Top 10 Natural Ingredients for your hair(Article Re-post)

 I thought this could be particularly useful, since there is still so much I don't know about natural hair ingredients. Hope it is helpful for you.

Top 10 Natural Ingredients for Your Hair
Link to article

   1. Shea Butter: High in fatty acids, shea butter is an emollient—meaning it provides a layer of oil on top of the surface of a hair strand, significantly reducing the amount of moisture (water) lost. This is what Naturally Curly girls mean when using products like this to “seal” their hair.

   2. Coconut Oil: Another emollient perfect for sealing moisture into the hair.

   3. Aloe Vera Juice/Gel: Aloe vera adds true moisture to the hair. It is actually absorbed into the hair strand. Try it as a daily moisturizing spritz!

   4. Vegetable Glycerin: Acts as a strong humectant—meaning, it attracts water to itself and binds to it. Creates a layer of oil over the hair strand, thus aiding in the retention of moisture. Can be combined with aloe vera juice to create an even better moisture spritz!

   5. Jojoba Oil: Another humectant. Perfect for adding to damaged ends.

   6. Extra Virgin Olive Oil: EVOO is an emollient that seals and softens the hair. The “extra virgin” on a label means it was produced using only physical means (no machines involved) and has no chemical treatment to alter it. Use it as a quick pre-poo or a deep conditioner.

   7. Castor Seed Oil: Not only is this vegetable oil a humectant, it also has anti-fungal properties. This will ensure a clean scalp, with the hair follicles clear and prepared for better hair growth. Some apply it to the temples to increase the thickness of thinning edges.

   8. Honey:  A light humectant that also has antibacterial properties. Check out Oyin Handmade products! They use tons of Oyin—the Yoruba word for honey—in their sweet hair treats.

   9. Avocado/Avocado Oil: They’re packed with Vitamins A, D, E, and contain more potassium than bananas. Easily absorbed into the skin, avocado oil is a quick way to get multiple nutrients onto your scalp for improved hair growth.

  10. Tea Tree Oil: With potent antiseptic, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, tea tree oil is a soothing remedy to a dry scalp. It is an essential (concentrated) oil, so a little goes a VERY long way. Over-application of a potent essential oil may actually cause irritation.

P.S.- Definitions

-Humectant: Substance that preserves the moisture or water content of the skin. Most dry skin lacks moisture rather than oil, and therefore humectants and moisturizers are needed instead of creams or oils.


-Emollient: A mixture of oils found in most body creams. The purpose is to seal in the moisture so that it can't escape from the skin. Especially important during the winter months.

~Lista~

yayyyyy Shea Butter!

My boyfriend must love me! He just bought be me some Shea Butter and I'm beyond excited to try it.
The game plan is to do some two-strand twists tomorrow or Monday.  Picture updates when I get them!
 
Toodles
~Lista~

PS- this means I have to try to some Shea Butter recipes :)

(Fox's) Shea Butter Conditioning Cream

1 part Shea Butter (1 Tablespoon)
1 part Conditioner (1 Tablespoon)
1/2 part Oil (1/2 Tablespoon)

Make sure Shea Butter is soft. This can easily be done by setting it in the sun. Mix with an equal part of conditioner. I prefer to use natural conditioners (Aubrey Organics) so no chemicals will effect the properties of the Shea Butter. Add in a half part oil, like jojoba, meadowfoam seed oil, or Monoi, and mix well. Allow to cool and harden. If the mixture tends to separate, stir a few times during the cooling process and it should stay well mixed.

Apply a pea sized amount to your ends. This may feel slightly sticky at first, but it will not leave your hair sticky.

http://www.longhairloom.com/haircarerecipes.html

Oh No!: No job= no money for hair products!

Well here's the deal guys, I have been unemployed since May and my funds are pretty much down to nothing. And right now, I am almost out of hair products! I am freaking out. My hair is getting dry and unmanageable and just overall unhappy!!!

But I figured out a way to remedy that situation: HOMEMADE PRODUCTS!!!!

I've been looking on blogs and through search engines for product recipes and I've found some that might be promising.  Since I'm a broke/unemployed person I have the benefits of getting on the bridge card. They give me more than enough money for food. So that leaves a some funds left over to buy some supplies at the grocery store!  I have already bought some olive oil, eggs, apple cider vinegar, honey, and coconut milk so I'm going to try the recipes that include those first. I will tell you how it goes!

Here are some recipes that I am thinking of trying!

Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse
Vinegar rinses can do wonders for the hair! They are great at removing the residue and build-up left on the hair that come with regular use of styling products, which cause the hair to look and feel dull and lifeless. Vinegar also cuts through excess oils, which sometimes give the hair a waxy feeling. The result is soft and shiny hair that is manageable and has tons of body.

• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water

Mix ingredients together and use as a final rinse after shampooing. Be sure to distribute this mixture throughout your hair evenly for complete coverage. Leave on for two to three minutes and then rinse with cold water. What a cinch! Use bi-weekly as a hair clarifying treatment. Take care to avoid getting this treatment in your eyes. It does sting.

Hot oil conditioner
Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup boiling water

Directions:
Combine ingredients then warm on low heat. Massage mixture into the scalp and hair. Wrap hair in a hot towel for 15 minutes. Shampoo & rinse out.

Honey Conditioner
Ingredients:
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsps olive oil
1 egg yolk.

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in small bowl. Massage on hair in small sections. Wrap head with shower cap for 30 minutes. Rinse and shampoo.
Egg Conditioner
Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp olive oil
3/4 cup lukewarm water

Directions:
Beat egg yolk until it is thick and light colored. Add oil beat well. Slowly add and beat the water into the egg mixture. Pour mixture into a container. After shampooing, massage all conditioner into hair and leave on for a few minutes before thoroughly rinsing.

Homemade curly conditionerIngredients:
1 avocados
3 tablespoons of honey
1 cup of coconut milk
1 egg


Directions: mix all ingredients together (you can let it sit in a container overnight in the fridge).
Apply mixture to your hair, work in well with fingers, put on a shower cap (it can get messy) and let sit for 30 minutes before rinsing. Style as usual.

*****If you try these recipes, definitely let me know how they turned out! Happy mixing!*****

~Kallista~

Before I was Natural....

I realized that I don't think I ever posted what my hair looked like before I went natural... 

So here's some flashbacks :

2005 (Freshman year of college)

2007 (Junior yr, my hair was to my shoulder blades, the longest it's ever been, 

& almost about how long its grown back to!)

2008 (These two pics are from when I cut my hair that summer after it started breaking off very badly, I started transitioning at the end of that year.)

So there you go :-)

~Lista~

Fun summer day

Yesterday I forced my BF into enjoying the nice summer day with me. He was reluctant at first, but we ended up with some really nice pictures, so I thought I'd share.

 

PS- I tried straightening my hair. That didn't end so well. I've only tried to straighten it about 3 other times since I've gone natural. But it always reverts back to curly. I haven't learned how to straighten it well without using a lot of heat. I'm terrified of burning my hair, so I give up if it doesn't work. This time I tried straightening it & then leaving it in pillow rollers over night. It actually turned out really well.... Except for the fact ended up being ridiculously humid. Needless to say, my hair ended up looking like I never put a flat iron to it. Unfortunately my phone is not in working order, or I could send a picture of how my press & curl looked. Hopefully  I will be able to get that to you soon.

PPS- I don't play the guitar, Asha does. He's gonna be teaching me how to play, & hopefully soon I'll have my own. Don't I look great with a guitar? ;-)

Until next time

~Lista~

Length Check- 5/23/10

I was watching the LOST season finale and decided to see how long my hair was (because watching LOST obviously means doing my hair...no, not so much)

But yeah, so it seems that my hair is 7 inches long (it is hard to read the ruler, but that's what it said). So basically I have about 4 inches of shrinkage when my hair is curly! This is the fastest my hair has grown..ever. I'm pretty sure it took me my first 3 years of college to get it this long before (with a perm) and I grew this a little over a year. (excitement!!!)

Anyway, I decided to go ahead and straighten the rest of my hair & put it in rollers. So I will take pics tomorrow so you can see how it looks. I need to cut off like an inch of split ends, but I wanna buy some cutting shears first.


Until next time bloggers,
~Lista~

Dear Hair, Sorry I've been so lazy...

I have been particularly lazy when it comes to my hair as of late.
*I blame it on the end of the semester, looking for a job, and dealing (or mostly not dealing) with a lot of emotional stuff going on in my life.*

But that being said, I have not been taking very good care of my hair. It's been warm outside so I've been able to do wash & gos (yay!) but I have not been very good with taking time to detangle it (boo!) and so now its a mess. I have been getting so many knots, and I still haven't bought cutting shears so I am sure to have some serious split ends.

I think it's time for some protective styling, I haven't done twists in what feels like months (but i think its been only like one, lol).

I am also dying to try a faux-hawk, I keep seeing photos online and I love it. So hopefully that will be a new summer style, we shall see.

Btw- I just found out about this natural hair social networking site called Natural Sunshine and I think its pretty awesome. So check it out. Here is my profile if you decide to join *be sure to friend me :-) *

Lataz,
~Lista~

Ms. Badu, you are my inspiration....

This is my goal length for my hair....I want to look like this.....except me, lol

~Lista~

Youtube re-post: "Is Natural Hair Professional/"

ThisYouTuber talks about her view on professional natural hair.Go check it out, tell me what you think.


"Is Natural Hair Professional?"- by holyghostcarrier


ps- my youtube channel (which has no natural hair posts *yet*, but I have favorited a lot of natural blog videos that you may be interested in checking out.)

~Lista~

Braid outs :-D

I did my hair in box braids (which I didn't take pics of *fail*) and left them in for about a week.
This is how the Braid-out turned out. ( I like how the lighting gave different definition to my hair.)

Products used for Box Braids & Twist Out:
1. Garnier Fructis Moisture Works shampoo
2. Garnier Fructis Moisture Works conditioner
3. Cantu Shea Butter leave-in conditioner repair cream
4.African Royal Hot Six Oil


~Lista~

Blackness in the Workplace: My Hair/My Career

One of my favorite bloggers, Little Golden Lamb, recently wrote a blog post about changing her hair style for her job.


Here is a quick blurb from what she wrote:


"Stereotypes abound around the world, no country is immune. More often then not, I defy them in the lives of people that I meet from outside of the United States. I have changed the opinions of many people of a variety of countries on matters pertaining to Black Women, specifically. To do so, however, requires that I talk to them on a regular basis. That we do life, somewhat, together. In the case of getting hired at a company based in East Asia, Japan specifically, that requires having your application considered, let alone selected for an interview. Why am I seeking work there? It relates to my degree, current skills, skills I want to gain and my future career path (that’s all for now ^_~). I have been “written off” because of my Afro before (surprisingly, not as often for my skin tone but, my HAIR). I don’t intend to let it cause a potential “Gate Keeper”, if you will, to balk, who may in time come to find his or her thoughts about Black Women where wrong. Not in this economy, beloved readers. He or she may continue to be a prejudiced idiot, true. Either way, I get paid! Baa, baa, baa. ^_~ Is it right? No. Is it fair? No. I know this. This isn’t the blog for discussing those issues. Yes, beloved readers, I am dancing around the thorny issue of changing my hair texture to get hired, to start my career."

Here is a link to her blog on Wordpress (she does wonderful informational reviews about hair products, and just awesome research in general. Her blog is for all hair types, relaxed and natural, so check her out!)

But I digress, the reason I am re-posting her blog post is because her story really hit home. I am currently interviewing for a job at a financial services company, and I have definitely been wondering what I am going to do about my hair. Since I've started my hair journey late in the game (my last year of college), I'm still working out the kinks of managing my hair in different social situations. In the career field I'm going into, I will be expected to look professional. This presents a challenge, when some people may not think that natural hair looks "professional."

I went to a job shadow for this position a few weeks ago and tomorrow I will be going for my office interview. While I was there, I for one noticed that there was not a single African-American person there. I don't know if that meant there were no Afr.Amer employees or they just weren't in the office at the time (and I was not about to ask). But I also noticed that I didn't see any minorities, i.e.- the office was a majority Caucasian office.

Bloggers, in going into my major (Accounting), I knew that I would be a minority on two levels: as a woman, and as a black woman. So this really doesn't surprise me at all. But going into my major, I was not thinking at all about having natural hair or how that would impact my career. Now I actually have to think about it hard core.

It's getting close to spring and summer. This is the time that my hair is at it's worst (when relaxed) and at it's best (when natural). When my hair was relaxed, I always had to fight with it getting wavy and frizzy when I wanted it to be straight. This frustration lead to many unhappy days. But since I've gone natural, I can just do a wash-and-go and happy go about my day with a curly fro. But will that be appropriate in the work setting my going into? Will they want me to have straight hair?

I don't know guys. I went in the first time with my hair in two-strand twists. Tomorrow I will be going in there with braids (and forgot to take pics of before I took down, my bad). I've come to the decision that I most definitely have no intentions of relaxing my hair. I am not opposed to getting it straighten, but I know I'm unable to straighten my natural hair myself. So that leaves me with only a few options if they oppose my natural look in the future: Get my hair braided (with extensions), splurge on going to the salon to get my hair straightened, or always have my hair in two-strand twists. (That is, until I learn how to do more creative styles with my hair).

So I dunno, I wish I knew natural women who are in the accounting or financial services field (or i guess just business in general) who could tell me their thoughts on the matter.

Until next time
~Lista~

The K-Fro!!!

I rocked my K-fro this week *loved it* :-)
































Till next time :-)
~Lista~

Length check

*note: I fail because I didn't actually MEASURE my hair length, I just took pictures of it, :-P. My hair is now back in twists, so I'll have to wait till next time to measure it*

But, that aside, I am pretty much done transitioning from relaxed hair to natural hair. I have been transitioning for a while now, i want to say almost a year, even though I didn't really start cutting my hair until this past summer. I'm excited because I have actually grown back my hair to the length it was before I started cutting!

It's been amusing past several months because I'd just look at my hair, get mad at hair that was relaxed or uneven, and just start cutting. My guy (Asha) would come into the bathroom, see piles of hair everywhere, and look at me like I was crazy. He loves my natural hair though (and tolerates my slight obsession), so he gives me great feedback.

Anyway, I finally straightened it for the first time in months. I've been wearing it curly and in braids/twists for the past year. I think my last relaxer was around Thanksgiving 2008. I tried straightening it October for an interview, but my flat iron obviously wasn't hot enough. I ended up actually feeling my hair curling back up DURING the interview. It looked a hot mess by the time I got out of there!

I straightened it last week because as I was playing in my hair, I pulled on curl at the nape of my neck and realized it was freakishly long. (Ok, maybe not freakishly, but way longer than I expected.) I didn't use enough heat to actually be able to wear it down, I'm still trying to stay away from heat as much as humanly possible. But I did straighten it enough to see the length.

So here is the pic, don't judge me for looking like a bum! :-)





Until next time bloggers
~Lista~