Friday’s Formula: Chlorine Buster

This is the last Friday in July and my last swimming related hair brew. Tiffany of Live Curly, Live Free offers this antidote for hair that’s been exposed to chlorine.

It is always a good idea to rinse your hair with plain water* prior to entering any swimming pool to prevent chlorine water from penetrating into your hair shaft; however, this remedy will help reverse any chlorine damage to unprotected hair.

Combine:
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup pureed, peeled cucumber

Massage well into hair from scalp to ends, then cover with a plastic processing cap. Process for 30 minutes hour at room temperature, then cleanse hair with a non-sulfate based cleanser.

*We learned last week that you can use club soda instead of plain water.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Study Hall: Information overload

It is a goal of mine to learn to do extension twists. While I don’t necessarily feel that I need to purchase a DVD tutorial, I did scout out a few places online that offer them. Here’s a couple that I found. I noticed that both of these sites have a section devoted to hair articles and a link for their blog.

Braids by Breslin (lots of articles)
Kristen Lock
*UPDATED 8-03-09: I found another interesting site - LearnCornrows.com

Please note that I am not promoting any of their products or ideals. I just wanted to share with you the information that I came across so take it for what its worth to you. I hope that you can find some of this helpful.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Can we conquer the clutter?

YES WE CAN! Let me start by saying that I am slowly recovering from PJism. It’s pathetic how much stuff takes up occupancy in most of the rooms in my house (I’ll save that for another post). As I would collect many items for my hair, I realized a while ago that I needed to create some sort of storage system for the things I’ve obtained. I thought I had been doing great (okay mediocre) at keeping order to my stash. I have taken pictures of some of the systems for my things and my daughter’s things.

Well, some of you have put me to shame! Newly Natural posted about this wonderful idea recently on her blog. Then I scope out Kimmay on her youtube channel and she’s really got it going on. That leaves me to say I’ve got to step up my game big time! Investing some energy and a bit of money into creating a better method of storing my hair care products and accessories will be rewarding in the end. So fellow readers, do you run into the same problem that a lot of PJs face? Do tell us how you have dealt OR you are planning on dealing with it.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Friday’s Formula: Club Soda

Well, this one isn’t a “recipe” but it is still a household item you can use on your hair before taking a dip. I found this archive post from “The Life of a Mixtress” – a blog created by Anita Grant. While the blog is no longer updated, there is a wealth of great hair & beauty potions waiting to be discovered.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Study Hall: Information overload

So now I’m adding another component to this format. When it comes to topics that interest me, I tend to have a studious approach. I research for hours to find out as much on the subject as possible. I appreciate the Internet and local libraries because the knowledge is always there waiting to be sucked up. For those of you who also appreciate that, I am devoting Wednesdays to you. Study hall is simply me sharing various tid bits of information with you that you may want to delve into deeper for yourself. Some you may have already discovered and maybe some of it new. I’ll do one weekly site or book that I’ve come across in my journey. Feel free to hit me up with any you want to share. Hope you enjoy!

Motown Girl is one of the first sites I discovered in my quest for natural hair care information. Great articles, hairstyle how to’s, inspirational stories from “MG’s Weekly Spotlight” and much more: http://motowngirl.com/content. Check it out!

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

My Current Regimen/Goals

Ok, here is my post on my regimen and goals. I'm sure this will get tweaked along the way.


current regimen

• shampoo 1x week
• detangle 1x week with wide tooth comb (use fingers during the week)
• DC 1x week with Hair Therapy Wrap
• clarify 1x month
• henna application 1x month
• moisturize and seal daily
• re-twist hair at night & put on satin scarf
• take multivitamin and 1000 mg MSM daily

goals

• increase water intake
• stay consistent with healthy eating habits
• daily scalp messages
• stay away from heat - due to recent experience!!!
• do more oil treatments
• wean from product junkie habits and simplify the products I use
• incorporate JBCO into my regimen
• learn to do Senegalese twists
• experiment with styles for versatility
• record length comparisons
• trim quarterly
• listen to my hair and better understand what it needs
• have patience!

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Friday’s Formula: Milk & Honey Hair Smoothie – Pre/Post Swim Conditioner

Sorry, I know that I am late on this and some bloggers already beat me to posting this recipe but I will go ahead with what I planned anyway. This recipe was created by Mahisha Dellinger the founder of the Curls product line (I love their products).

Ingredients:

* 1 can of pure coconut milk (rich moisturize - hydrates, conditions and de-frizzes hair)
* 1 ripe avocado (natural source of protein - chlorine robs the hair of protein)
* 2 tablespoons of pure honey (conditions and adds sheen)
* 2 tablespoons of olive oil (hydrophobic oil that acts as a barrier to chlorine and salt water)

Directions:

Add ingredients to blender. Mix at high speed until your concoction reaches a smoothie consistency.
Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. You can warm up your hair smoothie in the microwave before next application...just enough do de-chill.

Substitutions:

Feel free to substitute the olive oil for any natural oil of your choice.
Add more oil for extra dry hair, e.g. 1 tablespoon.
Add more honey for hair that needs more sheen, e.g. 2 tablespoons.

Instructions for Use:

Section hair into 4 segments.
Generously apply evenly to hair, from root to ends concentrating on ends...as they are the most prone to damage.
Smooth hair into a protective style (e.g. braided ponytail, or bun).

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

VENT: Heat damage!!!

Ok, I am really ticked off right now. As you may know, last Thursday I went to the salon. My hair was trimmed, heat straightened and styled. Today, I decided it was time to clean my hair. I cowashed and noticed afterward that parts of my hair were straight and "stringy" looking. I wanted so badly not to say anything negative about my experience with my salon visit but the aftermath is killing me now. I was finally at the point that Naturally Leslie refers to as commitment in my hair relationship and now I feel that it has been ruined! Does anyone have any suggestions or advise for me?

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Update: Addition to blog format

I am going to add a component to this blog. For those who like to mix up their own homemade hair concoctions, I will post a recipe every Friday. I hope that you will venture to try some out and let me know how they work for you. In honor of summer, the remainder of July will be dedicated to a "swimming" theme.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Interlude required. . .

Lingo, jargon, dialect, slang. . . in other words, hair language. I know I said my next post would be on my hair regimen and goals but I felt that I needed to do a post on some of the terminology that is used in the world of hair care. Believe it or not, this is a partial list of common acronyms/definitions for your information. Hope this helps!



NG - new growth
BC - big chop
Line of Demarcation - line where the natural hair and relaxed hair meet
TWA - teeny weeny afro
BSS - beauty supply store
PJ - product junkie; one who is always purchasing more items before using up what they already have
HG - holy grail; product or method that is tried and true
EO - essential oil; highly concentrated, volatile, aromatic essences of plants (ex. rosemary, lavendar, peppermint, cederwood, basil)
CO - carrier oil; derived from vegetable, nut or seed (ex. coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil, jojoba oil, castor oil) (used to diulte essential oils; also used to seal moisture in the hair)
EVOO - extra virgin olive oil
EVCO - extra virgin coconut oil
JBCO - jamican black castor oil
Sulfates - ingredients found in harsher shampoos that tend to be drying to hair
Humecants - attract and retain moisture from the air (ex. glycerin, honey, panthenol)
Cones - silicones; ingredients ending in "cone" found in products that may lead to build-up
ACV - apple cider vinegar
Clarifying - removing product build-up from the hair; some like to use an ACV rinse or baking soda rinse for this purpose
Prepoo - prepping hair prior to cleansing; done by adding conditioner or natural oils in the hair
No-poo - cleaning hair without using shampoo
Cowash - cleansing hair with conditioner instead of shampoo
DC - deep condition
Slip - when comb easily glides through hair
Moisturizing - applying a water or cream based moisturizer or conditioner to the hair
Sealing - applying a natural oil or butter to the hair after you've moisturized in order to decrease evaporation
Protective Styling - wearing hair in a style that doesn't put stress and strain on the hair
S&D - search & destroy; method for trimming off split ends
Dusting - very light trim; cutting 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch
Shedding - hair that has reached the end of its growing cylce and naturaly falls from the scalp along with the attached bulb
Breakage - broken, short, choppy hair that comes out without a bulb attached
Hair Type:
2a, 2b, 2c - loose, wavy curls
3a, 3b, 3c - thicker, coily curls
4a, 4b - kinky, coily hair
Hair Length:
EL - ear length
NL - neck length
SL - shoulder length
APL - arm pit length
BSL - bra strap length
BSB - below shoulder blade
MBL - mid back length
WSL - waist length


I will post my regimen and goals on Sunday.
Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

Girl, put those scissors down!!!

Just kidding :-) Let me start my saying that I haven’t been to a salon in Pittsburgh in YEARS since my January salon visit was in New York. While I did have flashbacks of the days when I would go to the salon every two weeks and be there all day long, my experience at Mark Anthony on Thursday was very positive. My hair was shampooed, deep conditioned and blow dried. Then Carmen hooked me up with a much needed trim and straightened and styled my hair. I was pleased with the outcome and it will feel good to sport this do for about a week. The pics were taken hours afterward and the wind had gotten to it a bit so justice wasn’t done; you know how Mother Nature will find a way to take her vengeance out on our hair. No complaints thought, it was a beautiful sunny day and you gotta appreciate those.

I left the salon with shiny, bouncy hair and feeling so good to have those damaged ends gone. As long as I remember to be gentle with my hair and lay off the heat, I should only need to visit Carmen 3 or 4 times a year and leave the cutting and straightening to her. In between those times, I will hunt for more creative ways to style my natural hair so I don’t get bored with the same old style. Do any of you have any style suggestions for me?

Since I now have a “clean slate” I think I will begin to track my growth. I had not been doing that before and my hair has grown considerably since my BC (big chop) in May 2008. I really wish I had pics to show you the aftermath of that crazy episode – my hair may have been an inch or two after all was said and done, lol.

My next post will be on my hair regimen and goals. Enjoy your week.

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

CallaLily

You've never heard one like this before. . .

So, as promised this post is about my hair story. As a child, my hair was relaxed and that is pretty much what was done with my hair most of my life (for a brief period I sported a jheri curl). I figured I would always have relaxed hair and didn’t give much thought to anything else. Now, I was never the type that liked hair maintenance! The ponytail was my best friend. I did get various braided extensions along the way but it wasn’t until 2006 when I decided that would be my staple style. For no particular reason, other than shear laziness, I got my hair in cornrow extensions FAITHFULLY every month. I might give my hair a week’s break but I was right back into the extensions at the blink of an eye. At the time, I didn’t understand that I still needed to care for what was under all that synthetic hair that I so loved to cover up. I would still retouch my hair in between when I felt like my hair was getting to nappy and unmanageable. I thought it all made such good sense at the time. . . little did I know! I went through a number of different stylist for various reasons. But the last stylist who braided my hair (from 2007 to 2008) asked me a very thought provoking question one day “Why do you still bother to perm your hair when it stays in braids all the time?” I took serious consideration of this since my husband had already been asking me to stop relaxing my hair. “Why do I still perm my hair?” I thought. So, I said “ok, I’ll stop” but not with the direct intention on going natural because as long as I could stay covered up in some braids, I was cool. Having said that, I remained braided and put the hair crack down for good. I don’t remember exactly when my last relaxer was. Then one day. . . a hair mishap. I was totally not thinking one day when I set out to take out my braids and wash my hair – I did JUST THAT – no detangling session beforehand!!! My hair was a hot, matted mess (I know you just got a good visual, lol)! I had no idea what to do so I did a complete hack job on my hair. I guess you can say that May 2008 was my unofficial “big chop”. It didn’t matter to me then because the very next day I was getting my hair braided again. Boy was my stylist shocked when she came over to do my hair :-). Nonetheless, it was covered up once more and I just kept moving on without a second thought – continuing to destroy what lay beneath. Well, I believe the constant stress on my hairline and the complete lack of nurturing my hair was taking its toll. Once day, I noticed thinning/breakage around the temple area and thought that sooner or later, I would have to stop getting my hair braided and start to take care of the hair God gave me. This was my true light bulb moment – yes, I know it took me a while to catch on. I knew I was not going to start relaxing again so I had to get educated on what to do with this “stuff’ on top of my head. Ok, at least by the time this revelation came about my hair was at length where I could get it into – you guessed it – a ponytail! I would strategize the whole thing: continue to get my hair braided up through December 2008 and then in January 2009 I was going to get a professional cut and start rocking my natural hair out for the world to see. That is how I ended up here but January 2009 was just the beginning.

I have so much more to tell and share so please subscribe for more about this journey that I am on. My next post will be on my visit to the salon this Thursday for a much needed trim (the last time it was cut was in January). By the way, do you notice that I leaving the scissor job to the PROS now. . .

Thanks for reading. Be blessed!

P.S. The pictures posted are from my flat twist French roll I did last weekend. Hope you enjoy!

CallaLily