So … when I started writing this, Shelli saw the title and was like, “what is that?”
This is just a little something for you to cause some trouble when you are in the mix with a few basketball fans.
So … the NBA started in 1949. Why is this important? It’s not. But it is INCREDIBLE to me that, in the 64 years history of the NBA, only ONE man has admitted that he was gay. And it happened on Monday 4/29/13. After 12 seasons in the NBA, currently with the Washington Wizards, Jason Collins says, “I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay.” Now, why is a straight male writing about it on a natural hair blog?
Because this is the kind of moment in time that will be easily brushed over. Yet if you consider the power and influence some professional athletes have in American culture, it is of great social importance. It can be called significant by different people for different reasons. I am not here to direct the conversation in any direction. You don’t have to reply to this post. I just want to share the information. OK … but for real … I do hope that you bring this up in different circles!
Read the essay written by Jason Collins for SportsIllustrated.com here.
And here are words of support from other athletes.
Now that you are equipped with some tools to cause some trouble … my work is done here!
SHiNE
(P.S. Because I’m a soccer/football fan and am hoping that there are people in other soccer/football countries that read this, I’m throwing this in too.)
“42” was number one at the box office its opening weekend and my dude Chadwick Boseman was everywhere in the media! He even got a style spread in TIME Magazine.
Shelli and I saw the movie. I enjoyed it … but, like I said before, I am a little biased. In the end, I wanted more. But I understand that it wasn’t a bio-pic. This was really a G rated family film, but due to the language of the time, a PG-13 rating was appropriate. This could have easily been R rated if it were more depicting American history of the time with a more raw, different perspective. There was a lot more to the story that they could have shared, but this was about his first season. I am sure that if the film would have explored more of his career, it would have delved deeper into his life. HMMMM … maybe they’ll do another film … “the later years?” Yeah, I wish! Either way … I hope that people enjoyed it and will continue to support the film in upcoming weeks. Last weekend, it was number 3 in the box office. Let’s keep this film out there for our kids to see! AND please continue to support Chadwick Boseman!
There was another important outcome of the movie. We see glimpses of Jackie Robinson as a patriotic veteran. More importantly, people looked into the life of Jackie Robinson and went beyond the sugar-coated, storybook portrayal to explore the man. Here we find that in his quest to be a good American citizen, he mindfully helped to destroy the life of one of this country’s most significant personalities: PAUL ROBESON.
As an activist, lawyer, athlete, vocalist and film star, Mr. Robeson was more significant to american history than Mr. Robinson.
But Jackie Robinson went to congress to speak against Paul Robenson!?! Read more about it here. Years later, Robinson second guessed his actions. Either way, read a little more about the type of man he was through some exerts from First Class Citizenship, where he has some interesting letter exchange between the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, John F. Kenndy, Richard Nixon and Malcolm X. They are all very interesting to me. But I’m a lil’ geeky like that.
Yeah … this is way overdue. So, a couple of weeks ago, I teased the results of using a new product to style. As you’ve probably already guessed by the title (or know from IG and/or Facebook), that product was Cantu Shea Butter Leave-in Conditioning Repair Cream!! I had been hearing about the awesomeness that is Cantu for a couple of years now, but had repressed my inner PJ and never bought it … that is, until I saw the GORGEOUS braid and twist-out results that the fabulous Shaniece (aka PGneiicey of YouTube) was getting using it!! Now, I know … 90% of those results are due to the fact that her hair is stinkin’ AMAZE-A-BALLS. But, you know, that never stops a PJ.
So, yeah … when Wei and I stopped at Target a couple of weeks ago and were perusing the hair care/body care aisles in search of some Shea Moisture Body Wash for him, I saw the Cantu. And I snagged the Cantu (along with a jar of SM Raw Shea Restorative Mask … had to restock).
Here’s a little information about the Cantu leave-in:
Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream is an intensive deep penetrating leave in cream conditioning treatment that is made with pure shea butter and other natural oils to stop and mend breakage, repair split ends, and add manageability and shine with every application. Product Attributes: moisture, shine, detangling, frizz control, anti-humectant
So, later that night, I decided that I wanted to try a dry twist-out with my newest acquisition. First, I finger detangled my dry, 8 day old twist-out (which was still looking pretty good, if I must do say so myself) …
Then, I set my hair in an 8 twist, dry twist-out with a combo of Cantu leave-in and Eco Styler Olive Oil gel …
The next morning I released to some pretty awesome results!
My hair was shiny, defined, light (not “producty” or greasy at all), and flake-free (seems some have had that problem with Cantu/gel combos). So, I was very pleased with the results!!
Tomorrow … Overnight Maintenance: A New Bedtime Technique and Day 2 hair!
Okay, I have to get ready to head to the gym in a few. But, I know I have been seriously MIA on the blog for the last several weeks. So, I wanted to give a quick update in regard to my personal fitness challenge. First, I have now worked out for a minimum of 10 minutes a day for 70 days in a row. More importantly for me, I completed C25K on Friday!!! I did C25K in 2011, but think I fell off of it the last week/week and a half. I didn’t fall of because I ran into a wall (no pun intended ;), but because I took a break immediately before competing in a Rugged Maniac 5K obstacle race.
Anywho, I’m very excited to say that I am now running for 30 minutes at 5.4 mph! It ain’t quite easy yet, but I can do it!! I’m NOT happy to say that my treadmill broke at week 7 of C25K and I have yet to get my new one. So, I had to start going to the gym to run (yeah … I don’t run outside … yet. Now that’s it’s warming up, I’ll give it a try on the weekend). I should have my new NordicTrak by this Wednesday and will be happy to not have to run back and forth to the gym at 6 am.
Okay, it’s about time for me to get dressed to get out of here. But, here is a pictorial rundown of Days 50-70. If you want to get details of what I did each day, check out my Instagram or Facebook pages (I think you can check-out Instagram w/out being a subscriber!).
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The scale has been stuck the last few weeks … I went down to 134, but have been up and down the last two weeks. I know it’s because I’ve been pretty lackadaisical about dinner and have been relaxing my eating on weekends. So, this week, I’m going to get back on track with consistently eating a balanced dinner and watching what I eat on the weekends. Regardless of what’s going on with the scale, I’m definitely seeing progress.
And finally, I’m really going to try to give some hair updates this week! I plan to do a post every night after work, but I’m just so exhausted and have no desire to focus on a computer long enough to compose a lucid and worthwhile post!! So, I just do quick hits on IG, which I share on FB and Twitter!! If you follow me on any of those, you know that it has been an eventful few weeks in regard to wash day. I’ve tried new products, new techniques and had a traumatic detangling experience last weekend. Visions of a third big chop were floating through my head. But, I survived with (most of the) hair on my head! So yeah, I might not write as much as I usually do, but I’m going to really try to give you guys a little something! Thank you for your patience!!
Yeah. I know. I’ve been absentee for a while. But, I’ll be back soon with hair and fitness updates. However, the reason I’m popping on here really quickly is because I just had to share this powerful ad by Dove. We’ve heard it said time and time again that we as women are often our worst critics. This Dove experiment put that statement to the test.
There is a movie called “42” that opened Thursday.
The movie is about Jackie Robinson.
If you notice, the movie trailers aren’t full of baseball highlights. Mr. Robinson’s story is about so much more than baseball. It is about the spirit of a man and is an important part of American and Black history.
Hear from Chadwick Boseman on why women should go see this film too …
Yeah, I know this is overdue *hangs head*. Okay, it’s after 1 am right now. I fell asleep on the couch. AGAIN. And woke up at almost midnight. Usually I would just get in bed … but I felt bad for being so delinquent about blogging that I’m staying up to write this recap quickly!!
PRE pre-poo. *lol*
The Saturday before last, wash day went down as follows:
Pre-poo with Vatika Oil (1 hour).
Shampooed with an oldie but goodie, DevaCare No Poo (diluted in water).
Detangled/conditioned with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration.
Deep conditioned with Darcy’s Botanical Pumpkin Seed Conditioner (1 hour w/heat).
Blotted hair damp with Curl Cloth.
Styled hair into 8 twists with Wonder Curl Butter Than Love Whipped on length and Get Set Jelly to control frizz and fly aways at roots.
Released twists while hair was still slightly damp (because I had the Wonder Curl Launch Party to attend) to fully air dry.
Okay, so I didn’t take any solo photos of my hair on that first day. But, Rece (A Hair Story) got a good one of the results, I think! LOL!!
Running my mouth as usual ;). And yeah, I know. I still owe you guys that recap ;)!
The first pic above was Day 2 hair after re-twisting the night before. And here is day 4 hair (I was re-twisting nightly initially):
And Day 8 hair (on Day 4, I started bunning at night as daily re-twisting puts too much stress on my fine strands and resulted in more breakage than I like to see):
Oh, and here was the bun (and OOTD ;)) I wore the Friday before Day 8:
Spring was finally in the air!!
My hair held up so well on over the course of the week (not overly tangled or stinky ;)), that I didn’t wash it this past weekend! Instead, I experimented with a dry twist out and a new product that I picked up at Tarjay over the weekend!!
For those of you who follow me on Facebook and Instagram, you already know what it was ;). The rest of you will have to check me out on one of those outlets or stay tuned for the next post, which will reveal the “mystery” product that gave me the results above!
So, here’s a question. I found that re-twisting nightly put too much strain on my hair, but left it looking great. So, I’m wondering:
Do you re-twist or re-braid nightly to preserve a style? If so, how would you describe your hair in terms of strand thickness (fine, medium, thick)? And, how does your hair fare with this technique?
Still going strong!! Can’t believe I’ve worked out for 50 consecutive days now!! One more week and it’ll be 2 months!! When I started this 7 weeks ago, I wasn’t sure if I’d make it through the first 28 days. Now, on day 51, I feel like I can keep on going. Some days, all I get in is 10 minutes of Abs of Steel, but I feel like every minute counts. And, I could have easily been sleeping or sitting on the couch those 10 minutes, so it’s better than that.
In regard to weight loss, the scale actually went back up to 138 this week. I’m not overly concerned as it’s that time of the month … y’all know how it is. Also, although I ate very well during the day, I had a really irregular week as it related to dinner. Nothing I ate was bad in and of itself. But, I was eating randomly and too much … green smoothie, kale chips, pistachios and smoked oysters one night … green smoothie, kale chips, a sweet potato and pistachios the next … green smoothie, taylor ham and pistachios the following night … I told you … random. And, over the weekend wasn’t the best either … I didn’t eat too much in regard to quantity, but didn’t have the best options when I went out to lunch on Saturday (ended up w/a breaded chicken cutlet on a white roll … was hoping it was grilled … only ate half the bread, but still all that friend breading) and a birthday party on Sunday (2 slices of plain cheese pizza … it was after hot yoga and I was starving!). But, again, it wasn’t a lot in terms of quantity … just more calories than I would like and not much in the way of nutritional content.
Kale, banana, dates and vanilla extract green smoothie; first ever homemade kale chips (too salty, but did a second batch w/o salt and they were good)!
Oh, and Sunday night, Wei and I went to our new favorite spot, The Loving Hut in Ledgewood, NJ. It’s an international chain (never would have guessed) specializing in vegan cuisine. Let me tell you, the food. is. DELICIOUS.
Clockwise: California Roll, Queen “Burger”; sweet potato fries and Pho. This pic was actually from our first visit, but we ordered the same things this past Sunday!
So yeah, I’ll probably wait until next Sunday or Monday to weigh in again and keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be down a real pound or two to 135-136. Of course, I need to get my dinners back on track this week … ‘cuz Monday night was a repeat of the randomness.
Alright, here’s Days 43-49 in pictures!!
Day 43: C25k Week 6/Day 1. Did 3 run intervals at 5.5 mph w/last min. of last 2 intervals at 6.0 mph. Seeing progress.
Day 44: Abs of Steel (10 min) and LB Kettlebell Full Body Blast (13 min).
Day 45: C25K Week 6/Day 2 – Two 10 min. run intervals at 5.5 mph, but did last min. of each at 6.0 mph. Top is Day 1 results/Bottom is Day 2.
Day 46: Abs of Steel (10 min); Day 47: C25K c25k Week 6/Day 3 – 25 min. run at 5.2 mph!
In regard to Day 46, you may have noticed that I posted my Day 1 and Day 2 results. Now, the thing is, treadmills that don’t allow you to enter you weight, height, sex and body fat percentage don’t accurately calculate calories burned for everyone. This is because treadmills that don’t allow personalization generally use the universal calibration for a 150 pound male (check out this article on LiveStrong.com: Do Treadmills Accurately Burn Calories? for more info). However, though I know the results for calories and carbs burned on my calculator are not accurate for me, the information is helpful as it provides a point of comparison from work-out to work-out.
C25K Week 7/Day 1 was yesterday morning!! This week is 25 minute runs for each workout! I’m so excited to be here as, when I started, didn’t know how’d I do it! But, every day, slow progression is the key to seeing results!!
Oh, and before I go!! I wanted to share a video on pre- and post work-out stretches to do to improve running speed and endurance!! It’s from Marshall’s!! You see, when I bought work-out clothes from them a couple of weeks ago, there were these “Get Fit” tags with QR codes to “unlock” YouTube videos! Well, I got the perfect video for me!!
I have found that doing the demonstrated stretches pre- and post work-out does make me feel more limber and the pre-run stretches definitely help warm me up. I can’t say that the stretches have improved my endurance or speed just yet. But, I’ve only been doing them for about a week now. So, I’ll give them more time for that. And, now that I think about it, I did do long run intervals at 5.5 when I was struggling at 5.2 a couple of weeks ago. So, maybe they are helping! If it can improve my speed to 5.3 for my 25 minute run at the end of this week, I’ll give these stretches some kudos ;)!
Any runners out there? Do you have tips on stretches or techniques for a novice runner to use in order to improve running efficiency, form, gait, speed? Thanks in advance!!
So, I’m a little late with this and I’m keeping it short. I’m down 11.5 pounds as of this past Saturday and started week 6 of C25K this morning. Still working out daily and eating well mostly … though, I did indulge a little on Easter Day. However, though I enjoyed some mac and cheese, a little ham, and candied yams, I also filled half my plate with salad, had white meat turkey, passed on the bread and stuffing and practiced portion control. I didn’t stuff myself at all and I didn’t have seconds. Ummm … and I did have a little bit of dessert too *sheepish grin*. BUT, it was the lightest thing there and it was only about 3-4 spoonfuls. I resisted the sweet potato pie (oh how I love thee), coconut cake, pound cake and ice cream! Oh, and I started out the day with a green smoothie … learning of the day: NutriBullet does NOT do well with frozen greens :(. So, I bought a big bag of fresh kale after work today. Should have taken a pic … it’s GINORMOUS!!
Okay, yeah … short. Here’s day 36-43 in pics!! Oh, and captions ;).
Day 36: C25K Week 5/Day 1 (5.2 and 5.5 mph runs). Despite an allergy attack that caused some serious congestion, got it done.
Day 37: Decided not to take another sweaty face pic … plus, I only did Abs of Steel :).
Day 38: C25K Week 5/Day 2 (5.2 mph runs). Worked out late, but Sudafed had kicked in and I pushed through w/tissues at the ready!
Day 39: Abs of Steel & LB Kettlebell Full Body Blast (23 min total). Tried chia seeds for the first time! Added some blueberries to this before I ate it though!!
Day 40: C25K Week 5/Day 3 (5.2 mph run).
Days 41 and 42: self-explanatory ;).
Day 43: C25K Week 6/Day 1 (5.5 mph run intervals). Abs are coming in … still got a ways to go, but seeing real progress.
I’ll be back in the next day or two with details of the hair above and to share a recap of the Wonder Curl launch party that I attended this weekend!! She debuted her two new products, a Cleansing Clay Mask and a Deep Conditioner that round-out her line of products!! Okay … if you just can’t wait, check out these recaps by A Hair Story and Radiant Brown Beauty, who both attended the event with me and are on top of it ;)!!
by Weusi
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