In The City: Spot Dessert Bar

My sister-in-law and I went out one night a couple of weeks ago and after dining at a nice Portuguese restaurant in East Mid-town, we were on the hunt for some delicious dessert. I had planned to take her to this cafe in the West Village, but by the time we got there it was closed! Determined to get our desert-fix we ventured over to the East Village in hopes that we'd find something. Luckily we walked down St. Mark's Place (8th Street between 3rd and 2nd Avenues) and stumbled upon Spot Dessert Bar. As many times as I've hung around this area I never heard of this place so it was new for both of us.

Apparently this place is really popular (being Zagat rated and everything) and I immediately saw why. At 10pm it was bustling and bright inside, with patrons enjoying coffees and teas with pretty looking desserts. My SIL and I were seated by a friendly server and given a menu with choices of cakes, ice-creams, and other pastries and since we were completely new to this place, we decided to share their most popular dessert, the Chocolate Green Tea Lava.

I'm actually not a huge fan of green tea ice-cream and my SIL didn't like the taste of it plain, but eaten with the chocolate lava cake it was actually a delicious combination of flavors. I also had a cup of Jasmine tea and the SIL had coffee. We stayed there for a bit enjoying the dessert, the ambiance and best of all at 11pm cupcakes were half-off, so I decided to bring one home for Mr. Smooth (which means I had some too #nomnom). This place boasts of fresh ingredients with Asian inspired desserts and I have to say, worth checking out. It's not a cheapie spot but I also don't think it's expensive given the type of food it is. We enjoyed our night here for sure and it looks like we have plans to be back here this coming weekend.

Have you been to Spot Dessert Bar? Let us know!

Pincurls: Preserving My Flatironed Natural Hair

That's right! This is probably going to be the last video of this week but here's for you all! Videos from me to you! I hope you all enjoy these videos and they are in some or any way helpful :) 

Love you followers! 

Natural Year 2: Blow out, Flat Iron, Length Check & Reflections

 I broke the videos down into 3 parts so it wouldn't be one super long video, but I guess I'll let the videos (or me) do all the talking for themselves :) ... but wait? Why is Debbie in the background tryna steal my shine? lol
 #pleaseexcusemycreepyoldcosmetologyschoolmannequinhead

It's a Hairflip Friday!

I definitely had a good hair day yesterday, and all of the hair flipping to go along with it!

I just wanted to post some fun happy pictures on this happy friday! I realized, sometimes you just have to whip your hair back and forth, and smile :) 

And just for sh!t$ and giggles, my girlfriends and I used to crack up over this all the time!!! It's a Hairflip!!! You gotta just flip it! lmfao

Happy Friday!!!

Take Credit for Those Beautiful Curls

Last week Curly Film Chick and I had a cute little dinner date, forgot to photograph the dish, but as usual we got into our many talks about our lives, and growing up and hair experiences. Which led me to one of mine... never realizing I had curls.

When I was a child, my mother kept my hair in box braids and single strand twists as an easier way for her to deal with my hair, and whenever I wore my hair out, it was generally in afro puffs. I never knew that I had curly hair, and I dont think any one else did either. Not to mention that once I was able to do my own hair I was obsessed with piking it out... I think it had something to do with watching Marsha on the Brady Bunch and thinking you needed to brush your hair 100 times everyday to have the prettiest hair, lol.

I remember I used to love shampooing my hair in the mirror because I would see it get all wavy and thought that was beautiful, but once i took that pik to my head there were waves no more, so I just attributed it to the shampoo making my hair that way...

When I was in Cosmetology school at the Carsten Aveda Institute, I did my first big chop (click to read the crazy story!) because of a crazy chemical process I did in Brazil  gone wrong. My hair died on my head, and after about 2 months of holding on to dead hair, I chopped it off. I would let my friends wash my hair in school for the scalp massages, using Aveda's Be Curly line, adding the curling products, so again, I attributed my curls to the products. 

Had I knew how to manipulate my curls, I would have taken credit for them a long time ago and I would have already had the natural hair I always wanted. Lesson Learned.

What ever your hair type, take credit for it's beauty and love it for what it is, instead of hating it for what it's not. Take credit for your curls because they're yours, not because you're mixed with whatever. Take credit for your curls because you love them.

When did you first realize your hair's true beauty?

TWA Braid/Twist Out

The beautiful view from the ferry

One fine morn while at a friend's house out in Staten Island, I decided to style my hair because I was going to be heading to an event later that evening and wouldn't have time to do my hair when I got home. Since I hadn't planned for any of this, I hadn't packed any products so I was at the mercy of whatever my friend could spare. Luckily for me, since I got her to go natural about 2 years ago she had a few natural hair products in her house that I quite liked. I'm still testing the products now so I don't want to go name dropping and false reviewing... counting my eggs before they hatch basically. I will say that i was in LOVE with my hair that day! I don't know if it was the Staten Island water, the cowash, or the whipped shea butter product I used.. or all 3... but I can say my hair was perfect. It was defined, stretched out, light, bouncy, had movement and smelled amazing. This was also my first time trying a 1/2 braid out, 1/2 twist out... which i decided to do on a whim as an attempt to  minimize shrinkage while still achieving twist out curls.... I basically got the idea from the ladies who like to do braid & curl's.

Since I didn't sleep in this style, I had to sit under a hooded dryer, and because I am impatient, I then proceeded to blow dry each braid, and my hair was still damp when I took it out! None the less, I used the blowdryer to stretch out my roots and my hair was perfectly bouncy all day.

I was even able to achieve really awesome second day hair without any re-twisting or re-braiding! I will definitely be reviewing the products I used soon, and trying this braid/twist out again.

What do you think ladies about the 1/2 Braid, 1/2 Twist out?  Is this something you have done or would try?                    

Fashion Week: Cotte D' Armes Presentation

How adorable is her headpiece?! I was so in love with it... like I wanted to snatch and run! lol

Stopping to take a quick flick with the team.

I came across this super cute chica snapping photos and was in love with her mod style...

Turns out she's an awesome style blogger who shot some amazing images of our show! Here are some awesome images from her blog

I love all the snaps she shot of me!

Don't you just want everything from this line?! I love Unisex clothing!

 

And now back to my crappy iPhone pics and on to the after party, lol

Designers Coco & Breezy  & their super cool mohawks (they're both natural)

I was definitely making sure to snap all the most fashionable naturals for you all!

I Too Summer Straightened!

I colored and straightened my hair literally a month ago for my birthday and I was super surprised with the amount of growth I had! I wore my hair up for the most part, french braided in the back... Originally I had no intentions of straightening, just to rollerset my hair, but then I got the itch to see what the color looked like with straight hair. I decided to keep my little color patch in the front and go with a reversed ombre look. I loove it!!  I can't wait until all  of these layers are grown out but it looks like the new year will be promising for that goal.

I'm not gonna lie, I havent been taking as best care of my hair as i'm supposed to lately, mostly because i've hardly been covering it to sleep and i haven't been doing twist outs... which for me = ssks -_-
But I have been deep conditioning and moisturizing like crazy, wearing wash and go's and buns mostly... yes I said buns!!!


I've been super busy and I'm running to class but i'll be back shortly with more hair and hair stories to come!

How I Feel About You Touching My Natural Hair

There's no definitive answer as to whether or not hair touching is okay. It really matters to the individual; some naturals are all for it, others are against it. I will say I'm not a fan of strangers touching my hair and I don't care what your race is. I've had instances when both white and black men and women have decided it was okay to reach out and touch my strands without asking first. The first time it happened must've been when the concept of "going natural" was still really new; I was a junior in high school rocking my signature box braids and a woman with short natural hair stopped to ask me if all the hair was mine and if I was trying for sister locks - I guess because my braids were so tiny. As I was attempting to answer her she decided she'd reach out and touch my hair. It happened so fast that I didn't really get a chance to react, but I was mortified that a complete stranger thought it was okay to just touch a part of me without permission.

Box braids, Spring 2007

Fast forward to now and I don't allow strangers to touch my hair, I don't care how cool they think it is. I'm flattered when people stop me in the street or on the subway and chat me up about hair, but I will say no if they ask to touch it. HOWEVER, if I have some sort of connection I don't mind and depending on how close we are asking may not be necessary; my close friends touch my hair, will pull it from my face if it's windy or a strand has escaped the hold of a bobby-pin; my sisters touch my hair in both admiration and if they suddenly need to fix it, and my dad sometimes cocks his head to the side and asks "how I get my hair like that" while reaching for a lock of hair, and of course my fiance will stroke my hair absent-mindedly; he even helps me wash it sometimes. Since I view my hair as part of my body, being allowed to touch it is a matter of intimacy which strangers, or people who I don't know too well, aren't afforded.

But there have been a few times I felt it was okay. When I was working with kids last year, I let the little girl who was teased and shamed for her natural texture feel mine to make her feel better;  a few months back a co-worker was admiring a fluffy braid out - this might have been Valentine's Day. She's natural too, but always seems to struggled with her hair and I'm actually not close to her at all - we barely say hello to each other. Anyway, one day I saw her rocking a wash and go with her hair a little poofy and I could see it on her face that she wasn't comfortable even though I thought it was cute. I bumped into her in the kitchen and complimented her on her hair and she suddenly opened up to me about how unsure she had been of rocking her texture and how she always liked my hair (color me surprised that she even noticed me!). So the day I had my hair big and poofy she came up to me and chatted me about how I did it, what products and methods to use etc and asked me if she could touch it and I actually said yes. I was slightly uncomfortable with it, because of what I previously stated about hair touching being intimate, but I really wanted her to feel good about her hair. We're not buddies or anything now but I think I helped her in some way and that gave me some satisfaction.


So those are my views on hair touching! How do you guys feel about it? Do you let strangers touch your hair, why or why not? Let us know!