Marsha Ambrosius- Far Away

This video broke my heart. Seriously. Typically I get ready for work by watching some VH1 Soul. Now I had this song on my iPod but the video... I had to stop everything I was doing because it caught my attention. I blame it on hormones but I definitely shed a couple tears afterward. It's such a shame that people can't be who they truly are without being attacked and abused by people who don't necessarily agree with their lifestyle choices. Now I say this within reason, people could argue that being attracted to children is a lifestyle choice and to that I say "Fuck you." but when it comes to issues like interracial dating or homosexuality, I believe that you can't help who you love and as long as your don't harm anyone I'm all for it. That was my mini-rant... I could talk about it for a while and trust I have (my mother is against the both of them and apparently interracial adoption but I'm starting to learn more and more about my mom that I don't quite co-sign with)

What do you think?

Sidenote: I had to mention her gorgeous she looks in the video.  I love these big thick curls, I'm thinking a roller or a barrel curling iron got the job done, whether it's all hers or not.

"This is a Cold War..."

I just watched something that I had to share. This is what I've been thinking and just didn't know to say. I've been watching Evelyn's videos from the very beginning in my transition and she is Hee-larious. But this video is a reflective, pensive take on natural hair. Watch and let me know what you think, agree or disagree?

 

Lazy Days

Ugh I haven't washed my hair in about 10 days.  It went from a defined braid out to a less defined but still great braid out to this puff.

(Sorry the picture quality sucks, I took it with my Blackberry.  Plus that shadow on my forehead really irke me lol)

I've been in a puff for who knows how long now.  I mean it's great when it comes time to get ready for work but I know I'm gonna have to spend a decent amount of time DC-ing and that's making me wanna leave my hair like this longer.  I'm being so lazy, shame on me.  I blame it on the weather, I didn't even go to the party I was all hype for last weekend so there are no hair/outfit pics (thumbs down) I just wanted to touch bases though and stop slacking so much.

Sidenote: I've learned that whenever I do finally decide to straighten my hair (which I'm in NO hurry to do), I'll probably only need to band and flat iron because my hair in the front is almost completely straight from pulling it back.  So if stretching can lead to straight hair without major heat, I'm with it.

Martin Luther- Daily Bread

I woke up to this on VH1 Soul this morning.  One of my favorite songs.  It's pretty old but I love it and decided to share it... maybe turn you on to something else besides the repetitive radio songs.

 

Happy Sunday!

"Excuse Me, First Love but We're Through"

I decided not to be a lazy butt last night.  Usually I just wanna hop in my bed after work but I got some shots in because I did my first braidout and I like!

I think I've ditched my old go-to for another.

I've got a party this weekend and I think I'm gonna do my hair like this EXCEPT if I can get it bigger, I want it bigger!  I couldn't stand big hair when I was relaxed and now that's all I want... go figure!

Now you're probably saying that it looks like my hair usually does and I can see why but there a lot more definition to the hair and it didn't shrink nearly as much as it does when I twist it. A better camera would help show the difference.

Less shrinking= seeing more of my length= a happy me!

By the time I do my hair for the party it'll be day 3 of the braidout.  I'll work on having plenty of pics and be sure to let you know how it turns out.

Henna Review: Take Two

I henna-ed again for the first time in a long time.  I had another box of Jamila henna that I bought back when I did my first henna gloss, so I decided to whip some up and see how it turned out.  This henna mixture was not like the last.  I had been wanting to experiment with coconut milk for quite some time and I happened to have some in my cabinet so I figured why not combine the two.

I took the entire box of Jamila henna, mixed it with an entire can of coconut milk.  You don't have to use an entire can, I just kept adding until the mix was smooth.  I also threw in 2 tablespoons of cinnamon, for color.  Now I knew I my hair color wasn't going to change drastically but those stress grays that I have would turn brown and that's always a plus.  Initially I was going to add paprika for red but I was a little concerned about using a "hot" spice in my hair.  I never wanna revisit a burning sensation on my head... cue to flashback to just about every relaxer I ever got.

After I mixed the two I let it sit overnight and added olive oil right before I put it on my hair. The application was easy, didn't make a mess but I made sure I had gloves on (don't want orange hands now ) But the rinse out took forever.  Even when I thought I was done, I looked in the mirror and still had plenty of henna to go.  What I'll probably do next time is sift the henna before I mix it up.  It was so gritty that it got caught in my hair and took tons of conditioner to get it out.  And I was so tired.  I had let it sit in my hair for 6 hrs and it was 10 pm when I rinsed it out. (Note to self: henna is an early project, starting at 3:30, 4 is never a good idea)

Once I finally got it all out I was way too tired to do anything else so I sealed my hair with some JBCO, threw a scarf on and went to bed.  The next morning I DC'ed with Miss Jessie's SST, detangled with my double detangler comb and finally did what I needed to do for so long: TRIM MY ENDS.  I've really underestimated how much extra care my hair needs in the winter so my ends were just a mess.

I didn't have a lot to cut off length-wise, it just looks like it.  I then proceeded to flat twist my hair because I'm determined to master it. (So I tried the flat twist out- huge utter abysmal FAIL.  I don't know why but it seems to straighten my hair, one day though one day I'll have it down) So I sprayed my hair just a little and now I'm back in "Old Faithful" aka Two strand Twists.

I'll have some after pics for you guys tomm (hopefully)

 

"They'll Just Watch Us Glow"

I am in love with the oil cleansing method (OCM).  Now I'm not going to get into all the details about it because let's be honest: I didn't discover it and it's on many-a natural hair blog so I feel a little repetitive explaining it.  I'll just take the lazy route and link it this way, lol:

The Oil Cleansing Method

I'm probably what's considered combination skin.  Some areas are dry and peeling while others are glowing (aka shiny).  My face just cannot seem to find a balance.  The dry spots are ridiculously dry in the winter and the shinier areas are an oil slick in the warmer months.  No matter which face wash or moisturizer  I tried, I just felt gross by the end of the day.  I found out about the OCM about a year ago and since then I've never felt better about my face.

Sort of...

I never quite followed the OCM exactly.  I never used castor oil and started off with coconut oil, which was fine (or at least I thought.)  Now that it's freezing over here in NY, I started up with my coconut oil and I got that  gross feeling... AGAIN!  Lucky for me and my obsession with products, I decided to try some of the others in my drawer.

JBCO-nope

Grapeseed- not so much

Vitamin E- ding, ding, ding!  I just bought the Vitamin E recently because I finished two bottles of conditioner in my drawer.  (I think I OD'd on condititoner while washing these twists but oh well, got the job done)

I've been cleaning my face with it for about a week now and I don't see any shine or feel the need to blot my face during the day. And my face doesn't look dry either.

Finally I can get the makeup I put on be responsible for the glow, not my greasy a** face.

Ahh so quick to judge...

Up above I was raving about using Vitamin E and how not greasy I was.  That was true and great but what wasn't great were the breakouts.  My forehead went from smooth to bumps, blemishes and pimples galore- NOT CUTE!  I think the breakouts were caused because my skin didn't think enough oil was being produced.  I had read that you can get pimples from super oily skin and skin that is trying to increase sebum production due to dry skin.  Although it didn't look dry, I guess it was.  Once I noticed that I switched back to coconut oil and I think I found out what my initial problem was.  I was using way too much and in the wrong areas.  I've adjusted the way I apply it so that I focus more coconut oil on the area surrounding my mouth and the area between my eyebrows,  Those are my driest areas.  Then I lightly apply some to the rest of my face.  My forehead and nose barely get anything and that's fine.

Now I wasn't so quick to judge with this method either.  I've been doing this for a few weeks now.  I would like to say my face has defientely improved.  I just make sure to exfoliate 1-2 times a week with a washcloth, take it easy on the coconut oil and i'm good to go.

 

Adele- Rolling In The Deep

Love!

Her voice; amazing!

If you haven't heard her first album 19, you really should give it a listen.

SMDH

So my mother seriously does NOT like my hair and as much I brush off her negative comments, it's really annoying.  While my boyfriend was in town  for the holidays, he asked her how she felt about it and she replied, "I don't like it, that's not how I raised her."  Umm what?  I wasn't born with a relaxer.  I went 7 years with some kinky ass hair til I got that relaxer and yet for some reason she now thinks it's ugly.  It wasn't ugly when I was a child so what gives? She has even gone so far as to say that she wouldn't come to my wedding if my hair is like "that."  Whether she means it or not, I was furious.

I have tattoos and even those don't get all the negative, snarky remarks that my hair gets, which is really surprising to me.

I love my mother, she is one of the strongest women I know but as I go through this journey I realize how insecure she is and it's a little heartbreaking to be honest.  Part of the reason I went natural is to be an inspiration to girls, both my own and others.  I want to go into teaching and if I can help a girl with her esteem and let her know that she doesn't have to look like everyone else, I'll feel accomplished.  I don't want my daughter to come crying to me that she wants long straight hair because that's what all the other girls have.  I want to be my babies role model, just like she was to me.

How do you deal with the disapproval for the choices you have made?  Especially when it's something as harmless as the way you choose to wear your hair, your clothes?  How you choose to express yourself?