Embrace Your Natural Beauty

I feel like I should have done this post once I started this blog, but better late then never. There are many times when women hide their true beauty under loads of makeup, and pounds of some type of extensions in there hair, (this goes  for women of every race and ethnicity.) Now I do not find anything wrong with makeup or weave because I do use both, but I always felt that some women use TOO much. Women need to embrace their true beauty. Doing this can be huge problem, men feel that  women are not being honest with how they truly look because when they are introduced to each other  they see one woman and few years later the real begins to show. I feel that if a man truly loves a woman he should be able to embrace however see looks, but on the other hand a woman should be able to do the same and not cover up their natural look. There was an episode of a talk show where a woman only wore weave, and after years and years of marriage she decided to try to wear her natural hair, this became a huge problem within her marriage. Her husband hated her natural hair, he basically felt that if he met her one way he doesn't want such a drastic change, he could barely look at her. Although he should support her this does show how much your appearance can change how someone views you. Ladies pretty much all I am saying is to be versatile. Enjoy both the natural hair, and enjoy the extensions there is absolutely nothing wrong with either just try to embrace them both.

Nightly Routine..Morning Routine.

When I first did the "Big Chop" I did not really do anything with my hair at night, I just went to sleep because it was so short there was really nothing to do. Once the months started to fly by and my hair began to really grow I had to do some research on what to do at night with my hair. The routines that I began doing were very useful, protective, and made my mornings much easier. I've introduced the Bantu knots in a post, I did not actually do those but something similar. Every night I was comb out my hair, put my choice of natural hair products in my hair and either big or small two strand twist. Usually the bigger one were done because I had gotten to lazy to keep doing the small one. These twist are very time consuming but overtime you get used to them and they do not even bother. Other nightly hairstyles that can be done are flat twist, braids that are in sections, or cornrows. Each of these are taken out in the morning. After doing one of these I would apply just a little more oil on it. Your hair can be moistened also the curls from it look so pretty like that. Then, using a hair scarf or a satin cap I would just cover my head to protect and support my twist. To keep moisture in you can wear a plastic cap under the scarf or the cap. Sometimes I prefer the satin cap because the scarf can come off over night, or be tied way to tightly. But regardless of what you use, you just go to sleep.. and pray that whatever you used to cover your head stays on.

Once I wake up..
1. Take the satin cap of
2.Begin taking out the twist
3.Once all of the twist are yet again add some oil, or some type of hair lotion that you may use daily.
4. If the twist are clumped together or too big for your liken begin by separating the twists.

•      By separating the twist you curls look way more defined just look better in my opinion

5. Once you have added you choice of hair product and separated the curls style your hair as desired.

Bringing your curls back to life ..

My last post was about getting your beautiful straight hair, now this post is just about bringing the curls back. Usually with my having natural hair any little thing can trigger my curls to just bounce right back; but when I actually take the time to do a blow out and straighten, my hair last a lot longer and better. While my hair is straight I try to avoid water, and steam and any water based product that will revert my hair right back to the curls so when I want to intentionally bring them back, I can use a water based product, this is before the whole shampooing process.This just adds moisture back into my hair, which is always a plus. After that shampoo your hair with a product of your choice. Be sure that you wash your hair squeaky clean with cool to warm water nothing too hot that can damage your hair or scalp. 2-3 times of lathering up your hair with shampoo and washing it out is pretty good. Then DEEP CONDITIONER. I cannot stress it enough how important the deep conditioner is, I won't go into detail because I have done it so much in previous post. Just remember always put a plastic cap on your head and keep the conditioner on for at least 10-15 minutes. Honestly, I get carried away and will keep mine on for hours while handling other things around my house. If you want you can apply heat so that the conditioner penetrates into your scalp. Once you are done with all of that just let your hair rest, your curls will bounce back and you should be able to style your hair like you want to.

Applying Heat to Natural Hair.

A big concern for women who are transitioning to natural hair is can they straighten their hair without damaging it. Applying heat to your hair in general too often is not the best idea, and it can definitely damage your hair; but just because you have natural hair that does not mean you should not be able to wear your hair straight either. As of right now I do have my hair straight, I got my ends cut, got a blow out and straightened my hair. I do not have pictures right now sorry..but anyways I do not do it often but sometimes its good to do it. Before applying all this heat I thoroughly washed and conditioned my hair and put some nice oils to protect my hair for the what was coming. I'm going to tell you a few ways to reduce the amount of heat that you use on your hair, or damage.

1.  Wash and condition your hair, but do a deep conditioner on your hair. Deep conditioners have proteins in it that strengthen and protect your hair.
2. With a deep conditioner you have use heat, such as sitting under a hair dryer, this will make the conditioner penetrate into your scalp.
3. If you do not want to blow dry your hair before straightening you can air dry your hair, but comb your hair out and put them into sections so the process of straightening will be easier.
4. Before applying any heat whether is be the blow dryer or the flat iron apply a heat protector hair product on your hair to reduce and damage that can be done to the hair.
5. When using the flat iron try to stick too 350 degrees so the heat is not too much on your hair, sometimes you have to go above that because some hair maybe a little harder to work with that is fine.
6. Personally so I do not have to continuously straighten my hair every day I wrap it every night, when I wake up I comb the wrap out and my hair falls right into place; daily oils are put in my hair and I keep it moving. Sometimes I have to apply a little bit of heat to certain areas just to fix it up but other than that I do not.
7. Every 2-3 weeks is acceptable to go from your curly hair styles, to twists, buns, and then to straight hair. Alternating between these hair styles is just better for your hair.

Bantu Knots

Bantu Knots are not only a style that you can wear out and about, but can worn overnight just to take out in morning for beautiful curls. Personally I haven't done Bantu Knots as much as I've done braid/twist out but that have the same effects. I'm going to post a video on how to actually do the Bantu Knots from youtube. When doing the knots make sure you have either a lot of bobby pins or rubber bands, your hair can freshly wash and dried or slightly moist. Your hair is parted in to little sections and you pretty much twist them into a knot not too tight because your hair can be strained a little too much and you end up looking like the pictures from my last post. Here's a link to video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2vC9MSPfPE Part One .. Tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srNsY_aKzRg&feature=youtu.be&src_vid=U2vC9MSPfPE&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_211480639 Part Two ... The Results and Styling

Natural Hair and Thinning Edges .

Having natural hair has its pros and cons. Actually having hair in general does, some people were blessed with having thick, strong hair whether it be long or short. Others may have thinner hair, which can be a problem because thinner hair is more prone to experience breakage. Thinning edges has to be one of the worst things to deal with. There are so many times that I see women walk around with beautiful hairstyles but I look and realize that they have little to no edges which is a problem. It does not look good, and it can make a person have confidence issues. Losing your hair can make anyone feel bad. Thinning edges can be due to wearing your hair too tight, too much gel and hard brushing, styling your hair too much, wearing braids all the time never letting your hair breathe. That's just a few reason. Although, losing your hair sucks you can definitely grow them back over time with different oils and hair products.

• Promote hair growth..
• Eat healthy food, Vitamin C rich foods
• Try to eliminate most of the stressors in your life, stress is big reason why many people begin to lose their hair
• Watch what products you use in your hair
• Do not apply too much heat to your hair 
• Drink a lot of water
• Vitamins with Iron and Zinc are very helpful (Biotin is great product for hair, and nail growth)
• Use natural oil, castor oil, tea tree oil, coconut oil..

After the twist ..2 months..

Like I said in my last post, I did the twist by myself. When it was time to take them out I was a little apprehensive only because I did them lol, so I did not want to take out all those hours of work but eventually they have to go. After taking out your hair ladies (and men), whether it be braids, twist, or a full head weave you need to take time out to treat your hair. First comb or brush out any residue that could have built up from your hair being "restricted" under a weave or in twist this can make the washing process easier. After wash your hair thoroughly with your choice of shampoo; be sure to wash everything out, squeaky clean. One of the best things to do is to condition your hair but a nice deep conditioner of your choice. These conditioners are very good getting into your scalp and helping your hair. A deep conditioner works best when keep on for 15-30 minutes under plastic caps and heat. Once that is done rinse with cool or warm water, and let your hair air dry or blow dry it. The best deep conditioners have argan oil, coconut oil, tea tree oil, and natural castor oils, even just buying these oils are very good. 

These are how my curls look (sometimes) after a good wash and conditioner. 

I tried this new tea tree shampoo and conditioner that was great. I felt the chemicals tingling in my scalp if that makes sense. My hair came out great, and I would definitely recommend this to others. 

"Bob Marley Twist"

Although I love my natural curls and wearing an afro sometimes you have to try something different. You can be a woman who loves their natural hair and still love getting extensions just as much just to be versatile. I did not get a full head, straight or curly weave, instead I decided to do twist on myself. The twist resemble dreads very much and people around campus sometimes mistook the twist for locs. It was a long process to do on my self, it took about 6-7 hours with one long break. I kept them in for about 2 months, they could have stayed a little bit longer depending on how well I kept up with them. I love these twist for the simple fact that I could wear them curly, by braiding them and putting them into steaming hot water, or wear them straight, in a bun, or just a regular ponytail. They are also very convenient, I can just wake up sometimes put gel on my edges, and just keep it moving. Here are some photos.

 Simple wavy and down.

 Bun

Half to the Side

Motions Curls Pudding

        Having natural hair is huge job, as “easy” as it is, or seems to be it has it challenges with maintaining it and keeping it healthy. There are many pros and cons of being natural so you almost have to experiment on certain things just to get the right end result that you as individual is satisfied with. When natural or transitioning there are many different phases, like should I just get a relaxer, does this style look cute, will this be easier than relaxer hair, or even the biggest one seeing one particular hairstyle that you like but your own natural hair will NOT do the same thing. All these things are an issue but as many cons as there are, there are definitely some pros to the whole natural look. As I’ve posted on my blog before hair products are a big part of having hair in general, but when you are natural it’s huge. One reason people think that having natural hair is the easiest way to go is because of how often women/men walk around with curls and curly afros. Although it’s not as easy as it may look, it still has to continue to seem that way; so having a hair product that will having your curls looking amazing is key. Motions Naturally You! Hydrate My Curls Pudding is one product that’s very useful and work as it should.

            Motions, Curls Pudding is exactly what it is called. It a light weight purple pudding like hair product that is meant for moisturize your hair, refresh your curls, and make taming you curly hair in general an easier process. “Significantly increases moisturization, curl definition, shine and strength of your natural hair. This salon-tested, light and fluffy styling pudding, with shea butter, coconut and avocado oils, hydrates, elongates and lightly defines curls, while reducing frizz, leaving it feeling soft and looking vibrantly shiny and healthy.” This is a product description, everything that is stated here is true. To truly evaluate a hair product you must actually use it and see does work like it says it would, and also pick other aspects of it that stands out for you.

            When buying a new product for your hair, it’s sometimes a time when you are very hesitant because many time this very engaging, and believable description that was provided is a huge lie. Getting home and trying out a product that does not work is the worse, so when I eventually tried out the Motions Curly Pudding, I was not sure if it was going to work for the simple fact that there are so many curly puddings out so what would make this one any different from the next. The description says that it increases moisturization, adds shine, elongates and defines curls.  While using this, my hair felt very good, it was not too heavy or too light. One big issue with trying to define your curls is shrinkage. Shrinkage is when you wet your hair and your hair literally just shrinks and your hair that once looked like you had so much of is so small and not out to its full potential. There are many different techniques to prevent shrinkage, but the Motions curly pudding in a way prevents you from having to go through all of that extra work to fully extend your curls.

            Another positive aspect to this product is the simple fact that it is lightweight; no one likes a product that is too heavy. No one likes to use a hair product that is so heavy that it basically drowns your hair in it. It is one of the worse experiences. It is hard for your hair to bounce back from a product that is way too heavy and it does not feel good. This product feels good. It does not make your hair or hands all greasy and you do not need too much of it; meaning that it will last longer. As well as it being light weight it also has a nice light smell. Nothing too overwhelming; having a product with a smell that is over the top is actually a bad thing because one the costumer won't probably use it that often, and also because others do not want to be surrounded by that. Overall this product is very useful, it works like it says it will, it is inexpensive, and just a good product from a good company.

"The High Puff Tutorial"

This is one of the first tutorials I watched when my hair started growing, "The High Puff" I would wear this very often, I'll even wear it now.

High Puff at the end of a day..my version.

The Perfect Product

So you guys knows how I said that actually cutting off my hair was the easy part, but actually getting accustomed to it and finding the right products for my hair would be the hard part.. well I wasn't joking. Natural hair products are no where close to cheap but if used properly you can have them for a very long time.I spent a lot of money and time testing out different hair care products and to me it was pretty adventurous and fun. I'm just going to show you a couple of pictures of different gels and creams that I used.

Motions Define My Curls, one of my favorite products, nice texture, really enhanced my natural curls.

At one point I used this everyday, it made it easy for actually styling my hair.

I did not use this often but, my cousin who are all natural used this and I tried it, and it worked very well. 

 

The Big Chop.

One morning I woke up and randomly just thought that I wanted to cut my hair all off. When I went and told my mom she was all for it, and thought that it was a good idea. I got to a point where putting all of these harmful chemicals in my hair, and actually maintaining it started to get overwhelming. I didn't tell any of my friends, because I knew they would think it was a bad idea. Instead, I just went to my hairstylist and said "Mae I want to cut it all off" Her facial expression was priceless, she said "I LOVE the idea, I think you would look gorgeous!" I sat in the chair, and she started chopping it all off. At one point I felt like crying because I was just thinking.. "what in the hell were you thinking Essence?!" then I got over it. I looked in the mirror and fell in love with the new haircut. Cutting my hair off was the easy part, finding good natural hair products and actually getting accustomed to having very short hair was the  hard part. That was the beginning of the natural hair journey...

No Curls No Afro, Doesn't Get Anymore Natural

I guess you could say she is part of the reason why I cut my hair off..she's just a little bit of inspiration. This is my mom Antoinette, obviously bald as you can see. You can't get any more natural than this. Not many women can even pull off having short hair in general but somehow, she pulled that and some more off. My mother is bald for a few reasons but we do not have to get into that, I think this is one of the best representations of being natural, and she gave me just a little bit of courage to cut my hair off.