A Girl Can Dream, Right?!

So I did a photo shoot for a friend. Yes, me. He says that I have the perfect look for what he was going for (And let me tell you, that compliment did wonders for a sistah's ego :-)

For the photo shoot...my sister added some extensions to my hair. She was not able to touch it up on the day of the photo shoot, but I tucked that bad boy into a bun and we did the model thing in the streets of Philadelphia wherever the photographer felt motivated to snap a picture. It was oh so natural! And the pictures turned out pretty great, I must say...

I'm quite proud of myself actually. The problem was taking that crap out of my hair. Actually, the crap is still in my hair. I kind of like it. And I wish my hair would grow already so that I can put it into a cute bun like the picture. Or so that I can wear it down.

So I've been walking around, perpitrating with a big-A bun on my head telling the people at church, "Yes! It's all mine." (Cause you know Black women will ask you in a heartbeat). I guess I forgot how childish and impatient I can be. But when it came time to take my hair down, I was immediately reminded.

I will take it out soon and come clean, I promise.

Daydreaming

But that will be me one day!

Latch hooking, beeswax and a little profanity

Yeah, so I tried latch hooking.

First of all, let me explain and describe what a latch hook is in the first place. A latch hook is a hand-held tool consisting of a thin shaft with a hook on one end and a pivoting latch, used for drawing loops of yarn through canvas or similar material to make rugs and the like.
What makes this device perfect for tightening locks, is the pivoting latch. You put the hook through your twist or braid lock at the root. Next, you hook the end of your twist (or wrap it around...whatever, as long as it catches). Pull it back through the twist. If you continue this...it tightens eventually. I guess it just depends on how loose your twist was in the first place. It sounds complicated, but I looked at the process once on youtube and two months later, picked up a latch hook and did it. Considering that my memory is like an etch-a-sketch...I would not have remembered and been able to execute this procedure 2 months later -mind you- if it was difficult.

My opinion on latch hooking. Great process, great way to tighten your locks for an extended period of time. Great! Great! Great! Will I use this method? No. Why not? It works too well. Such a permanent method wouldn't allow me the option of "taking down" my locs in the future if I decided that I wanted to take that course of action. I'd have to shave my head. Now I know that most people get locs with the intention of never taking them out but I try not to do anything that I can't undo. And to me, shaving my head should be an option, not a requirement (unless I have some kind of horrible disease or an outbreak of lice or something.)



Here's a picture of the latch hooked locs.
Granted, I did pull them up, they are still pretty tight on their own. I took this picture about 3 weeks after latch hooking some of my locs. The fact that you still see my scalp goes to show you that they have some serious staying power.

Now the issue of beeswax. I'll get straight to the point, I've been tempted to use the stuff. I know, I know...I shouldn't. It builds up, it's heavy, it leaves residue...but darnit! I'm getting desperate. Gel is fine, but once...just ONCE, I'd like to know what it feels like to redo my twists and have them actually look fresh the next day. Sigh! Call me crazy, but can I see my scalp every once in a while?! Huh? Pretty please?! @!$#%*? (She takes a deep breath and looks off into the sky wistfully).

Okay, I'm done.

What's new?

Hey everybody! I know it's been a while, but I have been busy with some things. For example...

I just finished reading this ...

Hair Story, a book by Ayana Bird and Lori Tharps. You should read it too! This is a book about Black people and their hair. From our beginnings in Africa (as far as hair maintenance rituals) to the hair cair industry today.

Anywho...I have been twisting and washing, retwisting and washing some more.

<------Trying to do a model pose...lol.

These are pictures of me on several occasions of doing my new favorite thing to do (NOT!) retwisting my hmmm...locks(?) I guess they are still twists. They are in between so I guess I will call them tweenies :-).

This is my "You show is ugly" Color Purple picture

Okay, enough foolishness...I have officially found my new favorite way to condition my hair before washing. It's a mixture of two different homemade conditioners that I found on Motowngirl.com. Here's what I do...

I mix 1/3 cup honey, 3 tablespoons olive oil, four drops of rosemary oil, and two eggs. Mix the ingredients and pour all over my head. Next I cover my head with a plastic bag covered by a warm towel and blow dry or don't blow dry (doesn't matter, as long as it's sitting there seeping into your scalp and pouring down the back of your neck, yuck!). After about twenty minutes, I wash the concoction out of my hair and I shampoo. Sometimes, after shampooing, I'll use a clarifying rinse like apple cider vinegar and water.

This is my favorite conditioner because it leaves my hair feeling really soft and moisturized. Also, the ingredients blend well and stimulate the scalp...it's just all around nice. Warning: make sure to check through your hair a little, sometimes you may have to pick a piece of egg yolk out here and there. But it's worth it, trust me.

You know what? I really want to try the warm water, honey, lemon clarifying rinse but I'm skerred that I will just end up pouring sticky honey water into my hair. Does that sound crazy? (Don't answer that).

So that's been it, thus far. I don't see any changes in length, but everybody else says they do. And that's all that matters, right? (Don't answer that). I can fit my hair into a ponytail now. But I've never been into the teeny weeny pony tail, so I just sweep it up like this...

I think the braids in the back are cute and in a way, I get to showcase all of the hard work I put into retwisting my hair every week/week and a half.

So that's what's new. Oh, oh, oh...wait! I forgot to mention that I experimented with latch hooking. I will write about that tomorrow. I am actually thinking about trying some wax too. Don't know yet. I will write about that later too.

Until then...here's some randomness...

My dog just graduated from puppy school.

Hanging in there

Hello all! I know I haven't posted in a while...I've been caught up in some mess. "But I'm heah"

Anywho...I must admit to you, I have not been keeping up with my lil' regimens like I should. Thank God for my homemade satin pillow, though. 'Cause due to my schedule lately, a sistah's been hitting the sheets without a head wrap. I created a little oil spray for myself in order to moisturize my hair in the mornings. It's a mixture of jojoba oil and olive oil with water. Have I used it? Sometimes. It's hard to evenly distribute it throughout my hair, though, because the 8 oz. bottle I use is more like a squirt bottle than a spray bottle.

Yeah, yeah, I know...excuses are the tools of the incompetent.

My hair has been kind of dry lately, so yesterday, on a whim I poured some castor oil into the palm of my hands and ran it through my hair (which is something I generally do with olive oil, but I wasn't really paying attention.) It was thicker than I expected and I had to dilute it with some water, which I quickly splashed through my little twists. After this, I sprayed my homemade cleansing concoction through my hair and voila! My hair was the happiest person in the world. (And yes, my hair is a person, because she has her own personality). I let my newly springy, moisturized twists air dry and carried on with my day. Today, my hair is so soft and fragrant. I woke up this morning and it had practically styled itself. Good stuff!

This coming week, I plan on washing my hair. I would say on average, I've been washing it once a week, if that. Maybe more like once every week and a half. I always do the deep conditioning before or after the wash. The twists still unravel big time when I step under the shower (which is unimaginably annoying) but I grit my teeth and grab my locking gel. It's a price I'll pay for this journey.

Random Observation
A couple weeks ago at work, I asked a coworker how many locks he had. Of course he had no clue, so I got to work counting them for him. 106. Now I already knew that I had 140. After going on a website that said every lock should be thicker than a pencil, I felt kind of bad. But that's the thing about the internet, kids. You have to remember not to believe everything you hear. About a hundred pictures later (while looking on a bulletin entitled, "what's your loc count?"on nappturality.com) I saw that there were women with lock counts of 120, 160 and sometimes even 200. Actually, most of the women had higher lock counts than me. After that, I got back to my senses and remembered all of the work I've put in thus far to even consider throwing it all away because of something silly.

So there it is folks! I'll post up some pictures after I retwist my newly washed hair.

Peace unto you all! :-)

Updates

Update...Update...Update...Update...Update...Update...Update...Update...Update...

Right after writing my last blog, I did some more research and found that tea tree oil is a natural astringent. It cleans the hair, which is great, but it can also dry it out if used too much. So, I will not be using my little conditioning spray everyday (because in fact, it is more of a cleansing spray)...but maybe once a week.

Also, using a no-poo shampoo means using a dry shampoo, rather than a wet, lathering one. I was mistaken earlier and thought that it was using a conditioner as your shampoo (which is something that I generally do). Bear with me, I'm still new to this stuff.
Sidenote: I learned from a hair stylist that using shampoo on (he said "naturally curly" but I'm sure he meant Black) hair is not necessary. There are enough cleansing properties in a store-bought conditioner to suffice (especially if you don't want to dry out your hair.) Just check the label, there is plenty of alcohol in conditioners.

Also, I'd like to apologize about my little freakout concerning sodium lauryl and laureth sulfate. Let me explain...these chemicals are used as the irritant factor in laboratory experiments. But what I didn't know was that they are used on shaved albino rats. <---lol, that just sounds weird (and wrong), doesn't it. Now being that these chemicals are the naturally extracted alcohol from coconuts, if you rub alcohol on anything over and over again (especially a shaved area), it's going to irritate. It has been argued that these chemicals are dangerous, which could very possibly be the case, but the counter argument is that the amount used is not dangerous. Also, the chemicals that it is used with create a kind of balance that has allowed people to use soaps, lotions, shampoos with these ingredients for years with no detriment to their health. Wanna hear the whole story...here's a good reference for ya! http://www.treasuredlocks.com/noname7.html I cannot tell you which side I agree with more, they both have valid points, but I came to my own conclusion after I wrote my "freak out" article a couple weeks ago anyway.

Conclusion: It hasn't killed me yet...

Alright, what else?

My boyfriend saw the longing in my eyes the last time I visited the Whole Foods Store so he picked up the rest of the natural ingredients, I'd been eyeing (but knew my butt couldn't afford). Yay! Thanks stud-muffin...I owe you! Those ingredients were Vitamin E oil, more Jojoba oil and some sweet almond oil. If you checked out http://www.motowngirl.com/ you know what I'm trying to do. If you haven't...click the link and find out, you weirdo! (Go to homemade hair recipes)

Okay, as for my daily hair regimen. I've been busy, so it's quick. I wake up, rub some olive oil and jojoba oil through my twists. Shake and go. Sometimes I pin up the twists, others I just let them hang. I find that they don't stick up as much. I think it's because of the added moisture from these oils I have been using. I definitely feel like my hair is more healthy, less dry. My boyfriend says that he sees some growth already. I don't know about all that, but it makes me feel good to hear.

Last but not least. I bought some satin material a couple months ago. I finally got around to sewing myself a pillow case. What can I say...I had a lot of time on my hands that week. But you have to admit, not too bad for an amateur.

That's it for now. Tomorrow, I warsh (like my grandmom would say) my hair.

A New Day

You see that look on my face? That's me after just washing my hair. It looked and felt like I washed every single twist off of my head. In the picture, I look like I'm wearing a little afro with some twists shooting out here and there. Needless to say, I had a lot of work to do that night.








As for the process, here goes. I have been going to my usual websites. Nappturality.com and just recently Motowngirl.com. Grrreeat website!!! It gives you recipes for homemade concoctions that are great for natural hair. The only problem with this website is that you cannot copy and paste the information, nor can you print the page. I painstakingly typed each hair recipe onto Word and printed it from there so that I could have access to the information at home. The ingredients in these hair recipes are a little strange to me, though. For example the use of honey. Who would think to put honey in their hair...on purpose? Anyways, I'll give you an example of what I did when I washed my hair just recently.

I shampood my hair with a conditioner. Before I did this, I used a recipe off of the Motowngirl website for conditioning. It's called the honey/olive oil conditioner. Basically, you mix 3 teaspoons of honey and one fourth cup of olive oil together and massage it all over your hair. You then cover your head with something (I used a plastic bag) and leave it in for a half hour. Next, you wash it out and voila! Now, I'm not going to lie to you. The concoction was sticky. I did not like putting it into my hair, either. The oil did it's thing...you know, smoothed out the honey a little bit. But there's so much it could do. I felt VERY uncomfortable, gooping that stuff onto my head. And spent a good period of time wondering if everything was going to stick to my hair from that point on. (It didn't)

After the "not quite a shampoo-shampoo," I used something called an apple cider vinegar rinse. This is like a clarifier. It's a mixture of one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and two cups distilled water. You pour it over your head after you shampoo and it completes the hair cleansing process. Now I wasn't all that much impressed with the final result. That's not to say that the recipes that I tried didn't do their jobs, just that I didn't get the earth shattering results that I anticipated. My hair felt a little funny. Like clean, but not very soft. In fact, it wasn't even oily from the olive oil. Nothing, nada!

I got to work retwisting, using the ORS hair locking gel (with some olive oil in it). Clipped on the hair clippy things and blew dry my hair. Unfortunately, I was too tired to take pictures right after (and I had to go to work at 4 in the morning). But here's one I took a day later. Kind of hard to make out my hair, but here goes...

So that was my hair washing adventure. I will be washing my hair more often now that the grace period is up and I'm hoping to be able to see the benefits of these homemade conditioners and clarifiers.

Okay, now for one of the more interesting concoctions that I made this morning. I used the recipe for MotownGirl's Homemade Spritz with my own little additions. I had to buy some essential oils (which are not easy to come by and not very cheap either.) I purchased them from a Whole Foods Store.

The things that you see in this picture are castor oil, vegetable glycerin, jojoba oil, lavender oil, rosemary oil, tea tree oil and peppermint oil. And boy those essential oils are strong! For the Homemade Spritz, I used water, my pantene conditioner, olive oil and some tea tree oil (which I added for kicks-and the 4 little droplets that I used gave the whole concoction a different scent). I put everything into an 8 oz. spray bottle, shook it up and sprayed my hair.

It was then and there, in my bathroom, that I heard my hair let out a deep sigh! My hair literally said, "aaaah."

It felt softer and my twists were springier. My hair smells terrific. The funny thing is that it's not oily at all, just soft. I absolutely love this stuff. I will be using it everyday. Two thumbs up.

I also mixed water and 4 drops peppermint oil to make MotownGirl's Scalp Energizer. I poured this into an 8 oz. spray bottle. A few sprays of that to the head and it stimulates the scalp (which stimulates hair growth). I didn't really feel the tingly sensation that I expected, but I love the smell of peppermint. My boyfriend was calling me Peppermint Patty today. I think he liked the way it smelled too. So two thumbs up for that recipe.

That's me looking like I'm going to blow my brains out with the homemade hair spray.

Well that's the journey this week. I can't wait to mix up more recipes with the rest of my ingredients. If you want to try this stuff too, here's the place to go...

http://www.motowngirl.com/

...happy experimenting!

Week 4 - First lesson of self acceptance

I've gotten used to my lil twists thus far. Can't really call them dreads, because they still have the ability to unravel if/when I wash my hair. Yes, I said "when."

I'm sorry reader, I washed my hair two weeks ago and did not inform you, nor did I take pictures. I've been a little busy.

I plan on washing my hair again this upcoming week, however, and I will show you the whole process. I promise. As for my twists, I have been wearing them in a little updo. I think it's sooo cute. I get a lot of compliments on it too. What do you think?

The pictures are a little dark, but I hope you can get the gist.

I'm very thankful that I stayed strong and kept my hair natural for two years before I started these locs. Sometimes I think to myself that I will miss my hair being this length once it starts to grow out.

The funny thing is that my hair has a mind of its own. Such a cliche, I know...but it does. Some days I wake up and it is going in the right direction and other days, it's going every which way.

When I first got my hair palm rolled, I must admit that I was so self conscious. I wore a scarf every day. One day I was about to go out on a little date or something...I don't know. Whatever the occasion, I was dressed nicely and feeling confident. I looked in the mirror, without my usual scarf and/or hat and said to myself "I look good!" and with this confidence (and I mean real confidence, not just saying "I look good") came the compliments and acknowledgement from my friends and family. The funny thing is that, I didn't need those compliments. It just took for me to accept my look first. As soon as I became comfortable and assured, I became more beautiful to myself...and in result to being beautiful to myself, I became beautiful to those around me. It just took me longer than I expected to see my own beauty. I thought that I already had it in me. "Oh, I've worn my hair natural for years," I would say to people. "I've accepted my hair."

How arrogant of me. Let me be the first to admit what a hypocrite I was. I still have some issues, as do most (hell, all) Black people do with our hair in its natural state. I'm just blessed to be able to experience the process that it takes to expose my issues and eliminate them. It's kind of like acknowledging your illegitimate child. Article on that topic to follow ;- )

Anyway, I look at my nieces...who look just like me, mind you, and see how beautiful they are wearing their hair naturally. (And don't they know it too)

I would make excuses for them like, "oh, they're babies...they always look cute." As if that will fade once they reach my age, and they'll have to make up for it through perms, weaves, etc. But when I really think about it, I couldn't imagine telling them (at any age) to be something other than themselves. I couldn't imagine putting chemicals in their hair and watching it fall out like mine did so many years ago. I can still remember the look on my mother's face.

The things we do to our beautiful, Black children (sorry mom). It makes my stomach turn now to think about how insecure I felt about my own hair at such a young age. Or seeing classmates with hair breaking off, looking like chemotherapy patients at ages as young as five and six years old. We have a lot of growing to do as a people.

Back to the point...I want my nieces to be proud of everything they do and everything they are. And if I want that to be the case, I have to set a good example. And yes, that's pee pee in that potty! (Look at her, she's so proud!)

On that note, I'm going to wrap this one up by saying be proud of yourself in your undiluted glory...because if you're not, then you're rejecting the God who made you such a great person to begin with. Glad I could share my journey with you all. The next time you see me, I will have washed my hair again.