You Mad Bro ?

Quick question. 

Where did this hate all stem from?

How come we began to hate and degrade certain ingredients and or products ? Was there proper research and review involved, or was it just following a new natural trend? (Which leads me to another question, How natural is natural ? Ah, another blog post for another day.)

Well, maybe hate is a strong word. There is definitely a strong negative emotion to what goes into a product and how it will affect our skin, hair, and health.

When did we all become so enlightened. Who is driving this Ban on Certain Ingredients Bus?

BOCI Bus ! Are you on the right Bus ?

Where were you when you first read that you should NOT be using silicones in your products ?

How did you feel when you turned a product onto its back while standing in the middle of product junkie heaven and parabens or minerals screamed out as you skim the ingredients.

HOT POTATO, you slap that big bad product back onto the shelf before someone sees you and thinks you don't care about ANYTHING, ever in life.


You know that feeling when you've felt so negatively about something for so long you forget what originally caused the rift ?

Well if not now, maybe you will after we get through with this series.

I seriously want to know what the big deal is. I need to know the who's, what's, when's, where's, why's and how's to my question.

Quick Question. What is all the fuss about ?

Our Big List of No-No's 
1. Silicones
2. Parabens
3. Sulfates
4. Petrolatum
5. Mineral Oil
6. Alcohol
7. Lanolin

 Well, let's dive in and school ourselves. We're going to get to the bottom of these and see which one really does huff and puff and blow our house in.

Pencils up ! 

We're tackling Silicones first !

So, You Want To Go Natural... A Series.

So, you've decided to go natural... now what ?

What is the next step ?

What are some things you should know ?

What are some items that you might need ?

How do you take care of this hair ?

Where can you can go for inspiration, guidance, tips, tutorials, advice, reassurance ?

Look no further ! I present to you a long overdue series to answer any questions or concerns you might have!

This is a big step that you have decided to take, so hat's off to you for beginning a new journey.

One of the first things when going natural is deciding whether or not you will do the Big Chop (BC) or journey through a Transition first then a Chop.

Transitioning Hair

Big Choppin' and fabulous !

 A well known stylist has stated that any transition lasting longer than 6 months is just encouraging breakage. Although there are plenty of people who have completed transitions as long as two years. Some may have had breakage, some might have not. In my own personal opinion, I feel that a transition should last around 6-8 months for a few reasons.

1. 6-8 months of transitioning gives natural hair time to grow out if one isn't  comfortable with a TWA or even a medium TWA.

 

 

Beautiful transition !

2. Dealing with two or more textures for longer than that time frame may bring about stress and frustration. All of that frustration is stemming from dealing with the straight permed ends and the coily roots. These feelings of frustration, disappointment and stress could cause a transitioner to make the decision to relax again.

3. Opting for a short term transition could help to avoid the "relapse". (Deciding to cut your journey to natural short and reach for a relaxer.)

Although styling options are not limited for longer transitional periods, sometimes they might look different on relaxed/natural transitioner than on a head of a full natural. Sometimes that leads to discouragement or more frustration. This only reinforces why when transitioning, opt for a shorter timeframe.

I believe that one needs to learn what their natural hair needs to thrive instead of having to worry about how to match those relaxed ends with your fluffy natural hair. Learning with your hair as it grows and playing in it is a great way to educate yourself. There could be a case of getting fed up with those stringy ends around ruining the frolicious party. They aren't really welcome in the first place, so give them the axe !

Tamiko is so gorgeous !!

Once that decision is made, it's really half of the battle!

Some things that you; the transitioner (and newly natural) should know is that this is a journey and should be treated as such. It's not a race, it's a marathon, so please pace yourself accordingly and drink plenty of water.

You should also know while it's okay to love another natural's curls/coils/kinks, it's not okay to covet them. Be in love with your hair ! It's your crowning glory, especially made for you.

Still a little confused about Transitioning and the all too feared Big Chop ? It's cool, I'm going to break it down for you in the upcoming posts !

Have any questions?

 Leave them below and I will do my best to answer you ! 

Fan Big Chop Photos

*(I would like to say THANK YOU to all of your for being so patient with me! I apologize for my lack of posting!) *

Sweeping Away the Cobwebs..

*Sweeps cobwebs and dust out of the way*

Hi curlfriends ! I've been gone for so long ! It's tough getting back onto the blogging wagon after being gone for so long. I never know which blog post to lead with or how to "break back in".

So I figured I lead with something cute and funny.

Where have I been ? Well, I re-entered the 9-5 world to raise capital a whole lot quicker. I started working my new job on November 19. (As you can see my previous post was dated for Nov. 19)

 So while adjusting to that schedule, a few things social media wise fell to the wayside. So, now that I have had time to right myself and get my life, I can now post more regularly.

I'm excited, because I have a lot of new and fun ideas to let you all in on, I really have some plans for myself, my company, and this blog in 2013.  Also I left the blog before beginning the two series that I had planned. So those are up next ! 

I hope you all are just as excited as I am ? I'm so glad to be back. I missed my curlfriends !

In other news it's February, have you set any New Years goals for yourself ? How are you doing so far ?