Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Got a glimpse of spring today, so here's one for the road!

Today's high was 76 degrees!  Wow, winter is pretty much over.  Yes, we will have a couple of cold snaps before Easter, but for the most part spring is around the corner.  However, this past weekend we had some rather cool temperatures, so I wore the ensemble below this past Sunday. 

Soon, I'll begin spring cleaning and packing away my winter clothes, but for now, this look is one for the road!


The boots above are the same I blogged about a few posts earlier. They were a great find that I absolutely love wearing.  I paired the dress with black tights and my favorite scarf.  I am a lover of scarves and chokers.  Have been for years!  I was in a local craft store earlier today to look at different pieces that I could use to create a handmade choker that screams Asha!.   I did not find anything that spoke to me, so I'll be checking another craft store tomorrow.  Hopefully, I will find what I'm looking for as my plan is to have chokers worn in heavy rotation this spring and summer.  I also have a few "shorts" coming as well that I hope you will love!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Loving my comb-out!


Loving my comb-out! 
This was done on an old twist-out created with dry, stretched twists.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Roller-set... I still have OPTIONS!

Okay, when I was relaxed, I would from time to time style my hair in braids with curlers on the ends to wear a braid-out.  Not sure if this style was called this back in the day (college days), but I loved wearing my hair this way. Now, if I could get away with wearing my relaxed tresses textured, could I wear my textured tresses relaxed via a roller-set?  Back in the day, I would set my freshly washed relaxed hair on magnetic rollers to set and dry.  So, I attempted this same style on my natural tresses.


I used magnetic  rollers and roller clips to set my strands.  I had to move quickly on freshly washed hair to avoid the hair from drying out before I was able to get to it to roll up.  Each section I applied my hair butter then topped it with a holding lotion.  Hair was pulled taught, rolled quickly and held in place with a roller clip on both ends of the roller. 

You can see from the image above my roller-set pattern.  The front side sections were done downward.  In my relaxed days, I would have rolled it going towards the back because I like how after my hair was dry, the hair would be off of my face, but the curls would hang downward.

After my entire head was set, I would sit under the dryer until my hair was completely dry.


Not bad, not bad at all if I do say so myself.  My strands were pretty straight, but my roots were not.  I proceeded to style my hair using a wide tooth comb, but avoided combing the roots of my hair.


The next day, I decided to use my curling irong to straighten my roots and smooth
out my strands a bit.  This look I like a lot better.



This image shows some straight pieces and curls, but again my roots and my strands closest to my roots were still curly.


This image is of my hair the next day after using a curling iron to straighten my roots and to smooth out my strands.  Hair is still curly, but looks more uniformed.



Just another view of the back of my hair. Day one is on top and day two is on the bottom.


Day three I wore it in an updo.  I also wore this style alot during my days when I wore my hair pressed only.  I couldn't believe it!  I had OPTIONS!  If I wanted to wear my hair in twists, I could.  If I wanted to wear a twist-out, I could.  If I wanted to stretch it via a roller-set, I COULD!

Relaxed I had options and as a natural, I STILL HAVE OPTIONS!!! 

Monday, February 13, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day! February 14, 2012

My husband and I are members of our church's family ministry for married couples.  This past Saturday was our annual Valentine's Couples Dinner (also date night for us).  We love being part of this ministry as its focus is on that of developing and nurturing strong christian relationships between husbands and wives, as well as, their families.  We love to fellowship with other married couples.  We learn from older couples who are members when sharing their experiences and we share our experiences with others in hopes that we too can help a couple understand God's design and purpose for marriage. 


We started off the evening with a portrait session for each couple.  Once I get a copy of the image taken by the church photographer, I'll post it here.  Above was the itinerary for the night.  We had a blast!  It was exciting and to see older couples married for 40+ years and still very much in love was a blessing!

Wet set twist-out


I wore a Ralph Lauren angora sweater paired with a Versailles New York black long formal skirt.  The belt worn picked up hues from both the sweater and the skirt, so I used it to tie both pieces together and it worked out great.  The picture above shows the skirt as grey, but it is black.


My husband is wearing a Hickey Freeman Suit  & Brioni Tie.
Each couple was given a Bee Mine activity bag with fun games, cards and candy.

Squeezing this bubble wrap for one minute is equivalent to the amount of
stress relief from a 30 minute massage.  We both popped our wraps, but we're not too sure
about this theory.  We promised each other 30 minute massages to make sure. Giggle!
We were told to hold each other's hand, look into each other's eyes and
tell each other what we loved about our mate.  I love to hold my husband's hand,
but I love looking into his eyes even more!

 Here we were to write each other love letters to be sealed and given to one another
one month from today.  Can't wait to read my love letter.  I haven't received one of these
since we were in college.  My husband and I are college sweethearts!
Heart stress ball!  I love my husband, but at times I may have to
put this little cutie to work!  LOL!!!
  Dessert was small and I was thankful.  A moment on the lips....
 I hope that your tomorrow is filled with MUCH LOVE, Happiness and Joy!



Saturday, February 11, 2012

"Build a better Afro and others will follow your lead"

I remember during my early days posting reading this quote, "Build a better afro and others will follow your lead".  This quote revealed a truth to me.  Although I loved my wet-set twists ( I wore them 95% of the time), I still received negative comments from those who didn't understand my natural journey.  Again, it was "why did you go from straight to nappy" or "why are you wearing your hair like that"?  My twists weren't ugly (at least not to me), but they were still not perfect.  I had some gap issues I had to correct, so now I was on a mission to create the perfect twists.

I decided to blow-out my hair for a change as during my early days twisting my hair took me a little over two hours to do.  Slowing things down a bit to "see" what I was doing wrong was going to take longer than my usual time to twists.  I didn't want to experiment on wet hair that would dry before I was finished then having to re-wet it as I went along.  With it already dry, I could really take my time to see what I was doing wrong.

My first Blow Out! Preparing to dry twist.


Now, I've tried a few techniques to twisting my hair.  I've tried the parting approach (diagonal) and this didn't work for me.  It took me TOO long to get with this method!  So, I parted my hair from the bottom up horizontally to twists my hair. Upon completing my twists, I still had gaps so I just lived with it and rolled out.

Notice the pic on the left.  There was a gap in my top mid back.

The twists above were not bad, but you can see in the image to the left that I had a gap in the top
middle section of my head.  Trying to camouflage it, I grabbed two individual twists and pinned them together to "cover" the gap. What I should have done, was remove those twists to re-do them.  You live, you learn.  Also, because my front twists weren't as long as my back I would pin them to the back.  Again, I should have just let them be.
Wearing my dry twists OUT! Year 2003.
I was loving my new "style"
A renewing of the mind was needed.

I was loving my new "dry" twists.  I was missing my longer "looking" hair (shrinkage is so deceiving to me and definitely to others).  With the dry twists my hair didn't seem as short.  I still had the problem with having gaps, but I was determined to combat this issue.  I also still experienced others still not understanding my natural journey. 

"Build a better afro and others will follow your lead".  Hmm, I soon realized that this wasn't going to be enough. No matter how I styled my twists, everyone outside the "natural community" wasn't feeling it.  I believed that a renewing of the mind was also in need.  The ideal beauty has long, straight hair.  Yes, a renewing of the mind was definitely needed, but in the meantime, building a better "fro" was still on the top on my "to do list".

Friday, February 3, 2012

Twist-out my love!

Twist-out afro puff

My hair is still in twists, but I wanted to wish you all a very safe and blessed weekend!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sealed with a K.I.S.S.



I've been asked, "What is you hair regimen"?  It's K.eep I.t S.imple. S.ugar!  I'm all about KISSing! And one is in the act of sharing when they K.I.S.S., so here's the scoop:

Wash Day (loose hair):

1.  Divide hair into two sections from a part created in the middle and create two big ponytails.
2.  Wet sectioned (left or right) hair thoroughly with water and gently detangle strands with fingers
3.  Apply and wash my scalp and tresses with Rosemary Mint Herbal Shampoo.
4.  I gently detangle my shampoo coated strands with my Denman brush or with a wide tooth comb.
5.  As I detangle, I create smaller sections of hair and place each detangled section of hair into big twists.
6.  Repeat steps 2 - 5 on the other half of sectioned hair.
7.  After hair is in twists, I proceed to rinse out the shampoo from each half section.
8.  I then proceed to condition and seal my strands with Revive.
9.  I proceed with applying either Rosemary Tonic or Silk Rose Elixir as a leave in.
10.  I create my twists or braids using Mane Attraction.
11. Sit under a hooded dryer to set my style for 30 minutes, then air dry for the remaining drying time.
12.  Oil my scalp using Roots .

I wash my hair every two weeks. I may go three weeks (yup, I said three weeks) if I decide to wear a twist-out.  In between washings I use a homemade scalp cleanser made with witch hazel to cleanse my scalp and I use Roots three to four times a week.


Wash Day (Big twists)

Steps 1 - 3 are the same as above.
Step 4 Detangle each shampoo coated twist one by one with my Denman brush or with a wide tooth comb.
Step 5 Hair is already in big twists.
Step 6 same as above.
Step 7 Hair is already in big twists, thus I just rinse out shampoo from strands.
Steps 8 - 9 Same as above
Step 10 I re-create my twists using MA.
Steps 11 - 12 are the same as above.


My favorite wash days are when my hair is in big twists.  Less manipulation and effort is needed when detangling.

My do's and don'ts:

Do:

1. Wash hair in sections.  It makes for easier cleansing of the scalp.  My hair is thick.  Also, hair won't tangle up as much.
2.  Take my time when washing and detangling.  Nothing is worse than making progress only to loose it by rough handling of wet strands (they are at their weakest when wet).
3.  Always use a wide tooth comb or my Denman brush to detangle.
4.  Apply herbal shampoo to my scalp first.
5.  Always condition my strands with a herbal tea rinse or with Revive.
6.  Always use a leave-in conditioner
7.  Deep condition strands at least once a month.  I love to use my Honey Dew treatment.
8.  Don't be afraid to trim/dust ends to maintain your end's overall health.
9.  Oil my scalp immediately after coming out from under the hooded dryer.
10.  Wash combs and brushes after shampooing tresses.
11.  Sleep with a satin pillow case and use a satin scarf to wrap hair at night.
11.  This is all I can think of at this time.  I'll update the post with more later.

Don't:

1. Comb or detangle hair while it's dry.  You are asking for breakage.  Only finger comb the hair to style or use a brush to smooth edges.
2.  Shampoo long hair not sectioned first. Tangle city is where you'll be if you forget to do this.
3.  Brush hair while wet with a bristle hair brush.  I learned the hard way that this is the BEST way to cause breakage.
4.  Sleep on cotton pillowcases.  It robs the strands of moisture making the strands dry, which could lead to breakage.
5.  Be an a hurry to style your hair.  Take your time to treat your tresses right!
6.   It's late (10:30 pm).  If I think of more, I'll update this post.


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