Thoughts About Good Hair....

Roots by Charlotte Watson Sherman

I am sorry you are proud of the man

who raped your great-great-great grandmother and left your hair good.

Please, this is not envy

 it is sorrow for the long road we must travel to be sisters.

My lineage can be traced through the roots of my hair to Nairobi.

 Do not try to make me ashamed of this fact,

my hair grows in dry tight cottonfields on my head and will not fly in the wind

like to woman I am not.

Kinky Apps: Natural Hair Apps

I was being curious on my iPhone one day and decided to look and see if there were apps for natural hair. I mean, they should have an app for everything right?

By golly I found some! By the way all of these apps are free. There were a number of paid ones I may review in the future.

Naturally Me
Overall thoughts:
Brands itself as the first app for natural hair. I don't know how true this claim it. It was a so-so app. Great pics of hairstyles. Some sections did not work well.

Features:
Pics of hair styles:
First off this app has TONS of hairstyles. From what I see users can go to the website and upload pics for them to be placed on the app (I uploaded a few myself). It has different catergories such as wash n go's, frohawks, locs, and more. I was looking for a headwrap category but did not see one. Maybe they can work on that for the future.

Beauty Supply Locator
Did not work very well...

I don't know what the criteria for being a beauty supplier was. When I told it to find a store for me it said that there was one about 13 miles from my house. I tried to find the one it located on Google but the search came up with nothing.

Also there are lots of "black beauty supply" stores that are around me. Black meaning they are geared towards black hair and sell weaves, relaxers, gels, and the occassional clothing and huge hoop earrings. Like I said, I dont really know what was meant by black beauty supply...maybe they meant one owned by black people. I will never know.

Shopping for products
When I clicked on the "Vendors" icon a list of brands that are marketed toward natural hair such as Shae Moisture, CURLS, and Pura Body Naturals. If you select a brand it takes you to an online store in which you could buy a product online. I thought that was pretty convienent.

Social Networking
Also there is a social network type section called "Curlfriends City". I don't know much about this b/c I did not want to create a profile. The also have a blog.

Events
"'Fro Fashion Week" info section... apparently it is Sept 24-30 in ATL. Who knew? It appears that this event is hosted by the makers of the app so I assume other events won't be advertised but maybe they will.

Real Life Use:
 I would use the app for hairstyles and nothing else. Maybe if I did not have access to a computer and I moved into the wilderness where I could not purchase any natural hair care products I would use it for shopping.

Kinky Gal Kana Gaines

This is a new feature that will highlight kinky headed ladies and all their kinky awesomeness! If you would like to be featured contact us and we will make it happen. Enjoy!

Tell us about yourself.

Kana Gaines. I'm from Houston, Texas and Madisonville, Tennessee.

Why did you go natural?
I went natural because I moved away from home to go to college and my grandmother had been my hairdresser all my life. I didn't want to spend my hard earned refund check in beauty shops!!! Also, I read a personal essay "Straightening My Hair" by bell hooks in a creative writing course that year. It made me reconsider the real reason I had believed I was most beautiful when my hair was freshly permed.


How long have you been natural?
I've been natural for 4 years now.

What is your hair care routine?
My hair care routine is pretty primitive: wash with natural products (Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap or black soap). Condition with unrefined coconut oil or shea butter or olive oil (with added essential oils like frankincense or whatever I feel like).


 

Kana and her Dad

 Did you transition? How was it?
My transition to natural was pretty rough. I kept it flat ironed for about a year, but it broke off pretty badly in certain areas because I didn't know exactly how to care for it. I didn't condition it well. I didn't detangle it well. So it was rough. About 6 months without a perm, I was ready to get one when I went home for one weekend, but my best friend (who still permed at that time, but loved me enough to keep me strong to my word) told me to stay strong and that I would be alright. So glad I listened!

Then, after a year of no perms, I had the "big chop" done. I went to a small curly fro. Since then, I've done two major cuts. The first was in '09. I cut off a huuuuge afro. Then about a month ago, I cut off 2 years worth of locs. Both of those times I went down to a fade.

10 Things I Have Learned Over My 8 Years of Being Natural

1. Never make a bet and put your hair on the line (see here for full story).

2. If you are doing a vinegar rinse in the shower DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT do it the same day you shave your legs. That is unless you have been reading 50 Shades of Gray  and want to get into S&M and enjoy the feeling of your legs being on fire.

3. Do not use a too hot flat iron. It will result in heat damage. Try to use the lowest heat setting as possible. Also, dont flat iron your hair 2 and 3 times a week. Once a week is all you should do. To maintain straight roots you should apply tension to your hair. That can mean a tight pony tail at night that will keep your hair stretched tight so it won't revert.

Kinky Love: Why Alain Loves Natural Hair

Kinky Love is a new feature that will introduce us to men who love kinky hair! Our first Kinky Love man is Alain. Look for more men in the future!!!

Tell me about yourself.
My name is Alain. I am from Cameroon, Central Africa.

 

Why do you love natural hair?
I just think Natural will away be more apealing than anything fake! The fact that it is "natural", no fake stuff not chemical. But it has to be taken care of..., I also like braid hair.

What is your greatest natural hair memory?
I remember Angela Davis and her big afro. In addition to her civil right activism. I thought she was so cool, overwhelmingly powerfull and apealing!


Who is a celeb with natural hair that you admire?
I think Lauryn Hill, was gorgeous when she had dreadlocks.


Do you have a website?
 http://www.miraildesign.com/

What do you guys think about Alain? Is it just me or do all men like Anglela Davis afro...

Sept 10 2012 Hair Growth Update

Hola everyone. Well, it has been awhile since I have posted a pic. I have been doing some experimenting with my hair. I have been wearing wigs:

Head wraps (this Musilma is my head wrap inspiration):

New Hair Care Routine

Hello Lovelies!!!! I have a new hair care routine!!!!!!!!!

I have been looking on various natural hair care websites like BGLH, Curly Nikki, and others and I have decided that I need to step up my hair care. I want long long hair in the future so I need to be taking better care of it now.

With that being said I have started to "pre poo" my hair. Pre-pooing is basically just deep conditionong your hair before you shampoo. When I pre-pooed my hair it was waaaay less drier and much more softer after I shampooed my hair. I used a mixture of coconut oil and honey on my hair (pic is from here).

Havana Twists Update

So for now I have been doing twists pretty consistently (EXCEPT FOR THAT MONTH WHERE IT WAS 100 DEGREES CONSISTENTLY FOR ABOUT 10 DAYS). I attempted to do Havana Twists with some Naffy Collection hair but it did not turn out quite right.

I have discovered through another blog the actually website where you can actually buy the Havana Hair.. I am gonna order some in about a month.

The website is http://www.fingercomber.com/

So when I order the hair I will let you all know how it turns out. Also, my hair is about 4 inches now. I am on track to have 6 inches of hair by Jan 2013....

Kinky Twists update

So yeah, I LOVE the twists. They are super easy to take care of, they swing, they can be used as a pillow, i can use them to hit people.... So many pluses.

The pics above are me with my dance group Nashville Rueda. I am the one in the middle.

I have been having a few problems though....

 First they keep on slipping out the back. I guess this is due to my hair being super short in the back. Plus the texture is a lot straighter and finer back there. Also I am getting kinda bored with them. And when I washed my hair they were soooo heavy. I had to take a few out and do them over b/c they had slipped some.

So I am going to try Afro Puffy twists next. I ordered hair Nafy Afro Puffy Hair. It should come in a few days! I am super excited to see what new hair adventures I will have. I am going to attempt to do some "Havana twists". If my hair is not long enough for this then I will just do some really thick twists.

March 22 2012...Nothing New

Yeah. It has been a while.

Honestly, I did not have anything to post. I had a TWA. It was growing. That was pretty much it.

 However, I now have some kinky twists in my hair. They took three days. lol. I used five bags of hair. I plan on keeping them a while. I wanna grow my hair back out. So here are the pics.

I was thinking of getting these glasses. What do you all think?