Nappy Kitchen

It Stinks, But It Works!

Product reviews are up at Fotki. I may add a similar page over here.

Isn't it cool to receive packages and stuff? I always feel like a lil kid at Christmas. I just got the second half of my essential oil order from Cedarvale.net I ended up ordering some lemongrass, sage, rosemary, and pink grapefruit EOs. I already whipped up a shea butter concoction using the pink grapefruit. Smells yummy and my skin lurves it. :D

I also got my Carol's Daughter products (HHB, HM, and MHH). The hair honey looks like it might give good shine (I applied a little) and I love the smell. The hair milk gave me good curl definition on damp hair and it dried soft, which is always a plus. I haven't tried the hair butter yet, it's a little heavy and I'd rather wait until I wash my hair.

Next Thursday will be my one month nappyversary y'all! Dang that came quick. It's amazing to me how my hair has changed in the space of one month. For maybe the first week or so, my hair had this weird spiky appearance, due to some residual permed ends. It looked like duck fur kinda. Probably was in shock too, like Lisa, what did you dooooo to meeee?! I actually had to somewhat coax my hair to coil up and products HAD to be added to get it to look and feel semi-decent. Now it just coils up for no apparent reason when water hits it. And talk about some shrinkage! It's all pretty cool and I keep waiting to see what my hair is going to do next.

I finally made it to the natural foods store and had to get out of there quick before the product junkyism kicked in. I was only in there for some vegetable glycerin, BUT I had no idea they carried Aubrey Organics products, which I've been wanting to try. I had to bypass real quick. I'm trying my best to use the products that I do have and narrow those down to essentials. It's hard though, woowee it's hard! I need a support group!

I changed my mind about the Paul Mitchell leave-in. It doesn't smell all that bad. However, it STILL left my hair hard and it STILL made my scalp burn a little. So umm, oh well. *tosses in product graveyard*

The other day I tried an ACV rinse. I conditioner washed my hair as normal with Suave Awapuhi then poured a mixture of 2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar and one cup of room temperature distilled water. I could have done without the smell (which faded), but the results were remarkable! Talk about some sheen, people. My scalp felt clean too. It's definitely something I will be adding to my regimen when I feel the need. Here's how it turned out:

And the back:

And hours later after it dried...more frizz than curls at that point. :)

As you can see, the ACV rinse gets the thumbsup!

CWC Worked For Me!

Sundays I deep condition, since it's a leisurely day and I don't mind sitting around with conditioner in my hair. I decided to try the CWC (Conditioner Wash Conditioner) routine that I'd read about on Nappturality.com. Basically when you do actually "poo" your hair, you apply a light conditioner first, rinse after a minute or so, shampoo, rinse, then condition again, letting it sit for a longer period of time (how long is up to you).

I used my L'Oreal Paris Vive conditioner first. After that I was sort of undecided about what poo I wanted to use, the Shea Wondergro, V05 Kiwi Lime Conditioner, or the black soap sample I received from Crabapple Soap Factory. I settled on the black soap...it had worked wonders on my face the night before so I was gung ho about using something all natural to clean my hair.

It lathered up really well...better than shampoo even. I rinsed it out and my hair felt clean...but almost too clean. You know that squeaky clean feeling that you get from real shampoo. This wasn't really surprising to me, but I have to admit I was a little apprehensive. However, my coils were springy like a mofo so I proceeded to deep condition and hope for the best.

I mixed together Lustrasilk Cholesterol Conditioner (peach colored), honey, and castor oil. Then I zapped in the microwave for 15 seconds. I slathered the warm mixture on my hair, put on a plastic cap, and marinated for a while. I never sit under a dryer because my head holds a LOT of heat and the plastic is enough to do the job. I got a little sleepy and decided to take a nap, so I tied on a scarf over the plastic cap and got to snoozing.

I would say I had the conditioner in a total of 4 hrs. I got up, rinsed with warm water and this was the final result (click for bigger version):

That's the front

Here's the back...already starting to dry like short hair does:

I'd say I had pretty good results with the experiment. Things could have turned out very badly, but that's what experimentation is about - trying out new things...which of course has some risk. I'm looking forward to next Sunday when I can try something else.

Later gators.

Overprice Much?

Yesterday I called myself walking into Bath and Body Works to hopefully obtain a bottle of rosemary essential oil (I'm trying to stay away from ordering too much stuff online). Umm...not een an option! Tell me why a lil itty bitty bottle was $18.00?! Trust me it was not that serious. Luckily for me I'm a computer/research nerd and I know that I can find essential oils at a much lower price on the web. I promptly walked out...er, after I procured some coconut lime verbena products. Hey I'm a fragrance whore...what can I say?

Speaking of going to the mall (did I mention I went to the mall?), I went into the beauty supply store and bought a small sample bottle of Paul Mitchell's The Conditioner since I'd heard some good things about it. Ew. This stuff sucks booty in a major way. It seems like it actually irritated my scalp a bit (told y'all it was sensitive) so I quickly washed it out and apologized to my hair for insulting it with such foolishness. And the worst part is it stinks like curl activator, which is a big no no for me. I can't be going around with my hair smelling like my first name is Jheri.

I promise I will put up product reviews and photos when I get the energy. And yeah it's a pretty good bit of stuff, so I need to be fully rested. *lol*

Something I've noticed in some naturals is a borderline obsession with hair growth. When I did the big chop my first concern was freeing myself from the relaxed ends as well as doing as much as I could to ensure the health of my hair. Growth is an eventual thing that I can't say I'm overly concerned with. Yes I would like for my thin spots to grow in more, but I refuse to bend over backwards and buy every hair product out there in order to ensure this. Damn all that. Length is aight...but I kinda like this short hair at the moment. Sue me.

And why do people say they're at an akward length? What's so akward about it? I suppose it's the fact that your styling options are somewhat limited. But hell that's what headbands and the 394830984 hair accessories at Claire's are for! Please believe I am working the hell out my lil baby 'fro when I go out.

Another thing I notice is the drive to completely eliminate frizz and enhance shine. Hell-freakin-lo! Black hair frizzes on a quite consistent basis. I think a lot of folks are still in that relaxed mindset where they equate silky/straight/shiny hair with beauty. Anyone transitioning or completely natural needs to be aware of the fact that most black hair has more sheen than shine. There's a big difference. No way in hell I'm finna be greasing and shellacing my hair just to get a shiny look. I want my hair to feel as good as it looks. Now if that means my hair will be looking "dry" but feeling soft as lamb's wool then hey I'm all for it.

And the curl definition thing...lawd please stop it. Hell yeah curls are pretty and I'm quite partial to them myself. But as I've said before, I'm not going to be applying all kinds of crap to my hair in order to ensure that they stay frozen in place. I enjoy my purty coils when I step out of the shower with wet hair. I like to play with them when they dry and make little boing sounds when I pull on em and they spring back. Ok I'm kidding. The point is, it's not the be all and end all. It's all about accepting what you have and working with, not against it. If you want silky curls then get a damn texturizer, cause apparently the nap thing ain't for you! Now!

Over the past couple of years I kind of got into the habit of having some kind of color in my hair. My natural hair color is kind of a sandy brown deal which I'm not really into. However, I'm not really feeling the idea of putting permanent color into my hair. I did that once when I was permed and spent the next few months trying to get my hair back in decent condition. It's just drying as hell and I would be ultra pissed if my hair turned out feeling like straw just because I wanted a little variety. So for now it's semi-permanent or highlights...I'm not really worried about it too much, since I don't have a lot of hair in the first place. Umph. We'll see.

Anyway I'm off to workout and mayhap fiddle with my hair. Later gators.

Oh yeah, here's a pic of with my lil V-Day club hairdo. This was after I came back, so the ubiquitous frizz and shrinkage was in full effect. Cam whoring is a 24-hour job don'tcha know! Click for a bigger version:

Bad Bad Mineral Oil!

Ever since I started transitioning back in October I've been trying to move away from using hair products that contain 2349320948 ingredients that I can't pronounce. HOWEVER I couldn't resist buying some "new" product called Cantu Shea Butter Oil Sheen Spray. Sounds great, right? Oh.Hell.Naw. It smelled great, but made my hair feel like a chitty mess, ya heard? It was all dry and crunchy! I damn near wanted to shed a lil' tear, as I have hand in fro disease like a mofo and I like my itty bitty tresses to be at least semi-soft! Anyway, all that was easily cured with a lil conditioner wash. Thank gawd! That's exactly what I get for messing with that damn mineral oil. I know some people can get away with using it, but my natural hair is just not feeling it. I think the only product I currently use that has it is Elasta QP Recovery Moisturizer, which actually keeps my hair relatively soft.

As I experiment and lose money buying all these damn products, I'm beginning to realize that less is more when it comes to my hair. Which is...sad, because I'm a true product whore and love trying out different things. *sigh* Oh well. I shall replace this addiction with an accessory one. I've never been a headband type, but I'm finding it's something I can work with.

Current Routine

Day: I either rinse or conditioner wash my hair with Suave Tropicals Coconut Conditioner and maybe follow with Lustrasilk Cholesterol Conditioner if I'm feeling really dry. I got a big ole bottle of that Suave for only $1.38 at Walmart. And I may have said this before, but this conditioner works awesomely great to be so darn cheap. Now I see why every girl on Nappturality seems to use it!

I have a mixture of textures going on...the top and the back parts have looser curls and the sides have small coffee stirrer type curls going on. I also have some really tight coils beneath my looser hair in the back. Yeah it's crazy, but I gotta love it. *lol* If I want to be really coily, I will use the Elasta QP Recovery Moisturizer as a leave-in and curl activator gel (with aloe vera and less than 10 ingredients!) or plain ole 100% aloe vera gel on my hair after washing. Otherwise I just let it air dry and do whatever.

Night: I dampen my hair with a mixture of distilled water and honey, then rub a little shea butter through my hair. I also give myself a scalp massage and sometimes put some Dudley Inner Growth Creme Strengthener on any spots that feel itchy. It gives me a nice cooling sensation.

I deep condition once a week. For now I've settled on using a cholesterol conditioner/olive oil concoction.

And that's it. I know that as my hair grows out my needs will change, but for now it's pretty low maintenance.

Want to see the results of a wash and go? Click for a bigger version.

Welp that's all for now, folks. Be back eventually for more hair babble.

That's Right

5 days later and I still have no regrets. Shoot, why would I?

The person that I knew would have the strongest reaction was my cousin, so I wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing her, since everyone else has felt the need to act a damn fool about the chop. Today her son walked into my kids room, saw me in the bathroom picking my hair out, and promptly ran back into the living room to ask his mom, "Why'd Michelle cut her hair?" (He gets me and my sisser's names mixed up all the time). I heard her say, "What?!" So my sister yells out and tells her it's not her but me that cut their hair.

She walks into the bathroom SCREAMS then hugs me. "Leeserrrrrrrr you cut all your hair", she says. "You really don't want a perm anymore, do you?"

"Negatory," I replied. She stared. And stared. Laughed and said, "It's cute!! Now you making me want to cut my hair." Alright now! Not that she's ever gone grow out her perm, mind you. But at least she's aware that nappy hair can be curte! Who knows...she may make the switch one day herself.

Yesterday I really pampered my hair, because something or other I put in it on Saturday made it feel like a dry brittle mess. Not cool. Could be it was just reacting to Woogie's foolishness. But whatever the case I gave it some TLC. First I put on a pre-wash concoction of honey and olive oil and let that sit for a few minutes. I then rinsed with warm water and used a gentle shampoo (Wondergro Shea Butter Shampoo) to remove any residue. Then I dumped some Africa's Best Hair Mayonnaise, olive oil, and a little Lustrasilk cholesterol conditioner into a bowl, zapped it in the microwave for a few seconds, applied it to my hair, and let it marinate for a good hour or so. Of course my hair reacted very well to this.

However, I'm not really feeling the hair mayo. I know a lot of people have gotten good results from it, but it just doesn't feel right on my hair and didn't really leave it feeling soft. The only reason I used it again on Sunday was that I was trying to give it another chance before I put it in the product graveyard. I think I may continue to use it in combo with other stuff for my deep conditions, but never on its own.

Wanna see the results of today's hair fiddling? Click for a bigger version.

A nice quick hairdo. I went retro with the moisturizer y'all! I sprayed the hair with StaSoFro to make my hair nice and supple and set to picking. I made two lil mini twists in the front (yes I have enough hair to grip) and clipped the ends with these cool lil mini barrettes. Voila!

I went on an accessory shopping spree yesterday and got all kinds of lil butterfly clips, headbands, and barrettes. so I'm all ready to go out with my lil dressed up baby fro. *insert cheesy grin here* Now the trick is finding someone to take me out... *sigh*

My Hair Looks Nappy? Why, Thank You!

I wrote in the regular journal about my ex's reaction to the new nappy me. Check that out if you want a laugh.

My hair and I are doing very well. It's settling in and I'm trying to find just the right product mix to have the hurr looking freshhhhh. And oohwee I put this warm honey and olive oil mixture in my hair thursday and let it marinate for a half hour. Y'all my hair was soooo soft! I was tempted to just leave it in there my hair felt so good. *lol* Anyway even when I washed it out it was feeling like soft cotton. And yeah that's a good thing in case you didn't know.

For the most part, I'm amused by the reactions to my hair. Some of the questions I've been getting are ignant as hell, but shit that ain't nothing new. I knew the chop was going to garner a lot of attention and I'm cool with it.

I've never been much of a slave to public opinion. But I'm human and I know there will be times when the weight of these brainwashed mofos perceptions will start to drag me down. But every nappyheaded sista out there has permission to slap the shit out of me if I ever let the next nigga convince me to perm my hair again.\

The other day when I was thinking about going to the club I actually considered going and getting a damn wig. Momentarily people, momentarily! But why do that? My hair is now a fuckwit filter. You know Rayquan the ThugNigga ain't een ready for me!

Right about now can't nobody tell me nuthin! Not my best friend's boyfriend calling me Celie. Not my ex-boyfriend calling me Florida Evans. Not my mom suggesting that I wear a hat every time I step out of the house. My nappy hair is cute and feels so much better than that brittle processed shit I had the nerve to be sporting for the past 16 years. Even when it's dry it alllll good! I'm loving it.

Well I'm fixing to go feed my product habit at the beauty supply store. Laters!

Le Big Chop

So I did it. Did what you say? The BIG CHOP I say! *shucking and jiving*

I know you're wondering how I went from maybe I'll do it to sitting here telling you it's a done deal. Wellll...I had a looong night on Tuesday. Meditating, praying, reflecting on a little of everything, including my hair issue. I had to ask myself why I was holding on to my hair. Was it for me or for others? Long story short, Goddess saw fit to instill a little fearlessness when I woke up the next day.

I was a born procrastinator. So that's what I did for most of the day. Went back and forth in my mind. I fiddled with my hair, pulled it back, and tried to project into my short hair future. I even cut a few more pieces of hair off the back to try and "see" how it would turn out. I came back to my desk...sat down and browsed a few hair albums, and happened upon MzDacia's album. I looked at her big chop pics. She had her cut her hair down to the itty bitty...maybe a 1/2 inch, but she was rocking it like nobody's business, ya heard? And I said to myself, I know I'm cute, I know I can do this. So I took myself into the bathroom and proceeded to cut a chunk of hair in the front. No turning back! I cut more and more until the front was halfway finished. Awww chit now! This ain't half bad, I thought.

So about an hour later I was pretty much finished. Feeling good...head feeling light and whatnot. Thin spots in effect...but they can be worked with. :) All in all I felt like yelling like Ric Flair, "Woooooo!"

Anyway here's the finished result. Click for a bigger version:

Reactions:

My sister - "Oh god! I could NOT do that!" And later: "It don't look that bad."

My niece - She was just curious...asked a lot of questions. Her hair's been more or less natural since August. She said, "I want my hair to grow til it reaches my butt." Alright now!

My mama - "WHATCHU DOIN????" and "You cut it real short. Would you wear it like that to the club?" To which my vain ass replied, "Hellz no. Not with these thin spots!"

My sister's "friend" - "Natural hair is not for today's black women." Ummm, fool you are brainwashed! Go directly to coon jail. Do not pass go, do not collect watermelon and chicken!

Forgive me for sounding clichéd, but when I cut my hair off I literally felt as if a weight had been lifted. I went from feeling sluggish to hyperactive. Whatever was spiritually holding me back was snipped away with my handy dandy scissors. I literally feel like a new person. Pretty cool!

Don't get me wrong. I know there will be days when I have bad hair days. When I look in the mirror at hair that resembles a brillo pad and think, "Lawd, what have I done???!!!" But not now. Right about now I'm feeling easy and free and lovely and ME. I think I'm gone coast on this good feeling for a while.

Somebody Stop Me!

Last night I conditioner washed my hair, moisturized with a little shea butter, and put my hair into medium size bantu knots. I looked like a lil pickaninny. *lol* This morning I took the knots out and fluffed it some. It looked...ok. I'm not gone take pics cause I don't damn feel like it. Now! :D

Soooo...I'm thinking about doing the big chop. Very soon. Like today. Or tomorrow. Why? Hell, why not? My hair is fragile as the dickens anyway, so I know the relaxed hair will be breaking off more and more as time wears on. My initial goal was to grow out my hair for six months or so and then do the chop. I go back and forth about this shit every damn day and it's getting very tiresome. To show you how unattached I am to my relaxed hair...my dumb ass cut off a lil chunk of hair off in the back, just for kicks (hey that's what gel is for *lol*) I suppose if I was out in the public eye more I would definitely be more concerned. But I'm not.

I was also considering getting kinky twists to help me keep my hands out of my head and help with the patience factor. The only problem I see with this is the fact that I won't be able to "baby" my natural hair and I LIKE to play with my hair. That's why I can never keep braids for long. And I'm cheap and I can think of other things to do with the money I would use to get it done. Soooo...

We shall see.

I've received varying reactions to my decision to go natural, from disbelief to disdain to encouragement to apathy. I think my family is used to me being a weirdo, so though they are very attached to their relaxed hair, they know better than to try and talk me out of it. As for the one man whose opinion matters to me...I'm sure he's cool with the napptural thing. Probably not the short short cut though...you know how the menz are about hair. *sigh* Oh well, it's about me, right?

I know that some women would prefer to have loose, curly, "good" hair when they go natural. And I have to say if the only reason you are going is natural is because you think your hair will turn out that way, then you might need to reexamine yaself. You are still trapped in a way of thinking that leads us to relax or texturize our hair in the first place. Please believe I would be doing this no matter what "grade" of hair I ended up with...kinky, coily, or curly.

I was looking at the hair album of a sista with some beautiful kinky hair and my sister said, "Natural hair can do that?!"

It shole can. All that and more.

First Things First

My veddy first entry...where should I start? Hmmm...Let me not get to ceremonious about the situation.

Current State of My Hair: I'd say I have about 1.5 inches of new growth and Iown know how many inches of relaxed ends. Can't say I really care about that, as I consider that to be the useless mess that I have to deal with until my natural hair grows enough to do the big chop. I must say I'm getting impatient, though. There's not much struggle maintaining the two textures for now, but I'm ready to see what my hair can do without being weighed down. However I'm ultra self-conscious about my two stress spots so I want to make sure I have enough natural hair to mask them before I cut. I'm not afraid to admit it's a vanity issue. I mean I'm cute, but am I cute enough to rock a TWA (teeny weeny afro)?

Y'all my hair is so soft right now...even the relaxed part, which as some of you know can tend to feel highly brittle at times. I owe this mainly to the shea butter that I sometimes use as a hair dressing and the deep conditioning treatment that I did on Friday. First I washed my hair with V05 Kiwi Lime Clarifying Conditioner. Then I dumped some Lustrasilk Cholesterol Conditioner and a little extra virgin olive oil into a microwave safe plastic bowl and zapped it in the microwave for about 20 secs. Mixed it up into a nice lil' goo and dumped it on my wet hair...making sure every strand was fully coated. I popped on a plastic cap and marinated for about 30-45 mins then rinsed. Hello! My hair was like butterrrrr.

I touch my hair constantly these days. I'm completely fascinated with the way the new growth feels...especially my kitchen!

I am so happy I got the 100% shea butter...it's doing wonders for both my skin and hair. I would have to say it's my favorite styling aid, next to my spray bottle filled with the concoction of the moment. I've been experimenting a lot lately, trying to find the mixture that works best for my hair. I'm always down for a new hobby and it looks like all natural hair concoctions will be my next one. Thank gawd I have two boys that are growing their hair out to experiment on!

Current Hair Routine: Conditioner wash hair every 4 or 5 days. Moisturize with shea butter or shea oil. Style either in flat twists/twistout or a low ponytail. I haven't blowdryed my hair since I started transitioning and my hair has thanked me for that.

Be back eventually...