Busy

I know it's been awhile since I have updated my blog.  But you will be happy to know it's because I have been busy checking things of my bucket list.  Yes literally.  I have 30 items on my list as of now and some have been checked off.  Most recently I was able to take my mom on an awesome vacation! That was a first and a bucket list item that I was very excited to check off. 
Currently I am learning to swim...another bucket list item.  I actually had my first day of swimming class today and I've already learned a lot and I'm feeling excited.
As far as my hair goes, I was nervous about chlorine damage and having to shampoo my hair more often than I'm used to because 1) it's time consuming as hell and 2)  shampoo dries out my hair and I avoid it when possible and opt to co-wash instead.  The damage and dryness were the biggest things. Thankfully I've discovered that with a good fitting swim cap I can almost completely avoid getting my hair saturated with chlorine water.  I was excited to discover this.  Only a little bit of my nape got slightly wet!
I went ahead and shampooed my hair anyway in twists. And that's how that went.  Done and done :-)
Anyway check out some pictures of me vacationing with mom and my hair after being washed in twists (you can really see my curl pattern)
Anyway hasta pasta, naturalistas!!  Until next time

Back to basis

So after obsessing and fighting with my hair, I decided to take it back to basics and twist it up and leave it alone.  I've been feeling in a frustrated rut.  The last time I remember feeling this way was during my awkward twa stage where I was hating the limited styling options, the texture, and the length of my hair and feeling plain ugly.  Well that's exactly how I was feeling over the past week.  Check, Check, and check...all of the above especially the ugly part. 
Anyway I've stopped obsessing.  I may be in a slow growth phase so I figured I'm always safest with protective styling and a few accessories won't hurt either.  We'll see home goes from here.  Below is my style for the day and for the first time in over a week, I feel somewhat together and decent looking.  Too bad I have no place to go :-\

A cure for the doldrums

I've been bored and frustrated with my hair.  I like to call it the summer blues because it seems in the summer my hair just don't be wantin to act right.  Don't really know how else to put it.  I started fantasizing about that pixie cut I've always wanted .... and bangs! Two hairstyle that would require me go crawling back to the creamy crack.  It was just a fantasy anyway and if I had even begun to consider it seriously, there is always my boyfriend to remind me why I went natural in the first place and all the reasons I'd regret it.  So I resorted instead to hair color...and I'm too chicken to seriously commit to even that! So I bought one of those cans you just spray on color that washes out.  I was actually giddy with excitement.  I did a couple of streaks and felt quite satisfied with myself.  I cured my boredom and feeling better.... for the moment.
See the results below. 

Eye Candy

Today I went to the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  I was grinning from ear to ear... literally (I must have looked like a crazy person) when I saw all these beautiful natural haired women in Cache.  I mean all the sales associates were natural haired women.  One had kinky hair that she wore in a kick-ass chunky afro (fearless!), another had a head full of tight curls that hung down toward her shoulder, and still another had her hair flat twisted in front and a bun in the back (so classy).  All different hair textures and curl patterns but all stunning.  I didn't know where to focus my eyes when yet another naturalista walked in, a customer, also rocking a fro.  I was trying not to be creepy and stare.  I really wanted to ask to take their picture but that might have been intrusive (read: creepy) and they were all pretty busy.  But it made me realize this "natural hair movement" is going strong.  Hell, I"m hoping there is a bit of a natural movement all around.  Not just hair, but our bodies, our faces, nails, eyelashes, what have you.  I'm all about taking care of what gave you!  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against enhancing your beauty but that's not the same as drastically (and sometimes permanently) changing what you have to fit some "ideal".
I think it's awesome because we as black women are the only women who have this kind of hair and for so long we were ashamed of it (myself included).  But seeing these women wearing it so proudly, unabashed, in the workplace, on a date, just plain put and about being confident and fabulous... it has made me feel great.  It is just an affirmation of our beauty: something that society has threatened to put into extinction.  I love that this hair I have is unique to black women.  I feel a part of something.  As many struggles as I have with my hair I would never dream of going back for this very reason.
Anyway, that's all.  Just had to get that out there. 

PS: I have had these extensions in all of 2 days (see  my previous post: Havana Twists) and I"m already missing my own hair.  Oh and when I asked my boyfriend if he likes my new do, his response?  "It's... different.  So I like it but I like your real hair better and the different styles you do with it.  Your real hair is more fun to play in".  Aww... that's good to hear :)

Havana Twists

I'm rockin Havana twists y'all!  This protective style is definitely popular for the summer especially among naturalistas because it uses Marley hair which blends in well with kinky curly hair.  I've seen a lot of ladies rocking this style including Solange and a few of my fellow natural hair bloggers and it looks absolutely amazing on them.  So I had my sister put them in for me today and I couldn't be happier.  I was expecting that maybe it would be a little bit heavy but they're not at all. It's a very cute and trendy style that will give me a break from dealing with my hair for a few weeks.  I'm not sure how long these are going to last but I'm hoping to be able to wear them for at least 3 weeks.  I'm going to try my best to make them last that long. 
So here is the low down: 
It took about 4 hours to install.  Also consider that it's  my sister's first time installing these so there's a bit of trial and error involved increasing the time it took. 
I used 3 packs of 1b hair plus a wee bit of a 4th pack.  The packs cost 5.99 each at my local beauty supply store.
I washed my hair thoroughly detangled and moisturized prior. 
I used Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie and Ecostyler gel during the install for moisturizing my hair and for hold. 
See photo below

No More Protective Styling

Hey naturalistas,

Just giving you guys an update on how my hair is holding up without protective styling.  I have to admit it hasn't been easy fighting the dryness and the tangles.  For some reason I find that when I wear it out no matter how much I moisturize, it always ends up being dry anyway. Aside from those two things its been going pretty well. I've had to consign myself to spending 10 to 15 minutes every night prepping my hair for the next day which usually means braiding it for a braid-out or styling out in a bun or updo. Honestly I have not missed having my hair in twists.  One could argue that wearing your hair out all the time is more damaging than having it in a protective style. There is the nightly manipulation and unfortunately I have hand-in-hair syndrome which can cause knots, tangled and breakage.
Oh and lest we forget it's summer and the humidity is a b@%ch!  So I kind of have to set my expectations low for wearing my hair out.  Frizz and shrinkage are inevitable. 
But I've been trying to offset these things with gentle manipulation, drinking more water, taking my biotin vitamins, and consuming more protein (more on the benefits of all these things in a later post). This is basically an experiment to see how it goes and hopefully I will continue to retain length even without having to wear long term protective styles 80% of the time. That's not to say I will never wear my hair in twists again.  Sometimes I do need a break from styling my hair daily and twists are definitely good for that.

I

My Hair Just Wants to Be Free!!!!

I'm feeling a bit rebellious.  Here's the deal:  I'm tired of protective styling.  I've been  wearing my hair in twists about 80 percent of the time for the past two years.  Now as much as my hair has grown out and it's gotten a lot easier for me to style it while in twists  its still not the look that I envision for myself. I still sometimes feel a little bit frumpy so after a frustrating week last week I decided that I am forgoing wearing my hair in twists at least for a while and I will see how this goes.  The biggest challenges i foresee are knots, shrinkage, dryness, and split ends.  I will have to figure out ways to minimize all of the above and it's  going to be a challenge.  Wish me luck and I will keep you guys posted.

Before: wearing my twists at work

After: rocking my twist-out on the weekend