Biking and hair

With spring upon us we've started crawling out of our homes and enjoying the sunshine. Just yesterday I rode my bike 8 miles. It was a beautiful day but also very windy.
That got me thinking, " how can I protect my hair from sun and wind damage?". This is what I came up with;
1. braid it or keep it in a high ponytail
2. keep as much as I can tucked up and hidden under my bicycle helmet
and
3. possibly coat the hair with sunscreen before I begin my ride.
I'm not so sure about the sunscreen but I'll try it out and tell you what I think. In the meantime, please feel free to comment on what's worked for you.

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Growing pains

Well this blog has grown out of its britches and it's time to face facts. I have been trying to pretend that it could live the life of a split personality (half website and half blog), with out running into any issues. But I am positive that I have been deluding myself. So to remedy the situation I am in the process of creating a website to help clear up some of the issues I have run into. Please bear with me as I sort things out, but I promise you will be hearing a lot more from me in the near future.

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New beginnings

Well I haven’t forgot about you but I have had to take a short break to have a baby.:) The newest member to my family was born last Tuesday May18th.  He weighed in at 8lbs 4oz. Not bad if I do say so myself.:) I wish I could tell you some story about my hair and the effect of pregnancy on it, but in all honesty I really don’t think that I had any ill effects. If all my hair starts to fall out I’ll let you know. lol jk:)

With a million things running through my head at the moment I decided it might be fun, and make life a little easier on me, plus spice things up a bit, to ask you (the reader) what you would like to know more about (with regards to curly hair of course). So here I go, I am opening up the floor to your suggestions, and if your suggestion gets picked I will send you  a set of metal clippies and 2 plopping towels as my thanks.  To qualify all you have to do is leave your suggestion in the comment section below and then follow me using Google Friend Connect. If you are already following me using Friend Connect then leave a 2nd comment in response to a different article in my blog archive.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with. Good Luck!

P.S. This contest will close on Tuesday June 1st.

Blog Roll

Have a blog about curly hair? Have a blog about DIY projects, cooking, sewing, gardening, holistic home remedies, etc... Post your link here and share the knowledge. :) Use the following Linky Tools* to add your homepage URL to the list below. Please only one entry per blog.* 

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My Story

Looking through my posts, I saw that I never really shared how I came to be where I am now, in terms of my curly hair. Here is my Reader’s Digest history. 

When I was but a wee baby….. j.k. :)  I won’t go that far back, but when I was a child everyone loved my hair. It  was soft, bouncy, and had beautiful loose ringlets, somewhere along the way that changed.  Honestly, as I grew up I was a bit of a tom boy. After about 2nd grade, when I needed the most help, I wouldn’t let  my Mom touch my hair. My hair became a long thick mess of waves and curls. I was a kid though and to an extent I didn’t care. Although, all the taunting and teasing did make me very self conscience about my hair over time. 

Through my preteen and teen years my hair was a series of bad haircuts that either grew out ugly or (when I was lucky) grew out well.  In 8th grade I began “straightening” my hair (I used the big barrel curling iron technique). When I became annoyed with dealing with my hair I  turned to perms to try to achieve “ the perfect curl”. The hairdressers never listened to me, and I almost always ended up looking like a poodle, or exactly the same but with trashed hair from the chemical process. Needless to say, I dreaded going to the hairdresser. It is ironic that as my career of choice  I choose be a cosmetologist. I was drawn to it admittedly for selfish reasons. I wanted to know how to style my hair; to know how to keep my crazy bush in check.


Amongst all the useful tips, tricks, tools and techniques I was introduced to, the  flat iron quickly became my favorite. My hair looked gorgeous, only it was straight. :( I continued to fight my curl for years. There were a few tricks that I was taught that helped me wear my hair “naturally” curly, but only if I wanted to devote 1- 1 1/2 hrs to making the curls look presentable. They never looked good the next day, so I rarely justified taking the time from my family to style it curly. My straightened hairstyle was always good for about 2-3days, so it seemed worth the effort to me.  A big draw back to straightening my hair was that I was always in fear of sweating or the weather. There was one special occasion that I spent 2 hours straightening my hair, but because the weather was very humid and misty by the end of the night my hair was in loose ringlets (that did not look good). 

By the time I had my 3rd child I was done. I was tired, my time was stretched thin, and I wanted to have a more “wash and wear style”. It was then that I finally began to find answers to my questions in a book. Three years later and I am still digging to find out more on curly hair but the results thus far have been extraordinary to me. My hair is curlier than it has ever been, I don’t spend hours on my hair and, most importantly, I have embraced me.  I wouldn’t go back and make the slightest change to my story, because it has made me who I am today.

Holiday Greetings

After my long absence from blogging I am itching to “get back to it”.  Some of you may be wondering where I went and I wish I could give you a really good answer but I can’t.  My life outside of blogging and hair just simply took over.  Here I am though ready to share valuable knowledge and information to those of you who care to read. During my absence I frequently pondered on what I would write about.  I have decided to keep it simple for this entry, so I declare a be-lated  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.  I pray this new year/decade will bring blessings to all  as they work to achieve their goals.

Back from big trip to Florida

Sorry I didn't write more this past week, but I have been recuperating from my trip to Florida. First, I would like to give a big thanks to all those who made my stay enjoyable and memorable. There is a certain group of curlies, you know who you are, that made me feel right at home and taught me so much more about the joys of being curly. I reserve my biggest thanks to Tiffany, the genius behind the website Live Curly Live Free, for teaching me her techniques for cutting curly hair. Tiffany truly has the heart of a teacher and is most inspiring in her passion and drive for helping curly heads everywhere learn how to take better care of their hair. I am excited to use my new found knowledge to help those in my area achieve beautiful results for their curls. Via La Curls!!

Big Trip!

I’m am very excited today, because tomorrow I will be flying to Florida for the weekend. Who wouldn’t be excited to go to Florida?:) However, I am not going for personal reasons. I am going there to take a curly hair cutting course. This trip has been in the plans for months now, but one thing or another came up and got in the way. Well, no more! The tickets are bought, the bags are almost packed ;) and there is nothing standing in my way this time. Isn’t it awesome to see a goal you have been working on come to completion?

Clarifications

I think that I need to take this time, before we get to far into things, to clarify a few misconceptions.  This blog is dedicated to anyone who has any form of curly hair. The ideas that I will cover in this blog can benefit wavy hair to super tight curly hair, and (wait for it) even those with straight hair! :O (What! Yes, straight haired girls can get away with more but what I share can help them too.) Regardless of whether or not you follow every guideline I give, i.e., no flat irons, you can still achieve amazing results. Maybe even results you thought would never be possible.  My hope is that through our journey together you will learn how to pamper your hair, and hopefully, find pleasure with the hair type that God gave you. Please, feel free to ask questions and leave comments with regards to any of the articles. I want your input because without you I am just talking to myself.

Rain Rain Go Away

Ever have the rainy day blues? Where your hair won't do anything right to save your life? (Those days when you wish that everyone could pull off a bald headed look.) My day yesterday started out much like that. I washed my hair at the gym and to my dismay I found that I had forgot to pack my gel. Not having any time to run home I improvised by putting extra conditioner in my hair and hoped it would help stave off the frizzies. Let's just say, it didn't work so well. All the extra moisture from the rain was drawn to my hair like a horse to a carrot. The resulting effect was not so appealing, if this has happened to you then you completely understand. Luckily, I only had one pressing errand to run. As soon as I was done, I high tailed it back over to my house and remedied the situation. I attacked my semi-dry hair with a spray bottle and scrunched in some of my fabulous gel and; voila, my hair was 100 x's better. Turned out not to be such a horrid day after all. 

Rules

If you did your homework, and you are observant, you probably noticed that some of my do’s and don’ts are different than or just plain contradict the rules found in Curly Girl: The Handbook By: Lorraine Massey ( hereafter known as CG). “Why then”, you ask,” did I need to read CG if she was just going to do her own thing anyway?” That is a wonderful question. My answer is matter-o-factly that I need us to have a similar plane of knowledge on which to begin building your understanding of curly hair. There is plenty to learn and I have a good deal to share with you, but let’s face it, there is only so much I can write at once. In order to get to the meat first, we need to have a common language and share a common understanding. CG is where enlightenment began for many curly heads, particularly myself. While I don’t agree with all that Lorraine Massey has to say in CG, it opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking. That is priceless. Until you can open your mind and transform, it won’t matter what I or anyone else teaches you about curly hair. 

Do’s and Don’ts

Bottom line in this article you learn what to run way from screaming and what to embrace with open arms. Overlooking any one of these can bring on a bad hair day like a twister in a trailer park, and nobody likes that. I am going to start with the don'ts, because I always like to get my bad news first.


Don't:

1. Use any sulfates of any kind (it's a lathering agent that strips hair and scalp of vital natural oils resulting in dry hair).

2. Use any dimethicone, silicone, or anything that contains ONE in it (masks the problem, dry moistureless hair, and does not allow any moisture into the hair; builds up in the hair unless washed out with....a SULFATE! yuck).
3. Even think about using your normal terri cloth bath towel on your hair (texture of towel roughs up the cuticle leaving hair frizzy and at times knotted)
4. Use bad alcohols on your hair i.e. SD alcohol, SD alcohol 40, Alcohol denat, Propanol, Propyl alcohol and Isopropyl alcohol (good alcohols are moisturizing, but these do the exact opposite; use them, and you’ll end up with dry brittle hair.)
5. Brush your hair, with a boars head bristle brush or any brush that has bristles densely packed, while dry or wet (can cause excessive cuticle damage and breakage).
6. Touch your hair until it is completely dry, except when applying gel and scrunching (oils from your hands cause frizziness and too much movement while drying will cause hair to expand).
7. Straighten your hair with round brushes, flat irons, or hair dryers  (harsh, I know, but if you want your curls to emerge from hibernation you have to give them a loving home to come to).
Now that we have the don’ts out of the way, we can move on to what you CAN do! :)

Do:

1. Use shampoos that substitute sulfates with Decyl Polyglucose and Cocamidopropyl Betaine (if used correctly, cleanses the scalp without stripping hair of all its essential oils; derived from sugar and coconut; gentlest cleansing agents on the market).

2. Look for products containing protein (hair is made up of protein and in small doses it can help to strengthen hair from the inside out).
3. Look for products with good alcohols i.e. Lauryl alcohol, Cetyl alcohol, Myristyl alcohol, Stearyl alcohol, Cetearyl alcohol and Behenyl alcohol (these alcohols add moisture and shine to the hair; they also help make conditioners their creamy consistency).
4. Use products that are rich in humectants i.e. panthenol, vegetable glycerin, sorbitol (helps keep hair moisturized by absorbing water and keeping it in).
5. Use a vent brush with plastic capped bristles or a wide tooth comb (helps to evenly distribute product; gentler to the hair resulting in less damage).
6. Find a soft, old, smooth t-shirt to dry and scrunch your hair; if you need to touch your hair while it’s wet, after applying product, use this (soft, smooth texture helps keep cuticle flat which makes hair shiny).
7. Look for and use gels that contain both PVP and PVP/VA, are colorless and have fewer ingredients (I’ve got nothing to add; just do it).
8. Use a bowl diffuser when drying your hair with a blow dryer and only dry 80% (bowl allows for less movement of hair if used properly, causing less frizzy big hair)

That’s all folks! I am sure I could go on and on; but really, these are the basic got-to-know rules. Remember though, rules can be broken; but first you must learn them and practice them before you start breaking them. How else would you know that a rule doesn’t work for you, unless you have first tried it?

The War

There is a war that rages inside of me. One that I battle with on a regular basis - Curly vs. Straight. And while I have embraced my curls with open arms there are still days when I yearn to return to my old ways. Days of flat irons, round brushes, curling irons and using any professional shampoo, conditioner, or product I wanted to. I know I wasn't happy then and that this desire is not good for my curls. Yet, there are still days when I long to be like everyone else and say "to heck with my curls!" To be honest, I know that my war has been won. The curls won and will not be relinquishing their victory in any future time that I can imagine. Yet the battles still come to test my sincerity. Am I alone or are there others like me?