After A Wash & Trim...

Hey, curlies! I just wanted to say Happy Holidays from the Curly Clan!

I honestly haven't been doing anything new to the kid's hair. So that's why I haven't had much to report lately! However, here are picture of Symari's curls after a wash and trim last month, I believe.

Catch us on YouTube or IG, where I post more frequently!

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'Round The Head' Flat Twists | Protective Style

Hey, curly mamas! Today, I will be demonstrating how I did a very simple protective style in Symari's hair. It was simple because I had just washed and conditioned her hair, and also detangled it while styling. I'm all about my simplicity these days. My hands are very full right now. All the time. lol
I hope that you guys know how to flat twist because you can do so many cute styles doing so. It's the best alternative to cornbraiding, if you'd rather not learn how to do that. I love flat twisting. So much quicker and there's also 2 ways of going about it.

I hope that you guys enjoy the video and think of your own creative ways to do long term styles for your kids.  Follow us on Instagram for DAILY posts on hair, health, & homeschooling! :)

~Curls of Innocence~

Fancy Cornbraids on a BLOWOUT! Protective Styles for Kids

Hey, curly mamas! Take a look at my newest hairstyle video that I did with Syriah.

It's kinda fancy, but simple at the same time. I don't blow dry her hair often. In fact, this is only the second time I've given her a blowout. But I did it for the sake of keeping this style in for a week as well as doing other styles afterwards. It did last me a week, thank goodness. I was proud. Also, it's way easier to cornbraid on semi-straight hair.

I didn't put too many words or descriptions in this video because it didn't really need it. Everything I did was self explanatory. If you guys have an questions, ask away! Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading and watching! 

                                              ~Curls of Innocence~

Four Year Old With 27 Inches of NATURAL HAIR!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Here is my latest video where I do a length check on Symari, which I haven't ever done. Not formally measuring with measuring tape. Her hair is longer than I thought, beating Syriah's record of how long hers was when SHE was four. That's because with Syriah, I was new to learning natural hair care and it was in recovery mode, but Symari's has never been 'damaged'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MqTNDolips&t=2s

So it has had time to grow to it's fullest potential. It's flourishing. Her hair is much finer than her sister's and grows in that traditional V shape that most people's hair grows in. I may straighten it soon to get a definite length check number... if I can get around to it. lol

Someone asked me about my routine for her hair, but it's pretty simple. I may do a video on it soon, but it's pretty simple. Wash and condition once a week with a gentle shampoo ( mostly sulfate free), condition with Tresemme, finger detangle, rinse, oil her scalp with my holy grail oil, and then put it up into a protective style for the week using the most gentle products I can afford. (Cantu, Shea Moisture, Eden Bodyworks) I keep it in braids so it won't get tangled, and sometimes I'll redo the style throughout the week. The style at the end of the video is an example of the kind of styles I'm referring to.

For the new year, there will be more hair videos coming up. I will also do updates on my weight loss journey and all that other fun stuff. I will do better with posting here more often. Stay tuned! ;)

~Curls of Innocence~

Natural Hair Goals for the New Year! 2015

Hiya, curly mamas! I want to do a post today about my hair goals for the upcoming year, and because I am a homeschooling SAHM and don't have a lot of free time at the moment, I will be as straightforward as possible. ;-)

My goals for this year are to:

1. Experiment with heat more. Since I am seasoned in my 'naturalness', I am no longer afraid of putting heat on my hair. Just not a lot, of course. Remember, everything in moderation... always.

2. Try a new color! Right now, the ends of my hair and my bangs are reddish, but I originally wanted a much lighter color than that. So, you might see me with a golden brown/blondish color soon. ;)

3. Reach full waist length! My hair right now is actually almost at waist length, the middle of my hair is. I've had a few setbacks, but my hair is still growing profusely. It won't be FULL waist length just yet unless I have some super growth next year or something, but I have about 6 inches left to grow before I can comfortably pull a section of my hair to my waist. :O

4. Go back to the basics and enjoy my hair! This year, I got a little caught up in some 'hair hype', like boycotting certain ingredients, but I'm at the point where if it works for me, I'm going to use it regardless of whether or not it has the 'curly girl' staple ingredients. Sue me, but I'm tired of being a little strict about my hair regimen. It's not going to kill me to use something with mineral oil in it.  >_>

My last relaxer was April 2009. I transitioned for two years, then chopped off my relaxed hair in March 2011. In March 2015 (also my birthday, yay!), I will have been fully natural for FOUR years! It's time to break out of the 'natural Nazi' box and enjoy my hair. After all, it is just hair. If it gets very damaged, I can always chop it off and grow it right back... and with all the knowledge that I've gained over the years, that shouldn't be too hard at all. ;-)

~Epic Realist~

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Syriah's 3rd Length Check! Butt Length (December 2013)

Hey, guys! There's been epic progress with Syriah's hair growth. Her last length check was in May, and since then, I've trimmed an inch off her hair in July. Now, in December, I decided that it was time to measure again.

 (previous) 2nd Length Check

May 2013

 

                        3rd Length Check!
                           December 2013

 

Well, she beat the record! :-) I am curious to see how long her hair can possibly get. Length checks are always fun, but doing them too often takes the fun out of it. So it's only (officially) done every 5-6 months or so.
Her hair is currently super healthy... a little dry from the cold weather, but shea butter keeps that in check. As you can see, she attempted to twist her own hair during this picture. I did most of the twist and she took over. One day, she'll be a pro. LOL!
I let her wear her hair out yesterday after the length check, and she was whipping it back and forth. Haha!

Hope you guys enjoyed! Peace ouuuuuuuut! <3

P.S.: Interested in her hair regimen? Click here! http://curlsofinnocence.blogspot.com/p/syriahs-hair-regimen.html

~Epic Realist~

My Recent Length Checks... and Hair Tip #5

Hola, curly mamas!

I haven't posted about MY length checks in a while. Life has been... well, life. Three kids under four, marriage, homeschooling, working from home, housework, the list goes on. So today, I will show you guys how my hair has been doing lately as far as my growth.

I am beyond pleased with my results lately. Shea Moisture products, deep conditioning, and those KCCM challenges have really been working! I've also been doing more protective styling... mini braids, twists, buns, etc. This is a lot of growth for two months.

Now the last KCCM challenge I was in, I had to basically drop out of because I was without internet for a little while. So I couldn't do my check in questions every week. But I am so ready for the next castor oil challenge, which is coming up in September.

Waist length hair, here I come! Hehe.

The ends of my hair and whatever portion of hair that I dyed back in April is still healthy. I haven't been able to purchase another dye just yet to enhance the color that I have, but the little red that I have in my hair is moisturized and strong. I keep water on my hair, and always seal with oil. Coloring my hair hasn't damaged it at all, and I'm very grateful for that. 

Hair Tip #5

The trick to permanently dying your hair is that before you even attempt to do it, your hair should be in TIP TOP shape. By tip top, I mean your hair shouldn't be a stage where it's falling out a lot, with tons of split ends, excessive dryness, bad breakage, none of that. If you don't feel that your hair is at it's best, DO NOT DYE IT until it is! You're only going to cause more harm to it. Your ends are probably going to feel brittle and break off. Doctor your hair up for a while and then try dying. 

If you feel that your hair is already in tip top shape, then by all means, go ahead and try some bold color! ;)

So that's my advice for today. Peace out till later! Take care of your curls!

~Epic Realist~

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!

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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.

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~Epic Realist~

Kid's Length Checks and Routines (Oct. 2012)

I did this after the hair show, but I have been way too busy lately to make a post about it. As I like to do, the pictures speak for themselves. I am way proud that I have nursed Syriah's hair to full health since last year, and Jamian's is following right behind. He's okay, anyway, because he's a boy. But Syriah's hair is awesome right now.

 No breakage, no split ends, no falling out, no knots, and no dandruff for miles. Oh, and it sure is growing! =)

Syriah's Current Hair Care Routine:
~Hair Type: 3A-3B
~Pre-poo: Coconut oil saturation all through head for about an hour before washing
~Wash once every week with Shea Moisture Curl and Shine shampoo (because she likes to keep her precious little head on the floor, practicing gymnastics -___-)...
~Detangle afterwards with water and coconut oil, part into sections with shower comb, twist/braid the sections with my whipped shea butter (which has EVOO, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, lavender oil, and sometimes jojoba oil in it)...
~Daily Care: If we are in the house, I dampen her hair and apply the whipped shea mixture and/or coconut oil and re-twist/re-braid. Sometimes, if her hair isn't dry and frizzy, I'll just leave it alone the whole day. Less manipulation is always best.
~Outdoor Care: If we are going out, I use one of the many curl creams that I have now because of the hair show and style, trying to stick to protective styling most of the time. This can be a challenge sometimes because I have figured out how she can wear her hair out and her curls can look fresh all day, but I know her ends need to stay protected. Bad Mommy.
~Nightly Care: I dampen her hair at night (if I remember and I'm not too tired) and apply coconut oil and whipped shea butter to seal the ends. Then I put a simple stocking cap on her head. It doesn't come off in her sleep... for the most part. Her hair feels like butter the next morning, and not a tangle in sight.
~Deep Conditioning: This step is rare because her hair is so used to moisture that she hardly ever needs a deep condition. But occasionally, I do it anyway. I just use whatever deep conditioner I have lying around, which at the moment is a Tresemme Moisture Rich conditioner. It's not the best in the world, especially because it is kind of laced with chemicals like most conditioners, but it gives her hair more moisture and volume.
Doesn't do jack to my hair, considering that may hair is already way too thick on it's own. I don't need any more volume. O_O
Frankly, she doesn't need any more volume, either. She's got her daddy's silkiness and curl pattern and she got her thickness from me, even though her hair still isn't as thick as mine. Go figure.
So that's my daughter's routine for now. Sometimes, it seems like a lot, but because I am a SAHM, I can afford to spend extra time on her hair, whereas other mothers cannot. For Jamian, it's pretty much the same routine, except I don't put a stocking cap on his head because he'd probably just rip it off. I also don't have to section his hair. All he has are his little curls on the top of his head and that little rat tail, so it's pretty easy to maintain. He still hates getting his hair combed or brushed no matter what, but oh well. It's a part of life.
I am very strict about what goes onto my children's hair and skin, so I have been trying to use all natural products all throughout the border. I still use coconut oil and my whipped shea butter on Symari's delicate skin. All five of us use the same soap, a black soap from Ghana called Dudu Osun. It's so mild; it can be used on a newborn!
Of course, it's always more pricey to make adjustments to go the healthy way, but it is way more beneficial in the long run.
Well, I gotsta' go now and do a little cleaning. Can't let the house be a pigsty because I am only paying attention to everyone's hair LOL! I shall return... soon. =)
Until next time,
Peace out, curly mamas! Stay curly!

~Epic Realist~