Hair Tip #1

Today's Hair Tip: PLEASE pay attention to what you are using in your child's hair. It DOES make all the difference. Stay away from SULFATES, parabens, petroleum, and MINERAL OIL.
I will emphasize sulfates and mineral oil because those two things combined will have your child's hair screaming for epic moisture penetration. Mineral oil and petroleum are basically the same thing, so just be careful. Trust me. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt and the head band, too. ;) #hairtips

~Epic Realist~

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Mineral Oil...Do or Do Not?

Hey, ladies! Today's topic is a hot topic among naturals lately. It's our famous mineral oil.
Oh, the horror! How dare you speak such blasphemy! (covers mouth in shock)
So we probably all know by now that mineral oil, (aka baby oil) has gotten a very bad rap in the natural community. Some people still swear by it; others avoid it like the plague. Mineral oil is a super cheap form of liquid petroleum (Vaseline) that is supposed to seal moisture in to our skin and hair. But some people debate that it's the opposite.
Frankly, I don't really care. If it works for your hair, then by all means, stick with it. Me, personally, I hate the stuff. Before I became fully natural and I was stretching my perms by 6 months or so, I went through pink lotion like water. I had to use it every night when I got home from college or wherever I'd gone because my stringy, processed twist outs and braid outs were parched dry again. I used it every night to re-twist or re-braid my hair, but it was never as moist as I hoped it would be. It would always be dry by like, mid day. I wasn't doing much protective styling because I didn't know about that then, but either way, I didn't like the ingredients on the bottles of these products. However, there are some people who use it consistently and they still have healthy looking hair going down their back. O_O
I don't use mineral oil because I don't believe that it works for me. It isn't natural and in my opinion, does nothing but sit on your hair and prevent water from getting in. Then it takes a sulfate shampoo to wash these chemicals out, and I REFUSE to go back to using sulfates on my hair. It's been doing so well without it. I believe that once you go natural, there are certain things that you can always go without. Mineral oil is one of them.
It's basically Vaseline. I've never liked using Vaseline as a lotion. Yeah, it makes your skin all shiny and supple for the time being, but I always knew, even when I was younger, that it was unnatural and it was only 'sitting' on my skin. I'm a huge lotion fanatic... mostly because one of my biggest pet peeves is dry skin. I HATE dry skin... any form of it. Dandruff... ick. It just looks like dirt to me. When I saw lotions or hair products not holding in moisture, the first thing I used to look at were the ingredients. Mineral oil was always on the list. These commercial lotions out there... Vaseline, Jergens, St. Ives, even the awesome smelling lotions from places like Bath and Body Works or The Body Shop... all laced with mineral oil. They don't seal in moisture. It's only an illusion of it being a sealant.
If it's a lotion and it's job is to seal in moisture and keep it there at least for an entire day, then you shouldn't be ashy by 2:00.
So, I don't use anything with mineral oil in it. Not because I'm bashing anyone who does; it just doesn't work for me. For body lotion now, I either use a natural oil or I use my whipped shea butter that I can use for hair AND body. I like being versatile with my beauty products. My whipped shea butter will keep me and kid's skin moisturized for at least TWO whole days. They're not ashy when they get up in the morning, which has been such a blessing to me. Like I said, I HATE dry skin. I even hate it when my hands are super dry because my nails feel scratchy. Then I don't want to touch anything because it'll give me the 'nails on a chalkboard' feeling, even if I'm not scratching anything. Eh, I'm just weird like that. But I like that about myself. You won't catch me or my kids being ashy, unless I was just lazy that day or forgot to moisturize.
Other beauty products have mineral oil in them as well, like make up, lipstick (I think), facial cleansers, and lip gloss. I don't use make up at all anyway, and I am on the hunt right now for an all natural lip gloss/lipstick besides my trusty coconut oil. ;-) Same goes for my facial cleanser. Right now, I use my trusty Dudu Osun black soap for my face and it's doing just fine.

I've pretty much eliminated the stuff from any regimen of mine, and I am happy to have done so. Do or do not? I do not!

Questions? Comments? Hit me up here or somewhere else. =)

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Peace out, curly mamas!

~Epic Realist~

Hair and... Politics!?

I do not view going natural as a political statement, because frankly, I do not care about politics. I believe that politics are fake, and that they only portray into the media what they want the masses to believe.

I went natural for two reasons. For one, I was sick and tired of society's view on bashing black women who did not keep their hair straight and 'manageable', and secondly, I already had a passion for 'naturalness' my whole life but I didn't really know it yet.

I got tired of buying lotions and hair creams that 'didn't work' for my hair and skin because they were full of chemicals. I would complain to my sister about commercial lotions that we'd buy and use, and the next day, we were so ashy, it was as if we put nothing on at all. 

I would get utterly frustrated when I got a cream for my hair, lather my hair in it, twist or braid it up, and the next day, it would be as dry as the Sahara Desert. When I did get perms, I only got them every 4-6 months, so I was pretty much wearing my hair natural and curly, anyway. I went to college with my hair still wet a lot, and people called me 'white girl' because my hair was long and wet, and still looking good, even though it was damaged. So 'big chopping' after transitioning for two years wasn't hard for me and it wasn't a hassle. 

I did, however, have to learn how to really take care of it, and that's what I continuously do today.

The rise of natural hair products has definitely made me feel better as a black woman, knowing that we no longer have to succumb to buying crap in the stores because that's all there is. We can wear our natural hair as we have been so afraid to do for years and not have it break off due to overuse of parabens, sulfates, and petroleum.

Going natural is like going on a choosing a healthier diet; you cut out a lot of the bad things, but you have to learn what healthy things you should substitute for and put into your body as well as how to care for your body. You can't just say, I want to eat healthier but I'm not going to research how to do it, so you continue to eat the same way and not exercise. Sorry, not going to work. You won't get anywhere anytime soon with that kind of mentality. 

It may seem that going natural is harder than being relaxed, because in a way, it is. Everything that we are supposed to be doing right is automatically going to be harder. That's just life. We were born natural, so taking care of our curls is what we were born to do. Growing your own food will automatically be harder than just going to the supermarket and picking up any type of food you want with no hassle, because that's the way the world was originally supposed to work. We've just gotten lazy over the centuries, and we don't want to do any more work then what we are allotted to do. Constantly spritzing, detangling, moisturizing, twisting, parting, and styling seems to be harder than just going to the salon for a relaxer every six weeks or so, but that route has it's share of hard work as well. 

Technically, your hair may require more care with a relaxer than our natural curls, only because the chemicals wear our hair down, but hey. Either way you rock your hair is still work to look nice and be as healthy as we can.

Natural hair maintenance can be super hard work, but it's worth it, ladies! Peace out till later, curly mamas! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918

~Epic Realist~

New Hairstyles and... Dandruff?

So, I've been doing it up with Sy's hair lately. Random hairstyles. I have to find time to put the pics together and update them here. Sometimes it takes forever. I'll have several new styles siting on my computer for weeks at a time because I'm so busy and tired lately. But I have some to show now... finally. Hope you enjoy!

The second style on the first pic was when her hair was straight, and so was the second picture. I had never gotten a 'perfect' curved part before, so I surprised myself when I actually got it. So she had an S for her name. She loved it!
Now I need to practice my cornbraiding. I put cornbraids in Sy's hair recently, but they were a bit sloppy looking. Her hair is so silky. What makes it worse is that I can't stand doing anything on dry hair anymore, so I have to put something on her hair to moisturize before braiding. My hands are always slipping all over the place. Sigh... practice makes perfect. lol
I made another batch of my shea mixture a few days ago, and I added another ingredient... honey. Just wanted to try it out. I don't notice a difference in texture, but that's probably a good thing.
Tip of the Day: Best way to combat dandruff is to of course, constantly moisturize! By moisturize, I mean water and water-based natural oils or products. I've heard that tea tree oil works great; haven't used it yet, though. DO NOT use anything with petroleum jelly. It will only clog your pores and make your hair and scalp feel overly greasy, and it will attract dirt as well. So all you grease lovers... yeah. Back away from the Blue Magic and grab some EVOO and water! If your daughter has excessive dandruff, any type of grease will probably make it worse. I know it did back in the day when I used to use grease. Oh, and gentle brushing will definitely help. Use a boar's head brush only. It's soft and gentle to the scalp and the dandruff will fall right out.
Syriah barely has dandruff anymore because of how I moisturize her hair. I might see some flakes in her hair like, once a week, and that's usually before hair wash day.
Alrighty guys, I'm out. Enjoy the hairstyles. Tips? Comments? Let me know! =)
Peace out, curly mamas!
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Are You an Ingredient Snob?

So, tell me, are you guys 'ingredient snobs'? Do you bypass hair products with sulfates as long as everything else is organic or do you swear by sulfate free? What about parabens? I'm kind of on the 'half and half' side, but leaning more towards the ingredient snob area. Depends on what the product actually does for me.
If there's like, one off ingredient, I will overlook it and continue to use without worrying. After all, one little bad thing isn't going to kill me. We may avoid certain things on our hair and skin, but guess what. We may eat the same chemical in one of our many tainted foods, or something even worse that'll still enter our bloodstream. That's why I said, it depends on what the ingredient is. As far as sulfates, sulfate free shampoo is easy to find nowadays so I will always stick with that. Same for parabens. 
I no longer use products with artificial colors and scents, or petroleum and waxes. I scan the ingredient list carefully before I buy something new for my hair and I weigh the costs. If I don't know what the ingredient is, I either research it or I don't buy it until I know what it does. This is why I have yet to try Taliah Waajid products, because a lot of their ingredients aren't organic and very questionable. They have petroleum and laureate sulfates. Doesn't mean the product isn't good or doesn't work; I'm just kind of picky when it comes to my family's hair and skin.
As usual, this is open for discussion. I want to hear your opinions! Are you an ingredient snob? Do you know someone who is? Do you know someone who has gone way too far with it? What harmful ingredients do you believe work for your hair no matter what? Let me know here or on Facebook! 
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Peace out, ya'll! Have a great day!