Styles and Trials- Routine Updates

Hola, curly mamas! Haven't done a good update in a while.
I rocked mini twists last week. As usual, they only lasted a week, but they looked better than my first attempt. I dampened my hair and used my newest whipped shea butter, which has castor oil in it. It felt awesome. It began to frizz badly by the fourth day, so I put some oil on the ends and wrapped it up at night again.
It didn't do much to salvage them. I learned my lesson from last time about not spritzing mini twists or braids with water, because that'll just create more frizz. My itchy scalp was screaming for water around this time. I avoided the water and put coconut oil on the ends. Eh, still only looked okay after taking off my bonnet, and then they shrunk up and looked dry again. Oh, well. I'll keep trying and figuring out how to make mini twists last for two weeks instead. ;-)

I used some of my leftover birthday money to stock up on some things. I got my two favorite Shea Moisture products, since I was out and I missed them so much. I also got a new soap, an all natural one that I tried on my face. It's awesome! There are NO foreign ingredients. It's by Nubian Heritage... 3 bucks and change. Walmart has natural soaps now? Holy crap... they're coming UP!

For now, that's my new facial routine. I use this soap day and night on my face, and apply castor oil or coconut oil to my face. It feels just as soft as baby skin, I swear. I'm in love with this soap. Screw the other Ambi crap that made me break out. LOL!

My Current Hair Health: Well, my hair feels very healthy right now, soft, supple, and growing... except for the excessive shedding. I still haven't figured out why I'm shedding every single time I finger de-tangle my hair, or why my hair seems to have gotten a little thinner. I feel like I've tried everything. I've tried using protein to avoiding protein, deep conditioning, natural shampoos, hot oil treatments, and trying to keep my scalp clean. I've even been eating a lot healthier, more water, more fruits/veggies/nuts, less meat. But something else is going on, and I'm hoping that it isn't thyroid related. :-/ I need to go back to taking vitamins...
Pre-poo: About an hour of coconut oil on damp hair
Wash routine: Washing once a week with a SM shampoo, castor oil on scalp and ends, whipped shea butter or SM cream, braided or twisted into whatever amount
Daily care: Spritz with water (which contains vegetable glycerin and peppermint oil) until damp every other day, apply castor oil on scalp, apply shea butter or SM cream, brush through with paddle brush, braid or twist (usually one without protein)
Nightly care: Apply stocking cap if already moisturized that day; if not, do daily care routine
Outdoor styling: Spritz with water, style with SM cream or whipped shea butter
Deep conditioning: Once a week with Roots of Nature Green Tea deep conditioner or hot oil treatment with castor oil

Syriah's Current Hair Health: Riah Chic's hair is very healthy right now as well. Since I got the SM creams again, I threw away what was left of the Cantu stuff. I will never buy that crap again; it's not natural and it made both of our hair feel coated beyond reason. Tried to go cheap and screwed myself yet again. So I got rid of that stuff. If I ever get Cantu again, it needs to be the natural kind.
Pre-poo: About an hour of coconut oil on damp hair
Wash routine: Washing once a week with a SM shampoo, castor oil on scalp and ends, whipped shea butter or SM cream, braided in 6 or more braids or twists
Daily care: Spritz with water (which contains vegetable glycerin and peppermint oil) until damp every other day, apply castor oil on scalp, apply shea butter or SM cream, brush through with paddle brush, braid or twist
Nightly care: Apply stocking cap if already moisturized that day; if not, do daily care routine
Outdoor styling: Spritz with water, style with SM cream or whipped shea butter

Baby Symari's Current Hair Routine: (9 months old)
Wash routine: Wash twice a week with a SM shampoo, castor oil on scalp, whipped shea butter, small twists done without hair ties
Daily care: Spritz with water (which contains vegetable glycerin and peppermint oil) until damp every other day, apply castor oil on scalp, apply shea butter or SM cream, re-twist
Nightly care: Nothing as of yet. I won't dare try to keep a cap or bonnet on this child at this age!

The boys (hubby and Jam), they pretty much do whatever lol! I wash Jam's hair once or twice a week because he's always on the floor, and I just wet it and apply oil to his rat tail whenever I actually remember about his hair. Hubby has a low haircut and a rat tail, which is growing rapidly. I am the hair lady of the family. Hehe. ;-)

Well, that's my super long update. Hope you guys enjoyed!

Until next time, fellas. Oh wait... are they any dudes on this blog? Haha! O_O

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~Epic Realist~

Why Some Naturals PISS Me Off!

Okay, so before I tell you why some women who've gone natural piss me off to the utmost sometimes, let me post a new hairstyle I did on Syriah last week. She loved it. I used the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I think I've fallen in love with that stuff. Works so well with the shampoo!
Alright, back to the topic.
We all know that lately, ever since I don't even know when, there's been a rise in woman going natural with their hair. I think it was because of that Chris Rock documentary called "Good Hair". It was an interesting documentary, even though it mostly explained how bad perms were and not really enough about how to take care of your natural hair. But oh well. It has raised awareness in a lot of areas. Whenever this epidemic began, women have started to become more arrogant than ever about their hair, meaning that the ones who have gone natural tend to constantly look down upon the ones that aren't natural. And this is where I get annoyed. Really annoyed.
So, you've decided to go natural. You've whacked off your perm completely and are now rocking a TWA (teeny weeny afro). You're experimenting with curly puddings and mixtures and trying to figure out your true hair texture. You're seeing growth. You're doing your thing and you're loving it. Going natural, quite naturally, brings you a sense of independence, confidence, and freedom. You can be yourself and not worry about getting a touch up every six weeks, or whether or not a couple of drops of rain have settled into your bone straight locks and caused uncontrollable frizz and fuzz. You can be FREE and HEALTHY!
But who says that you have to go to work every day now and belittle your coworkers who you faithfully used to go get those six week touch ups with? Why do women like this suddenly become arrogant and walk around like, "Oh, I'm better than you. You still get perms. You need to stop using those chemicals; you're burning out your hair. Hmmph. You need to just follow me and be a real black woman." Well, just a couple of months ago, you were doing the same thing, fool! It's crazy how I've seen some women act. They just roll their eyes at people who still perm, or even people who've stopped perming but they still straighten. "You're not really natural. You're still straightening to look like a white girl. You still can't see your curl pattern." So what?! Did you really expect every black woman to want to transition the same time you did? All you're doing is making women NOT want to go natural because they don't want to follow the 'stuck up natural bitches' who think they're all that and a bag of chips just because they decided to transition when they did.
How about a reality check? There are thousands of women who decided to transition before you, honey. Did they rub it in your face? Nope. We naturals are supposed to lead by example, not go around and brag. We're not supposed to bring down the women who have not yet achieved the level of confidence that you have, and if you bring them down, it only shows that you DO NOT have any confidence in yourself at all. If you absolutely have to brag about ditching perms and sulfate-laced shampoos, then you going natural obviously hasn't taught you a damn thing.
I'm not going to ever brag about my natural hair. I'll show pictures, leave tips, offer encouragement to women to want to go natural but are scared or intimidated, but I will not fling my curls in someone's face and say, "You idiot, why don't you just go natural? Why don't you just leave the perms alone? Don't you want your hair to look like mine? Your hair is falling out; you need to fix that mess!" If I see a woman with nice looking hair, I still compliment them on it, whether it's bone straight, curly, or a head of nice looking weave. I don't do weave, but some women who are going natural do because they're still afraid to actually SHOW their real hair in public, so they wear weaves and wigs. That's their business. Everyone is not going to go natural at the same time you did, and some of these women need to realize that. Same with their daughter's hair. Some people perm their girl's hair, and the ones with daughters who's hair has never even seen a perm stick their noses up at them. Come on, people. It's their decision. You can't force someone to change their hair habits, just like you can't force someone to convert to your religion. Same thing. If we were all the same, this world wouldn't have any originality!
People are treating this natural/not natural thing like it's supposed to be some kind of a competition, and it's becoming something where women have to 'take sides'. It's not supposed to be that way. Black women have enough hair problems as it is to have to explain to someone why they haven't gone natural after being begged for seven months. Hell, I wouldn't, either! Stop pressuring everybody to do what you do. Just leave it alone.
Whew. Just had to throw out that little rant. There was another woman on YouTube who mentioned this topic and how frustrated she was with it, and I was like, wow, that's an interesting subject. I've come across women ONLINE who are that arrogant about their new found curls. Black women need to get it together and support one another, no matter what our hair looks like. I would never, EVER pressure someone into going completely natural. Like I said, tips, suggestions, advice is all I'm even going to do. If and when you decide to go natural is up to you. Not my job to make sure you have your curls popping some time this century. I'll do me and you do you. =)
Peace out, curly mamas!