Let Your Hair "Do what it Do": My New Natural Hair Motto

We are all guilty of it, especially us "newly naturals". What am I talking about? Piling our hair with gels and puddings, vigorously brushing our mane with the infamous Denman brush. Stretching and parting or curls, and combing out the curls to achieve a certain look. I've done it, spending at least over $100 dollars on curling products. Yes, my hair curls on it's own but I do have some spots of frizziness. But you know what? That's okay, because that's what my hair wants to do. And there in lies my new hair motto: "Let your hair do what it do!" Our hair has a mind of it's own. The way it curls, deciding whether to clump together or not. It's okay and it's beautiful. Stop trying to make your hair do something it doesn't want to. Don't believe me? Go do a quick wash and go, don't add any products. After it's towel dried a bit shake your hair and see where it falls, how it falls, and which strands decide to curl or clump together. See? It's beautiful! Of course doing twist outs, braid outs, coil outs, etc. every now and then is okay. But not every day, not all the time. Let your hair be free to do what it wants! Yes I do protective styles, but you will not see me in a different one more than once a week! Stop trying to make it fall a certain way, let it reach to the heavens if it pleases! Don't break the curls up, they want to be together! Love your hair how it is! Own it and you will be beautiful! Peace and blessings.

Natural hair style: Braid crown style #1

This is a new braid crown that i tried and was 95% successful in my opinion. As you can see the only problem i have is with the braid in the middle. It seemed to always lean to one side no matter how many times I did it over! lol Some things are just meant to be! I started off sectioning off the front where I wanted the crown to stop. Then I parted off a section down the middle and down the sides in the front. I cornrowed the middle braid down until it got to the side parts then split the braid to go on either side. I connected the hair from the middle and cornrowed it down the perimeter of my face on the left and right. After that was done I sectioned 3 rows going downwards on both sides and cornrowed that. And voila! that's my style. My curls came naturally from a wash and go that dried. ***Note: i did not put anything on the ends of my hair to close them. I did not braid them all the way down though as to let it blend in with the rest of my hair. To see a live tutorial click here. Also for a cornrowing 101 tutorial click here.

Natural Hair update!

Hey my natural hair divas! I feel like I've been neglecting my bloggers since getting my new webcam! Sorry! But I will update yall! It's still hot where I'm at so I am still doing the protective styling of my fro. I haven't done any new protective styles other than the braids an twists so I'm not going to go into detail about that. I have actually done a live tutorial for my Avocado/Coconut deep conditioner mix so click here to view it. I have done a few new styles though which I will discuss in other posts. I've kind of slacked off on my hair care routine as far as oiling my scalp but other than that I've been keeping up with it. I have switched from using the hair butter to using the hair creme for everything. The next time I will be doing a shea butter mix it will be for a body butter. I trimmed my hair recently. This was my first time trimming my natural hair and it was more difficult than I expected. I did it while it was wet and that allowed for easier smoothing. I ended up doing a dusting instead of a trim because I didn't have any damage since I do not do too many harsh things to may hair such as applying heat. Over all I feel like it turned out well. I used to be a beast at trimming when my hair was straight but now I see it's more difficult to get my ends straight enough to trim with out using heat. Click here for the video. Other than that my hair is still growing beautifully! Please stay tuned to other posts concerning my styles! Peace and blessings

Which Hair Typing System is Better?

Hey lovelies! If you are transitioning or are already natural nine times out of 10 you already heard about hair types. I remember the first time I heard about it, I immediately looked it up. I felt like well, now instead of labeling hair either good or bad now we have a numbering system! YAY! (hint of sarcasm)....Here is the 1,2,3,4 hair typing system thanks to Curls.biz and Naturallycurly.com

Type 1: Straight hair. It has the most shine. It is also the most resilient and is the hardest to damage. Because the hair is straight, natural hair oils can run down the shaft easily and there for this hair is the oiliest.

Type 2 (wavy): In between straight and curly hair. Has more sheen then curly but less than straight. More prone to frizz
2a- Can alternate between straight and curly
2b and 2c- More resistant to styling
Now this is where it gets more detailed. Type 3 and 4 are what most of us Black naturals have.

Type 3 ( curly): The curl pattern is definite. When it is pulled it has an S curl pattern. It is very climate dependent meaning that the more humid it is the more frizz there is. This hair is also damage prone. If not taken care of properly the curls can appear dull.

3a- Big, loose, shiny curls. The shorter the hair the straighter the hair. Think Julia Roberts big red curls.
3b- Medium sized curls ranging from ringlets to tight corkscrews.
3c- Tight curly corkscrews. Can be curly or kinky; strands tightly packed together. aka big hair.

Sizing:
3b- side walk chalk circumference
3c- pencil or straw circumference

Type 4 (Kinky): Very fine and fragile. Won't have shine but will have sheen. Actually very soft and will feel silky.
4a: Very tightly coiled and has s pattern. Has more moisture than 4b. Coffee stirrer circumference
4b: less defined. Has a Z shape pattern
4c: There wasn't much said about this type but I can imagine that is is less defined than 4b and still carries the Z shape pattern.

Okay, now that we have the traditional hair typing system out of the way, what is different about the LOIS system? In my opinion it doesn't divide us because people who are in the 4 category will have some of the same hair issues as those in the 3 category. It decides what your hair needs by the way your strands curl, the thickness of your hair and your hair texture. Take a look:
L - If the hair has all bends, right angles and folds with little to no curve then you are daughter L.

O - If the strand is rolled up into the shape of one or several zeros like a spiral, then you are daughter O.

I - If the hair lies mostly flat with no distinctive curve or bend you are daughter I.

S - If the strand looks like a wavy line with hills and valleys then you are daughter S.

You may have a combination of the LOIS letters, possibly with one dominant. If you cannot see one letter over the others, then combine the letters. Example: LO or IL or OS..

Find Your Strand size:
A strand of frayed thread is about the thickness of a medium sized strand of human hair. If your strand is larger than this, then your hair is thick. If your strand is smaller than this, hair is thin, or fine..

Find Your Texture:
Shine is a sharp reflection of light while Sheen is a dull reflection of light.

Thready - Hair as a low sheen, with high shine if the hair is held taut (as in a braid), with low frizz. Wets easily but water dries out quickly.

Wiry - Hair has a sparkly sheen, with low shine and low frizz. Water beads up or bounces off the hair strands. Hair never seems to get fully wet.

Cottony - Hair has a low sheen, a high shine if the hair is held taunt and has high frizz. Absorbs water quickly but does not get thoroughly wet very fast.

Spongy - Hair has a high sheen with low shine with a compacted looking frizz. Absorbs water before it gets thoroughly wet.

Silky - Hair has low sheen, a very high shine, with a lot or low frizz. Easily wets in water.

Now take my hair for instance. I have mostly O curl and some S in the back since my curls are looser there. My strand size is smaller than a piece of thread and my texture is cottony. And by the LOIS system I think it is easier to find out which products are better for your hair. For my hair I would buy lightweight products that add shine and define my curls, reduce frizziness and add moisture. Let me know what you all think. Peace and Blessings.

Pescatarian What???: Update #2

My plan to not eat any meat but fish and other seafood was working well. I even decided that if I did eat fish or seafood I would limit it to once or twice a week. And that was fine...until I was craving chicken this last Friday! I was doing good too. I went 2 straight weeks without eating any poultry, red meat, or pork. Well the pork was not hard since I never ate it anyways besides bacon and neither was red meat since I only had steak maybe 1 time per month and lamb chops maybe twice a month. But chicken I ate at least twice a week...everyday when I lived in walking distance of KFC. I knew it was going to be hard for me to let it go. And Friday proved just that although I did not get it until Saturday night. I mean I thought about it all day...literally. Just thinking about the crispy outside of fried chicken and the juicy meat beneath the fried skin. Hmmm....lol! I reminded myself that this is suppose to be a transition, I did not want to go cold turkey for fear of too many relapses. I consider myself doing very well because I am transitioning and chicken is the only meat I've been craving and eating; very rarely though. I feel like I deserve a big pat on the back! Peace and Blessings.

Latest Protective Style: Mini braids!

(pics from bottom to top: first day, after one week, and second week)

Hey lovelies! Time for the new style of the week! This week I wanted a style that didn't frizz so easily or got "old looking" so easily. So I opted for mini braids. I knew when I started that it was going to take a while especially with me having to start and stop to tend to my girls. Well I loved them...while I had them! lol I am a newly natural and I love to see my fro and how big it gets! I got the idea from a couple of youtube naturalistas: prettydimples01 and KinkyCurlyQueen. Unfortunately I only kept them in for 2 weeks, which is long for me!

How I did them:

I started on dry hair (i know it's not good for kinky hair) because I didn't want the braids to "slip" loose or shrink. I started in the front and worked my way around the back until I was in the middle and finished. On each braid I did not braid all the way down, maybe left 1/2 inch to an inch of hair loose.

Products used:

I started the braids on dry, clean hair. After I was finished braiding I soaked them with water and then applied Kinky Curly Curling Custard mainly to the ends to create curl definition. At night I would just rub coconut oil to my ends and scalp.

This style would have definitely lasted at LEAST 1 month but I'm so impatient...Hope you liked! Peace and Blessings.