Scrub-a-dub

Summer's coming!! Well at least, it's supposed to be.  I don't think New York got the memo but while I wait for it to warm up here, I've been prepping my skin to get it warm-weather ready.  And that means, EXFOLIATING.  It's supposed to be done year-round but in the winter, I could care less.  No one's gonna see anything anyway since I've got 4 layers of clothing on.  During the nice weather though, I swear by body scrubs.  I've tried a few and cannot find anything that compares to Bath and Body Works' True Blue Spa: There's the Rub. It's the first one I ever tried and I keep coming back to it.   Love it. Love it. Love it!  It's not super oily which is a plus for me because I use it before shaving, makes my legs nice and super smooth.  Other scrubs that I've tried contain oils that clog my razor and lead to me cutting my legs. I'm not too crazy about sugar scrubs because the sugar crystals seem to melt too quickly because of the heat and friction.  So you may be wondering why I keep trying different scrubs if There's the Rub worked so well.  My answer: the price bothers me.  It's $24 and this is the one product that never seems to go on sale.  Now to be fair, a little goes a long way and like I said before, it works, so I suck it up and shell out the money.  But to be honest it really shouldn't cost anymore than $15, tops.

During my whole journey to natural hair I've started making my own concoctions and using more oils and other natural products to replace some of the products I used to use. Partially because I'm cheap, and partially because I'm curious. For example, I no longer use a facial moisturizer.  After washing my face I immediately slather my face in coconut oil and then pat off the excess.  Moisturizer left my face feeling oily nnd greasy but coconut oil leaves it balanced and moisturized.  Complete flip-flop. As I go along, I'll fill you in on my other homemade/natural products.  Back to what I was saying...  I'm thinking about making my own but I'm a lil lazy so until then I'll continue buying.

Happy Scrubbing!

More Avon...

Cover Look: Lauren Conrad Style

Ahhh my style idol, Lauren Conrad is releasing a book aptly called Lauren Conrad Style.  Best news I've heard all day. I would have preferred it as a summer read but it doesn't come out until October 2010.  However, I do have a preview of the cover courtesy of people.com.  As always she looks amazing, classic and timeless.

In My 2 Weeks as a Natural...

- As you know I put the kinky twists back in my hair for another couple of months while I try to grow my hair another inch so I can be comfortable with that scab hair that I need to cut.  Now I can be a little lazy after hours of twisting so sometimes they’re looser than I would like.  I found one that I wanted to do over so after I pulled it out; I reached over, grabbed my shears and cut the scab hair off.  Then I ran some 100% aloe vera gel from Trader Joe’s through my hair and… CURLS! Tight 4a/b curls! OMG!  The dry, rough ends restricted my hair from curling up. It’s not so much about the curling it felt healthy and moisturized.  I took care of my hair for a year and was annoyed that it seemed so dry when I know that shouldn’t have been the case.  Now that got me thinking, maybe I don’t need a stylist; I can do this by myself if I take the time and have patience.  I was so quick to get frustrated; I didn’t give my hair a chance before I twisted it again.  I mean it doesn’t hurt to have this protective style at all but I’m thinking it may only last until June rather than July.

- Another thing I’ve learned is that my hair works better damp rather than wet.  Doing twists/braids on damp hair stretches my hair more.  Less shrinkage is a plus in my book.  Having my hair stretched reduces the amount of tangling, knots and split ends.  Healthy hair= a happy me!

Product Review: IC Fantasia Olive Oil Styling Gel

From researching natural hair for so long, I’ve learned that my hair type (4a/b/c) usually does better in “stretched” styles such as twists, twist outs, braids, and braid outs.  So my first style after my BC was a twist out.  I knew that just using a moisturizer wouldn’t hold the style so I decided to try out the jar of IC Fantasia Olive Oil Styling Gel that I bought when I first started installing kinky twists back in August 2009.

The process went like this:  I applied my Shea Moisture Coconut Hibiscus Style Milk to wet hair (not soaking wet but not damp).  Then parted medium sized sections of my hair with my fingers. I find it makes it easier to cover the parts later on rather than using a comb to make deep parts.  The more visible the part, the more manipulation it takes to cover it up when the twists are undone.  Too much manipulation can easily lead to frizz and less defined twist outs.  Before twisting, I applied a dab of gel to the sections and twisted to the end.  That’s about it.  Just repeated until my entire head was done, which took forever.  I’m starting to agree with the BF and accept the fact that I have a big head because SHEESH, my arms sure did get a workout.

So the next morning I removed my scarf and made sure my hair was completely dry before unraveling them.  I rubbed my hands in coconut oil and carefully took each twist apart.  So far, so good.  I styled it to a point where I was satisfied and ran over to show my mom because she was working the day before and didn’t know I chopped my hair off.  During my transition, my mom wasn’t against me doing this but she wasn’t exactly a fan either.  I showed her and she liked it! Well I think she did, “It doesn’t look bad,” were her words “Except what’s all that white stuff in your hair”…. THE GEL!!  It looked like a bad case of dandruff. The twist out came out fine minus the scab hair that needs to go but the white flaked ruined it I know some naturals have had success with using gel but it’s not for me.  Oh well… On to the next one: 100% pure aloe vera gel.

My Verdict: 0/5

I don’t want to just toss the other half of the jar away so I’m waiting for an NY natural meet up to swap it.  Maybe someone else will have better luck with it.

So I BC'd but...

Sunday, May 9, 2010 was the big day. I am now 100% natural.  Didn’t cry, didn’t have a major freak out (maybe because I mini-chopped every time I removed my kinky twists.) I mean I even kinda loved it.  Honestly I was shocked that I even went through with it because I’m the type of person that gets comfortable and isn’t a big fan of change.  Oh boy was that ever a change.  I went from shoulder length straight hair to tightly coiled kinks that shrink to an inch unless they’re manipulated.  My boyfriend and I decided to cut it ourselves but I had one request: Cut but leave a little bit of the relaxed hair.  I didn’t want to sacrifice length.  From this I learned one thing: SCAB HAIR.  I’m convinced it really does exist.

In the natural hair world there’s a debate as to whether or not scab hair exists.  The best way for me to define it is a rough patch of hair that exists while transitioning. While growing my hair out I realized that the hair around the line of demarcation was unusually rough but I just figured it was because I was so used to the relaxed hair and it would change when I cut it. To me, it’s like the relaxer affects the hair below the scalp so the hair get a little tougher as a barrier.  My assumption is probably wrong and that’s fine.  I haven’t studied hair to know why it happens.  All I know is it doesn’t necessarily represent your natural texture.  I noticed that when I did a twist out on my hair the first couple of days, the ends were super dry and frizzy but the rest of my hair held the style real well.  Frustrating! Well I attribute that to scab hair.  How do I fix that you ask? Well I’ll tell you, lol.  Cut it. Simple as that… Or so you would think.  I can’t cut it.  For some reason that’s too short for me so I’ve decided to throw my kinky twists back in until my birthday possibly (end of July.) I know, I know.  The plan is to take them out in July and head to a natural hairdresser to cut the ends.  The next two months are devoted to finding a great hairdresser.  Not too many of my friends are natural and the ones that are do it themselves so I have some work to do. 

While BC-ing I decided to kill two birds with one stone: BC and try the baking soda and conditioner treatment.  More on that in another post.  I’m also trying to edit all 22 minutes of video we recorded so hopefully that will make it to MeEntirely in the near future.  But here are a couple of pics of the cut.

Obviously I'm not looking as glam as I would like but I'm okay with it for the sake of documenting my life.

Pleasant Peasant

Ok so this top screams "Mom" to me (well mine at least, she loves a flowy tunic) but when I saw it way back in February, I had to have it. And it was on sale? Umm yes please. I finally pulled it out and decided to give it a go today.  All I was missing was a giant peace sign necklace and tinted sunglasses.  Too bad I was too lazy to put contacts on.

 

London Callin'

Rihanna is one of my favorites.  Say what you want about her, she looks good whatever she wears and she's just a beautiful girl.  Just thought I'd share a few pics of her out and about in London, during her downtime from touring.  I adore her makeup and her outfits-- flawless.  Do I see printed leggings in my future? (Courtesy of rihannaphotos.org)

 

LoveMeLoveYou

It's been a little while but that's because my laptop was sick.  Now she's all better but I haven't had too much time to update MeEntirely.  Just thought I'd share an outfit I wore the other day.  Nothing special.  Just a little something simple.

 

Sidenote: while I was uploading these pics I had to laugh because it looks like I gotta pee in a few of them.  I need to figure out how to get my self-timer on my camera just right because these angles are a little crazy. Oh well, all for the sake of my blog :)

Failure's My Last Name, Never's My First One

 

So happy Lupe's back.

I'm a lil Young Money'd out.

I can't listen to crap anymore unless it's for party purposes.

Enjoy!

Coming Attractions

I was planning on putting a couple posts up but my laptop has a virus so there goes that plan.  However Sunday's a big day for me involving Hopefully my girl is all better by then so I can upload the pictures and video that I take of the BC for Monday.  Yes, I consider my laptop a girl, don't judge me lol.  I was out the other day for my friend's birthday bar tour and saw these gorgeous naturals with kinks like me & I couldn't stop staring... I LOVED IT!  Something about seeing girls with my hair type made me feel a little more comfortable with my decision.

So now begins my countdown: 6 days...