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