1 Year After the BC!

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Celebrity Hair I Love!

Jill Scott!

So, my boy friend really wants me to comb/brush my hair out like this just to see what the fro would look like. I'm not a big fan of combs, and I don't ever brush my hair when it's dry...

So what did I do to achieve this look without the brush and comb? I did a twist out. I twisted my wet hair, and allowed it to air dry. When I took the twists out, I separated them. My hair was already stretched thanks to the twist, and the separating created a more uniform fro look instead of separate sections of hair. As the day went on, I had a chunky fro, which I then gently pulled and stretched more with my fingers. It took some use getting used to but it was cute. Next time I'll take pictures :)


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Another view of the ponytail

This is my freshly co-washed ponytail. January 2010... full ponytail?

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Finally made it to 1 ponytail!

And can you believe, there are no clips in my hair! I use the Chicoro method to smooth my edges, and lay my hair down. 

Here's how I do it:

1. In the shower, I co-wash and smooth my hair towards the back of my head. This first smoothing step involves the use of a Denman brush to detangle/smooth the strands.

2. I lightly rinse the conditioner out in the front of my head (I want some conditioner to stay in the middle, because I will continue to add more water to my hair during the smoothing process, and I don't want my hair to dry out, so I keep some conditioner in it. The remaining conditioner will/should be rinsed out by the time that I'm done smoothing). 

3. Then I smooth shea butter on my edges, my nape, and the remainder of my hair. 

4. I grab my boar bristle brush/any soft brush, wet the brush and then gently brush the edges of my hair. 

5. Add more shea butter on edges/top & middle of hair.

6. Add gel just to edges.

7. Smooth with wet brush.

8. Tie knee sock over front of head ensuring that all hairs are inside.

9. Grab remaining hair and pull into a ponytail.

10. Done :)

Chicoro's method is pretty much the same as mine, except she demonstrates how to do this on dry hair. My hair is too short to do on dry hair, I need it to be wet so I can really grab it to fit into the ponytail holder. Check out Chicoro's method to see detailed pictures 

here: 

http://public.fotki.com/Chicoro123/hair-care/tutorials/smooth-hairline/

The top of my hair still does not reach the back of the ponytail holder, so if I were to wear a ponytail, I would need to put some clips there to hold the hair down. I can't wait until my totally fits into a ponytail holder, nice and smooth, with no need for any clips! The end of this year I hope :)

Notice my shrunken fro vs. the braid! OMG!

Here's another pic of shrinkage while my hair is in twists. The twist definitely helped stretch my hair, but the twists also shrink as well.




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Some Twists

Finally did some twists to stretch my hair and prevent the crazy tangling I get after wash n go's. I was really surprised to see how much my hair has grown from the first time that I did twists. These were done on co-washed hair. I simply grabbed pieces of hair and twisted. Took me about 1.5 hours. I was in a rush because I had to get to work :)


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Massive Detangling Sessions

After getting off work today I came home and detangled my hair. It took me ONE HOUR! This was no typical detangling session. This was the type of detangling session that takes place after you haven't combed/brushed your hair for a week, but have been finger detangling the entire time (which I'm starting to realize isn't good enough for my hair) and you haven't been covering your hair at night, and you still wake up each morning and co-wash and rock a wash n go! Whewwww. Lets not let this happen too often :)

I am getting so tired of doing my hair. I need cornrows. My hair tangles so easily! If I don't detangle my hair with a brush for say, two days, my hair begins to loc up. I then have to break pieces of hair to get the tangles out. My problem area seems to be the middle of my head.

I use:

Treseme Moisture Rich Conditiner
Knock-off "Denman" brush by Conair
Towel (to put around my shoulders for dripping conditioner, and to wipe shed hairs on)
Optional-a bowl with water (to rinse shed hairs off hands as I'm sitting down detangling)

This is how I detangle:

1. wet hair in shower
2. rub pads of fingers on scalp to lift dirt
3. apply handful of conditioner to hair
4. smooth through hair

Then I get out of the shower and let the conditioner sit in my hair.
I put a spaghetti strap or button up shirt on, basically anything that I don't have to pull over my head because the conditioner is still in it.

Then the detangling part starts. I use my knock off Denman brush. It's by Conair and you can buy it at Rite-Aid. You may choose to section of your hair before hand or just grab sections as you go along. Avoid brushing the whole head at once until you have detangled the entire head. The conditioner should still be in your hair from the shower! You can choose to leave it in for a bit so the hair becomes more slippery. Put a towel around your shoulders as the conditioner will drip out of the brush and off of your hands as you detangled.

1. grab a small section starting right above the ear
2. hold the middle/end of the hair, and gently put the brush at the root of the hair (try your best to stay in that section)
3. gently pull the brush half way to the end (you will notice that the brush can not go any further. Moving further would require you to rip through strands of hair, so to combat this you finish detangling the ends of the hair).
****As you detangle, if you notice any shed hairs on your hand, wipe them on a towel or if you are detangling at a sink rinse the hair off of your hands so they can not be redeposited in the hair thus creating more tangling****
4. now detangle the end of hair. Be gentle, and be patient. This part may take a while. I usually hold the hair in my hand using my thumb, and I let the brush rub across my palm. For some reason this really helps detangle because I smooth the hair with my hand and detangle with the brush at the same time, thus both movements remove shed hair at the same time!
5. finish the section with a brush stroke starting from root to tip to ensure that the entire section has been detangled thoroughly.

Repeat until the entire head is detangled. Rinse hair, and apply leave in conditioner. I use a bit of coconut oil.

So, that's how I detangle my hair. And yes it takes me 1 hour! The time actually went by really fast because I was sitting down. I sat in front of the tv and watched CNN. I would definitely suggest you detangle while sitting down, just make sure you have a towel or even a bowl with water in it to wipe/rinse shed hairs off your hand as you detangle. I have detangled while in the shower, and I've found that I lose more hair because I am rushing (I don't want to waste water). And when I've detangled in front of the sink I've lost more hairs because I start to get tired of standing up, and I am constantly turning the faucet on and off to rinse shed hairs off my hands! So sitting down has been the best.

I hope this helps. I used to finger detangle but I've realized that my hair is tangling too much, especially if I wear my hair out and then sleep with it uncovered.


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Beyonce's Hair in New video

Check out her back up dancers curly fro! And Check out Beyonce's wet wave look towards the middle and end of the video! It looks like her real hair. I love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbGV2_8Yqg4&feature=haxa_popt00us06


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BET AWARDS

Ok, the show opened with Jamie Foxx which cracked me up! I thought the show was going to be great.

I was let down by some of the performances because I expected them to sing certain songs but they decided not to for example, I would have loved for Beyonce to have sung Halo but instead she sung Ave Maria and then she went into singing Sarah Maclahlan's song which I love that song...when Sarah sings it.

Loved Jamie Foxx's first performance, liked Keri Hilson's, liked Jay Z's, loved Maxwell's and all of the throwback singers that came out The O'Jays, Guy, Bel Biv De Vo, Guy, Keith Sweat, Tyrese etc. etc. but then...

Drake came out and I thought ok, here is his chance to introduce himself to a lot of people that still are iffy about him, or that still don't know him and...

Lil Wayne DESTROYED it, and not in a good way. He ruined Drake's performance and just ended the show on a bad note!

The majority of his performance was bleeped out, and all words couldn't even be bleeped out because whoever was in charge of that job couldn't tell when he was going to curse.

And they had the nerve to have little girls on stage dancing to a song that says "I wish I could F&*% every girl in this world"...

It's not all about the curse words to me, it's more about the content, and most people that have heard that song know that the content of that song is just not appropriate for little girls to be dancing to. Granted, if I was little I know I would probably have danced to that song too, but around my parents I would not dare play that song. That's how I felt when I watched that performance like we all know that kids are probably listening to this song but to actually SEE it up on stage in front of millions of viewers...

I don't know about you, but that pissed me off.


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6 Month Natural!!!

Here's my before and NOW!





Another Angle of before and NOW!






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Hair Flash Back

I loved this style!!! My lion look.

I achieved this by braiding 4 big braids (2 in front sides, 2 in back). I did the braids when my hair was still soaking wet, and allowed my hair to air dry like that until the next day. When I unbraided them, this is what I got! Loved it, loved it, loved it :)




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Amerie's New Single- Why R U

I just saw this video, I love Amerie, ever since she did Why Don't We Fall in Love back in 2001, I have loved her music.

Hip hop beats with an RnB voice equals perfection.

Her style of music reminds me of the 90's music I listened to when I was little. You know, the Ghost Town Dj's "My Boo" and Mary J Blige, and the list goes on.

Check out her new video. Her hair looks great too, she's beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5tvTfdZj8A


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A New Style

I decided to part my hair down the middle the way I did when it was longer/relaxed. That was my favorite style!!! But, I didn't think that I could do that with my short hair. Well...I tried it a few weeks ago and this is what I got:





This look required a lot of water, gel and HAIR CLIPS:



Then I just covered the back of my hair with a hair net because the back of my hair could not fully reach into the ponytail holder and even the clips couldn't hold all of the hair down:



Finally look with hair net, make sure it's half way on your head so you can see the middle part, and so that the pins are covered:




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Bed Head

Yes, these pictures were taken first thing in the morning, before I washed my face, brushed my teeth or anything lol! Notice the pillow marks on my face in the first pic, these are real bed head pictures!

So this is how my hair looks each and every morning when I don't wrap it in a scarf. It resembles a mohawk so I call it a Fro-Hawk, lol. Notice how the sides are smashed creating some type of lizard look going on from the top through the middle of my head.

When I wrap my hair in a scarf, it looks like a helmet. My hair is all smashed down to my head in a bowl shape. When I wrap my hair in a scarf before bed, I've noticed that my wash n go's come out more defined, but my hair seems to be more tangled when I do wash n go's on unwrapped hair.

So will I wrap my hair at night? Or will I continue to rock my Fro-Hawk? Although I would love to take the extra 1 minute to wrap my hair every night, I know that it's just not going to happen. When my hair was relaxed I faithfully put a scarf or at least wrapped the front every night.

Maybe I am making the mistake of thinking that natural hair doesn't need to be wrapped/protected. Maybe I think that short hair doesn't need to be wrapped. I will try to wrap my hair more often but every night...


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Hair At My Bro's Graduation

A simple wash n go as usual


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Bentonite Clay...

So yesterday, I did cleansed my hair with Bentonite (I mix mine with raw apple cider vinegar).

Pros:

Cheap (it doesn't take much so this jar should last me for a while)
Curl definition is immediate, and last for a while
Non-Toxic
Not messy after you get the hang of it
Loosens the curl-makes your hair hang more


Cons:

Takes forever and a day to rinse out!
Even when you think it's all rinsed out, its not!
Leaves residue on my scalp
I usually have to use shampoo to get all the remaining particles out anyway
Best to be rinsed out in the tub or sink because you don't want this running into your privates when you rinse in the shower (I don't like hanging my head over the tub and its too big to fit under the faucet so this is a con for me)


The Verdict:

Will I still use Bentonite Clay in my hair? After I used it yesterday, my sister and I took my nieces to the park and my hair looked great. I loved it. But then she told me that there was some stuff on the back of my neck, just a little bit she said. When I got home, I looked in the mirror and my hair looked great. But later that night my scalp felt a bit weird. So I looked in the mirror and shined my lamp on my head. My hair looked really dull which was the first clue that something was wrong. As I parted my hair in the front of my head and rubbed my fingers on my scalp I saw dust come up! Bentonite clay was still in my hair even though I had rinsed it out with cold water, and warm water, and cold water again and more hotter water, all while my head was hanging over a tub and blood rushed to my brain!

I couldn't believe that it was still in there, and when I tried to rinse it out, some seemed to be stuck in the curls in the front and it just wouldn't come out. I had to use shampoo to ensure that all of the clay was out, very very annoying! I brought Bentonite to eliminate the use of shampoo yet I still have to use it.

So, I will still use Bentonite because I love how it defines my hair. I will continue to experiment with ways that I can get all of the clay out while using little to no shampoo to help me do it.


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Jersey Hair

I took these great pics of my hair while visiting my best friend in New Jersey, its a simple wash n go using conditioner:




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Sorry, I've been gone for a while...

Ok, so I went to a College Student Women Leaders conference at Maryland University for 3 days, and after that I spent some time in New Jersey with my best friend.

We stayed in dorms so it was hard for me to take proper care of my hair. I have to rinse it every morning to keep the curls "fresh" but, I didn't want to hop into the shower every morning so I was leaning over a tub on the floor to rinse my hair! People were probably looking at me like, 'why is this girl about to get into a public bath tub..."! Too funny.

I wore my hair mainly with a part down the middle, and a couple of clips to hold the hair down, with the back out. Then I got tired of it and wanted to wear my hair in my usual wash n go but my hair in the middle wouldn't stick up the way that it normally does. Instead it kind of flopped to the sides, very weird and annoying lol!

Here's how I wore my hair during the conference



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Protective Styling

Grab N Go Braids





I did these on damp hair that I had detangled with a comb. By the time that my hair was fully dry the braids began to shrink up. It was fun to see how long my hair has grown since my BC even though it is still really short. The ends of the braids look rough I'm guessing because they rub against pillows, clothes etc the most. As my hair grows out my braids will look a lot better. I sealed the ends with castor oil.

But, I won't be doing these again for a while. I think the next set of braids I'll do will be cornrows. I lost too much hair doing these braids during and even after! When I took them out I lost a few strands but when I washed my hair I lost more strands than when I detangled with the comb! I think I need to go back to finger detangling because that is the best way I've found to remove shed hairs.


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A Ponytail

So, I tried putting my hair in one single ponytail. I am only 5 months into my natural journey so my hair is still pretty short. I had to use a lot of water and gel, and even more clips to get my hair to stay in this style! I wrapped a knee sock around the front of my head to help it lay flat even more.

I used a very soft brush to smooth the front of my hair but the back doesn't look the same. I was surprised that the hair actually stayed in place with the clips.


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Combed Hair Prt 2

So, I detangled my hair with a comb again. I noticed that when I detangled my hair with a comb, it got tangled a lot faster than when I detangle with my knock off Denman brush. I used Tresmme conditioner again and then detangled under running water.

But, this time, my hair came out a lot bigger! My hair was very loose and there was barely any curl definition. This was enough for me to not comb my hair anymore. At least with the Denman I still have my tight defined curls.

It was really funny seeing how big my hair looked but it was a bit scary to see how loose it was. I'm so used to my hair being in very tight coils because I don't comb my hair.

The one thing that I did like about combing my hair was that my hair could easily be pulled into a ponytail. When my hair is tightly coiled, it took me forever just to be able to pull it back enough to get into a ponytail.


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Combed Hair

This is the first time that I have combed my hair in more than a year! I detangled with Treseme conditioner and a wide tooth comb while my hair was running under water. Far less hairs came out than the amount that comes out with my knock off Denman brush. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing...

My hair was really soft and fluffy afterwards, and my fro looked a little bigger than normal.

The next day, after I did my wash n go, my hair looked so nice! It was probably the best looking wash n go ever! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.


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Celebrity Hair

Sophie Okonedo!!

You may have seen her in Hotel Rwanda with Don Cheadle or in the recent hit The Secret Life of Bees. Can't wait until my hair is this long! She is beautiful. I found an older picture of her hair when it was longer. Her hair looks a lot looser in that pic, maybe heat damage, maybe just stretched hair. Anyways, I like her tighter curls better.




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Hair Challenge of the Day

Today, I am going to comb my hair and see what the results are. I have not combed my hair for over a year now! When I was transitioning I didn't even comb my hair and that was over an 8 month period. It's been 5 months since I've been natural so that's almost a year and a half since I haven't combed my hair. I just finger detangle, but I'm curious to see how my hair would look like when it's detangled with a comb. It is time for me to detangle as well.

I'm still going to wrap my hair when I head off to work, with a plastic bag under my scarf to keep moisture locked in. Let's see how this works out. Wrapping my hair at night is actually turning out to be very beneficial for my hair. I thought that it wouldn't make a difference.


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My Hair Right Now

Protective Styling. I'm going to try to wrap my hair for the next month. I found this beautiful piece of cloth in my room. I'm not sure if it's satin or silk but I got it from Jomar a while back. It's a wide, and long cloth, probably two feet wide and three feet long. It's a bit heavy because of the extra fabric in the back which I can feel is already making my head hurt. But, the color makes my skin glow so I love it. It's definitely a change from my typical black scarf head wraps!

Also, because of the type of fabric, any oils in the hair will stain it, so I'm not sure how I will wet wrap my hair in this. I will try to put a plastic bag underneath the scarf on my damp hair and see how it works out.

Vita Stim

Some women are taking chlorella and spirulina to generate cell cleansing in hopes of seeing more hair growth. My boyfriend began to take a product called Vita Stim after doing extensive research on it. He learned that the product contains a type of spirulina that is scientifically formulated to release adult stem cells in the body. It's called AFA (Aphanizomenon flos aquae) or blue green algae. It actually is the most beneficial form of spirulina.

So, my boyfriend is very health conscious and after reading many reviews decided to order it. So far, he has not seen any results from it because it has only been 15 days so far. The owner of the product actually CALLED him on the phone at 9:30 at night, after he sent an email to the website asking specifically, if there are any side effects to Vita Stim, what the other ingredients in the product are and how this scientifically formulated spirulina is better than the typical Vitamin Shoppe brand.

The owner of Vita Stim lives close by to us which is interesting. He was very concerned and very helpful, he genuinely wants to help people's health. All of the testimonials on his site are real, and most of them are from people that he has personal relationships with. He is a retired doctor, now in his early 70's who created Vita Stim with a group of doctors back when he was still practicing. After three months of taking Vita Stim, his cataracts disappeared. He still wears glasses, just a lower prescription, but no longer has any cataracts.

Check it out, stem cell nutrition or Vita Stim at: http://www.whoisgeorgebalek.com/index.html


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K.I.S.S. banned me from the site!

I am going to finish creating my blog primarily because I was BANNED from K.I.S.S. for writing a blog, titled "Are there any LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people on this site?" Two people responded and then the blog was deleted by an administrator. I tried to contact a moderator, and the creator of the site to ask why my blog was deleted because I didn't see anything inappropriate about it, and I had no copy of the blog on my computer. I put a lot of thought into writing that blog and I wanted it. I was not given any reason why the blog was deleted so I posted another response just to see whether or not my blogs really were being deleted and that too was deleted!

I wrote the blog because I always go on the site to give women advice. I love blogging and I love hearing other people's perspectives. So I went to the forum to respond to questions and I saw that the relationship forum had a specification that said "Male and female type relationships only". I guess that this meant only heterosexual relationship advice and problems can be discussed. I found that to be very unnecessary, dividing and offensive to LGBT people. I wrote a blog and said that I have the privilege of walking down the street with my boyfriend, holding hands without getting harassed. That is a privilege that all heterosexual people have. Unfortunately, LGBT people do not have that simple civil right. As a black female, that has been discriminated against on the basis of race and gender I could NEVER tolerate anyone discriminating against someone on the basis of sexual orientation, because I know how it feels to be discriminated against because I'm black and harassed because I'm female.

One woman, responded that her mother is bisexual and its a shame because of the prejudice that she goes through. I could not read the rest of her response because the blog was deleted. Another woman responded about how she never knew how close minded she was about LGBT people until she went to college.

It's a shame because I created three groups on the site that were all fairly popular and that I checked into daily. One was "College Students Trying to Maintain Healthy Hair", "Short Women Rock" and "TWA Grow Out Challenge." I can no longer access any of it because I have been BANNED from the entire site. No explanation, no warning, no response. I don't see how my blog was inappropriate at all! How could I get banned for this? Martin Luther King Jr. said that "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" and I truly believe this. If K.I.S.S. is willing to ban me because I wrote a blog about how LGBT people should be treated equally, and how people should be tolerant, than that is a site that I do not want to belong to.

I want my pictures to be deleted from the site but I do not know if I will ever be able to do that. You can see my hair photos on my fotki site here: http://members.fotki.com/Amil/about/


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