Yeah, I did that.

Finally learned to flat twist, go me!
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What is this? A revelation?

Sorry if I rambling but do you have any idea how long I've had Qhemets Olive and Honey Hydrating balm in my stash?

Do you?

About 3 years, guess how many times I've used it?

2 times.

Both times it left my hair hard as rocks and I've given it away so many times and got it back, it'll make your head spin. So what is this post about?

I found a great alternative to Beja Flor Naturals, that's what! Last week, I took my flat twists down and my hair was moisture deprived and since I've reach the bottom of my normal moisturizer, I closed my eyes and reached for OHHB and my hair was so happy the next day. I realized that I used too much the first time and that a small amount goes a long way. My hair was shiny and supple. So I have another winner on my hands!

In other news, I gave myself a much needed trim, my ends were ratchet.

Found a few wigs I liked, so I plan on getting one this week!

Till next time!
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It's been a long time......

Hola peeps!

I'm still here, rocking it with my hair. My new moisturizing combo is stil making my hair sing. During the fall, I wore havana twists until I got sick of them. My hair has grown but not at the rate I'm happy with. I feel my hair can be much further than where it is now.

With that said, I'm giving extensions a rest for a year and I'm going to use wigs as my go to for hair protection. One wig that I have my eye on is the FingerComber unit, its a natural wig created by naturals that are looking for wigs that match their hair texture. I plan on saving my pennies to invest in one. In the meantime I'm giving puffs a rest because I absolutely HATE re twisting my hair at night, so I'm trying flat-twists as another styling option.

Also, to combat the single strand knots and increase moisture retention, I've started doing oil rinses to give my hair the love it needs. I tried it last week using coconut oil and my hair loved it, I'm going to try avocado oil next. I plan on doing that every week since the weather is much colder. Yesterday, I tried a greek yogurt protein treatment and my hair was so damn happy, all I used was honey, coconut oil, and greek yogurt. My hair was easy to run my fingers through. I'm going to do that every month. I'm getting back to caring for my hair for optimal growth.

I would love to take multi-vitamins, but let's be real, I'll forget. I can count multiple times when I forgot to take my birth control for crying out loud. So I need to find something that'll work for me.

I'm up in the air about castor oil and my edges because it didn't work much, so I'm contemplating a trip to a dermatologist, I want my edges back!

Till next time....
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I think...I found it...

The magic combo...the 1-2 punch...the combo that makes my hair SINGS.

Yes...

I have found the combo that leaves my hair moisturized and soft.

And guess the best part? It was in the my pj stash the WHOLE time....

That's right...I didn't have to buy a thing!

I digged into my stash and used Qhemet's Biologics Burdock Root Butter Cream as my leave-in

and....

 Beija Flor Naturals Creme Brulee for Kinks Curls and Coils. 

Holy. Macral. SOFTNESS????

Let's rewind this for a bit, as many of you know, my hair has suffered from chronic dryness for as long as I've been natural.

I've  tested so many products from Soultanicals to Sheamoisture with no such luck. I thought I found the perfect match with Soultanicals, but I noticed that when I applied the Knot Sauce, my hair would be soft but then dry hard before I even apply my moisturizer. Which kind of defeats the purpose.

So this week I finally took my Havana Twists down and washed my hair. On a whim, I added Qhemet's BRBC as my leave in and when I say my hair was SINGING??? SINGING????
O. M. G. My hair was so soft and moisturized that I was afraid to use a moisturizer to seal because I thought my hair would be hard in the morning. Now, previously I stated that I tried Beija Flora Naturals Creme Brulee and from my first impression, I didn't like it. I can happily say that this is HANDS-DOWN my favorite moisturizer. I stretched my hair overnight and when I took my braids down, my ends were so soft, so lush, so PLUMP! This, in all my natural hair journey has never happened for me....EVER.

I can safely say that I'm done looking for that HG product that will make my hair happy...I've found it!

Hi.

My life has been an whirlwind of activities since my rabbit died. So instead of writing some long and drawn out post, why not express it in pictures?

Ready set go!

Attended the wedding of my good friend Danielle in September...

The Happy Couple....

Kiddie's Carnival 2013!!!!

West Indian Day Carnival 2013....First time in a costume

Me and my sisters!

Summer Streets 2013!!!! Walked for almost 3.5 hours!

Went to Coney Island for the first time since I was a little girl

Ohhhh I may have graduated and passed my New York State Rad Tech license exam..GO ME!

Goodbye My Love

Rest in Peace Coco Chanel Sephora
Mommy will miss you terribly.


June 10, 2005- August 6, 2013

A Havana Twists love story...

I don't know what took me so long to jump on the Havana Twists love train but my golly, I love them so. They're easy to install, light, and incredibly convenient to maintain. So far, I've been wearing them since Summer began and retwists every 6 weeks.

I took my twists down this weekend and was stunned at my hair growth. I make it a habit to wet my hair everyday with my leave in mix and oil my hair either in the morning or the evenings. What's even more amazing was the lack of split ends. With Havana twists, I don't have to worry about dirt clumps at the root of my scalp or tension on my scalp and edges. Speaking of edges....

Still shitty... Unfortunately.

With Fall fast approaching, I'm debating on whether to use this hairstyle as a protective style through the Fall and Winter. I'm seriously contemplating a 1 year protective style challenge to see how long can my hair grow. I'm almost 5 yrs to this natural game and my hair is still not MBL which doesn't make me happy at all. We shall see.

Till next time!
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Havana Twists...a breakup and the make-up......

Hola!

Man, what a crazy 3 days, so let's get right into it. As you know my hair has been a hot mess for a while. I've been dealing with disappearing edges, dryness and split ends. I felt it was time that my hair got a much needed break and Havana Twists was the way to go. The time finally came for the twists to be installed and I was EXCITED! I spent hours drooling over pictures of Havana twists, dreaming of the ways I was going to rock this style.....

Until...

I got them done and I hated them.

*stops the presses*

This was my hair after my cousin installed the twists. Initially it was kinda hard to get the invisible root method but afterwards my cousin was able to do it...or so I thought. Afterwards, once she was done, this is what my hair looked like. I...liked it? But it wasn't love. Why didn't I love it? 

The shit felt like a ton of bricks on my head. It was HEAVY. I couldn't fit my hair into a bun, I couldn't sleep because it was so long and difficult to manage. It was so long that I had to throw my hair over the pillow just to sleep comfortably. That morning, I decided to cut them but to no avail, it was too heavy. Not only was the hair was too heavy but my cousin wasn't able to do the invisible root method so my gut was telling me my edges were suffering.  So I decided to take the bulls by the horn and re-twist my own hair.

WHO. THE.  HELL. TOLD. ME. TO . DO . THAT. Long story short, it took my 4 hours to get the invisible twist method, and finally, I did it!

Now....I LOVE my hair!


It feels so light that I can't believe there's extensions in my hair. I feel so good about this style that I'm going to do my little sister's hair. I'm so happy!

More views of my hair.
See??? It blends perfectly with my natural hair. 

Till next time!

My. Hair.

This is what my hair looks like for the past 2 days.  I really like the style a lot, it's easy, simple and no fuss. 

I plan on starting KinkyCurlyCoilyMe Castor Oil Challenge June 1st, wish me luck!

Product List....

Since I've decided to embrace extensions again, I figured I needed to add some new products to my arsenal.

First up,

Stay On Satin night cap. I think the number one culprit is my silk headtie. I don't know about anyone else, but my scarf never ends up where I left it. Even though I sleep on a satin pillowcase,  I wake up every morning with my headscarf about 2-3 inches off my head. I'm on the hunt for this product

I know this may sound nuts, but I haven't changed the water bottle I use for my DIY mixes since I went natural, almost 4 years ago. I know, bad, bad, T. However, I plan on buying 2 bottles, one for my water mix and one for my oil mix. 

I LOVE this shampoo to cleanse my scalp. I work out at least 3-4 days a week and nothing cleans my scalp like this. I plan on diluting this with water and washing my SCALP only with this shampoo. 

I found this oil for $1.97 in Target. Nuff said. It does have filler oils, but I'm thinking of cutting it with some coconut oil/grapeseed oil. This will be used to seal in moisture instead of my Castor Oil mix. I will leave that particular mix for my scalp and edges only at night. 

Giving my hair a break.

I wish I had better news about my edges, but after taking down my last set of cornrows, my edges look dreadful. You can CLEARLY see where my hairline is receding. To say I'm disheartened is an understatement, with that said, I've decided that for the remainder of the summer, I will wear Havana Twists. My goal is to wear the twists for one month, 2 month max with a week break in-between reinstallation. The difference between Havana Twists and regular Kinky Twist extensions is the lack of tension on your scalp. The twists are bigger and can easily blend into your natural hair. I'm getting them installed next Friday and I'm excited. I've been extensions free for almost a full year and frankly...my hair needs a break.

To keep my hair moisturized, I decided to make a moisturizing mix with water, a light conditioner, tree tea oil(since I work out a lot and a funky scalp is NOT the business), and vitamin E oil. I plan on wetting and sealing my hair DAILY. So that means, I have to stick to washing my scalp once a week and being on top of daily upkeep, even if I have to put a daily reminder in my phone to wet and seal my hair. On top of that, I'm going to up my castor oil regime to at least 4 times a week.

Also, I've decided to buy at least 2 wigs for the Fall/Winter season. Yes, I will be wearing WIGS for the Fall/ Winter. I need to give my hair rest from constant manipulation and I plan on using that time to concentrate on my edges as well. I plan on keeping track of my growth process.

I will get my edges back!

Not so good news on the edges front....

Yep, my edges are definitely going. What's going on? I tried the sleeping without the scarf experiment and apparently that's not working out so well for me. I think I'm going to up my castor oil treatments to 5 days instead of 3. Something has to give at this point.

In much happier news, I've finally found my HOLY GRAIL leave-in conditioner!!!!!!!!! Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for one?!?

Soultanicals knot sauce(pics to come soon) is wonder in a bottle. My hair is soft, tangle free and supple. I love it as a leave in but holy crap, its a wonderful detangler!!!!

Since it was birthday last week and I had a lot of celebrating planned, I let my hair loose for the festivities. What you must know about my hair is that it tangles VERY easy and is prone to knots and splits hence why I rarely wear my hair out. Well, after applying a pea size amount on my hair(in sections of course), I was amazing at how my hair untangled itself. It was like the knots disappeared. I wanted to cry tears of joy. Thank goodness I purchased the 16 oz bottle *whew*. I also order another goodie that might be my Spring/Summer moisturizer, woohooo!

In more PJ news. I FINALLY received my order from Beja Flor Naturals after escalating my issue to Paypal and Etsy. I've used the buttercream maybe once? And wasn't too impressed with it. It's very thick and my hair didn't feel so great the next day. I want to test it with other leave ins in my stash, so I can get an idea on what works best with it.


And lastly, my hair was a hit these past few days. My male classmate said he didn't realize how long my hair was because I keep it braided or twisted. I've been wearing a bantu knot out since Friday and everyday my puff gets bigger and bigger, I LOVE IT!

That's all now folks!
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The story of my disappearing hairline and missing products. BIG Post.

This is going to be a doozy.

There's good news, bad news and more bad news.

Let's start with the good news! Look at my pretty puff! Look how she grows! Ok, ok, fine, this was my hair after I took down my twists so this puff was born from stretched hair that had yet to be detangled. Anyways, I'm very happy with my puff.








Now the Bad News: My receding hairline.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

I dont know what happened, where I went wrong. ACCCCKKKK. When I noticed that my hairline was receding, I wanted to cry. I realized that I was doing something wrong, but what? I'm still participating in the Castor OIl challenge so that can't be it. Then I realized that I wear my hair scarf 85% of the time. My hair doesn't get a chance to breathe much so maybe that's it? I stopped wearing my scarf at night and only wear my scarf underneath my winter hats. I hope to god that helps because if not? I'm fucking screwed. I'm hoping my hair makes a turnaround. 

*le sigh*

In other news, I ordered products from Beija Flor Naturals sometime in February. Can you believe that it's March 27th and I have YET to receive my items? I'm still battling dryness and I reallly wanted to try the Creme Brulee but her customer service skills leaves MUCH to be desired. I was told that my items were be delivered by the 23rd and not only were my items NOT delivered to me, but my email correspondences have been ignored by the seller. I had no choice to submit a claim to Paypal, Etsy AND the Better Business Bureau. I always try to support small business, but this is ridiculous. There is NO excuse for taking my money and not delivering my items. I'm a full-time student and for me to spend my money and to be shifted in the end?!?!? Hell. No. 

So I tell you my friends...never buy from this company. Not only I was lied to, but I had to deal with crappy customer service. Not a winning combo. 

Hmmmm.

So as you may know, I suffer from dry hair. The crown area is my "kitchen", while the back of my hair is finer and easier to maintain/moisturizer. I've tried many leave-ins and while some worked when my hair was shorter, now that my hair is longer, it's not the same.

So what to do? I was going to buy KBB Sweet Ambrosia but the 15.99 price tag gave me a slight pause. I'm a full time student on a limited budget, so what to do? Well how about I make my own?

I've heard of Kimmyatube leave in and while I refuse to shell out $12.99 for Kinky Curly leave in, I'm going to make my own version.

Ingredients:

Tresemme Naturals conditioner
Castor Oil
Aloe vera gel
Purified water
Vitamin E oil

Sounds good right? Also, I'm going to try different hair butters to measure how they respond to my hair. I've ordered sample buttercreams and a full- size Creme Brulee hair butter from Bejia-Flor Naturals, as well as Herbal Hairdressing from Njoi Creations. My cousin gave me her jar of Nature's Blessings hair pomade to try as well.

Since the Spring is almost upon us(THANK GOODNESS), I want to try a moisturizing hair spritz with rose water and glycerin. To be honest, this winter has been brutal on my strands. The air in my house is DRY, the blistering winds and lack of moisture has wrecked havoc on my hair. I hope I can turn this ship around.

Until next time!
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My hair, wow my hair.

Wow is correct, my hair has growwwwn baby! Also, as you can see, my edges are coming in more nicely! I think by the summer, they'll be back to normal, I'm so excited to have edges again lol.

With that said, I'm still dealing with ssk and some splits, but since I'm in protective styles %99.99 of the time, it comes with the territory. I still haven't found the best moisturizing spritz for my hair or the best combo for battling dryness. I think it's time to do some more research. I might have to invest in Jojoba and Vitamin E oil. As far as my daily spritz, I've stopped adding conditioner to my mix because my hair stopped being a fan after awhile.

Karen's Body Beautiful is going to be in select Target stores in March, I'm so excited! I really loved her leave in, it'll be perfect for the warmer weather. I can't wait to get my hand on some of her products again since she closer her store last year.

Till next time!
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Back to henna

Hola!

I want to color my hair.

Badly.

However, I know that coloring my fine, fragile hair would be disastrous, so what better way to color my hair?

Why HENNA of course! Now, if you've been following my blog, you know I have a deep love affair for henna. I've dyed my hair red then back to black using henna/indigo. Well, I just realized that I can dye my hair brown using henna and indigo as well! I'm expecting my shipment of henna and indigo in the mail any day now, and I can't wait to try it!

In other news, I've slacked off the castor oil challenge because I'm recently recovering from a really bad bout of bronchitis which resulted in 2 ER trips so right now, I'm dealing with ssk's up the wazzoo.

Till next time!

New Year. New Hair. New Me.

Happy New Years!

Hope everyone had a great New Years, I actually slept my way through it. Oh well.

In hair news, I wore my puff for my xmas party and my hair was a HIT! I will say that my + winter= bad business. My poor hair was so dry and stiff by the end of the night that I had to re-wash it and deep condition it for almost 3 hours(bad I know).

As you can see from the pictures I posted, my edges are growing back in nicely and the small bald patch near the crown has some peach fuzz so I'm extremely happy about that. I decided to add some coconut oil to my castor oil mix since my hair likes it better. My hair loves the combination of B.A.S.K Silk and Honey Leave in and Qhemet's Amla and Olive heavy cream for moisture. I also purchased products from CC's Naturals and Pura body. Since I'm in protective styling for the next 2 weeks, it will take some time to do a decent review. Finally, I gave myself a much needed trim, which was a welcomed relief. I chopped off a lot but, meh, it'll grow back.

see my edges? I've never been so happy to see peach fuzz. As you can see that small patch is coming along nicely. My phone was acting stupid so this is the best I can do. 

My views of my bodacious puff.

 This is the style I wore on Christmas Day. I didn't feel like doing my hair so I did some twists in the front, sealed with some coconut oil and made a turban out of a neck scarf. 

This year I'm going to make a concentrated effort to watch what I put in my body. Whether it means drinking more water or getting over my aversion to leafy vegetables, I promise myself that I will do whatever it takes to grow long and healthy hair.

Till next time!