Beautiful Twists

I did it you guys!!!!!! lol Last time, I talked about wanting to do more two-strand twists or attempting to do a rod set to achieve a curly look. With my big 'ol head full of thickness, a rod set was NOT going to happen just yet (even though I managed to buy 5 packs (12 in each) of rods for 50 cents at my local beauty supply just in case--good deal for a first time thing, no?). I decided to go with my beloved two-strand twists and they came out absolutely GORGEOUS yall!!!!!!!!! haha. It's so wonderful I almost cried! lol Not really, but I wouldn't have been shocked if I did. Being that you ladies know the journey of trial and error we go through with our natural tresses, you can probably understand my excitement of obtaining perfect twists after trying so hard the first few times they were done. The first few times were super puffy--not what I was going for but I dealt with it---and not small enough (ya know, how the kinky twists/senegalese twists are). But, after much patience and determination I achieved a cute twisted look.

I will be rocking my twists with flower clips that I previously purchased to spruce up my pony puffs--when possible. I may have to make another trip to the beauty supply for more clips b/c I only have 4 colors so far: white, black, pink, and yellow

The Process:

Doing my twists have always taken me a long time and between twisting and taking breaks and being on the phone, I didn't finish until a little after midnight Saturday-after starting around 6:30-7:00 Friday evening.

I washed my hair with my remaining Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine shampoo (just to get rid of it and not let it go to waste; I heard about the lawsuit, no worries the shampoo was bought too long ago--I'll be on my for real natural shampoo/no poo game soon enough) and conditioned with Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Conditioner (I let that sit in for 30 min, covered in a cap to trap heat). I detangled with my wide-toothed comb while shampooing and conditioning.

After rinsing the conditioner out, I blotted but didn't really aggressively dry my hair so I could work with wet hair (plus I hear its better to blot natural hair than wring it dry or anything). I sectioned my hair into five areas/sections; how exactly--Idk, I just know I managed to get a part in the middle and sections on the side and back for easier/supposed to have been faster styling. I had my spray bottle filled with water and a little conditioner(Herbal Essences Hello Hydration) and my Organic Root Stimulator Lock and Twist Gel, my rotating table mirror, my portable dvd player, Push, and Bride Wars, and went to work. My mind was on small twists and that's what I got, small twists. Some of the ones in the front curled up naturally, so for the twists that weren't in sync, I got a chance to use my rods for them and any others that needed a little curl.

The Results:

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful twists!!!!!!!!! I will definitely do this again :)

My sweetheart loves it, and so has everyone that has seen me since I've had them in:

right side
left side
Hello Beautiful!!

Any comments or questions? Post them here and I will be sure to respond

Have a great evening :)

Summer Stylin

There has been an ongoing indecisiveness about what to do with my hair lately. I've been rocking my pony puffs like its nothing for the past month I believe. It's quick, it's easy, it has been my staple style. I need something new asap, or I'm going to scream!! lol "Where's your beloved weave?" you may ask. Well, those plans changed; not because I changed my mind, but the person I was counting on to do it backed out on me. I wanted sleek-straightness instead of curliness (in the weave that is) simply because I don't want to have it in forever for it to end up looking a hot-a-mess in the long run. With a straight weave (especially with the grade-A+++ stuff) you can get away with pulling it back in a low ponytail until you get it redone or taken out if it gets to looking a mess. With a big fake curly mane....no....lol. You wouldn't be able to hide those frizzy lookin things. Back in a pony? I've never seen it done and I don't want to waste time or money trying to find out.

So until I can convince myself to get a curly weave, I am trying to figure out a natural style that I can rock that is cute and different from my usual. Oh yea...a cute, natural, new style that I can rock that won't be destroyed by winds associated with rollercoaster drops! lol Yes, an amusement park trip is in order soon and I don't want to spend an arm and a leg at my natural hair salon on the straw-set that I've been dying to get just so a week later it gets attacked by monster forces(i.e wind, humidity). The same goes for that curly weave. What would that look like? I dunno. Given that it takes me forever to do my hair in twists, shall I embark down that treacherous route? I dunno. Maybe I'll crack and get the curliness anyway. Omg...the madness! haha

Ladies, what have your summer styles been thus far? What do you plan on trying for the remainder of it? Spill it :)

~Jolie


Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse in Caramel-playing with make-up to hide my skin crisis

Skin Crisis

Don't you hate it when you feel on top of the world and then all of a sudden something happens to make you feel like you've crashed and burned? Well, when my skin breaks out that's how I feel. I feel like I've crash landed into acne-world and there's no point of return at this moment. I know I'm probably exaggerating that a bit but lol I hate this.

My poor face has been breaking out for the past 3 weeks (it may have been longer than that). Every time I look up, I have a new little buddy sprouting on my face. I wash my face everyday. I moisturize with shea butter and I am a vegetarian. What gives? lol My hubby thinks it the culprit may be this black soap that I was using but I wasn't using that when I broke out (I actually started back when my face broke out---I thought my face missed it, it was natural black soap! haha) and I'm still not using it. So, yea....I don't know what to think. When I had bad breakouts a few years ago I used Proactiv and it worked wonders but since it was getting charged directly onto my dad's card (daddy's little girl right? yea right....) and we didn't think I needed it anymore my subscription stopped. But my face was fine. Only a blemish here and there, and that was rare. For those I used Clean & Clear Advantage Acne Spot Treatment and, VOILA! spots begone. But those left dark marks from time to time, and I'm fairly light so its super obvious when it happens.



With this surge in acne bumps popping up everywhere and the constant use of my lil C&C friend(and my bad habit of popping some of these bad boys on site---I need to break that habit, don't ya think?) I have been left with these hideous dark sopts on my face that have me feel a few levels less than pretty. So began the search for ways to make these spots disappear faster.



I have heard of Mederma before but never actually needed it. I knew I should have gotten some when my belly piercing went awol and and my body decided it was better off unpierced. Shoulda got it, but I didn't; but its not too late. I joke with my friends that I have two belly buttons now because of it. Looking up the uses for this scar healing miracle, I decided I would give it a try. If it doesn't work for my acne dark spots (which I found out in my search that they are not scars but hyperpigmentations resulting from skin inflammation {from the breakout}) then I will have it on call to fade my belly piercing gone wrong. According to the package, I have to use it for my belly for 3 to 6 months (yikes!!! lmao) and for my face 8 weeks, both requiring 3-4 applications a day. I hope to see the results I am looking for because I don't like looking like a leopard :(



I am journaling my skin's progress, so pictures will be shown after a few weeks.



Stay tuned.



P.S---If you have your own acne issues, please feel free to share your horror stories and remedies or products you have used, have heard about, etc etc

Ciao Bellas!!

To Twist Or Not To Twist.......

My first set of kinky twists: Summer 08
Before I discovered two-strand twisting my natural hair

Greetings fellow naturals! A few posts ago I talked about going into protection mode and getting a full-headed sew-in weave, soon. Well, I have changed my mind. I haven't fully reneged on the weave thing, I've just gotten the urge to attempt to do some really small two-strand twists on this thick natural head of mine. Foolishness you say? Indeed it is lol. I can barely stand the medium sized ones I do now (I've done it about 3 times and wasn't looking forward to a number 4). It takes me forever to do them; about 2hours at the minimum. I have had extremely teeny ones before, set on rollers at a natural hair salon (My fellow Detroiters look up Afia's I'm Naturally Beautiful Hair Salon, they are amazing---hooked a scared transitioning sista up :) If you would have seen a before picture.....ooh, you wouldn't have believed that I had tons of hair tamed into that teenie curly style. The owner was shocked too lol . They said I looked like a totally diff person. My hair only looked twisted if you got right up into my hair and looked closely at it. From a normal distance it looked like I just had defined curls.

--I want those teenies back but I don't have $90 to spare--ouch! I haven't been since the end of last year but that doesn't mean I'm not going back. I hate making appointments for anything so lol but I will be back there before this year is over.

Anywho, I was considering doing some relatively small twists but with my length I don't think they are gonna look like I'm imagining; my twists are going to be quite lengthy so, we shall see haha

Until I experiment with this tomorrow (or Saturday) here are some photos from the teeny weenies from Dec 08. I should have taken closer shots of my lil teenies but I wasn't thinking about that back then....

Adios~

My oldest nephew and myself..........

Me with my two oldest nieces.......

Perfect Pony Puff--How I Got To Where I Am Today

I'm baaack!! lol I couldn't wait until exams were over to post again; it just wasn't gonna happen this time. Remember the last time I tried that? Yea, I was MIA for about a month or so. But anywho, I decided that I wanted to share the ingredients for my perfect pony puff.

My pony puff has been one of my staple styles since going natural (I don't know anything else but that and twists). Before my last relaxer back in July 2007 I was rocking pony puffs in the pursuit of a natural me, but I decided to relax again because I was in a wedding in glamourous Cali. I was sooo corrupted back then. I only knew then that sleek, relaxed/pressed styles were "appropriate" for big events and such. I wish I would have known then what I know now. Natural styles work just as well and sometimes even better :) My puffs back then didn't require much, at least I didn't attempt to do much. I washed and conditioned with my faithful Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine shampoo and condtioner and did a deep condtioning mask of theirs also. To keep some of my faint curliness (actually fake most of the curliness lol) I left in my conditioner. Nowadays, in 2009, its a whole new game!

I decided to go natural last year in 08 after not relaxer for a full year. I wanted to get my length back to my hair but for some reason I just couldn't. My sweetheart kept telling me to get my ends clipped but I kept avoiding it like the plague! Every time I went to someone to get my ends clipped they almost always took my APL length hair to shoulder length or worse---neck length :( Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with short hair and it actually works for about anyone but I was used to long hair and long hair worked for me. I got tired of hearing my dad go on and on and on about letting people cut my hair and how it won't grow back if they keep cutting, etc etc. This time around I was afraid that if I went in for clipped ends I would come out with a TWA that I wasn't ready for.

I never thought about doing a BC. My oldest sister has done enough of those for me (Hi big sis!!) My dad is always talking about how she shouldn't have done it and this and that. OMG!?!?! lol I can't deal with him, so I decided to do a gradual removal of the relaxed ends :) When I finally got around to doing that back in April I was able to go to someone who wasn't just out to chop away my thick hair. She showed me why my ends needed clipping and why there was alot of it instead of getting right to cutting. My hair ended up somewhere at my neck, alot shorter than it was before, but as long as my relaxed ends were gone I was good to go.

Within a month my hair grew back!! Yay! lol I was soooo happy to see my hair healthy and growing. I'm not sure if the clippings can take sole responsibility b/c I started taking biotin supplements before the chop but hey---who knows (I won't know until I get back on track--I stopped when I started multis and omegas). I loved seeing my hair's true length but to see it I had to have it pressed and flat-ironed. Can you say damage, again? I wasn't looking forward to damaging my newly natural tresses with heat all the time so I began more twist-outs. I was using QP Elasta Mango Butter before my lil chop for my twists and figured I would continue. I did twists and twist outs but quickly got bored. Taking summer courses doesn't leave much time for trying something new----if I don't like it and definitely don't want to go out in public with it, I can't just wash and try again. It would take me the whole weekend to get it right lol. So, I decided that until I get a sew-in of some sort I will rock my pony puff.

Rocking the pony puff came after I didn't find the flexi-rollers I wanted to get for a straw/flexi-rod set at my beauty supply. Foiled by my stores lack of inventory, I decided to use the IC gel that was raved about in the hair forums that I came across in my research and use it for a slicked back puff instead of the straw curls. I definitely love the results I get, expecially since my natural curls are blossoming everyday. I have concluded so far that my hair is definitely a mix of 4b with some 3's thrown in there. Only time and more pony puffs will tell for sure :)

Pics of my pony-puff coming soon!