Hola Chicas!
I think I'm (finally) going to do a much needed Deep Treatment this weekend. I have options too-- not sure whether I'll use Jessicurl Weekly Deep Treatment, Biolage Matrix Conditioning Balm, or Curl Junkie's DT. Decisions, decisions... either way, once I'm finished, I'll be twisting out to rock a bun for the next week.
NaturallyCurly.com writes:
You know that love-hate relationship we have with fatty foods? Well, the same holds true for glycerin, according to Marsha Coulton, founder of Curl Junkie.
“If you use too much, it can be too heavy and feel like an oil in your hair,” Coulton says. “If you use too little, you don’t get the effect you’re looking for."Just as fats (at least the good ones!) are important in a healthy diet, glycerin is a coveted ingredient when it comes to feeding our curls the moisture they crave. Coulton uses glycerin in both of her curl sprays, but in different proportions. Curl Fuel, which is heavier, has more glycerin. But she cut the glycerin by a third for her Curly Boost spray because too much can weigh down curlies with fine hair.
Michelle T. writes:
What inexpensive products have you found to work that you really never thought would have worked?
Hola chicas!
It's that time again! The images below are of CN readers at their flyyest...at work, on the town, and with the fam. Showing us all that natural hair is not a fad, it's a way of life...an extension of our beauty! Click on the images to enlarge them:
Lori asks:
I've been a bad girl. I strayed from my Curly Girl routine a month ago and my hair is acting up. Build up I guess? My hair likes all natural products and I knew that, but I let my inner PJ get the best of me.
Hello Curly Nikki,
Hola Chicas,
It's that time again!
Remember that an affirmation can help you replace a negative thought (ex. I'll never find love) with a more helpful positive one (ex. I'm worthy of love, and I will find it in time). By using the power of positive affirmations and by repeating them, you can recondition your brain and change how you feel and think about any situation (your appearance, your hair, a relationship, etc.). You can choose to be happy, no matter the circumstances! It will transform your life.
Share your affirmations here, but remember to revisit and reflect on them everyday-- in the evening before retiring, in the morning before rising, during prayer, meditation, or while exercising! This is one habit you need to develop... as another reader stated, don't just think them, say them aloud! Own it :-)
Hola Chicas!
Time is ever so quickly winding down... I'll be 37 weeks on Friday and the baby feels low (and though she feels as if she's gonna fall outta my butt any second, I'm taking y'alls word that she won't!). The nursery is complete, my bag is packed and dear family and friends will begin arriving as early as next week!
Strange new symptoms? Let's see... since breathing is an activity I find quite enjoyable, I have to sleep sitting up, which I hate. Plus, if I happen to fall asleep laying down, I wake up with very painful cramps in my lower belly and back. So yeah, restful sleep is not happening and I'm so tired during the day. Also, one boob is noticeably larger than the other... but neither are big enough for me to purchase a nursing bra in my size. I've been to two Tarjays and a JcPenny and apparently I have very, very tiny breasts... maybe A cups aren't supposed to breast feed? But dammit I'm gonna give it my all...hopefully the bigger boob (which I now call 'my good boob') will pull the weight! TMI?
Finally, I have a perfectly straight line running down the back of each leg (from my butt to my ankles). To the right of each line, my skin is very dark, to the left, it's very light. So strange! And the kicker is that my mom said the exact same thing happened to her.
Anywho, on to my reason for this post. I tried the Goody Simple Styles hair clip tonight with great results! Here's the description they provide:
Pony Pouf makes the "piece-y" pony so easy! Clever little styling tools and instructional guides to assist every woman in achieving a salon-inspired hairstyle at home.I can see how this product really would deliver what the texture challenged community so desires. Volume. Since we curlies don't have this problem, I truly questioned the reason for even trying it. Glad I did though! It's yet another low stress, low tension way of securing the hair in a chic and easy style. Plus the design allows for ultimate poofage without the hassle of tying a pantyhose around your head. It sort of reminds me of a tiny, modified banana clip. It has two positions (the first for finer hair, and the second for thicker), and the comb portion on the top half makes it easy for you to fluff the hair up and intensify the volume of your puff.
Results
A woman at work asked me why I didn't wear my hair straight. I said 'it doesn't grow that way and I'm too lazy to make it do that'. She asked what I use in my hair to create the funky styles I wear. I said 'hardly anything'. (The style in the picture is what I wore to a holiday party)
Jeanine writes:
I go through one 16oz bottle of cheap conditioner a week. I use an 8oz jar of gel in two. Although my favorite products aren't very expensive, the constant re-upping is draining my pocket. The other day while slathering on my leave-in, I began thinking, am I using too much? Is it even effective?
NaturallyCurly.com writes:
The more we embrace our natural texture, the more we learn natural and/or organic products work best. There are hundreds of ingredients found in nature that can be used in hair products. Healthy ingredients aren’t for textured hair alone! These ingredients work to make everybody’s hair healthier. Check out NaturallyCurly.com's list of 10 popular natural ingredients and what they provide for our hair!
Terra D writes:
With the way the economy took a turn for the worst, we are all aware that money does not grow on trees. Though the American economy is trying to rekindle that old flame, we must still budget correctly.
Do you have a strict hair budget? Is it working? Any ideas for those of us that can't control our product junkism?
During a short stop in Jamaica my senior year, I had waist length Senegalese twist put in, left them in too long and my roots started to loc. I had the bright idea to comb them out using a bottle of conditioner and a fine tooth comb. Needless to say, I ended up with thin wispy NL hair that looked a lot like cotton candy! I guess you could say that was the beginning of the end. I became a slave to a mad cycle of weave reliance.
I lived in Houston for a year after graduating, and struggled regularly with blending weaves with my hair. None the less, believe me when I tell you, I EARNED the name “unbe-weave-able”! I rocked so many styles, helped along by the fact that my boyfriend’s(now husband) mother is the Queen of Weaving, and she hooked me up on the regular. It isn’t hard to figure out why there was no end in site for my addiction…
I moved to L.A. to start grad school. I didn’t know anyone, and didn’t feel like looking for a stylist to maintain the weave. I finally just removed the weave and cut off enough hair to have a somewhat “healthy” chin length bob. Although my hair was relaxed, it still had enough texture that I could wear it “natural like”. Of course I had a few stringy straight pieces in the front that I had to curl after blow drying. Ironically, “natural like” is pretty high maintenance, so wearing my hair this way was rare. At some point I over-processed my hair and all of it became stick straight, “natural like” was no longer even an option.
Eventually I became a grad school drop-out and lived aimlessly in L.A. for a little over a year. I took odd jobs here and there, one of which was a receptionist position at an upscale hair salon. This is when I had a huge “Aha” moment. One of the stylists with a large black client base would frequently blow out natural hair (type 3-4) and it would be absolutely GORGEOUS! Full of body, volume and silky straight! On top of that, his clients maintained these blow-outs throughout the week and they looked great, better than relaxed hair. Granted, I grew up in a hair salon, but all of my mothers clients wore their hair relaxed, so I had no idea this was even possible. I was mesmerized and most definitely taking notes. I immediately began transitioning and blowing out my own hair, meticulously copying everything he did.
A few months later, I took another random job as a property manager. This job required I spend hours sitting in the leasing office. I surfed the web A LOT. After a random google search one day, I fell head first into a world of natural hair blogs and forums that rendered me wondered, intrigued, and obsessive… I fantasized daily about BC’ing. However, the insecurity I felt in undergrad still lingered. The war between the desire for long flowing hair and the desire to BC raged within…
Around this time, I found out I was pregnant. This exciting HUGE life change definitely gave me the push to (again) compulsively cut off my relaxed ends. I used a pair of office scissors while at work stalking a hair blog, lol! I had about 4 inches of natural hair when I was done cutting. I had several somewhat loose pieces in the front, maybe 2b? The rest of my hair was a mix of 3c/4a so I struggled with an acceptable looking wash and go and for the most part continued to blow-out my hair.
Then I moved to Texas, got married, and had a son. For the record, Southeast Texas humidity and my straightened hair have always been bitter enemies. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that my straightened NATURAL hair faired extremely well. My biggest straightened hair problem came 4 months postpartum when my edges thinned dramatically and didn’t have enough weight or length to stay smooth and straight, and even when they did get straight, they would stick up crazily “Alfafa” style. Gradually I started wearing my hair natural more and more, and sometime at the end of 2009, I started wearing it natural exclusively. I don’t see myself straightening regularly again, maybe once or twice a year. Wearing my natural hair has introduced a new element of fun in my life. It is kind of like a mini hobby. My grandmother and two of my cousins have stopped relaxing their hair with me and I LOVE playing in their hair. It goes unsaid that every time we see each other, a styling session will be in order.
all natural blow-out
Growing up in a salon, I really internalized the feminine rituals of beauty. I found comfort in the automatic bonding and communion between women fostered by these rituals. On the flip side, listening to beauty shop talk and advice from my mother led me to believe that the results of these rituals was intrinsically linked to how one was perceived and treated by men, and somehow this should be validating. I’ve grown up over the years, and thankfully realized that I don’t need or want to be validated- not by my hair, not by male attention, not by other people’s approval. Accepting my hair then learning to love it has been a process and a byproduct of my spiritual journey. Sometimes I want to get all preachy to those friends and family who are not natural (specifically the 2 who have relaxer induced bald spots and disappearing edges), but then I have to remember that I have been through a lot to get where I am at, and my story is my own.
2 day old twist-out
