Ummmmm … In case anyone was wondering what to get me for Christmas …
Oct26
I Am Vengeance … I Am the Knight
Daily Archives: October 26, 2011
Oct26
Miche’al’s HairStory
Miche’al (GOC Third Wave), shares her journey from texturized to natural.
***************************************************************************************************************************
Describe yourself in 20 words or less.
Miche’al (Michelle), shy and quiet, but once you get to know me I am a down to Earth friend.
How long have you been natural and why did you chose to go natural?
I have been natural for 12 years. I decided to go natural after finding out that I was pregnant with my first child. Being my first, I was a paranoid freak! I READ all of the books on being pregnant and thought that everything I did had to be safe for the baby. Now, I have heard some odd stories about chemicals in a woman’s hair while she is pregnant. One was that the fumes from the chemicals breathed in can harm the baby and another was that the chemicals seep through the scalp O_o! So, in my eyes, there went my texturizing days.
Did you transition or big chop?
I transitioned for a year and slowly snipped off the texturized ends. So, I never big chopped per se.
What is/was your biggest hair challenge/obstacle? How did you overcome it or what are you doing now to try to address the problem?
My biggest hair challenge is styling. I am not good at styling my own hair, but I feel that is due to the fact that I honestly really don’t know much about my hair. When I read about porosity, hair types and so on I’m like “what the heck is all this about?” To overcome this obstacle, I have officially turned into a Natural Hair Stalker. I am constantly on YouTube and natural hair website learning all I can to help my hair.
What do you love most about your natural hair and/or about being natural?
I love that my natural hair can get wet in the rain and take a sweat beating at the gym. I can let it do its own thing most of the time and not have to worry about it.
What is your current regimen? Has it changed in any major way since you first went natural?
Bi-weekly (2x a wk):
- Pre-poo with Dabur Vatika Oil or Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) mixed with other oils (overnight or 30 min).
- Co-wash with Suave Almond Shea Butter conditioner or Aussie Moist.
- Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) or Black Tea Rinse (20 min).
- Apply leave-in (Kimmaytube recipe or Salerm 21) and oil mix (2 parts JBCO, 1 part coconut oil and 1 part almond oil).
- Apply moisturizer and twist in protective style for 4-5 days and twist-n-curl 2-3 days.
Weekly:
- Deep condition, applied on top of regular conditioner) (30 min)
Monthly:
- Shampoo
- Henna
- Protein treatment
What are your Holy Grail and staple products?
I love, love, love Dabur Vatika Oil and Henna. They are my Holy Grails. Products I keep in my staple are Aussie Moist, Aubrey Organics, Yes to Tomato Conditioner, Shea Moisture, various essential oils, Aloe Grow Spritz and Shea Butter. I have been trying a lot of different product to achieve that perfect TnC and twist out. I would like to try Darcy’s Bontanicals, Wonder Curl and Moxie Products.
What is your “go to” style?
My go to style is a protective one. I usually bun or do a twisted up-do for 5 days and then, on the weekends, I let it flow.
How often do you cut/trim your hair? How do you cut it?
I usually do the CN method: SEARCH AND DESTROY. If my ends are totally misbehaving, I know it is time for a trim.
Has going natural impacted other areas of your life? If so, how and in what ways has it affected your lifestyle?
Going natural has made my life so much easier. Being a mom/wife/educator always on the go, the one thing I know will be consistent is my hair.
Do you have a “hair crush?” If so, who?
Tracee Ellis Ross. I love her whole style. She (or her stylist) just does amazing things with her hair.
Who do you follow online?
Oh, boy there are so many. If I HAVE to name a few, I would say my top ones are CurlyNikki, Naptural85, The MopTop Maven (her Ayurvedic info is great) and, my new fave, Hairscapades.
Where can we find you online?
Twitter: @Miche_al
Facebook: Miche’al McMorries
I don’t have a hair blog, but since I am an educator, I do have a blog dedicated to that: www.theoriginalclassroom.blogspot.com.
What advice would you give someone who is contemplating going natural and/or becoming discouraged with their natural journey?
BE PATIENT! Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is your hair. If you big chopped it will grow. If you transition, it won’t be easy, but trust me, in the end, you will love the rewards.
Anything else that you’d like to add?
Enjoy your hair! Let it represent who you are! Thank you for this opportunity!
Oct26
If At First You Don’t Succeed
Tips & Tricks: Number Eight
You know the rest. Okay, let’s start from the beginning. One February, about a year and a half ago, I visited CurlyNikki.com for the first time and I vividly remember seeing the picture above and my jaw dropping on the ground. It was love at first sight. I’m not kidding you. This was the hair that started it all and I wanted … no NEEDED … to know how to achieve it. I probably spent eight hours straight on the site that day reading E-VER-EE-THING about Nikki’s regimen and her technique for the renowned TnC. The TnC that I dubbed “The Curly Nikki” and saved on my phone to ogle and show to friends as my “dream hair.”
But, this is the thing, there is no formula for styling natural hair, no one size fits all product or technique. Styling can be challenging when one has only dealt with straight hair or has relied on the ease of a WnG, which usually involves a lot more than just … well … washing and going. And for those stalwart enough to experiment with styles inspired by blogs and YouTube, it can be frustrating when the results achieved are not as expected. It becomes even more so when so much effort is put into a style (i.e. washing, detangling, conditioning, detangling again, deep conditioning, detangling … you get the picture) for it to #FAIL.
However, I think this is part of the process of learning to understand one’s hair. We didn’t learn how to walk, talk or even use the potty on our own overnight, so why should “perfecting” our hair be any different? See, I fell in love with “The Curly Nikki” last year and I tried it for the first time last Spring, after my second henna. These were my results.
Hmmm … not so Curly Nikki, right? It was okay, but … ummm … no. I didn’t give up though! Over the course of 2010, I tried more TnCs than I can count. And I bought more rollers than I know what to do with now!!
And I tried them alllll. I also tried more products in that one year than I probably had in my prior ten years of being natural (please don’t take this as a commercial for PJism, it’s a serious condition requiring treatment and rehab!). I tried different twist placements and different rolling techniques and different drying methods.
Then, in January 2011, I got close … so close that I could taste it!
You see, my hair isn’t as curly as Nikki’s anymore and my nape is almost straight. But, I finally almost achieved the shape and volume that I was seeking. The problem was, this was freshly released hair on day one and my hair already looked frizzy with the nape hair still hanging longer than the rest. By the end of that humid day, the curls had fallen and the definition was all but nonexistent. But, I realized that I’d finally gotten the twist placement and rolling method to where they needed to be for me. Now it was a matter of the products and the dampness of the set.
So, I tried adding a gel for hold and I got even closer …
Then, on a fateful day in February 2011, almost one year after discovering “The Curly Nikki,” I set my hair using a modified Kimmaytube leave-in (JBCO instead of regular castor oil) and Wonder Curl Butter Than Love. And, I made eight twists instead of Nikki’s ten. And I spiral rolled my wet twists all the way to the roots on pink flexis, instead of the ends of damp ones on small blue flexis like Nikki.
And I achieved my Curly Nikki. And it was good.
Then, I did it again!
I have mastered my TnC ever since. That’s not to say that every one turns out exactly the same … just that I’m happy with them now. But, it took work and experimentation and patience and time to get there. So, all this to suggest a couple of things. First, try not to get too discouraged when you try that style that you loved for the first time and it doesn’t work out perfectly. Don’t even give up when you try it a second, third or fourth time and it’s still not what you expected. Secondly, that being said, don’t keep trying to do it the same way. What’s that saying? “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So, mix it up. Try different products, different tools, different techniques, modify the style to work for your length or your texture or your density (Nikki’s wet bunning technique and sock buns did nothing for me. But a banana clip became my boo for a big, massive bun!). Ultimately, maybe that style just doesn’t work for you. But, you’ll never know if you don’t try.
It’s like we’re twins, right?! LMBO!!
hairscapades 