Naturally Kinky Hair

There's a hair theme on Sesame Street today and there was a song so cute, it compelled me to update my neglected blog.  To bad I can't find a video of it yet.  In the segment a brown-skinned muppet with an afro is singing, "I love my hair."  Then she goes through all different hair styles from twists to cornrows, up and down.  It was cute and tastefully done.  I was so impressed.

In the same episode, the cartoon during Elmo's World is about a king who makes a rule that everyone wear their hair like his.  He comes across a black girl with what looks like locs and asks her why her hair doesn't look like his.  She tells him she tried but her hair won't look like his and she likes her hair the way it is.  She then asks what's wrong with people wearing their hair in different ways, the king answers "nothing" and changes his law.

It's nice to see positive images and ideas about kinky hair presented directly to children.

I haven't made a post here in awhile but I do still read related blogs and I wanted to mention some of my favorite fact-based hair and beauty blogs.  There's no shortage of old wive's tales circulating around black hair care so it is refreshing and interesting to get a purely scientific point of view sometimes.  These women don't just spout off made up statistics and pseudo-scientific  "facts"  they have the research to back up what they write.

The list:

Kimmaytube - YouTube Channel.  Not exactly a blog, maybe a vlog but I love Kim's no nonsense style and how she presents facts.

The Natural Haven - I love how JC explains and illustrates concepts in a way anyone can understand them.

The Beauty Brains - I haven't read as much from this blog but it is written by cosmetic chemists.  They let you know which ingredients really make a product work and which ones are there for marketing hype.

This is not a free-for-all blog host. If you want to blog about natural hair I welcome you to join and blog with me, otherwise I will be deleting your blog. There are plenty of free blog services you can use to advertise on.

Try blogger.com or wordpress.com.

I deep condition once a week. Yesterday was my deep conditioner day and I made kind of a pointless video about it. My hair didn't turn out as good as it usually does. I changed up my recipe and I used barely any of the amla/brahmi/henna powders. I also added coconut milk, honey, buttermilk powder, and coffee. It was runny so I added some whole foods grapefruit conditioner. My hair is ok but it doesn't feel as soft and strong as it does when I use the thick hair mask with more of the herbs.

I don't like the word regimen because it sounds restrictive to me.  But here's what I've been doing with my hair for the last several weeks on a weekly basis.

Daily: In the shower I start by getting my hair completely wet.  Then, I add my homemade Amla/Brahmi oil (coconut oil base), distribute it through my hair, and let the hot water run over it.  Next, I co-wash with ion Color Defense Intense Moisture Daily Hydrating Conditioner.  I rinse with cool water and then my hair is happy.  After my shower, I seal with a tiny bit of Vatika oil.

On the weekend: I take down my hair and I clarify with baking soda and/or shikakai.  Then, I deep condition with a hair mask.  Usually it is a henna/brahmi/amla mask with egg, apple cider vinegar, honey, and an oil.  After rinsing I let my hair air dry a little then I put in my protective style for the week.

Whenever I feel like it: I massage my scalp with or without oils.  I made a cayenne pepper oil to use a scalp stimulator.  I also use Vatika coconut oil or Afroveda growth oil (don't remember the name).

For the most part I am using all natural products.  The ion is definitely not natural it contains several silicones but the first few ingredients I like: "Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin..."  It is super thick and creamy though.  I am debating whether I will buy more of this when it runs out because I do want to go as natural as possible.

My hair has been loving the daily oil rinse and co-wash combination.  It has started to feel very soft and it stays moisturized.

I've been giving so much attention to my hair and it's length that I was starting to get a strange attitude toward it.  I am not newly natural, in fact perms and chemicals were the exception for most of my life.  Natural isn't new for me and short isn't new either but for some reason this time around I've been obsessing about my hair growing.

You know what's funny though?  I was approaching this hair journey as an experiment to see how my hair grows out.  As if it may not grow at all.  It just doesn't make a lot of sense.  My hair is growing just like it always has and I expect it to keep growing for some time.

I think I'm just highly impressionable.  I've been spending a lot of time looking at hair boards, blogs, and vlogs and I think this length obsession is rubbing off on me.

I already know the secret to long hair.  If you watch to women with unusually long hair many of them are doing the same thing.  They protect their ends so they don't break off.  Simple.

Anyway, my point is, I'm leaving the length watching alone.  I'm just going to enjoy the hair I am blessed with today for what it is and not worry about the length or future length.  I'm actually really happy with my hair right now.  I feel like my hair I are coming to an understanding.

My short hair is in a baby phase.  With my children, I consciously take time to appreciate what stage we are in.  Taking care of toddlers is a lot of work and keeping everyone level is a challenge but if I only focus on the hardships I will miss out on what is so special about them being this age.  I love them for everything they are today and while I may be "free" of babies in 20 years they will never be my babies again.  So just like I am embracing them I am fully embracing myself at this moment in time, including my short hair.

Does this babbling make any sense?  This is just one internal shift for me.  I will still be documenting my hair with pictures and the blog.  I will just be approaching it with a different attitude.

I was tagged by youtuber Mzsweetsmile83. So here's a quick video with a little bit about me.

I braided my hair today in small braids.  My goal is to keep it up for at least two weeks.  The braids are serving as my protective style and to deter me from messing with my hair too much.  Since it takes more of a time investment to braid and unbraid I think it will be easier for me to keep them compared to with twists.  This gallery is from the past month starting in January until today.  The last five pictures are of my hair yesterday and today.

None of this hair is styled to look cute obviously.  It's just a check point of my progress.  I cut a lot of hair off over the past month but my hair today feels healthy and thick.

[svgallery name="jan feb 2010"]

I feel the need to correct myself on something I wrote yesterday.  I said that there are few examples for those of us with kinky hair but that really isn’t true.  I have found new blogs and vlogs to follow on a daily basis.  It really is just a matter of looking out for them.

I just wanted to make that clear in case anyone ever happens to read this blog besides me.  There are a lot of women out there that I am inspired by and I look forward to seeing what they put out there.