The Real Thing

Since I've gone natural  I hardly ever needed to go to the local afro hair and beauty shop. This directly relates to my determination to stick to natural products free from  damaging chemicals.  Also as I come to accept my hair in its natural form I no longer need to buy hair extensions. As a result I had not visited the local Beauty Queen Cosmetics shop in over 12 months.

I usually buy my natural hair ingredients on-line and this lasts about six months. However, a couple of months ago I run out of Shea butter and did not get round to order a new one. So I decided to pop into Beauty Queen Cosmetics to see if they sold an 100% unrefined Shea butter. I found it under the skin care products isle.  I was sceptical that it would be real unrefined Shea butter, as many products claim to be unrefined when they are not. But as desperate times called for desperate measures I bought it. I was not disappointed as Aviela's Shea butter was indeed 100% unrefined Shea butter of fairly good quality. The price was reasonable at £5.00 for 100g. I am pleased that in the future should I need Shea butter I can just pop to my local shop and get it.

Can you get good quality Shea butter in your local hair and beauty shop?

Marisa. xx

My Favourite Natural Hair Resources

As a natural hair beginner I rely heavily on the internet to keep myself informed on how best to nurture my lovely Afro hair. Over the last twenty three months I've come to appreciate a number of blogs and U tube channels which have become invaluable in enabling me to keep up with the joys and challenges of being natural.  So I decided to share my favourite resources with you.

Natural Hair Blogs
There are hundreds of blogs out there that helped me feel that I am not alone and that it it perfectly OK to wear my hair in its natural form. However,  I really enjoy the more "professional" natural hair blogs which become a substitute to me buying hair magazines. These blogs  focus on natural hair like mine and give a wealth of useful hair information as well as beauty tips. They helped me feel isolated as I get to share tips with other black women whom in reality I never met but that are ordinary like me. So here are my top three blogs:

1. Black Girl Long Hair 
2. Curly Nikki
3. kurly kichana

I also refer to thenaturalhavenbloom blog when I want  scientifically specific  information relating to natural hair.

You Tube 
You tube is great  as I can always find new hair styles or ideas to help me keep up with my hair care routine. I have noticed that in order to find good tutorials one also ends up going through a lot of rubbish ones. Again over time I have become better at identifying tutorials and channels of good quality. I now have specific vlogs that I go to regularly for styles and information because their hair styles and and advice suites my tin 4C hair type.

Good channels for learning about hair care routine and technique:
1.   Lady Key - I found her tutorials useful during my first six months of being natural and learnt a great deal from them as she has 4c hair like mine.
2. Natural Chica - I found her early tutorials (back in the days when she first went natural super helpful)
3.  Naptural85 - Has good tutorials on styling techniques and is the the master of concise explanations. The only downside is that her hair texture is not like mine and therefore the end look results are often different to her hair.

Hair Styling:
1. Backsyncfan  - She always has fab hair styles for short to medium hair lengths. They always work for me.
2. SimplYounique
3. iknowlee - Has lovely practical styles for short hair.

Kids 
As I am soon to join the motherhood bandwagon its worth pointing out that there are also some good natural hair resources to help parents to care for their children's Afro hair. 

1.Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care
2.  Girls Love Your Curls

Remember that most of the above resources advertise a big range of hair care products. You do not need to buy it all in order to get healthy natural hair!  Keep it simple and remember  rule number three- less is more.

Keep nurturing your Afro.
Love
Marisa.

Cocoa Butter vs Shea Butter

About three months ago I decided to try out Cocoa butter as a hair daily moisturiser.  I read about the benefits of cocoa butter. I was curious to find out whether this butter could work well for my fine hair, as I many people claimed that it does not weigh the hair down due to being lighter than Shea butter.

Cocoa butter benefits and hair uses

Source

Cocoa butter is obtained from whole cacoa beans, which are fermented, roasted, and then separated from their hulls. About 54–58% of the residue is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter contains a variety of nutrients including vitamins, potassium, calcium and magnesium. It is a good moisturiser and works effectively against dry and itchy scalp. Cocoa butter stimulates the growth of hair follicles and increases hair flexibility. It also protects the hair from chemical and chlorine damage.   

Cocoa butter can be applied to hair overnight as a pre wash deep conditioner treatment to make even the driest hair feel softer. It can be used in shampoos, conditioners and in conjunction with other hair butters as a moisturising treatment. It can also be used directly on scalp and massaged into the hair.

I liked what I read about Cocoa butter so I did a whipped Cocoa butter mix using the following:  

50g Cocoa Butter

2 table spoons of almond oil

2 table spoons of jojoba oil

1 table spoon of olive oil

1 tea spoon of vegetable glycerine

3 drops of lavender essential oil  

I whipped all the ingredients together and used it for my hair.

Shea Butter

Shea Tree

I fell in love with Shea butter when I went natural in 2011! I love everything about this natural ingredient including its smell and texture. I have written a post on the goodness of Shea butter which includes the whipped Shea recipe I use, so check it out here.

So which butter was better for my hair?

I was disappointed in the Cocoa butter! It just did not moisturise my hair enough. It was as though it did not give it the nourishment that Shea butter does. Yes it is true what I read about Cocoa butter being light on the hair and therefore not weighing it down, but to be honest, this has not been a problem for me in relation to Shea butter.

I used the Cocoa butter mix for six or seven weeks to give it a good try, but my hair just did not like it! It became drier and brittle even though all other aspects of my hair care regimen stayed the same. So for me Shea butter is the winner. This also reminded me that it’s OK to stick to the products that work for you.  So if it isn't broken don’t fix it is the moral of the Shea versus Cocoa butter story for me. I have returned to using my whipped Shea mix and my hair is now recovered from the experiment.

Which hair butter works best for you? 

Marisa. 

Luxurious Deep Conditioning & Detangling Treat for Hair

Yesterday I did a deep conditioning treatment that also doubled up as a great way to detangle my strands. I often use oil during the process of detangling to add sleep to the hair and preventing breakage . This is a variation from using conditioner during the  detangling process. As my hair gets longer it seems to need more moisture at the ends. In order to help my hair to retain moisture I decided to use honey as the base for the deep conditioning treatment. I came up with the following concoction:

Ø  3 tbs of runny honey

Ø  2 tbs of coconut oil

Ø  1 tbs of olive oil

Ø  2 tbs of avocado oil

Ø  1 egg yoke

Info on  the conditioning cap

Mix all the ingredients together.  The honey and egg makes the consistency of the oils thicker allowing for the mix to be applied to the hair with my fingers. I used this mix for adding sleep to the hair during the finger detangling process.  Once this process was complete, I covered my hair with a shower cap and used my Aphrodite hair conditioning cap for 90 minutes.

The Aphrodite conditioning cap heats the hair allowing the oils to penetrate the hair shaft enhancing the conditioning process. I used the time to relax and watch a film fit for a Saturday afternoon in rainy England!

I then washed my hair as usual. The result was amazingly soft, moisturised and shiny hair. I will certainly use this recipe again. My Afro is now ready for Christmas. 

 Enjoy your festive season and keep nurturing your hair.

Marisa X 

Protective Style Update

source

This my forth week of the protective style learning curve. So far so good, I found some nice styles to try out and each week I look forward to wearing something different.

Week 2 - Vintage Roll, Tuck & Pin

I opted for the roll, tuck and pin style. This style is so easy that I did it on Monday morning. I usually do my hair for the week on Sunday eve just in case it takes me longer than expected. This prevents me from getting flustered before work should the intended style not work out...  My ability to roll & tuck is improving as it took about 3 minutes! I kept the style for 5 days. One of my friends described this style as vintage and told me she loves the way it looks on me, hence the title of the paragraph. Here is one I have done earlier.

Week 3 – Retro Updo

I returned to flat twisting and did a variation of the  Retro Updo.  Instead of two flat twists I did three. My pompadour was made with two strand twists. This allowed me to keep the style for 5 days. By Friday I missed seeing my hair out, so in the morning I decided to free the Afro and enjoy my curls by wearing a Puff.

Week 4 - Yet Another Flat Twist Updo
This style took me about one hour to achieve but it was worth it. I prefer it to my strait up flat twist updo as this looks much nicer. So I will definitely do it again. Interestingly I had come across this style a few months ago but was put off trying it because it looked difficult to achieve. Actually it turned out to be easy to make. I am pleased that my hair is long enough to do it too. Check out the tutorial here.

Marisa. X    

Weekend Hair

I went to two parties this weekend. I wanted to move out of my Twist Out comfort zone and do something different with my hair for both parties. On Friday night I opted for the Afro Puff as it is a quick and easy style. My Hair had great curl definition due to being in flat twists all week. 

On Saturday I was more adventurous. After looking at a few tutorials I decided to try out the Twisted Side Fro Hawk. Although my hair is shorter and has less volume than the one on the video, the style worked equally well for me. I liked it and will certainly do it again. Here is a tutorial on how to achieve it. 



Marisa X

Protective Style Learning Curve

Simphiwe Dona

Autumn is beautiful season. It is a time to enjoy long country walks and observe wonderful changes in nature. But it also means that winter is on its way. As the weather gets progressively cooler I feel as though my hair could do with a rest. I noticed that I am less enthusiastic about styling my hair in the morning, as it is dark, raining and cold outside. Therefore I decided to challenge myself to learn a variety of style that will protect may hair during autumn and winter. I will be aiming for protective styles that can last between 5 to 7 days.

Hopefully this protective style learning curve will help me expand my repertoire of hair styles. The challenge will be to find and or adapt styles to suit my hair characteristics (fine and lacking in volume).

So I started the challenge with a 6 flat twists updo. I did not manage to get a good enough picture for the blog L. Basically the six flat twists met at the grown of my head. I then used an elastic band to keep them together and folded the ends of the hair around the elastic band and held it together with cute hair pins. I decided on this style for the week because I will attend two parties over the weekend, Friday & Saturday, so the multiple flat twists will then make a nice twist out as a base for styling my hair for the parties. 

Marisa x