Wednesday 21 December 2011

Really 5 months??!! *hides face*

I just posted on my other blog that I feel like a neglectful spouse, but in this case I feel like an absentee spouse. Like maybe a trial separation was involved or something. Or even a runaway bride. The point is I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. How ridiculous! This will NOT happen again. :(

Alot of it was because I didn't have anything to say and then it had been too long since i'd last said anything to just jump back in with something I did have to say...
The long and the short of it is I am a crappy blogger and I will try to be better in the future.

Now for the hair talk. There are pros and cons going on. The back of my hair is collarbone length- pro, the front of my hair is borderline shoulder length- pro and despite kinda ignoring my hair for the past couple of weeks ( deadlines *sigh*) I still have hair on my head- pro.

The cons however get me down, like i'm fighting a loosing battle: dryness- CON. Like seriously? still? I feel like a broken record. Remember NaturalCurls from some posts ago? My hair scoffed at that ish, and it smelt medicinal o_O no bueno. I then moved on to the infamous Giovanni direct leave in which to be fair does something, esp in the detangling department, but that moisturising feel doesn't even last a day!

Will I never have moisturised hair?

I came across a product line that was based here in the UK called Crown Pride Naturals. I ordered their Hair Milk, Avocado Conditioner, and samples of their gel and pomade.
I am trying, despite my hair fighting me every step of the way!
I feel like if this doesn't work then nothing will ( ._.)

Yes I know that i'm overreacting but i'm feeling weary!!
Don't even get me started on mid shaft splits (despite eliminating combing), SSK's, and how drying my hair in a bun resulted in stretched roots but matted, tangled, shrunked ends. CON, CON, CON!!!

Other than that I seem to have master the canerow and flat twist out

Skip to 7:35 to see me, not a plug!! This flat twist out was done on just washed, wet hair which is why it was so shrunked. I used GDLI, shea butter and aloe vera gel, in that order.

Thats one thing I love about natural hair though, I can have it short and compact or big and wild just by changing whether I style it wet or dry.

Thats all for now dearies
but more soon, I promise!

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Canerow/ Cornrow outs, my new love..

It has NOT been four months!
Ok it has, but I can't believe it's been four months since I last posted ¬¬
I don't even know why...for a long time I wasn't really doing anything special with my hair and then.. I dunno. But i'm here and i'm going to talk braid outs.

Now I don't do twist outs because my hair is not a fan of twists. My roots get really matted in large twists and i'd have to do really small ones to stop this from happening and to get my hair to fall in the way i'd want.

So a few weeks ago I had a performance. And I was thinking of how to do my hair for it. Twist-out weren't an option and a braid outs don't really fall right either because my roots are so thick so I thought to my self: let me try a canerow out.

I moisturised with Giovanni Direct Leave-In and sealed with shea butter and aloe vera gel.
With a side part at the front of my head I braided the front section. 4 canerows on each side of the part going from part to ear. Then I braided the back; 6 canerows going straight down to my neck. I donned a satin scarf and visited slumberland. The next day I put some oil on my hands and carefully took down the plaits.

The results were amazing! I never knew my hair could look like that.



And it stayed that way all day! I got sooo many compliments about my hair lol, but nobody was more surprised than I was.

I've experimented with different sized braids, different amounts and even different canerow patterns.
It nice to have a go-to style :)

Oh and the back of my hair is now collarbone length. When did that happen?

Rels x

Saturday 12 March 2011

Twists + Bantu Knot Out = Result!!!!!

when I first took down the knots
I had a curly fro!
i pinned it back and voila :)
Hey Guys,

I am so incredibly happy right now, yesterday I had a great hair moment! For those of you who don't know (and why would you since I haven't mentioned it lol) outside of education I'm a singer/songwriter. In a couple weeks I have a performance and I wanted to try something new with my hair. A while ago I watched this video and was intrigued by the use of shea butter and aloe vera gel. My twist outs never hold their curl and so I never wear them. I didn't want to add a curly butter/pudding to my list of things to find and so I was eager to try the shea and aloe.

On Wednesday night I was reading Curly Nikki she mentioned twisting the front bit of a twist section before twisting the whole twist (confused?) instead of securing the roots with a clip (which never worked for me) so again I was eager to try this. So on Thursday night I was thinking of what to do to my hair for my band rehearsal the following Friday and was like, I might as well try a mix of Kimmay's and Nikki's methods (I didn't want to solely use Kimmay's method because I was in absolutely no mood to tackle flat twisting my whole head ¬¬). It was eleven thirty, my bed was beckoning but I ignored it's call and sat in front of my mirror; here's what I did.

The Method:



  • I put some coconut oil on my hands and took down my wash day flat twists. My hair was completely naked- no product in it whatsoever (I washed and steamed on Sunday, put some coconut oil on and flat twisted- that was the LAST time I touched my hair!)
  • Separated a section hair to twist and finger detangled (my hair wasn't that tangled so this was quick)
  • Applied Giovanni's Direct Leave In (this had to be worked in. I mean WORKED IN. My hair was dryyy but I didn't want to use my normal leave in (Kimmay's Leave in aka the Direct Leave In on steroids) because I didn't see the point of using ALJ and ALG together. This was the first time I'd used it on dry hair, I didn't want to wet my hair because I was trying to minimise shrinkage. 
  • Worked in leave in: Rubbed in hands, stroked into hair, left for a few seconds, stroked some more= moisturised hair. If I didn't work it in my hair would just laugh at the attempt at moisturising and remain dry and crispy.
  • Melted some shea butter in my palms and stroked onto hair
  • Rubbed a tiny blob of ALG in palms and applied to hair
Now for the bit that's hard to describe
  • I took a section and halved it (as you would to begin twisting)
  • I then sectioned off a small bit of the top of a half section
  • I did this for both half sections. So the original section has now become 4: two small and two big
  • I took the small sections and twisted 5 times
  • I then took the remaining half sections, one in each hand, and joined it to the ends of the small twist and twisted it all.
Does that make any sense?? The original sectioned hair become a big twist with a twisted front. At this point I am soo sick of the word section.
  • Lastly I tied the twist into a bantu knot/china bump (I called them China bumps when I was a kid-didn't hear of bantu knots until NHCBs) and that was it.
Wrapped a satin scarf around my head, got into bed (It was like one in the morning at this point) and CONKED out! The next day when I showered I kept the scarf ON. I didn't want any steam getting in my hair and preventing definition. After dressing I stood in the mirror and took a deep breath. I've had many hair disappointments..the moment of truth had arrived. I rubbed some EVOO on my hands and took down the knots. OMG. OMG. Oh My Gosh!!!!!!! My hair was soft and curly (Is that a brand name?). Like FOR REAL!! I was weary of the shea butter because I tried using I when I first started wearing my hair out but we didn't mesh, but guys O how we mesh :)

This will definitely be revisited. That day I got so many compliments about my hair! And it stayed defined and moisturised ALL DAY despite riding my bike to and from rehearsal!! 

The pics don't really show how curly it actually was :( but, 
I feel very much like the cat that got the cream :)


Cat. Cream.
Here's a clip of me a few months ago

I hope this finds you well :)
Rels x

Monday 7 March 2011

Thoughts, Thoughts, Thoughts


Hey Guys,

I've been trying out alot of things with my hair; trying to get a specific result; winning some, loosing some and loosing some more. It occured to me that SO many times on this HJ I've been adding 2 and 2 and getting 5.
Now I did math at A level and I can't ever think of a situation where this is true. There are certain things that we do to our hair that serve no purpose- like none whatsoever or cause serious setbacks, and we do them out of habit or tradition or I dunno- other reasons lol.

Some 2+2=5 moments (from personal experience):
  • My hair breaks when I comb my hair, so i'll continue to comb my hair whenever I style etc. Does this make sense? Like really? The only time I notice breakage is when I comb my hair. I remember at the beginning of wearing my hair out; I combed my hair every time I styled. No wonder my hair never grew, or rather no wonder I never retained any length. Now I try to only comb my hair on wash day, during the week I finger detangle. This month i'm going to try to comb even less- it's hard because my hair is seriously dense and gets denser ever day but combs are NOT my friend.
  • I'm applying something to my hair, straight away it doesn't feel right but I started so I must finish ¬¬ *Slaps hand over eyes and shakes head*. Am I the only one that does this? (probably). This was the case for NaturalCurls buttermilk on wet hair, teeny weeny two strand twists, the infamous FROHAWK incident *sigh*. It's so important to listen to your hair. If it feels wrong then STOP!
  • A good moisturiser has to be an expensive store bought thin concoction made esp. for natural hair. If it's not working; maybe my hair is supposed to feel parched and crap. Ok maybe that last part was a bit of an exaggeration but seriously, my search for a moisturiser was endless until I picked up a spray bottle and spritzed my hair with water.To moisturise = To make more humid. Humid= containing a great deal of water vapour therefore WATER = 4 NOT 5!!!!!! If my old maths teacher could see me now! lol 
  • Lastly, this small unrepresentative section of my hair has more splits or knots than usual so I'm going to take like two inches off my whole entire head. This is like I have a small paper cut on the edge of my finger so I'm going to cut off my whole hand. Not from my knuckle, not even the finger: The Whole Hand. I haven't trimmed by hair in at least 6 months and my ends are thanking me for it. Whenever I see a knot or a split-that ONE hair gets chopped. My hair is actually retaining its length and my ends are healthy.
I used to always wonder why my hair never got any longer and now its so obvious why.
These are just a few 2+2=5 moments, there have been many and there will probably (unfortunately) be more. But this HJ is just that, a hair JOURNEY. We learn, we grow (and so does our hair hehe).

I hope this finds you well,
Rels x




Wednesday 2 March 2011

Coconut Milk = Protein, genius ¬¬


Hey Guys,

I have been incredibly lazy when it comes to posting.. I know I have, isn't acknowledging you have a problem the first step to overcoming it? hehe.
In this post i'm going to take you through my experience using coconut milk as a deep treatment. I had a bit of a blond moment when it came to this DC. I haven't done a protein treatment in absolute yonks, mostly because my hair doesn't need it. In the past when i've done a protein treatment I usually followed it up with a moisturising DC but this time round my brain got distracted by the fact that I wasn't using a store bought PT so I didn't realise I was doing a PT lol. Hence my title: Coconut Milk = Protein because, it does!

I made quite a few mistakes.
1) Not realising I was doing a PT
2) Not realising how much coconut milk is in one can which led to making too much
so now I have a tub of something I wont use often in my fridge, happy days! Not.
3) Being a bit heavy handed resulting in a mixture that was much more liquidy than I would've liked.

The Mix?

  • 1 can of coconut milk (This is how much I used but USE LESS!!!)
  • 4 tbsp honey (there isnt a specific reason why I put four tbsp. It could've been three, five, a gahjillion..)
  • some aloe vera juice (probs not enough to be moisturising, next time it'll be a heap of AVJ)
  • Coconut, Olive and Amla oils (as much as I felt like)

Im sure I would've chucked some eucalyptus and almond oil in there as im trying to get rid of them.

So after washing (in twists) with my Giovanni Triple Treat clarifying shampoo I put the mix over my twists. I would've unraveled then applied but there was no point since my mix was so thin. After my hair was drenched with this I put a tesco bag over my head and sat under my steamer.

*note* When I was applying the mix I stood with my head over the bowl that contained it. That way any excess went back into the bowl to be used again. Obvi if the consistency was thicker this wouldnt be needed.

After steaming I rinsed out the mix with cool water (all still in twists)

Did I apply a leave in and seal? Maybe... See this is why I should post right after I do these things kmt!

The Verdict?
The next day once my hair had dried I took down a twist and realised my hair was crrrrrispy loool, it wasn't in a OMG WHAT HAS HAPPENED! way, but more in a hmm..this is new. I remember thinking is this the protein overload thing I've heard about? (lol) and im sure my leave-in containing protein didnt help matter at all. So to revive my hair I simply spritzed with my glycerin mix, sealed and retwisted. All was right in the world.

I guess I couldn't really give an opinion on this because my hair didn't need a protein treatment so that whole wash day was pretty pointless. And now i've got a bunch of PT mix in my fridge that I wont use *sigh*. But the next day crispiness suggests that it works..

I really did enjoy the smell of coconut though :)

Rels x
this is how the coconut milk looked outta the can
i'd added some aloe vera juice at this point
heres the final consistency 
my roots are getting soooo thick
¬¬
for no reason
ugh! tis v. annoying

Thursday 24 February 2011

Itchy scalp be gone!!


Hey guys, 

So the pic is a bit of an exaggeration lol. I have an itchy scalp. I don't know why or how long i've had it for, but it itches like no mans business. On wash day I clarified with my clarifying shampoo thinking maybe the cause of said itch is build up (even though I don't use that much product) but the itch still exists ¬¬.

But no fear, I have a plan! I remember reading about peppermint oil being good for itchy scalp, but I really don't want to buy another oil. Like, really. I still haven't used up my Eucalyptus, Sweet Almond, or Avocado that I bought at the beginning of my HJ a year ago *sigh*. Anyways I've decided to do a peppermint tea rinse. I've been itching to do a tea rinse ever since I heard about them. HA see what I did there? itching! No? I guess i'll laugh by myself then. 

So it looks like this weeks wash day is gonna be jam packed with DIY goodness. 
The plan is to:
  • Prepoo with Coconut oil (maybe...i'm still not convinced about prepoo-ing, infact I feel like it's a waste of oil, but apparently it helps against hair damage due to your hair swelling with water..)
  • Shampoo with my Cream of Nature shampers,- the old formula with no no-go's
  • DC with a DIY banana deep condition adding some of my coconut milk mix from last weeks wash day (more on this soon)
  • Rinse with Peppermint Tea hopefully ridding myself of that itch!
*All of this will be done in twists, my hair tangles like a...i dunno? What tangles? *Googles "things that tangle"* The results are highly disappointing. 
I got a bit off topic, to avoid unneccesary tangles, twists have become a neccessity!

So that's my wash day plan. The reason for all this experimentation (other than the fact that I like experimenting) is after a year of usage I realised my faithful DC: Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Conditoner had cones in it. :( So when it finished a couple weeks ago I refrained from repurchase. Im trying to be cone free. For those of you who don't know cones are silicones I don't like using products with cones because to get rid of them you have to use poos with sulphates which strip and dry!
And we all know how I feel about things that dry out my hair. They are the enemy.
Right, so i'm looking around for a new DC thought i'd try some homemade stuff before shelling out for a more expensive cone free DC.

Im kinda looking forward to the banana-ness that will occur :)
Much love,
Rels x



Monday 21 February 2011

All scarfed up!



Hey Readers,

Last week I had the laziest hair week ever! After a DISASTROUS encounter with baking soda, shikkakai powder and amla powder (post coming soon) I was just grateful I had hair left on my head.

not as good as my previous f.t-out
but there are some curls
These days I have no idea what to do with my hair ¬¬. It's very annoying, I do all the prep, get to the mirror and its just a bunch of blank stares *sigh*

i wanted to see how
my hair would come out
if i twisted in smaller sections
On tuesday night I took out my wash day twists, spritzed with my glycerin mix, sealed with coconut oil and flat twisted my hair. Wednesday morning I took down the twists with coconut oil on my hands and my hair felt great. Soft, moisturised; it was begging to be styled. I looked at it and said to myself "I want to style you, but I cant" *BLANK STARE* so I ended up donning a scarf for the first but defo not last time in my natural life.

I packed my hair into a loose bun, left out the pomp and tied the scarf. I couldn't believe how easy it all was. I got sooo many compliments that day; in my head I was like for real? They were like "You look nice Rells" I was like I was too lazy to figure out what to do with my hair "Thank you :) "

When I got home I spritzed and flat twisted again, this time- five big ones from ear to ear and the next time I didn't even bother to take them all down. I took out the top one, did a pomp donned a different scarf and Bob's your uncle!

Eventually i'm going to have to get past this style estrangement because I don't have enough scarves lol and more importantly I don't want to always hide my hair under a scarf..
Tbh though I loved that I could go from the mirror- outta the house in 60 seconds.

im told i look 14
im 19 ¬¬
those 5 years make a big difference




Hope alls well in your natural world
Rels x

Saturday 19 February 2011

Titles slow me down ¬¬

Hey Readers,

I've got a whole heap of things I haven't posted. Like a humongous pile in my head labelled things to blog. And as new things get added to the pile; old ones disappear so before I forget I wanted to do a quick post on a protective style that I loved.

this is it after a week
on the way to buy shea butter with Fi
i was like i left my camera in Reading
can you take a picture of my hair?
i love that she didnt question me
<3
I remember seeing this video agess and thinking pshh I could never do that! My THICK head of hair? What a joke, especially because her hair texture is sooo different to mine, but when I was travelling to Reading I needed something that would tuck my hair away. The idea of my strands rubbing on the back of train seats is enough to keep me awake at night. The video came to mind, I tried it and it worked! It took patience- don't get me wrong, I think that's the longest its ever taken me to do a french braid, but then the time is justified by the amount of hair I had to pack in.
So yeah, sectioned off my usual pomp (the pomp she does is different), french braided, secured with bobby pins (my best friend) and hey presto! I had the laziest hair week ever, like for real. Travelling was a breeze, sleeping somewhere without my arsenal of hair stuffs was also a breeze. At night I just donned a satin scarf and in the mornings I redid the pomp if it needed reviving.

I ended up keeping this in for a week, I could've kept it in for longer but I wanted to wash my hair.
Hmm.. I really should do that style again.



For those of you who were wondering, these pics were taken on the same day as the famous 99p coconut oil episode lol, Fi and I had just conquered Mare Street and were en route to Homerton High Street to hunt down some Shea butter. Those of you who weren't wondering need to read this blog more *grin* lol.


you can see the braid abit better here
next time i do it ima try and get in more uniform
alright for a first try though

As always, I hope this post finds you well
Rels




Monday 14 February 2011

I'm in luuuuurve!!!!!!!

this is how i feel when i look at my glycerin spray bottle
lol

Yes Readers,

On this day, this wonderful Valentines day I am professing my love, shouting from the rooftops and skywriting:
I LOVE GLYCERIN!!

hehe.But all jokes aside, last week I had my best hair week ever!! Last Monday I took out the french braid that I'd worn for the last five days and shampooed. I put in my Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner mixed with olive, coconut, amla and a few drops of eucalyptus oil and sat under my new steamer.

The steamer is not the reason for the best hair week. In fact I'm not too sure if I'm in love with steaming. But I'm reserving my judgement until I steam on the right setting lol and steam with twists in- steaming with my hair loose resulted in tangles galore ¬¬.
bottle- a £ shop, but it didn't cost a pound ¬¬
coconut oil- indian grocers
glycerin- boots
eucalyptus oil- chemist direct
i think..
So I got out from under the steamer and could not be bothered to put my hair in twists. I was tired after dealing with my hair for so long and just wanted the process to be over so I flat twisted my hair. Two on each side of a middle part at the front (middle part to ear) and four at the back.

I probably sealed with an oil before twisting but I can't remember.

On Tuesday my aloe vera juice arrived then Wednesday brought Giovanni's leave-in. As soon as my leave in came I tested it. I will do a post on it soon. And to be fair I tested it against my NaturalCurls buttermilk to see which was better at moisturising..

I'm getting off topic. On Wednesday night I decided to whip up a glycerin mix. To my little spray bottle I added water, glycerin, a bit of coconut oil and a few drops of eucalyptus oil (I'm trying to use this up so I put it in everything lol) and shook it until my arm was sore :D
I took down a twist, sprayed my hair, stroked it in so the mix was evenly distributed, sealed with coconut oil and then retwisted.

Things I noticed:

  • Shrinkage was less than when spraying with water
  • Shrinkage was LESS than when spraying with water 
  • and SHRINKAGE WAS LESS.. I'm kidding, the third point is my hair actually stayed moisturised!!
:O
are those curls?
i think those are curls
woo!!
the updo :)

added a scarf to tie it all together
excuse the pun hehe
and the messy room
its tidy now
i promise
 I couldn't believe it, on Thursday morning I felt my hair and it was soft and moisturised. With all other products by the next day it's as if I put nothing in my hair. Thursday night I did the same thing (I think). Friday morning brought my nineteenth birthday I took out all of the twists, scrunched in a teeny amount of my leave-in mix (post on this coming soon) and saw that my hair actually held the curls! This was a huge first. I was tempted to leave it like that but after the fro hawk incident I'm still abit traumatised. After staring at the mirror and wondering what to do with my hair I divided my hair in two, left my pomp and loosely flat twisted my hair into an updo.



the dress i wore
www.asos.com
My hair stayed moisturised all day, it has to be said- glycerin is my valentine.

Rels x

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Is that a silver lining?

i was soo chuffed with this find
i knitted the scarf myself btw
*blushes*

Hey Readers :)

So I literally had to close all NHCBs and force myself to type this. Not because I didn't want to but because if I didn't write this now it would never get done lol!

I have to say guys, Monday was the BEST #NaturalHair day I've had in all 18 years and 363 days of being natural. For some reason I woke up that morning in the mood to peruse the natural hair web community, I do this often, but also in the mood to try some new things on my hair- we all know of my search for a moisturiser. That morning I must've been reading blogs for at least 4 hours. I found some more UK naturals *cheer* and some more online stores *cheer again*. Somehow I thought to try Kimmay's leave-in that i'd heard being raved about, but obvi it would have to be modified as I don't have Kinky Curly Knot Today.

(1) Find good leave-in condish

I'd also noticed that my coconut oil was running alarmingly low so I spent time online looking for a top up that wouldn't burn my pocket

(2) Find cheap (but good) coconut oil

Since the search for something to moisturise my hair had popped up again I remembered glycerin; i'd heard great things about it but apparently it shouldn't be used in the winter but while reading Natural Haven that got discounted so..

(3) Find cheap (but good) glycerin
Are we noticing a pattern here?

Finally Kimmay's recipe required Aloe Vera Juice so naturally

(4) Find cheap (BUT GOOD) Aloe Vera Juice was added to my list.
I was so determined to solve my problems without burning my pocket. This natural hair-ness has to be sustainable. I have to be able to maintain it when im rolling in the ma-honies and also when i'm counting pennies- especially with uni at the end of the year..

I felt like a detective, no stone was left unturned, hours and hours trying to find the better deal, taking into account postage costs.. I decided on Giovanni's Direct Leave-In for (1). Once again it came highly recommended and reviewed. It came down to two stores for where I was gonna buy it from:
Here and here. I came across Skin Nutrition first (b/n the two) and it looked as though I was going to buy from them but that £3 shipping (if I was buying more it wouldn't be a problem) was killing me. It meant something I would've spent £6.38 became £9.38. Now I hope know you guys can do the math lol, that three pounds made all the difference and I held off in checking out. About an hour later I came across Naturismo and straight away I saw FREE DELIVERY. I don't think you guys understand how much I love free delivery. I mean- really. So instead of £9.38 I spent £8.00 I know some of you are rolling your eyes at the £1.38 difference, but those £1.38's really add up, especially when you're taking a break from rolling in it lol.

 Trying to get Coconut Oil online is an excuse to waste money, after seeing some RIDICULOUS prices for minuscule amounts I decided to leave that until I tried Mare Street later that day. For those of you not familiar with my borough (why would you be lol) Mare Street is my nearest shopping area.

Thanks to Google Shopping I knew that the cheapest glycerin available was to be found at Boots which had a store in Mare Street so I decided to leave that for later as well.

All that was left to buy was the Aloe Vera Juice which wasn't as great a success as my leave-in. In the end I decided to buy it from here because it was the cheapest I could find it online. Later when I was on my errands
I found the same amount for just under £5. I bought it for £6.38. Am I the only one who finds it ironic that it's a similar amount to what I saved on my leave-in? Anyway, so I could tick this off my list.

This is all abit long isn't it?

i HAD to buy two! :)
I'd ordered the leave-in and the aloe so it was time to take a trip to mare street. I remembered that a friend of mine had recently done a big chop and wanted some advice on some hair products so I invited her to come with. First thing on the agenda? Coconut Oil. Now, mare street is littered with mini supermarkets- I think there are like 5 on one road, we went into the first one and walked straight to the oil section. Guess how much a 250ml bottle cost! GUESS!!

99p!!!!!!!!!! hehe. I was so chuffed! Especially because online, incl. shipping its would've cost four times as much. I got two bottles *blushes*. Both together cost less than my 150ml bottle from Paks that came to £3 or more.. I can't remember. I also got a 200ml bottle of glycerin from Boots for £1.62.
Boots also had a really good selection of Aussie Moist shampoos and conditioners...
My final purchase was 3 packets of Shea butter for £3 at a pound a bag from a Nigerian store. Another bargain. All in all Monday was very satisfying. To round up my purchases:

Giovanni's Direct Leave-in Weightless Moisture Conditioner 250ml purchased at www.naturismo.co.uk for £8.00
Aloe Pura Bio-Active Maximum Strength Aloe Vera Juice 500ml purchased at www.feelunique but its cheaper in Paks (if you have one near you otherwise the difference is pretty much bus fare)
Glycerin 200ml purchased at my local Boots for £1.62 but you can also get it at www.boots.com
KTC Pure Coconut Oil 250ml purchased at a local Indian run supermarket for 99p
Shea Butter three packets/bags purchased at a Nigerian run store at £1 a bag.

I'm so happy that these things are readily available to me!
Where do you get your things from?
Rels x


Thursday 3 February 2011

Musings..


Hey Readers,


I wanted to let you know that I'm feeling better on the whole moisturising front. These days I've been moisturising and sealing only my ends when styling my hair; a tiny amount for each section and then sealing with an oil, usually Vatika. Right now I'm sitting in my friends dorm room at Reading University :) My hair is in an up do as usual. A french braid from the back of my head to the top with a pomp at the front; I needed something that was easy to maintain while I was away from home.

I wanted to share an experience with you guys though. On Tuesday I had a meeting with my band and afterwards we were hanging around, talking, everything was cool. Then I noticed one of my singers staring at me strangely. I called him up on it: 'Is something wrong?' and he replied 'No, but you have pepper grains all over the place' then I said 'Well, that's my hair.'

Despite my quick retort I couldn't help feeling slightly stung. Don't get me wrong; the band, my guys, they love my hair and wouldn't want it any other way, neither would I. But I don't know..it hurt a bit. It wasn't just the criticism, I thought about it. Wondered if I would've felt as stung if it was a reference to any other part of my appearance but I don't think I would've. I mean its both 'Just hair!' and so much more than that at the same time..

(Personally I think he was a bit off mark..but that's neither here nor there)

On a brighter note, another one of my singers decided to cut her hair *big cheers* and here's a quick snap
As always, I hope this post finds you well
Rels x



Sunday 30 January 2011

When I think of a title i'll let you know.

Hey Readers,

So I thought i'd share some shots i've snapped since starting this blog but never posted.

this is my blox of goodies that came from here


this is what I used for my second henna mix

a shot of my hair before henna

this past week i've worn my hair in twists
at night I band them otherwise they shrink even
more than normal.

That's all from me :)
Rels x


Saturday 29 January 2011

*sigh* at least I tried & NaturalCurls buttermilk part 2


*Sigh*
Hey Readers,

i took this while holidaying in Dubai :)
I'm feeling a bit down in the dumps about my hair + hair journey. Yesterday when getting ready for my band rehearsal I thought I would do something new with my hair especially since I was armed with my new moisturiser. I lightly spritzed my hair with a light water, condish and oil mix, took down my twists moisturised and detangled.  I noticed that when applying the moisturiser my hair felt moisturised and then afterwards didn't. Despite sealing. Hmm..maybe i'll try sealing with a heavier oil next time (I used Vatika Oil).
So that's one reason for the downness- is my hair never going to be moisturised? It doesn't look dry or anything but i'm yet to feel that moisturised feeling for more than a minute.

i will defo stick to this and variations
from now on!
The other reason is I have learnt the hard way- my hair DOES NOT like to be left out! Continuing with the story: I was going for something new (usually I do a pomp and a bun). After I had detangled, my hair stood there in it's afro glory, it looked awesome but there was no way I was leaving all of my ends out! I cornrowed the back half of my hair up and flat twisted a fifth of the front so the majority of my hair was out; kinda like a half frohawk at an angle, it looked really cool after shaping and pinning. At this point I was still weary of leaving my ends out but tons of people on NHCBs do..

After about ten minutes I was like "I cannot do it", I put took out the flat twist and pulled my hair into a bun leaving the back cornrowed and added my pomp. I could feel the tangles in my hair just for that small time it was out!! Ugh. I went to my rehearsal and as soon as I got back I co-washed and detangled my hair and said never again!! Frohawks and fros are not for me!

At least my curiosity is satisfied..
I will be deep conditioning tomorrow.
As always, I hope you're well
Nat-Rel x

Friday 28 January 2011

Maybe I should be a lip model..LOL


This is what happens when it's 3 am and I can't sleep.

I'd exhausted all other forms of preventing boredom: poker, music, Asos, NHCBs etc 
so I thought I'd decide what to wear for rehearsal with my band (later today). 
Decided the outfit, a simple black tshirt dress and my cream ankle boots (that I haven't worn yet, despite having bought them MONTHS ago) and a cream corsage to tie it all together. 
I was looking in the mirror and my lipstick caught my eye. Now I don't wear that much make up, in fact I very rarely wear makeup. But when I do its mostly eyeliner + subtle eyeshadow or lippy, never both. my face can't hack it and I end up looking like a drag queen.
Another thing I tend to do when i'm bored is apply make up, I dabbed some olive oil on my lips and then put on the lipstick (Rimmel London Moisture Renew- Shade: Burgundy Delight)
I put the olive oil on because if I don't my lips dry out like the Sahara. Anywho, snapped some pictures and thought i'd share :) 


I got that burn on my hand taking brownies I made for my drummer outta the oven
Use protection guys!
*Please note: Under natural light the colour is not as vibrant, it's more subtle, the flash on my camera makes it appear so...'popping' LOL

As always, I hope you're well
Rels x




Tuesday 25 January 2011

#2

I don't think I have anything floral in my wardrobe..
Would wear this with my leather jacket + flats
*sigh* I need a job. Being unemployed after working for 3 years is no fun
It doesn't matter that I'm only 18 (19 in February). I'm used to having money.

I have to remind myself why I'm not working at the moment and practice patience, knowing that it's only for a little while.

Rels x

#1


Seriously guys, I want this bike! Paying adult fare on public transport in London is a b*tch..
*sigh* that's the one thing I don't like about gap year-ing; the lack of a student oyster card.

Rels x


Saturday 22 January 2011

Henna Results!!



I've been meaning to post the results of my henna-ing for a while now and i've finally gotten round to doing it.
So what did I do? 

In a bowl I mixed:
100g Henna
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup V05 Conditioner

I left this covered overnight and then right before I applied the mix I added some coconut oil
this is what it looked like the morning after

Here are some before pictures of my unwashed hair 


I divided my hair into sections and loosely twisted to make applying the henna easier. I undid a section, firmly stroked it (yes stroking, it helps detangle and get rid of shed hairs-trust, it's the lick!) and generously slopped on henna. Make sure you use plastic gloves because henna stains! (It is a dye after all lol)

Alot of people said they found the process extremely messy but I didn't..I made sure I put down newspaper just in case though. Maybe I should've mentioned that first.

After a section was complete I retwisted and moved on. I think its worth noting that the mix I made was enough to do my whole head twice so by the time I finished applying my hair was COATED! I donned a shower cap and left overnight.

Another thing worth noting is that henna stinks lol. There's no way to sugar coat it. Some people say it smells like wet grass but I felt it was more similar to vomit.. You do get used to it though. If you're leaving it overnight (like I did) be prepared to put your pillow cases and sheets in the wash because the scent clings..

This is what my hair looked like when I took off the shower cap (and the plastic bag I added on top of that). At this point my head felt a bit heavy but not uncomfortably so. I filled up a bucket with warm water, dunked my
head in and rinsed out as much mix as I could.

I remember thinking ooh my hair feels 
stronger..I also remember thinking it looks like i'm taking a bath in coca cola. Anywho, next I jumped in the shower armed with my conditioner and shampoo. I used the conditioner and shower stream to wash out the remaining henna and then shampooed., all still in twists.
 It went something like: undo twist, rinse and stroke, add condish, stroke, rinse under water stream, add poo(shampoo), scrub scalp, rinse until water runs clear, retwist. It didnt take as long as it sounds. Oh and when I say scrub I mean with finger tips, sort of like scratching but not.
After I was sure all the gunk was out of my hair I jumped out the shower and blotted my hair with a towel so it was no longer dripping wet but damp. It was now time to deep condition.

                                                    
Back to the bowl, I added:
ORS Replenishing conditioner    
some Amla Oil
some Extra Virgin Olive Oil
a few drops of Eucalyptus Oil

I mixed it all together, applied to my hair, put on a shower cap and left it for like 2 hours.

I rinsed with cold water and towel blotted my hair so it wasnt dripping wet applied a moisturiser (a crap one, I was still waiting for my NaturalCurls buttermilk to arrive) mixed with some Vatika Oil and twisted my hair.


This is the end result.
So my Henna verdict? I can't say the results I got were from the henna itself or the new use of oil in my DC but my hair was easier to manage, I had minimal shedding and breakage. I also noticed a decrease in single strand knots! As I type this a new henna mix is sitting thats got amla, brahmi and shikakai powder mixed in with it. I'm not sure if you're supposed to mix in ayur powders with henna but I guess I'll find out soon enough!

Results will be posted soon.
Rels x