Update + Concert (featured) + Whatever comes to mind...

(I know, I know, this could be quite distracting)

Hey everyone!

So, I just got back from a concert about 4 and a half hours ago. It was a blast! I performed at it and well, sometime after my performance, a lady came up to my mum to let her know that they would love for me to perform at their next IB Concert in November. WOOHOO! While she was talking to my mum, the Head of School (at my school, who happened to be at the concert) came up to me and was like, "YOU WERE AMAZING!" I was so happy! Also, my mum's friend wants me to come sing at some program her church might be hosting! Gaah! :)

Okay! now, time to talk...hair :) I totally rocked a puff today! Yes! I finally did it! :) I had my hair up in an elegant puff with a bit of hair out at the front and held to the side. I looked g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s.e! :) People were talking about my hair and someone actually asked me to tutor her daughter on natural hair and right now, her daughter's planning on a one-year long transition :) I believe that apart from a baby, I was the only female with naturally curly hair at the concert and I wore my hair curly and luckily, it didn't shrink too much.
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Update:
1. I was sick for about a week. Caught the flu. I'm on some meds now and I'm recovering.
2. I've got a literature exam starting tomorrow. Wait! It's 12:32am. Oh my... make that, today. I have a literature exam today.
3. Ever since a few days after that Natures Gentle Touch thing (where the 'Tricky' put that mouse camera thing on my scalp and hair without cleaning it first x_X), I've been battling with dandruff. Luckily, my scalp's not too itchy, but I need to take care of the dandruff ASAP. What I'm going to do is to make a fresh batch of rosemary oil (that worked before, so, hopefully, it'll work now).
4. Did a "length check" yesterday and totally WOWed my parents. My hair's like already going down my back and they never realised that till I let my hair down yesterday and finger stretched the hair at the back then at the front (which is at chin level now) then the sides (which are below my collar bone). :)
5. I'm getting my hair cut next month (I believe this must be the umpteenth time I'm mentioning that).
6. I just realised how much a dislike people staring so much like I'm some weird creature. I guess it was because of my hair because, ever so often, their eyes kept drifting up to my hair and would stay locked on my hair for a long time, but seriously, not only is staring rude, but it is sooo so annoying! (But I have to admit, it does make me feel special and so so pretty sometimes :) hehe)
7. I went to a wedding yesterday with my hair out and like when I saw a photo of me during the wedding, after the wedding, my hair was huge, but looked SO GOOD! Gaaaaah!
8. I seem to be an expert at hiding things like dandruff. Just looking at me, people don't guess that I'm having to deal with that problem right now.
9. I reacted to some body lotion (on my face) and like I have bumps practically everywhere. Anyways, today, at church (before I left for the concert), a guy came over to me and was like, "what happened to your face?" I explained to him that I was reacting to something and he shocked me by saying, "I used to look at your face so much and admire it, you used to have such smooth, flawless skin, like a kid who's never had to deal with zits. You know what, just leave your face alone, the bumps'll go soon and you'll have your smooth face back," I was like, "okay," and I was smiling. I mean, I've never liked seeing these bumps on my face. They're pretty, no, very annoying, but that someone would come up to me and say all that :) Especially that he admired my face and always looked at my face :) aaawe :)
10. OHMIGOSH! PHILLIP PHILLIPS WON! OHMIGOSH!! I SOOO L.O.V.E HIM (not in a romantic way. I mean, I don't even know him....though I feel like I do :)) I just want to hug him and tell him how proud I am of him. And Jessica, she was good, great, as a matter of fact. And Joshua too, but I'm so happy Phillip won.
11. O.M.G did you guys check out DeAndre's hair! (#AmericanIdolFinals) It was all bouncy and beautiful and natural. He's so cute! :)
12. Missing a really close friend. She's enrolling in the army and just got shipped out on Tuesday.
13. My dog's blind. Her name's Holly. She hurt herself when she got restless because someone put her on a leash (I wasn't there). She had to be rushed in for a surgery, survived it, but ended up blind on her left eye, but my lil Holly's still as active as a chihuahua high on sugar and caffeine.
14. I'm considering making and selling hair products or starting a natural hair/transitioning course thingy.
15. I've been volunteering and working with kids at my church's sunday school and today, the kids gave a performance shortly before I had to head out for rehearsals (for the concert) and oh my, they were AMAZING! They were so good. At some point, I thought they were going to flop, but when we got out there and they started their performance, they were GOOOOOOOOD! :)
16. Chaka Khan is amazing and her hair's so amazing too (#AmericanIdolFinals) :)

hmmm....it's late x_X
Gotta go now
Talk to you later,
~Sam :)

Natures Gentle Touch...

Hey everyone,

I must say, I was so disappointed with everything I saw at the Natures Gentle Touch thing I went for.
There were trichologists and hair stylists there (all working with Natures Gentle Touch). I saw blow driers without diffusers, I saw sulphate shampoos, products full of petrolatum, mineral oil,  harsh chemicals, etc. I was pretty much appalled. I mean, they say they're into making natural hair products, but well, the few natural things I saw in some of their products, they were on the last line or second to the last line of the ingredients list out of a whole lot of ingredients (I couldn't even pronounce all the ingredients and...well...people I know think I'm weird because I can pronounce words easily even when seeing them for the first time and not knowing their meanings unlike them).

I spoke to a trichologist showed me some vid on my scalp. It was like she was using a webcam shaped like a computer mouse and moving it across my hair (I must say that I believe she had used that thing on a bunch of other people's hair without cleaning/at least wiping it). She called my edges, "the hair that recedes"  and "where your hairline would recede," then she was like, "...but there's quite a lot of hair there..." Then she took out a strand of my hair and said she was going to test its porosity and elasticity. I should say that: 1. The hair she took was...well....processed (the hair at my ends), and 2. all she did was hold the strand of hair between her finger and pull at it then she was like, "hmm...you have good porosity." I kept a calm look, but in my head, I was like, "what?!?!"

I asked the trichologist some questions about:
1. Heat damage
2. Relaxers
3. Harsh chemicals in their products
4. Diffusers
and I must say, she never really answered my questions.
Me: "I noticed a bunch of hair stylists working with blow driers without diffusers attached to them."
Tri-Tri: "they've all been given blow drier heads and diffusers, but they don't use them because they say they're trying to hurry."
(did I  mention that they owned a hair salon which was in the same building?)
...
Me: "Using direct heat on the hair for a prolonged amount of time causes heat damage. Therefore, shouldn't a rule be enforced that all stylists use their diffusers or figure out alternatives to using so much heat? "
Tri-Tri: "We use our Oil Moisturiser on our clients' hair before we use heat on it."
Me: (I should say that I saw the ingredients in the Oil "Moisturiser") "Isn't that just going to fry your client's hair?" (I was thinking about when oil's in a pan and heated up, plus I've put a whole lot of oil on my hair before and stepped out into a boiling hot day in Africa and I remember my scalp felt like it was being fried)
Tri-Tri: "No, it won't. Like I said, 'we use our Oil Moisturiser on our client's hair before we use heat on it.'" (I took this as her saying that the oils in the product would prevent heat damage and well, at this point in time, I was thinking about someone heating up some oil and placing something, say, chips or something, into it and I was like, "not to worry, nothing'll happen to the chips, they'll be protected from the heat by the oil!" Note that I didn't say this out loud)
...
Tri-Tri: "What do you normally do with your hair?"
Me: I braid or twist it and have my hair like that for a week then I take the braids out, deep condition then cleanse my scalp."
Tri-Tri: "Would you consider getting your hair done here?"
Me: "Yeah, I guess."
Mum: "My daughter doesn't use commercial products or heat on her hair, by the way."
Tri-Tri: "Then we can't get her hair done for her because she must wash her hair with our shampoo first, condition it with our conditioner too, also done here, use our oil moisturiser here before we can get her hair done. We just can't get her hair done like that."
(My mum looked at me after that, I looked back at her and said...)
Me: "Are you alright with braiding my hair for me at home?"
Tri-Tri: "Why don't you want to get your hair done here?"
Mum: "I wasn't kidding when I said she doesn't use commercial products, she makes her own products and air dries ."
Me: "Plus I've gone through the ingredients on your products and they're full of harsh chemicals."
......

To cut this short, about relaxers, she said they are not damaging to the hair and about the harsh chemicals in their products, well, apparently, she doesn't really care about them and also, she tried defending some of the harsh sulphates at some point.
><> ><>

My thoughts:


1. If you'd like to get your hair done at their salon, set out on a day when you have a whole lot of time on your hands (I know how long people waited just to get their hair done and it wasn't like there was a crowd or not enough people to get their hair done).

2. They have a very stupid policy that forces people to use Natures Gentle Touch's products only and they must spend a lot of money on washing, conditioning and soaking their hair in oils before they can get their hair done even if the client had already washed and conditioner his/her.

3. Their workers need proper training on hair care.

4. They should take this line off all their cards, "natural hair care" and telling people that they specialise and promote that. I mean, every single person there including Tri-Tri (who I should mention is the 'Tri'chologist) had relaxed hair and didn't seem to be planning on transitioning, plus, they were relaxing people's hair and well, promoting doing just that to your curls and kinks. Note: Don't be fooled by what ads. say or is written infront on a bottle of a hair product. I mean, turn that bottle around and take a look at it's ingredients list, you might just end up surprised).

5. They need to go back to the drawing board and rethink all their products. I mean, anti-dandruff shampoo that contains sodium lauryl sulphate, alcohol and other ingredients that dry out the hair and scalp.

etc.

><> ><>
~Sam

p.s when my mum called my dad and told him that we won't be planning on going to Natures Gentle Touch again, I couldn't help, but agree. Little did my mum know that when the people at Natures Gentle Touch asked me for my phone number, I gave them hers ;)
hehe :)

Dear, SammyWithTheBigHair, we cordially invite you to...

Hey Curlies!

So, we have been invited to Natures Gentle Touch! Woohoo! I got the invite today while I was out shopping with my mumJ. The guy that invited me to it has a lovely really kinky afro. He couldn’t believe it that I make my own hair products, transitioned by myself, created my own hair regimen that’s working for me and so on. I mean, I’m the only girl my age that I know of, in person, that actually cares about these things.

So, what’s Natures Gentle Touch? Well, according to what’s behind my invite, “Natures Gentle Touch is a natural hair care brand by Recare that is dedicated to providing solutions to different hair and scalp problems like hair breakage, dandruff and hair loss, using natural ingredients such as Shea Butter, Wheat Germ Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Castor Oil, Olive Oil & Jojoba Oil. The program is holding at the Natures Gentle Touch Hair Institute.”

I’m so going to be there and afterwards; I’m going to tell you guys about it (with pictures and allJ ). I’m actually curious to find out if someone is finally getting everything right with hair here.

Okay! So I'll let you know when exactly I'm going in a few days :)

Kinda excited! :)

Cheerio,

 `Sam

A Note From a Teen Mixtress

Hey everyone!


So, sometime last year, around November/December, I decided to quit using commercial products on my hair. It was sorta like a challenge for me. I was like, "won't all-natural thing be better for natural hair?"
Anyways, Since then, I've made my own hair cleansers, scalp scrubs, conditioners, deep conditioners, gels etc. I did, however, use an Organics Twist & Lock Gel at some point. Besides that (and I haven't used it in quite a while), I've been using all natural, homemade things on my hair and my hair feels SO GOOD!
Using all-natural things means that my hair gets no sulphates on it, no parabens, mineral oils, petrolatum, sodium chloride, formaldehyde, propylene glycol, paraffin, fragrance (parfum), pthalates etc. Therefore, it's in a very healthy state as it it deprived from harsh chemicals found in some commercial products.


So, I guess I'm just going to share with you my favourite recipes (feel free to try them any time):


1. My absolute fav: 
Avocado DC

1-2 Avocados (I usually use quite ripe to very ripe avocados)

Coconut cream

2 table spoons of honey (or more. I usually eyeball)

Rosemary oil, Canola oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Rapeseed Oil (I usually add a bit of all or just about 3 of them, but just in small quantities)

Directions

Mash the avocado(s) till it is smooth or close to smooth. Add all the other ingredients and mix it till it is still smooth, thoroughly mixed and of a good consistency. Get it on your hair and put on a plastic cap then a plastic bag (if needed) then tie a scarf over them to keep them in place, prevent annoying rustling sounds, prevent the DC from leaking, etc. Sometimes, I cover my hair with more than what I stated above, but that's just me. Also, I always deep condition overnight (so, the deep conditioner has about 8 hours or more to work).
*This is my favourite deep conditioner because it combats dryness, moisturises and conditions my hair, leaves my hair feeling soft and looking beautiful and well, it makes it so hard for me to get my hands out of my hair (hehe :) )


2. Hair and Scalp Cleanser (no-poo shampoo)

·         Rosemary

·         Sage

·         Water

·         Jojoba, canola, olive, or rapeseed oil (your choice)

·         Lemon juice

·         Aloe vera gel

Directions

Eyeball all the ingredients. Mix the herbs in a clear plastic bowl (or glass jar), which has a lid. Boil some distilled, filtered or bottled water. Add the mixed herbs into the boiling water. Pull the boiling water and herbs off the stove. Let the herb mixture sit for 30 – 40 minutes. Add the oil after the mix has been sitting for 30 minutes. After 40 minutes, add a bit of lemon juice as you want (make sure there is enough oil to prevent any possible drying effect of the lemon juice. Also, do not use a lot of lemon juice, just a little). Strain the herbal mixture into a bowl and mix in the aloe vera gel. Pour into a bottle and store in a cool, dry place.

3. Leave-in treatment (shine and moisture)

·         1 tsp honey

·         4 cups warm water

Warm up the honey a bit (to let it melt) so it’s easier to mix up (it's not a must you do this, I don't always do it). Combine the honey and water together and mix well. Add a preservative to it or leave it in the fridge preferably in a spray bottle. I usually use up all that I make (I just make as much as needed) so, my advice for you is to do that or well, you can try putting it in the fridge or adding vitamin E oil or somethhing to it as a preservative.

4. Conditioner

Olive Oil

Canola, Rapeseed or Coconut oil

Honey

Combine the ¼ cup olive oil,¼ cup oil, ½ cup water (or less, depends on the consistency you're looking for, 2 tbsp honey and. Mix thoroughly. Store conditioner in a cool place between uses. *I've never used this as a deep conditioner, just a normal conditioner*

5. Deep Conditioner 

Olive oil

Coconut oil

Rapeseed oil

Honey

Shea butter

Mix the honey and oils together thoroughly (note that you shouldn't use a lot of the oils) then add some shea butter to the mix (I used about 2 tablespoons-ish). Place the bowl your mixing this in in a bowl containing hot water (this will melt the shea butter). Mix everything together thoroughly then transfer the bowl with the mix to a cool place and let it sit for a while.

Something I do everyday (for moisture and hair health)

I get some bottled water on my hair (not too much) then I get about a 1p coin size (never more than a 50p coin size) of my oil mix (which is made up of rapeseed, coconut and extra virgin olive oil) onto my hair then I rub some shea butter between my hands and smooth it over my hair concentrating on the ends. My hair has benefited from this daily treatment.

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*Please note that not everything that works for one person will work for another person. It took me months to finally figure out what my hair loves and what it doesn't love.*

*I always deep condition my hair overnight*

*Also, I do not really recommend sleeping with a plastic bag on your head because of reasons like suffocation, etc. I do sleep with a plastic bag on sometimes, but well, if you do, sleep with it on at your own risk*

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Thanks for reading! :)

p.s here's a challenge: try going up to a month without using any commercial hair products (use homemade ones) and deep condition once every week (and overnight only if possible). Compare how your hair feels before you try this with how it feels after you try this (if you want to go longer, please feel free to). :)