I Wish Every Man Was Like This

So the other day my friend tweeted me this AMAZING video! This guy has an awesome perspective on natural hair that I think everyone, guy or girl, could learn from. If you're having problems with your friends/family/lovers not accepting your hair, you can probably learn a lot from this guy. Enjoy!

Deep Conditioner Recipe

Hey Readers!

Apologies for not blogging in forever! I've been super busy with school so I haven't had that much time to do things that I love. Anyway, the other day I was talking to my friend Shelby about how I HATE spending lots of money on conditioners. I feel like every time I try a new conditioner, it never does anything particularly amazing to my hair & I'm stuck with using it for the next two months or however long it takes for me to finish off a bottle of conditioner. That's when Shelby told me that whenever she wanted to deep condition her hair, she would just head to her kitchen & use whatever her parents had available. That's when I decided to try it out for myself. Now,  you'd think it would be beyond obvious for me to try natural conditioner recipes when store bought ones didn't work. However, a bad past experiernce ruined my relationship with homemade conditioners. I mixed olive oil & mayonnaise together to make my hair softer and ended up almost puking from the horrible smell. So I went home & used the following items to make my own conditioner:

• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 spread of mayonnaise (Literally the amount that you would spread onto a sandwich. Too much mayonnaise will only make your hair greasy & hard to straighten.)
• 3 teaspoons of honey

Mix all of the ingredients together until it forms a conditioner like consistency.  You might want to add more honey, just to get rid of the smell of the olive oil & mayonnaise. I was procrastinating & did not want to do my hair, so I let it stay in my hair for two hours while I packed for my Thanksgiving trip and did my laundry. When I rinsed it out of my hair & straightened it out my hair was super soft and lustrous. I hope this works for you! & feel free to share your own natural hair recipes in the comment box below!

Keep it Natural,

Jackie

Natural Hair Update!

Hello Lovely Bloggers,

On my second post, I discussed how I had gone six months without flat ironing my hair. Well guess what? I gave in & flat ironed it for the first time in 6 months and five days. I Honestly cannot believe that I made it 6 months without straightening my hair! What was originally supposed to be a heat free summer, turning into such a long period of no heat. Here are 3 things I've learned from my experience

• Going natural doesn't necessarily mean longer hair. Although my hair is super shiny & healthy, my hair seems to be much more fragile from constantly wetting my hair. It snaps off easily & my ends are brittle because I have not moisturized them. After I straightened my hair, my mom had to cut off three inches of damaged ends.
• I feel like I disappointed so many of my friends. All of my natural friends keep asking me, "Why did you straighten your hair? I liked it natural." Please remember that my hair is still natural though. It's just a different texture (:
• I'm going to have to re heat train my hair again. I don't know what I was thinking when I went natural for 6 months. I guess all this time I was thinking that my hair would magically stay straight like it had before. However, my hair has been frizzing up far more quicker than it had when I was wearing my hair straight often.

For my next natural hair journey, I plan to focus on keeping my hair in its natural state without constantly using water. I think the one mistake that I made was overusing water on my hair and not moisturizing it properly for to compensate the amount of water used. Natural hair is definitely a learning experience!

Keep it natural,

Jackie

Styling Tips

Hello lovely readers!


So we've reached the final step to natural hair...Styling! You've worked hard to grow out your natural hair. Now it's time to style it!

My Wash-N-Go right after I got out of the shower

A wash-n-go that had began to dry out.

Wash-N-Gos

A Wash-N-Go is exactly what it sounds like. You just wash your hair, moisturize and go. This is the most natural, unaltered look that you can achieve with natural hair. You can see that I have many textures of hair. Some sections are kinkier while others are straighter or super curly. Sometimes you'll need to leave some extra conditioner in your hair in order to insure that your curls last throughout the day.

This picture was taken at the beach. I left my hair in braids while I swam.
When I got out the water, I took out my braids & had a lovely braid out (:

To achieve this look, I braided damp hair with conditioner in it and slept on the braids before taking
out the braids.

Braid out/Twist outs are the bomb: I've found that when I wear my hair loose, it tends to get really knotty really quickly. However, no fear, twists outs are here.

The video to the left and below describe two ways to create a twist out.
But in my own words:
1. Do whatever you do to detangle your hair.
2. Plat it out into four to six sections. (Make sure hair is still damp when you braid it).
3. Braid or twist each section.
4. Wrap hair and sleep overnight & BAM! Sexy, stress free hair.
Sometimes I braid my curly hair into sections for a big-curly-hair look. However in this picture, I combed out my curls first and then braided them. Experiment and see what works best for you. This hairstyle works because it keeps my hair from getting knotty. This hair style also lasts much longer than a Wash-N-Go.






Bantu Knots

Another alternative to twists outs are bantu knot outs. Bantu knot outs are very similar to twist outs, with the exception that after twisting/braiding your hair, you twists your twists/braids into "knots" on the top of your head. I know this sounds confusing, so watch the video on the left to better understand what I am talking about :) I usually don't do Bantu Knots on  my hair because I don't like the way that they turn out. However, --> this girl looks absolutely AMAZING with a bantu knot out. Try using it on your own hair!

Straight & Sultry:
Sometimes I decide to straighten my hair. On these days I wash & detangle, then I blow dry my hair with a comb attachment. Next I then smooth castor oil from my roots to my ends (to protect my hair from high levels of heat) and use a flat iron to straighten my hair. This style stays completely straight for about 8 hours. At night I braid my hair in sections  and wrap a silk scarf around them. In the morning I undo them and go over them again with the flat iron. When I wrap my hair, I usually sweat out my roots by the morning, so these two methods work best. However, overuse of heat=hair damage, so this straight look lasts for a short period of time. I try not to straighten my hair more than once a month. However, considering that I haven't straightened my hair in six months, I haven't seen this look for a while (: It's probably surprising how long my hair is. It falls half way down my chest. You would never know if I simply wore my hair naturally curly all the time ;)

I straightened my hair and left rollers in for two hours
instead of sleeping with them.

These curls were created by putting rollers in my hair & then sleeping
with them in.

Curls, Curls, Curls
This is my quickest, easiest, most common do. I rub some palmer's growth treatment into my hair at night, before setting my hair in 15-20 large (pink) sponge rollers. I wrap a silk scarf over the rollers and sleep on them. In the morning when I take the rollers out all I do is pin my hair in whatever style I want and the curls fall into place. In this particular picture, I went over some of the curls with my curling iron to stretch them out. Notice how short my hair looks because of the tightness of the curls. I use these rollers and these rollers.

My poof , created using eco-styler gel

Eco-styler gel makes for an elegant bun as well.

Quick & Easy
When I don't have a lot of time to spend on styling, eco styler gel is my life saver. I spray some water onto the top of my hair & use about a quarter size amount of gel on each side of my head. Then I use a soft bristled brush to brush the gel into my hair. You can then style your hair into either a poof or a bun. The eco styler gel gives your hair a soft, smooth appearance, so it's great for formal occasions.


Sleeping with Natural Hair


At night: 

There are several things that I tend to do to my hair overnight. If I want to preserve my curls I pull my hair into a loose ponytail directly on the top of my head. This hairstyle, called the pineapple, preserves your curls while you roll around in your sleep.
 If I want more defined hair in the morning, I simply dampen & braid my hair in 6-8 braids. I always sleep with a satin scarf to protect my hair.

In the Morning:
If you chose to do the pineapple, take your hair out the ponytail & shake shake shake your hair out. If the shaking method doesn't work, some girls like to add water to their hair (via spraying). However, this causes your hair to shrink up and often knot up. Instead hop into the shower, wash your body, but don't "wet" your hair by putting your head under the stream. Instead the steam from the warm water will loosen up your curls perfectly. Or if you don't want to get into the shower, let your shower run on it's hottest setting for 5 minutes while you're getting dressed. Then come into the bathroom and let the steam penetrate your hair. In the time that it takes for you to brush your teeth, your curl pattern will reappear.


Miscellaneous


There are sooo many amazing natural hair blogs/videos out there. What I would suggest is to type in your hair type into the search bar (ex: 3c/4a natural hair care) and go from there. However, here is a list of some of my natural hair faves (Don't forget to click the links!):

1. The best natural hair playlist ever. This natural hair list has a whole bunch of natural hair tip videos. But remember, this is for my hair texture (3c/4a). Find out what the name is for your hair type & try to find similar videos! But this is a good place to start.
2. How to elongate your curls: Use the blow dryer to "stretch out your roots."
Here's another great how to.
3. These are some great/informative hair styling videos:
Twist Rod Set (Part Three)
Defining Your Curls
How to pull your hair up into a puff
Q & A about Moisture

Hair Care Tips

Hey Readers!

Now that you have an idea of what to do before you begin the natural process, you're probably wondering what to do now that you're natural. How do you care for your hair and ensure that it grows?

Coconut oil is a great product for
moisture!

Products!?!

When it comes to finding the right products for your hair, the most that I can say is "to each her own." However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind before you begin your quest for the right products. There are five good products that you are going to want:
1. A detangler (pretty self explanatory). I'm childish, so I use Suave Kids Detangler (:
2. A good conditioner (to properly clean your hair with) I use Garnier Fructis, Suave humectant, and Cantu Shea Butter Conditioner.

3. A good deep conditioner. I use Motions deep penetrating conditioner or V05 Hot Oil treatment. I deep condition once a month. Make sure to wash out your deep conditioner with regular conditioner. It helps the deep conditioner to penetrate your hair follicles better.

4. A good leave in conditioner or moisturizer. This product should have water listed as the first ingredient. If not, spray your hair with water first and then apply the product. I use Spectrum natural brand refined coconut oil. You can find it in the baking section of the grocery store.

5. Something that you want to seal your hair with (to protect your ends from splitting up to the roots. I use unrefined shea butter or cantu shea butter leave in conditioner.) Apply this on top of your leave in.
6. A good gel (for when you wanna throw your hair up into a bun.) I use eco-styler gel.

There are plenty of natural hair care websites which lists a great deal of information on finding products. I would suggest using curlmart.com (part of the naturallycurly.com website). They have a ton of AMAZING natural hair products and great reviews. This will help you to find the best products. In addition, target.com has a wonderful selection of what they call "multicultural hair products" with great reviews. Once you have read a couple of reviews on a product which you are interested in buying, I would suggest getting onto youtube and typing in "product name review on type __ hair". Ex: "Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding review on type 3c/4a hair". This way you can actually watch someone use it on their hair & have an idea of how the product may turn out on your hair.

Washing & Detangling

 I'm not even gonna lie...this part sucks It takes forever to wash my hair and even longer to detangle it. As a natural, you don't need to wash your hair everyday. Some girls wash their hair daily, others once or twice a week, and some once a month. Depending on how much product you use in your hair, how often you wash your hair is completely up to you. Since natural hair dries out quickly when water is used often, you technically don't have to wash your hair often. During the summer I wash my hair once a week, but since school has started I've switched to once every other week. Here are some washing/detangling tips:

• Only detangle your hair when it's completely wet or saturated with detangler. Natural hair is very fragile and tends to snap easily when you are trying to comb through it dry.
• Don't brush your hair to detangle it, use a wide tooth comb! Brushing your hair only damages it and makes the ends brittle. Your ends are your old lady hairs so you want to respect them just as you do your elders. 
• Gently comb your fingers through the ends of your hair before you begin detangling (you can even do this while your hair is dry). This will get rid of shed hairs. Sometimes shed hairs tangle into your normal hair, causing your hair to snap off. When you feel a shed hair beginning to wrap around a normal hair strand, try to gently work the shed hair away. If that doesn't work, use manicure scissors to cut away the shed hair. Do NOT snap your hair off.
• After you've removed shed hairs, hop into the shower. Section your hair into 4-6 sections and shampoo/condition each. 
• Use a lot, a lot, a lot of condition while detangling. It makes it much easier.
• Comb from the bottom up. If you start from the top, this can also cause breakage to your old lady ends. 
• Finally rinse out your conditioner. 
• Watch the video above for more hints!

Note: Many naturals choose to wash their hair using conditioner only. This process known as a  "co-wash" is far less damaging than using shampoo (which contain ingredients like sulfate & paraben which dry out curly hair). It may seem as if conditioner alone may not do the job for your hair. However, you will be surprised that conditioner cleans just as well. I use garnier fructis conditioner. It smells great and it's cheap. Condition your hair and leave the conditioner in for three minutes. This helps to moisten your hair. If you still don't seem to be hitched onto the idea of washing with conditioner only, try using a sulfate free shampoo. For my days when i've used lots of product in my hair, I use Organix nourishing coconut milk shampoo. You can find it at any target or publix.

Moisturizing

One important step that most naturals completely forget about is moisturizing. Moisturizing the hair can prevent your hair from snapping off and ensures hair growth. You should moisturize natural hair everyday. Moisturizing is quick and easy. After you've washed your hair and your hair is still damp, separate your hair into four to six sections. Take a small amount of your moisturizer (in my case I use coconut oil) and apply it from root to tip in each section. Next, use your sealant (I use shea butter) to cover the moisturizer. This will lock the moisturize into your hair follicles. For the following days, I usually just repeat this process to my ends only and I apply it to the rest of my hair as needed. The rest of my hair tends to stay moisturized, while my ends are the first to dry out. Keeping your ends moisturized will ensure hair growth & maintain healthy hair! Here's a great video that demonstrates how to moisturize. 

Remember to keep reading up on new styles & although caring for natural hair may seem daunting at first don't give up.

Keep it natural!

Jackie

The Basics

Hello Readers!


For today's post I decided to write about some basic tips that all girls who are planning on going natural should know/do before they actually begin the natural process. These tips come from my own experiences with natural hair and will make the actual process of going natural much easier. I hope that these can help you as well!


Tip # 1: Have an idea of your hair type. This probably sounds stupid. It's the hair that you were born with. Of course, you know your hair. It's long thin loose curls. Or maybe it's thick tight & kinky. That's all well & good, yet trust me I've tried to type "hair tutorials for mixed race curly hair"......and a list of 30987503987598375 videos came up. Lol! There is actually an entire curly hair classification system. This system is used so that natural girls can figure out what to do with their hair and what kinds of products will work best with their hair. Of course, no two people have the same type of hair. However, the curly hair classification system gives you an idea of what range of curls/kinks you have. After you've figured out your hair type using this website, verify that it is YOUR hair type by typing the hair type name into the search bar of youtube. Videos will pop up with numerous people with your hair type. I have type 3c/4a hair. So I would type in "Hair tutorials for girls with type 3c/4a hair."


Tip #2: Learn the Terminology. What is a big chop? A co-wash? When you are reading about natural hair on natural hair blogs or watching natural hair videos, you are going to find that most naturals seem to speak their own language. Therefore, understanding natural hair terminology is crucial to figuring out how to care for your natural hair. Use this dictionary to figure out every term that you need.

Tip # 3: Know What Ingredients Make for Healthy Hair. Many girls who go natural continue to use the same hair products which they used before their transition to natural hair. This is not good! Actually, many of the hair products which you used before your transition to natural hair, may actually have ingredients such as sulfates and mineral oil which remove mositure from your hair. With natural hair, you need moisture!! I'm not saying that you have to completely toss out every product that you own. Many of the products which you used before going natural may very well be just as useful on natural hair. However, know what ingredients work best for you. This website offers the best Q & A session that I've ever read. Very informative.

Nikki Walton from curlynikki.com

Cipriana from
 urbanbushbabes.com

Nikisha from
urbanbushbabes.com

Tip #4: Explore the Wonderful Worldwide Web. There are numerous websites out there to help you in your journey to natural hair. My absolute favorite is curlynikki.com. She has great hair tips, tutorial, survival stories (haha) and ideas. She even has numerous guest bloggers that help to make the website awesome. Another great site is urbanbushbabes.com. This is a great natural websites for 20 something naturals. Also, don't forget to use Youtube! There are so many awesome hair tutorials on the web. Like I said ^^^, type in your hair type and work from there.

Tip #5: Find a good detangling method. This is probably going to be my worst tip, because it continues to be my biggest struggle. But hang in there ladies (and gents haha), like me, you'll be able to persevere. Youtube, youtube, search, search, search...that's the best way to find a proper detangling method. Yet this post is a good way to start. I will discuss detangling in more detail in a future post. 

Good Luck!!

Keep it natural,

Jackie

My Natural Hair Journey

Hey Readers!

I hope that you learned something about natural hair or African American hair in general after reading my last post. I would imagine that you're probably wondering about my own hair in relation to the natural hair movement. Well here's a short anecdote about my own hair:


I have been natural for all of my life with the exception of two years (during which I had a failed attempt at a texturizer). When I was a child, my mom had a hard time doing my hair. My hair is thick & long which made it hard for my mother, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, to deal with. In addition, the fact that I'm tender headed wasn't much help either. As a child I never wanted a relaxer, because relaxing my hair meant that I couldn't swim as often as I'd liked to. We have a chlorinated neighborhood pool. When you have a relaxer in your hair, a chemical reaction between the lye from the relaxer and the chlorine from the pool can weaken your hair and cause it to fall out. And that's exactly what happened to me. In the third grade my mom put a texturizer (a weak version of a relaxer made for girls with a straighter texture of hair) into my hair out of desperation. I don't blame her. It was hurting her to do my hair!  She told me that I either couldn't swim or that I would have to wear a swim cap. I wasn't about to stop swimming & swim caps were ugly so I took the risk and swam anyway. After a year and a half, my hair went from being an inch above my rear end to an inch below my ear lobes. It was a tragedy!

This is how I normally wore my hair in high school. Long and straight.

As the years went on I nursed my hair back to health and stopped getting texturizers. Eventually my hair grew back just as strong and healthy (but not quite as long) as before. However, I always straightened my hair with either the flat iron or the blow dryer (The picture above is a picture taken after a band concert during my sophomore year of high school). I wasn't quite sure what to do with my hair in it's natural state.My natural hair was wild and unruly and I worried that I would damage it trying to wear it completely natural.  I think that I was kinda nervous about how my friends would accept my hair as well.

The first time I ever wore my hair natural!

My friend Asha and I wearing my hair in an experimental natural pony tail lol!

When I became a senior in high school I decided to not straighten my hair one day. I wore it in a curly ponytail & all of my friends loved it. I continued to wear it like that for a while. Although I really liked my hair like that, I still couldn't seem to figure out how to wear it completely natural in a curly fro. My hair would start out curly when it was wet, but when it completely dried, it would turn into a frizzy mess. Then one day my family was at the beach (picture above). I noticed that the humid weather kept my curls in tact at all times. I realized that what I needed was some kind of moisture in my hair at all times. I experimented and threw in some leave in conditioner & BAM! I had finally figured out the secret to my hair. 


By the time that I started my first day at UGA I had the confidence and the knowledge on how to wear my hair completely natural and care for it. Part of the college experience is experimenting with yourself and figuring out who you really are. I started watching LOTS of tutorials on youtube & I joined sites like CurlyNikki.com for support. Also the fact that there are tons of other natural girls on campus helps. At my high school, it was very homogeneous...all straight hair. It's hard to believe that I've only been wearing my hair completely natural for two years. Nowadays it's almost impossible to keep me from discussing natural hair. I'm always trying to convince my friends to wear their hair natural (and I've convinced a good bit of them too (: ). I even planned and participated as a panelist in a natural hair forum here at the University (pictured below). I'm still learning a lot about my hair everyday and it's often challenging to care for my hair in it's completely natural state.

I think natural hair is the thing to do, regardless of the fact that going natural has become a trend over the past year. It's important that we should embrace our natural-ness & be happy with the hair that God gave us. What I like most about being natural is that there is so much room for versatility in the natural hair styles which you can wear. There are lots of natural hair styles: twist outs, braid outs, faux fro-hawks, buns etc. Then I can still straighten my hair or wear it in heat pressed curls. I'm starting to wonder how I ever went being straight all the time. Now that I'm completely natural I have to change my hair style every couple of days!




Finally, I've been on a "natural hair journey." In my journey I go through periods of time when I go completely natural with no heat!  I'm still trying to figure out how to care for my natural hair so each journey has some sort of learning goal for natural hair.


 My first journey was over Christmas break. I wanted to learn about how to maintain my hair in the winter when it is dry and there is virtually no humidity. Let's just say that journey wasn't the best. I went about a week and a half with no heat. Next, I went for a month between the months of February and March with no heat. I wanted to learn how to properly detangle it. This time it went much more smoothly. My most recent natural hair journey began in April and has continued since. I've been without heat for the past six months! I've learned all new different styles, detangling methods etc. It's working out great! Originally I planned to only not use heat during the summer months when the high levels of humidity make it not worth it to try to straighten my hair (it'll just poof up anyway). But my plan lasted a little longer than expected (: I plan on straightening my hair sometime within the next week. It's getting cooler now and my straight hair will last longer. However I still plan to go on another journey, but one that is much smaller.


Well this is my natural hair journey! I will be providing tips on my hair maintenance soon!

Keep it natural,

Jackie

What does it mean to be natural?

             Natural is a word that we toss around to describe many different things. Anything found in nature can be described as being natural. Organic food would be considered natural. We consider certain talents or traits to be natural. However, in the African American community, the word natural has a completely different meaning and it has to do with the ways in which we choose to style our hair. 
         In the early 1900s, an African American inventor by the name of Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr was working with a lubricating liquid for a machine which he had created. Rumor has it that after using the lubricating liquid, Morgan wiped his hands on a wool cloth. The next day, Morgan noticed that the wool material had loosened, becoming more straighter. After several experiments on Airedale dogs, which are known for their curly hair, Morgan discovered that the chemical reactions which changed the texture of the wool could do the same to the dog's hair. The same process was repeated on Morgan's own hair & voila! The first chemical hair straightening process was born.
         Morgan's experiments were the birth of a new process of straightening which would soon become vastly popular among African American men and women. The chemical process, which is now known as Relaxers, Perms, and Texturizers, now uses lye and sodium hydroxide to straighten the kinkier textured hair of African Americans. Read more about Relaxers by clicking here. Unfortunately Morgan's experiments also gave birth to an awful stigma among many African Americans about their own hair. Today a large majority of African Americans, Latinos of African descent and others with kinkier textures of hair relax their hair. Many mothers begin perming their daughter's hair when their child is as young as five years old. Although relaxing hair makes kinkier hair more manageable, it has also created a stigma that straighter hair is "prettier" while natural hair is "ugly."
             Although many choose to relax their hair, there are still many girls who choose not to put any chemicals in their hair. These girls are known as natural. So, you are either natural or relaxed. In the past, natural hair was not a common occurrence. Natural hair peaked in the sixties and seventies when the Afro was popular. In the 80s, the jheri curl took a twist on the Afro. Then natural hair went into a period in which it was almost non existent. However, in the past four years, a natural hair movement has erupted particularly on college campuses with younger African American females. If you look around, more likely than not you will notice more African Americans with fros and curly hair. Social networking sites such as YouTube, Blogger & Facebook have connected natural girls with others nationwide/internationally, strengthening the natural hair movement. In addition, more products specifically designed for natural African American hair have been invented (they were previously non existent) and are appearing on shelves in local drugstores and beauty supply stores. 
                So why does it matter if your hair is natural or relaxed? In my opinion, in the African American community, hair is one of the most valued parts of the body. I believe that embracing your natural hair and being comfortable in your own skin is a large part of achieving a greater sense of self-esteem. To many, natural hair is simply a fad. To me, natural hair is a lifestyle and a large part of who I am.

Well that's all for today!

Keep it natural,

Jackie