Sloppy Pony Tail

Yes, it is has been a while...we fall down we get up ok? :) I have not blogged in a while due to the fact that Arizona State government is determined to work a sista like there is no such thing as the Emancipation Proclamation! However, at long last I am back...

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving and are enjoying this season! Nothing much to report on the hair front...I did however stumble on a hair option as a result of being lazy one morning and got rave reviews...it actually was cute but too simple for me to claim fabulosity! Just a sloppy pony with bangs but the make up was on point and I did indeed work it. The picture of me and the mic is just me playing around at my brother's studio...everyone who knows me that I CANNOT sing...they don't even tell me when choir rehearsal is...I look like I am really doing something don't I?

I have also been working out though I am dog tired...I could no longer deny the connection between natural hair care and SELF CARE. How can I not take care of the body that produces my lovely locs? I know I need to take care of myself- it is the doing it that is the hard part! I am getting older and want to be around a while. I have battled weight ALL my life and am not on a mission to get skinny just healthy while providing myself more fashion options and some cuter panties!

So, I joined LA Fitness and am loving the classes...have been going faithfully for about two months though I did take a week off this week (route canal and I am freakin tired) but I am back on it MONDAY. Zumba is my new love...oh how I love shaking the money maker but I have discovered that I don't have as much endurance as I used to...a sister could put in some work on the dance floor- these days I'd rather nap but it feels good to move and I am determined to eventually teach this class.

There are a couple of instructors that are not in the best shape but they can run circles around me and can move their hips like nobodies business...I'll be darned if I let one of these older ladies or whit chics out dance me...what the H? The white girls can move...put a sister to shame...however my competitive nature pushes me to continue and get better. I will keep you posted on my self care journey!

Ode to Corrine Bailey Ray…and kimmaytube!

O.K. so I tried the Corrine B Ray look with some help from Kimmaytube and I like the way it came out but I would definitely do some things differently next time…and there will be a next time!

I cannot do a flat twist to SAVE MY LIFE so I did the two strand, then twisted the two-strand and then did the coil. It was a spontaneous attempt so I did not use product in my first three pieces in the front (mistake) and of course noticed the coil was less defined which could not be in a more conspicuous location on my crown but I digress.

So, I did use Cantu Leave-In for the majority of my hair and next time I might use more of the cantu or my aloe vera and coconut oil concoction…not sure but I think I will get a better result next time.

Lots of compliments at the office…I have become quite the natural hair maven at the office…I can tell the lighter hued folks in the office are curious and a Jamaican colleague just had to put her hands all up in it…fortunately for her she is an elder and I like her!

Here is kimmay's YOUTUBE Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/kimmaytube

My First ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar rinse)

So, I did my first ACV this week after I washed and co-washed my hair and I didn't notice very much difference. ACV is supposed to be a natural clarifier, good for your scalp, add shine and for some- define curl and perhaps loosen your curl pattern a bit. For me, I did notice some shine and my hair and scalp felt clean however it did not do for me what the baking soda treatment does which is REDUCE frizz which is what I love the most about the baking soda treatment. I may do it again, and change up my pre- acv method to see if that makes a difference...so we'll see. I have posted some pics- what do you think? Oh- this is a twist out I did the day after the ACV...my first decent twist out...I think I am liking my regular curl pattern better...some of the twist outs I see on other sisters are PURE HOTNESS but mine...lukewarm I'd say.

Also, I have been so bad about this blog but my great idea was to feature natural heads in the Phoenix Metro area but they are a bit harder to find than I thought! I carry the little cards I made to hand out when I came upon hair hotness but my discoveries were minimal that I changed purses and forgot about them until I went to a cultural event and nappy crowns were all around...I did have my camera and took a few photos and will be posting my fabulous hair finds next week... so my postings will be more regular now that I have a new strategery (George W. word I love utilizing at every opportunity!) which is attend CULTURAL EVENTS IN PHOENIX and there are a few coming up so I am SUPER excited...until then: Peace and Hair RELEASE!

Raising A Daughter- I don't know who made my job harder...white people or lil Wayne!

It couldn't have been just me...do you remember being little and playing with a slip or towel on your head so you could swing it around and imagine you had long hair. Most little black girls have participated in this imaginary play at one time or another...I watched my own daughter do it bound to fight the same battle.

By the time I had a daughter I had accepted my hair and embraced my naps and tried to be a good hair role model...there weren't nearly as many resources for natural hair sisters but I did my best and I was going to fight the good fight for her. She did not grow up in the hair shop like me...I remember the time we hung out in a friends salon and my daughter did not know how to turn on the sit-down hair dryer...there was a gasp and most in the place were appalled...I smiled proudly.

I only bought my daughter brown dolls and made sure she had lots of healthy, black images of beauty in her life, we had the talks about skin color before she could cognitively understand what it all meant...my daughter is dark chocolate and though I always thought she was beautiful I knew that she would soon pick up the cues from her environment, peers and the media that something was inherently wrong with her dark skin and hair that would not lay down without a fight.

There was no such thing as good hair or bad hair in our house and I could tell that she had an appreciation for black beauty by the images she stuck to the walls in her room in her preteen years...from the opaque sista to the coal black queen, from Tyra and Monique...all shapes and sizes! I was proud and thought I had done my job well but soon realized she did not escape buying the beauty myth... I was wrong.

Though she could see all the diversity of beauty in others she could not see it in herself and grew up feeling bad about her skin color and hair...what she did have at a young age was a well-developed body so she overcompensated with it just like I did with my ample bosom back in my adolescence- you have no idea how hard it was to grow up in Cali without an "L.A. face and an Oakland booty" that is a whole nother post!

Suddenly, my pretty black girl wants to look like somebody else, fit in, be a video vixen like every other girl around her, an object of desire...as much as it pains me I understand. I remember feeling unbeautiful and inadequate too. At 16 I allowed her make a her first major hair decision...she wanted a perm AND a weave...I let her do it...she had to come to terms with who she was and her own beauty in her own time just like me...her journey is her own. After nearly two years of perm, hair damage and breakage...she has an epiphany after missing a few perms and inspired to do a baking soda treatment after she saw the results of mine, "Mom, i think I want to go natural...i didn't know my natural hair was so soft." I just smiled to myself, European beauty standards and rappers be dammed...she is her mother's daughter.

What do you do when your hair is too sexy for words????

Let it speak for its self...BAM!
WHATCHU KNOW ABOUT IT!....
WHATCH YOU KNOW?
(Said with all the country grammar attitude a chic from the projects in the middle of the suburbs of the Hayward, CA hills can muster!!!)

Baking Soda Treatment...Frizz-Smashing Success!

So Tuesday I did a baking soda treatment on my hair...you can see the before and after this is what I did:
I added ½ cup of baking soda to my conditioner, wore a plastic bag for an hour and rinsed…this was the results as promised- LESS FRIZZ, MORE SHINE, DEFINED CURLS…LOVE IT!!! It is soooo soft…I also pre-washed and conditioned before the treatment and used a shower comb to detangle while wet…some natural hair loves this some doesn’t but it worked for me!

To style I used Cantu on my wet hair- and that made ALL the difference- previously I was using it on my hair while dry and then when I and wondered why the product got such rave reviews but I have seent the light! You have to use an ample amounth and utilize a “technique”; the“shingling technique” I think originated with using Ms. Jessie’s products but people use it with other stuff, particularly the Cantu…you wash and condition your hair as normal (using the comb of course to detangle) then grab a medium-sized handful of hair and use a nice dollop of the Cantu and work it in by starting at the root and pulling down and raking your fingers through your curls to work the product in…you do that motion over and over and the curls clump and spiral NICELY…you repeat this section and pulling down on all your hair section by section and BAM…curls!
NOTEL: It’s important not to manipulate or touch your hair while it is wet, let it dry and then you can fluff and you will MAINTAIN the curls…they stay…my hair is looking BETTER AND BETTER…and this is DAY THREE!

I highly recommend the baking soda treatment…will definitely make this part of the regimen!

Blah, blah, BLOG!

Just getting started....kids in Cali for the summer and I thought I would start blogging; about what? Random things I think until I find my niche and rythmn...I thought about taking on a Harriet Tubman 2.0 of natural hair persona...you know, leading the chemicalized and oppressed to the freedom train of liberated locs but there are soooo many good blogs out there already on natural hair. I will share some excellent natural hair links once I figure this out.

Hmmmm.

Readers...(yes, me and my mama establish a readership) would be bored to tears logging on to read about my life in the P H X...that's even a boring acronym compared to the visceral sound of the "ATL" but alas, my life as I know it at least for now.

I'm a pray about it, get some of that RUAH (creative energy of God) and astound you all...OK- maybe just you mama with a God idea that will keep you coming back for more! Sort of like when I do the Stanky Leg in public...you want to look away but you just can't.