Update / Letter to Readers

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Hey Readers,

I know I've been away for quite a long time. Sorry 'bout that. There are so many restrictions on the internet where I am now. Even Google is blocked! So, I'm going to post a couple of things between now and the 3rd of November (while I'm at home) and then I'll post some more in December (when I' back at home).

For about 2 or 3 weeks in August, I had mini twists in. Since then, I've had crochet braids (I've had them in for almost 2 months now) and I'm loving them. I can see loads of new growth under my cornrows. My cornrows aren't even as close to my scalp as they were on the first few weeks anymore. I'm sure there's a little over an inch of new growth under there.

I've washed my scalp once and rinsed it out once since I installed the crochet braids. The rinse was because of a workout that got me all so sweaty that I was bothered about the state of my scalp and the wash was because I hadn't washed my hair in almost a month.

Right now, the weather where I am is pretty unstable. The other day, it was 14 degrees (Celcius) then 12 degrees then 3 degrees then at night it was so warm I was sweating then it got cooler at day and got hotter at night again and now, it's about 13 degrees and expected to get to 18 degrees later today (the humidity is about 94% at the moment, too!). I noticed my scalp and parts of my hair were pretty dry last night so I added some conditioners and rosemary oil to the water in my spray bottle, shook it up a bit, spritzed my scalp and massaged in the mixture. My scalp doesn't feel so bad this morning. I'm due for a serious DC, but I'm not sure about that with the crochet braids still on, but I might give it a try during my time at home.

By the way, I'm not typing this from home. It's going to be posted when I'm at home, though. Today is the 17th of October (a new episode of Vampire Diaries S5 is out today! yay!) and i'm pretty sure this will be uploaded on the 23rd.

Anyways, so, crochet braids is my fav. protective style. If you've been following my Twitter page, you'll know that many people have thought the crochet braids are actually my real hair, people love it, I love it and it's just so……big and wonderful!

I miss my hair, though, but it drizzles and rains practically everyday and I can't be bothered to stretch my hair out more than once a day or every single day. I also haven't really mastered the wash 'n' go yet. Maybe when I do, I'll stretch out over night and if it drizzles or rains, wear a wash and go for the rest of the day, dunno.

Anyways, who's enjoying the autumn/fall?

I am!

Lemme know how your autumn's been so far.

~Sam

Moving Out and Heading Over to the U of the K

Hey,

So, as some of you know, I've been living with my parents in Africa (while the rest of the fam is in England). Boohoo! Anyways, now that I'm done with high school and there really isn't much that has to do with education that I can be offered here right now, I'm moving to England.

Living in Africa had its benefits with the who natural hair thing. Y'all pay an arm and a leg for a little bottle of shea butter while my grandmother (my dad's mum), who lives here just goes over to a local market (which I do not know) and gets me some large supply of shea butter whenever I need it and it's cheap too! She has an aloe vera plant at her house too ( a massive one) and whenever I need some aloe vera gel or juice, I just go over to her house, ask her for some aloe leaves and I have a fresh supply of those for free! When I need eggs for a protein treatment, yes, I could go to a grocery store/supermarket, but my grandmother sells eggs too and I can get large ones from her and it's cheaper getting it from her than anywhere else that I know of. Yup! she's some super grandmother! I know! :) Where I used to live here (we moved to a neighbouring island), we had about 4 coconut trees and like oooooh.myyyy.goooosh that was some free coconut goodness for my hair!

You see, back in England, it's a whole different story. I have to search high and low or order shea butter or aloe vera gel before I can get my hands on them. However, with the coconuts, there is no downside 'cause the house I currently live in doesn't have a coconut tree so I pay for my coconut milk (and oil) and I'll continue doing that in England (only that I'll be paying less in England, which is good). On a positive note, I called my grandmother today and she's sending over some shea butter and buying some more for me enough for my to take along to England and have for a long time. With the aloe gel and juice. Yes, I like the freshness I get from my grandmother's plant, but I don't mind buying a bottle of aloe gel and juice 'cause the whole extraction process isn't exactly easy and aloe vera spoils easily especially when fresh and I can't bombard the fridge with hair products.

Another thing in England is that BritishCurlies is there. As most of you know, I order my products from BritishCurlies' Curly Emporium (online store). They're in England so, it'll be easier for my to get my hands on products when I need them. The weather too is a plus for me, since I went natural, each time I've been back to England, my hair has felt much better than it did here and I blame that on the weather and the pollution level.

Another thing is that I can get my hands on a wider variety of things in England like fresh lavender leaves and other things for DIY products and I can meet stylists who aren't out to give me some traction alopecia or rip my hair right out of my scalp. Matthew James, I'll meet you some day and you'll finally get your hands on my hair!

So, I'm getting my shopping list and cart ready so I get all that I need from here and from the CurlyEmporium ASAP.
All seems good right now :)

Let's see how well I handle things (especially paying for everything I need myself, 'cause that's what moving out comes with :) ).

~Sammy