These are HAWT

Lotus Long Vintage Panelled Boots

If the freaking economy wasn't so screwed right now...they'd be on my to-do-list for the winter.

Now we return you to your regular scheduled hair blog. (Hey you were warned that shoes and/or boots could make an appearance here at any time.)

I will learn to love my gray hair...I will learn to like my gray hair

....I will learn to tolerate my gray hair.

That's about all I can commit to right now. I don't have an aversion to gray hair..I just want to gray gracefully. Not this random patchy graying that I'm doing.

I've had a patch of gray in the top of my head that I've had since I was around 15...I'm cool with it because it's the silvery gray. It's the random brassy gray that's popping up in strands here and there that are driving me nuts.

I've got that stubborn "you won't suppress me with with dye no matter how harsh the chemical is" gray. So it never covers well. A few years ago, I went with hi-lites to hide them since they won't color with the dye. (I'm lucky I even have any hair left. My hair is just way to fine to be stripped and punished that way). But I did it all in the name of hiding the gray.

When I decided to go natural, I also decided to no longer color my hair with a commercial product. Henna was the way to go. So I patiently waited out the process of growing out my relaxed, even though I wanted to henna badly. Other nappies advised me to wait so that I didn't run the risk of drying out the relaxed hair, having it start breaking and then cause damage to my new nappy newgrowth.

After the BC, I saw that gray and knew, I would go mad just looking at it...so henna, here I come. {Sigh} Beautiful reddish brown undertones to the rest of my hair...but the gray was screaming a bright brassy bronze, bordering on orange....UGH! I knew at this point, I would be hitting the commercial products again.

I waited 4 months to color, sneering at the gray hair the whole time. I decided to go with Dark-n-Lovely's Red Hot Rhythm. Loved it! With lots of moisturizing and deep conditioning, I didn't have any breakage and still don't. However I ran into a new dilemma....do I continue to color...and how do I do it with out eventually drying out the hair that had been previously colored? Which leads to another question...am I truly natural if I have chemically altered my hair color? Still pondering that one.

After reading many stories of fellow nappies having to cut off years of growth due to dryness caused by coloring with commercial dyes....I have decided not to color with harsh dyes again. Now I don't know if I can truly live with this gray hair. I'm doing more research on Henna. I may have not purchased the best quality product the first time around (got it from and Indian grocery store in my area...and I admit, I didn't check out the brand and whatnot, I just assumed it was a pure henna).

I don't know if I can successfully apply the henna over the currently dyed hair. Not sure what kind of differences I am going to see in terms of hair color between the new growth and the previously dyed hair. I am slowly trimming the previously dyed hair while i try to make my decision about the henna.

Again, I have not had any damage, no dryness what-so-ever...I just don't want to end up frustrated a year from now trying to decide if I need to just cut out the hair that has been dried like straw from repeated colorings.

My current mantra: I will learn to tolerate my gray hair.

Hi my name is Dez...and I am a conditoner junkie...for real.

That dang-blasted KMart has done it again. Keeping me caught up in the conditioner addition. I didn't get a Sunday paper, so I thought I'd breeze through to see if my favorite Herbal Essence conditioners were on sale.

HOLY SMOKES....the Suave Pro products were 3 for $5! Now,this is the only store I've seen the Healthy Curls conditioner. Every other store only has the spritz and mousse...no place markers for the conditioner as though the don't even carry it. But KMart...at least the one near me does.

So what's a junkie to do? You know the routine, I snatch up bottles. I got all 11 bottles there. (Now this is not my usually glazed over "conditioner-on-sale" induced high I usually get...I snatched up all those bottle because I mean I cannot find them at any other store here. Plus I'm not sure if Suave is phasing the product out or not. There's also the shop-lifting my Mom does on my products when she visits...ok I usually give them to her, but she's Mom...like I have any other choice.)

Ok back to where I was. You should have seen the cashier. She was a sista too, but she just couldn't believe I was buying all this conditioner. She thought I was a hair dresser buying it for a shop. She was thrown for a loop when I told her it was all for me. If she had been a police office, she probably would have given me a sobriety test. :)

Hey...your hair is longer than I thought...why don't your straighten it to show how long it is.

Aw...Hell naw! I had to contain myself when a friend was pulling at my coils and commenting on how much my hair has grown. I had to kindly remove her hand from my hair and I managed to do it without slapping it away.

NO, I AM NOT GOING TO STRAIGHTEN MY HAIR JUST TO SHOW YOU HOW LONG IT IS! I know how long my hair is, don't really care if you know how long it is...feel me. And yeah, I pretty much yelled at her. She just really doesn't get it. She is the "what's your hair type gal" from an earlier post. {SIGH} My patience with her is completely gone. I try not to participate in hair conversations with her, but sometimes she happens to be around when someone else is asking my about my hair, routine, why I went natural...or some other question. And of course she feels the need to put her 1.5 cents in. Despite the number of times, I've told her I am not straightening my hair because I don't want to cause any heat damage and most importantly...because I just don't want to. But she comes back around to suggesting I straighten my hair for a change.

So this is how this latest mess happened. I was hanging out with a few friends and one of the guys brought his cousin whom, I'd never met. He looked at my hair and said I love your hair and asked if he could touch it. Now this guy is cute...young around 21 or 22, but cute and since he's legal...I let him go for it. Um....I probably should have charged him, the way he was moaning about how soft and good it feels...coulda got a new pair of shoes out of that one ;) Anywhoo, a discussion starts about why I decided to go natural, what I use on my hair, why I've decided not to color again...yada, yada, yada...all the while, my cute new little friend keeps his hands in my hair.

Well, the "work-my-nerves" friend reaches over and stretches one of my coils as fair as it would go. And as usual, something stupid flys out of her mouth: Hey...your hair is longer than I thought...why don't your straighten it to show people how long it is. One of my other friends looks at her and rolls her eyes...we've been down this road many a time before. (I'm the only natural one in this group and they respect my right to be natural without altering my texture as I respect their rights to be relaxed. I only discuss my hair if asked about it.) At this point I remove her hand and remind her again my stance on straightening my hair. Geeze, not sure what this chic's problem is, but I'm taking off the kids gloves and she's about to get her feelings hurt.

Little cutie, bless his heart stops and asks, "why would she need to straighten this beautiful hair...I wish more sisters would get more in touch with their natural hair." And he goes back to playing in my hair. Ohhhh....if he wasn't so young....well, let's just leave it at that.

And the junkie-ism continues

My descent into conditioner junkie-ism (I need to stop making up words) continues. So ya know that box of conditioner I tripped over a few weeks ago...well along with my new love of Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, I had a bottle of the Totally Twisted stashed in there. Hello! I have a new love....this stuff makes my coils just POP!

Yeah, yeah I know, I'm supposed to be on that "only homemade products" for the summer, but with the exception of conditioner for co-washes, I did stick with it. It's just that there is nothing like a co-wash with a creamy conditioner. Plus the summer is over, so I can jump back into my commercial conditioner frenzy.

So back to this joy in the purple bottle. Totally Twisted, like all the other Herbal Essence line has a yummy scent to it, making me all the more addicted. I feel madly in love with this stuff.

But wait a minute a new player showed up on the scene, that made want to cheat on my Totally Twisted. I've been seeing Suave's Professional Humectant for some time now. And when Hello Hydration showed up on the scene with it intoxicating orchid and coconut scent, I couldn't help but share my shower time between the two. Well, I happened to be picking up some more Suave Pro Humectant when I noticed Suave's Pro Healthy Curls. The labels says "Defines Curls as well as Redkins". I don't use Redkins, but what the heck...it says it defines curls, I'll give at try. Lawd....chile, this stuff is da truth! My coils are popin' and sangin' all over the place. Now the only drawback is that it does not have that luscious smell that the Totally Twisted does. It doesn't smell bad though, just doesn't make me dream of a tropical island the way Totally Twisted does.

Now that I have this luv thang going on with 6 conditioners...don't forget, I'm still totally in love with Suave Natural's Tropical Coconut and Aussie Moist, who do I luv the most? Can't choose, they all give me something special. And since we are all living together in harmony, why mess with that. See that hang out together, even when I'm away.


Coil definition with Totally Twisted:


Coil definition with Healthy Curls:

Warning, if you are afraid of shrinkage....this product is not for you. But I love my shrinkage so the more I have the happier I am. We'll get into that later :D

Another note on the Suave Pro Healthy Curls...it is hard to find here. I'm not sure if this is a product being phased out. I've only found it in one store in my area so far out of about 10 stores I looked in :(
Nope, not telling cause I don't want y'all going in and grabbing up my stash.

Confessions of a conditioner junkie

Damn...that's a huge scrape on my arm.

I guess you're wondering what in blue blazes that has to do with conditioner. Er...I tripped over box of it last night. And nope...no margaritas were involved.

So I guess your next question is why and how did I trip over a box of conditioner? Well, it was sitting in front of the linen closet and I tripped over it when going to the bathroom in the dark in the middle of the night.

Ok, you've got more questions huh? I never turn the lights on when going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I know the path well and I go back to sleep a lot easier if I don't turn lights on.

Now, why was there a box of conditioner sitting in the floor? Wait...did you say a box of conditioner? Well, there's really not any room in the linen closet, that doesn't have many linens because it is stuffed with health and beauty products.

I'm blaming part of it on Bath and Body Works and Victoria Secrets. Every time they have those durn semi-annual sales...well you know. No need to go into all the ugly details and talk about the bags of stuff I have on the floor in the closet.

Before going natural...I did have quite a few hair care products on one shelf. Most of the old "bad for your hair stuff" has been tossed, but now that I've gone natural...the daggone ingredients for my homemade concoctions have spread to two shelves. Them old, butters, herbs and powders take up a lot of room. Not to mention the additives like honey, glycerin...yada, yada, yada.

So, back to the box of conditioner on the floor. I've got quite a few bottles of different brands of conditioners. I co-wash daily, sometimes even twice. I've got a number of conditioners that I've tried. Some I like some I didn't care that much for. The ones I didn't care too much about, I used them in my deep conditioning mixes to use them up. I keep several bottles of my favorites like Sauve Naturals Coconut and Warm Vanilla. Then there's the Aussie Moist.....ummmm this is heaven in a bottle...or so I thought, but I'll get to that.

Disclaimer: It's KMart's fault. I really wasn't in there to buy conditioner. I was headed to look for a patio table when that big ass sale sign caught my attention...they were having their 3 for $8 on Aussie Moist. And before you know it, I was picking up bottles. They only had 2 left....grrr...I know them other nappturals here are the culprits. Can't prove it, but I know it. Anyway, they also had the Herbal Essences line on sale too. I pick up a bottle of the Hello Hydration and check out the ingredient list and it's not too bad, only one cone...I mean my beloved Aussie Moist has got 1 cone in it too. So I grab it to make my 3.

Well, I'm in this "homemade products for the summer" challenge, so I really shouldn't be buying conditioner. But I'm always afraid that they'll either stop making my favorites completely or screw up the ingredients trying to make it "new and improved".

I really wasn't going to use...I really wasn't...but you know a junkie cannot have their product of choice and not resist the temptation. I decided to use the Hello Hydration, because I figured it wouldn't be any good anyway. OMG....this stuff is better than the Aussie Moist...uh-oh! One use and I'm totally hooked. So what's a junkie to do....head back to KMart and buy more conditioner. 12 bottles later and nowhere to store them, I stuck them in a cardboard box until I had time later to "re-arrange"...ok...ok...clean out the linen closet.

So, that is how the box of conditioner came to be sitting in front of the closet and how I tripped over it and how I ended up with this 3 inch scrap on my arm.

{SIGH} I really am not using as much...I am trying to abide by the challenge. I use once or twice a week...ok maybe 3 times. I am trying to cut down to no commercial products for the challenge...but I got that conditioner monkey on my back. :D

The Caramel Treatment....taboo for natural hair or not?

Super soft moist hair.....that's what I got out of the infamous Caramel Treatment. No automatic straight relaxed-like hair (I would never have put the stuff in my beautifully nappy hair if I thought that it would have in the first place. I don't know why black folks think anything but chemicals and heat will straighten your nappy hair...just ain't gonna happen...ain't gonna happen ya hear me! That's how folks fell into that Rio trap years ago).

Anyhoo.....

The Caramel Treatment...what is it?

The Caramel Treatment, it seems was developed as a straightening "aid" for those desiring to wear their hair straight. On her website, the creator, promotes this aid as either an alternative to relaxing at all or as a way to extend the time period between re-touches. Not a bad idea at all...the less chemical exposure, the better. Even though, I'm no longer relaxed or looking for straightened hair....I can't knock anyone for looking for healthier alternatives to get that straightened look. (Nope, I ain't pointing out the site either...you wanna go with the relaxed look...go find it yourself...google is your friend...use it. No hate intended, just not something I'm promoting here in my little nappy world).

However, it's not the Caramel Treatment that does the straightening. Now I don't have her actual formula, but if it's all natural ingredients as promoted, there is no way this stuff will automatically straighten your hair on it's own... hello..remember only heat or chemicals will straighten nappy hair. So using a little bit of deductive reasoning...no chemicals in the treatment...duh it must be the heat doing the actual straightening. I will give over to the idea that the treatment does make the hair softer and will probably make it easier to straighten. But there is no way that you can apply this to your kinky, coily hair and the twists and turns fallout and look like a brand new package of Yaki hurr. (Bad girl...go stand in the corner). Oh and another thing...yanno what happens when straightened natural hair comes in contact with H2O dontcha? Some say the hair reverts....I prefer to say it springs back into it's natural God-made glory! On some hair boards you will see folks saying that it doesn't "revert" as quickly when using the Caramel Treatment...but you also see in the same threads, warning not to get your hair wet...like you are Gizmo and will turn into a freaking Gremlin. So if it doesn't snap back to it's natural texture, why run from water? Hmmmm......


So what's in the Caramel Treatment?

Well, I have no clue as to what the original formula contains. But there have been a number of homemade versions that have sprung up all over the internet. Sorry I'm not gonna post a list...again remember google is your friend. However I will point out Kiya's Blog and her version of the Caramel Treatment. (BTW....her blog is a good read, you should bookmark it)

These are just some of the different ingredients I've seen used:
over-ripe bananas or baby bananas
Olive Oil
Shea or other heavy butter
wheatgerm or coconut oil (Kiya's the only person I've seen use red palm oil)
Honey
molasses or black-strap molasses
cornstach
water
apple cider vinegar


I used:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup my shea butter mix
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 large over-ripe bananas
1 tsp ACV
I only have to use half the batch. This freezes well, so I always have some on hand.

Slather it on my head, cover in plastic wrap then toss on my ski cap (I don't use heat in any form at all) for a couple of hours. Rinse throughly. I also use a light ACV rinse afterwards to knock of some of the left over residue on my strands. I will only co-wash at this point if my hair feels over coated. If not, then I just go on my merry little way and let my hair air dry.

Just for those of you that are curious, it does seem to loosen my texture a little, but that could just be the heavy coating on my thin strands and weighing them down. But in no way does it straighten my hair.

Right after rinsing the caramel treatment out. As you can see, my tiny little coils are still intact. Once this dried they tightened up even more.



(Um...ignore them bushy eyebrows...I've been trying to let them grow back fuller. I don't like the super thin shape I've been sporting lately.)

Just for a little reference point, this is my hair without the Caramel Treatment. Not much difference in them tight coils with our without the CT.




The Controversy

I don't think the Caramel Treatment in itself is the controversy...it's the way it's used that is. In some arenas heat, relaxed or relaxed-like hair are just not accepted and any reference to them are not welcome. Most of the ingredients used are ones I use on a regular basis anyway. I might not have combined all of them in this formula, but I sure as hell have done quite a few of them on any of my deep conditioning days...which I do once or twice a week anyway. I see myself doing the Caramel Treatment bi-weekly because it is a hell of a deep conditioner and now that I'm at the pool a lot more, I need to protect my hair from all that chlorine. I'm sure I'll adjust it along the way to use lighter oils that don't weigh my hair down as much if I'm using it so often.

So is the Caramel Treatment taboo for natural hair or not? Well that for you to decide. For me it's not...because I am in no way looking to alter the texture of my hair in any way and all of the ingredients I'm using are good for my hair. So that's my take on this treatment.

Oh Lawd....I can't believe I'm 'bout to give up my conditioner for the summer.

I decided to join MJ in her Homemade Product Challenge for the summer. I make just about all of my own products anyway....except for the conditioner. I co-wash daily and Aussie Moist is a must for me. I think I am truly addicted to this stuff.

The thought of going the whole summer with out it terrifies me. Well, now that I think of it, I'm gonna have a hard time giving up any of my conditioners. I just became acquainted with Suave Humectant...and I've fallen hard for it too. And all of my deep conditioning routines have a little commercial conditioner added to them.

I will be spending quite a bit of time at the pool or over at Percy Priest Lake aka...Pissy Priest Lake) and I think I'll need lots of conditioner to combat that chlorine from the pool and whatever the hell my be in the lake...ewwww, maybe I shouldn't be in the lake...huh?


What's a gal to do? Waaaaaah.......I want my conditioner!

What's your hair type? Ummmm....NAPPY....and don't ask me again, unless you wanna get cussed out!

Holy cow....what is the deal with folks and hair type? Damn...let it go!

For the 40th time, I've told a friend, I don't really know what my hair type is and I don't care...stop asking me and stop trying to tell me what you think it is. All I know is my hair is NAPPY...that's N-A-P-P-Y, for the stupid that need letters for a hair type.

If hair typing is your thing, ok go for it. But stop trying to shove it down the throats of us that really don't give a rat's ass. If you are asking me because you want know how I take care of my hair because we have a similar texture...cool. But if you are doing it because you are into the the damn hierarchal "good hair vs bad hair" BS....don't ask me, cause I will go off on you...plain and simple.

Can ya tell, I'm more than just a little irritated? I think I need a Margarita...and it ain't even lunchtime yet!

NOTE: BTW, if you are relaxed and have been so most of your life...how the hell do you know what your hair type is anyway?

Hey girl....where have you been hiding?

I need to get back to regular blogging now that I have gotten past the 2nd "unwanted" BC at the hands of my former hair dresser.

I had to step away and stop standing in the mirror commanding my hair to grow. I was literally standing there everyday saying "grow dammit grow". And when I stopped watching....guess what...it actually grew!


I've spent the past 3 months focusing on nurturing my hair. My focus has been...moisturize, moisturize, moisturize...and moisturize some more.

My "Good for your body from head to toe" Moisturizer is still a staple. I really only use it during deep conditioning though and not everyday use...on my hair anyway...still use it daily on my body for ash control.

My daily staple is Aussie Moist Conditioner. I swear this stuff has got to be bad for you. No way should hair be this soft and moisturized from a commercial product. But my hair loves the stuff.

So what does my hair routine look like these days?
Well it depends on how I'm feeling on that day. No set routine. I just reach up and feel my hair and decide on that day what type of loving it needs.
I generally co-wash every morning, spay on a conditioner made with (Aussie Moist, glycerin, jojoba oil, distilled water) and do a shake and go.

Just want to give you a warning...make sure you have enough hair on your head to do a shake and go...otherwise you can easily give yourself a concussion. Just a little tip I learned along the way. ;)

Anyhow....I am fond of pre-poos also. My current fave is Micheli07's Pre-Poo concoction. She said that you will have some "juicy hair" if you sleep in this overnight. Girlfriend was not lying. My hair is so soft and moisturized even days after, I can't keep my hands out of it. Yup...I've still got that "hand-n-fro disease" pretty bad.

I've also been doing some homemade mayonnaise treatments. I was adding avocado but I figured out, my hair just does not like it and is always hard afterwards.

Oh and I love castor oil. Love it, love it, love it. Use it in every deep conditioning and pre-poo.


Btw....I've colored my hair. Got sick and tired of the gray hair. The henna just didn't hide it the way I would have liked. It actually made the hair bronze.

Last month, I finally made the firm decision to color. I'd purchased and returned the color so many times it was ridiculous.
I used Dark-n-Lovely's Red Hot Rhythm because that was the color I wanted. Well, I got paranoid that I was going to dry out my hair, so I didn't let it sit on my hair as long as the package recommended. It's not as red as the package, but I love the color! And I have yet to have any breakage or shredding because of it. Yahoooooo!