It's MY birthday!! but Happy Valentines day too :-)

I don't know yet what I'll do or if I'll be officially celebrating (given this holiday curse/blessing), but I'll let you all know what I did with myself and my weekend.  And in the meantime here are some things I've pondered as a single birthday gal on this fine day.

• You only get one time here.  Celebrate all the holidays, anyways and despite! Despite being single, being broke, not being where u want to be, or despite getting some things wrong.  You are still only here once and you have to mix some good into the so-so. If not, it's all going to pass and be gone anyway. 
• Read this article from Happy Black Woman and soak it in.
• Be your own valentine.  Do your hair or get it done. Do Your nails or have them done.  Wear your favorite dress or outfit or lingerie, or that expensive Mac face situation, or your false lashes. Wear heals, drive to work and park like a boss.  Heck, don't go to work. lol
• Take pictures of yourself (your SELF as in FACE and Hair please, not just your BBB - big booty & boobs!).  Perfect the selfie pic and post it, on FB, on Instagram, on Twitter. Hashtag it #naturalhair, submit it to a blog or to #mycurlsbad on instagram.  Soak in the feedback from other women.  Look at them in a month or two. Send them to your mom.
• Experiment with a change.  Rock a faux bang or bob using a roll and tuck. Add some temporary highlights to your hair. Go have a makeup counter give you a different color palate than you usually use- have them play up your best feature. Have a friend or even your mom or aunt pick you out an outfit to try on next time you go shopping, and try it on no matter what it is lol.
• Buy a new shower curtain or sheet set and hang it or wash & use it Today! 
• Learn how to make your favorite restaurant dish.  The Google is your friend. Now you can have it whenever you want for much less. Work at it and get it right! 

You get my point.  Don't save these things for later. Now is the later from yesterday.

 

Nubian Heritage and Shea Moisture, winning in the game?

So Shea Moisture and Nubian Heritage is winning in the game. They just released a hair color product to rave reviews, including the art on the packaging.

I feel like this and also the rave reviews and success of Curly Nikki's book Better than Good Hair are indicative of a shift in power as of late. WE can be successfully marketed to AS WE ARE, and not in a way that sells us a version of ourselves we can only "aspire to." It brings me joy, makes me smile, makes me believe we are getting a step closer to my whole "it's just hair" mantra. I love the energy.

I found this interview part 1 and part 2 and I can really respect the whole business model, and the fact these products are available on the ground, at Target and Walgreens for me, and AFFORDABLE.  Walgreens stays having a BOGO on these products :-)

I've posted about their products quite a a few times on this blog and I will some more :-)

Particular favorites of mine are the smoothie, the heat protect leave in (I now LOVE the strong smell, and even bought the lotion) and the wrap mousse gave me the best press yet after a roller set. I'm trying to figure out the gel and souffle and the milk was a little too light for me.  I am also still avoiding products that are primarily coconut oil based.  My skin is not giving me any wiggle room on that :-/

So is anyone going to try the hair color? What are your favorite Shea Moisture/ Nubian Heritage products?

They also make lotions and soaps. How do you like those?

Buff with a twist, possible protective style

I have been a wash and going fiend, even throughout the winter.  My dingle coil method works so well I just can't stop!

The trade off is that I may need to trim a bit more than is optimal for growing my hair out.  I am on the fence whether I really want to let it grow crazy, or keep it at a controllable bra-strap length.  I don't even really know that the fairy knots won't win out, as my hair is very fine and splitty and knotty as it gets older.

But meanwhile, I know the wash and goes need to be bunned or twisted as they get a few days old.  I have been defaulting to a half back look or something like in the picts below. The good old BUFF, with a twist or two in front.  The twist is necessitated by the fact I was even letting my bang grow out (alas, I trimmed it this past weekend in a fit of blindness).

It's a quick style I can leave in for a few days, getting me 7-8 days between washes.

Its just a big flat twist on both sides.  By placing the twist a little further back, the sections that create it are visible and create extra detail as you see below. 

So onto product real quick.  I decided to try out the Nubian Heritage Repair and extend Shine Gel.  You may notice that bit of extra shine in the pictures.  That stuff is shiny indeed.  But its very much like the Shea Moisture Souffle.  It's Sugar based, sticky and greasy and I feel like although there is potential, I can't quite figure out how to use it. The shine is excellent, the hold is medium, but it is moisturizing. Has anyone had any use mixing or using one of these products?  Let me know. I will continue to try things until I run out. I'll post shortly the experience I had mixing it with KMF gel.

Ridiculousness

FYI, this video has nothing to do with hair...except for the fact that my hair is in it. Lol. Well, not just my hair, but I'm sure you catch my drift. Even so, it's been AGES since I posted anything here, so I figured I would share this little snippet with you in the hopes that it makes you giggle, guffaw, chuckle, or just smile. Oh, and, if you have any questions about how I did my hair for this video, have at it (although I can tell you right now, I ain't do nuthin' special with it. Y'all know I'm lazy). You can leave your questions in the comments here, or on the YouTube video itself. Thanks for watching! :)

Playdough hair

I've talked about this before but it came to light again this week as I discussed my "varying hairstyles" and my pronounced shrinkage with women who have very different hair than mine.

I often find it hard to convey exactly what the differences are when I can't draw comparisons to ordinary things.  Familiar things.

For instance; when we set our natural hair it can hold that set for weeks.  When it gets ruined prematurely its because it shrinks further, frizzes up, or expands.  Yet for very straight hair it "falls." Fast. How on earth do you explain your weekly or 2-3 times a week sets to someone who is only familiar with curls falling??

I struggle for words and resort to 'clay".  Yes.  My hair is like CLAY. When its wet and preparing to dry I can mold it into a variety of styles or sets and it will probably stay that way until some sort of water or moisture hits it again. Thus every time I wet it, I am presented with a very easy way to do something creative. 

A something that must be done to some extent, lest I walk around with a huge shrunken (and dry!) mass on my head once it's any longer that 6".

They wouldn't like or understand that (whatever- it's not fair!). & I wouldn't like that for the health of my hair.  Yes, we have the "wash and go," but is it really that?  a "go"? Not so much.  The clay factor still exists in that we generously apply some sort of sticky or tacky product to hold the curls together as it drys.

I'll get back to wash and go hair in a sec. But for the rest of the styles - twistouts, braid outs, protective updos - They stay. For days. And we can devise one on a whim any time we wet or dampen our hair. In fact, we can use heat to further set it, and even to set it bone straight in a press.

I think that they think that I change it to change it.  That I wet it TO set it. That I feel compelled to make some new thing with my hair, out of boredom primarily.  As in there is no way that they can bet assuredly on how I'll have my hair from day to day.  But in fact, the opposite is more often true.

I had to cleanse it, so I had to re-set it. It got wet, or the humidity got it, so I had to start over. The product was building up, so I had to rinse it out, so I have to do something with it.  For me, that something is highly dependent on how much time I have, the weather, and how close to the weekend it is lol. 

I know some women have a tried and true routine or set, like a braid and curl.  I on the other hand don't like to ever change my schedule for my hair. I definitely work my hair into my schedule.  If I suddenly need to be somewhere in an hour, I WILL figure out something to do with my hair- even if u just caught me with sopping wet naked hair! What that does is cause a chain reaction where I may have to start over again sooner than I wanted to, or change my look to work with it.  But "It's Just Hair."

SO I work with it.  Yes it shrinks, and tangles and poofs and frizzes, and breaks off, and ties itself into tiny fairy knots -_____-

BUT, like clay, I can fix it, change and set it pretty easily.

So here is my point and a picture.  I washed my hair this weekend and ran out of time to fully diffuse it to then stretch it into the look I was going for.  I was already stuck with a wash and go type of deal with little weekend downtime to do more. & now had to run to an event and it was going to be what it was going to be.  And damnit, that meant full shrinkage. So I had to think. I'll let it dry and shrink so I can get there on time, but I'll put a hard part right here, extra gel on top, and then tomorrow I can mold the front into a hump. yesssss. I'm outta here.

So I did that. and then I made the hump the next day. Then I went to work the following day with my hair formed into a cute bob shape...

that came to my chin.  lol. 

Sure enough someone asked if I'd cut it.  And at this point me and my shrinkage were having a good ole time. I never even stretched it in the subsequent days. I just rolled and pinned and tucked and made a few shapes with my shrunken clay hair.  And when fully shrunken the texture is everywhere and super velcrowy I can totally make things that stay put  :-)

I do like it longer recently, as I am growing it out again (I think) and that hang time is different and new for now. But a shrunken week or two, or a frozen week-long bun, or a twistout that won't die just comes with the territory.

And I embrace it.

Even though the shape of my embrace might get stuck in my hair for a few days.

Shrunken. With LOTS of gel. KMF gel mixed with Sheamoisture curling soufflé. Interesting, but crunchy combo.  More to come later on that.