My Hair (Update)

This is what my hair has been doing lately.  I know it's been awhile, and honestly I kind of hit a road block with my hair hence why the blogging screeched to a halt.  All my passion and love for  my hair kind of dissipated and taking care of it was just another chore on my list.  I felt hypocritical to blog about loving your natural hair when I wasn't loving mine or give advice on how to make your hair thrive when mine wasn't thriving.  But I"m back!!.
I honestly thought about Big Chopping again and starting over, and I thought about getting dreads.  But I've decided to stick with it.  For a long time, I had stopped protective styling.  Mostly because of laziness and also because I felt bored with it but I've decided to go back to basics and start protective styling again and try to revive my passion for natural hair.  I don't have a choice because it's mine, there's nothing I'm going to do to change it and I'm definitely not going back to chemicals so I might as well embrace it.  I'm going back to the things I used to do to nurture my hair and trying to nurture my body too.  All my yoga-ing and meditating and exercising and trying to eat well are all part of the same goal: to take care of myself, be healthy and learn to love the things I cannot change.  So natural hair, I LOVE you!  You are mine, all mine.  I love our frustrating moments and proud moments and big bouncy moments and frizzy tangled shrunken up moments equally.

Yours truly, ME!

Yoga and Me

Yoga:

The word "yoga" comes from the Sanskrit root yuj,
which means "to join" or "to yoke".

Yoga is a practical aid, not a religion. Yoga is an ancient art based on a harmonizing system of development for the body, mind, and spirit. (yoga.org)

I have been practicing yoga on and off for many years.  I started taking yoga classes that were offered for free at out free gym at my university when I was 19 or 20 (13-14 years ago).  My consistency varied.  At best, I attended weekly classes.  When things got busy, I didn't go for long periods.  When I graduated, I no longer had access to the gym.  I started again when I started grad school and again had free access to gym with the same inconsistent pattern as before.  Wherever I went I would seek out yoga classes with varied success but mostly, I'd manage to find a gym that offered it included with a cheap gym membership.  I always took a beginner class.
Because of my lack of consistency, I never graduated higher than a beginner status.  Why did I do it?   It felt good, that was the extent of my understanding.  My favorite part was Savassana ("corpse" pose and meditation at the end, usually 5-10 minutes depending on the instructor).  I had no goals for yoga.  I never did home practice.  Yoga was not a part of my life, just a deviation that lasted for the duration of the class and ended when I stepped out of the class and for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before the feeling of calm and peace I got from it faded away.
I didn't understand and never pondered the true meaning of yoga.  I knew, I loved the relaxation I felt.  I loved pushing my body a bit during the classes.  As far as long term benefits, there were none.
I never began to progress with yoga until recently (as in the past year or 2) when I began a home practice.  Mostly because I realized it was senseless to pay for a class when after over 10 years of attending classes, I pretty much knew the poses and transitions and how to meditate at the end of each session.  Also, finding life increasing stressful and my levels of anxiety and sometimes even depression rising, I needed to find some peace. When I began doing home practice, I fell in love with it.  I was in the lead.  I chose the music that I found relaxing, I lit candles, rolled out my yoga mat and I pushed myself knowing my own limits.  There was no one to compete with, there was no pressure to stay in an excruitiating position because the instructor was dictating it and I had to "keep up".  It was just me and my yoga mat and I loved it.  I began to do it daily instead of weekly and began to see progress for first time.
I had recently discovered Instagram and although I recommend using social media sparingly (it can be addictive and a source for comparison and judgment), I found an amazing yoga community on there.  I would wake up each morning and check my Instagram to find inspirational words from yogis around the world, inspiring me to continue my practice.  Before I long, I started documenting some of my yoga and sharing my  journey with the world too.
Most importantly though, I found a change in my outlook.  I came to understand the principles of yoga that extend beyond a yoga mat, beyond being physically flexible and strong.  There were tools there to help me with my propensity for anxiety and depression.  As a sensitive person, the world would often overwhelm me.  Always has.  I have begun a journey of building a reserve of peace and calm within myself that I can tap into when life threatens to drown me.  I have learned that although I can't control outside circumstances, I can find peace in myself.
I call it a "journey" and "practice" because the work is never done.  I am cultivating kindness, peace and love within myself.   There are still good times and bad times.  I lose my cool sometimes, have the occasional meltdown, cry, yell, let anger get the best of me.  None of that has changed.  But I am more aware of my patterns and more in control of them.  When I find myself in a dark hole, I have the tools to crawl out.  Sometimes, I find myself in a bad place and I feel like, all this yoga-ing and meditating isn't working because it hasn't taken away the pain and suffering.  Then I remember it's not supposed to.  It's just the principle that it's all OK.  It's being at peace with the suffering just as I am at peace with the joy.  It sounds like an oxymoron but if you live it, you understand.  I will sum it up with a quote from whom I don't know the origin but it basically sums up the principle of yoga that is the most difficult for people to accept and the most crucial at least for me:
"Every moment of light and dark is a miracle".  I remind myself of this often.
Namaste!

I still love my hurr

Hey y'all.  Just an update on my natural hair journey.  I had mentioned how my hair hasn't been growing much the past few months to a year.  I think I'm finally getting back on track... I think. Hard to tell because I don't do length checks regularly or even at all.  I do know my hair feels healthier so I hope it's growing too.  Check out recent photos below. 
Anyway I want to share my new protein treatment that I love.  Let me start by saying I have suffered from weak brittle hair my whole life.  Being natural, it's a little better, but still a problem.  In my struggle to remedy this, I have tried protein treatments. I tried Aphogee 2 step protein treatment with mixed result. I felt it made my hair stronger but the last two times it seemed to make my hair very hard, dry and brittle(r).  I decided I was protein sensitive and discontinued. 
I have been unable to find something potent enough to strengthen my strands but gentle enough not to cause my strands to react negatively until now.
I found a homemade treatment online that consists of using Greek yogurt as a conditioner.  Now I recently converted to eating Greek yogurt for it's high protein content and I love it but never thought to use it on my hair.  For those who aren't familiar, Greek yogurt is very thick so it makes for a great conditioner as it will stay on your hair instead of dripping off.  I tried plain yogurt (couple tablespoons) with egg whites (about a tablespoon).  I mixed it with just a squirt of one of my conditioners (organic root stimulator) for good measure but you can skip this step.  I mixed together and that was enough to generously slather through my thick hair.  I left on about 10 min then washed my hair thoroughly.  I was afraid of not getting out all of it because it is slightly grainy but after a thorough wash there was no residue.  My hair felt moisturized with no hard scrunchy feeling and I felt like I had gotten some good protein in my hair. We will see if this treatment has any long term effect on my hair.  I hope this was helpful to you guys.
Hasta pasta, naturalistas!!

The versatility of natural hair

So over the course of last week, I have rocked over 4 different looks with my hair.  And that's just in a week! Plus I have a whole repertoire of updos that I didn't even get into at all this past week!  When I had relaxed hair, I had like 2 styles total.  I mostly wore the same hairstyle everyday.  I had limitations in length and just the straight texture that made certain styles impossible but most of my limitations were due to length.  Now I'm not speaking for everyone because I realize that many black ladies who are relaxed have a multitude of looks that they use weaves and wigs to achieve.  But for those like me who just never got into the wigs and weaves, my hair was pretty boring. 

With all the challenges of caring for natural type 4 hair, it's always nice to focus on the positives and this is one of them.  Happy Sunday naturalistas!!

Review of Miss Jessies Super Sweetback Treatment

This is a review on Miss Jessie's Super Sweetback treatment. this product was very expensive on the website. It was $50 or more. However they were having a sale during the holidays: 40 percent off everything! Even with the 40 percent off the products cost more than I'm used to paying for hair products but I decided to give it a try based on the amazing reviews that I read.

I was pleasantly surprised to say those reviews were true. This product first of all is a kinky girls dream come true.  it smells amazing, it is thick and creamy, it has great slip...and that's just from opening and looking at the product. As far as using the product, not only did it make my hair smell wonderful, it made my hair shiny and super-moisturized. Today is day 7 after conditioning with this product and my hair is still shinier than I'm  used to seeing and I think it is because of using this product. My hair just looks healthier in general.  Even though I am a total spendthrift and normally would never in a million years spent $50 for hair conditioner, I would actually consider buying this product full price after this one is finished. I feel like it can go a long way in improving the health and appearance of my hair. I have a feeling this 16 ounce bottle that I have will last a good amount of time if I use in moderation. Therefore I think it's totally worth the money. And that wraps up my review of Miss Jessie's super sweetback

Yesterday was my 32nd bday!!!  I had a much needed relaxing massage, blew out candles, made a wish, ate cake, saw a movie, and went for dinner at a nice restaurant. 
Me hair started out down and messy but I liked the freedom.  However being in Florida the weather on my birthday can be either hot or cold.  This year it was hot and humid so after returning from the movies with damp shrunken frizzy hair, I had to improvise an updo. It went well and the hair jewelry I rocked for the first time added some oomph to an otherwise standard updo. So yeah it all went well.  I'm looking forward to my 32nd year of life being nothing short of fabulous!  Peep photos below.

My (lack of) hair growth

I am NOT one of those natural hair girls who keeps track of their growth on a regular basis.  From time to time I'll  kind of just eyeball my hair to see what kind of progress I am making toward my length goals.
Something told me that my hair growth had slowed to a crawl over the past the year or so but I thought maybe I was just being paranoid.  I would still get the occasional comment that my hair looks like it's growing well but recently when I looked back at some old pictures in my phone I came across a picture of me exactly one year ago a little after Thanksgiving.  I was taking selfies in the bathroom and I happened at the time to do a length check where I stretched the front of my hair down and took a picture of where my hair came to which was to about my top lip. Looking back at this picture, I realized that my hair is at this point the exact same length it was on that day about a year ago.  I did the same length check which confirmed my suspicions.  This was very disheartening because I have put a lot of work into my hair and I haven't been doing anything differently. I have been protective styling and finger detangling. I have not applied any they or color to my hair and I have tried to be very gentle with it.  I came to the conclusion that I have reached a hair plateau and I may never reach my hair goals.  However, the optimist in me decided instead that it is time to rethink my hair regimen and to put a little bit more effort into reaching my goals.  What I have decided to do after reading suggestions online and looking at some YouTube videos is to start using my biotin again, start using castor oil on my scalp and doing scalp massages regularly.  I will also haba a more stringent  moisturizing regimen.  I have decided to try this for 3 months and see if I have made any progress. If so, I will continue with these practices for the year to see if I can get closer to my hair goals.  If not I will have to think of a new strategy or I might as well just go back to my regular regimen and accept that this is the length my hair will remain and just focus on maintaining health instead of gaining length.  Here it's a photo of my hair now.  I will keep you guys posted.