I'm Drawing A Blank

I can't think of a fitting title today, so let's jump right to it. I detangled my hair yesterday, using the Goody Styling Therapy Brush and I am hooked. It wasn't perfect, there were a few snap crackles and pops along the way, but I soon figured out the end to root technique (sometimes I start in the middle).



I also worked from the back to the front and cut down my detangling time to an hour and a half. I shaved off 30 minutes. I suspect next week will be even faster because the brush picked up a lot of the shed hair and I don't plan to do any wash-n-goes this week (well maybe one or two). The back to front method also speed up my two-strand twisting process and I cut that time down by 45 minutes. Amazing! I was actually excited to do my hair this week, imagine that.

And I think my eye shadow skill are making a slow but sure come back.




Products Used

Face
* Prescriptives Custom Blend Tinted Moisturizer
* MAC MSF Natural in Deep Dark
* MAC Blush in Pinch Me
* NARS Blush in Crazed
* Stila Sun Highlighter

Eyes
* Urban Decay Primer Potion
* Be Never To Busy To Be Beautiful Cream Eye Shadow in Brisk (used as an all over base)
* MAC Eye Shadow in Nocturnelle
* MAC Eye Shadow in Stars 'N Rockets
* Stila Smudge Pot in Bronze (used as a base for lids)
* Stila Shadow in Twig
* Stila Shadow in Cassis
* Stila Shadow in Dahlia

Let me know what you think!

Although I have a ton of work that I haven't so much as looked at, I really felt the need to blog, so here goes.
I've decided to get really serious about my hair and skin care routine. My skin is pretty good, but I don't always do my face masks like I should and I sometimes fall asleep before washing my face (gross I know, but hey, I'm being honest).
I am a bit of obsessed with face care especially the anti-aging aspect, and I have a very specific routine that involves an odd mixture of Arbonne, Origins and Prescriptives products with a dash of Neutrogena and Clearsil (it's very high school, but it's the best acne cream I've ever used). I won't get into my complicated routine here, unless someone really wants to know, in which case you can leave a comment and I'll go into it, but I assume most of you aren't interested. I'm taking a cornucopia of vitamins including GNC's Hair, SKin, & Nails formula and drinking 96 oz of water a day. That's it for the skin care.

As for my hair, at this point I am very satisfied with my current length; it allows me some options. I would like to have more length and I am patient about achieving it, partly because I'm comfortable with what I have now, so I'm not watching the pot boil so to speak. But I realize that I am going to have to do more than I am currently doing if I want to grow and retain length. So I've added an Aphogee treatment every six weeks. Hopefully it will cut down on single strand knots.
I decided to back away from the wide tooth comb when detangling because I was worried that it was causing snaps and tears, but finger combing on it's own obviously wasn't enough because there is now a knot circus up there. Thankfully while pursuing Nappturality yesterday I saw a thread about a new Goody's brush. I picked it up today and plan to use it for detangling on Monday. I'll let you all know how it goes :-)
I have tried the Denman brush before, but I felt it too was causing snaps and tears. I'll tell you what though, it removed every single shed hair and the following week's detangling was the quickest it's every been. Now my detangling process is taking upwards of two hours. I just can't handle that! Doing my hair is an all day affair! But I digress. In addition to the protein (Aphogee) treatment, I am going to be consistent about detangling every week. Sometimes life gets hectic and I have to go longer before detangling, but that only makes the process more difficult, so I just have to find the time to sit down and do it.
I made a batch of Moe's Hair Growth Oil, but supped it up by adding Nettle and Rosemary Essential Oil. I plan to massage my scalp every other day or 3x a week. I am also going to reduce how often I wash-n-go in an effort to reduce knots and tangles. Plus it takes forever for my hair to dry.

When it comes to my hair, I love the products in my current rotation but I am looking to diversify so if any of you naturals/nappturals out there have any favorite products, shout 'em out please.

Once I get camera batteries I'll take a picture of my hair in a twist out as a before and after shot. I'd like to get 3/4 inches a month (I don't measure my hair though, I just look at how much my color has grown out) but I'll be happy with 1/2 inch.

And one a cosmetic note: I think my eye shadow application skills have regressed in the last several months. I haven't been wearing makeup as often as I used to and my skills have suffered, so I am making an effort to wear makeup most days of the week. If I'm not too embarrassed about the results I'll post them here.

Take care everybody!

"RENT" as Inspiration

RENT is one of my favorite musicals. One of the touring companies came to Nashville for the weekend and my Broadway-buddy/facebook husband and I went together. It was a great show. Of course we sang along for most of it. Anywho, I decided on Halloween that for next year's Halloween I was going as Mimi Marquez, blue spandex and all. I don't think most people will make the connection, but I'll give a dollar to anyone who does.

There have been many Mimi's, but they all have a fairly similar look that usually includes some degree of wavey/kinky/curly, Scary Spice-esque hair. Except for Rosario Dawson who played Mimi in the film version. She doesn't really count anyway. This Mimi's hair was more kinky than I've seen in other productions, dare I say it was almost "fro-y". Seeing this kinky-haired Mimi was inspiration to step up my hair game so that I can rock an awesome twist out and pleather next Halloween.





Currently, I'd say my hair is between 6 and 7 inches in the middle and slightly shorter on the sides. I have a fairly simple hair routine, which I'll detail in a later post, but it includes a weekly shampoo, detangling, deep conditioner, color conditioner (maybe it isn't so simple) and sometimes two-strand twists, depending on my mood. I drink lots of water and take a hair, skin and nail vitamin (GNC). But I need to elevate my hair commitment if I'm to be Mimi 7 months from now. My plan of action? Continue with the vitamins and H20, add a monthly Apohgee protein treatment (for strength, ergo retention) and incorporate a variation of Moe's Hair Growth Oil into my regimen. I say a variation because Jojoba Oil, which is one of the main ingredients, just sits on my scalp. My BFF swears by this oil.

I'm not expecting a miracle, obviously I wont have shoulder length tresses by the end of October, but maybe, I can evoke the essence of Mimi (lol, I have to laugh at myself with that one).

Do any of you out there have an hair goals, dreams and aspirations? Do share!

Snip Snip

The most harrowing experience of the week was, drum roll please, my hair trim earlier this morning. My appointment was scheduled for 9 am (on a Saturday, "the horror, the horror") and I nearly missed it because I turned off my alarm in my sleep. The wrong way to start the day. I did make it within five minutes of my appointment time, but had to wait 45 minutes anyway. In that time I tried to fluff out my fro as much as possible so that he wouldn't have to snip off whole bits of coils. I was moderately successful. Ladies, you know hair is very serious business for us. It's not a game, and I was nervous that I'd walk out of the salon sans an inch of hair. Thankfully this was not the case. I also picked up two bottles each of Bixa and Annatto Aveda Color Conditioner; they deposit copper and auburn tones to the hair and since both are discontinued I wanted to get enough to last a little while. I am a little disappointed with the Bixa, the pigmentation is not as strong as I'd hoped, but that is another blog for another day. All and all, I am satisfied and hopefully this trim will cut down on my tangles. I'll be sure to let you all know.

Hair Update

Eight months into this journey of naturalness and I have approx 5 inches of hair. Not bad if I do say so myself. I have recently been experiencing monster tangles. I mean beastly. I realize it's because I've been taking the same low-matainence approach to my hair that I did when I was rocking my TWA, and that just won't cut it. So I've decided to step it up a notch, and detangle twice a week, one of those being with my Denman brush (to get rid of shed hair) and to deep condition (adding honey and olive oil to my current conditioner) for several hours/over night once a week. I did the latter last night and was greated with soft bouncy coils this morning. Hello to you too!

So right now the routine is as follows:

- Shampoo w/Aveda Brillant once weekly or Clarify with Aveda Hair Detoxifier twice monthly.
- Condition w/Aveda Brilliant (softens like no other) and Trader Joe's Nourish SPA (simply amazing).
- Add Honey & Olive Oil.
- Detange, first finger combing, then combing with a wide-tooth comb, and finally gently brushing with the Denman. (with the
conditioner still on).
- Cover with plastic cap and go to sleep/watch a movie/read a book.
- Awake to wonderfully supple hair.

I'm debating whether or not to add a protein treatment, but I don't think my hair actually needs it. I'll keep you posted with the results.

So answer be this, how do you keep your tangles at bay?

Beautiful Natural in Prescriptives Ad

I found a picture of an awesome natural texture shot on the Prescriptives website - I wanted to post it here in case any NP members or personal friends check my blog:




I love her hair (the woman on the right obviously, lol) although if it were me, I would definately be tempted to slap some color in there, haha