7 Months Natural

7 months...not much has changed from 6 months. I don't really feel like my hair has grown that much from the past month. Below is my hair with no product in it.

I want to talk about my regimen. When I first started the journey I was totally obsessed with the regimen, what to buy, what to do, ya, yah, yah. Now, I'm hitting a natural hair lazy phase and really don't experiment much. I have/had my staples and I go with that.

What I have learned about my hair in the past 7 months is quite interesting. Below are the top 3 things I've learned so far. This will be an ongoing list to document what I've learned along the way...

1. My hair is way less kinkier than I thought it would be. I thought it would be pretty nappy, but its actually semi-fine and fuzzy and less kinky. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think when its kinky you have more variability in the styles you can do. Mine, really just curls up. No twist outs, braid outs, just gel...

2. The more I manipulate my hair the straighter it gets. I wanted this big blow out afro, or these super cute twist outs...but right now thats not my hair reality. I tried 2 strand twist and my hair became straight. I have a few pix of it you can see, but not super wavy like other naturals. If I put a blow dryer to it at all, it becomes straight. Shocking. So, when, if I want to wear it straight, I know I really wouldn't need much heat because my natural texture is straight on its own.

3. My hair is fickle. I have changed gels like 3 times this month. And still don't know what to do. I know the style for me is shingled/smoothed curls. However, how to achieve that is to go through each section with gel and this causes me to have to touch my hair more. The more I touch my hair the more comes off in my hands and the more I'm totally blown. I feel like its breaks more the more I shingle. So I try to wear the style for a few days, but depending on the product I use, it is flake city in the morning. I can do these awesome shingling sessions only to wake up to snow white in the morning. Total blower! So...what product to use? Not sure. I'm guessing some type of butter may be the key for me, but I haven't experiemented much with them. Hopefully as my hair gets longer I will take more chances on products and look into some butters.

My regimen now is:
1 shampoo wash per week with Suave Naturals clarifying shampoo
1-2 co-washes per week (dependent on product build up and flake factor) with Aussie Moist or Suave Naturals
Seal with coconut oil, and occasional mix of grapeseed, rosemary, aloe, and tea tree
Styler - it was ecostyler gel, then tresemme gel, tresemme moose, and now back to IC Fantasia gel
Shingle and finger combing product through
Bonnet at night
No rewetting with spray bottle. Oil in am if needed

Lets see how this changes as the month goes on...

Capris and Lace

Pass or fail?

This is something I've playing around with in my head for a minute. I actually want to go with shorts or roll the jeans up even higher and do fishnets and pumps. Even in the summer time. I'm thinking its a pretty hot style. I'm just really loving lace and fishnet stockings right now. And even the lace tights. I just really can't get enough of then and want to wear them with everything. I've really never been into hosiery until recently. I typically hate socks, stockings, tights, and most undergarments all together. But the sexiness factor of leg lingerie has been selling me lately.

It was a kinda cold night in DC the other day when I wore this out, so I didn't go too high on the pant legs, but next time...who knows where I'm going with this style. Stay tuned.

Yellow Bottle Sipping

Not only is this picture freaking rock star because its with my favoritist girl, in the world...my earth, wind and fire... my bestie...But its because of the yellow bottle. Clicquot.

 

Clicquot was introduced to me a few years ago by my other love Baby D. And it is our Moet Champagne replacement.

I don't drink Champagne that often, but when I do, this is my choice. It has great flavor and does not give me the instant headache that would come from consuming glass after glass....after glass of Moet. Oh, one more after glass.

If you haven't tried it yet...get some...chill it...lots...and enjoy!



Weekend Brunch

So, for the past few weeks me and the ladies have been getting together for lunches/brunches on the weekend to recap our week, offer motivation to keep going through the next week, and tell hilarious stories!

This is me in the city this weekend for our meeting...

Lately, I've been in to this big flowy skirt, knee sock thing. I'm kinda loving knee socks and try to incorporate them into everything right now. You will see them more often.

Having a pow wow with friends I've realized is so important and something I've been missing. Just taking out time to meet up, get out the house and discuss things gives you a great reality check. Sometimes we go through things in live and wonder..."Is this what everyone goes through?" Typically someone, somewhere has been there done that and can provide not necessarily advice, but a back story. First hand user account of how that typically goes down. And though everyone is different, and every situation is dependent of the person going through it, its valuable if nothing else to be affirmed. To know you are not alone, and to do that while eating pancakes and sipping mimosas makes for a great time!

In My Ears: Christina Aguilera

So, of course I've been on a Marsha Ambrosius obsession. I took a break from playing her CD for like 45th time today and listened to Pandora...set to Marsha Ambrosius.

The crazy thing is, since she is new, there were really no Marsha or Floetry songs on there, but a bunch of just awesome music. Music from the 70's, now, and this song.

This song synopsizes everything women want in life. To just be able to be you, and to be loved by someone who loves you. I don't know how this song slipped under my radar because its like 3 years old, but I'm grateful I found it.

Irreconcilable Differences

So there comes a time in life when you realize...things just arent working out. You give and don't get anything in return. You continue to put your time and energy into something, and realize it is going no where. It fights back for no reason when you just want to love it.

Sadly...this is where I am right now. With my face! My freakin' face. I wish my face could like get an apartment on the other side of town and figure out if it wants to stay in this relationship with me or not instead of just acting out all the gotdamn time.

For like the past two weeks, it has just been insane. Maybe that is why I have not been blogging. My nights are spent researching remedies and right now, anything short of a face transfusion is not going to make me happy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I get the whole natural hair face break out war. You allow your hair to grow naturally with no chemicals. You put natural oils in your hair, your hair gets longer and as a big F' you, your face becomes jealous of the relationship you now have with your hair and reacts like a big freakin' teenager.

I just pray, pray, pray, it will recover and one of the 17 things I have tried in the past month will work. Because if I have to walk around with the scars of what this face did to me, only because I grew some freakin' rock star awesome hair, I just don't know if I can continue the relationship.

I'm not even going to go through with ya'll all the stuff I've tried. But if you have any suggestions on something to try, please comment. Comment now, you better. Don't go keeping no secrets when you see me crying our for help. Save my face!

I did get in with one of the best determatologist in DC, however, the appointment is 2 months out almost. And I fear, by that time, I will be straight paper bag status. UGH! I'm frustrated.

Wish me luck...that my mini-remedies will work until I get in with Dr. Magic Face. Pray for my face, that it learns to love me again.

Raspusha

So, in K's school, there is this little girl. Well, big little girl. Every time I come in and she sees me, she pushes past all the other kids to come and give me a very aggressive hug. I think to myself, "Dang girl", but instead give her a sweet mommy smile and rub her little big back.

Well on this day, she was looking especially cute. Typically ummmm...she's not (I'm sorry). She had on a dress and her hair was braided really nicely. So I told her, "You look really nice today, I love your dress", in which she replied in her REALLY raspy baby voice "I like YOUR dress, and you got on two belts"...wait for it, wait for it "AND my favorite ice cream in VANILLA". WTH, LMAO!

It took all my mom energy and tack to not roll on the floor and bust out laughing. What did that exchange even mean. Did she want some ice cream? Did she think she was supposed to get some because she gave me a compliment...and most importantly...did I have on two belts? LOL! This had me cracking up because kids are so freakin' honest and just kinda say what they want. I am somewhat of a blurter too, so I thought it was amazing cute and made me fall a little in love with Raspusha (this I'm sure is not her name, but you get the reference.

So, here is a really bad bathroom pix I took when I got to work, of my two belts.

I can see where she got that from, lol. But I love it love it love it. I wear my skirts up really high with a very wide belt now and tight tops because awesomely I have lost so much weight, my work clothes don't fit. I'm reserving my shopping spree to buy new work clothes for a new job. So, I get creative with options from my old suits.

I decided that day, if I had any meetings, I was going to open with "Hello, thank you for coming today...my favorite ice cream is Superman." But I didn't get the chance.