What I've been up to

I've been a very bad girl when it comes to my blogs! With the pending arrival of my grandniece I've been busy making shower gifts for a shower that was cancelled for personal reasons and making gifts for the baby. Since my niece tends to read my blogs I had to hold off on my writing cause she's so nosy! And more so because I am so excited about her baby that I go home and knit or crochet, most days before I even eat anything so blogging has definitely taken a back seat. Have no fear my modest group of followers, I have been diligent with my hair! I am proud to say that my pjism is under control and I haven't really bought any new products to review lately; all my money has been feeding my other addiction, yarn.
What have I done new, I have been doing hair baggies. Waiting until it got warm to do this was a good idea. If, like me you don't use heat, you can't be running around in 30 degree weather with a wet head. So now that it's warm I have been bagging every night. I guess I'm doing it correctly, I just know I love the results. If someone else does it differently, it's about what works for you.

1. Make sure hair is wet, I usually spritz mine real good in the evening after work with my condish, evoo and water leave-in.
2. Appy shealoe and smooth into two ponytails with those seamless pony holders.
3. Separate each ponytail into 3-5 plaits.
4. Wrap saran wrap around each ponytail or put a baggy on and secure with another ponytail holder. I like the saran wrap because it will hold on it's own meaning less bulk on my head. I'm one of those ladies who hates to sleep in rollers or anything bulky.
5. Put on satin cap/scarf and secure for the night.
6. In the AM remove the plastic and fluff lightly to get rid of the part down the back. The front will remain flat and smooth, so you can put on a head band or whatever accessories you'd like. Now get ready for comps(compliments) all day long as you strut your naptitude!!

What else have I been doing with my hair? What's the problem with type 4 hair girls? SHRINKAGE!!!! I know, I know, I know.
I found an answer that works for me but it's not pretty. I'm working on a better way though remember I tend to march to the beat of my own drums so there probably is already a better answer. Anywho, after washing, moisture and double-strand twisting I pin/clip my hair up. I pull the left side to the right, the right side to the left, the front straight back and the back over that to the front pinning as I go. As I said it's really not pretty when I finish but it's comfortable enough to sleep in so that my hair can completely dry. This I only do when I am not planning on going out so it stays like this pretty much all weekend. I know, I do not have a life, just give me coffee, tv and yarn and I'm a very happy girl!! So, come Monday when you pull out all the clips your hair will fall on your shoulders instead of tinkling your earlobes all day. This is a process that can be repeated Monday night and you don't have to use much moisture. Just pin up again and drop it in the morning; otherwise, it will continue to shrink back up to the those lobes. Honestly, I do have pics but since, I'm writing this during my lunch break those will have to come in a later post.

As promised, below are pics of my hair bagged for the night and taken out the next day.

Keep it real, keep it natural YY

The Nappy Language

I am so in love with being natural even on the day when my hair doesn't do what I want it to do. I have become quite a pj if I say so myself.

One of the things I really love about being natural is the winks and nods. When I'm walking down the street, head held high, and see fellow nappy head. We don't even have to speak, we just kind of nod and smile at each other. . I love it when I talk with a complete stranger and speak the secret nappy langage using words like: ACV, TWA, condish, co wash, no poo, ORS, TW and cones.

As the new year approaches and people being to make resolutions, I don't make resolutions I make life changes, I look forward to moving further in this journey of nappiest. I hope to reach a point where I wont hate to co-wash because my hair is soooo coily. Instead I can just look forward to learning new styles that will aw my family and friends. Maybe I will be able to bring a few over to coily side!!

VO5 Tea Therapy Conditioner

Well needing to try a different leave-in conditioner, on Friday I went back to my Family Dollar to see what else they had. Well new supplies were in and with them was VO5 Tea Therapy Conditioner. Wow, I think my hair really likes this one. I could immediately see and feel the difference in my hair. It became softer right away and was so easy to manage as I flat twisted for the evening. This morning when I took my twist out I definitely was able to smile! I give this products two thumbs up for sure!!!
I don't know, I actually got this conditioner as a leave-in but I'm thinking it will work very well as a co-wash for me. Oh and the smell, because it's tea it's very pleasant, not perfumey or overpowering at all. If you are familiar and love the smell of Roots of Nature Shea Butter Green Tea stimulating scalp oil (I know it's a mouthful) then you will love the smell of VO5 Tea Therapy.
Today I was able to get Taliah Waajid products for $4.99 each! Now this was not back at the dollar store. I was in town and found this little store called Mini Mart & Beauty Supply on Maryland Ave about one blk above North Ave. If you live in or near Baltimore and know the area pop in. There's a couple of really cool guys who were very eager to help me find what I was looking for and get anything for future visits. I was hoping to get some castor or olive oil when I saw the TW. I couldn't believe the price and they had the entire line. Not being able to find the olive or castor oil I bought the African Healing Oyl and Lock it Up for my twist. I can't wait to use the Lock it Up tomorrow when I twist my hair. Its smell is delicious, like sweet coconut. The oil, or rather oyl, really doesn't have much of a smell at all. Wait, if I take a reeeeally deep drag I get a faint whiff of fragrance but it doesn't matter because I'm about to pass out from working so hard to smell something. LMBO
So what now? Even though I have the oyl I still have to get castor oil because I plan on joining a castor oil challege on blackhairplanet.com and I don't think I can use a different oil.

Still hanging in there

It's getting close to my anniversary, or should I say my hairiversary. Getting through the first year and beyond was very difficult. So many times I wanted to throw in the towel and go back to the chems. I am so happy I didn't do that.
So often my hair becomes a conversation piece. Total strangers have walked up to me and boldly asked questions about my hair. I have to admit, I haven't gotten any really stupid questions or comments other than when a sista told me my hair needed to be raked and it looked like grass that needed to be mowed. Funny, I'd forgotten these comments until I started this posting. Anyway, I wasn't offended at all, instead I looked her square in the eye and said, "Yeah but this is my real hair not store bought so whatever I do with it, it's all good. That ended the whole conversation becuase, eh she wears wigs. LMBO
I still have so much to learn about doing my own hair and it's so much fun. I have been noticing that my looks really dull and I was not pleased with this at all. On recent visits to hair care sites such as the coil review and motowngirl I discovered that I need to clarify my hair to remove chemical build up. There is great information about homemade, chem-free recipes for your hair, video links about hair styles, product reviews and all kinds of yummy information on these sites. I discovered that pretty much all the products I have been using on my hair are the wrong products for natural hair. I'll find some place to donate these product. There are places where people need help and the products are not really harmful, just not good for natural hair.
So for me, today is my spa day. I'll be at She' Bejai getting the works!!
*Baking soda and water to clarify my hair thus removing all the nasty chemical build up.
*Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner for co washing
*Elastra Conditioner for deep conditioning
*Olive Oil to moisturize my ends.
*Double strand twist for styling.
*Air dry
The fun doesn't stop there folks!! After all this I need a facial scrub and a foot soak & scrub. I should have some things around the house I can use for this as well. When I went shopping for my hair products I also bought eggs, apple cider vinegar, honey, and brown sugar. I know there's a home recipe in there somewhere. It seems the only thing missing is a massage to round out my day but seeing as how I can't do that myself...maybe a nice hot bubble bath will do. Of course this means I'll be home all day and probably night too but no one said beauty was easy. LOL. Anyway, when I go to work Monday there will definitely be a noticeable glow to my skin after so much self-pampering.