Thursday, December 27, 2012

Wash Day While on Vacay!

So as most of you guys know between twitter, youtube, and my blog I'm on vacation! I'm having a fabulous time at home visiting my family and friends. I knew that I would be gone too long to just skip washing my hair all together so I packed my hair essentials (see the video here) and decided to go ahead and make today my wash day. I kept my wash day process very simple because I didn't want to spend 3-5 hours on my hair. First I applied my  Silk Elements Kera Minerals Deep Conditioner to damp hair and sat under the dryer for about 15 minutes. After that I hopped in the shower, rinsed, and followed up with my beloved hair one. Thankfully my mother has a great stash of conditioners and cleansers thanks to me! Next I followed up with some of the GVP version of the Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm. I hadn't used this stuff in years, but decided to after seeing it under my mom's sink and was really surprised with how easily it detangled and softened my hair. I may pick a bottle up the next time I'm in Sally's since I received a Sally's Gift card as one of my Christmas gifts! After rinsing and detangling in the shower I wrapped my hair in a towel and allowed it to soak up as much water as possible for about 10-15 minutes. Lastly, I applied my leave ins which consisted of coconut oil, Giovanni Direct Leave in, and about a quarter sized amount of my GVP Chi Silk Infusion. Since it's pretty cold outside today I decided to go ahead and sit under my mom's hooded dryer on medium cool heat. Overall I'm pretty pleased with my results especially since I was limited to just using the bare essentials! Once my hair was about 80% dry I applied my normal daily moisturizer and sealed with coconut oil. I was left with soft, shiny, and fluffy hair with minimal frizz. I may use this as an option for weeks when I don't feel like rollersetting...we'll see. Here are my results!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi guys!

For the most part I will be pretty quiet on here as well as on Youtube because it's the holidays and I am home with my family! I just wanted to take the time out to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! I will see you all in 2013! As always love, peace, and blessings :)


Thursday, December 20, 2012

How I Pack My Hair Essentials for any Vacation!

One of the things that I absolutely hate is packing! Not necessarily the idea of packing, but the fact that I can't pack everything, but the kitchen sink and take it with me! You never truly realize how many things you use on a daily basis until it's time to go somewhere! Packing the right hair essentials is one of the first things that I do when it comes to packing. Check out my video to see exactly what I pack and how I prepare it for travel!


Tropical Isle Red Pimento Oil

So for those of you who follow my youtube channel you already know that back in October I purchased Tropical Isle's Red Pimento Oil. 

This product promises: Try jamaican black castor oil serum with argan oil to stimulate hair growth, revitalize dull, dry and frizzy hair. Prevent dandruff and conditions scalp. Adds volume to hair. Slows graying hair.

Here's my review on the product! 

Monday, December 17, 2012

How I Overcame My Setback...

So as I was reading one of my favorite blog's Longing4Length (Heyyyy  EbonyCPrincess!!!) and I stumbled upon her post about her setback and how upset she was at the time and it brought back not so old memories about how I felt about my own setback. It took me a very long time to accept my setback and figure out what to do in order to move forward. I've narrowed it down to these following things:

  • I had to come to grips with the fact that I'd had a setback. I was in denial for the longest, but every time I  looked in the mirror the truth was looking right back at me. *sigh*
  • I figured out exactly what caused my setback. In my case this was a bad attempt at self relaxing and removing braids and not detangling properly. The water hit my hair and it was a hot matted mess. I had breakage everywhere. 
  • The next thing that I did was let go of the damage. At first I tried to cut away at my damaged hair every relaxer, but after 6 months of cutting and still not seeing the health and thickness that I wanted I got fed up, found a stylist (that I love by the way) and got a professional cut (about 4" total). I cringe every time I think about the amount of hair that was cut, but it was absolutely necessary.
  • I set new realistic goals for my hair. My first goal is to reach full APL, hopefully by August 2013 *crosses fingers* By setting realistic goals it gives me something to work towards without putting so much focus on my ultimate goal of having BSL-MBL hair. 
  • I revamped my regimen and cut out all of the experimenting with different products and methods that I know for a fact hadn't worked for my hair in the past. I developed a very simple regimen that was easy to follow and fit into my schedule nicely. Now don't get me wrong I've experimented and adjusted along the way, but for the most part my hair has been experiencing consistency and is really enjoying it. 
  • I decided to stop having length checks so often. I've currently narrowed my length checks down to every other relaxer or twice a year. As tempted as I am to look at length comparisons I know it will drive me crazy. I'm more focused on maintaining the health of my hair. If I can do that then I know length will come! 
I think the most important thing that my setback taught me was to enjoy my hair at all stages. Before I was so concerned with making it to BSL as quickly as possible that I forgot to appreciate the little things like being able to make a bun, or having full thick ends, or enjoying a fabulous caruso steam rollerset. I'm enjoying the health of my hair. I know that if I stay focused my goal length will come and when it does as Kanye says "You can't tell me NOTHIN!" Until next time...



Saturday, December 15, 2012

Please Pray For the Victims of the Sandy Hook School Shooting



Hi guys. I'm coming to you all today on an extremely serious and sad topic, which is the recent shooting that happened in Connecticut, which took the lives of so many beautiful children and adults. My prayers are with all who were and will forever be affected by this tragedy. Please pray that God lifts them up in this time of despair. Until next time guys...





Thursday, December 13, 2012

Mineral Oil: The Black Hair Industry's Evil Sidekick

So yesterday I stopped by my local beauty supply store on the way home. I was looking for a thicker moisturizer for the winter months, but I also just wanted to look around because well I'm hair obsessed and it's just what I do! As I roamed from isle to isle picking up moisturizers that peaked my interest for the most part they all had one thing in common. MINERAL OIL! *insert scream here* What really bothered me about this was that the products that I picked up were from some of the top lines that supposedly cater to African American Hair (Optimum Care, Motions, Creme of Nature, etc) yet mineral oil was one of the top three ingredients. As I looked at each product and shook my head in frustration I couldn't help but think that it's no wonder I had trouble retaining length for years. Before I learned about healthy hair care practices I was one naive gal. I was that customer that always bought a product based on the promises written on the front and the pictures of the gorgeous black women with healthy shiny hair and actually expected it to work and yet I would always end up disappointed. If only I'd known then that so many of those products that are marketed towards African American women don't necessarily contain ingredients that are good for our hair. Now I'm not saying that products that contain mineral oil can't work for some, but I know for me personally they do NOTHING for my hair. Ultimately the point of this whole babble is to point out why mineral oil is not the best ingredient choice for hair products, in particularly moisturizers. Here are some fun facts about mineral oil:


    • Mineral oil is derived from crude oil
    • It coats the hair shaft instead of penetrating it, which allows the hair to appear shiny and moisturized
    • Eventually the hair will dry out potentially causing more breakage and damage. 

I am so glad that so many hair care lines are starting to eliminate this ingredient from their products and that more importantly I've learned to read the ingredients list on any product before it touches my hair! 


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Weekly Find: Elf Eyebrow Kit!!!


So a few weeks ago I was in Dollar Tree (1 of my favorite stores..can't ya tell!) and I ran across this Elf eyebrow kit. I've always had rather thin eyebrows and lately I've been wanting to learn how to fill them in and make them appear thicker. At $1 I figured it wouldn't hurt to give this kit a try. Apparently this same eyebrow kit is normally sold for $3 at Target. A $2 savings? I'll take it!


Saturday, December 8, 2012

KeraPro Sale at Sally's Beauty Supply!!!


So thanks to Ebony C. Princess and Jenni from Just Grow Already I have been itching to get my hands on the Kerapro product line at Sally's for the longest, however I refused to pay $10.99 for each product! I've also been on the hunt for a nice light protein conditioner to put in rotation into my almost cemented regimen (post coming soon on that!). Finally Sally's heard my cry and decided to have a fabulous 2 for $10 sale on kerapro along with some other great products. Check out the ad here. I absolutely cannot wait to try these two products! So to all of ladies out there who are kerapro fanatics this sale will be going on all throughout the month of December!



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

This Weekend's Hairstyles...

So this weekend had some awesome ups and a few downs in my hair world. On Friday night I washed and roller set my hair. Saturday morning I wore my hair pinned up to run a couple of errands. Later on that day I decided to meet up with a couple of friends and not being a fan of extremely straight hair on me I decided to dust off my caruso steam rollers. My hair came out amazing and my layers were totally 'poppin'! I included a few picutres of my steam rollerset below...




And then came the small disaster on Sunday. Way back when I first cut my hair to ear length I used to rock bantu knots all the time and they looked so cute! Well this time not so much...I'm not sure if it's because my hair is longer or if it's because of the layers, but my bantu knots were sticking out in every direction and just looked unruly. So to try and salvage the hairstyle I added my moisturizer and sealed with coconut oil and then fluffed my hair out to create some sort of volume. Next I gathered the top half of my hair and clipped it back with my EZ Comb and went on my way. This is what I was left with. Until next time :)





Sunday, December 2, 2012

Weekly Find!!!

Hey guys! So this week's Weekly find are the cute little 'Clean Jars' from Sally's Beauty Supply! I paid $3.19 with my Sally's card. I love these jars because it makes it easier to store smaller quantities of hair and skin care products. I chose to store my Trader Joe's Coconut oil in the bigger jar and my cocoa butter in the smaller jar. It's easier for travel and takes up less counter top space in my bathroom! I absolutely love reaching for my mini jar of coconut oil as opposed to that heavy glass jar. Until next time :)




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