One word : Gorgeous

6 is the number of curly girls i saw today.
I’ve started counting.

It started today, when I decided that from now on I am not going to read the Metro in the morning. For 2 reasons. One, I hate that my fingers get all inky- (what is up with that?) and Two- it’s mostly full of rubbish in my opinion. So no more Metro, i brought this months copy of Atlantic instead.

Except the Atlantic is pretty heavy reading at 9am. So I started to look around and saw two natural in my carriage. So I’ve decided to start counting.

I won’t mention anything less then 6 until reach a number that’s higher and then i won’t mention anything less then that.

Is that too boring?

G’ Night Curlies!

Ingredients: DI Water, PVP/VA Copolymer, Propylene Glycol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Laureth 23, Glycerin, DMDM Hydantoin, Fragrance, Polyquaternium 10.

Acording to their advertising, this is the number one selling product in Naturally Curly’s CurlMart. I picked up this product in December, from Shesells.eu a site based in Europe that carries a few natural hair products including Curls and My Honey Child. I bought it there because Curly Hair Solutions doesn’t ship to the UK. It’s a Canadian product create by Hair Stylist Jonathan Torch. You can check out the website at Frizzoff.com He is also the creator of the “tunnel cut” which is a hair cutting technique that scares me just watching him…

I bought this right before I went Natural, and then forgot about it- getting side tracked with things like Shea Butter, Coconut oil, henna and such… And I kinda thought that I wouldn’t work on my hair 3c/4a hair.

Now I wish I had tried it right off the bat because it has got me thinking.

I’m kinda torn about this product. Let’s talk about the good stuff first. This is silcone free liquid that you apply to drench hair and then let air dry. Which is exactly what I did. And once my hair dried it look great. My curls were really curly although more of an flat S shape then the small ringlets i get from other styling aids. Plus it made my hair a richer color of black which I loved! I had my hand in my hair most of the day, but it didn’t effect the shape of the curls. And it lasts- I went 3 days with this stuff and normally I can barely make day 2 hair. Plus C like it. He said that this was his favorite style so far.

However. My hair felt really crunchy at first. The more I played with it the less crunchy it was but even by the end of the day my hair felt dry- not really “touchably soft” which is how I like it. Maybe this will be different if I put a leave in conditioner in first. Plus, I had to use alot, like 1/3rd of the bottle, which normally would be an issue except that once you add shipping and exchange rate this stuff cost £30. Which is a lot, in my opinion.

Overall I give it a 9 for performance, 5 for feel and 2 for affordability.

As I said, it’s got me thinking. This is an oil free product. After using this product I have had some second thoughts on using products with oils in my hair. My curls seem to like being oil free, even if they felt funny. I’m not sure yet….This weekend is going to be all about testing!

Anyways, I’d love to hear what you think of oil- any kind of oils…

Okay, it been a few days since I’ve posted…. have you ever had a week where you had a plan- made free time to get everything done and STILL managed to run out of hours in the day….Ridiculous how quickly the hours go when you need them….

Because of this lack of time I have a new hair routine. The routine has a few parts- which i will elaborate on over the weekend, but the MOST important part I will focus on now.

When I was applying the “Cherry Lola Treatment” a few Saturdays ago, I started thinking about the post on Naturally Curly, which is about uncooperative crown. And how for some people, like me, it always gets fuzzy. Frizzy crown, coarse crown, my crown won’t curl… I read a lot of these complaints. I have a lot of these complaints myself.

So yes, it got me thinking. About my shower head.

You see, the softest, smoothest, least frizzy part of my hair is the hair around my ears and the under side of my head. These areas are also the parts that are least bombarded by the some what hard and pounding shower stream that come out of my shower head.

When I do the CL treatment, my curls really pop. I want to keep those curls. SO I decided to try this: Instead rinsing my head under the shower, and messing up the curl I gently poured water over my head with a jug. It takes about 20 pours to rinse the treatment out completely. But because the water is flowing down in a smooth stream, I don’t lose to much of the curl.

I ‘ve been doing this even when I co- wash, and the difference it has made in my hair – particularly the crown – it is amazing.

Shingai Shoniwa is supafly!! Always Natural!! She’s also lead singer and bassist for the Noisettes. C and I saw the Noisettes open for Jamilia a couple years ago at the Rise festival and, no offense to Jamilia, but they totally stole the show. Noisettes are an indie rock band from London comprising of Shingai Shoniwa, guitarist Dan Smith, and drummer Jamie Morrison. The band have recently become well know success with the second single of their second album, “Don’t Upset The Rhythm” which is currently at number two on the UK Singles Chart. For some reason there are two videos

and my personal favorite

and one more for good measure

Put it on you ipod!!

Lisa over at lifeisexamined sent in a couple of great ads!

She also wrote:

I just discovered your blog a few days ago through . I love it! I’ve been natural for over 5 years now. Unfortunately, my hair care has become sad and my hair has paid for it. That’s why I’m trying to read as many natural blogs to see if I can wake up my hair again. It’s dry, dull, and hasn’t grown (or retained growth) for years.

Anyways, I wanted to send you some US print ads that I’ve cut out and kept for inspiration. The funny thing about these are that they were in Domino, a trendy semi-upscale interior design magazine that just went out of business. However, the magazine never had that much advertising that used black people in it but of the few ads they would have featuring African-American women, almost all (75% or more) of them would feature women with natural hair. I always found that fascinating. So at least here, natural is considered hip and the height of fashion. I hope you enjoy them as I have.

I think they’re great- (even though I’m not a great believer in botox…) And I have noticed this too.. ads that are in mags that are a little more posh rarely feature women of colour but when they do they are quite often natural. Any thoughts on why?

Here she is after her big chop

Thanks Lisa for sharing!

Happy Easter Y’all!!

Since we are a bazillion miles from either of our families so C and I are just hanging out today watching re-runs of the West Wing, which made me think of Obama’s Deputy Chief of Staff Mona Sutphen. She is a blendie – of African-American and Jewish descent, a curly girl and a very clever chicha. Sutphen was managing director of Stonebridge, a Washington-based business strategy firm. She earned her B.A. in international relations in 1989 from Mount Holyoke College[4] and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. She has served as a United States Foreign Service officer (1991-2000) and was also a member of the Clinton Administration, serving on the staff of the National Security Council (1998-2000).[5]

She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is the co-author (with Nina Hachigian) of The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise. Take a peek: