Length check, comparison etc....I didn't know x_X

So, I was going through some pictures under a file on my laptop titled, "Hair Journey" and I was like, "Girl, your hair's GROWN!" lol
I remember having hair that was just at the middle bit of my neck, the nape of my neck, then a bit below that, collar bone length, just below collar bone length and now, well, it's about an inch and a half below my collar bone now. In the pictures I first saw, I had tons of relaxed hair and just a bit of natural hair at my roots, but gosh! did that hair look short and well...not as nice as it does now (natural rocks! :) ). I wish I could put up hair pics, but I don't have any current ones (plus, my hair is in braided cornrows as I type. I am taking them out tomorrow to DC, wash and get a photo of my hair for Matthew James (yes! Matthew James! The miracle working hairstylist in Birmingham, England - which I've never been to...yet)). Hopefully by this weekend, I should have some current pictures up for you and I should get some all-relaxed (I don't like seeing them) pics of my hair from my dad. I see those pics and I'm like, "Girl, your hair was STRAIGHT!" lol. I love how curly and kinky my hair is now even though it frizzes  like a fuzz ball no matter how much I try to prevent frizz with my all-natural products. So, I look at my hair now and I'm like, "Girl, your hair's CURLY!" and kinky, I must add :) lol I just absolutely LOVE my hair! I mean, I forgot what my natural hair looked and felt like, I had relaxed hair practically my whole life and now that I've seen and felt my natural hair, there's no way a relaxer's going on my hair again! :)

Things natural hair has forced me to learn:
1. Patience is a virtue
2. If something doesn't want to work with you, just let it be
3. A bad hair day is your hair being a toddler and having a hissy fit because she wants something.

"If you truly love something, you'll let it go and if it comes back, it's yours to keep." I loved my natural hair, I let it go, I've got it back so, yeah, IT'S MINE TO KEEP!


Things I've learned about my hair:
1. My hair needs moisture. I mean, MOISTURE!
2. My hair is such an actress
3. If I tell my hair I love her daily, she shows me that she loves me back by not acting up.
4. It's not that hard to achieve an AMAZING bantu knot out (or china-bump out as some people call it in England). All you need is to try it once, twice, thrice, you know the drill, keep on trying till you get it, it's definitely not time consuming, you just need some hours, maybe days, you might have to endure weird looking hair, you know, no biggie :)
5. I have 4 hair types (3c/4a/4b/4c with 3c around the back)
6. My hair likes protective styles (but only when my ends are held up and I moisturise daily)
7. Hard water is never the answer. Hard water makes my hair feel like it hasn't been moisturised in like a month (no matter how many moisturising treatments done). Bottled or filtered water makes my hair feel good! :)
8. My hair loves shea butter. :)
9. Shampoo (with sulphates) isn't needed (CG). Brown sugar scrubs, good ones, work pretty well to remove build-up and all that.
10. I can do without coconut oil, doesn't do much for me (well, I believe the one I have is refined, so I guess I just need to find unrefined coconut oil)
11. Extra Virgin Olive oil is so lazy! It just sits on my hair and does nothing, but make it oily unless I warm it up a bit like it's in a spa or something.
12. Rosemary oil, gosh! It's a miracle worker, Itchy scalp, dandruff, it gets rid of them so fast!
13. Perfume is terrible (for the hair, I mean), it dries it out so bad. Note! I did not spray perfume on my hair, my mum did. dunno y.

That's all for now. :)
I'll talk to you guys later.
~Sam

p.s I decided to never relax my hair again in early January 2011. It's been a year and 3 months since then and I haven't changed my mind or regretted my decision :)

Truth and Dangers of using Relaxers + 9 Months Old Baby Gets A RELAXER!

I'll start off by asking, "what on Earth can make someone put a relaxer on a baby's hair?!?!?" I know my mum started relaxing my hair at an early stage, but definitely not at 9 months. I don't even recommend relaxing a child's hair or anyone's hair for that matter. I've know what relaxer burns feel like and I just can't imagine a 9 month old baby going through that.

Please watch these videos. I hope they help somebody:

Truth and Dangers of using Relaxers^

Nine month old baby gets a relaxer. Are you serious!?!

People, relaxers are never the answer!

Proper hair care and research is!

And finally,

DON'T YOU DARE PUT A RELAXER OR SUGGEST PUTTING A RELAXER ON A BABY'S HAIR!

................

1. What do you think about this?

2. What do you think about kids getting relaxers?

3. What are your views on relaxers in general?

SO! APPARENTLY, NATURAL HAIR IS NOT GOOD HAIR!

Okay! So, the other day, I was at work (yeah, work :) got a job...but only for 2 weeks! :) ).
Anyways, a lady that works here, she called me out while I was talking with my "co-workers." So, I was wondering why she was calling me, but I went to her and she was like, "why's your hair like this?" I was like, "like what?" She was like, "even your friend's hair is like yours," I looked at my bff through the window. She had her super kinky hair in a messy state, but she had most of it hidden under a beanie. That's when it clicked, the lady had seen my bff's hair before and I knew what she was talking about now, "are you talking about our hair being natural?" I asked, "yes," she said.

"Do you think your hair is good?" she asked, "do you think both of you have good hair?" I said, "yes," she went on to say, "you should go get your hair relaxed," I was like, "I'm never going to get my hair relaxed," she was like, "why? you think your hair is nice?" I said, "yes," she said, "natural hair is not nice. You don't have good hair, how do you even comb your hair?" I was like, "I have good hair, natural hair's beautiful and I comb my hair from the ends up to the roots," she was like, "what nonsense is that? So you'll just be sitting or standing and combing all this hair like that?" I was like, "yes," she then was like (and I hate this part),"look at how thick your hair is! Do you seriously think this is good?" I said, "yes," and she was like, "shut up! it isn't good. Look at how thick your hair is and on top of that, it's natural and you're telling me that's good?" and I was like, "yes."

My uncle (dad's bro), who happened to be in the office that day came over and was like, "what are you guys arguing about?" she was like, "she's telling me she has good hair," my uncle was like, "but she does, look at all this hair, healthy and natural." I should add that my uncle has a 2 year old daughter who's never going to get her hair relaxed (his wife has relaxed hair and from seeing my hair, she's considering transition. My uncle and his wife have decided never to relax, Neriah's hair). As for their almost a month old baby, they've started working on a good and healthy hair regimen for her, they haven't tested anything out on her yet (they only wash her curls with water for now). Anyways, back to what I was saying before: the lady was then like, "how is that good? her hair is so thick and natural," my uncle was like, "you haven't seen anything yet. You should see her rocking an afro," then he asked me why I didn't decide to wear an afro that day and I told him that my hair shrinks a lot now so he was like, "okay." We, my uncle and I, told her that my hair's so healthy now and that it's growing much faster and better now and that my hair hasn't been this long since I was little (when I had hair down my back and WAY below my chin- my dad cut it all off when I was 8-ish. Mind you, I only have below collar-bone length now, but a few strands of hair, stretched, go past bra-strap length - dunno y). The lady still wanted to argue with me, I totally felt like telling her that how thin, heat damaged and relaxer whatever her hair looks, is nothing to write home about or want to have. Instead, I settled for saying, "you should totally consider going natural." She was like, "so my hair would look like yours? Never. Why would I ever want my hair to be like yours? I've told you, you should go to a salon and get your hair relaxed. Look at your mum's hair, doesn't it look beautiful now?" My mum relaxed her curls. I said, "been there, done that, I'm never getting my hair relaxed again," and I walked away and went back to the conference room where I was with my "co-workers" and bff.

..................................................................................................................................................................

Has this ever happened to you?

or something similar?

Tell me your story.

Pet Peeves! x_X

1. When people tell me to go get my hair relaxed
2. Curly haters
3. Looking at relaxed hair (when the person's had a bad relaxers and believes their hair's still perfectly fine even when it starts thinning out)
4. People pulling at my hair
5. People trying to touch my hair with filthy hands
6. People telling me, "nothing's going to happen to your hair,"
7. People wanting to have their way with my hair (like want to comb it in their own way - from roots to ends, use crazy products, comb it with a rat tail comb, tear apart knots on it etc)
8. People not washing their hands before touching my hair
9. Looking at straighteners/flat irons
10. Looking at blow driers esp. without a diffuser on them (I don't even use blow driers with or without a diffuser)
11. Seeing adverts for relaxers
12. Smelling burnt hair (watching people getting their hair straightened)
13. Okay! now! THE SCHOOL THING! The Asst. Principal wants all girls to braid their hair in cornrows, straight, all the way back and they must braid the tiniest bit of the hair on their edges. I mean, that's just crazy! I'm not doing that! Also, we must have 13 braids in our hair (I don't mind the 13 braids in my hair sometimes, but the edges and the same hairstyle every time with no slants, no partings, no style, no this, no that, I mean, is this military school?!?!?!?)

I'll stop now.

I'm Back (UpDaTe)

Hi,

So, I've been away for some time. I actually just got back on Saturday (but I was just away from the 18th till then to be honest. Before then, I just kept forgetting to put on here what I wanted to).
Okay! So, right now, I'm in school and well, okay! so I don't care what some of the people on here think about me having a natural hair blog so I'll just continue typing right now.
First, please, please pray for one of my natural hair role models. She's WAY younger than me, but still one of my hair role models and she needs all your prayers. Here's an article to let you know what I want you to pray about: http://beadsbraidsbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/03/half-up-half-down-banded-natural-hair.html

Now....what have I done with my hair so far...
I couldn't redo my minitwists and because my mum put off going to the salon for a while, she got my hair done for me (she did it). There's something about a certain hairstyle or braiding style that my hair and scalp doesn't like. Whenever I have it in for 2 weeks or a week, then redo it during the second week, I get some crazy sharp pain on my scalp. I mean, I've never felt pain like that before. It's terrible. So, on he 18th, I finally went to a hair salon again just to find out that the one person who was good with my hair there left and I hadn't gotten her number yet so I can't even call her to find out where she works now or whatever.Okay! So, I got my hair braided to a certain extent then twisted and I had two-strand twists everywhere else at the back. I held it up to protect the ends (as usual :)). I had that in all through bootcamp (yup! that's the reason I was away for a while :) ).
Bootcamp:
Bootcamp was stressful, I got sand in my hair during the activities and drills, I was sweating like crazy, it was SO SO humid and hot. Gaaah! Okay, so the day I was packing, I slipped my jar of shea butter into my bag (hehe :) ) On the first day whene I got my hair sanded-out, I rinsed it out thoroughly in the shower then rubbed some shea butter between my palms then applied it to my hair. Also, I took my satin hair wrap stuff with me (I am so into this!). People wear like, "what is that?" "you sleep with that on every night?" and I didn't care. Luckily, my roommates got used to seeing it quickly. So, I had the shea butter on my hair that day and till my Friday, I never really had the time to get shea butter on my hair again (even after showering).  However, my hair did get sanded-out everyday and I was always sweating so much from all the work so I always rinsed my hair thoroughly when I showered and I always let it air dry (in my room! Outside was WAY too dusty and I didn't want dust clinging to my hair). Okay! SOoooo, on Friday, I took my hair down and finger detangled it out then I got wet hands into my hair, got some shea butter with a lil water and rubbed it in between my palms then got them into my hair and thoroughly detangled (fingers only! :)). I had my hair all out and big and I left it like that till I had to get some sleep. The thing is, some girls had an issue with their room door and I didn't feel comfortable going to bed knowing that they were locked out of their room. I walked down the hallway and all with BIG hair and people were just staring at it, it shrunk, not so much, but it was obvious and when I held my hair a bit and pulled it down at some point, my roommate was like, "yeah, your hair shrunk." Okay! So, one of the girls (room, locked out) looked at my hair and was like, "you're so crazy," I was like, "what do you mean?" and she was like, "have you seen your hair?" I wasn't sure how exactly my hair looked then, but I didn't really care. Later on, I went to my room (when their door had been broken down and they could get their stuff and get some sleep) and yeah, I looked in the mirror and my  hair was perfectly fine. Well, I guess it was just that "image of beauty" that was going through her mind when she thought I was crazy because of my hair (she's got a relaxer).
Okay! so, this girl couldn't sleep with her hair out like that. I started puffy twisting (big twists) my hair, but I had a bit of a problem at the back of my hair (couldn't do it). Luckily, my last roommate walked into the room just then and she helped me twist up the untwisted bits at the back. I then got a bit more shea butter on my hair (with a bit of water in the sheaB) and then put a shower cap on and tied a scarf over my hair. By the next morning, wait! rewind! Okay! so when I took my hair down and detangled it did I tell you that it felt SO gorgeous!! Gaaah! okay! fastforward! When I took of the shower cap and did whatever I needed to do, my hair felt GOR-GE-OUS! It also had a soft wave to it that didn't go even after my hair got wet. I loved it. Someone touched part of my hair, I'm guessing because he asked, "why do you have such cotton-y extensions in your hair," while we were on the bus ride back to civilisation.
One more thing! I drank more water, craved more water than I ever have/had at the bootcamp. AND the only thing I used on my hair while I was there was water and shea butter. Worked wonders for me, I guess.

Okay! So, now, yeah, I didn't have the time to make a quickie conditioner and quickly condition my hair when I got home so I just tried rinsing it out thoroughly before my mum braided my hair in 10 cornrows (which I'm rocking right now :) )

I'm going to make a pet peeve post after this (I need to mention something having to do with cornrows and school)

I think I might try mini braiding my hair some time soon. I know I have been against braids for some time now, but well, I'll go get this done at a salon (even though I don't like the only lady that would agree to touch my hair there. She always brings out her rat tail combs to comb my hair with and she always argues with my when I say my hair's fully detangled and slide my finger through it and they come out easily and well, she's like, "nothing would happen to your hair!" and tries combing it from the roots TO THE ENDS!!!! GAAH! Next time she argues with me, I'll go find someone else to get my hair done. I know I'm just a teen, but my hair means so much to me and I don't joke around with how my hair's managed and taken care of).

Okay! So here's what I'm going to do with my hair when I get my mini/box braids done:

Gotten from BeadsBraidsandBeyond (pic from someone named Aisha). I do not in any way own this picture.

So, what do you think?

Sorry, for the really long post, it's just been too too long and well, I'm in school, FUN, right?

Talk to you guys later.

~Sam :)

SammyWithTheBigHairChallenge!

Hey!

So, I've decided to challenge myself. And you can do it to! :)
Till the end of this month, hopefully, I am going to try not using any detangling tools. No wide toothed combs. No Denman Brushes. Just Fingers! :)
Fingers!
Fingers!
FiNgErS!! :)


Some time ago, months ago, I decided to use only natural products (no commercial products) on my hair. I didn't really succeed with that at first because I was using the John Frieda Conditioner, Shampoo (only once a month) and Heat Protectant, Vitals Leave-in Conditioner, Organics Tea Tree Gro Conditioner (and I believe those were all the products I used). I also used things like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, homemade rosemary oil, shea butter , avocados etc on my hair. As a matter of fact, I only DCed with natural things then (and I still do). Okay! so, I stopped using the Vitals Leave-In Conditioner shortly after I started using it because it made my hair feel bad, like BAD. Totally didn't work for me. I added things to it, but still couldn't get it to do something good for my hair. Also, I noticed it had ingredients I didn't like getting on my hair in it (didn't notice that the first time I checked). So I was like, "mum, if you want a leave-in, I have one I can give you," and stopped using it. The Organics Tea Tree Gro, I added shea butter to it, canola oil, rosemary oil, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. It just sat on my hair and made it feel hard, and really dry, so, I stopped using it too. Shampoo, I quit using that...wait!...how many months ago? I'm totally CG right now. I used to use shampoo once a month, but now, not anymore. It always left my hair dry and stripped. Heat Protectant, just once in a long while because some natural things natural have heat protection in them. So, I was using only the John Frieda conditioner (and homemade things), but my bottle was like __ this close to finishing. I like the John Frieda conditioner I have, but I can't find it anywhere now. So, I kept it for an emergency and I started making all my hair products. Right now, the only hair product I use is my Organics Lock&Twist Gel and that's because I'm letting my aloe vera plant be for a while so it grows some more. I haven't used my OLTG in a while now (ever since I took down my twists (or shortly after that)).
My hair does feel and look a whole lot better since I cut down on all those products. So, try it sometime! NO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS! Homemade is the way to go for me now (or well, after graduation and I'm away at an IB College, I'll order the Bee Mine Botanical line and keep it just incase I can't get something done).

Why do I make such long posts?
Anyways, CHALLENGE: No combs! Fingers only! :)
See you later, okay?
Bye

Petition Signing: A "cure" to curly hair?

Check it out! People are signing a petition to L'Oreal Paris. The makers of the "pill" to "cure" curly hair. They say it like curly hair is a disease or something. So, check out the petition, sign it if possible and tell people about it.
Thank you! :)


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/a-pill-to-cure-curly-hair/