Baka Beautiful Review Coming Up?

Hiya, curly mamas! It's been forever. Uber busy once again. I have a review of the Baka Beautiful products coming soon. It's a 'natural relaxer', and no, it's not one of those freakish gimmicks to make you buy the product, claiming to 'fix' your natural texture. It's all natural and clay based. But it's a kit, with a process that I have to try within about 3-4 weeks, so the review won't be ready until later on this month. I'll do a video about it and probably do a detailed blog post as well. So stay tuned!
By the way, my mini braids are out! ;-)

 They lasted for two weeks, and then my scalp was beyond itchy. So I wet my hair with my aloe vera juice and water mixture and added LOADS of coconut oil to the braids. Taking them out was annoying, but it was a breeze. Three hours compared to the five hours that it took to install them. O_O
Stay tuned to YouTube for the Baka Beautiful review coming soon enough. ;)

~Epic Realist~

 

Did I Get Heat Damage? O_O

Heya, peeps! I wanted to mention that I washed my straight hair out a few days ago. I couldn't take the itch! It was straight for a week like always, and then my scalp was on fire as it always is when I don't wash my hair every week. I missed my curls, anyway. This is why I can never do protective styles and keep them longer than two weeks, because my scalp starts to feel like needles after about 7 days. -___-
Now, I have wet my scalp and added some oil sometimes when my scalp itches, and then gave it a little massage to loosen up whatever is causing my scalp to itch in the first place. But unfortunately, it's only temporary. The relief is there for a little while, about a day and then it's back to Itch City. I don't have any tea tree oil, which I have heard is great for itch.
Soooo, on wash day, I sprayed my hair with aloe vera juice and water that I had in the fridge and watched my hair revert. I added EVOO along with that onto my hair and scalp as a pre-poo and then covered my hair with a plastic bag for two hours. Felt so good using something cold on my scalp! I made a video doing this process that I will edit and upload soon.
I washed my hair with a cheap sulfate shampoo and did an ACV rinse afterward. My hair felt amazing, and not an OUNCE of heat damage. Woo hoo!
Don't get me wrong; I'm going to miss my straight hair. I don't do it often, so when I do, it's wonderful. It looked amazing, too, as you can tell from the pic of me and my hubby lol! But it's all good. No heat damage. Three years natural, almost four. I know my hair now, and I am doing a great job with it. Yay!
Stay tuned to my YouTube channel. I have more videos coming up, including family vlogs! ;)
www.youtube.com/curlsofinnocence

Peace out till later, curly mamas!

~Epic Realist~

Too Tired for Hair & My TMI Tag!

Hola, curly mamas! Getting closer to the end of this pregnancy (35 weeks!) and I am super EXHAUSTED. It's been kind of a struggle to even do my hair, so I have been keeping it pinned up a lot. I deep conditioned it today because it really needed it from Saturday's wash with the Herbal Essences sulfate shampoo. I used that to get the Kinky Curly Curling Custard from the previous post completely out of my hair this time, because the first time I tried to get it out, I called myself doing a deep condition right on top of the KCCC, and that was an ultimate FAIL from hell. I should have known to wash it out last week first and then deep condition, but because everything hurts lately, I was trying to take shortcuts and ended up with nasty white flakes STILL in my hair despite using ACV to rinse it out.
Natural hair doesn't like it when you take shortcuts, I see. O_o
So after the ACV rinse last week which did nothing for getting rid of the grimy product on my hair, I rinsed my hair over and over again at the sink, combing out as much flakes as I could until my arms got tired. Then I just threw in a leave in and some oil and braided it up. I had to take care of that another day. Finally, the product is all out of my hair. Whew... I see why people complain about that product (KCCC)! It's awesome, but as far as washing, you'd better not even think about co-washing with a normal conditioner. You'd better find a shampoo that has sulfates upon sulfates or you'll end up looking like someone just dumped a bucket of dandruff on your head. -__-
Today, I skipped Syriah's wash day because I washed it last week. Too tired to wash weekly right now. I took down her flat twists and re-moisturized with AVJ and water, a leave in, put whipped shea butter on each section, and gave her some sleek box braids. I am curious as to how long they'll last, but considering that I know how to do her hair well so that braids will hold for a bit, she'll be fine. As long as I keep it wrapped up, these box braids should last her about 2-3 weeks. Maybe baby Jalani will show up by then. LOL!
Little Mari's hair doesn't last at all in anything right now, unless I keep her hair sectioned in rubber bands with braids. But even that doesn't look good after she's slept on it. I think I'll just stick to low maintenance ponytail puffs or something for her, because ain't nobody got time fo dat!
Jam's hair still gets spritzed with AVJ/water and oil whenever I remember (about 2-3 times a week), but I still wash his hair at least twice during his baths because his hair gets uber dry from me not working on keeping it moist enough. Plus, he likes to keep his fat head on the carpet when he plays and outside dirt also gets stuck in his curls. Boys...sigh. So I constantly put moisture on his hair. It's growing well and he doesn't cry as much anymore when I try to comb it.
See the kid's hair regimens here: http://curlsofinnocence.blogspot.com/p/syriahs-hair-regimen.html

I did finally get around to doing the TMI Tag that everyone else on YouTube is doing. It was kind of fun. I'm so happy that I got a new camera so that my vids and pics can be of much better quality. Blogger is acting up again with the video posting (GRRRRRR!), so here is the video link. Hope you guys enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39t3xbbWfUQ

Peace out till later, folks! 
                                           ~Epic Realist~

Personal blog link: http://epicrealist.blogspot.com/

WARNING: If you are easily offended by religious debates/statements, DO NOT even attempt to read this blog.

Aloe Vera Juice for Natural Hair

Happy New Year to all you curly mamas! Woo hoo! Hope that everyone fulfills their hair goals this year as well as their other goals.

I wanted to talk about aloe vera juice and how I've been using it on my hair for the past two weeks or so. I've been using it only on wash day, after I wash, condition, and rinse. I apply AVJ on my sections, squeeze out the excess liquid, then apply my usual oil mixture to my hair and scalp. Then I proceed with de-tangling, whether or not I use a leave in moisturizer, then braid/twist it up.
First and foremost, I wanted to try using AVJ on my hair because I have heard a ton of great things about it. I always want to go as natural as possible with my hair and body health, so I wanted to give it a try. The day I bought the AVJ from Walmart, there was only one kind left... the one that had extra berry juices in it. Apparently, other people have caught onto the benefits of it and bought out the plain one. I scanned the ingredients for anything foreign, saw nothing, then bought it, the Fruit of the Earth brand.
Aloe vera juice is great for a lot of things, one being balancing the pH in our hair, just like apple cider vinegar does. Here's one article about the benefits of AVJ: http://blackgirllonghair.com/2012/01/4-hair-benefits-of-aloe-vera/
So I am doing it the way I mentioned above, for the last two weeks. I've already seen a difference in my hair. It's mega soft with my oil mixture on top. Now AVJ is an astringent, so it is used as a cleanser as well as other things like skin care, so it has a really squeaky feeling when you smooth it in your hair. It's kind of like the feeling that you get if you totally strip your hair of all dirt and grime and are left with a squeaky clean head. But it moisturizes at the same time. It also feels good because AVJ has to be refrigerated, so when I pour it into my hair with my dispenser bottle, the coldness feels awesome on my scalp lol!
I don't rinse the AVJ out; I leave it in, massage it into my scalp and my whole head. My oil mixture (see here http://curlsofinnocence.blogspot.com/p/my-hair-regimen.html) goes on top and then I de-tangle, then twist and braid the sections. For stretch, I put the twists into one big fat bun, and even though it takes longer for my hair to air dry that way, my hair is stretched and extra soft when it does dry.
Last night, I deep conditioned my hair, rinsed it out after two hours, and then tried using the AVJ the same way. Awesome results again! My hair is softer because of the DC/light protein treatment that I use. Don't even have to use a moisturizer with this stuff. I've seen a change... my hair appears a little stronger and silkier.
So, I will be sticking to this for as long as it works. ;)
How do you guys use AVJ if you do use it? What changes have you seen?

Peace out and Happy New Year again!

~Epic Realist~