Share Your Thoughts!

Hello Bloggers!

Come over to my YouTube channel and voice your thoughts. I've uploaded a question to fellow naturals regarding how they react when someone wants to touch their natural hair! It's been quite a popular topic of discussion. Join in! View, Rate and Subscribe too!

Thanks!
~Napp

Your Natural Hair | Can I Touch It?

Always Organic

I make no bones about being a country girl from Mississippi. Though as a kid, I longed for the flash of the city. I wanted to vanish from the place where the sun leaned on you no matter where you went under the shade tree. I wanted to throw my hands up anytime my beloved Big Mama planted her vegetable garden on Good Fridays and say that it would matter. Fast forward 35 years and I finally get it!

What my Big Mama and Big Daddy did back then is all the rage right now: Organic! Say what?! Organic? We were always Organic but it was called living in the country! Now while I refused to drink milk from a cow that walked around the pasture, fresh tomatoes, greens, peas, butter beans and field corn were always available. My grandparents farmed, fished & harvested by the moon. At the beginning of each year, they always bought the Farmer's Almanac and The Lady's Birthday Almanac. In there, the moon phases determined the best time to plant crops and even when to trim your hair for growth. To this day, I still use the moon as a guide. Give it a try and see if you notice a difference!

~tcl

I'm 40 and Nappylicious!

I turned 40 today! The Calvary did not show up. Nor the band of gypsies to cart me away. It was a rather peaceful and quiet day. With the way life is now, I am excited to have reached 40. Every year after this will be celebratory. I am grateful. Grateful to be alive to still have an opportunity to pursue my passion: writing and creating.

Oh yeah, this is s'posed to be about hair! Well, I DC'd my hair overnight with Taliah Waajid's conditioner. When I rinsed it out, my hair was so soft and spiral-y. I just did a wash n go since I was thinking about twisting later.

My hair is just like a child. I've realized that it has to be trained. Back in the day when my aunt Laura used to wear that Farrah Fawcett bouncy hair, she was wearing a press and curl. When she went to the beauty shop, the man would use the Marcel barrel irons on it and curl it in the same pattern every time. He would not comb the curls out and it would be tight. But in a few days, her hair would be bouncy and Farrah-like. She would roll her hair in the same pattern every night and do that thing where you comb your hair all to the back with a wide tooth comb and push up! One would think that she was combing all the curls out but she wouldn't! I have to find a pix to post it later.

When she finally relaxed her hair, it was just a straight and stringy mess! Who knew it would turn out like that since her hair always looked so full and voluminous. We have the same kind of hair.

I've realized that I cannot regularly wear a wash and go because my ends will be a HAM! All tangled up. I have to comb my hair out to the ends. I am guess that it's because I have fine hair and strands must wrap around each other. My hair shrinks like nobody's business.

Weird but back when I was permed, my hair accepted the oil/grease products better than the creams. Even now, some creams like Miss Jessie's just "sits" on my hair unless I emulsify first! New word. Emulsify = rub the product in my hands first to warm it up. I have had much better hair results using this technique. And for my fine hair, I've learned the hard way NOT to be heavy handed because it doesn't take that much product.

Something else that I have discovered. If I don't detangle my hair, I will not be a happy camper when it is dry. It is best when my hair is wet or still damp. After that, forget about it!

Last week, I was a total hair bum and just did a wash and go. While my hair was cute in those puffs and was big and fluffy when dry, on wash day, I had a tangled bird's nest on my head. I wanted to cut it off. No lie. Luckily, I could only find my dressmaker shears and not my hair shears. I took my time and used lots and lots of conditioner and finally got the tangles out. I had to break out the big guns. I used a combo of Taliah Waajid's conditioner that gives me great slip AND KCCC's Knot Today. I thought I wasn't going to make it but I finally got the tangles out and surprisingly, still had some hair on my head. Whew!

In the next few days, I will be checking on my new hair revelations and report the progress. I will continue to sleep on my satin pillow case. This is about the most consistent thing I do every night. I will also twist my hair. Though I'm sleeping on satin and don't tie my hair up every night, I think my hair still has to be in some kind of "training" pattern in order to look styled. When my hair was shorter, I could get away with just sleeping on the satin pillowcase but now that it is growing longer, I need to protect the ends from tangles.

Styling has been my biggest downfall since being natural. I can co-wash and deep condition and henna my hair and all the good stuff. But when it comes to styling, I fall flat. I never learned to braid but I'm learning. My parts always look jacked up. I get frustrated and end up with a puff. A cute puff but still just a puff. Hmmm. . . I really think that nightly twists will help me in that department.

I do not proclaim to be an expert. I'm still learning my hair and how to care for it in it's natural state.
Stay Tuned!

Naturally me

After having relaxed hair for years, I decided it was time to really relax and go natural.

Unknowingly, I had my last chemical fire (perm) on August 8, 2006. My stylist was no longer making my hair sing. I was bored. A couple of months later, I let the African sisters braid me up and I was on my way to transitioning.

I transitioned for about 10 months or so. Once I had committed to transitioning, I became anxious to find out what my hair would be like underneath once natural.

I got that answer on June 11, 2007 when I took my final set of micro braids down with a mini-chop. A few days later, I could not tolerate the 2 textures and commenced to the BIG CHOP!!!

It was a little scary and I bought a horrible wig!!! After seeing how fake that wig looked, I decided to toss it and let the family and world see my TWA.

I have browsed through several websites and along the way, I have become a PJ (product junkie) trying to figure out what works for me. The natural ladies at Fotki have managed to keep me on the right track about my decision. My very southern mother threatened to whoop me when she first saw that I had chopped my hair. My mother has never ever been relaxed and still receives her bi-weekly press and curl. But after I explained to her my reasoning for being natural, I think she saw my point. I had an aunt or two to flat out tell me that they hated it and that I should not get offended when I see people staring at my head!!! I had to take them on a ride and while they were captive, I let them hear our hair anthem from India.Arie.

I invite all of you to join me on this journey. I hope that my journey will be inspirational to someone else considering taking the plunge. I am still learning my natural hair and will document it on a regular basis.

Come on and grow with me!!!