Wash Day With Side Swept Curls

This wash day was awesome if I do say so myself. On Friday after work I felt my hair and knew that it was time to wash it. In the name of prevention I like to wash my hair when I can feel that it's becoming dry and heavy with product. Here's what I did:

• Detangled using Mane N Tail Detangler.
• Dampened hair with water and applied KeraCare Humecto conditioner.
• Sat under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 30 minutes.
• Rinsed and shampooed with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of the Generic Version of the Matrix Biolage Detangling Shampoo.
• Applied my usual leave ins (Kimmay tube leave in, GVP Smoothing Serum, & Chi Keratin Mist).
• T-shirt dried my hair for about 40 minutes.
• Air dried for an additional 20 and sat under the dryer for about 10.
• Moisturized & sealed using my Holy Grail product Giovanni Direct Leave in & coconut oil. 
• Applied JBCO to my scalp and sealed my ends with it. 

Style: I was so over my boring old bun. I needed some spice in my life and after being inspired by an Instagram post from a college classmate I decided to recreate the style with my own twist! This lovely lady is natural and have a side updo created from an old twist out. Well I haven't yet mastered twistouts or braidouts for that matter, but I have learned how to use the heck out of Flexi Rods! I twisted my hair around my head and used caruso steam rollers to create the curls. Throughout the week I just reset my hair by throwing a few flexi rods in it each night with a bit of Dark N Lovely Au Naturale Curl Moisturizing Souffle (Review coming soon!).

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Fitness Fridays | Don't Be Shy...How To Get Over Your Fear Of The Weight Room!

Well well well...It's time for another fabulous Fitness Friday post. I have to take the time out to thank the lovely ladies (EbonyCPrincess of Longing4Length, KLP of SavingOurStrands, Nadege of Relaxed Hair Health, & Britt of One & 20) who started this weekly link up because I adore reading everyone's posts and writing them!

Now it's confession time. While I was in the weight room this week it dawned on me that I've come a long way. You see a few months back I wouldn't set foot in the weight room. I didn't really have anything against the weights, but the multiple muscle heads and grunting weight lifters totally intimidated me! Since I've been able to overcome my fear I thought I would share some tips that helped me move forward and take my fitness journey to the next level.

1. Go into the weight room with a friend or significant other - When I first started weight lifting I refused to go into the weight room without the boo. I know it probably sounds silly, but somehow having him there with me made it seem less....well scary. Now I have no problems going by myself! 
2. Start Small - It can be intimidating when you see gym regulars lifting 500 lbs. Guess what....those same people had to start somewhere and work their way up. I'll tell you a secret...when I first started using weights regularly I could only use 2.5 lbs dumbbells and now I use 15 lb dumbbells! With a little patience you'll be where you want to be in no time. 
3. Some of them are just as clueless as you are! - If it makes you feel any better I promise that some of those same people in the weight room are just as clueless as you are! 
4. The guys (and gals) don't bite!- Seriously! The same peole that I was once intimidated by have shared machines with me during their sets or helped me lift when I couldn't quite do it by myself. 
5. Be Confident - Although the weight room can be scary you just have to be confident or fake it until you make it! 
6. Use Workout Programs - When first started weight lifting (strength training) I had no clue how to break up my workouts so they would focus on certain body parts on certain days. Reps and sets...how many should I do?! Honestly, I still have no clue how to do all of that, but I discovered an awesome free app BodySpace that has free strength training programs that provide every detail from how many reps & sets to actually providing pictures and video of how to do each exercise. How cool is that! It took all of the guess work out of it for me. 

If you're interested in strength training then get out there and enjoy yourself! Don't steer clear of the weight room out of fear like I did. It's an awesome way to tone and/or lose weight and quite enjoyable if I do say so myself!

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Wash Day...Mixing The Old With The New!

This past Saturday made me officially 1 week post relaxer! As much as I enjoyed how simple it was to style my hair all week it was definitely time for a good shampoo and deep condition. Here's What I did:

• Detangled using my Mane N Tail Detangler and braided my hair into two pig tails.
• Slathered on a bit of my Macademia Oil Deep Repair Masque (This was my light protein treatment. I will do a heavier protein treatment at 3 weeks post.).
• Sat under my Gold N Hot conditioning cap for about 10 minutes.
• Rinsed and then applied my newest product Mizani Moisturefuse Conditioner. This conditioner smells AMAZING!
• Sat under my Gold N Hot Conditioning cap for about 15 minutes.

• Rinsed and shampooed with my Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo. 
• Rinsed and applied a small amount of Harmon Face Values Detangling Solution.
• Did a final rinse and wrapped my hair in a t-shirt for about 40 minutes.
• Applied my normal leave ins (Chi Keratin Mist, Kimmaytube leave In, GVP Smoothing Serum) and air dried my hair in a bun for about 30 mins. 
• Sat under the dryer on cool for about 15 minutes. 

Style: For church I decided to rock some caruso steam rollers. Throughout the week I will be rocking a bun. Boring I know, but I've been inspired to try an updo for next week's wash day so stay tuned! How was your wash day?

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My Spring Beauty Must Haves!

I'm an April baby so I'm all about the warmer months! I love everything about spring (and summer) from the gorgeous sunny days to the bright bold colors. I recently went shopping to pick up a few beauty items in honor of Spring and thought that I would share.

• Nail Polish- While Winter is all about darker colors Spring is the time to whip out your brightest nail polish shades. I opted for bold blues, purples, pinks, and reds. 
• Stay Matte Primer- My skin has always been super oily and it really shows up in the warmer months. This primer really helps to keep my oil at bay and the best part is it can be worn alone or under a tined moisturizer or foundation. 
• Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade- I've been working on perfecting my brows for about a year now and until this product came into my life my brows were rather lack luster. The great thing about this brow pomade is that it's water proof and smudge proof making it perfect for warm weather and oily skin. 
• Moisturizing conditioners-For me the changing of seasons can either go really well or not so great for my hair. To keep any issues at bay I opted to try two salon end conditioners that my stylist uses on my hair regularly
• Blush- Again, going with the theme of bright bold colors for spring I love blushes with beautiful coral and pink tones. It compliments my skin beautifully and screams Spring! 
• BB Cream- I recently realized that I'm not too big on foundations, but I love BB creams. It gives me a light coverage and provides SPF for my skin. These babies are perfect for hot weather where you still want a bit of something on your face that's not too heavy. 
• Blending Sponge- I've heard that the miracle complexion sponge provides a flawless makeup look so in honor of spring I just had to try it! 

What are your Spring Beauty must haves? 

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Fitness Fridays | Scaling Back...The Significance of Having A Food Scale

It's time for another fabulous 'Fitness Fridays' post! I'm sorry about missing last week, but I had an incredibly busy week at work and well sometimes life happens. Anywho, my last Fitness Friday post discussed Overcoming Plateaus. I believe that owning a food scale can not only help you break through plateaus, but it can take your weight loss journey and overall eating habits to the next level!

When I first embarked on my weight loss journey with Weight Watchers I realized that in order to truly track my points (Click here for further explination) I  needed to know exactly how much of what I was putting into my body. At first I fought the process by believing that I could eyeball the amounts of food that I was eating *rolls eyes at myself*. In my mind if I ate a grilled chicken breast with veggies and steamed rice I was good to go and the pounds would just melt off right? WRONG. You see there are these two little words called 'Portion Control'. How can you control your portions if you don't know how much you're eating?

Previously before I had a true understanding of portion control I would eat healthy foods (as much as I wanted) and couldn't understand why I would only lose about 10 lbs before I would hit a very frustrating plateau. One day after joining weight watchers a light bulb went off and I decided to invest in a digital food scale. A decent scale will cost you around $20, which is a small price to pay for what became a lifetime investment for me. At first it felt weird measuring out 5 oz of chicken, 1/3 cup of rice, and 3-4 oz of vegitables. Soon what I realized was that I could eat half of what I was previously eating and was still full. Who knew that 30 g of chips instead of the entire bag would cure my salty craving!

I've heard over and over that portion control is a big part of healthy eating and I'm just here to tell you that 'they' were right. My food scale was honestly the best investment that I've made for my health. Still to this day even though I'm basically maintaining I measure my food. It helps to keep both me and my scale in check. So if you haven't tried out a food scale think about it. It just might be the scale that helps to move your scale!

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