A Little "Star" Whips Her Hair on Ice!

OMG I just saw this and had to share it with you. This is the cutest thing ever! Star Andrews is a 9 year old amateur skater and she did a fantastic routine to a remix of Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair". You can see she channels the singer's unique fashion sense and funky hawk style ponytails. Aside from being extremely cute, this girl is really good! Give her a few years and she will be amazing. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Scalp Exfoliation Step- By-Step

With all the conditioners, styling aids and other products we slater on our hair, sometimes the scalp can get really dirty with buildup. Of course, if you wash well every few days or so, you should really be fine. But just like the skin on the face and body benefit from a good exfoliation session, so can your scalp. Check out this routine below. You can exfoliate once a week or less depending on your skin's sensitivity.

Remember not to be too rough! Your scalp is delicate and you don't want to irritate it from too much rubbing or scraping with finger nails. I would personally use this step before I do my wash-conditon-oil regimen each week or week and a half.

Overview:

To exfoliate the skin is to remove old, dead skin cells from the surface of the skin to help maintain and rejuvenate the skin. Most people benefit from an occasional exfoliation of the scalp. Besides removing dead skin cells, it relieves scalp itchiness and product build-up, leaving your scalp refreshed. If you use hair products, like mousse, gel and hairspray, exfoliate your scalp once a week.

Step 1

Mix 1 tbsp. of either brown sugar or quinoa with 3 tbsp. of conditioner and a drop or two of your favorite liquid oil. Brown sugar is an inexpensive natural exfoliant and you may already have some.

Step 2

Massage the exfoliant gently into your scalp using a circular motion for about one minute with the pads of your fingers. Make sure to avoid using your nails which can scratch and damage your scalp.

Step 3

Rinse your hair for 10 to 15 minutes while continuing to massage your scalp with lukewarm water. Too hot and you can irritate and dry your scalp!

Step 4

Pour 1/2 cup of vinegar, diluted with 1 cup of water over your hair into a bowl. Pour the vinegar rinse over your hair about 15 more times, using two bowls and switching them. The vinegar removes any remaining build-up or exfoliant. (You can modify this to suit your needs.)

Modified from HERE.

So there you have it! Who out there already implements scalp exfoliation in their regimen? What are your results?

Routine Tweaks!

For the past few months, I have been trying some new things with my hair routine and thought I'd share. Now, I don't measure my hair but when I last straightened it about a month ago, the back was slightly below my bra strap and the front stretched to about the collar bone. It seems that as my hair gets longer, it gets harder to deal with and I was beginning to dread wash days.

While it was straight, I took the time to cut out some single strand knots. It seemed that for a while, they had become the bane of my existence! I was getting more and more of the little buggers and did not know what to do. On top of that, my scalp was not reacting well to the cold weather. I felt like a hot mess!

So, I decided it was silly to continue doing the same things to my hair and expecting different results. But the last thing I wanted was to devote more time to doing my hair. I abhor sitting under the dryer for long periods of time and the thought of spending my entire Saturday walking around deep conditioning seemed out of the question. (I guess you just get lazy and lose enthusiasm after a decade?) So I decided to try some other tweaks to see if they made a difference.

Here's what I've been trying lately:

1. Wash in two halves. Simple I know. But for some reason I have resisted the wash/condish in sections mantra that seems to be so useful for other naturals. Well, it has made all the difference in the world. When my hair was shorter, washing my whole head with all my hair loose was no big deal. But as my hair gets longer and longer, washing one half at a time really cuts down on the tangling and knotting. This is a must for naturals once hair gets past sholder-length for sure!

2. Detangling in the shower. Well, after I wash each half I apply a slippery conditioner and run a bit of water over the section to make everything even more slippery. I take a wide toothed comb and detangle one half at a time. I used to be obsessed with using my denman or a detangling comb to go over every inch but now as long as I get the big tangles out, the rest I can work through as I twist. My detangling time went from 30 minutes to about 3. And yes, that is without me ripping or breaking a bunch of hairs.

3. Apply oil to my scalp after I apply the conditioner in the shower. Well, once I have detangled and both sections are secured with a ponytail holder, I just take one down, take a bottle of oil (olive, almond, grapeseed, whatever) and apply oil to my scalp. I section off portions of my hair with my fingers to expose the scalp and simply add the oil. Once I have gone through one half of my head, I massage with the pads of my fingers then twist the section up, securing with an elastic. I repeat this on the other side then proceed to finish the showering process. Finally, when I rinse I am left with super conditioned hair as well as a lubricated scalp which eliminates me having to add oil when I get out and style. This step has really helped with my dry scalp issues over time. I read on one site that too much added oil could actually feed the bacteria that cause some scalp problems, resulting in even more flakes. I feared I was excessively oiling my scalp and exacerbating the issue. Now, my scalp is lubricated and flake free without being overly oily.

4. Stretching the hair. Again, when my hair was shorter, this was a step that felt very optional. Now it is required to keep me from losing hair and my sanity. I don't bother anymore with doing small twists while my hair is wet. I do about 12 total, working on one half of my head at a time. Again working in halves has saved my hair and my ends. I lose far less hair and styling is done in about 30 minutes versus the 1-1.5 hrs I spent in the past. I was over detangling and over twisting. Now, once the 12 large twists dry, I can twist in smaller sections if I choose. Also, drying hair in larger sections means less coils to get tangled on each other. Bigger equals looser and that equals retention for me.

5. Shea butter for my ends when wet/damp. I'll admit it. I got lazy with this one step and my ends have screamed at me in protest. They were splitting and knotting like crazy! I kept wondering what the heck was going on and now I know I was not taking the time to seal them after each wash. Now, I make sure I apply a pea sized amount, melted between my fingers, to the end of each big twist as I prepare the stretched style. When my ends dry, they are smooth and less likely to tangle on each other or knot up. I cannot neglect to do this or it's back to splitsville.

So, long story short, these few tweaks have totally changed my hair. Less time spent, less energy wasted, healthier scalp, and better ends and length retention. I feel like I'm back in control of this mane and it no longer controls me....or my weekends!

What if any routine tweaks have you recently made that you can share for the good of the group?

Dry Winter Hair? Fix it with these natural homemade recipes!

The weather outside is frightful...but no reason your hair can't still look and feel delightful! If you're experiencing dryness due to the cold winter air, take a look around your kitchen and try some of these homemade winter hair recipes to get your hair back to moist!

***Avocado and mayonnaise

It may seem a bit strange to apply mayonnaise to your hair all the way to the hair tips, but it is a really good conditioner!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1 small jar of real mayonnaise

Do this:

Mash the avocado and mix with the mayonnaise. Apply to your clean hair and leave it on for 15-20 minutes. You'll get the best effect if you use a shower cap, plastic wrap or warm towel to add some body heat to the process. Rinse off.

Avocado and coconut milk

If you don't like the idea of using mayonnaise, try mixing the avocado with coconut milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado
• Coconut milk

Do this:

Mash the avocado and mix with enough coconut milk to make the conditioner smooth and the right consistency for a hair treatment. Tip: Add the milk slowly so that the conditioner does not become too loose.)Apply it to your hair and leave for some 20 minutes. Rinse off. (Again, it is good to somehow seal the body heat in by using a shower cap or towel for example.)

Avocado and egg yolk

Finally, avocado and egg yolk is also a great conditioner!

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado
• 1 egg yolk

Do this:

Mash the avocado and mix the egg yolk. Apply it to your hair and leave for some 20 minutes. Rinse off.

*** Recipes from HERE

Merry Christmas Eve and Happy 90th Grandma!

Publish Post
Hey everybody! I am back in NC with my family celebrating my grandmother's 90th birthday as well as Christmas Eve. How exciting to be home with the family! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you are safe no matter what your travel plans or traditions. I love all of you and am so grateful for your continued readership and support! Merry Christmas!

You Tube:The Science of Shea Butter

Ever wanted a more in-depth view of one of the most widely used butters in the natural hair and skincare world? Check out this vid all about Shea!

Totally Off Topic But....

Totally hillarious! How many people now know the lovely Bed Intruder song by Antoine Dodson? Well...just when you thought you heard it all, Liberty University's acapella choir went and did this! Check it out and I hope you giggle.

http://perezhilton.com/2010-12-15-carol-of-the-bed-intruder

Are Your Natural Hair Purchases Making You Unhappy?

As someone who works in education, I don't make a lot of money. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all. I'm simply stating a fact. Having to live on a budget requires self-control and discipline. It means choosing between the brown boots or the grey boots instead of indulging in both. It also means limiting the products I buy for my face, body and especially my hair.

This got me thinking about how as Americans we live in a consumer-based culture. Simply put, we buy buy buy, consume consume consume, and that is what makes our economy go 'round. Every day some new gadget pops on the market, there is a new fashion trend to be hip to, and we are continually introduced to items promising to make our daily lives easier than ever before. I suppose there is nothing wrong with seeing shiny, new objects and lusting after them from time to time. But does buying them make you happy? Does that hole ever get filled? Are you really better off because you swiped the latest and greatest whatever off the shelves and carted it home?

I decided to google "consumer culture" to see what I could find. As I imagined the internet is littered with articles about the economy and how we Americans have become mindless consumers. I found one article in particular, however, that hit home to me. Entitled, Six Psychological Reasons Consumer Culture is Unsatisfying, it aims to break down why what we buy never feels like enough.

In thinking back over my own natural hair journey, I realized that I have fallen prey to many new products out there promising to do all sorts of things for my hair. It was very fun in the beginning to test out different potions and lotions, oils and creams for my newly kinky do. After all, we were just getting to know each other after decades of distance and I wanted to indulge in all that was available, hoping to find the perfect combo of products to meet all my hair's needs. There were so many choices though and sometimes that was frustrating. I can't tell you how many $5 and $10 (or more) I threw away after buying something that simply did not work or turned out to be less than awe inspiring to my tresses.

( I'm not knocking Sally's but....just say NO! I usually always come out of places like this with way more than I intended when I went in. Now I only venture inside if I have a specific list of things I need and don't allow myself to add anything to my cart that does not fit that description.)

So, after reading through the six reasons listed in this article, I thought I'd revamp them to apply to my own experiences with natural hair pj-ism. Here's what I came up with:

1. Products are easy to compare unfavorably -

With so many products promising to do similar things, it is almost impossible to avoid comparing what you just bought to the new almost-the-same-but-somehow-still-different product that comes out. I have gone through endless moisturizers and creams. I just threw away a few full-sized bottles a few days ago because of this ingredient or that scent. It kills me to know how much money I wasted on those!

2. A maximizing strategy leaves us less satisfied-

Basically, with so many options out there for hair products, sometimes it has been tempting to try everything that came my way so I could feel like I made the best decision for the care of my hair. Instead of sticking with a conditioner that I know works wonders, I felt the need to keep trying new ones thinking that that next bottle of creamy goodness would magically be better than the one that came before and solve my moisture, detangling, (you fill in the blank here) issues. It was as if I would be doing myself a disservice if I did not try as many things as possible before settling on one staple product. Somehow, however, I always keep coming back to the one I loved from the beginning.

3. Material purchases are more likely to be reevaluated-

How many times have I bought something good only to keep lurking online for alternatives? Plenty. It's like a maddening cycle of getting all excited the try the new thing, rushing out to buy it (or worse, spending an extra chunk of change to have it rush shipped because I have no patience to wait for things ordered online), then felt the familiar pang of disappointment when I see something similar out there, begging to be tried as well. Sadder than that is seeing that if I had only searched one site further I would have found it on sale, a few dollars cheaper, or with a free gift included. Way to make yourself feel like a lazy shopper!

4. The new option effect-

Along the same lines as mentioned above, every time I buy a new product, another one comes out that has been "re-formulated" or upgraded to have better ingredients, scents, or whatever! Knowing that re-inventing the wheel, slapping a prettier label on it and selling it all over again is one of the trademarks of marketing, it never fails to make you feel like you might be missing out on something if you don't ride the upgrade wave.

5. The reduced price effect and 6. A cheaper rival-

Pretty self explanatory but it hurts none the less...

So, do I say all this to pass judgement on you for doing the above things? No way! I myself am guilty as charged and lose no sleep admitting it. So what is my advice to myself ? Well, the last part of the article suggests we go for the experiential versus the new purchase. I guess in the natural hair world that means opting to spend your money more on the 'goings' and 'doings' and less on the latest bottle 'o goo. For example, I had a fab time at the natural hair show in Atlanta a few years back and have felt no sense of disappointment for going. It was a wonderful experience to see all that naturalness in one place! It was also super fun to try a beautiful cornrowed or twisted do for a few days/months back when I was in college and when I got my afro twists. I loved each and every natural hair meet-up I've been to (and those were free by the way!), not to mention I learned a lot and met cool people.

Bottom line- stick with the things that money can't always buy, like experiences (natural meet-ups, free info on blogs and sites, experimenting with friends to find new styles) and splurge every now and then when you just can't resist. Find your fab five product rotation (or less if you got it like that!) and don't sway from them every time the wind blows a new item your way. You'll likely find that you're happier when you do and not to mention you'll keep a bigger portion of that paycheck to spend or save for other things.

Afrobella on Essence!

Photo Credit

How exciting!!! Like many of you, I love visiting Afrobella.com to check out the latest on hair, beauty, and fashion. Essence, as you know, has been inching toward natural issues with chats, articles, and beauty features. So now they have a new feature entitled Natural Hair Journey by Patrice Grell Yursik, the author and creator of Afrobella.

Her first feature is up so check it out! I feel like Patrice will give a good perspective about natural hair to Essence readers. It's amazing how this movement really is spreading across the internet and beyond. Some have wondered if natural hair is just a trend and I know better! I think we are finally getting to a place where we are embracing our full selves and this is more than just a political statement, a here today gone tomorrow kind of thing.

So, mosey on over and check her out. If you submit your own pics and story you might even get featured. Way to go Patrice!

Reader Email: Fired for Being Natural

I received this email in my inbox from Jess of Sincerely Jess and wanted to share. I personally have never had issues professionally with my natural hair. I've worked in pharmacies (in high school and college), as a teacher and now as a school counselor. I've had temp jobs in corporate America. I've worn it long and bushy, in puffs, cornrows, two-strand twists, buns, straight, wavy, in wash-n-go's, and even short like the woman in the reader email below. I would be so livid about someone insinuating that my naturally growing hair is somehow inappropriate that I would probably get fired for my response! Well...maybe not quite that bad, but I would be seriously offended and would go to HR for discrimination.

So read the email I received below and share your thoughts in the comments section.

I’m outraged. A good friend of mine’s job is in jeopardy because she chose to BC and grow out her natural hair. No, this picture isn’t my friend I’m respecting her privacy (well…a lil bit) but she has short hair like this, except more curly. Anyway, my friend’s–I’ll call her KC– boss is saying that it violates company policy because her hair is not “well groomed” and that patients (she works in a Dr. office) have been complaining. Her boss has been more than outrageous in her response to KC’s hair from the very beginning being vocally unsupportive, derogatory, and snide. Not that KC necessarily needed support from her boss, but who would have thought that such discrimination would come as the result of going natural.

Who doesn't love a TWA?

I wonder how many of my other naturals have faced harsh reception in their place of work over their choice to go natural? I know in my place of employment, my coworkers, supervisors and really everybody in my building that has seen me has been fascinated by my curly journey. They touch my hair, question my process, and ask me tons of styling question. One coworker even started wearing her hair naturally as well, and now we often get mixed up.

In the black community, I’m constantly surprised at how we discriminate against one another. Now, with KC’s boss, she actually suggested (publicly, in front of patients and staff) that KC get a perm, put in weave, braids, etc and even offered to “find her a stylist” to which KC declined. I just would not know how to act if my boss was so actively concerned with my hair!!! Her boss is black, and I guess reading so many natural hair blogs I forget that not everyone is supportive or even tolerant of the natural hair movement. Being the psychotherapist (in training) that I am, I have to wonder what kind of self-hate this boss has going on that spurs her to act so cruelly.

It is a hard enough journey to learn to love your TWA, get used to the BC, and begin loving how you look without blow-in-the-wind relaxed hair. Then add on top of that someone in your life at least 40 hours a week telling you that you don’t look good or professional, telling you that there’s something wrong with your hair…its just discouraging and arouses all sorts of emotion in me. Have you guys had to deal with this sort of thing at work?? What did you do??

P.S. if you have been harassed at work because of your hair, check out the EEOC‘s discrimination complaint form. Natural community this is NOT okay, so speak up!!

Hairspiration: BeautifulBrwnBabyDol Tries a New Twisting Method

One of my favorite YouTubers, Nina of BeautifulBrwnBabyDol, has added a new video showcasing her latest natural style. I have truly enjoyed watching this young woman's journey through her videos over the past couple of years. I remember watching her first videos about kinky twist extensions and it amazes me how far her hair has come since then! Not to mention that she has launched a new site where she offers advice and tips about hair and health. Really cool!

Most naturals are familiar with two-strand twists as they are a wonderful protective style and can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on the person.The last set of mini-twists I did were a lot of fun. They lasted a long time and kept my hair protected. It was great to just get up and go each morning and they afforded me a wide variety of "up" and "down" styles. I like the method Nina offers where she actually braids the base of each twist. I am going to try this the next time I venture toward mini-twists because I did have issues with the hairline becoming fuzzy and I like the look of her clean parts.

So check out BeautifulBrwnBabyDol's latest twist vid below and tell me what you think. Will you give this technique a try? Thanks for reading and happy twisting!

'Tis The Season! What'll be in your bag?

Hello ladies and gents! We are officially in Holiday Season mode and now's the time I usually start thinking about gift-giving. There is a lot going on in my world these days and sometimes the thought of running around shopping is discouraging. So, for my immediate family, I decided I would shop around a theme in the hopes of making things easier for myself.

Yesterday, I took a short trip over to Baltimore, MD to check out the Oyin Handmade store, Exittheapple! ( I love their logo, btw)I have been lurking online for months, checking out all the Oyin products and I have been dying to try. I will do another post, hopefully this week, to tell you guys all about my shopping experience and I also plan to do some reviews of the goodies I scored (by scored I mean I bought and payed for full price so yes, the reviews will be my full and honest opinions!).

Long story short though, I left ecstatic that I took care of gifts for my mom, my brothers, and my godmother all with one outing....and I got to pick up some of the items I've been lusting after for me!

So, what are your holiday shopping plans this season? What is your preferred method to find gifts for those you care about? Finally, how do you shop for the naturals in your life?

Hairdressers Join Forces in the Fight Against AIDS

Ted Gibson, Jason Backe, Kaz Amor, Tracey Cunningham, Doug Macintosh, and Johnny Wright attend Hairdressers Against AIDS U.S. Launch At The United Nations at United Nations on November 30, 2010 in New York City. Photo: Bennett Raglin/WireImage for Hairdressers Against AIDS (website)

If you did not already know, today is World AIDS day. Every December 1st, men and women across the globe honor those who have lost their lives to this disease. To show their support, 500 stylists came together at the UN to kick-off a symposium which engages hairdressers to educate their clients about HIV and AIDS. Pretty cool, huh?

If you or someone you know has been affected by this disease, know that my thoughts and prayers are with you. Hopefully one day, through education and funding, we can eradicate this disease. In the meantime, I hope we all realize that HIV/AIDS affects each of us and we all need to do our part to help stop the spread of it by getting tested, making smart choices about sex and drugs, and continuing to educate ourselves and others.