My Natural Hair Journey 08

A little Q and A from my natural hair journey!

Q: What is your hair type?
A: I don't know.

Q: What products do you use on your hair?
A: I use shampoo regularly. I also use conditioner. I use various leave-ins, gels and creams and butters.

Q: Is that your real hair?
A: Yes.

Q: How often do you wash your hair?
A: Once a week.

Q: How did you get your hair like that?
A: I flat twisted it.

Q: Do you co-wash only?
A: No.

Q: Why do you not co-wash?
A: I used to co wash only but I stopped.  I stopped because my hair seemed like something was missing from my hair care routine so I started washing with shampoo again. I use shampoo every. single. time. that I wash my hair.

Q: Do you still read natural hair blogs?
A: Not like I used to but yes, I still read them from time to time.

Q: Don't you get tired of doing your hair?
A: Yes, but I do it anyway.

Q: Why don't you get a perm?
A: Been there. Done that. Not repeating that.

Q: Why do you wear your hair like that?
A: I like it like that.

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

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My Natural Hair Journey 07

One of the things that really concerned me after I big chopped was hair growth.
I can't stress enough the importance of your diet not only for natural hair growth but also just because you are a woman.

And when I say diet, I don't mean something that you are on for 2 months.

Your diet is what you eat regularly.

So every time I mention the word diet in this post or on this blog, I am talking about how you eat daily.

So yeah.  Your diet is your lifestyle.

And after knowing that God makes your hair grow...period, the next thing to consider when trying to grow out your hair is your diet.

What are you eating on the day to day.  ...that's what one must take into account before even considering buying anybody's products.

I am a vegetarian.

I eat lots of vegetables.  I eat kale just about every. single. day.  I eat a lot of bananas via smoothies as well as other fruits like strawberries, berries and mangos.

I eat a lot of salads and legumes regularly.

Here are a few easy ways to increase your vegetable and fruit intake:

1. Make taco salads at home. I used to eat at Moe's and Chipotle a lot, but lately I have been home making my own kind of burritos turned taco salads.

For a Taco Salad you will need:
Corn Chips or Tortillia Chips
Beans (Black or Pinto)
Lettuce
Tomato
Onion
Black Olives
Green Olives
Cucumbers
Cilantro
Daiya Cheese
Tofutti Sour Cream
Salsa.

2. Eat a healthy breakfast such as fruit and oatmeal.

3. Have a vegetarian sub and get all the veggie's.

4. Order a vegetarian pizza and get all the veggies and add pineapples.

5. Add kale to your salads and to your smoothies.

6.  Make a kale salad:
    Kale
    Avocado
    Lemon Juice from a real lemon
    Sea Salt

7. Freeze your bananas as you see them getting very ripe.  Use frozen bananas with other frozen fruit to make a smoothie.

8.  Drink Almond Milk or Cashew milk or Coconut milk.

Of course, exercise and drinking water are essential to your health and overall well being as well.

What are some healthy things that you do to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

Let me know in the comment section below!

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3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
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My Natural Hair Journey 06

I started making my own natural hair butter back in 2011.
To this day, I still make my own natural hair butter.

One of the reasons that I created my own hair butter was to combat dryness from having color treated hair.

I follow a very simple recipe.

Although the recipe is simple, making your own hair butter takes time and concentration.

I start with Shea Butter.  Sometimes I use the white shea butter, but most of the time I use the yellow.

Because I have been doing this for so long, I eyeball the measurements.  That just means I look at the amount of each product and decide while making how much I will add.

But the main ingredient is always the shea butter.  The main ingredient means that it has more of that particular product than any of the others.  So in the case of this natural hair butter recipe it has mostly shea butter.

For this batch, I used white shea butter.  You can use any shea butter that you like to make your own hair butter.

One other thing that I have found is you can pretty much mix any variation of oils nicely with shea butter and get good results.

The instructions below are to be attempted at your own risk as this procedure involves very hot oil.

My Natural Hair Butter Recipe
Shea Butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coconut oil
Jojoba oil
Avocado oil
Apricot oil
Vitamin E oil

Melt the shea butter in a Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl

I use a very large pot and add water to the pot NOT the mixing bowl.
I put the Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl on top of the pot.
I then add the Shea Butter.

Then turn the stove on to medium to high heat.

It is best to let the shea butter melt slowly by using medium heat.  But high heat works too just watch closely.

I then add the other oils listed. As you go down the list, add less and less of that product.

I stir with a stainless steel spoon.

Now, when you remove this melted mixture, remove with cloth covered (pot holders) hands.  Also have a nice white clean towel on the counter to put it on.

The towel will absorb the water from the pot.

You do not want the water to get into the mixture.

Let cool for about 20 minutes or so.

Then cover the mixture with a lid or tin foil.

Place mixture in the freezer.

Yes, the freezer.

Let it stay in there for about 1- 3 hours depending on your schedule and depending how well the mixture settles.

Take out of freezer.

Let sit out for a few minutes to kind of thaw out.

Take a hand mixer and start mixing the natural hair butter.

Mixing it will cause it to fluff up.

Hopefully it will fluff up a lot for you!

If you like you could put back in the freezer for a few and remix the product.

If not, scoop out the product with a clean stainless steel spoon and put into clean jars.

Enjoy your very own Natural hair Butter!!

Have you ever made your own hair butter?

But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. -Matthew 25:4

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My Natural Hair Journey 05

Sooo... after about four to five years of being natural, I settled into natural hair living.

I started re-using the same products over and over and over.

One of the products that has been with me from the beginning is ECO Styling Gel .

Although these days, I apply much smaller amounts of gel, I still love it.

I settled into a Natural Hair Routine that goes like this:

-Once a week I wash my hair.  ...usually Thursday or Friday.

-My wash day routine looks like this:

  -Wash with Isoplus Neutralizing Shampoo

  - Condition with TRESemme Flawless Curls Curl Hydrating Conditioner

  -Sometimes I add Baking Soda during the wash or condition phase of washing my hair (meaning I simple add a couple of handfuls of baking soda to my hair and mix with EITHER the shampoo OR the conditioner)

  -Sometimes I add castor oil OR olive oil to the conditioning phase of washing my hair (I just pour some through my hair at the scalp and massage in then add conditioner)

My Styling Routine consists of:

-Sectioning my hair into about 8-12 flat twist.  I usually make a small middle part with a comb and flat twist two on each side.

-I do not use a comb to make anymore parts in my hair.  I section the rest of my hair with my fingers.

-I apply the products that I use for that particular wash day to each flat twist


My Styling Products currently include:

ORS Monoi Oil Leave In Conditioner
My Homemade Butter
ECO Styler Gel
Some type of Oil such as olive, castor or apricot

First I apply oil concentrating on the ends of my hair.  Then I apply the ORS Monoi Oil leave in. Then I apply a little gel and sometimes I will go over all that with more oil.

I usually let my hair air dry but when I can, I sit under the hooded dryer.  The hooded dryer creates a shinier look on my hair.

I untwist my hair with my homemade butter.  I will give you the basic recipe for my homemade butter in my next Natural Hair Journey post!

Thanks for following along!

Share your natural hair routine with me in the comment section below!

Psalm 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

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My Natural Hair Journey 04

 So by now natural hair is all the rave.

I was actually super happy that I was part of such a growing way of life!  I mean really think about it for a minute...

I had worn my hair permed since the age of 18 and now 23 years later, I am discovering and learning what the hair that God gave me was even like.

I had no idea that my hair was curly.

None.

But it is and I was/is and am lovin' it!

So as the bloggers and vloggers were growing, I followed right along learning and applying the info.

Various hair events came to Atlanta and I along with my aunt who is natural decided to attend.

One of those events was the MHE magazine launch.

Natural Chica had a give -away on her blog and my aunt and I signed up.  And won! Whoop! Whoop!  You can see that post on Natural Chica's blog here.

So we went!

I had just gotten my hair straightened a few days before this event ...but oh well, it was fun!

Another event came up in Atlanta and Curly Nikki would be there.  So my aunt and I decided to attend that one too.

At some point during that event, they make time to take photos with Curly Nikki and you know what I did. Yep, in line I went.  The photo came out a little blurry but I still had a great time.

As it turns out, when Curly Nikki saw my aunt, she told my aunt that she looked like her mom and guess what happened?  You guessed it!  My aunt and Curly Nikki were on the blog post for Curly Nikki's blog,

via

So at some point during your natural hair journey, I suggest that you attend a couple of natural hair events.

It is good to meet and greet other naturals that share this journey with you!

All the ladies were kind and friendly when they met us.

Do you have a natural hair blogger or vlogger that you admire?  Are they going to be at a local event? Have you ever attended a natural hair event?

Let me know in the comment section below.

A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.  -Proverbs 18:24

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My Natural Hair Journey 03

When I big chopped back in 2009, I decided (after the shock of seeing my hair cut way shorter than I wanted) the minute I got home from the beauty shop that I would own my new do.

And own it I did.

I held my head very high and acted like I was totally loving my new look.

And I kid you not, I really started to feel like "I'm fabulous!"

I never mentioned anything about regret. Never.

I embraced my new look.

As I said in my first Natural Hair Journey post, I researched natural hair and put into practice those things that I learned.  I also purchased various products to see how they would work on my hair.

I can tell you that I really enjoyed my natural hair journey during those early years.  It was exciting.

So after being natural for about two or three years, my second daughter decided to grow out her perm by doing twist outs.

She eventually cut all the permed ends off and now she was completely natural.

When she returned home from the beautician, I asked her was she okay.

She said "Mommy, I feel like you when you would say that what other people thought about your hair meant nothing because I love my hair.  So, yes Mommy, I am okay."

What?

Yes.  She had been watching me go through all the ridicule from various folks.

Oh you didn't know bout that?  Yeah.  That is a real issue among my people.  ...hair issues.

I am not sure if people still voice their negative feelings about natural hair these days since natural hair is very common.  But back in 2009, natural hair was not well received among a lot of folks that I know.

..but they got over it.

Anyway, if you are a mom, trust and believe that your girls are watching and taking in your natural hair experience.  I hope yours is a good experience.

After my hair grew out, I started doing the flat twist outs.

Flat twist outs are my most favorite natural hair style.

And yep, those are two of my girls in the photo at the top.

I love all the natural blogs and vloggers out there because you get so many different perspectives and tons of information that make your natural hair journey a positive experience.

One of the first blogs that I came across was Curly Nikki.  I used to read every post as often as I could.  I could identify with so many of the ladies that wrote in.

And soon after discovering Curly Nikki, I found Natural Chica.

In my next Natural Hair Journey post, I will post about meeting both of them at natural hair events. Both are beautiful people inside and out.

Well, thank you all for reading.

Take care.  Keep the faith.

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My Natural Hair Journey 02

So after about 10 months of being natural, I decided to color my hair black.

At first, I was kinda mortified about it, but after a few weeks, I started to like it!

Eventually I fell in love with my black hair.  

I also started using shampoo again after that first year.

I realized that my natural hair journey required me to listen to what my hair said (needed).  And shampoo reentered my hair care life.

I use Isoplus Neutralizing Shampoo . I love it!  It works on my color treated hair.  I have never read the ingredients list, but I love this shampoo.

After a few years, I started using baking soda along with my shampoo.  I know some naturals do not use baking soda for various reasons, but baking soda works for me.

In the photo above, I had used baking soda as well as the Isoplus Neutralizing Shampoo .

I started to experiment with various products and styles.

In my next My Natural Hair Journey post, I will share with you my most favorite natural hair style.

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: -Matthew 6:28

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My Natural Hair Journey - 01

For my couple of readers who are interested in my natural hair journey, I will document it for you in a series of posts.  This will be post number 1.

In May of 2009, I big chopped! A big chop is cutting off a major part of your hair for whatever reason. 

Yay!

I was so excited and relieved.

I was relieved because I had finally gotten rid of all my damaged permed hair.

Although initially I was upset that the beautician had cut so much off. But after that shock, I was good!

So, my natural hair journey began.

I was new to the natural hair world then.  So, I did what any good natural does and researched the subject natural hair.

I tried all kinds of ingredients such as yogurt and bananas.

Would I try that combo again?  No.

I loved the results as far as how it looked!

But, I had banana pieces throughout my hair and you know we can't have that!

So, no I haven't tried any other foods in my hair since that day, but it was an interesting thing to try.  And try I did!

Although I must confess, I eat lots of bananas!

I eat them in cereal.

I use frozen bananas in smoothies.

But, no more on the hair.

Have you ever mixed any foods to apply to your hair?

Let me know in the comment section below!

Stay tuned for more of my natural hair journey.

And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you. -Isaiah 46:4

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