Afro @ the Party Experience

So i went out on Friday night with my girls to The Skinny Bar down on Orchard St. in SoHo for a friend's birthday party and my afro became the talk of the night. When I arrived at the bar, a guy working the door told me he loved my fro! I saw many stares from girls, some good, others questioning it, and for some reason, the guys felt they could just dip their hands in it. So this one guy is trying to talk to me all night, telling me how soft my hair is and that it smells so good, putting his face in and taking deep breaths....apparently he was really attracted to my hair and i wouldn't be surprised if some of those stares from the ladies were stares of jealousy, as there were many-a-tattered weave and broken off relaxed haired girls in there.

Now of course i was flattered but i warned him not to touch a girl's hair without asking, as I have noticed since being natural this time around, that people, especially men feel like they have a right to touch just because it's natural. I  said to him "Well if a girl had relaxed hair im sure you wouldn't just touch it, and if you did you would definitely expect her to be upset," to which he agreed and understood, but went on to explain that he just had to... he was lucky he's cute, lol.

The week before that i went to a Christmas party at a friend's house and again, AFRO DIPPERS! lol
One of my good friends from cosmetology school always throws the best little get togethers,  and i'm usually the tolken black person, lol.... which i have no problem with of course but you can imagine why my afro would be a big deal. Asian and white hands in  my fro, loving the softness and puffiness.... the descriptive words have to be the funniest of all but i love it.

I feel like my afro will definitely be my style of choice for New Years since it appears to be the ideal party hair for me. Its growing so the bigger the better!!!

What Have You Learned About Your Hair This Past Year?

I thought being natural my whole life would make me an expert on my own hair. But this past year alone, I've learned so much about my hair and sometimes throw my hands up at the sky yelling, why didn't I do this before?! When I first started embracing my hair a little over a year-and-a-half ago I jumped on bandwagons, tried products without researching and used methods and techniques on my hair that didn't work. I thought that as naturals we all had to do the same thing!

That's okay though, those days are gone. 2010 was good to my hair, even as I was trying to figure things out about it. The main things I've learned are:

- My hair needs to be cleansed with shampoo every 5-7 days, no matter the season. As long as I use moisturizing shampoos like Jessicurl's Cleansing Cream or Curls Curlicious Cleansing Cream my hair does just fine.
- Since using more organic/"natural" products, my "naked" hair feels much silkier and smoother. I do use "drugstore" products like IC Fantasia gel but mostly sticking to organic products has made my hair "feel" better
- My hair isn't much of a fan of castor oil. It loves coconut oil and jojoba oil.
- I cannot use shea butter by itself, it has to be mixed like Oyin's Whipped Pudding.
- I don't really *need* to DC after a henna treatment. I do anyway because it can't hurt, but my hair doesn't really dry out.
- Less is always best! All I really need to use is a leave-in conditioner, a styling product and seal with an oil no matter how I'm doing my hair. That's it!

I've retained a lot of length just from the summer until now simply because I have realized these things about my hair. I don't remember my hair (and scalp!) ever looking and feeling this strong and healthy.

What have you learned about your natural hair in 2010?

A Little Bit of This and That

Last week I decided to blow my hair out. I pre-treated, washed, conditioned and all that, then I let my hair air dry. After that, I got my denman brush, my IC Fantasia Heat Protectant and blow dried my hair on low and on the warm setting. I got my big hair...

I actually just wore buns for the first part of the week. Then on Wednesday night I decided to do a curl former set because on Thursday and Friday I had to partake in holiday shennanigans. I used Jane Carter's Wrap and Roll (I've mentioned before I'm not a total fan of it, but I need to get rid of it!) and slept in my curl formers which isn't as uncomfortable as magnetic rollers in my opinion...

fresh out the pack

2nd day hair

I still pulled my hair back because it's still windy around these parts. I'm still trying to find a way to preserve curlformer sets. I did do a high ponytail (pineapple if you will) mostly because I was lazy and it seemed fine. I had soft waves and curls and I like the look. I'm actually going to do this again this weekend and continue this through the new year paying close attention to how my hair deals with this.

Long time no...

I know... I know... i've been gone for quite some time so we definitely have a lot of catching up to do!

Where do i start?

Well for 1 I henna'ed my hair again last Wednesday and I must say, my hair really loves it! This time i left in on for 4 hours and got a little reddish tint too. (Being silly with the Henna there :p

My curls are soft, bouncy, and i have noticeable growth now. My curls are starting to hang once again and i must say, this is the healthiest my hair has ever been, probably in it's life (or my life, lol). My edges are coming in nicely, slowly but surely,  but i have noticed major improvement.

Since cutting my hair again i see the overall difference in how my completely natural hair is healthier, thicker, shinier, silkier, and more moisturized as opposed to my dyed natural hair which was dryer, getting split ends at a ridiculous rate, and had caused some curl loosening/relaxing. My hair seems to be growing right some where close to half an inch, if not that, a month so i am trying my best to keep it in the healthiest state possible. That being said... i guess i sorta have a regimen.. lol (I'm laughing to myself because i'm definitely not the kind of girl who sticks to a regimen) Okay. So, low manipulation styles are the way to go for me for the rest of the winter to i am going to stick to twists, flat twists, and twists-outs on a weekly basis, Co-wash twice a week, shampoo once a week, Henna on a monthly basis, and yeah... that's pretty much my regimen. (See what i mean? lol) I have a lot more to share so i'll be back soon!

Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream

Product Description: Use Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream to wash your hair gently without leaving it stripped and straw-like. The super moisturizing formula will make your hair soft, silky and wonderfully clean. Safe for color treated hair.



My Experience: 'Tis the season of moisturizing and emollient products and on my quest to find an excellent shampoo, I definitely think this shampoo is a winner. I mentioned that I bought the Jessicurl Trial Pack-rich, which gave me 2 oz bottle of this shampoo. I love it, I think it's officially my favorite. I essentially have fun washing my hair when using this shampoo; it's like washing my hair with herbs and it has great detangling properties. It's so moisturizing and my curls clump up and it has a good lather.

Washing my hair with the shampoo for the first time...

When I rinse it out my hair feels soooo nice, not stripped but definitely clean. I do want to compare this with Curls Cleansing Cream so stay tuned for that, because I love that shampoo too. But this is definitely a keeper!


Ingredients: Water, Decyl Polyglucose, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Vegetable Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Avocado Oil, C 12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Oat Flour, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Fragrance.

Winter Regimen

My hair for the week

First, let me say that I'm not happy with the windy weather. I can deal with the cold of the Northeast, I don't mind snow or rain...but wind? iCan't deal with it!

Which brings me to my new regimen. Basically, I'm sticking to protective styling and only wearing my hair loose if there is a special occasion but even that may warrant my hair being pinned up. Last Saturday night I went out for a friend's birthday and while I originally planned to wear my hair in a braid out, I decided against it once I realized how cold and windy it was (and bundled up pretty well--cute and cold is not my thing) and pulled it back into a banana clip with my hair cascading down in the back. I'm also being paranoid about having dry brittle hair; between the hi-lights, the bitter cold and my warm ass apartment ^__^ I feel like my hair is going for a ride. At one point it was dry and lacking that shine and I can't have that. So here's my winter plan:

Weekly
-Pre-Poo with Burt's Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Treatment, leaving it on my hair for ~20min (have I reviewed this product? no? It's coming...)
-Rinse. Shampoo in sections with Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream and lightly detangle with my fingers
-Condition with either Jessicurl Too Shea! Conditioner or Herbal Essence Hello hydration (or which ever thick, emollient conditioner I have on hand) and detangle with my wide-tooth comb
-Rinse. Deep condition with Jessicurl Weekly Deep Conditioner and cover my head with plastic. Let it sit in my hair for ~30 min
-Rinse with cold water. Use Kinky Curly Knot Today as my leave-in and stretch my hair either by banding, braiding, or using curl formers and let hair air-dry
-Style: my usual twists or if my hair is loose then it's in a bun

I moisturize daily with aloe vera gel and jojoba oil. In the mornings I usually run coconut oil through my hair and scalp. I'm still looking around for some butters and moisturizers to use daily. I may just go back to Oyin because it works so well for my hair and am about to take a trip to the Midwest where I'm sure moisture will be a challenge. But that's it for now!

The Reactions and Aftermath of Straight Hair

gratuitous shot of my hair =)

I was rocking straight hair a couple of weeks ago and I knew that the kids at my job were going to react to it (as a matter of fact, my co-workers made a big deal out of it too.) You may recall that some of the girls had been "inquiring" about when I was going to wear it straight so I can look pretty, blaze blaze and how reluctant I was because of babygirl A who gets made fun of for having a lot of natural hair. While the kids were in awe with my hair including the boys, (Is that all yours? You've had all that hair since you were born?) A came up to me with the biggest grin on her face, you're hair looks so pretty! she said, and holding down her hair she continued, I like that we can do different things to our type of hair! Out of everyone's compliments that made my week.

Now that I'm back to curly, a few girls actually expressed dissapointment. Keep in mind that I work with very outspoken and sometimes downright rude children. I went back and forth with a 4th grader yesterday who is known for being "outspoken" amongst other things. She asked me why did I have to go back to how my hair is now. Because I wanted to, I said.

Well I think it's ugly.
Okay.
You look better with how your hair was before. You should keep it like that.
Well, I'll do what I want to my hair.
Well it's ugly what you're doing to it now.
Okay...

She went on for a little longer, and she does the back and forth thing with everyone which is why I answered her pretty passively because I know she's looking for a reaction. Most people do anyway. At this point most of the kids I'm around know that I'm quite comfortable with who I am and I'll answer their questions about my background (because that almost always comes up for them) and I let the girls touch my hair because I know they are curious and I see nothing wrong with it. My co-teacher and I were actually talking yesterday about how the kids should learn more cultural history and teaching them about hair acceptance and just acceptance in general of their images (this is a predominately Black/Hispanic school) because the teasing about hair thing is pretty awful as I mentioned with one of the kids. My co-teacher is relaxed mind you, but I don't neccesarily think that's a bad thing. I'm fully team natural, but most kids probably do not have a choice in what gets done to their hair. And if readers have any suggestions on how I can go about getting a good message out to the kids, please feel free to let me know.