Protective styling in this heat.
This has been a crazy week. I take a medication that, if not taken early enough, will keep me up all night. I took it within the normal range on Tuesday, but I was still up until 7:30am Wednesday. I slept for three hours, and went about the rest of my day. Around 7pm Wednesday night, I started getting incredibly drowsy. Unfortunately, that was not a great time to get drowsy because we had to go to the grocery store. When I say HAD TO. I mean had to. We didn’t even have milk. The past two weeks we had gone out to eat. It feels good to have groceries in the house again.
While at the store, I saw something a little… inappropriate, and I feel the need to say something about it. I understand that a lot of skinny girls (not skinny just skinny as in Paris Hilton, but skinny as in average) are wearing rompers this summer.
I don’t really like them. They look cute on people, but they just aren’t my cup of tea. Not to mention that I am shaped like a barrel (or a duck) and it just wouldn’t look right.
Anyway, Jeff and I are shopping and I see a couple ahead of us with their little girl in the cart. The mom is wearing a romper similar to what I posted, but it is made of a different material. What I notice the most is that her left butt cheek is hanging out. Not a hint of it, THE WHOLE THING. Then to make matters worst, she drops something and lets it all hang out! Really lady? Really? Way to set an example for your baby girl. Meh.
Anyway, she was probably eyeballing me like I was crazy as well. It was 98 degrees out yesterday. The heat index made it feel like it was 108 degrees. I was clad in jeans, a black shirt, AND A KNITTED BLACK BEANIE/BERET.
I know, it sounds insane. It is hot as hell outside, what am I doing in a knit cap? Currently my hair is protective styled in two strand twists. As I have stated in the past, my hair is never lovingly parted into two strand twists, I co-wash, detangle, and moisturize my hair. I then two strand twist it all haphazardly, then seal in the moisture.
Not the prettiest picture of myself, but you get the gist.
Unless I have somewhere I have to be (mainly job interviews), those twists do not come out of my hair until it is time to co-wash again. I don’t want them to get ‘loc’d’ up, so I take them down again to co-wash. As a result, when I go out some place that doesn’t really matter, I have a hat on. I won this beret in the winter from Revealing Beaute and it has been a godsend. However, I think I need more options.
I need to learn how to do up-dos. I attempted one before an interview, and it failed horribly. One major thing I have to take into account is that they are time intensive. I have to make sure I have the time to sit there and part and flat twist and everything.
Another option, is more hats. Did you know I know how to crochet? Yep, that and I can do basic knitting. Well, I can do the knit stitch when it comes to knitting. Because the purl stitch is just a backwards knit stitch, it messes with me. My thoughts are to purchase some lightweight yarn and make a couple of caps of my own. I know there are a few hat patterns in the stitch and bitch book I own. I am also a member of Ravelry, you can get a ton of patterns from there for free. I also have a binder of printed out patterns. I just need to get back into it. I also need to purchase lightweight yarn. I have a ton of yarn, but it is all blanket, afghan, baby blanket stuff.
What about you? How do you protective style? What kind of hats do you wear in this oppressive heat?
Excitement abounds!
This week so far has been a good week for me. I have had a job interview, and have a few more on the horizon. Yesterday’s job interview we met at a restaurant, it was totally casual, and I didn’t worry about much of anything (hair included). Tomorrow’s interview is more professional, so I am thinking about my hair.
Recently I learned that I CAN flat twist. I was excited by this knowledge. I am seriously considering doing an updo for my interview tomorrow. In order to do that, I would have to start on my hair tonight. However, I have class tonight, and won’t get out until 9pm. After I get home, it will be around 9:30-9:45. So I am going to get started after this entry.
All I am going to do is wash, deep condition, and detangle my hair for right now. I will part it and twist it into a few large twists. I’ll wear a hat to class and just go to sleep like that. I will be sure to take lots of pictures of the outcome of my hair. Right now, I need to go hop in the shower and get ready and everything, because I do need to go to the library before class, and it is in the opposite direction of my school. There is actually a library that is sort of on the way, but whenever I request books, I have them sent to the library closest to me, which is in the opposite direction of school.
When you have an interview, do you do anything special with your hair?
I remember reading at one point that Brokey Mcpoverty straightened her hair for interviews, and if she got the job, she would walk in au natural.
Hair Typing = Confusing.
So here is what I know about hair typing. The number system was created by Andre Walker. He is the guy that does Oprah’s hair. I also know that Andre Walker is a bit of a douchebag and thinks that Curly/Kinky hair should be altered somehow. Insert eye roll here.
I know my hair is in the 4 category. This is when things start to get tricky for me. Most of my hair is what you would consider a 4A pattern. It has the s coil shape, they all sort of clump together, and when well moisturized, you can see the pattern fairly well.
The back of my head… is an entirely different story
I am not sure if you can see it well enough, but my hair back there? Yeah, there is not really a curl pattern. It currently looks as if there is one, but that is because I have had my hair in two strand twists recently. If left to its devices, it is a frizzy/poofy mess. It is not usually a problem, because I normally have a headband in my hair. However, if my hair hasn’t been recently two strand twisted or it isn’t in a headband. I look like I sort of have a mullet.
I read about the 4b pattern. It says that it has a Z pattern and a cotton-like feel. Well, it feels soft and cottony as long as it has been moisturized, but there is absolutely no pattern to it. I don’t get caught up in hair typing simply because of this, but I have no clue what in the world to think.
Do you have hair on your head that baffles you?
Happy Friday!
My hair idol Chary Jay is back with a hilarious video. The girl has amazing style and hair, but she cannot sing! LOL.
I need to get going. I am taking a small break from school work and screaming at the TV. Toddlers and Tiaras is on.
Have a great weekend!
Fros on the 4th/Checking in
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. In case you did not know, it was also afro day. We didn’t do anything fancy at all. I packed up a picnic dinner and the plan was to go to White River State Park to watch the fireworks. Well, we got down to White River, and parking was blocked off, So we drove a little further, and went to the zoo. The zoo was a good place to see the fireworks, as long as you were in the right spot. We were seated behind the glasshouse, so we only saw half of them. Plus, it took us longer to get out of the zoo than it did to actually see the fireworks! Next year we need a better plan.
Mmm, ice cream!
As far as my hair goes, it is not feeling all crunchy and dry like it was before the henna treatment. I am seriously slacking though. I need to do a conditioning treatment and detangle my mop. What about you? Have you been slacking with the hair care? Lately, if I have anywhere to go I just spray on my Free Your Mane Reviving spray and fluff a bit and go. I will bite the bullet here soon and detangle and whatnot. I’ve been slacking in all areas since last week for some reason. I need to get back to everything.
Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!
Henna- My experience
Editors Note: I really tried to finish this yesterday. I was doing the editing of this blog while I was in class. But there was some interesting topics being presented, so I abandoned finishing this up until today. Enjoy!
So I finally got around to doing a henna treatment. I apologize in advance for the spotty filming 
Yeah
What I Would Do Differently:
1. We have two bathrooms in our house. The main/guest bathroom is tiled. Our master bathroom is set up weird. The sink is outside the bathroom, and doesn’t have a door or anything. The toilet and the shower are within the bedroom, but are separate from the sink. The area where the toilet and shower is has a door, and is tiled. The area where the sink is does not have a door and is carpeted. I laid down an old sheet, and did my henna treatment in there. I think next time I will just use the main/guest bathroom.
2. While I did do some searching on ingredients and products and stuff, I think I will be more thorough in my reading up on products
3. I will actually go out and purchase plain old green tea. I don’t know if it made a difference that I used honey lemon and pomegranate green tea.
My Final Thoughts:
Henna did not make a huge difference for me. Yeah, my hair was softer afterwards, but not any other softer as if I would have done a deep condition. My curl pattern is the same, and there is no change really to anything. The persistent drying that I was dealing with has seemed to clear up a little, but that might have been the same if I would have just done a deep conditioning. I have no color change. Though last night, I had a dream that my curls looked like MsDena610 from YouTube with blondish tips. Ask me about my dreams sometime, I dream crazy!
Anyway, I will probably try this again, taking into consideration the things that I want to do different. If I don’t notice anything spectacular the second time around (Because I do have half a bag of henna left), I probably won’t do it again.
Do you have any treatments that you have been wanting to try? What has been stopping you?
The next thing I want to try is Rassul Clay.
Hair on a trip.
Most people when they travel take one of two modes of transportation; car or plane. While gas prices are steadily going down (at least in my part of the world), they are still pretty high, making an extended car trip possibly as expensive as a plane ticket.
Our solution? The train. You win some and you lose some with the train. The last time we were on, I had a massive headache due to the fact that there were really stinky hippies. Our train last time also was like 5 hours late due to the fact that there was a mudslide in the Pacific Northwest. AKA: Nowhere near where we were, and nowhere near where we were going. Every little thing just went wrong that trip.
We are currently on a train. It is actually going rather well this time, and this leaves me optimistic. We’ve had no issues, except for a rather annoying squeaky voiced child that “loves everyone!”
The last time I was on a train, it was winter time, and my hair was in two strand twists stuffed under a scarf, stuffed under a knitted cap. The knitted cap is no longer an option in the mid west summer (the idea of it in this heat makes me gag a bit). Also, in the interest of not looking like the crazy ass ghetto black lady, I do not have a scarf on my hair. The result? I still look like the crazy ass ghetto black lady.. My hair is just out and looking a wee bit wild. I wanted to learn how to French braid my hair before this excursion, and that just didn’t happen. On long trips how do you protect your hair without looking crazy as hell? There are enough crazies on this trip (Mullet anyone?) I don’t need to add to the atmosphere.
Vidal ain’t got nothing on him.
Around September of last year I attempted my first (and last) braidout. My husband helped to braid my hair, and after showing him one time how to braid, he proceeded to braid better than I could. I should have known it wasn’t a fluke.
Saturday I decided that I needed to go to the bowels of hell (aka Wal-Mart) get get some headbands. I tend to lose mine. He was hungry so we decided to eat while we were out.
My hair was twisted up, and I needed to untwist it. He wasn’t doing anything but watching a bad 1980’s movie, so I enlisted his help. “This will go much faster and get us out of the house sooner if you help.” He asked me what to do. I told him to just untwist them. “Do I untwist them all the way?” I was kind of confused by his question, but told him yes. He sat there and quietly and gently untwisted the back of my hair while I did the front. I got finished before him and just sat there and waited. “I’m finished.” I went to the mirror to go check. Dear God in heaven. He untwisted each twist, and spread the hair evenly over my head so that my afro was freaking adorable!
My husband is a 28 (almost 29) white male who never touched a head of hair on an African American woman before me. I just look at him sometimes, amazed at what he does. He just tells me “I’m just good with my hands.” I keep telling him that if he ever gets sick of being a network engineer, he should go to school to be a beautician. He just rolls his eyes at me and goes back to his movie while I get dressed.
I love this man.
My hair after he got finished with it!
From the bottom of my heart.
I wanted to thank each and every one of you that took my survey last month. You gave me a lot of great insight that I will be able to use to make this blog greater, as well as craft it into an independent study project. I am one of the smaller natural hair blogs on the web, but I am growing with all of your help. I appreciate every single one of you that stops by to read. I am truly humbled by the response that I received.
*group hug!*
Please don’t mess with me in the morning.
It takes me a while to rally in the mornings, I’ll admit it. This morning was no exception. I should back up a bit though. Last night, and pretty much all day yesterday, I had pain in my left eyelid. I had a feeling a stye was coming through. I immediately canceled that thought, because I haven’t had a style since I was a freshmen in high school. Yeah…
I woke up this morning (at 7:50, about an hour earlier than I normally do) with more pain when I blinked. My husband was telling me goodbye when I asked him to look at my eye.
“Yeah, you got a stye coming it, and it is pretty swollen.”
Great.
Since I was up, I figured I would hop in the shower and get ready for my day, which I did. But I am still pretty groggy. I throw on a maxi dress and run to the drug store. I had a script I needed to pick up.
It’s early, I’m not quite all there. I know I look slightly crazy. I shuffle into the pharmacy when behind me I hear:
“Hey ‘lil mama, what it do?”
I am no one’s mother, little or otherwise, and I turn around to look at the guy. If it is possible to look crazier than I look right now he does it. Cut off shorts, dirty shirt, raggedy braids in his hair. I give him the evil (stye) eye, and move on. As I am walking I notice a mirror and noticed that my dress is sort of tucked under my strapless bra. So, I am looking crazy as hell, have a stye, and it is early as hell, and you are trying to holler at me!? DO YOU NOT HAVE ANY STANDARDS!?
Oh well, at least my hair looks decent.
Glasses are on because I don’t want you to see my stye. Plus, I do have on clothes, It is a strapless maxi dress from Old Navy last season.
Espionage Cosmetics
