Protective Cornrow Hairstyle for Girls

Hello, guys! It had been a while since I did any new 'fancy' hairstyles on Syriah because we haven't really gone anywhere lately, so I decided to do one. This style took a little over an hour and should last about a week or so.

It was an easy protective style. Cornrows are always easy to me, and I love parting. Now, I have to get better at corn braiding because I still suck at it. But once I really get it, my styles will be even better.
But, yeah. The pic speaks for itself. I hope that you guys enjoy. The CI whipped butter is for sale right now if you like.

Peace out, curly mamas!

~Epic Realist~

Spring/Summer Hair Stash & Hair Tip #4

Heya, curlies! I wanted to show what I have in my bathroom right now as far as hair and face care. I had this little guilt about being a possible 'product junkie', but when I evaluated what I actually buy versus other people, I'm not even close to being a product junkie! LOL!

So, as you can see, I'm still a huge fan of Shea Moisture. That Yucca & Baobab shampoo and the Y&B conditioner is the biz-zomb! Curl Enhancing Smoothie... still awesome, mostly for Syriah's hair. My hair doesn't require that much protein. I like to use the Deep Treatment Masque as a leave in on my hair.
One day, I'm going to try Nubian Heritage hair products, because them and Shea Moisture are very similar as far as what ingredients they don't allow in their stuff. Plus, I love NH's soaps! I use them on my face as well as my body. All natural, all awesome. So far, the Raw Shea Butter soap in the picture is my favorite one.
EcoStyler gel will always be here. Love the stuff. I rarely use it, so when I get a jar this big, it tends to last about six months or longer. The olive oil one is the only kind I've tried thus far, but one day, I'll try the others.
I started using my Ambi fade cream again because my three pregnancies have left me with dark areas all over my face as well as my neck. My neck has annoying dark lines on it, and this stuff has always worked in the past for me, when I was still young and battling acne scars. So I saw it in Walgreens for 6 bucks (25% off)  versus the regular 10 bucks in Walmart and hopped on it!
And last but not least, the unfamiliar product in the picture is mine. Yes, I have labels for them now! I'm working on making them better, but this is the first go round. Used for hair and skin. If you'd like to purchase, then check out the Purchase our Products page.
This is pretty much my stash for now. Won't be changing around too much until I get money to try some new things. So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed!

Hair Tip #4: Don't get caught up in the hype of hair products. Just because everyone else is trying the newest product doesn't mean you'll die or miss out on something if you don't try it. It is tempting; don't get me wrong. The newest thing for kid's hair, apparently, is some type of gel called Gorilla Snot. Yes, that's the name of it. It looks like it tames fly-aways like nobody's business. I've been tempted to try it, but it can wait. I don't use too much gel in my hair or my family's hair, anyway. It's not urgent to try everything new. If what you're doing works, stick with it until you get bored, or your hair changes. You'll end up wasting tons of money trying every single thing out there just because everyone else is. Try one thing at a time so if your hair does something crazy, you'll know what product to blame it on instead of three.
Dark & Lovely's new natural line looks like junk to me. I wanted to try it, but when I saw the ingredients myself in the store, I said hell to the no! And this is what they call natural!? Some of these mainstream companies are way too desperate to hop onto the natural bandwagon and keep making money, and it seems like all they do is change the label and plaster it onto the same crap that they were selling before, give or take a few things. Same with Pantene's natural line. Utter disappointment. -___-
Please don't fall for the hype. Like Miss Jessies, for example. That stuff costs more than a dinner at Red Lobsters for a whole family, but I heard that it was utter crap and caused scalp problems in a lot of people because of all the chemicals in it. Use what you know works, and if something new has an ingredient that you know that you know that you KNOW your hair hates, then why...buy it?

Peace out, curly mamas!

~Epic Realist~

Mini Braids and Insanity Workout!!!

Hey guys! This is just a post about my experience with mini braids, and that I took my mini braids down yesterday, washed my hair, and now it feels fresh and free once again. LOL!
I haven't worn mini braids since I was a teenager... maybe 14 years old... before I got my first perm at 15. That was my staple hairstyle. That was all my mom knew to do with all the hair I had, with out-of-this-world thickness. I didn't like them then because that was practically all I had my hair in, but my hair had always grown long because they were in for at least a month.
My hair wasn't that healthy because I know my ends were split and straggly like mad, and regular hair grease was used to braid my hair, but it still grew. I thought about that more recently, and although braids take longer to install, they tend to last longer. So I did the mini braids in my hair last Monday and left them in for a week and a half.
I used EcoStyler gel on damp hair. Awesome technique. It worked well, and I honestly didn't get much noticeable frizz until the second week. I don't use gel like that, but for this it worked like a charm. They also looked great on me.

 Now, they're not as small as some people would probably do theirs, but ain't nobody got time fo'dat! Not with three kids! This size was great for me. Bad enough it took two hours to do, which is a miracle for my hair.
When the second week began, the itchiness began. My hair likes being washed at least once a week and it goes crazy if it isn't washed once a week. So, you see my dilemma. I almost tried washing it with the braids still in, but I knew already that that would cause major frizz. The gel would be washed out of it, and the manipulation and the water would cause the braids to be frizzy afterwards and I knew this. Plus, it would also be hard to condition my hair. So that was it. My scalp was too itchy, no matter how much I spritzed my scalp with my water/peppermint oil concoction. It was time for the braids to go! I was kind of sad taking them out, but I could easily find the time to do them again if I wanted to.
Besides, with the working out that I have been doing lately, my scalp needed the wash to remove sweat. I have started doing the Insanity workout program. Yes, the crazy hard one, with Shaun T. It's AWESOME. I've got some major pounds to lose, about 30, and since I've changed my eating habits greatly, I've already lost 3 pounds. Combine that with the biking and other random exercises that I have started doing (push ups, jump ropes, crunches, squats), I've added INSANITY to the mix and have lost 3 MORE pounds. So happy! I am seeing my baby gut go down finally.
If you do INSANITY, too, let me know. How far are you in it? Challenges? Given up yet? I've only done the first two videos so far.
Ever done mini braids? How long did it take? Did you like the results? How long did they last before your scalp was on it's knees, begging for shampoo? Tell meh! I like hearing hair stories.
Peace out till later, curly mamas!

http://www.youtube.com/user/curlsofinnocence

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/Epicrealisthttp://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

Syriah's 2nd Length Check! WAIST LENGTH!

Hola, you curly naturals!
I'm doing a short update on Syriah's hair length. Her last length check was in October 2012.

So now, it's May and I have done another one. Her hair has seriously grown in 7 months! 

It's 18 inches long, which is ironically the same length as my hair, but because she's shorter, of course, it'll be waist length on her. I am totally impressed with myself and how I've been taking care of it!

Her routine/regimen is pretty much still the same as I updated it last time, but I've been using random samples from the hair show on her just to try them. Taliah Waajid's kid's line is pretty awesome. That Easy Herbal Comb Out is silky, has no chemicals, and smells soooooo good. I might actually have to pick it up in Walmart one day if I see it. Looks like she can rock a wash and go with that stuff. ;-) 

As you can see, I'll be using my new logo on my pictures and what not. Free marketing! I have jars of my whipped shea butter here for 12 dollars if anyone cares to know how I got Syriah's hair this long and healthy. Questions or comments? Hit me up! Peace out, curly mamas!

http://www.youtube.com/user/curlsofinnocence

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/Epicrealist
http://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

Our Hair is like a Plant- Hair Tip #3

Buenos dias, ladies! I have an interesting topic that I thought about a few days ago. It pertains to our hair growth. It began when I started seeing more and more posts about hair supplements, such as pills that claim to grow your hair (Hairfinity) and the all too famous... Monistat. -___-
I started to think about how impatient women are in growing their hair, and it got me thinking hard about patience. We're living in a world now where no one is patient anymore. We want everything now, now, NOW! Every woman wants long hair ASAP. We're popping pills, religiously doing scalp massages, and even resorting to 'coochie cream' for abnormally quick growth. And I ask myself, why are we breaking our backs to get long hair and ultimately missing the main ingredient, patience?
So, then I started to think about our hair, and how, like anything, it requires time. Time to grow, to flourish, to regenerate. Just like.. a plant. Plants take time, right? A lot of time. Trees take years to grow to their full potential. I don't understand why some naturals still don't use water on their scalps enough. Don't plants need water? That's the main ingredient that plants need. Everyone knows that if plants aren't watered, they'll die.
But that's the same way our hair is. All the years that we've been perming, we've been afraid of using water on our scalps, which is why our hair was not growing and was always dead. Well, all hair is dead, but you get the point.
My point here is that our hair is like a plant. It requires water, food, and time. I will emphasize time because like I said, women want their hair long fast, fast, fast! That's how we get jacked up, trying every little thing that promises to make our hair grow beyond our wildest dreams. Most hair vitamins have side effects that you aren't even aware of until you stop taking them. Some people get hives, some people get headaches, some people get muscle twitches. It's ridiculous. All for the sake of having long hair. Patience, ladies. Your hair WILL grow as long as you take care of it and put what's supposed to be in your body into your body. Start eating better and your hair will definitely grow. Get out of the mindset that you have to have to do something extreme just to prove that your hair can grow to great lengths. Remember, you went natural for a reason. Why are you going back to unnatural means of growing your hair? That makes no sense. I mean, Monistat? Really? I don't care if someone got waist length hair in two years after big chopping. That's still an unnatural way. So when you decide to stop using Monistat for whatever reason, don't be surprised if you get massive headaches or something like that.
If it takes you five years to get to waist length, so what? Everyone's hair grows at a different pace. What's the rush? Really? You get waist length hair and then what? Gonna brag about it to kingdom come? Not the right way to go about it. My hair grows fast, but even if it didn't, I'm not impatient with my hair.
I'm just happy to have hair in the first place. Imagine how cancer patients feel. They're stressing about losing all of their hair and they can't do anything about it. And we're sitting around, stressing because our hair hasn't reached BSL length within two years of returning to natural. Come on, guys. We can do better.

Hair Tip #3: Start thinking about your hair like a plant. Whenever you get discouraged about your hair not growing, take a look at a tree and think about how long it took that tree to grow. Even a small bean plant. Everything takes time to grow, even hair. Growing your hair unnaturally is not best. Do it the natural way. Eat right, guzzle water, keep water on your scalp, exercise, use castor oil, deep condition weekly, protein treatments, you know the deal already. You'll be better off in the long run. Peace out and be blessed, curly mamas.

http://www.youtube.com/user/curlsofinnocence

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/Epicrealist
http://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

~Epic Realist~

CI's First EcoCurls Giveaway!

Hey, curlies! Check out my very first giveaway. Hope that you're inspired enough to join. xD
Do not place your 'paragraphs' on this blog, ladies. Only through the Facebook page. Have fun!

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I finally have a logo, thanks to my very artistic husband. <3

It's little Syriah, looking a bit older but still cute! LOL! 

http://www.youtube.com/user/curlsofinnocence

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Curls-of-Innocence/256662627753918?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/Epicrealist
http://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

~Epic Realist~