My Favourite Hair Bloggers and Vloggers

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Hola chicas!

¿Que tal?

Beware, you might start having to read Spanish on here. Hehe. I've always been able to speak a bit of Spanish, but since i joined a Spanish class at my school, I've been inspired to speak Spanish more often so, sometimes, I switch languages. It's fun and I love the language.

Anyways, so, here are my favourite bloggers and vloggers since I started my hair journey (in no particular order):

Whitney of Naptural85.com

Youtube

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Mae of NaturalChica.com

Youtube

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

Nadine of GirlsLoveYourCurls

Youtube

Facebook

Tia of AngelsRinglets

Youtube

Facebook

Alicia of EasyNaturalHair.com

Youtube

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

iTunes (check out her music!)

That's all for now!

Who are your favourite bloggers and vloggers?

~SammyWithTheBigHair

How Your Hair Goals Will Guide Your Life Goals: The Coily Hair Edition

This post was written by Tia of AngelsRinglets

A little over 4 years ago, I started my 15 month transition from chemically processed (relaxed) to chemical free (natural) hair. Prompted this change by a frustrating head of tired, dull, breaking hair that never grew past the top of my shoulders. I couldn't understand why 10 years had passed without any major hair cuts, and my hair wouldn't get as long as I wanted it to. After looking at my daughter's hair (T), and my hair, I decided that a change was coming.

Four Years Hair Growth: Gathered Info on Coily Hair Care

Does that sound familiar to you? Are you transitioning, or did you transition to natural out of the same frustration? The need for a change in the outcome will typically require a change in the behaviors. Now, I could have gone another route and treat my relaxed hair differently, but my goal included a cleaner, greener solution. I was in the process of eliminating toxic products from my beauty regimen, and that included the hair relaxer.

BEHAVIOR CHANGED: Eliminate the relaxer.OUTCOME: Growth of coily hair in it's natural state.

Now, that was only the beginning. I had to learn how to take care of coily hair (hence the name of this site). I had to understand that I didn't know how to care for coily hair. I only knew how to deal with straight hair, and I wasn't even doing THAT properly. Taking baby steps, I educated myself by watching YouTube Videos, and reading blogs. I also enjoyed experimenting with products/techniques and learning what outcomes to expect. As a result, I learned a lot of information in a short period of time.

HOW THIS RELATES TO LIFE GOALS: Whatever passions or career plans, or goals set, the behaviors that I take with my hair goals translate well into goals that I set in life. If my plans are to begin saving money, then it would benefit me to begin with changing behaviors that are hindering me from achieving that specific goal (for example: review my spending, no more impulse buying, creating a budget on paper, paying myself as if I were a bill due). Those are just a few examples. Once those behaviors have been changed, then educating myself and experimenting with different techniques will put me in the direction of my goal.

AN ALL IMPORTANT CHANGE THAT I LEARNED FROM MY HAIR TRANSITION AND MY NOW ALL NATURAL HAIR CARE: 

Patience. There, I said it. I keep sharing that will all of the beauties that leave comments on my YouTube channel in regards to hair length. Just enjoy the stage or length that your hair is in now. The health and length will follow. That's true in any life goal. If you have $25.00 in the bank now, be happy about that $25.00. That's $25.00 more than you had when you started your savings. After 1 month of depositing $25.00 a week, you will have $100.00 in savings. If it wasn't for that $25.00 weekly goal, then the $100.00 savings would never happen. Live in the now, and enjoy the heck out of it.

Consistency. Changes will not work if they are not practiced consistently. If you start saving the $25.00 but you are not depositing it consistently, then the outcome will not be as effective. If you are caring for your hair 1 week, but 2 weeks later damage it by ripping it out with combs and brushes out of frustration, then whatever health/length progress you made, will be lost.

Set Reasonable Goals. If you decide to save $100.00 a week, and your income/budget can not support that goal, then it will not happen. The first week, you may save $100.00, but after that, it may not happen. And worse yet--you may have to withdraw some money to cover the excess that you deposited the week before. When you educate about how to save, and plan a budget, that comfortable dollar amount will be decided at that time. Same thing goes with hair care. Setting reasonable goals about how to take care of hair will ensure that the goals are met. If I decide that I am going to deep condition, steam treat, do micro two strand twists on weekly basis, and I get burned out in the first week, then problems will strike. I will probably end up ripping out the two strand twists in my frustration, which means that I will probably not want to take the time to put back in the two strand twists for week 2. Set reasonable goals for hair care. Things that will not take too much time (if you plan to do them regularly).

These are just some of the life changes that I have implemented that were brought to light by my hair care. You see, I was so intrigued by my coils and the "newness" of them, that I was dedicated enough to make these changes, set goals, and be consistent with them. From the messages that I get, I know that most of us (transitioning and natural alike) have changed our hair care behaviors. The parallel between both forms of goals was so vivid, that I thought it would be fun to compare notes with you beauties.

Four Years Consistent Hair Care. Reasonable Goals Set

As Always, Stay Beautiful.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Love Tia

My Hair Care and Maintenance Presentation

If you've been following my tweeter feed, you'll know that yesterday (evening), I got a text and in it I was asked to make a presentation on hair care and maintenance today. So, I just got home from it a few minutes ago. It was pretty good, actually. I demonstrated stuff on my hair right there without even looking at my hair while doing them. I talked about a whole lot of stuff, but didn't go that in depth to like pH values and all that because of my audience. I actually had to try and really simplify it and use synonyms and stuff. It was all good.

I started off by saying, "good morning, everybody," and my voice sounded so nervous that everyone started laughing and I joined in. Lightened the mood a bit. I put up pics of my hair in 2007, 2009 and 2011 and showed that my hair didn't seem to grow longer (it was nape length in all pics and relaxed) and explained that that was because of my improper hair care back then. At the end, I showed two picture from my first month in my hair journey, one from my first year natural and four pictures from my second year (ending with a picture from the fundraiser I performed at). The pics showed some pretty obvious hair growth.

I was told that I might need to come back for a Q&A and to practicalise what I talked about, but I doubt that's going to happen. It's going to be on a Sunday and next Sunday is my last Sunday here in Africa and I haven't been asked to do it next Sunday.

Okay! So, the audience loved my presentation and a guy came to me after it to ask about his hair and how he could fix something (and other guys were nodding and getting tips for their wives during it). One thing that annoyed me was that the guy who asked me to make the presentation (I'll call him the host) came out after it and was like, "that didn't make any sense to me," all the ladies and the rest of the audience said that it did make sense. He then was like, maybe it's 'cause he's more or less bald. He then went on to say that each time he's seen me, he thought I looked rather unkempt. I was like, "what the heck?" but didn't say it out loud. I never leave my house without my hair being styled or held up neatly, 99% of the times he's seen me, my hair has been in a puff and I never wear messy puffs. I'm thee kind of person who spends about a half hour making sure my puff is perfect, I also do not leave my house without being dressed presentably. *sigh* All, but three of the peoplee in the audience knew me (they see me about once a week or so) and they've always thought I looked good. Once, they saw my mum with a scarf over her hair and they were like, "why didn't you style your mum's hair the way you styled yours today?" Some people try messing in my hair or try to figure out how I styled it and see if they can imitate it. Then he turned to my mum, mic still in hand and said that when he noticed my mum was doing something with her hair (that is, going natural), he was wondering if she was becoming more spiritual or what. Back here, there is a church called, "DeeperLife," the people there are said to act very spiritual. Here's how: they don't wear ear rings, don't wear nail varnish/polish, don't chemiccally alter their hair's texture, don'y wear trousers, et cetera. Anyways, so I was glad when my mum voiced out, right there, that she wasn't going natural for spiritual reasons. The guy was laughing thinking he was so funny, but he was the only one laughing. No one else found what he was saying funny. My mum, wore her hair in an absolutely beautiful twist out today! I put her hair in twists last week and she took them down this morning and styled her twist-out  in such a nice way.

Anyways, so I was pissed, real pissed with the host, but he is just one man and what matters is what the audience thinks and what God thinks, not what just one man does.

It annoyed me that I put so much effort into this anad he just laughs it off and says such things. If you follow my twitter feed, you'll know that I had been working on this and a graphic representation yesterday evening, when he sent the text till about 5:40am. I have been battling with some pretty bad insomnia so, I went to bed once I was done and 6am passed and I was still awake, 7am came and I was asked to get ready and head out so I could get there on time (no sleep). I was worn out, tired, my back hurt from standing while doing the graphic representation (hooked it up on a wall while working on it) and.....gaaah, he was so ungrateful. Even after giving me such short notice.

Anyways, I forgive him.

By the way, I was asked to speak there today because he heard that I got an award for my bkog and that award is, The Awesome Blogger Award  :) So, once again, thank you, Tia, for giving me that award. It's opening doors for me :)

Wash N Go PERFECT: NO MATTER THE LENGTH or CURL PATTERN

This is a featured post by someone who's blog you have got to check out. Her blog is great and has helped me quite a bit. I read this post and knew I had to feature it on here. So, here's the post:

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By Tia of AngelsRinglets

 Immediately after my big chop, I began defining coils for a wash n go. I remember using Kinky Curly Curl Defining Gel. I got lots of shrinkage. Of course I knew NOTHING about defining coils. I still loved my coily, springy hair though.

When I started to experiment with Braidouts and Twistouts, I stopped doing wash n go's as much. I was working with about 6'' of natural hair, and my hair was just about to enter the "awkward" stage.

Too long for wash-n-go's (but not long enough to hang). Short, but not short enough to be put into a cute hair clip-free wash-n-go styling. The great thing about natural hair is the versatility. When I felt that my hair was not looking good in a wash n go styling, then I did braidouts/twistouts.

 So these next few pictures show me playing with Eco Styler Gel. One thing I love about Eco Styler Gel (well, I love a few things about Eco Styler Gel)--but the main thing is how it can help stretch coils. I wasn't used to the shrinkage that I was getting with my wash-n-go's, and the Eco is great for stretching. It washes out easily, and doesn't dry the hair.

I mostly did some sort of pinned back styling, not loose like I wear my coils now (for my w&g). For this post, I'll share the "good, the bad, and the not so good" LoL!

 I still didn't have my wash n go technique situated yet, but I was having fun. I was playing around with product combinations, and application techniques. Today I can say that I understand the wash n go texture pretty well (from wash to finish). There are a lot of factors that can effect the outcome of a wash n go. 

Figuring out my wash n go step-by-step works out great for me. I avoid white product build-up, can avoid too much shrinkage if I want to. I know how to avoid puffy wash n go's (if I want to).

In 2013, I'm about to start learning how to style on a wash n go! It may be easier now that I have about 17'' of hair to work with.

But enough about that, lets get back to our walk down memory lane...

The great thing about wash-n-go's is that the hair is kept in it's natural state. Usually no heat involved (although some people stretch the roots with heat). Wearing the wash n go is an opportunity to keep the hair moisturized. Don't get me wrong, there are products that are used for w&g's that are drying. Stay away from those products (for instance, hair gels/curl definers with alcohol or mineral oil).

In the next few pictures (below), I definitely notice length. I also notice that I start getting the "hang" of laying down my hair. It doesn't hurt that the new length is adding weight and assisting with the "laid down" look.

I start to use less clips and styling accessories to wear my w&g at this new length.

It seems that I'm past the "awkward" length for wash-n-go's, so I start to focus on perfecting the curl definition, the shine/sheen, the way the hair lays, and the texture (I don't like hard-hat curls). I don't mind some crunch to my hair (matter of fact, I need a bit of crunch to hold the curls for a few days), I just don't like when it feels like my hair is glued together.

I love to define curls and then use the ponytail to display them! It's a break away from wearing my hair down--especially when the time is hot. In the above picture, I defined my coils with Jane Carter's Curl Defining Product (can't recall the name right now). It's really great! It's just super expensive. But the ingredients make it pretty worth the money. When you rinse out a product like this from your wash n go, your hair is left soft and ready for it's next style!

By late 2012, I can say that I figured out the wash n go on my hair and on Dimple's hair. Her coils are pretty similar to mine.

So I encourage you to keep searching for your hair's favorite base ingredients to define your coils. No matter the length or the curl pattern (you just have to have a curl pattern). If you don't have a curl pattern, no worries--you can create them (that's a whole different post)!

Take the mystery out of defining coils. Yeah, I slowed down on doing w&g's when my hair was a difficult length, but I didn't rule them out. I'm glad I picked them up again, because I wouldn't want to miss out on yet another one of the MANY versatile and beautiful ways to wear coily hair.

GIRLS WITH COILS HAVE MORE FUN