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.