahs showin' love! BEAUTIFUL!

I was approached by Satincurls2011 & LamonicaD and asked to take a picture of my hair!  I was delighted.  Make sure y'all go & check out their youtube pages.

And for more of a close up...

Looking forward to more celebrations in the last days of summer to come! :-)

Operation: Length Retention -- GIGO

When I was a teenager, there was a saying floating around Evangelical youth groups of America, "Garbage In; Garbage Out."  The thought was that if you put negative/bad things in your life, you'd be adversely affected, whereas if you input good things, you'd become more like Christ.

Regardless, I have been trying to apply this concept in terms of taking care of my hair by putting good things into my body.  I stumbled upon the Kim Coles' Grow-Out Challenge at the end of June.  It's too late to enter the contest, but I still want to do the project because I want to grow healthier hair.  Part of the challenge is to drink 64 ounces of water a day.  What could be a better thing to put into the body?

I'm not the greatest at picturing measurements and sizes in my head (omg, ikr...what kind of science teacher am I????), so at first I thought 64 ounces would be no problem.  I thought I already drank a lot of water.  When I measured it out, it turned out to be enough water to fill an entire pitcher.

I love this pitcher...I got it at a garage sale a few years ago.

Anyway, as it turns out, drinking a whole pitcher of water every day is not as easy as it seems.  I started at the beginning of this month, which was the hardest.  It has become easier with each day passing.  I will say, even though I now have to pee like a madman, my skin seems clearer.  Also, my body seems to tolerate the multi-vitamin I take every day.  Before drinking all of this water, my body didn't seem to like the vitamin so much.  I am looking forward to seeing the long-term effects of this process!

Famous Last Words

Soooo...yeah.  I saw this picture in the July 2011 edition of Essence (p. 56) & thought to myself, "Hey, that looks easy!  I should try it..."

***sigh*** Well, it wasn't as easy as I thought.  After listening to a Church on the Move podcast once & then Israel & New Breed's Live From Another Level [disc 2] three times, here is the final outcome.  I'm not really pleased with the results (I'm a perfectionist) but it's gonna have to do for the week...

A Time to Rest, pt. I

In Ecclesiastes 3, we read that everything has its season.  This summer I have been struggling through a season of rest, and plan on doing a few blogs about the things I am learning.  This post is part one of many.
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Many of my good friends know that I have an, ahem, affinity for cleaning.  It is not uncommon for me to say in the middle of a phone call, "Ay, can I put you on speakerphone right quick?  I'm trying to clean this toilet/clean this fishbowl/dismantle and wipe down this refrigerator/dismantle and wipe down this washing machine."

Some might call me OCD, but I think I clean a lot because it gives me something to do, as well as a sense of satisfaction.  When I was a kid, my mom would compile a long list of things that needed to be cleaned by the end of the summer.  The list ranged from washing blinds to scrubbing tiles on my hands and knees with a small brush.  I always hated pulling weeds, yet every year it'd be on the list.  There was a colony of wasps in the backyard that always lurked around me when I'd pull weeds in the hot sun and make me nervous.  Anyway, every week, she'd choose an area for me to focus on.  By the end of the summer, it was all done.  I swore that once I "grew up," I'd never spend my summers cleaning.

Well, here I am all grown up...and what have I done every summer since I've moved out of my parents' house?  That's right, made a 2 page list of things to clean and proudly completed it by the end of the summer.  This summer, before I even sat down to make my list, I started things off right by giving my refrigerator a thorough cleaning.  Man, there's nothing like taking apart a fridge, cleaning every inch, and putting it together again.  Seriously.

Anyway, shortly after that, I went on vacation with my parents and my paternal side of the family.  When I returned, I got ready to make my list of things to clean (especially since I just discovered "stickies" on my mac), as well as a list of tests/notes/videos to make for next school year.  Suddenly, the Holy Spirit challenged me and I heard a resounding, "NO! Just rest," in my spirit.  I was troubled because there was so much I wanted to DO this summer.  I am a task-oriented person and I just find so much joy in doing.

Instead, I did what I felt instructed to do, to rest.  And I have tried really hard to continue to do that.  At the beginning of this month I would get up, eat, read, catch up on past episodes of SYTYCD, and take a nap.  And even now, as I am doing a brief stint teaching summer school, I am challenging myself not to overplan (which I usually do) and to take things one day at a time.  It's hard to give up control, but I find myself at a greater peace and actually enjoying life.

As I was sharing at worship practice the other day (yes, some kind of way I'm on the worship team at church...I play the violin...that's a whole 'nother story), I'm learning that rest is not passive.  It is active.  As I choose to rest, I allow myself to be filled.  And as I am filled, I will be able to pour out and serve others from the overflow.  The days of striving are over.  Pray for me as I choose to rest.

Stay encouraged.

Product Review: SheaMoisture

Soooo...I'm thinking about renaming my blog "Natural Hair Tips from My Cousin."

My cousin kept raving about SheaMoisture products for months.  She was even leaving cryptic voice messages on my cellular phone about it.  "Oh my hair is so soft now that I'm using SheaMoisture, blah, blah..."

I for one, am a creature of habit and slow to change.  I've been natural for 5 years and kind of had my products & regimen in-tact.  I had a styling product (that I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post) that I'd been using and loving for years and wasn't really looking for anything new.  On top of that, I'm quite frugal...my personal motto for most things in life is "5 dollars or less."  So, when I went to Walgreens to take a look at the SheaMoisture products, I was not thrilled about the price ($9.99 for everything that I saw).  I reluctantly purchased the Organic Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie...mainly because I thought it smelled good.

Let me tell you, that purchase was WELL WORTH the $10 spent!  I have done away with my old styling product and am now hooked on the Organic Coconut & Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie for several reasons:

1. It smells SO GOOD!  Seriously, it smells like something you want to eat...even days after being applied.
2. It is organic & doesn't have weird, man-made ingredients.  When I look at the label, I can pretty much pronounce all of the ingredients & identify what they are.  I can't remember if I've talked about this before, but a lot of my family has had cancer (either survived it or died from it), so I'm very cautious about chemicals, ingredients, radiation, etc.
3. My hair has been SO SOFT and SO SILKY because of it!  I think part of the manageable texture might be because I have been cowashing, but I think the SheaMoisture product has something to do with it too.
4. The product is not at all sticky, but rather naturally oily.  My old styling creme always left my hands and hair feeling so sticky, that I was self-conscious about anyone touching it because of the sticky residue.  This product is not sticky at all and when I touch my twists, my hands still feel clean.

All in all, another great recommendation from my cousin!  Now, she's leaving msgs on my phone about a black tea rinse...yeah, I'm still skeptical about that one... ;-)

Operation: Length Retention (pt. I)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying out a couple techniques this summer because I really want to retain length.  I know that my hair grows, but it seems to stay the same length because of improper maintenance.


Cowashing & Castor Oil
When my cousin first called me about cowashing back in the winter, I seriously thought she had been "smoking that stuff," as we often say in joking.  I am quite particular about cleanliness, and in my mind, there was no way washing my hair with conditioner was going to get it clean the way shampoo did.  Well, after cowashing these past few weeks, I must say I am HOOKED!  My hair is so much more manageable, softer, and moisturized.  And, all of the concerns I had about cleanliness have faded away.


Not only are my hair & scalp really dry, but there are a few spots that itch A LOT!  I have been oiling my scalp with a combination I made out of castor & tea tree oils.  The castor oil is great for the dryness & the tea tree oil soothes my itchy scalp.


Protective Styling
Again, to retain length, this summer I am trying to focus on styles that don’t require a lot of heat (from blow drying) & constant pulling, recombing/restyling, etc.

To achieve this week’s look, I did 3 two-strand flat twists on both sides of my head, plaiting the ends.  Then I horizontally two-strand flat twisted a section in the front so that I could have a wavy pompadour.  Finally, I divided the back of my head into 3 sections, and put 3-5 plaits in each section.  All of this was done while the hair was wet & I let it dry overnight.  In the morning, I took out all the plaits, brushed the hair back into a bun and made the pompadour in the front.

Give Us, Us Free!

“Give us, us free!”

No, that’s not the sound of my 7th & 8th graders anxiously awaiting summer vacation.  It was the sound of my scalp, hair & follicles crying out after being in braids for 2 months!  My plan was to make it from Spring Break (beg. of Apr.) to the end of the school year (middle of June), but I simply couldn’t take it anymore.  Plus after a couple braids that were on my temples suddenly appeared on my floor, I knew that my head just couldn’t handle it anymore.  So, Memorial Day weekend, I spent many hours carefully shedding those braids!

Now that my hair is back to usual, I have 3 things I want to discuss...and they all start with the letter C!

Color:  Back in December I went to the salon and got my hair colored.  I went to Faye at Faye’s Beauty Salon in the New Center area, and was very pleased with the consultation and service.  I really liked how Faye LOVED working with my hair in its natural state.  Anyway, my hair has grown some since then, and the color is now in the middle/ends of my hair, which I think looks super neat.  I had contemplated getting a touch up of color, but I’m kind of digging the middle/end bursting with color thing.

Cowashing: I have heard lots about cowashing, but have been leery to try it.  My goal this summer is to dabble in cowashing.  I figure, if it goes wrong, at least I won’t have to go in to work the next day!  I bought some more conditioner at the beauty supply (I don’t want to use the my Joico on weekly cowashes...just for deep conditioning) and can’t wait to get started.

Castor Oil: So, at the last hair-meetup, someone mentioned Jamaican Black Castor Oil for the scalp.  I couldn’t find that in any store, so I settled for some generic castor oil.  I must say, I really like using it!  I have a really dry scalp, and most oils don’t do anything for me.  I had been using Isoplus Natural Collection: Braids, Locks, & Twists Scalp Moisturizer because it truly moisturizes my scalp the way I need.  However, I was looking for something else because I get nervous about putting substances on my skin that are man made (ie. Propylene Glycol, PPG-5-Ceteth-20, Diazolidinyl Urea!?!?!?!?!).  I will try this for awhile and see how it goes.

Accepted, Affirmed, and...ACCESSORIZED!!!

Last night some of my girlfriends & I attended the Naturally Flyy Detroit Meet-Up #5 at Sweet Potato Sensations in Artist Village.  It was a time of celebration of natural hair, networking, & panel q&a.  I felt SO BLESSED to be amongst like-minded sisters and brothers who have embraced natural hair care.  My only regret is that I forgot my camera!  When I got in my car to go home, the three words I came up with to describe my experience were: accepted, affirmed, & accessorized.

Accepted
I think a few of my closest friends knew about a period of about 3 mos. this past winter/early spring that I refer to myself as "The Dark Night of the Soul."  It was a season of my life where I kept trying to figure out what was "wrong" with me & why I am 27 and still not married.  At one point I even questioned if wearing my hair natural was why I haven't been on a date in a HOT second.  Most of my friends who are married are not natural and a few had encouraged me to "just get your hair pressed."  I've been natural for 5 years.  But in February, I got my hair pressed for the first time in AGES.  And relationally, it got me nowhere.  After 2 weeks, I went back to being natural.

What I had to learn, and what was expressed yesterday by several gentlemen (on the panel & in the audience) is that it isn't the hair that makes you, but the confidence within.  I had worked really hard after undergrad to build my confidence, but somewhere along the way, I let all my hard work unravel.  Being in a room full of naturals (and their supporters) built my confidence in my decision to be natural, as well as to accept and love my decision.

Affirmed
From the moment I pulled into the parking lot, 'til the moment we left, I was affirmed.  The security team not only helped us park, but walked us to and from the venue.  When we entered into the meet-up we were greeted by gentlemen who had nothing but positive things to say about our hair.  All of us even received a wonderful poem, which in all honesty I didn't read until this morning while I was digging through my purse at church.  The poem, "Perfectly Beautiful (Just as You Are!)" made me feel so good, not just to be natural, but to be a BLACK woman.

I live and work in the suburbs, so most of the admirers of my natural hair are my middle-aged/senior, caucasian co-workers or my adolescent students.  While I appreciate their comments, it just doesn't feel the same as when brothers & sisters my own race and age complement me on my hair and affirm my decision.  I definitely left full & feeling like the queen that I am.

Accessorized
Ok, so, I am going to start putting aside money every pay period so that when I go to the next meet-up (July 30), I can have PLENTY of spending money!  There were so many neat things that I wanted to buy, but could only get a few.  I picked up a "Thank God I'm Natural" Shirt (w/ complimentary tote) and a clip from OMSoul.  Next time, I want to get some earrings from Created in His Image.

All in all, a great time, & I CAN'T WAIT for the next meet-up!

Curly Girlie

This week's hair inspiration came from one of my favorite singers as a teen...Gwen Stefani!

I hadn't done this since college...but took it upon myself to curl my braids.  How do you curl synthetic hair?  Good question!

First I put my hair in medium size ponytails all over.  Then I divided each ponytail into smaller parts and put rollers around them.

Then I GENTLY washed my hair with Joico's Color Endure shampoo and used towels to squeeze the excess water out of the rollers.  To make sure that the braids were really curled, I boiled hot water and dunked each section of rollers into a bowl of the hot water for 30 seconds.  (TIP: If you do this, be sure to hold a towel around your neck & ears...you don't want to burn yourself!)

I squeezed the water  out of the rollers, applied some extra-hold Pre-Con Gel to my roots to prevent flyaways, put on a scarf, laid a towel on my pillows to absorb any water & went to sleep!  The next day's results:

I took me awhile to figure out a good way to get my hair over like Gwen's.  I had to part it and put a scarf on it to try and flatten some of this hair.  I put in a couple of bobby pins & now I'm all set!

Heeeerrrreeee We Go!

So I decided to start a blog that will focus on two things that are important in maintaining in my life: my (natural) hair & my relationship with God.

I've been wearing these braids for over 3 weeks now, and wanted to do something different with them for this Holy Weekend.  My inspiration was from this post on Her Best Hair.  So I made 3 big twists on the left side of my head, then took the remaining hair, twisted it around, and made a bun/chignon thing...I might change it come Easter.

Have a Happy Good Friday!