A Quick "Curls" Product Review

I’ve adopted the rule that a lot of naturals adhere to these days to avoid product junkie-ism: don’t purchase a new product until your current one is gone.

I’ve been without a shampoo for 3 weeks (which means I hadn’t washed my hair in 3 weeks; can you say “trifling”) and decided to purchase the Curlicious Curls Cleansing Cream since I had read so many great reviews about it.  I was feeling extra adventurous when I went to my local beauty supply store and decided to get the Curl Ecstasy Hair Tea Organic Conditioner to go along with it.  It seems that these products are part of a system and since I had been gifted step #4 by a friend, I figured I was well on my way to a moisture-rich, luscious curl experience.  By the way, step #3 is a moisturizer and curl refresher for 2nd day hair.  I didn't bother purchasing this because the best moisturizer is water and I have plenty of that at home.  Ha!

Anyway on to the review...

The Cleansing Cream

I’m not that impressed.  I wasn’t weirded out by the lack of suds but my hair seemed to feel a bit stripped and there was no slip.  I checked out the website and saw this note: if you are a first time CURLS customer, use Pure Curls Clarifying Shampoo to get rid of product buildup of other products so that you get the best results from our products.  Oh…

The Conditioner

Instead of being happy Cathy and grabbing this conditioner like it was the last one available on earth, I should have read the ingredients label first before throwing down my cash on the counter.  This conditioner has soy protein and my hair doesn’t do well with any type of protein.  For deep conditioning (which I needed), the instructions specifically say to apply a plastic cap after application and use with heat for 20-25 minutes.  This can also be used for co-washing.  I wasn’t too impressed with this either.  Full disclosure: I wasn’t feeling well when I used this conditioner and the thought of sitting under a dryer for ½ hour was making me sick to my stomach.  So instead, I kept the plastic cap on for an hour.  Upon rinsing, my hair didn’t feel moisturized.  It could have been the lack of applied heat and it could’ve been the protein).

I won’t comment on step #4 because it isn’t even marketed for my hair type.  But all things considered, it did help with the definition of my twist out…I think.

I’m not going to totally give up on these products because I didn’t clarify, I didn’t use the conditioner exactly as stated and mostly because these products weren’t cheap.  I’ll report back again the next time I use them (as instructed) to see if I have better results.

Can I make a quick comment on the ingredients list?  I’m honestly giving Curls the side-eye because some of those ingredients don’t even sound all the way kosher.  For some reason when you market a product as “created with certified organic ingredients”, I feel you should be able to easily pronounce said ingredients.

Have you tried the Curls line?  How did you like it?

Happy Friday and Checking In...

I'm not sure what happened this week but I do know that I have 5 posts drafted that need very minor edits before being published.  How trifling is that? 

Next week will be better.

Check back tomorrow for the weekend show off and until then…

Happy Friday!

Monday Morning Inspiration: I Smile

Weekend Show Off: Spicy Eve

I’m not a vlogger, but I play one in my dreams.  LOL.  Anyway, I do subscribe to quite a few vloggers on YouTube and I thoroughly enjoy their information sharing, candor and humor.

I first found out about Eve from naturally.com.  She’s a 4B sister and makes videos for them from that perspective.  Somehow I found her personal channel where she talks about more than just hair.  She’s a funny gal.  Recently, she posted this video and I knew that I had to share.

Check out Spicy Eve’s YouTube Channel and enjoy.

Notable Quotes

“How you gonna know where I’m at if you ain’t been where I been; understand where I’m coming from?”

~James Evans, Good Times

Accept What God Allows

Hair that Travels Part 3: Preservation

As I mentioned in part 1, I prepped my hair for the week by detangling, washing, conditioning and twisting.  I wore those twists from Friday night to Sunday evening.  

I had to attend a pre-registration/cocktail hour Sunday evening and had about 15 minutes to style my hair.  When I snatched off my satin bonnet, I was faced with dry-looking, fuzzy twists.  In the words of Scooby Doo, “Rut-roh!”  Common sense would have told me to apply a little shea butter over the twists to control the frizz but for some reason, I decided against that.  I unraveled the twists, separated them just a bit and pinned up one side.  My hair looked cute enough.

When I returned from the cocktail reception (all of 20 minutes – nobody was there), I decided to try a hair preservation technique: the pineapple method.  I realize that I don’t have the length that Curly Nikki does but I used her method as inspiration.  I didn’t section the bangs because, to me, they looked great.  So I split my hair down the middle and took my ouchless band and gently made 2 low ponies, tucking the ends under.  I threw on the bonnet and went to sleep.  

The next morning I snatched off the bonnet and got a little nervous.  Reading is fundamental.  I should have put something in my hair before I “pineappled” to tame the frizz and I should have gathered the hair up high in the pony and then gathered it low in the morning.  I worked it out.  Just know that plenty of bobby pins were used.  

Monday night I decided against the pineapple method.  I spritzed my hair, rubbed a dab of creamy leave-in and then I grabbed large chunks of hair and re-twisted using a bit of shea mixture to seal.  I should have left well enough alone but this night I decided I wanted to try another technique: banding.  Again, I put a twist to this method.  After twisting my hair I banded groups of twists together in order to stretch my hair.  The results weren’t horrific – although some hair wouldn’t lay in the right direction – but the technique was not necessary in this instance.

Third time’s the charm.  Nights 3 and 4 I spritzed my hair, applied large twists and threw on the satin bonnet.  I had great results.  The picture in part 1 was my day #3 hair.

I’d like to offer jet lag as my reason for my temporary loss of common sense in trying new techniques without first vetting them at home.  I knew better.  Lesson learned.

By the way, how do you preserve your style at night?

In retrospect, I would have done a few things differently:

1.      Prep – moisturize twists under the bonnet and add a little sheen prior to take down.

2.      Products – pack hair accessories to jazz things up, leave the spray leave-in at home, pack travel sized, and add a rinse out conditioner for co-washing, if needed.

3.      Preservation: no new techniques unless vetted at home.

Hair that Travels Part 2: Products

Product selection (and shoes!) were the things that I thought about the most when packing for my trip.  I went back and forth in my mind about checking my luggage or just carrying it on the plane with me.  When I assessed my liquids (contact solution being the main one since I didn’t re-stock my travel sized solution), I decided that I’d check.  Now there was no restriction on what hair products I could take.

Since I knew what style I wanted to maintain throughout the 4 days, it was rather easy to choose which hair products to take along.  I’m on campaign “Less Is More” these days so I narrowed my styling products down to three:

1. Leave-In Spray.  This is a combo of whole leaf aloe vera juice and water with a couple of essential oils added in.  
2. Creamy Leave-In Conditioner.  I’ve talked about this product plenty of times but my go-to creamy leave-in is Shea Moisture’s Deep Treatment Masque.  I have used other products in the past but this one hasn’t failed me.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
3. Shea Butter Mix to seal in moisture.  This is something that I made myself.  It’s a combo of unrefined shea butter, aloe vera gel, olive oil, castor oil, vegetable glycerin, and tea tree and rosemary essential oils.  I could have simply taken any other type of oil for this step, like jojoba, but I liked the fact that this was not a liquid.

I also packed my denman-type brush, a wide toothed comb, ouchless hair elastics, bobby pins and my satin bonnet.

I never used the brush or the wide toothed comb but they were good to have “just in case”.  The ouchless elastics where packed in my purse for emergency purposes.  If all else fails…ponytail puff.  Since I didn’t have a hair emergency I decided to use the ouchless bands to stretch my twists and to “pineapple” my hair at night.  More on that tomorrow…

Lessons learned:

1. Leave the liquid leave-in at home and use good ole H₂O and shower steam for moisture.  
2. Pack hair accessories.  There’s nothing like a cute little flower, a colorful scarf or an ornamented hair clip to jazz up a style (and they don’t take up any amount of space).  
3. Include a rinse out conditioner for co-washing.  It wasn't needed but would have been nice to have in my arsenal in case it was.
4. Pack travel sizes to avoid bag checking.

What do you pack for your hair when traveling?  Do you pack light or are you checking an entire bag of products, styling tools and accessories?  

Hair that Travels Part 1: Prep

When you’re prepping your hair for travel you should consider length of stay, planned activities while there and the climate. 

I was scheduled to be in Santa Monica, CA for 4 solid days so I wanted a “set it, and forget it” type of style.  I knew for certain that I would not be doing any activities where a wash was needed so I didn't pack shampoo and conditioner.  When I checked the weather for the region, I found that it would be cool, sunny and no humidity.  It was safe enough to say that I was going to rock my signature style: the twist-out. 

The Friday before my travel I detangled, washed with a clarifying shampoo and deep conditioned my hair (in that order) with the help of my hair steamer.  Since I hadn’t washed my hair in more than 2 weeks, I figured a clarifying shampoo – to get rid of excessive product, and the deep conditioning – to restore moisture, were a must.  After I sat under the steamer, I donned a plastic cap for at least 30 more minutes.  I’m not sure if the last step did anything, but I needed to wash clothes before I finished my hair.

After rinsing with cool water, I wrapped a regular terry cloth towel around my hair for approximately 15-20 minutes to soak up as much water as possible.  I did not rub my hair because I didn’t want to un-do the detangling that I had done.  My original plan was to section my hair and twist it into about 10 twists and let it dry overnight to stretch my hair out a bit but I knew that the next morning I wouldn’t feel like breaking the big twists into smaller ones for my “set”.  So…

I parted and clipped my hair into about 6 random sections so that it would be easy to style.  I then applied a creamy, leave-in conditioner (I used Shea Moisture’s Deep Treatment Masque) to each section and finger combed the section to ensure there were no tangles.  I broke the larger section down into about 6-8 smaller sections to twist, using a bit of my shea butter mixture on each twist.  When I got ¾ ways down the twist, I used my denman-type styling tool to brush the ends (to avoid bushy-ness) and completed the twist.  I twirled the end around my finger to lock in place and went on to the next.  I did this to my entire head.

I let the twists hang free until it was time for bed and then I donned a satin bonnet.  I knew that I wasn’t going to unravel the twists until Sunday evening, so I was done.

What did I do to my hair en route to CA?  I kept the satin bonnet on and placed a cute crocheted beret over top of the bonnet.  To make it cute, I pulled out some of the twists in the front to frame my face.  Sunday evening, I unraveled the twists and styled.  Easy-peasy.

Note: I didn’t think about this series of posts until I was 2 days into my trip, so there are no pictures of me with the hat or of the first time I actually styled my hair.  Sorry.  

Blogging rule #1: Everything in life is a potential blog post so always have access to pen and paper or some type of PDA and always have a camera (even if it’s just a crappy cell phone camera) and take pictures. 

But for the most part, this is how my hair looked.  There were some minor setbacks but more on that in post #3.

Come back tomorrow to see what products and tools I packed to maintain my style.

 

Google Honors MLK Day

I love this image!

Martin Luther King Jr.

Weekend Show Off: Lisa of Lisa is for Love

I had every intention of getting the “Show Off” post up by Saturday at noon.  But what had happened was… LIFE: kids, obligations, free food, etc etc etc

So let’s just call this a weekend wrap-up, shall we?

Saturday was my birthday! 

Happy Birthday to ME!

 

I turned 37 which means I’m 3 years from turning 40.  I certainly wasn’t depressed by this realization because I don’t look 37.  Vain much?  But, it’s true.  Folks tell me all the time that I look at least 10 years younger than I am and it makes me smile each and every time hear it.  I think of it as God’s way of giving me an extra gift when someone mistakes my children for my siblings and tells me that “Oh my God, you look great!”

Speaking of gifts, I got many others this weekend in honor of my birthday.  Like to hear it, here it go:  

Keep Dreaming

I've loved Dr. Martin Luther, the King Jr. since I was a little girl.  Pre-kindergarten, I didn’t love him specifically because of his service to us or even because of his “I Have a Dream” speech.  I loved him because we shared a birthday and way back when, we used to get off from school on the actual day of a holiday as opposed to the Monday after the holiday occurred.  That meant, that I always had my birthday off from school.  By the way, I think pushing all Federal holidays to Monday in order to have a long weekend is kind of whack.  I mean, it is nice to have a 3 day weekend but I would enjoy having (and sometimes NEED) a random day off during the week too.  I guess that’s what PTO is for, huh?  Oh okay, I digress.

When I got a little older, and really realized the significance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and the impact that he had on this country, I was proud to say that we shared a birthday.  And to this day, I still am.  Make no mistake, he was a flawed man.  But he saw an injustice and DID something about it.

So in honor of him, we need to "keep dreamin’", y’all.  And don’t just dream, but let’s really honor Dr. King by putting some serious work into making those dreams a reality.

Hair that Travels: Prep, Products & Preservation

This week I was in Santa Monica, CA for a conference and the biggest thing that I worried about was my hair.

I wasn’t specifically worried about how my hair would look; I was worried about whether the tools I packed would be sufficient to maintain my look.

Next week, I plan to outline what I did to keep my “crown and glory” in check (in a 3 part series, if you will) by telling you what I did to prepare for the trip, what products I took along with me and how I maintained a decent looking ‘do over a 4 day period.

But really, if you had an opportunity to look at these scenes when you woke up in the morning and as you contemplated dinner choices in the evening, would you really care how your hair looked?  Santa Monica was gorgeous!

Shameless Plug

Conference Cuisine

 I attended a conference this week and I was quite impressed with the food offerings. 

But I need some clarification for one of the meals.  I know that event menus usually have a theme, like BBQ or Asian or Italian, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what day #2’s lunch was.

I’m going to list some foods in the order that they were placed on the buffet table:

Salad (romaine lettuce and mixed greens)

Salad fixings: pistachios, golden raisins, pear slices, avocado

Salad dressing: Champagne vinaigrette (that could not be shaken to mix the flavors)

Mixed salad with pears and pieces of chicken (I think)

Flatbread w/roasted peppers

Polenta squares with a sun dried tomato on top

Bruschetta with beef tenderloin pieces

Roasted asparagus

Quinoa with roasted peppers (served in a martini glass)

Gazpacho (served in a shot glass)

And…

Deviled eggs

Oh, and the plate we were given to place our food on?  A square, blue translucent plate that was at least 14” x 14”.

Am I missing something here or is that one random display of offerings?

Have you ever had an odd conference lunch?

Dear TLC:

Dear TLC (which I'm pretty sure means, THE LEARNING CHANNEL),

I am at this very moment watching the season premiere (I think) of Toddlers, Tiaras and...

(I don't remember the exact name and I don't care to look it up).

Anyway, the fact that you are broadcasting this monstrosity (in the name of educating viewers?) is just deplorable.  The fact that you even have this show is mind boggling.

A suggestion...

Instead of showing these bat.sh*t.crazy mothers who believe that their infant/toddler children WANT the likes of spray tan, eyebrow waxing, false lashes and fake nails (at 15 months!), why don't you report these wing-bats to child protective services.

THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!

I'm aware that this is TV and some of this is likely fluff for the sake of ratings, but how much lower can you go?

Sigh...  

I should have known that you were going the way of trash TV when you aired Sarah Palin's Alaska.  But this?  This is an all time low.

Do better THE LEARNING CHANNEL.

Geesh!

P.S. The fathers that co-sign this madness are crazier than the mothers and need a swift kick.

I love Sally

Over the last year or so, I have had tons of fun polishing my nails.  The most fun thing about nail polish to me: the names.  They are absolutely adorable and make me smile.  Next best thing: the color selections.  There are tons of colors and finishes out there.  But the worst thing about nail polish to me: the application.  Ugh-boo-hiss!  Some polish brushes are just a chore to work with during application.  

But O.M.G., have you tried Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes?   

That brush is the most!  It makes application a breeze.  I don’t use it as an all-in-one polish the way it is marketed because it wears quickly, in my opinion.  I need my polish to stay put for at least 3 days before a touch up or color change.  So I use a base and top coat to maximize longevity.  

But that brush…

*swoons*

Have you checked out this polish?  If so, do you love the brush?

Disclaimer: Sally did not pay me or give me free product to rave about her polish.  I have certainly spent a small fortune purchasing these all on my own.

An Exercise in Spontaneity

I pretty much have good hair days everyday. But those results come from planning the night before. Since my go-to style is the twist out, pretty much every night I moisturize and re-twist my hair. Some nights I make 40+ twists and other nights, I make about 10. It just all depends on my mood and how I want my hair to look the next day.
 

On occasion, I loathe the routine of twisting but I think of what my hair will look like the next morning and I do it anyway. But last night, I made a conscious decision to NOT pre-style my hair for the next morning for kicks and giggles. All I did was spritz my leave-in conditioner throughout my hair and throw on a satin bonnet for the night.

So...if I made a conscious decision to not pre-style, was I still spontaneous? LOL

Anyway…

Disclaimer: My hair is 4B. It is not the type of hair that you can throw a little water on and get a whole bunch of “curls-a-poppin” and call it a day. If I just throw water on my hair, my hair will drink it up, look back at me and say, “Is that all you got, playa?” This is the main reason that the twist-out is my go-to style. It allows me to have some definition and it stretches my hair which reduces tangles and knots. 

So, this is pretty much what my hair looked like after I took the bonnet off and let the steam hit it from the shower this morning.

Yikes!

I didn’t panic. 

My cousin looked at my hair and said, “What in the world are you going to do with that?”

My answer, “I’m not sure.” 

She saw that I wasn’t stressed and suggested a ‘fro-hawk but by that time, I had decided on a simple ‘fro. Because my hair had been stretched all week, I wasn't too worried about tangles and knots like I would be if this was a wash-n-go.

The Result:

Going Unprotected = Risky Business

For the last month or so, my Google Reader has been inundated with “protecting yourself for the winter” type articles. Writers are advising us to be very careful when it’s extremely cold outside because it’ll lead us to heat things up inside. And that could cause a plethora of problems, if you know what I mean.

Well, I refuse to protect myself! I like to be foot loose and fancy free.

Yeah, I said it. I will not protect my hair this winter. I will not braid it with extensions…I will not wig it…I will not weave it…I will not twist it…I will not bun it…I will not cornrow it. I ain’t doing none of that stuff.

Ha!

A lot of folks in the (not just natural) hair community are talking about hiding their hair in the winter months to shield the oldest and most fragile section of hair - the ends - which are more susceptible to breakage, from the harshness of the cold weather outside and the extremely dry heat inside. And while it makes sense, I just can’t. Well, I could…but I won’t – at least, not on a consistent basis.

My problem with protective styling is that I don’t care for the looks ON ME. I have major problems with braid extensions, wigs and weaves. Any hair on top of or added to my head makes my scalp feel like its suffocating. The problem with the twists? Time. It takes a few hours to put them in since I like mine tiny, and a good amount of time to take them out. Even though twists can be kept in for a few weeks and styling options abound, I start to miss my big hair at about day #2. Buns are no good – again, for me – because I like my hair to be smooth when pulled back and I hate using gobs of gel to achieve the look on my highly textured hair. Plus, most good holding gels contain protein, and protein + my hair = straw-like, crunchy mess. Cornrows are out because I don’t like seeing my scalp and although the really tiny, intricate ones make the scalp less visible…well, there’s that time issue again.

I got issues. *sigh…*

So I’m going unprotected for the winter with the full knowledge that mistakes like split ends, breakage and knots could happen. This is risky business, but it's a risk I'm willing to take to wear the hair that I love.

How about you, are you going unprotected this winter? If not, what is your form of protection?

Weekend Show Off: Nic of My Fabulous Boobies

I don’t see myself committing to blogging on the weekends. But what I would like to do is to show off a fellow blogger, an article, a video or picture that has affected me in some way with little (or no) commentary.

This weekend’s spotlight is a person that, I believe, has one of the most beautiful spirits I know. It’s weird for me to say that because I’ve only physically seen this person once in my life and on that occasion, we didn’t share any memorable words. But we're internet friends and have interacted through an online networking group for years.

She’s an inspiration to many and I’m proud to say that my life has been enriched by how she has shared her life with the world through social media.

Read about her life. You’ll be glad you did.

Taking Care of Business: How to Become a Fruit Tree

I’ve heard many preachers say, “If you take care of God’s business; He’ll take care of your business.” That statement is usually made in reference to giving financially to the church.

Money - which is needed to support the church (whose mission *should* be to equip and strengthen its congregation, its neighborhood and the world through spiritual enlightenment AND through alms) - is not the only way we take care of God's business. We’re admonished also to bear fruit which is a result of living His way.

Let’s take a look at what The Message Bible has to say about fruit. Incidentally, I love The Message Bible because it really breaks down Scripture in no nonsense language that sometimes makes me chuckle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Galatians 5:21-23 (The Message)

^19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

^22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

^23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good stuff, huh? Stick with me, I’m going somewhere…

I made a few declarations in this post and one statement I made has been nagging me:

I will be accountable and honor my commitments.

The New Year is only seven days old and I’m proud to say that honoring commitments has been a breeze. 2010, however, is a different story.

Take a look back at verses 22-23: “But what happens when we live God’s way…We develop a willingness to stick with things...we find ourselves involved in loyal commitments…”

Let that marinate.

I am a Christian that strives to live God’s way. And regardless of what was going on in my life that I could or could not control in 2010, I did a poor job of keeping my word (or at the very least, communicating why I couldn't) to people that I respect and care about.

Over the next week or so, I’ve got some splainin’ to do. Some folks won’t understand and others will think that I’m apologizing for small infractions. Makes no difference, I have to do this for me.

Sticking with things and loyal commitments (along with the other fruit mentioned) are an outward manifestation of a deliberate, inward spiritual relationship.

So yeah, in 2011, I’m taking care of business as best as I can. Bygones can’t be bygones because the law of reciprocity is real:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Galatians 6:7-8 (The Message)

^7-8Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anything been nagging you about 2010 that won’t allow you to fully appreciate what 2011 has to offer?

Success

I am a leader and not a follower;

I hang with people who have my solution and not my problem;

I am an achiever and more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus who loves me.

It is in me to prosper;

It is in me to be blessed;

It is in me to excel and transcend the norm.

I am who God says I am;

I can do what God says I can do;

I am the spout where his glory comes out in Jesus’ name,

AMEN

(Author: Elder Rickey Macklin)

Goal!

Then…

July 2010

When I decided to no longer put chemicals in my hair, I’m not sure what type of goal I had in mind. The only reason I “went natural” was because I didn’t want to go bald. I had two trouble areas: my thinning hairline and a balding spot at the nape of my neck. My ends were raggedy and thinning as well. My hair situation was quite frankly, a hot-crispy-mess.

Back in the days when I went to the salon every 2 weeks, this was not the case. My hair was long and thick. But since I had resigned to home perms and maintenance (single motherhood will do that to you), it was no longer the case. I would have length, but the health was just not where it should have been. Add to that my laziness to do my own hair and well, there you have it.

I’ve been relaxer free for going on 3 years and it wasn’t until July 2010 that I finally decided to REALLY focus on hair health. So I had my hair cut (again!) and this time I vowed to not apply any heat (save for the hair steamer or the hood dryer for deep conditioning) or straighten with my beloved Maxiglide . I will admit to using a blow dryer twice – on low – and I felt terribly guilty when I did. But twice in almost 6 months is a pretty impressive feat, especially since I was really apprehensive about not straightening my hair at all.

Now that the health of my hair is back on track I think one of my next goals will be length retention. I love my hair at its current length but I’d just like to see if I can get it back to the length it was at its peak, which was bra strap length.

I was thinking about straightening my hair this month for my birthday but I’ve decided not to do it. I’m going to try the no heat thing for an entire year and see what happens

Now….

January 2011

Hair in 2011

I’ve been updating this blog daily (in my mind) over the last 6 months. One of the main reasons I haven’t updated is laziness and apprehension. I wasn’t posting because, well…I was too lazy to boot up the computer once I got home from work and then the majority of what I wanted to post was related to my hair and I so didn’t want this blog to morph into a hair blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love and follow zillions of hair blogs but I never really wanted to be “that girl”, you know?

Well, in 2011 I’m not concerned with myself. I can’t understand why I make simple things more complicated than it has to be.

I’m going to blog about my ‘fro as often as I like and we’ll see where things go.

A Revelation

Dear God:

First, thanks for seeing fit to allow me to be in the land of the living one more day.

2010 was an odd year. It flew by quickly and as I look back on it, I can’t say it was fabulous. It had its positive and happy moments but it also had a bunch of negatives and sad moments. When I reflect on the year, the things that immediately come to mind are anxiety, sadness, worry and stress. I’m pretty sure I experienced at least one real anxiety attack, epic amounts of stress and if I had had enough courage to go to a doctor, I’m certain I would have been diagnosed with depression. It was a rough year.

But…I made it! And I know for certain it was because of you that I did. I may not have had good sense enough to acknowledge it (or thank you profusely), but it was certainly you that got me through. Of course there were a few key people that you put in my life that I could vent and cry to, but it was you that placed those people in my life. You saw fit to take care of me in spite of myself and it was because of your providence that I have to say that 2010 was ultimately, a blessing. Thank you again!

Now on to 2011…

I’m 3 days in and I must say that some of the stressors and problems that were in 2010 are still with me in the New Year. But that’s OK. You didn’t promise a stressor free life, but you did promise that you’d help:

I Corinthians 10:13 (The Message Bible)

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it.

Because of your word, I declare:

· I will not allow stressors to dictate my performance at home, at work or in my relationships.

· I will take deliberate steps to reduce and/or eliminate the stressors that are in my life.

· I will CONFRONT all problems and not pretend that they will magically take care of themselves.

· I will be accountable and honor my commitments.

· I will not be anxious, stressed to the limit or allow worry to debilitate me.

· I will continue to remind myself that “No” is a complete sentence.

· I will set goals and work towards accomplishing accomplish them.

· I will not stray from my 2011 plan

These are not my resolutions, but this is my revelation.

God, you know the desires of my heart and I’m going to trust and believe that if I put in the work on the above I won’t have to pray for tangible/material things because that will be the fruit of my labor.

Here’s to a fab New Year!

The best is yet to come…

Amen