Natural Hair. Straight Hair. Natural Hair.

Hello! I hope that you guys had an amazing holiday! I ended up cooking Christmas dinner which was [insert flame emojis here]. I relaxed, went back to work and have been on the go since lol. I recently straightened my hair as well. No, I do not have many pictures, and yes, I've missed my hair. <3

How does one go from kinky-curly, to straight? How do they go from straight to kinky-curly??? There are many ways and methods. I will tell you mine, which seems to work for me. 

Kinky-Curly to Straight: 

• Do not straighten your hair often!!!!
• Yes, long hair allows you to STUNT on folk lol. However, you can lose your curl definition over time with continuous straightening. I've also noticed that the ones who straighten their natural hair excessively, EVENTUALLY cut it off due to damage. Save yourself the trouble. Find a great wig. And if you must, straighten every once in a blue moon. Fun fact: Before this time, I didn't straighten my hair for 3-4 years.
• If you can, get a professional 
• Less headache, your scalp gets massaged, and you just have to sit there and look cute. Plus, they have better quality of hair tools needed to get the job done. 
• Take your time
• If you are a DIY aficionado, please take your time. You may damage your hair in the process. 
• If you want your straight hair to last, water is NOT your friend
• Oils can be your friend
• I like argan, castor, and almond oils. A little bit goes a loooonnngggg way! 
• Trim your ends!!!
• This helps the health of your hair soooo much! Let the dead ends go beloved. Let. Them. Go. 

Straight to Kinky-Curly:

• WATER IS OFFICALLY YOUR FRIEND
• Pre-condition hair with conditioner (whatever you use is fine)
• Co-Wash hair (using conditioner to "wash" you hair)
• Hair treatment!
• This is the one step that I will not miss! I use Aphogee's Curlrific Protein Treatment. It helps lessen breakage (if I have any)

Well those are my tips! I do not straighten my hair often. I like different styles and love the feel of my natural hair <3 

Let me know what you guys do in the comments below! 

Talk to you soon. 

Brie. 

Cute! 

Pre-Christmas Dinner Preparations :)

Humectants!

Hello!!

I hope that everything is going well for you. Me? Oh ya know...work, striving to be better on my health journey...all of that fun stuff lol 

This blog will be about....HUMECTANTS!!! Humectants are an ingredient found in hair products that attract moisture from the environment. This ultimately moisturizes your hair. When I first became natural, humectants were my saving grace during the winter time. I would experiment with different styling products and applications, realizing how buttery soft my hair became (no lie, ask my momma). I did not understand what the heck a humectant was until after researching the ingredients of my hair products. 

Natural hair is already fragile. However, during the winter months, natural hair can be as fragile as Derrick Rose's joints (yes, I am from Chicago. I still said what I said). Winter is when one really has to be extremely vigilant with hair care. This is where humectants come in: they provide some assistance in circumventing hair breakage with their moisture-attracting qualities. There are two categories of humectants: synthetic and natural humectants. 

Synthetic:

• Butylene glycol
• Glycerin
• Urea
• Tremella extract
• Sorbitol
• Dicyanamide
• Sodium PCA
• Sodium lactate

Natural:

• Hyaluronic acid
• Aloe
• Alpha hydroxy acid
• Honey
• Seaweed, algae, and other marine extracts 

  

Ideally, natural humectants are recommended. However, synthetics work just as well (please keep in mind that synthetic humectants have the potential to dry your hair out over a period of time).

Be sure to check your products and see if some of the ingredients are a humectant. You will definitely be one step closer to moisturized hair in the winter time :). 

I hope that this helps! 

Talk to you soon. 

Brie. 

My Natural Hair Product Faves!

Hola (Hello)!

I hope you guys are still doing well. Why the long break? Bear with me as I am currently juggling work among some other things (sorry for being slightly vague).


It has been quite a L O N G time however, I am coming to you all with a brand new blog post. I warn you, there will be a bit of information to absorb and process. I will try my best to condense this information for you.

I am not sure how interested you are in my opinion of hair products (This year will mark 7 years of my natural hair journey), styling tools, etc., but I will share them anyway! lol

For the newly naturals (are there anymore newly naturals??), or someone who is interested in trying new hair care lines here are some of my suggestions:

• Hair Products

• Shampoos
• *Alba: Their shampoo doesn't contain ANY sulfates. It is also an organic product. To me, it is the only shampoo that doesn't leave my hair dry. And it smells..AHHHMAZING. 
• Conditioners/Leave-In Conditioners
• Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner (most wallet friendly!)
• *Suave Naturals Conditioner
• **Giovanni's Leave In Conditioner
• Styling Creams/Butters/ Oils
• ***My hair creme
• ***Qhemet Biologics Alma Butter/Honey Balm (GET. YOUR. BLESSING!) 
• *Oyin Handmade Whipped Pudding (for the chocolate lovers!)
• *Coconut Oil (It cures everything)
• *Olive Oil (Very moisturizing)
• Styling Gels
• **Eco Styler
• ***My home made gel
• ***Ouidad humidity gel (HOLY GUACAMOLE THIS PRODUCT IS AMAZING)
• Moisturizing Products/Sprays
• *Curls Moisturizer/2nd Day Curl Refresher
• *Jane Carter Spray leave in conditioner
• Foams/Hair Mousse
• *Jane Carter's Twist Out Foam
• Styling Tools
• **Denman 
• **MetaGrip Premium Bobby Pins
• *Ribbon hair ties
• *Headbands
• **Satin Scarves
• *Duck Bill clips (hair washing)
• Tips: 
• SAMPLES SAMPLES SAMPLES!!!!!! If you do not want to fully commit to a full sized product (self-proclaimed commitment-phobe here) start with a sample size. You don't waste money, and you can see if you like the product! 
• If you bought a product and you HATE. IT. Try using the product in different ways! I would purchase a few items, until I found a way for it to work for my hair. Money does not grow on trees, okay? 
• Search for coupons and shop around! An obivious tip, but I have saved money by shopping around for certain hair products. 
• Experiment! Look at the YouTube gurus for guidence, then adjust for your hair needs. 

Note: Any product that is italicized and in bold, means that I HIGHLY recommend this product. No I am not being sponsored by these companies (I've paid with my own money). My blog is too indie for that. lol. 

* Mostly found in Target, Walmart, and a few drugstores like Walgreens, CVS, etc. 

**Can be found in select Target, Walmart and drugstores depending on your location

***Can be difficult to access or can be found at Sephora or Ulta. Can be moderate to expensive. I would suggest purchasing either online (possible coupons), the company's website, or a store locator.

This is only to be a guide. I hope that this is a good start for you guys. :)

Talk to you soon. 

Brie. 

Bantu Knot-Out!

Hey guys! :) I hope you all are doing well. This blog post will be how I do my bantu knot outs. They're pretty simple, but I have perfected it to where it is afro-porn/crush worthy (YAASS). If you have any different methods, let me know in the comments below! (That rhymed. Ha.)

1. Take hair. 

2. Section hair. 

My hair after a long day. Shrinkage! :)

3. Twist hair. Now for me, I make an individual twist because my hair is very fine and it can be hard to achieve a defined style. I have tried twisting the entire section of my hair, making a bantu knot, and ended up having beach-wavy hair (think Cosmopolitan hair style articles -__-). And yes. Black women can have beach wavy hair without curling wands and weave. FYI.

      a. Also, the product is important too. Use a product that gives your hair definition. I used my homemade           hair cream (my moisturizer) and Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) Smooth-N-Hold Pudding (styling               product)

Twist! :)

                                                                                               

4. Create knot!! Ergo...the Bantu Knot! What you are going to do is wrap the twist around itself. You are going to twist your hair around and it is going to form a small knot. That will be your base. Then, wrap the rest of your hair around that base. It should look similar to this:

Creep Life.

          

5. Leave it alone! :)

Trendy style. Just kidding. 

6. Take it down (no Chris Brown): You are going to unwrap the knot. If you created an individual twist before the knotting, untwist your individual twist (there's a lot of twisting going on here haha). You can use oil to create less frizz. If you don't want to use oil, that's fine too! It's completely up to you! (All these rhymes, I'm coming up with a rap name I swear. lol) 

7. Fluff to your heart's content! Just get rid of the obnoxious parts that may be in your hair, and fluff. I love big hair, so the people can stare. I strive to have Diana Ross/Chaka Khan hair! 

It was a good hair day.

My face during social media antics lol

Alright! Let me know what you do in the comments below! Quit being scurred! 

Also..call me G-Thizzle cause I have officially killed the rap game in this tutorial. 

Look for the mixtape this summer: "Fros on Fleek". 

Talk to you soon. 

Brie. 

A Picture Heavy Puff/Pompadour Tutorial

Hey guys! I hope you all are doing well. This is the first post of 2015 woo!!
I recently celebrated my six year natural hair anniversary (December 21, 2009) and decided to post one of my well worn hairstyles: DA PUFF. There is a method to my puff. And I warn you: this will be a picture-heavy tutorial.

1. Start off with unstyled hair. 

   

2. Section off front part of your hair and "pick" the remaining hair at the roots for volume. I do this for a more fuller puff.

 

 3. **Optional** Use whatever holding agent around the perimeter of your head. I used Curl's Control Paste for the edges, and used my Denman to further slick down my edges. 

  

4. Place hair (not sectioned off) into a puff. I used a clean knee-high to create this puff.

 

"What are you going to do with the front section?" I'm glad you asked! 

5. Take the ends of the front section and create a small puff in the front (called a pompadour) and pin the ends once you achieve your desired pompadour. 

 
 

Or you can make a slanted pompadour... 

  

 

Or you can loosely twist the front section, create a pompadour and pin the ends. You get a textured pompadour...

 

Or you can create a Janelle Monae styled pompadour (Hint: it's in the flick of the wrist)... 

 

Or you can just go back to making the original puff/pompadour like I did. haha

Back view of puff/pompadour

I hope this helps. Let me know how you style your puffs in the comments! 

Talk to you soon.

Brie. 

Hair Neglect & Giving Your Hair Some Love

Hey! How have you been? I hope all is well! 

Alright. Let's get to the topic!

So..I recently moved to Washington D.C. and I am still getting adjusted to..life and the weather. LOL 

In the midst of this transition, I have been neglecting my hair and throwing it in a bun. Lo and behold, one night, I was playing in my hair, and I frowned. It felt SO DRY. I also didn't like the way it sounded (dry sounds..yes that is a weird description! Let me live beloved!). It sounded like hay rubbing together (I'm also being a bit dramatic). So I had to stop neglecting my hair and show it some love! 

T I R E D bun.

See the ends? The effects of hair neglect. :(

Bantu Knots. Prep for detangle and deep condition.

This picture makes me LAUGH like no other! 

Naked hair. See the curlies? :)

Clean hair. Come on "baby hurr"!

 S H R I N K A G E and lazy twist using homemade hair cream

Products Used: 

• Aphogee Curlific Texture Treatment- I prepooed with this one because my hair was REALLY dry. Follow the directions because the longer it sits, the more your hair can feel dry afterwards (it contains protein).
• TRESemme Luxurious Moisture Shampoo- It is a trial size because I am testing out the product (money saver!!).
• Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner- I am trying to use up the rest of this product. 
• Grapeseed Oil- Used for detangling before pre poo. 

If you guys have any methods for reviving neglected hair, let me know and comment below!



Brie.