Wash & Go in Winter. I do not fully endorse, but...

But sometimes it's just so easy and fast.

Just before the holiday break I went to a few holiday gatherings at friends houses.  A Friday night and then a Sat night back to back. One was a wine party and the other a game party. I wore my hair big for these too but didn't stretch it out with heat, only pineappling at night.  I used Castor oil, Nubian heritage Honey Blackseed leave-in and Wetline Extreme gel. I diffused pretty well before going out into the cold, so it worked out pretty well.

I didn't get pictures on the first 2 days but here is day 3 hair :)

I didn't lose any curl pattern since the Press in early December.  Phewww!

Around the house I had it like this, and by the end of that week I was wearing it like below and in buffs to work. I have to wear a headband when I wear it out now because I'm growing my bang out again, for now.  So my hair hits awkwardly on my face when not stretched.

A quick Twist and Curl

I did this set hoping for it to last for the holiday week.  Unfortunately it was quickly undone by the record temps in the 70s and the humidity that came with it.  But it was cute for the weekend:

Me and my dad at his holiday gathering.



Products:

To set it I used Nubian Heritage ~ Honey & Blackseed Heat Protect Keratin Wrap Hair Mousse
and some castor oil.  I used Jonathan Product Green Silkening Creme as my leave in.  The hold was light and fluffy.  A little too light and fluffy.

HUGE update on Alicia - second BIG Chop after 6 year old locks!

UPDATE on my girl Alicia!  She did a second big chop after growing her locks out for 6 years!
She has been natural since 2002, we started this hair journey together and it never ends! Picts and slide show below!

When I started toying with the idea of a natural hair site it was 2005 and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do.  I had this idea for a site that would share products, many different women's experiences and types of hair (like the tons that exist now, but few existed then).  I even did several photo shoots with friends of mine to kick it off lol.  Then, as real life would have it, I just could not find the time to build it properly, or promote it, or... just give it life.  I had bits and pieces of the original idea that were pretty good though, one of which was this series of interviews that still lives on the side bar. One of my closest friends is Alicia- who had locks when I interviewed her last.

You will see this picture again in the slide show below, but ya'll, look at how long her locks had grown over 6 years! (you see the scissors on the sink O_O )

And OK, maybe I didn't build enough suspense with all my explaining but this is her now! you ready?

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Boom:

The reasons why she decided to big chop again are several and super important.
She has a beautiful baby girl now and has been inspired by her hair journey.  She wanted to share the experience with her :-) 

Doting Daddy and daughter:

Alicia also wanted to revitalize her own hair. 

"Stress of locs, constant re-twisiting and product build up from styling."

She said she is in "Big chop Bliss" now lol.  I think she looks beautiful and fresh, and with the little one she can definitely build on her existing skills with her and her daughter. I'm a proud friend!

Check out the slide show below to catch her entire journey!


What do you all think? :-D

Birthday Weekend and Valentine's Day

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!
As some of you may know, it was also my birthday on the 14th.  I have a definite hate/tolerate relationship with my birthday and all my closest friends not only know this but have seen my best laid plans unravel due to the holiday or snow.

Soooo they decided to jump the gun early and throw me a surprise dinner! And they got me good :-o
I thought I was meeting 2 girls for "decompression drinks" and when we "randomly" picked a place, ta-da! ALL my closest friends! It was awesome.

So then one of my girls hosted a game night and we played wii and Taboo, with shots. Good times lol.  Perhaps you can see that us ladies on the right were not doing so well with the MJ dance game lol. I will spare you the rest of the details, like how the women lost to the men in Taboo, furthering our 0-74 record...

Anyway, so the day of my birthday I took the day off work, went shopping and did an experiment with my hair.  I tried adding some "glue" by Garnier to the leftover goddess curls gel. (I'm soooo serious about using up these dud products someway-somehow!) I stretched it out with my blow-dryer once it dried.  And it was ok for like 5 hrs then started to flake :-( But here are a few picts.

 

 Yep those are flakes :-(

I did have a casual (and very nice and handsome!) valentine date that evening and I wore all the above (you have seen that outfit before lol). But I also must mention my fancy nail polish.

I don't usually paint my nails noticeable colors, but this one caught my eye in the store for it's suggestive grey/blue color.  It's called "Greycian Goddess" by Loreal.  It seems to change color depending on what light you are in, having a neutral grey or a blue tint.  I was loving it UNTIL I tore my thumbnail darn near in half early the morning of the 14th O_o

Almost ruined my day, as I was in the middle of doing my hair and was struggling to get the lid of a bottle when it happened.  But I threw a bandaid on it till I could get some nail glue later, and I kept it moving! I took picts of the other hand lol.

Hope you all had a lovely Valentines day!

Racks on racks on racks of curls

I got some good shots the other day of what my hair was doing at work.  It "does things" on its own quite often lol. Sometimes defying me, sometimes just being itself and this was one of those days where I checked on it in the mirror later in the day and was like "OH! why hello there :-*  ♥ "

In it I had the In-Kind leave in, some Kiss My Face gel and some of Safi Haircare's Avacado shea butter that I got last year.  You can see in the picts the differing curl sizes, differing definition areas, and different types of curls.  The shape of my old hair cut looks ok here, mostly shrunken, but trust me, most of the time it looks crazy and I am desperately waiting to get a hair cut next month.

The shape of the grown-out cut from the side:

Back of my head

Close-up of the back of my head

Let's JAM! (2011 Remix)

Throwback: Remember LET'S JAM! Shining and Conditioning gel? Remember how it would have your edges LAID? Remember how the scent was so distinct other people could always tell when you’d used it? Remember that the ingredients were:

Aqua (Water), Isoceteth-20, Paraffinum Liquidum (Mineral Oil), Glycerin, Oleth-2, Propylene Glycol, Parfum (Fragrance), Sorbic Acid, Methylparaben, DMDM Hydantoin, Ethylparaben, Benzyl Benzoate, Linalool, Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hydroxycitronellal, Benzyl Alcohol, Limonene, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, CI 19140 (Yellow 5), CI 14700 (Red 4), CI 17200 (Red 33)

Scary.

I can’t even remember the last time I used JAM. In its absence, I have relied on various gels (from Fantasia IC, to Eco Styler, to pure Aloe Vera) to slick my hair back when the style or look I was going for called for it. Nothing I used quite did the job, and most (except for the aloe) left my hair crunchy and didn’t hold for the whole day.

Enter: Curls Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste.

Photo by Nuri

First of all, I just have to say that whoever is in charge of purchasing at Target is some kind of genius. They must be making money hand over fist off of us naturals by having that special curly hair section! But I digress. Anyway, I had been looking for something to help slick my edges down, particularly the hair on the back of my neck (which almost always looks crazy), for awhile. I had noticed the Curls Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste a few times on previous Target trips, but hadn’t really considered purchasing the product. Then, the other day, I went into the store to return some Palmers Coconut Oil Hair Milk, because I detested the way it reacted on my hair (a nasty, pasty, milky film just sat on the surface of my hair until I washed it). I figured I’d get something else instead and wandered over to the “ethnic” hair products section of the store. I grabbed the Curls Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste and figured I’d give it a go, because I’ve wanted to rock a giant, slicked back puff.

Now, I will say this about Curls Passion Fruit Curl Control Paste, the ingredients are a far cry from perfect. This is probably why I hadn’t tried it before. The ingredients are:

Water, Ceteareth-25, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Glycerin, Isostearyl Isostearate, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Shea Butter, Mango Seed Butter, Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E Oil, Tetrahexyldecyl, Ascorbate, Passion Fruit Oil, Evening Primrose Oil, Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Maize Starch, Panthenol, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance

Not scary, but a little unsettling.

While the product proudly states that it has “No Sulfates, Silicones, Parabens, Mineral or Petrolatum Oils” (which is great), there are still a few ingredients in the list that give me pause:

Ceteareth-25
PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Phenoxyethanol

That said, the product does exactly what it claims to do. The label says:

Smooth out and slick down unruly edges -  ✔
Tame frizzy out of control curls - ✔
Add amazing sheen - ✔

Photo by Nuri

Check! The consistency is quite similar to Let’s JAM – it’s slightly tacky/sticky both to the touch and when you first put it in your hair. It doesn’t smell like passion fruit to me, but it does have a sweet yummy smell, kind of like warm caramel. It leaves the hair extremely soft, shiny and LAID! I mean laid people. With just a tiny amount, my hair was super slicked back and fly-away free. The product works so well, that even though I fell asleep last night with my hair still in a puff and I had neglected to even put on a scarf/hooded band/bonnet, I woke up and my puff was intact. I actually threw on my coat and walked out the door to take my puppy for a walk without doing a thing to my hair, and without looking even remotely crazy. My hair is still soft and, miraculously, the hair on the back of my neck is still smoothed into my puff. I have only tried it on dry hair so far, but may experiment with it on wet hair later, as well as trying it on my curls to see what it can do with them.

My verdict? This stuff is great, but I wish they would reformulate with out the ingredients mentioned above. I don’t like feeling as though I am risking my health for the sake of a fly ‘do. In spite of this, I will probably purchase it again, at least until something that works as well, but with better ingredients comes along – if you have any suggestions of such products, please leave them in the comments section.

Peace.
Nuri