A "Natural" Caricature

We had our company's annual holiday party last week. In addition to the photo booth, video game center and ring toss, we had a professional caricaturist (I think that's a word) on hand to capture employees in all of their holiday glory. I wasn't sure how he was going to interpret my "natural" hair, but everyone who was watching his work knodded in approval. I told him that I like to sing, and I wanted to be in a gown. So, what do you think?

Here is a list of the raffle prizes available:

Wine Package
Wolf Trap Tickets
Omaha Steaks Package
$300 Best Buy Gift Card
Worx Cordless Combo Kit w/ Blower, String Trimmer & Hedge Trimmer
Samsung Blu-Ray Player w/ WiFi
Cooking Package (Includes Knives, Pans, Griddle and Utensils)
Keurig Platinum Brewer
American Tourister 3-Piece Luggage Set
Swiss Legend Men’s Sprint Racer Chronograph Watch
Sound Package (Bose Headset, Sony Audio Docking Station)
Nook Tablet
9” Android Tablet PC
Dyson DC24 Multifloor Vacuum ($400)
LG 47” LED HDTV
First Class Delta Airline Tickets
Coach Delta Airline Tickets

I WON THE DYSON VACUUM!!!
That is all....

Haven't Had One Of These Since the 70's!

Now I have the hair to go with the jewelry my husband keeps buying for me!

Seriously, I'm really just amazed at how fast my hair is growing. BC was August 26th, with a visit to the barber shop a week or so later, and then I trimmed it myself about a month after that because I didn't like the way to top was growing in.

Natural Hair Journey: UPATE!

Well, it has been almost three months since I embraced my natural hair and natural hair care, and started on this exciting journey of discovery. I tried to transition from relaxed to natural for about a month, but found I did not have the patience for it. It still required too much work. I finally did the BIG CHOP (aka BC) in August 2012, and endured a horrible visit to the barber shop for what should have been a shape up, but ended up being a serious hair cut. I went in with two inches of picked out new growth, but ended up with a serious fade. I didn't even have enough hair on the sides to form a curl pattern. It began to grow out unevenly and I had more hair in the crown area than on the top, sides and back. So, I did my own shape up. Throughout this process I discovered that have different textures of hair in different places on my head. My gray hair around my edges has a mind of its own, the curl pattern on my crown is a very loose S-wave, and the rest of my hair has a medium to tight curl pattern.

My natural hair care today:

Today I cleansed my hair with As I Am Coconut Co-Wash, conditioned with TRESemmé Naturals Silicone-Free Nourishing Moisture Conditioner and used a little bit of it as a leave-in condition. I finished with the Eco Styler with Olive Oil (Green Top) and formed small finger twists or ringlets (in my day they were called Shirley Temple curls). Here is the result.

Lot's of shrinkage, but I'm happy with my hair and my natural hair care experience. It is healthly and growing in nicely!







I am still researching shampoos and I am fascinated by what I am discovering. I will post my results soon.

Enjoying the journey to a "natural" crown of glory...

Proper Natural Hair Care: Different Schools of Thought

There are differing schools of thought when it comes to natural hair care. Today, we will take a look at Lisa Akbari’s Hair Nutrition System.

Lisa Akbari is an author, cosmetologist, aesthetician, researcher, trichologist, and developer of the Hair Nutrition System. She has over 30 years of experience in the industry and, as such, is a pioneer if the hair care field. She is also the founder of the World Trichology Institute. Trichology is the scientific study of hair and its diseases.

According to her website, www.lisaakbari.com, there are several fundamental steps in the hair care system she has developed.

Her program for natural hair care includes:

1) Cleansing, Clarifying, and Balance Shampoo; 2) Deep Penetrating, Protein Moisture and Stabilizing Conditioner; 3) Hair Vitamins Leave-in-Conditioner; and two support products 4) Oil Sheen in a Jar and 5) Hydration Moisture Plus Moisturizer

Step One: Lisa believes that good hair care begins with clean hair. Her natural hair care system begins with the Clarifying and Balance Shampoo (which has been recommended by Essence Magazine). She teaches that the hair and scalp has a pH between 4.5 to 5.5, and if you use a shampoo outside of the pH range of your hair, your hair and scalp will be dry and you will experience hair breakage. She believes that a pH balanced shampoo should be around 5 in order to properly cleanse the hair and scalp without drying. Her Cleansing Clarifying and Balance Shampoo with a pH of 5, is within the range of your scalp pH. The shampoo claims to removes excess dead skin cells, dirt and build up from hair sprays, gels and other damaging products, while preserving the hair and the natural oils of the scalp.

Step Two: The next step in the process of her natural hair care system is the Deep Penetrating Protein Moisture and Stabilizing Conditioner which penetrates the hair shaft to condition hair, and rinses cleanly away without residue providing the required balance of moisture and protein for your hair.

Step Three: The Hair Vitamins product in Lisa’s natural hair care system is used as a leave-in conditioner. It improves the elasticity of the hair and stops breakage by filling the torn and thin areas of the hair shaft. According to her website, the product stops breakage immediately. The Hair Vitamins also strengthen the hair around the hair line and keeps the hair and scalp free from damaging buildup.

Well, that takes care of the basic natural hair care routine. Let’s look at the supporting natural hair care products.

Her Moisture Plus Moisturizer is a natural moisturizing cream developed to revive dry and brittle, damaged hair. It's said to soften naturally curly or kinky hair.

Oil Sheen in a Jar is described as a lubricant for your hair shaft and scalp, giving a natural shine without a buildup.

In addition to the supporting products mentioned above, her Naturally Textured product will allow your natural hair to have a texturized look without chemically treating the hair. According to the instructions, you apply Naturally Textured after Step Three above, twist or braid your hair and dry naturally or under a dryer making sure to monitor the time so that you do not dry out your hair and scalp.

According to the ingredients tab, here are the ingredients in her products: Purified Water, Henna, Hydrolyzed Protein, Aloe Vera, Jojoba Oil. However, this is just a partial list, because I still have a bottle of the Hair Vitamins, and the ingredients listed are: Panthenol, Hydrolyzed Protein, Biotin, Vitamin H, Vitamin B Factor, Purified Water, and Methyl Paraben.

I can tell you that I have used her hair care system on my own hair when it was relaxed, and on my son’s loose curl pattern natural hair. Her system is fantastic, but goes totally against the no poo or co-wash methods. I’m enjoying the no-poo, co-wash method; however, with her explanation of No Poo vs. Shampoo, and her 30 years of experience in hair care and research, I may have to rethink my no poo method. I think it was the bacterial growth she mentioned that got my attention. I will address that in my next post.

Natural Hair Care Journey - Update

After my initial Big Chop (you can watch the video here, or on YouTube) I went to the barber shop for a shape up. He picked out my hair and shaped it up, and it was even all over. I thought to myself, "This should grow out real nice." Then he handed me the mirror, turned me around so I could see it from all angles using his station mirror and the hand mirror, and I nodded affirmatively that I was satisfied. Then he took the hand mirror and set it down...and in a split second he turned the clippers on and was shaving the side of my head! Ok, he wasn't exactly shaving it, but he was cutting the sides so short that there would be no curl definition once I applied product. I didn't even bother telling him to stop, because at that point, the hair was already gone! I think (No, I KNOW) he misunderstood what I wanted. I think he thought that I intended to wear a fade, even though I told him I wanted it even all over. I went home disgusted, to say the least, but I knew that my hair would grow back… I would just have to wait and make do.

After a few weeks, while I was still patiently waiting for my sides to grow back, I began to notice that the hair on the top of my head and on my crown was growing in at a much faster rate than the hair on the sides and the back of my head. It was starting to look like I had a football-shaped head. You don’t even want to know what that looked like! Ooh! Pardon me - I'm having a serious hot flash! I'll be right back!

I'm back. Whew!

Ok, so having a perceived football-shaped head was unacceptable to me, so I sort of did my own trim and it turned out ok.

My initial hair care regime consisted of Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner for my co-wash, VO5 Herbal Escapes free me fresia for my conditioner, and Eco Styler with Olive Oil (Green Top) for defining my curls. I was happy with the products, but noticed that I could not use either conditioners as leave-in conditioner with the Eo Styler Gel. It justed ended up being a big messy mess. I should have heeded the warnings of others

who have gone before me, but I had to see for myself. Note to self: Do not use either condioners referenced above as leave-in conditions with Eco Styler Gel.

I really liked the way the Suave Naturals worked as a co-wash, and I love the way the Eco Styler Gel defines my curls. The drawback is that the Eco Styler drys to a hard finish, and leaves my hair "crunchy" if you can imagine crunchy hair.

I also tried the Cantu Shea Butter Natural Hair Coconut Curling Cream. HATED IT! Or maybe my hair hated it. It left my hair dry and frizzy, and left a nasty residue. I may try it again when my hair is a little longer. I'll stick with the Eco Styler Gel for now.

Next Stop: As I Am Coconut Co-Wash, TRESemmé Naturals Silicone-Free Nourishing Moisture Conditioner and Eco Styler with Moroccan Argan Oil (Red Top).

The journey continues...

I LOST EVERYTHING!! HAS THAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?

A couple of years ago I purchased a very nice notebook computer. It was so small and compact that I could fit it in my purse. I loved it! Well, I began to save files, photos, presentations, home movies, and tons of genealogy data I had collected for my family tree. I found birth certificates, death certificates, marriages licenses, all with valuable data that I was using to help my family find out where we came from; our heritage. I saved hours and hours of research on that little computer. Well one morning I was enjoying a nice cup of coffee while working on my computer. Can you guess what happened? One wrong move of my hand and the entire cup of coffee spilled all over my laptop. I tried to dry it out, but it was no use. I disassembled the computer and took out the hard drive hoping to buy the necessary cables to see if I could salvage the data.... I LOST EVERYTHING! I just found a great program for backing up my computer, and I want to share it with my readers. You can try it for free, and upgrade if you need more space. It's called MyPCBackup. It could have signed up for two years for $4.95 per month, but that required up front payment. so I opted for the $7.95 per month version because it had the space I needed to backup my computer and I could pay by the month. The service is great! It backs up my files everyday. I know, because I log in to their system to check on my files. I will never lose anything again! Try it for free!



By the way, I'm still holding onto the drive hoping that someday someone will come up with a way to salvage the data....

INITIAL REACTIONS!

Okay, it’s been one full week since I did my BC. I'm still lovin' it, and happy I did not try to transition from relaxed to natural beyond this point!

Initial Reactions:

Work: The reactions have all been positive. If anyone thought otherwise, I guess they decided that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. I had one woman decide that she could do it too, and wrote down all of the products I told her I used.

My Friends: All positive!

My Family:

Daughter: Of course, she loves it; she did her BC two years ago. She reposted my picture on her Facebook page, sent her friends to my You Tube Channel, and gave them a link to my blog.

Husband: Finally commented on it yesterday by saying , “Now you look like so-and-so’s wife.” I'm still not sure how I should take that, and didn't care to ask.

12 year old Son: “Oh, now that I think about it, I don’t mind your hair being short.” Since I did my initial BC, it was uneven in certain sections, so today I went to a local barber shop to have it shaped up.

Here are the results.