Revisiting Shea Moisture Curl Smoothie



Smile- it's definition!



 Man! I used to loovvvvve me some Shea Moisture Curl Smoothie! Back in the day when I frequented Curly Nikki, I was one of the first ones to try it. I tested it out on my 5-inch hair and fell in love. I loved the smell, the definition it provided to my twist/braid-outs, the affordable pricing AND the fact that I could get it on the ground at my local Target. Then one day it stopped working. It seemed that overuse made my hair dry up quite a bit. I attributed it to the fact that perhaps my hair didn't enjoy all of that protein and gave it up gladly. However, I decided to give it another try for no good reason (well... it just kept calling me like Pookie on New Jack City!). I'm glad I did. On Friday night I did a late night twist set using the curl smoothie, passing up all my other faves. I intended to take the twists out the next day but I ended up keeping them in until the following Tuesday (today!). While in twists, I moistened the hair after workouts with a spray bottle of water, olive and avocado oils. Today, I have a good looking twist out. It's super soft, defined, has lots of body and all the peeps love my 8-track (I mean, twist out!). I'm excited though because I enjoy wearing my hair out when I teach Zumba. On a good day, my hair  bounces around just as freely as the rest of me. After class tonight I will probably twist it back up and leave them in until Saturday when I have a photo shoot with a group that I'm in (Che' Marie and Extended Play). I'm excited. I'll post the results later. In the meantime- come on Shea Moisture!

 

Aerial view (ignore those granny grays!)



Let's Play in the Mud!

Thanks to my farm-raised mother, as a kid I always loved to run thru rainy puddles with my bare feet. I developed a special appreciation for pressing my toes into the squishy, coolness of mud and would later enjoy pulling night crawlers from their muddy holes during late nights in my neighborhood. My siblings and I earned money doing the latter from local fishermen and bait stores! While I still don't mind walking into cool wet grass with my bare toes, I'd given up playing in the mud for more girly things like clay. Crafting ash trays and vases from clay was a favorite activity in art class and I always thought I'd pick it up later. While on the back to natural journey, I learned that many naturals wash their hair with mud/clay! If you didn't know there are popular brands such as the one by Terressentials which can be ordered online. But you can also make your own, saving big $$$ just as I did last weekend. I already owned some clay which I use for homemade facials. In preparation, I wet my hair with a spray bottle:

 

Wet hair with spray bottle



You can buy Aztec brand clay at many local health stores, including Whole Foods. Looking around on the internet I found some recipes. When determining a recipe, I sort of pick and choose the ingredients that I know my hair likes or NEEDS. I create my mix based on that information. This time, in the following order and in a plastic bowl (do not use metal as it changes the properties of the mix), I mixed:

2 tbsp Aztec Secret Healing Indian Clay (about $5)

1 tbsp Olive oil

1Tbsp of honey

Essential oils (depends on my hair needs - this time I used peppermint and basil)

1/3 c. of water or aloe vera juice (you can warm it a little for easier mixing). You may use more or less as it should be the consistency of pancake batter.

I then poured it into a bottle (must get a funnel for next time!). I applied the mixture to my hair and scalp which I'd dampened earlier. I saturated my hair with the clay wash and rubbed it into my scalp. The basil and tea tree oils are stimulators, so it felt tingly! After applying, I put a plastic baggy on my hair and allowed the wash to perform magic on my strands!  You can see from the picture that when I finished, I pinned the sections with bobby pins.



Let mud sit for 20 minutes!



Mud applied
























20 minutes later I washed it all out in the shower. Remember- this is actually for washing your hair so you don't need to shampoo afterward. Don't allow the clay to dry on your hair as it will become more difficult to rinse. Thoroughly rinse the clay from your hair with a cheap conditioner. I just took care of it in the shower which is how I lost my eyeshadow and lipstick! LOL



Mud rinsed (ahhh shrinkage!)

Afterward, I applied my leave-in and styled per usual. Now... this "shampoo" really does remove any product build up from your hair. You may not even know that you had any especially if you're using products with sillicones. For me, the wash encouraged my shrinkage (see the pic above) but left my hair clean, soft and shiny. I loved it and will do it once a week as I long ago abandoned shampoos. They leave my hair feeling stripped and dry which is why I mostly co-wash. Below is the twistout I got after styling. It's full of shine, body and bounce!

That's it folks! Will you or have you given mud washes a try? Share what were, or are your results!

Peace and love, naturally!



















Sometimes I- disappear...

For long periods no less! Sorry folks! Between writing a grant for work, the holidays and my anniversary this chica has been busy! I've let many projects and such fall by the wayside but have attempted to maintain some semblance of a routine (i.e. teaching Zumba, trying struggling to eat properly, making holiday cards, some that just went out this morning O_O). I even managed to go to the movies once. I saw Les Miserables... I kind of liked it. There was a good storyline, decent acting and a LOT of howling singing, crying and overall it was just an incredibly sad film/musical. You can totally see why it was released during the holidays! Right? No? Needless to say it wasn't my cup of tea but I enjoyed it a little and managed to expand my horizons a bit.

Aside from that, I did my hair a few times but mostly it's been pinned up because I'm doing a protective style challenge until spring. I did it last year too, however this year I haven't been keeping up with the required videos because I've been too busy! I did one pretty late at night that made me laugh when I viewed it later! It was such a mess! Either way my hair has either looked like this when it's in an updo. I tend to either have the front twisted or hanging like it is. Always been a bangs girl!

or this when it's wild and free:

Anyway, in other news I'm starting an etsy with plans to sell some of my photo prints and other fun items. I am dedicating a blog to this endeavor and I will probably change the name of this one. I want to make it more personal. Stay tuned on both endeavors AND for a few music and product reviews!

Happy New Year! I started mine off eating clean again. I have a major goal to hit. The only resolution type thing I'm doing. Everything else is full steam ahead- per usual.

~Peace, Naturally

As I Am Gel and Double Butter Cream Review



 Greetings! Todays hair has been brought to you by As I Am Gel and Double Butter Cream! Purty ain't it? Inspired by the lyrics of one of my favorite holiday songs (I really can't stay... baby, it's cold out there!), this hair is the result of protective styling. After a solid week of 70-80 degree weather, Hurricane Sandy decided that play time is o'vah and we are now officially prepping for the cold in Ohio. We were bouncing back and forth before but fall is here to stay and with that comes cold rain, winds and eventually winter. For me, dry hair comes with the cooler temperatures. The moisturizers that got me thru summer no longer do the trick so I've been scouting new ones. This week I did a twist and bantu set using Paul Mitchell The One Conditioner and As I Am Gel. I like the As I Am gel. It is kind of runny like kinky curly but the consistency is not as weird to the touch. My curls seemed to like it too!

After teaching Zumba on Saturday though I knew I needed to at least rinse the twists because they had begun to look dry. I stopped at the local Sallys to pick up another product by As I Am - the double butter cream because I'd seen some talk of it on Facebook by a couple of other naturals and their results piqued my interest. Because they were touting the moisturizing benefits, I knew that I would try it. It's not cheap folks. Sally's was offering $1 off on the Saturday I visited. Although I was grateful for any savings, I balked at the $20 price tag for 16oz. Geez! My issues were short-lived as I obviously walked out of the store with it in tow- but best believe I gave it the "I WILL bring you back" side-eye as we departed.

In any case, I went home and rinsed the sweat from my hair. I imagine some, but not all of the gel washed out. I then took apart the existing twists and redid them using the Double Butter Cream. At first glance and touch, it was reminiscent of the Bee Mine Curly Hold Butter that I used every now and again. While I like the look of my hair on Bee Mine, I can't make it a mainstay because it is drying after the first day. My hopes for a new moisturizer that you can get on the ground increased as I read the labeling. As I Am claims the Double Butter Cream Rich Daily Moisturizer is a rich emollient blend that adds softness, shine and manageability to dull, dry hair. The directions state that you can use it sparingly or liberally based on your hairs needs. Sounds too good to be true to me! I chose somewhere in the middle as I ran the product down my strands from root to tip. I then put the twists in bantu knots and let them dry until Sunday. I was quite pleased! My hair looked very moisturized and felt soft to the touch. My friend said she hated my hair when she saw me. Translation - I LOVE your hair! That was good because I was loving it too!The results are shown in the picture above with the orange shirt. I'm going to use this product only for the next couple of weeks. On Sunday night I put my hair into twists for the week. They looked pretty amazing all week I must say. I retouched them later and used the butter cream without the gel underneath. On Friday, I removed the twists and loved what I saw:

 It really does have amazing hold without gel underneath.All in all, I am really digging this line of products. Here's how the double butter cream rates for me:

Price:  $$$ - but... might be worth it

Feel/Smell: I like the half cream/half gel feel. I don't recall the smell which means it isn't over powering.

Promise: It did everything it said it would do. Hair stayed moisturized for days!

Hair types: Definitely works well with upper 3C - 4abc

Have you tried As I Am products? Tell me what you think!

A Drop of History

Standing and looking over the cliff of empty nester life, I find myself surrounded by friends who are newlyweds and parents. These friends are just starting or growing their young families. I enjoy their company, listening to their stories, laughing with them and sometimes meting out advice. Every now and then, I feel a twinge of short-lived jealousy thinking I’m open to raising another child. However, I like better the idea of borrowing one of theirs and giving it back. After returning said child, I know I can reclaim my new life of responsibility for me, myself and I. I've earned this bit of selfishness after 18 years! Self reflection is a huge part of witnessing the experiences. I relate, having once been a new mom/parent also. I listen to their stories and remember my own experience of giving birth. If I shared that part of my life, you would hear all the excitement, fears and joy I felt when my son joined the universe. I know that just like me, my friends will share their stories with their children and they will claim and love it. My son loves hearing that part of his story. It is one drop amongst many others in the history of his life.

As an adoptee, that part of my own story has been fleeting. Before I learned I was adopted, I tried to imagine my mom pregnant with me in her stomach. She was always Foxy-Cleopatra-Brown-fine in her bell-bottoms, snug blouses, wigs and make up. I couldn't imagine her with a big belly, let alone birthing the four of us. She always spoke gently about our birth stories. There was rarely detail; especially with me. When I learned to do math, I figured out that she was 27 years older than me. That age seemed pretty old to be having babies in my young mind but there were too many of us to deny some birthing had in fact happened.

Always fond of the camera and pictures, even as a kid I loved browsing family photos in search of me and my siblings and other relatives. It was much later in life that I realized the tragedy of mom responding that a baby photo was one of my siblings while indicating that perhaps this or that unmarked chubby, brown bambino was me. It just didn't hit me then. Nor did it hit me when I learned I was adopted at age 10. It began to hit me when I realized that everything I thought I knew about how I came to exist was a lie. Perhaps a lie intended for protection, but a lie just the same. It hits me now when I listen to the stories of my friends and understand that I will never hear the joy my parents felt when I entered the world. I will never know if it was a difficult or easy birth. Or if my mom cried when she first laid eyes upon me, as I did when I saw my son. I will never hear about my dad pacing or fainting in the delivery room. I know now that in fact, he wasn't there. I will never see pictures of my baby room. I will never know if I stayed up all night but slept all day, if I was colicky or cried a lot. Lost further in the archives of foster parent life are stories of when I first smiled or got my first tooth. As an adoptee, it is not uncommon to learn that certain facts about your existence are lost to you. You learn to live with them. Can’t miss what you never had- right?

All in all, I'm thankful for my memories and the numerous photos I took of my son. As long as they exist, I can share them with him and his children should I have the opportunity. I tell him stories about his life now without him asking because I understand the importance. I smile at the stories of my friends and even those shared by my husband’s family of his life beginnings. I tell my friends to record and document everything. While I’ll never know parts of my own story, I try to weave parts of it together with the bits of history I picked up via my reunion. I live vicariously through my experiences and those of my friends and family. I smile with them at pictures and laugh at the funny incidents that occur when I'm present. I accept that our collective experiences may be the only opportunity and insight I receive to fill in the blanks of my personal history. Every drop counts. But sometimes that reality and acceptance makes me cry and lament over the drops that I can never regain.

 

Interested in my adoption/reunion story? Follow/visit my other blog - findinggloriamarie@blogspot.com

 

Hair Nightmares: Sometimes free ain't free

A couple of nights ago, I had a nightmare. A Mary Kay Consultant offered to give me a mini make-over after saying that she did free make-up and trims. Instead, she chopped off a great deal of my hair. In reviewing the dream, I understood why I accepted her doing my make-up. Mary Kay is well known in our communities for their make-up products. That makes total sense. BUT- why I allowed her to give me a TRIM is another story. When she finished, she spun my chair around and showed me the final results in a huge, bevel-edged mirror. What I saw was not what I imagined when I said yes. I expected me, with good looking ends. What I got was half bob/half 80's Patti Labelle wig... Think this little self portrait I did:

My exact expression. lol

As soon as I saw myself, I lost it, crying and screaming- WHAT DID YOU DO??!!  I was inconsolably sick over it in the dream AND still in that state when I woke up. It was THAT real. I found myself trying to think of how I'd explain to my stylist Nikki what happened and worrying about the long journey back to my current length. I imagined YEARS of the same hard work I put in to get here!

Thank God it wasn't real but I'm still feeling a bit traumatized! I've heard horror stories about stylists applying relaxers in disguise as a deep treatment much to the dismay of their natural clients. I've even had a stylist go scissor crazy on my natural hair. This dream however, seemed worse than real life. Maybe because it was actually LIKE real life. We put a great deal of trust and expectation into strangers every day. We believe someone will care for every part of us, with the same or better love and level of attention that we give ourselves. And if they don't- as a society we sue, cuss them out, ruin their reputations. We do it every day with doctors, dentists, employers and yes- hair dressers. We believe that because they came with a reputation, degree and/or word of mouth they will serve or treat us right. This isn't a bad thing. But, the truth is, care for you- starts with YOU and your decisions. In my nightmare, a snap decision led me to a place I quickly regretted. I didn't think it through. I wanted what I wanted. It seemed an attractive opportunity and while it didn't cost anything- I paid the price. I also understood the lesson- sometimes free ain't free. As I typed, I connected this line of thought to my personal fitness quest. I understand that every time I document my food journal and follow my eating plan, I'm caring for me. Every time I hit the pavement in preparation for my first 5k, I'm caring for me. With every Zumba routine, I'm caring for me. It doesn't have to cost me anything to get in shape and if it does- I know I'm worth it. Likewise, I need to keep in mind that it WILL cost me to continue being out of shape and eating poorly. I'm trying to change that and the process of change is more than a snap decision. I have to keep it at the forefront daily. I have thought about and calculated the costs of not caring. That price is far higher than anything I'm willing to pay or that I can afford.

Interesting the things a dream can teach you, huh?

Good bye wash-n-go's, Hello protective styles!

This is a combo post. Previously, I've discussed my weight loss journey and hair separately but the truth is- they're connected. During the last month of summer I primarily styled my hair via wash and go's (wngs) because it seemed that my journey of working out and getting fit was causing me to wash or rinse my hair almost daily. I sweat like nobody's business when I teach Zumba and most of it comes from the head and shoulders (don't judge me). Wearing scarves and pin-ups do not help the matter. When I try to go to sleep, the sweat on my scalp causes the itchies and as a result, I get no sleep. So, wash and go styles were in my best interest all summer! I figured- if it ain't broke, why fix it!

In September I decided to exercise a minimum of 30 minutes per day thanks to a FaceBook challenge from MTV Real World cast original- Kevin Powell. I already teach Zumba 2-3 times a week but I decided to add some layers to my workout regimen. With this plan in mind, I completed my first walk/run in September. I use the Ease Into 5K application (formerly known as C25K. Check it out if you can and are interested in running. It's pretty cool). During the months of August and September I would rinse or co-wash (using As I am Coconut Co-Wash) after my workouts, add leave-in conditioner, EcoStyler Pink and head out. By the end, I'd begun to squeeze out the excess water and conditioner (learned this from vlogger ShidaNaturals, whom I LOVE) before adding the gel. This sped up my drying time and lessened shrinkage. Since I was working out in the evenings, I would just wait until the morning to do the entire process again. NOW... it is pretty cool outside and wash and go styles are no longer practical. Venturing from the house with wet hair isn't the best idea. I have no interest in getting sick or drinking that icky blue stuff that's supposed to ease symptoms so I can get some rest. No sir/ma'am- I'll take my sleep without sickness or medication for all the money, Alex!! So, I've decided to mostly keep my hair in protective styles all fall and winter. I'll primarily wear twisted pin-up styles (similar to the one shown above), co-washing or rinsing at night so that my hair will be dry in the a.m.

Ultimately, this plan will assist my workouts versus hinder them. My workouts are now a priority and not a secondary thing that can be skipped at whim. Being natural has helped me maintain this thought process. A lot of this is mental. When I was relaxed- I wasn't relaxed at all. Before every workout I was so uptight about messing up my hair especially if it was freshly done! With that concern long out of the way- I have other worries. Soon enough I'll have to bring my entire workout inside to the gym but right now I soooo enjoy the outdoors (can't believe I'm saying that!), the brisk, fresh air and the sun. My journey includes caring for my entire self and sticking to it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy for and about myself. It makes me proud of ME for making self care a priority. You only get one you. I can never say enough to you or me- Take care of yourself, head to toe, inside AND out. Moreover, don't let a little thing like hair get in the way.

~PEACE and LOVE, NATURALLY