I wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote in to give me advice on the henna breakup. There was some great comments and if I decide to henna again (I’m thinking about it…) I will definitely use your recommendations. No yogurt with the henna. Try green tea and honey instead.

I have to share something. Today, I was really frustrated with the state my hair was in, and had been in all week. Fuzzy and not wanting to curl no matter how many times I DT. (I did stay clear of protein conditioners)

I decided to strand test the Cherry Lola treatment to see if therer was any improvement on my sad, sad hair. I liked the results so I did the treatment to my whole head. I left it on for about 10 minutes. Then I rinsed and co-wash and then styled with the Henna Wax Treament. What can I say… the curls came back! Hurrah!
This is not a twist out- this is strictly a wash and go. I did try a new technique in the shower though. I’m going to try it again tomorrow and if the technique works again, I’ll post about it tomorrow. Here are the results :

After Henna

After Cherry Lola Treament

Back of Head

Side View

Front View

Crown

Bangs

How I wore my Hair

Buy Braggs here in the US

Buy Braggs here in the UK

I “hennaed” this weekend again. It was my 4th attempt and my first attempt with Jamila henna. I know a lot of bloggers out there seem to love the henna, but for me, we have to break up. And it’s not me, it’s henna. It has been 5 days since my henna treatment, (which was a mix of henna honey, yogurt, herb infused water and a little olive oil.) 5 days! And my hair still feels like straw. But more worryingly is that there is some serious breaking going on. When I detangled tonight the amount of hair that came out was comparable to when I would take my extensions out. Not a good sign.

This kind of make me sad because the color of my hair this time turned out really nice. It glows a really bright red in the sun, and when I wore my hair in my “PinUp Girl” style I felt like a cute, brown Lucille Ball.

Bottom line though: Henna treats me bad, so no matter how cute it appears to be, we gotta break up.

That and it keeps turning my fingers orange no matter how careful I am with the gloves… this week the nail buffer has been my best friend. Orange tinted nails are not pretty on me… how about you?

So I’ve used apple cider vinegar (ACV) for rinsing my hair since I went natural. Usually one a week, all though I’ve stopped since I’ve started doing the “cherrylola treatment” So I tell you now that this post is not about hair.

It’s about my skin.

If you’ve been reading my blog you’ll know that I have super sensitive skin. (I also have a very sensitive internal system.) My skin wasn’t always like this. I had normal, oily t zone skin since adolescence and was always on the look out for something to stop the oil. 3 years ago, a product from L’oreal called Pure Zone was heavily advertised on TV. The claims were that zinc helped it reduce pore size and stop your face from getting oily. I bought the whole line. And destroyed my skin. The moisturiser in particular burnt the t-zone area, mostly the area around my nose and around my mouth and chin. It is in this area that women tend to get red and often, breakouts because of our hormones. I now know that zinc plays a big role in how progesterone and estrogen interact with each other. I’m not sure if this is why i had such a bad reaction to it but I’m guessing that it contributed.

Since then I have had seriously sensitive skin. Flaky and dry and yet oily too. Plus Eczema. I haven’t been able to use normal face washes. Anything with sulfates flare my skin up. Same with parfum. For the first year I struggled to ash my face until I decided to try Pears soap, which my mom has used for years. I found that this was a pretty decent way to get makeup off without irritating my skin too much. But it was drying. To combat the dryness I could only, sadly use Vaseline. Everything other cream I used burned. I tried oil: olive, almond, and coconut all to no avail. Even shea butter, which the rest of my body loves, set my skin off. Vaseline stopped the outbreaks for the most part, but clogged my pores. On the worst days I would use the steriod cream that the doctor prescribed, on top of the vaseline.

Last week, on another fluke, I decided to exfoliate my skin with a mixture of baking soda and honey, and followed with a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water, using the mixture as a toner. It has been eight days now and my skin is super smooth, the flaking is almost completely gone, no acne, and i can tell that my complexion is more even. For the last three days I’ve managed to put a frangrance free moisturizer on it and not vaseline!

I did a search online and a number of people have found that ACV is a great toner for skin prone to acne. So I thought I’d post about it, just in case anyone else is having skin problem. This just might work for you too! If it does let me know.

Recipe for Eczema Skin and Acne-Prone Skin:

Cleanser/Exfoilator
2 tablespoons of baking soda
1 tablespoon of raw honey (unpasturised)
1 teaspoon of warm water
Make into a paste. Wet face adn the massage the mixture gently on skin for a minute or 2. rinse thorughly.

Toner
1 Part apple cider vinegar
1 Part water
Splash on to face or apply with a cotton ball.  The vinegar smell will fade

Follow with a plain moisturiser if necessary

View the tutorial here

Over the weekend I was trolling the net researching things about hair, when I came across a really gross article about soy sauce being made from hair.
Check it out here.

Yes, Grooooossssss. I actually think this is just a rumour. But still. Yuck!

Anyways…it got me thinking about Soy Sauce. Or, more importantly, Liquid Amino Acids.
Amino Acids (AAs) are the building blocks of protein, which is exactly what hair is; protein.
I also have Amino Acids in my fridge as I use them instead of plain old Kikkoman or tamari sauce.

In total there are twenty amino acids:
Alanine
Arginine
Asparagine
Cysteine
Cystine
Glutamic Acid
Glutamine
Glycine
Histidine
Isoleucine,
Leucine
Lysine
Methionine
Phenylalanine,
Proline
Serine
Threonine
Tryptophan
Tyrosine
Valine
Minor Amino Acids
GABA
Taurine

There are two types of amino acids:
1. Non Essential AAs – these are the kind that your body produces on its own.
2. Essential AAs – these are the kind that you must get from edible sources. Proteins such as chicken, fish, nuts, and (to a lesser degree) soy are all great sources for essential AAs.

From my research I’ve concluded that all AAs are important for hair health, but the following ones play the most important roles in hair:

Essential Amino Acid

Methionine

• A powerful antioxidant;
• A good source of sulfur which helps in the prevention of hair, skin and nail disorders;
• Prevents the premature loss of hair;
• Works in the body to detoxify many harmful elements;
• Works as a good anti-fatigue agent;
• Aids the breaking down of fats to prevent the buildup of fat in the arteries and liver.

Non essential amino acids

Cystine,

• Makes up 10-14% of the skin and hair, vital for healthy development of skin and hair;
• Encourages better recovery from burns and surgical procedures.

Cysteine

(Cysteine and Cystine are interchangeable; two molecules of Cysteine make Cystine.)

• Great Antioxidant and a natural detoxifier;
• Essential in growth, maintenance, and repair of skin and hair.
• One of the three main sulfur-containing amino acids, along with Taurine and Methionine.

Tyrosine

• Produces melanin, which is the pigment that gives the skin and hair its color;
• Vital to the body’s overall metabolism;
• Can improve your moods and is used to treat depression, insomnia, and anxiety.

Now let me just say; I LOVE AMINO ACIDS. I don’t know why, but they cheer me up. At night, C and I usually have a big salad and I always spritz on some AAs for flavor and almost immediately I get an uplifting effect from them. I get a little giddy. After looking around a bit, I think it has something to do with the Tyrosine.

So the burgeoning mixtress in me got all fired up. I decided to put AAs in my hair.

I thought about it a little more. I couldn’t just pour them on my head; I didn’t think that would work as they’re thin like water. So I mixed it up, and here is my recipe:

Yogurt - 2 parts
For the protein and the conditioning properties.

Baking Soda 1/2 part
To make my hair more porous.

Amino Acids 1/2 part
To see what they did.

I’ve used yogurt and baking soda before, mixing them with other things, and they were okay.

But together with the AAs – AMAZING!!!!

I sectioned my hair into eight parts and applied the concoction with my fingers, making sure to coat from root to tip. As soon as I put the treatment on I could tell something was different.
My roots! My roots started to clump together.

This has been my big “issue”; frizz – mostly at the roots. This treatment totally calmed the frizz down and made the roots behave the way the rest of my hair does. It has become curly from root to tip. I was floored by the results. I still am. I’ve done the treatment three times now over the course of a week and the results seem to just get better. I haven’t changed anything else in my regime and have been using Lustra Silk and my own handmade conditioner, or the Henna Wax Treatment, and co-washing every other day with Boots Coconut and Almond Oil Condish. But judge for yourself, here are the pics:

Click here for more on the Cherry Lola treatment

MORE POSTS ON THE CHERRY LOLA TREATMENT

This is my texture un-handled. I’m am 3c/4a hair type for those who care to know

An Average Twist Out

First treatment

First Treatment Results

2nd Treatment

2nd Treatment Results

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3rd Treatment Results

MORE POSTS ON THE CHERRY LOLA TREATMENT

Here’s where you can buy Braggs:

If you try this and it works for you – or if it does not – let me know!!!

I stumbled upon this pic while trolling around flicker last weekend. This picture is part of the most enjoyable and amazing and dense photo stream on flickr, entitled Black Heritage
.
For me, it got me thinking about Black history, and how much access I had to it growing up. Not much ordinary history. Truly historic figures like Martin Luther King Jr, and Malcolm X and Madame CJ Walker were talk about, absolutely. But these figures were more like idols, not completely tangible. For me, everything tangible was current and generally popular culture. The Cosby’s, Family Matters, Roc, A Different World, Fresh Prince , and then later through music. But not much history on the common man.

I think the most beautiful things in this stream is the everyday-ness about it. Sure, there are a few pics of stars and athletes in there, however it’s the conventional pictures in between that I love.

I’m not sure if I’m posting about something everyone has already seen or not, however after watching the whole thing- it takes about 45 minutes in when in slideshow mode, I was compelled to write about it.
What do you think?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackheritage/show/

I decided to wait for day two hair as well- so here is the results

I did an ACV rinse and then used the Lustrasilk to do 2 strand twist and then put rollers on the end and went to sleep

1ST Day Results:

That night I twisted again

2ND DAY : BEFORE FLUFFING

AFTER FLUFFING

Overall – Day 2 was better then Day 1

My hair is really soft, it held it’s shape all day which is new- normally by the end of the day it’s pretty much a fluff ball, and it doesn’t feel like there is any product in it. Plus it’s inexpensive!! All in all an 10± !!

During the week the straw like feeling continued. But I also felt like my hair was stronger. It’s hard to describe what stronger hair feels like – kinda of like the strands seem more dense. Because of this I decided to henna again the following weekend and this time I only used 100 grams of Henna Boy Red Henna. It was just the right amount . I mixed with some honey this time and left it on for 6 hours again. I deep condished for an hour and a half with coconut oil and yogurt. Then some Pantene Breakage defense. And still my hair feels like straw after. But it does have a lot of bounce. And the curls are more defined. And I do like the color. I decided to see how it will feel mid -week before passing judgment. Next time I think I will try the Honey Suckle Rose like you guys have been suggesting!

Just after I washed the henna out

Just after it has dried with no product in it