Length Retention and Protective Styling

Sighs.

I am in love with my hair, curlies, but I've come to the realization that I'm kind of the abusive boyfriend in this analogy. I'm nice and gentle with her. I treat her to deep conditioning dates and deep scalp massages. But every now and then I get frustrated and I start to abuse her. I fall asleep without twisting her ( a big no no for me it gets really tangled) or instead of slowly untwisting my twists from the bottom up, I rip them apart from the top down. (And yes sometimes I even hear that sickening RIIIIIP!)

So today is the day where I'm making a public declaration of love to my hair in hopes that she'll forgive me and give me another chance.

From now on, I vow to:

1. Treat my hair to yummy deep conditioning treatments on a regular basis.
2. not be lazy and co-wash daily or at the most every other day (she is happiest when I do this)
3. Seal and Untwist my ends with oil dipped finger tips
4. More Scalp Massages
5.No more ripping my twists apart in the morning! I will be more gentle!
6. To do more protective styling/ low manipulation


I have a problem with protective styling. The problem is I don't really do it unless I have some form of weave in. My hair isn't long enough and is too thick anyways for a pony tail or bun or any other style that I've seen where you can tuck the ends of your hair away. So I'm more of a low manipulation style girl. But sometimes I forget the "low manipulation" part of the style and I constantly twist/'un twist my hair. As a result I only see lots of hair growth/length retention after a long period of wearing weave. Which sucks.

So I researched some styles that are great for protecting the hair. Unfortunately they seem to include:

• Buns (which I can't do yet)
• Twists (Which I am doing and don't seem to be working)
• Flat twists (Ditto)
• Weaves

Ahhh! Any advice? What is your choice protective style or some of the vows you've made to your lovely locks?

:P

My Chunkier Twist Out Results

I said in an earlier post that I wanted to do a twist out with bigger chunks o hair so that my resulting hair do would be less defined and more fluffy. So here is the result!

Sorry for the bathroom pics lol. I get the best lighting in their tho!

For my chunky twist out I didn't add any more product onto my hair because it was already pretty moisturized. I never really part my hair I just grab chunks and twist. I've been flat twisting the front of my hair to one side to make a kind of part and to keep certain strands from sticking straight up as my hair is sometimes prone to do.

At night I have a satin scarf I wrap around my head (just to keep the twists from sticking up all weird in the morning) and in the morning I just spray my hair lightly with my leave in concoction for a boost of moisture.

And voila! Chunky Twist Out! By far my favorite style thus far.

What are some of your favorite natural styles?

:P



Bad Kitty

HI! The polyvore outfits are back and I've decided to only use pieces from stores with affordable clothing from now on lol. I hope you like!

Bad Kitty by collegenerd featuring metal jewelry

BKE long top
$8.04 - buckle.com

Wet Seal halter vest
$20 - wetseal.com

Wet Seal leopard print skirt
$17 - wetseal.com

Wet Seal disco jewelry
$13 - wetseal.com

Wet Seal polka dot jewelry
$7.50 - wetseal.com

Wet Seal metal jewelry
$6.50 - wetseal.com

Wet Seal wool fedora hat
$13 - wetseal.com

Music Obsession

I less than 3 Corinne Bailey Rae! All of her songs are noms but this one has been stuck in my head a lot lately so here ya go!

New Pics!

So I took my yarn braids out as I said before and I did a twist out and here is the result.

Ugh such a stupid picture. Sorry I suck at it.

Here is a closer look at the twist out. My hair had mad definition.

Here I am showing how long my hair really is. I know some naturals don't like stretching their hair to see how long it has gotten. But I do so nyah. Also my hair shrinks like crazy so it is a better indicator of how much my hair has grown.

Another Stupid picture

AAaaaand another stupid picture. I dunno why my lips look like that. They look weird.

So that's my resulting twist out. Next time I want to do bigger chunks of hair. I did really little twists all over my head last time and it not only took forever but... I didn't get the lovely fluffy afro that I desired sooo better luck next time.I did achieve awesome curl definition, though. So that's a plus.

Oh yeah, here is what I used:

Prepoo- Mixture of Olive, Coconut, and Grapeseed oils

Shampoo- Herbal Essence Hello Hydration

Deep Conditioner- Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner

Styling: (in order of use)

Hawaiian Silky 14-n-1 Miracle Worker

Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

Oil Mixture mentioned above

Stay Curly!

Natural. Kinky. Curly Hair=...?

the tree is blending perfectly with the afro lol i thought it was kinda cool

I'm tired dorm room curlies. Tired of hearing black people equate natural hair with bad hair. I know. I know. Good hair = Healthy hair, no matter what texture it is. But some people still have the mentality that India Arie talks about: "good hair means curls and waves/bad hair means you look like a slave" (I Am Not My Hair).

I can't count how many times I've heard people say that they can't go natural because they have "bad hair" or that they hope their kids don't have "bad hair" or that I'm lucky because my boyfriend's white so our future children won't have "bad hair".

All of the above typically are using "bad hair" to mean kinky hair. Hair that isn't straight, curly, wavy, but are of the dreaded kink variety.

Personally I WANT my kids to have kinky hair. I have so much versatility with my lovely kinks that I want my daughter or son to have fun experimenting with theirs just like their mommy does.

I don't understand why this "bad hair" thing is still perpetuated even within the natural community. I know people who relentlessly search and research the different hair types (the whole 3a, 3b, 4a etc). They have this dread that their hair will fall under the 4a, 4b category because that is the bad, kinky hair category. Some even deny their own hair, claiming that it is really 3a, 3b, 3c.

ALL hair has the potential to be beautiful hair if you keep it healthy, no matter what the texture, length, color, or curl pattern!

That's why I'm going to add a new feature on my blog dedicated to celebrating all hair types and textures. Because natural hair IS Bad. Super Bad A$$ :)

Yarn Braid Update

It's official! The yarn braids are out after a month and some change.

I didn't take them out for any bad reason. I loved the yarn braids because they were:

• light and easy to style
• kept my hair insanely moisturized all the time
• were a great wake up and go style

The only downside I can think of is that when I washed it (once every week to week and a half) it took ALL DAY to dry, even when I wrung the braids out.

BUT that's not the reason I took them out. I took them out because I missed my curlies soooo badly! There are a lot more natural girls on campus this year and just seeing them out rocking their hair made me miss my lovely curls. So I said buh bye to the yarn braids in a process that took two days (ugh). But I'm happy. She's washed, conditioned, and ready for pics once I figure out what style I want her in.

Stay curlie :)



Color Issues

This one is going to be a quickie because I have homework pouring out of my ears. So I was on BeyondBlackandWhite and I read this article about Snoop's poor baby girl getting trash talked due to her weight and the hue of her skin.

I understand that not every dark skinned girl/woman/female is cute but neither is every light skinned girl/woman/female. I can't pass the paper bag test to save my life, and I personally get sick of guys telling me that I look pretty "for a dark girl" (*side eye....* how am I supposed to answer that exactly? I don't feel that you merit a thank you...)

From my experience (and from other commenter's experiences) it is mainly black men and women who have a problem with a black girl being dark skinned. A lot of black people show a dislike for black features. They will ridicule a fellow black person for having dark skin, kinky hair, big lips, a flat nose, etc. But as another commenter on the site stated, this is true in other races as well. It is just an ugly cycle of self hatred that goes on in different racial communities, not just the black ones.

Anyways. This poor girl has lupus, so her weight may be due to side effects from her medications. I hate it when people comment on another's person's weight anyway. (oooh girl she is too big she needs to put down that hamburger) or (oooh girl she is too skinny she needs to pick up a hamburger). In either situation it is A) none of your business and B) ridiculously disgusting and rude to comment on it. Every big person does not have an eating problem and every small person is not anorexic.

Well that is my bit. Have any of you ever been treated differently due to your weight or skin color? Don't hesitate :)