New Year, New Beginnings

My cousin called me a few weeks ago & was like, "I noticed you haven't posted on your blog in awhile...when you gonna write something again?"

Truth be told, November & December of 2011 were pretty much hell on Earth for me.  Each week progressively got worse & worse, pretty much up until New Year's Day.  So, with all the mayhem in my personal life, I haven't had time to post like I wanted to.

Thankfully, all storms come to an end.  I'm still recovering emotionally, spiritually, & mentally from those hectic weeks, but am in a much better place.

So, what a better way to start the year off than with some hairstyles!?!?!?  Here are some photos of recent styles I have rocked.

1. This is a style wear I two-strand twisted my whole head, then rolled up the front twists & made a bun in the back.

 2. This is a twist out after wearing the above style for some time.  I just want to say, I hate twist-outs...they are a last resort for me.  I always get compliments, but I just don't like them.

3. Last week I blowed-dried my hair for the first time in months.  I loved how soft & thick my hair is.  It also allowed me to see some new gray hairs (I blame Nov. & Dec.).  Anyway, I made a bun and then two-strand twisted the front/side & rolled that bad boy up!

Happy New Year, Happy New Beginnings!

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!

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!

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!

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.