Longing for yesterday...throwback!

These images were taken 9 years ago.  I took these images at the time to showcase my tresses and how other naturals could incorporate wearing their natural tresses with ready to wear looks.  My husband and I were attending an end of the year company party and the outfit I wore that night was a black tube top jumpsuit with a matching wrap.

After I stumbled across these images I made a vow to myself to get back to the size I was when these images were captured.  I do believe at that time I weighed around 135 lbs and I now currently weigh 145 lbs.  For the past few months I would only exercise to maintain my current weight.  Well, today I'm starting the Julian Michael's 30 day shred and it is with a strong hope that I will see great results at the end of the 30 day exercise program as now my new goal is to gain back my strength and tone of yesterday.  It may take more than 30 days, but it won't be because I didn't give it all that I've got!

I know that you may be thinking gaining 10 lbs over a 9 year period of time is not bad and I too felt this way until I saw my pictures above.  I'm also planning on purchasing a juicer in the near future, so here's to ending this year gracefully and starting off the new year with a healthier frame of mind for a new and improved (and smaller) FRAME!

Blast from the past! My first set of flat twists!

My first set of Flat Twists

Looking through my photo archives I found these images taken of my first set of flat twists worn out as a style.  I have to revisit this style this summer, with a slight variation, but I WILL re-visit this style!  I think this may have been done on blow-dried hair or from a old twist-out.  Not sure, but when I do re-visit this style, I'll post a tutorial.

Hope your weekend was a blast and happy Monday!

Photo of the day.

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! 

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!!! 

"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".

Becoming natural changed my life for good!

I absolutely adore chokers!

I was loving my new hair!  I was trying on different clothing and accessories to create a look,  "MY" look. I purchased new clothes and updated items I already had. I had a new sense of boldness and I was ready for the world.

Although I was ready for the world, the world wasn't ready for me wearing my natural hair out.  Those who knew me wanted me to go back to wearing my hair straight.  I even had my husband's friends say to him, "I liked it better when it was straight".  I've heard many negative comments during my early months, especially when wearing my hair in twists, but guess what my response was to all the drama and fuss?  This is MY hair and I wear it they way I choose to please ME.  I had my husband's full support (remember, he shaved my head for me for my second BC) and his love.  Our son loved me as I was.  It was their love and support that helped me stay on my natural journey.  Without their love and support my journey would have been difficult, and for that I am truly grateful.

On your mark...get ready...trim!

Okay, I  mentioned yesterday that I gave myself a full blown major cut, but after searching through my photo archives, I noticed that I didn't actually give myself a major cut at this time.  What I noticed from my pics was that I gradually removed/trimmed the straight pieces from my ends in an effort to hold on to some length while my hair grew out.  In order for me to trim accurately, I straightened my hair prior to the trim.

Notice that my hair in the top pic has fullness in the top half section, but is thinner towards the bottom.  This was something I hadn't noticed when only wearing my hair straight as I always wore it in an up-do.  So, I prepared myself mentally to begin the process of obtaining the following:

1.  Having an overall fullness to my tresses

2.  Achieving number one by cutting/trimming my ends.

You'd think someone who had shaven her head twice wouldn't have to mentally prepare to do trims.   LOL!!  The reason I had to prepare myself was because I wasn't sure of what my outcome would be by my cutting/trimming my hair myself when wearing my hair in twists.  When I trim my ends, will I trim too much?  How will my twists look?  My twist-outs? 
Baby steps....I had to remember to take baby steps. 

The second image (above) was taken only a month after the top image.  Notice how the lower half looks fuller compared to the pic on top.  After viewing the second image, I immediately realized that trimming my ends was a GOOD thing.  I noticed that my hair actually retained the length from my hair's growth.  So, I trimmed a bit more hair than I did the previous month and ended up with the following new set of twists below.

Notice above that I still have some straight pieces on my top twists.  They had to go and off they went.  I performed another trim and below was my new twist-out.  I was IN LOVE!

Although it took several trims, I finally achieved my uniformed look and I was on my way! 

World Wide Web...thank you!

In 2002 it was during my search on how to style my natural hair that I decided to use the world wide web for help.  I wanted to obtain immediate knowledge that would actually be of good use to me.  I had, like many women, purchased a book on natural hair prior to surfing the Internet, but the book I purchased didn't seem to offer very much in the way of what to do with regards to actually taking care of natural hair.  The techniques and styles illustrated in the book seemed incomplete.  Some recommendations and finished looks were either not to my liking or seemed unrealistic.  I am so thankful for the WWW and to many women who were willing to "snap and share" their natural hair journeys by publishing their stories on-line.  Because of their sharing, I discovered styles such as twists, braids, afro puffs, etc.... Also, a dear friend of mine turned me on to shea butter!  I in turned began sharing my natural hair journey with others and I loved the "extended family" that was created between myself and others.  Giving each other support and encouragement to stand firm in our decision to go natural and to love every minute of it!

The first style I attempted was two strand twists!

Everyone needs support and words of encouragement to continue this journey

As you can see, from my pics above, my initial twists were not the best.  See my ends...they're straight. The style above is set of twists done on wet hair.  No matter how much I would wet my ends, they would not curl up.   It became apparent to me that this was a result from my straightening my natural tresses regularly for the past two years. Unbeknownst to me at that time, pressing my hair over time was "breaking down the hair's hydrogen bonds found in the hair's cortex, which cause hair to bend and become curly. Once the bonds are broken, hair is prevented from holding its original, natural form, though the hydrogen bonds can re-form if exposed to moisture."  However, my "hydrogen bonds" did not reform for my ends.  So, whenever I would set my hair in wet two-strand twists I would have to use perm rods on my ends in order to "curl" them.  Notice the top right images above.  My hair on top has a looser texture and thus suffered the most from not being able to revert.  You can see the "curled" ends created using the perm rods.

Having to deal with my straight ends was quite frustrating for me as this was not the look I was going for.  I wanted to have a uniformed look for my twists and my twist-outs.  Who doesn't... right?  But, at the time I wasn't mentally prepared to remove my straight ends (cutting) and proceeded to attempt my next style and that was wearing a twist-out.

Not sure what I was trying to attempt with this style at the time, but this is a
wet set twist-out gone bad with straight ends.

Notice the top image above.  My ends on top of my head look like antennae!  The back of my head was was even worse.  My ends were horrible and my hair had no shape.  While pressing my hair I aways worn it in an up do, so I didn't realize that I had different lengths going on all over.  So, I decided to begin shaping up my strands. I began clipping my ends gradually and then later gave myself a full blown major cut (tomorrow's post).

Twist-out with newly clipped ends.

 Now my twist-out above wasn't half bad, but I still had the problem with my straight ends (just not as bad).  At this time, I still had not removed all of the straight pieces, but I was truly enjoying the fact that I could wear my natural hair OUT.  No more wraps, scarves, hats.  These items were no longer "needed", but were only worn if I "wanted" to wear them.  Guess what?...I didn't want to.

Tutorial pony up-do!

Here is a pictorial tutorial on the up-do found within my post entitled,  "In the beginning I tried..."
These are old images.  Currently my hair is in wet-set twists. 
1.  Okay, I did it again, this really should not be numbered as 1 as it is the finished look, but please know that my hair is sectioned horizontally from top ear to top ear then held in place by a medium sized bar barrette.  This is my top half.

2 and 3.  My bottom half section is divided into two smaller vertical sections.  Each held in place by a
small barrette (that has a good grip or tight closure that won't come loose easily from pressure when holding hair in place). 

4.  These barrettes are positioned up in the middle back of my head to create a
faux ponytail puff.  I loved creating the illusion of having more hair then I did at that time.  I would not have had the volume if I had actually used an elastic band to create this look.

5.  Hair is either fluffed like shown here are or smoothed down into place like in 6.

6.  To create a smoother look, I pinned down my ends (tucked under), to keep the hair from flying out
of control on windy days.

In the beginning I tried...

to fall in love with my natural tresses worn in its natural state, but doing so proved to be at times difficult.  After my pregnancy my hair had grown much longer and trying to maintain it daily with a newborn, work, school, and maintaining a family, etc... was a bit much.  I didn't know how to get my hair to look and feel soft when dry as it did when wet.  When wetting my hair in the shower, I could and would run my fingers through my strands.   That was, at the time, the only time I  loved my hair.  It was how my hair looked and felt after it dried that I wasn't too fond of.  It would feel dry and brittle.  Forget trying to run my fingers through it.  I didn't know how to style it in this state, thus I did what I knew how to do and that was to press it straight.  Thanks Mom!  You are my rock!
 





Hair blowdried then straightened

I wore my hair straight for a little over two years.  Spring, fall and winter seasons were the best times of the year to wear my hair straight, however, it was during the summer months wearing my hair straight was troublesome for me.   

In the south our summers are both hot and humid!

Trying to maintain my pressed tresses worn down during the summer was brutal.  My hair would frizz something fierce and unless I had my A/C on full blast at night, I would wake up to "sweated" out edges and roots.  There were times in the morning I just didn't have time to "re-straighten" my hair before heading out to daycare and to work.  So, I created the up-do style below as my signature style to help me through the summer months.  Even with the humidity, I didn't mind a lil' frizz when sporting this style.   As long as my look was "contained" I was okay.

Staple up-do for summer months. 

Finally, it was during one hot and brutal summer with temperatures hitting in the triple digits I said
ENOUGH! No more styling with heat.  I had to learn how to take care of my natural tresses without using heat. So, I began washing my strands and applying a hair oil I found within an east indian grocery store to my wet hair.  I would apply oil to a section of hair then create single twist strands pinned elongated (as flat as I could get it) going to the back, side, front of my head.  I still didn't know how to "style" it without heat, so once my hair dried, I would wear a headwrap or my favorite cap (during fall and winter) before heading out.  I also did this because even with the oil from the indian store my hair still didn't feel quite right to the touch.

I had a colored scarf for every outfit worn.

Wearing my favorite Page Boy Hat of that time.

Although I didn't wear my  natural tresses "out", I was still on the right path for me.  I loved the sense of freedom I felt from not having to depend upon "heat" styling my hair. I now could begin to embrace and truly fall in love with my natural tresses. I truly felt free!  I loved not having to worry about the weather, especially when it rained.  Chuckle! I loved not having to wake up in the morning early to heat up my irons.  I L.O.V.E.D. IT!  However, even still with this new found freedom, I was in search  for something more.  

Oh Snap!

Another passion of mine is photography.  I'll post some of my favorite captured images taken over the years and those captured during upcoming projects.  I hope that you will enjoy!

The image above was taken back in 2004.  I used a very simple editing program to create the look, but at the time did not know about re-sizing images for print.  Too bad as I would have loved to have had this framed.