Hair Porosity and Products

Hey there!

It’s been quite a while since I posted here. I am still rocking my naturalness the best that I can. It has been since 2009 that I first started this journey, which I would not change for anything in the world. Now, I have even brought my 3 year old daughter into this journey by testing out different hair products with her to see what’s work.

My daughter’s hair is very similar to mine, which is the 4C curl pattern. Our hair seems to do really well with creamy hair products to wash, condition, and moisturize. In the past I had used Adwoa Beauty on my hair, which really took well to it. I even used these products on my daughter, which even did well on her hair. I love Adwoa Beauty.

Over the last year, I have transitioned to using TPH by Taraji. I absolutely love the way these products as well. These products make my hair feel and look clean, conditioned, and cult. Today, I washed my daughter’s hair with these products and loved the way her curls deepened with each wash. 

Currently I only use two particular products, which I will display below. These products did such an amazing job on my daughter’s hair that I went to the website in pursuit of a moisturizer, styling gel, shine, and co-wash.

Amazing products - TPH by Taraji 

I absolutely love this conditioner. It can be used as a deep conditioner.

I have yet to try this co-wash, but just ordered it. I will let you know.

Amazing shampoo. What I love about this is that as you finger comb or comb through your hair, you will notice your curl pattern increase, making your hair vey curl.

Of course most of these products worked well on my hair because of my porosity level. Do you know your hair porosity?

Natural Curl Pattern

 

Lately, I’ve been hair happy. The reason for this is that I am able to continue to cultivate my hair into what I want it. This means pouring a lot a love into these curls, strands, and the process.

This look right here gives me life. I used Tariji P. Henson’s Shampoo and Conditioner and Cantu leave-in conditioner. Products are only a portion of training your hair to curl.

When I was younger, my sister had this book called The Program. It talked about ways to bring out your natural curl pattern. It also discussed black women and men being able to was our hair daily without using shampoo, which has a high PH level. I also read The Knotty Truth by M. Michele George, which gives step-by-step guidance on conditioning our hair before shampooing, sectioning, and detangling it. The Acronym for this strategy is CSDSRCD- This stands for conditioning, sectioning, detangling, shampooing, rinsing, condition, and detangle. This is the hair washing process that the book suggest that natural individuals use for “Happy hair.”

Definitive Naturalista

Good morning my lovely natural people and welcome to April!!!
Can you believe that it's April already? I know I am having a really hard time with time just moving so fast. Where has all the time gone? I am sure you realize that as the busier you get, the faster time goes. I have been really busy with a few upcoming projects that I will potentially share on my other blogs.

As for the world of natural hair, I have just been managing my protective hair styles. Every two months, I ravish in having my beautician do my hair. For the past 7 months, I have worn braids and twists. These hair styles have been very helpful in helping me reduce the amount of heat placed on my head and increasing my length. My goal is to potentially continue to wear braids for the next 1 to 1.5 years. This will allow me to continue to protect my hair and increase my length.

Some of my favorite Stars with Natural Hair have rocked many protective styles in the past and present. Here are some of my favorite natural hair peeps:

Erykah Badu
Viola Davis
Solange Knowles
Lisa Bonet
Janelle Monae
Teyana Taylor
Kelis
Jill Scott
Ledisi
Elle Varner
India Arie

Check them out on Essence.com here: Stars with Natural Hair

How I been rockin' my hair

Dashiki Braids

Minie-Do

Minnie-Do Side View

Pony Knot

Pony Knot

Pony Knot

Pony Knot

Naturally Me Re-visited (Protective Style)

Happy new year everyone!

Since September, I have been rocking two different types of protective styles. The first one that I wore in September were box braids. I absolutely loved these braids. It had probably been over 10 years since I wore these type of braids in my hair. This protective style allowed me to sleep a little later, avoid putting unnecessary heat on my head, and add time to my daily schedule. I was truly in love.

This past December, I found a new true love and they were twists. At first, I wasn't sure I was loving the twists. It seemed as though the styles were not adhering to what I wanted them to do. That all changed after a week or two later when I washed my hair. Once I washed my hair and I wore the style a little longer, everything started to get better. I was able to style my hair the way I wanted, the twists laid they way I wanted, and I was happy.

My goals for the future is to limit the amount of heat that I place on my hair and wear more protective styles. These styles will consist of, but now limited to: Braids, twists, wigs, naturally curly hair, and other styles.

Join us in the natural hair movement!

A journey to help increase length, strength, self-esteem, and more.

Loving these twists

WWSD- What Would Santa Do?

Strike a pose

The head shot

The back of the book shot

Oh happy day!

See here...

All smiles

Natural Lyricist Liyah Moni

Lyricist Liyah Moni

The natural world has the privilege of having natural beauties, poets, and rappers such as Liyah Moni to be among their ranks of Natural-go-getters. Ms. Liyah Moni is a Columbus, Ohio native who has been rapping and performing poetry for quite some time now. At the tender age of 22, she has already been in the game for over 5 years now.

All the while she is putting down tracks and performing poetry, she is rocking her natural hair styles to let the world know she is #TeamNatural.

Check out some of her natural hair styles below, follow her on twitter, and listen to her songs on soundcloud..  

Success looks like this

All smiles 

A

Her curls "be popping" 

Natural beauty 

Check out Liyah Monie on Soundcloud. Some of my favorites were: Big Spender, Aquarium, I Can't Stop, Royals Remix, and Bad Feelings.

Winter Twists for Little Girls

Winter time can be a very fun-filled time, especially when you are a little girl, such as Dara. Beautiful Dara is 3 years old and is natural. She's sporting these cute Brasil Wool Twists. She is definitely stylin' and profilin'. Check her out.  

Natural girl

Living in a natural world

So precious

May the Natural "Force be with You."

This past fall, I wore boxes braids for two months. I absolutely loved these braids because they were pretty, simple, and fit within the protective style category to assist me with reducing the amount of heat I was placing on my hair. It's no secret that I was straightening out my hair on a regular basis. This had not been an issue in being natural the last 8 years, until recently. Recently, my hair had broken off and the primary cause was either due to beach water or placing too much heart on my hair. I was at a loss of words because my hair was the longest it had ever been. The honest truth was that I did not have anyone to blame, except for myself. I should have wore more protective styles, purchased wigs for those times I did not quite feel like doing my hair, and I should have known better.

Well, I have definitely learned my lesson. I started to wear box braids in October 2016. Interesting as it may seem, this had been the second time in my life time putting weave in my hair in the form of braids. I had already thought braids were cute, I just never wore them on a consistent basis. These braids assisted me in more ways them one; they allowed me to protect my hair, reduce the amount of time spent getting ready in the morning, increase my creativity, and let me reconnect with my memories of getting my hair done as a child and how tender-headed I was and still am. I am loving all the things I can do with braids and my protective hair styles.

Recently, I wanted to change it up a bit, so I decided to get twists in my hair. When I became natural 8 years ago, I put twists in my hair all the time. This time it was different, my hair was longer and I was adding weave to these twists. I was not sure how these twists would turn out, but I was open to doing something different. So above you will see my box braids and below you will see my twists. I just hope you don't make the same mistake that I did and refrain from wearing protective hair styles.

Keep styling those beautiful natural do's naturalistas. May the natural "force be with you." 

Happy twists

Who me? Twists

Seductive twists

"I got this" twists

Natural Girls Rock!!!

Natural girl

It's a way of life. It sparks a creativeness inside me to live freely. It lets me be who I was intended to be without the constraints society previously placed on me. It allows me to create, respond, and love openly. I am natural and natural is me.

Natural Accessories for Natural Hair Enthusiasts

This past week, I spent time with my family and friends in Columbus, Ohio. One of my good friends and new fellow author, +T. Ayan Nelson, hipped me to the brand of +Toni Daley. I am absolutely in love with my new earrings. I just had to sport these on my way back to New Jersey. As a naturalista, I love sporting new and cute accessories. Below, you will find other earrings by Ms. Daley that caught my eye.

Lauryn Earrings

Me loving these earrings

African Woman Earrings

Still loving the earrings 

Afro Picks Earrings

Yep! Still loving them

Living No Lye Tour: NYC

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the Living No Lye Tour: NYC. It was amazing.  Enjoy the picture to the left found at Essence.com  

Living No Lye Tour: NYC

All About Natural Hair

Living No Lye Tour: NYC

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Living No Lye Tour NYC. The event was absolutely amazing. Essence Magazine was there, along with a lot of well known bloggers and YouTubbers. In being a naturalista for over six years now, I never really knew my hair type. I had tested out different products as some natural books had stated I should do. I expected I was a 4 C based on information I read and comparing my hair to the information on different websites. What I did know was that my hair tended to like some moisturizers, it dried very quickly, and it worked well with some products compared to others. I also knew that Co-washing was definitely for me, especially in the warmer months. 

Sister Scientist 

At the event, Audrey Davis-Sivasothy briefly discussed people's hair porosity being either low, high or in the middle. More details about this was presented by Sister Scientist who gave further details. She even showed a simple experiment to determine your hair porosity, which was to soak a piece of your hair in water for about two to four minutes. In some of the characteristics she stated about low porosity hair, I suspected this was my hair type. I tried this experiment at home and found out that I did have low porosity hair. Sister Scientist also discussed finding out how dense your hair was by comparing it to a piece of thread. If your hair is the same thickness of the thread, then you have medium or normal size; however if it is thicker, then you have very thick hair.

Mo Knows Hair

MoKnowsHair did her thang when it came to showing the audience a great style they can do on their hair. She talked about three strand twists, which can be a little difficult to do at first, but she seemed to know all the ins and outs about it. I could definitely relate to Mo in being a Midwest gal who had recently moved to a big city (New Jersey). I laughed as she discussed garbage disposals in Midwest because I too was accustomed to them. 

 Maria Antoinette slayed the hair game with her natural clip on hairpieces. She took a very ordinary hair style and turned it into perfection. Both of her subjects' hair looked beautiful. 

Goodies from the Event

In having V.I.P status, I was provided with a goodie bag full of things I will definitely use. I also made my rounds to various tables and picked up a couple of things. I will definitely use all my products, which consisted of a microfiber towel, The Science of Black Hair, dietary supplements, curl an styling cocktail, conditioner, earrings, and adjustable hair bands.

Great event. I will definitely make sure to attend future events. #LivingNoLyeTourNYC #NaturalHair

Various Natural Styles

Various Natural Hair Styles

To the right, you will notice the various natural hair styles that I have done in the past and present. The majority of the pictures show me with braids, which is a great protective hair style. Braids are great for the summer time, especially when the humidity seems to be disastrous on your hair. They are also easier to manage with all them added responsibilities that you may have due to parties, poetry events, summer vacations, and all that good stuff.

Treat yourself sometimes by getting your hair done by a professional and doing different styles on yourself. It is well worth it.