I’m back!

Oh, blog…. I neglect you so!

Well, I’m back and I want to share my life, health tips  and spiritual journey with you all!

So, stay tuned!

I will leave you with an awesome water detox recipe:

Ingredients:
2 lemons
1/2 cucumber
10-12 mint leaves
3 quarts water

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Chill Time: Overnight or 8 hours
Yields: 10-12 glasses

Method:

1. Slice cucumber and lemons.  Place in the bottom of the pitcher.   Toss in mint leaves. Add water

2. Chill overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Check out Heather’s blog over at http://www.asweetsimplelife.com/ for more tips!

Be blessed!

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Natural Hair Update & I Got a Holy Grail List, Too!

Yes! I know…it’s about that time.

Ok, well right now I’m a year and a half relaxer free and a year and 3 months post BC (Big Chop). I think I’ve come a loooong way in such a short time! 🙂 You can click on the pic below to make it bigger 🙂

So anyway, I’m asked a lot about what I use on my hair so I present to you:

Le Holy Grail:

*The products I cannot live without.

Cleansing:

Reve’ Essentials Hair and Body Wash

Ground Alternative: Dr. Bonner’s Peppermint Liquid Soap or Shea Moisture Curl & Shine Shampoo

Co-Wash:

Tressame Naturals Conditioner

Aussie Moist Conditioner

VO5 Conditioner

Deep Conditioner:

Curl Junkie Curl Rehab

Crece Pelo

Ground Alternative: Olive Oil Deep Conditioner suped up with oils 🙂

Leave – in Conditioners:

Curl Junkie Beauticurls Argan & Olive Oil Daily Hair Conditioner

Kinky Curly Knot Today

Ground Alternative: Giovanni Leave In Conditioner

Treatments:

Roux Porosity Control

Camille Rose Algae Deep Conditioning Mask

Stylers:

Camille Rose Almond Jai Twisting Butter

Jane Carter Curl Defining Cream

Moisturizers:

Reve Essentials Hair and Body Moisurizer

Ground Alternative: Shea Moisture Hair Milk

Gels:

Curls Goddess Curls (waiting to use Curls Cashmere Curl Jelly to compare)

Oils:

Castor Oil

Grapeseed Oil (heat protectant for blow outs and flat ironing)

Lavender Essential Oil

Peppermint Essential Oil

Pomades/Sealers:

Reve Essentials Hair Pomade

Reve Essentials Hair & Body Butter

Ground Alternative: Jane Carter Nourish and Shine

Refresher:

Jane Carter Leave In Conditioner

I mix my own with random conditioner, oils and water

Expensive Guilty Pleasure

Miss Jessie’s Baby Buttercreme

 

So, that’s pretty much it! I’ll buy random things here and there to try but these have a long standing place in my life!

 

Until next time!

Nappy Anniversary to Me!!!!

WOW! A year has finally arrived! It has been one heck of a year too, I can tell you that! In going natural I’ve found so many blogs, other naturals, products, etc. This is a whole community – one that even has their own language! If you understand “I’m going to pre-poo with EVOO, then cowash for a WnG” then you know what I mean! LOL! Anyway, in my year these are the TOP 10 things I’ve learned.

10. Conditioner is my best friend.

9. There is a whole community that has their own language dedicated to natural hair.

8. Women who go natural are just so nice.

7. My name is Aisha and I am a product junkie.

6. Black hair grows!

5. Research is very important. I’ve become an expert on ingredients and I know what my hair likes and what it doesn’t.

4. Of all the advice out there no one is a better expert on your hair than YOU are.

3. I love my color but I regret coloring it. I miss the extra softness of my hair.

2. My hair LOVES water.

1. I love my hair. Never really thought about it until I stopped chemically damaging it. She’s a full head of hair, who loves long DC’s while cleaning and a great movie or two while being twisted up. She enjoys coconut oil and being massaged. She even enjoys bananas and avocado! This is one cool chick. I’m glad I met her.

Protective Styling for the Fall

I’m in the process of getting the protective style called BOX BRAIDS! Ok, this hurts a bit… I forgot how much. Lol. I am thinking of opting for a wig after this… I can’t sit through this again, whooo wheeeee! Will post the “After” pics when I am done!

Be blessed!

-Aisha

P.S. those are my sister’s braiding hands!

Natural Hair Update (LONG OVER DUE!!!)

I have been SO busy with facebook/twitter school and Josh and whatnot that I haven’t had time to do this! The last post on my hair was November 16, 2010! That is unacceptable! I have learned so much about my hair in that time. This is going to be a hair update/product review. This might be a lengthy post!

Ok, so I big chopped later that expected. I did it 1/15/2011. After I chopped off my hair I was like, “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!” It was so course and dry. I didn’t have the proper conditioning products. I was using Carol’s Daughter but quickly realized that all the hype was just that – hype. I hit the natural hair blogs and started testing out different products.

BIG CHOP!!! 🙂 1/15/2010

I played around with a few styles and accessories while learning what products worked for my hair:

BUT I truly did NOT leave my hair out for long! I was still a bit uneasy with this new short ‘do! So, I had my sister throw in some box braids until I got a bit more length!

Let me know if you want my sis to do you hair! She’s pretty good! 🙂

I then took my hair out around March and I saw some growth but wasn’t entirely thrilled with it.

So, I put braids back in…

Bored with my box braids I tried a weave! 🙂 It was heavy and hot and I didn’t leave it in for long.

My best friend Sofia & I 🙂

I absolutely adore this picture. I look like I belong in a different era. 🙂

Ok, so then I took out the weave at the end of March and I haven’t put anything back in since! 🙂

Ok, so in the above pictures with my natural hair out I am only using:

Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

This stuff is awesome! Moisturizes and gives you a soft hold. It smells really good, too! All organic products. (They are not paying me to advertise lol)

Staples:

Shampoo: Organix Coconut Milk

Conditioner: Organix Coconut Milk

Moisturizer: Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

Deep Conditioner: Shea Moisture Deep Treatment Masque

Spritz: 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 water

Before I left for Florida in April 2011 I discovered ECO STYLER gel and my hair’s life changed! LOL! This thing gives awesome curl definition!

Look at those curls! LOL 🙂

ECO STYLER is an alcohol free, water based gel. I love it!

I then came back home from vacation and discovered Kinky-Curly’s Knot Today and Curling Custard these have become my STAPLE products! MUST HAVES! Look at the curl definition:

After my shampoo/conditioner ran out I started to use SUAVE PROFESSIONALS Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner & Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo

These products are both AWESOME! The conditioner I use a lot for co-washes. It makes my hair so soft and easy to de-tangle. Come Clean shampoo is a great clarifying shampoo to get rid of built up residue from the products.

I was trying to figure out my curl pattern! 4b?

Kinky Curly Knot Today & Curling Custard

And this concludes this post covering about 6 months of this hair journey!  I will never wait this long again! Thanks for coming along!

Transitioning into the Natural (11/16/2010)

((Posted on November 16, 2010))

So, I’m going “natural!” Some of you might not know what that means so I will explain: I am going to grow my relaxer out. On Dec 30th I am going to do the big chop, which is cutting all of the relaxed hair off. This is necessary to allow your new, natural hair to become healthy on it’s own.

A lot of people have mixed feelings about my decision. My family is supportive and I am OK in my decision so that’s all that really matters to me. I’ve tried numerous styles and have never felt “at home” in my own head. My mother relaxed my hair at an early age, 11 years old. I’ve never been properly introduced to my own hair! I am eager to meet it and learn everything there is to know about it. I welcome you on my journey.

This is my hair a month after my last relaxer (Sept. 2010) It’s still holding up pretty well. I can see some new growth though! Woot! Woot!

Products

I’ve immediately turned into a product junkie. Not good. lol Here’s what I’ve tried:

Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Smoothie – I actually really like this deep conditioner and it smells wonderful.

Carol’s Daughter Leave In Conditioner Black Vanilla – I feel like this does nothing for my hair but wet it. I think I need a cream leave it conditioner.

Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Shampoo – Love this! Felt like it didn’t leave it as “clean” as the shampoos with sulfate in it. (I guess I’m so use to that completely stripped feel that those shampoos leave) My hair was actually still soft after I shampooed.

Carol’s Daughter Sugar-Dipped Vanilla All Over Sheen – I love this oil. Makes everything smell wonderful and you can use it on your body as well. My hair seems to like it, too!

Organic Root Stimulator Shea Butter – I got this because I desperately needed a moisturizer but this isn’t enough. I want to try Carol’s Daughter Some of Marguerite’s Magic Hairdress.

Transitioning

At this point, I’m done with transitioning. LOL. I thought I would have the patience and I do not. I also am not that attached to my hair. But in the mean time, I have been washing and braiding my hair up. After it dries I let it loose and wear it out. I have a sister who can braid, God bless her heart, so she gave me a french braid last night after I washed. I am seriously loving this NO HEAT thing. It would take up so much time blow drying, hot ironing, and setting. This wash and go thing is the bees knees. I can’t wait for it to be shorter so I can just wash and go more easily without having to braid. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?!

Some of my transitioning styles:

After I washed my hair I parted it and braided it like so:

When I woke up in the morning I got this (I am a HUGE fan of accessories! Look at that headband! iDrool!):

I then got my sister to braid the front (For the life of me I can’t rotate this pic so I gave up, lol, forgive me!):

And that is what I have been doing so far. Only 2 months in. Yesterday I finally washed it and tool the braids out. Now it’s just sitting under this satin bonnet until I decide what to do with it tonight. BOYZ II MEN concert!! Yay!!

See ya soon!

7 WEEKS UNTIL THE BIG CHOP!