Daily Archives: November 14, 2011

Nov14

October GOC Update: Jasmine aka CurlsDivine

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Okay, y’all are about to kick me to the curb when you see Jasmine’s new Hair Crush and inspiration.

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Jasmine aka CurlsDivine (Fifth Wave)

October- Length Check Baby!

This GOC Challenge has been really exciting so far. It has kept me on track to my goal of achieving APL by Jan 31st. So much so that, while doing a length check this month, I realized that I had succeeded in reaching that goal. “OMG! I’ve made it to APL!!” My personal thoughts? I am overwhelmed with joy that I reached the length I had before my Big Chop in Jan 2011. So I asked myself, what is going to be the new goal for January, and will I actually be able to reach it? I took out my ruler, measured from the end of a strand of hair and figured, I could retain 1.5 inches of hair by the end of January. This will put me to right above BSB (Below Shoulder Bone) length. My new goal it is … BSB!

The main reason I went natural was length retention, health wasn’t a big concern. I just wanted my hair to be mid-back length. What I have come to realize is, I like to wear my hair out. Don’t get me wrong, laziness kicks in at times and I’ll throw on my disguises (wigs) every blue moon. But, for the most part, I have found that I can do braid-outs, twist-outs and twist. My hair has proven to retain just as much length as it was put away in a bun or updo. I also account much length to: HENNA treatments. I have seen my hair transform. I don’t experience breakage and I see very little shedding. A 100% organic product regimen has also made an impact on my hair.

I have begun using all 100% natural certified ogranic products. My regimen consists of:

  • Aubrey’s Organics: I will rotate conditioners and use shampoo every two weeks.
  • Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo & Conditioner Rinse: I love both. The shampoo is soft, the conditioner has a lot of slip.
  • GPB Conditioner: Deep conditioner that I’ve been using since 2010. I love it.
  • Rose Mosqueta Conditioner: Just bought. WOW! Ultra soft hair, no tangles.
  • Sea Burkthorn Leave-In: Used once, verdict still out.
  • Blue Camomille Hydrating Conditioner: I really loved this conditioner. Used once, love it so far.
  • White Camellia Ultra Smooting Conditioner: Haven’t tried yet.
  • Blue Algae Hair Mask: Haven’t tried yet.
  • B-5 Design Gel: Like it, but wish it was heavier.
  • Ginko Leaf & Ginseng Root Moisturizing Hair Jelly: Used once, verdict still out.
  • Henna: Can’t live without.
  • Benonite Clay: Haven’t tried it yet.
  • Flaxseed Gel: Love it!
  • SheaMoisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie: Love it!
  • Shea Butter Mix: Shea butter, coconut oil, sweet almond oil (love it).

My change in hair routine is due to finding Zhara on Fotki*. She inspired me by her hair and how, if you invest in %100 organic products, it will prove it’s worth.

Side note: I messed up a little on my t-shirt (pretend the blue block- out isn’t there). I decided to copy this Length Check Chart because I liked the BSB (Below Shoulder Bone), which in most charts would be consided APL.


It seems that on my t-shirt, my bra strap is way low, but that is the very tip of where it is located. Oh … if you can see the “BLUE DOT” on my T-shirt, that is my new goal for the GOC challenge, WISH ME LUCK!

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Jazz, you’ve had some amazing growth and your hair is so shiny, thick and healthy looking! Congrats on achieving a milestone before the challenge is even over!  

Okay, now let’s talk about Zhara (*you have to be a Fotki member to see her profile/albums). Can you say hair lust?!?!? OMGosh!! This is making that Terressential Mud Wash look even more appealing if that is what natural and organic does for one’s hair!! LOL!!

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Nov14

These Strands That Bind Me

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Remember LaNora, from my Sofistafunking with Friends post? Well, she recently started her own blog, Musings Mag, and is back to share her HairStory and how she got that fierce ‘fro!!

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A Week in the Journey

Ok, so my hair has always been a diva, but now that she is in the “big city of dreams,” she has gotten out of hand. Thanks to Doris NY hair care products, I can at least get a good grip on her. 😉

My hair story started 32 long years ago. Born with a head full of beautiful locs, within minutes I underwent my “big chop” when my head was shaven to insert needles for an emergency blood transfusion. My mom still talks about how they didn’t tell her they were cutting off all my hair and how she didn’t even get any pictures. From that point, my hair became more of a “Siamese twin,” always upstaging me. When other babies heard “awww, look at her”, I heard “awww, look at all that hair.”

Fast forward to June of this year, 2011, after decades of being a “hood star,” we move to NYC and who “gets discovered?” You guessed it, The Diva! Being the trendsetter that she is, she finds out that what came natural for her has placed her at the forefront of a movement: The Natural Hair Movement. How befitting.

Anyway, when I started wearing my hair completely natural (I used to get it pressed/flat ironed), I meant natural in the literal sense. However it wanted to look, I was cool with that. Before meeting Shelli and reading about her Hairscapades last week, PJ stood for projects … maybe private jet (Kanye), so you can understand why I gave The Diva the side-eye when she embarked on this little “hair modeling” journey.

Pre “discovery,” I had no hair routine. I would wash and condition it once a week maybe. I straddled between putting off the 45 minutes of back-breaking work combing out my unkempt do and feeling jolted by what felt like the start of locks in my kitchen.

Well, those days are over … apparently. The Diva couldn’t just show up to a job, shoot an ad and have the pictures to show her grandchildren and be done with it. No, she had to find Marlene, the daughter half of the mother-daughter team that is Doris New York. Marlene is a business woman, no doubt, but her focus is healthy hair. I was sent to her with beautiful hair, she is hell-bent on making it healthy as well. To ensure that her mission is accomplished, Marlene has inducted The Diva into her “DNY Lovelies” club and now this a typical week in a life now devoted to making The Diva’s dreams of stardom come true:

Assignment: DNY ad girls appearance for Sofistafunk trunk show.

In anticipation of the gig, I prepare myself for the instructions that I know will be coming from Marlene: condition, condition, condition. On Monday morning, I wash my hair with Doris Reconstructor shampoo and apply the extreme deep conditioner. I comb the conditioner through my strands as I separate it into 6 twists. Because I have the luxury of working from home, I keep the twists in and go about my day.

That night, I have to go to my daughter’s school for a Halloween party, so I untwist my hair but leave the conditioner in. I retwist it when I get home and untwist it again on Tuesday when I rinse the conditioner out in the shower.

At that point, I put in the Doris leave-in conditioner and re-twisted my 6 sections.

I let it dry and released the twists more and more to get my hair bigger.

Because I had a gig, I conditioned my hair again on Thursday morning, after rocking my look for two days. This time I used the DNY deep conditioner, not the extreme deep. I rinse it out and just let my hair dry naturally with the leave-in conditioner. Come Saturday morning, my hair is 2 days big and ready to work.

Of course, as this is a journey and The Diva is a work in progress, Marlene has to work her magic to combat the extreme dryness of my hair and scalp. She also reminds me that DNY Hair Oil and Olive Oil, as well as a Mineral Mud Pack, needs to be leaving home with me that night.

All’s well that ends well, as The Diva emerges from hair, makeup and styling to strut her stuff for DNY and Sofistafunk!

Nov14

Terressentials Organic Hair Wash

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Last week, Adrienne gave us her GOC Update and sang the praises of Terressentials Organic Hair Wash. I wanted to know who else had tried it and what they thought of it as my inner PJ was trying to rear her head again. Well, Chy’sCurlz didn’t help subdue the PJ, as she commented on the post and shared a link for her review of this all-natural, kind of all-in-one product!

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Chy’s Curlz

First Day of Terressentials Organic Hair Wash

I finally bit the bullet and bought the Terressentials hair wash and it rocks!! It is the best thing I’ve ever used on my hair and I’m not exaggerating, not even an iota.

Products Used:
  • Terressentials Hair Wash
What I did:
  • I undid my yarn braids that I had in for all of two weeks (whole other post … smh).
  • I sectioned my hair into eight sections, four in the back and four in the front.
  • I spritzed each section with some water and then applied the mud from root to tip.
  • I made sure to massage the hair wash on my scalp to cleanse the scalp and then distribute it further down the strands.
  • And can I tell you, my hair was so easy to detangle. I know that when I use HEHH, it detangles well, but there was something about the hair wash that made it just that much easier to detangle.
  • I retained the sections and twisted it after detangling.
  • I then covered my hair with a shower cap and let it sit for about 1-2hrs (I just forgot about it).
  • It was time to get in the shower, I let the stream of water run on the hair first and then I undid each twist and washed it more thoroughly.
  • When I got out of the shower, my coils were so well defined and soft to the touch. I didn’t do the three washes, which is partly why I had left it in for as long as I did.
  • Suffice it to say that I’m super excited to see what my hair will look like after the whole 5 days “detox.”

Results after day 1:

That’s it … ’til later.

~smooches

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Thanks for sharing lady!

Check out Chy’s Curlz’ “Final Verdict” on the Terresentials Mud Wash here!

(Yeah, I just watched Naptural85’s first video review of this product too. I’m just sayin’ … there’s little doubt that the PJ will win this one and I’ll be ordering some VERY soon.)

Nov14

Natural Hair Pet Peeves

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I didn’t make it under the dryer last night. So, as expected, my hair didn’t dry by the morning despite the fact that 8 1/2 hours have elapsed, it was almost completely dry before I applied my leave-in and styler (so dry in fact that I had to wet it slightly just to be assured I would get a set) and I wore a hair net instead of a bonnet to allow air flow. Seriously, my hair feels totally damp right now at 6 a.m. So, here I sit under the dryer, quickly writing this post, hoping that my hair will dry in 30 minutes, so that it will be workable.

That being said, my review of the Doris New York leave-in and Olive Oil cream will have to wait until tomorrow as will, what I hope will be, a new style debut. However, this little headache is the perfect little platform for a post that I’ve been thinking about for a couple of weeks. Natural Nuisances. Hair Headaches. Curly Pet Peeves.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love natural hair. I love my natural hair. But, there are definitely things that work my last nerve, like my hair NEVER being even close to dry after sleeping in a wet set overnight. Here are a few more.

  • That strand of shed hair that hangs after I finish twisting, forcing me to untwist and release it because it’s decided to knot around a strand that is securely in my head. Then, twisting again only to have yet another frickin’ shed strand hanging and repeating the process all over again.
  • Finding that stray piece of hair that I missed after I finish twisting, braiding, styling my hair.
  • That piece of hair messing up my nice parts because it belongs with another section.
  • Manufacturers who discontinue my staple/holy grail product and replace it with a far inferior version (I have a thing about these crappy baggies with no lip and loose elastic. I can’t find a decent baggie anywhere!).
  • Running out of hot water in the shower during my hair rituals and having to finish with cool/cold water.
  • Forgetting to bring something I need into the shower or running out of it (ex. deep conditioner, hair clips, etc.) and having to jump out, soaking wet, to get it.
  • Totally running out of product when I’m only halfway done my hair and realizing I don’t have any in “stock.”
  • Natural hair wars (i.e. nastiness for just no dang good reason).
  • Constantly and repeatedly seeing “regiment” used instead of regimen and “course” instead of coarse (you know my Grammar Police ways start to kick-in).
  • That little stray piece of hair that wants to act a fool and hang longer than the rest, with nary a curl in sight, forcing you to try to coax it into an adjoining section throughout the day. And, just when you’re not looking, there that fool is, hanging out again!

Yup. That just about sums it up.

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What little things irk you about natural hair, the natural hair world and/or the process? Please add to the list in the comments below:)!!