We're Moving !!!

Recently we decided to not only add an additional two Naturalista's to our blog but we also decided for the best interest of the blog to relocate it to Word Press! Thanks to all those who faithfully read our blog and hopefully you will check out our most recent updates and new members at:

 http://particurlynatural.wordpress.com/

Castor Oil Update

  Hey Guys:) Just wanted to update you all on my castor oil hair challenge! In many ways the challenge was a success but it was also a failure. For example the main reason for me beginning the challenge was to grow the hair on my thin sides back. The castor oil did wonders for my hair as far as retaining moisture,and making my hair grow longer and stronger than ever. But it really didn't do much for my thin spots. The hair surrounding the spots has grown longer and thicker. But the actual spot itself still remains thinly covered with hair.

  I'm beginning to to worry that maybe my sides are too far gone. It's scary thinking that I will never have hair there again. With all the technology and natural hair remedies out there I doubt that's true so i will keep HOPE ALIVE! It's been suggested to me that maybe I should go to a Dermatologist and let them evaluate the problem. But before I go to that extreme I'd like to naturally try and grow my hair back. 

  As far as the castor oil, I think it is any Naturalista's DREAM PRODUCT<3 It works great as a deep conditioner or even applying daily to your ends and problem areas. It made my hair extremely soft while keeping it strong so that it wouldn't break off. My ends were never frizzy while using the oil and my hair was developing a natural sheen. The dryness I use to sometimes see in my hair had disappeared. Castor Oil is not only good for moisturizing but it also seals in moisture! With natural hair MOISTURE is the most important, so if you haven't tried castor oil yet I highly recommend you should I still use it even though my castor oil challenge is over.

  As far as my mission to grow the hair on my thin spots back I will definitely keep you guys posted on what new natural hair remedies I find. But if you think of anything I haven't tried and you think it might work for me please don't hesitate to let me know! I would love your feedback and I'm willing to try anything. Thanks for stopping by and please POST COMMENTS:)

Keep on Rollin&apos;

The first stages after the "Big Chop" have been some of the best stages in my natural hair journey so far. But now that my hair has grown out a bit, I'm at the dreaded awkward length. Twist-outs, fro-hawks, head bands, and wash and goes are becoming boring to me and though I do have a lot more hair than what I originally had, I still don't have enough hair to do many natural hairstyles. I thought that this was true up until about a week ago. I realized when my hair was stretched, I had enough hair on the back of my head( which was previously tapered) to twist! So with the help of a friend, we came up with the hairstyle in the photo to the left. It started off with two twists going up the back of my head. The twists in the front are arranged so that you can't tell where they end. My hair was already moisturized and was stretched with a blow dryer on a low heat setting. All you need after that is patience and bobby pins, lots and lots of bobby pins! The twists can go in any direction or style that you want but the main goal is to not be able to tell where they end and for some, where they begin. This is a great way to protect your ends and is also a great way to wear your hair so that you won't have to do it everyday. Another thing I liked about this hairstyle was that it was very easy to sleep on. I wore this style to a party and for 3 days afterwards and it didn't budge! I only took it out to add moisturizer an oil to my hair because it was getting dry. This style is very versatile and can be worn anywhere; to a formal event or just for a casual day to day look. So I hope you enjoy and give us feedback on what you think of it.

Straight to the point!

At the end of December 2011, we decided to participate in a No Heat Challenge. This challenge was like a promise to ourselves that we would not flat iron, curl, blow dry, or use any other heating tools on our hair for as long as possible. We would only curl our hair using natural methods and we would also do more natural hair styles. But eventually, we both ended up straightening our hair so we wanted to give you all an update on how that went. . .

Robbin's Hair, Natural(left) vs. Straightened(right)

To Straighten we used the following:

Shea Moisture Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Curl & Shine Shampoo

Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner

Silver Bird Conair Pro Blow Dryer with Concentrator Nozzle

Round Brush

CHI 44 Iron Guard

CHI Ceramic Flatiron

CHI Silk Infusion Serum

Rat Tail Comb

Wide tooth Comb

Hair Clips to Section

Bobby Pins for pin curling (optional)

Keon's hair; Natural(furthest left) vs. Straightened(center, right)

Procedures:

1) Wash hair with the Shea Moisture Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Curl & Shine Shampoo. We usually co-wash but when flat ironing, we find it better to have clean hair so that your hair will not be weighed down and so that it will have a weightless feel and look.

2) Apply the Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Restorative conditioner while your hair is wet. Gently detangle your hair with the wide tooth comb while the conditioner is still in your hair and afterwards completely rinse out the conditioner.

3)Spray the CHI 44 Iron Guard throughout your hair and make sure you apply the product to your ends. Comb the product through your hair to ensure that the heat protectant has been applied all over your head.

4) With the blow dryer on a medium heat setting, use the round brush along with the blow dryer and the concentrator nozzle to dry your hair (the technique used at Dominican salons). We find that when we use this method we get less breakage versus using the comb attachment for the blow dryer. This method also gets your hair very straight so we don't have to go over our hair with the flatiron more than two times. The Silver Bird Conair blow dryer gets very hot so we didn't have to use a very high heat setting. Blow drying your hair using this method will take more time but it shouldn't be that way because of the heat setting being too low. Your blow dryer may be different so you may need a hotter setting but do be aware of how much heat you're putting on your hair and be sure to take the proper precautions in protecting your hair while using large amounts of heat.

5)  After blow drying your hair, lightly mist more of the CHI 44 iron guard over your hair but not to the point where you hair starts to shrink again. Section your hair and flatiron using the method of your choice.

6) Take about a dime sized amount of the CHI Silk Infusion and apply it throughout your hair. You don't need a lot of this product; a little does a lot.

Everyone has different methods of flat ironing and this is ours. Straightened hair lasts as long as you allow. At night you should sleep on a satin surface i.e. satin scarf, pillow case, bonnet etc. Also, after straightening neither of us had any heat damage or breakage; our hair returned to its healthy natural state.

Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoy and don't forget to comment and tell us what you think!

Dedication to Naturalista Ngozi David

 To those of you following our blog thus far you may remember us mentioning the magnificent Ngozi David who saved my hair. She is not only a hair stylist but she also is the proud owner of Amavi Hair Salon. She opened her salon in 2007 with a goal of creating a "conglomerate of beauty professionals through creativity and education." To every client that walks through her salon door she gives them a full consultation about the health of their hair whether good or bad she won't hold back. Which is refreshing because how can one work on fixing their hair if the stylist holds back on all the issues and damage. She personalizes every clients hair consultation by giving them a list of specific products to use and directions on how to use them to restore the hair back to its natural healthy condition. Whether you like to rock your hair in your natural kinks or prefer to have your hair straightened she does it all. She uses extra precautions however when flat ironing your hair to make sure not to ruin your curl pattern which is why she uses a lot of natural ingredients such as fresh honey and olive oil. Ngozi not only does hair but she does makeup too. So when going to her salon you get the total package to prepare you for a nice dinner out or a wild night on the town with friends. 

Just a little Sample of her work...

Just a few tips from Ngozi to all the naturally Curly & Kinky Ladies

•  Mixing Vinegar and Lemon juice together and applying it to your hair can be great for your scalp and helps to keep your hair shiny

*Vinegar helps to rid hair of dandruff! Vinegar has mild exfoliating properties which washes the sticky flaky skin cells right off your scalp. Vinegar is slightly acidic so it can also be used to balance the scalps pH. Vinegar also removes the buildup of shampoo, conditioner, and hair spray from hair giving it a natural shine.

*Lemon juice when applied to the scalp can help to rid hair of dandruff and further prevent it.

•  Honey and Olive Oil are great for deep conditioning. At her own salon Ngozi uses a mixture of honey and olive oil to deep condition each one of her clients for at least 30 minutes.

*Honey is a natural healthy way to restore the condition of your hair and hair follicles. Its uses include thinning or falling out hair, baldness, and adding shine to dull hair.

*Olive Oil is a natural cleanser which can be used to prevent DHT. DHT promotes facial hair growth but has the opposite affect on hair on scalp. DHT decreases the size of the follicle shaft until hair becomes extremely thin or nonexistent. Olive Oil also restores overall scalp cell health and reduces chemical damage so that natural hair growth can occur.

•  Just a few other natural ingredients Ngozi recommends for natural healthy hair care:

*Mayonnaise contains eggs and oils which adds shine, body, and strength to the hair. The oil in mayonnaise can also be a way to get rid of head lice.

*Eggs when raw contain a concentration of essential proteins and nutrients which help to strengthen hair follicles. The nutrients in the egg acts as a conditioner and adds volume, shine, and texture.

Castor Oil Hair Challenge!

  A lot of people don't know this about me but my hair is really thin on the sides almost to the point that its practically GONE! When I was little my mom made my ponytails SUPER TIGHT!!! My hair was so thin and couldn't take it and slowly began breaking off on the sides. Growing up as a child this made me really self conscious and I did my very best to hide it. I felt as if people would make cruel jokes about my hair and laugh at me. When first starting this blog I knew I would have to share this part of myself but that still doesn't make it any easier. Part of building confidence is not being afraid to freely let your imperfections show and not being ashamed. So this is me letting it all hang out.

                                                                     
 Whewww *sigh of relief* It feels great to talk about my thin sides and not feel ashamed and uncomfortable. Lately I've been hearing a lot of hype about castor oil, Jamaican Black Castor Oil to be specific. Castor Oil has many useful hair benefits such as :

1.Thickening Hair that is beginning to thin

2.Reduce/Prevent hair damage

3.Prevents dry scalp

4.Deeply conditions/moisturizes hair and scalp

Most importantly castor oil INCREASES HAIR GROWTH!!!

  After doing my research I decided to make a natural hair challenge for myself. For the next 8 weeks I will deep condition my hair with castor oil at least once a week I've come up with a weekly regiment that I believe will give me he best resuts.

Weekly Regiment

1. Apply castor oil on edges, all throughout scalp,and on the ends of hair

-Allow Castor oil to sit in hair for at least 5 hours (Longer if possible)

2.Shampoo hair with SULFATE FREE Coconut Milk Organix and apply Coconut Milk Organix Conditioner

-Gently Brush or Comb hair after applying conditioner

3.Apply Coconut Organix Split Ends Mender all throughout hair

4.When styling hair only use Raw Shea Butter

-Be careful not to use too much to avoid causing a build up

5.Before going outside make sure to seal moisture in hair use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

   I test ran my weekly regiment January 18th. I applied the castor oil to my dry hair and scalp and then put a shower cap on my head. The shower cap helped to prevent getting the castor oil all over my pillows and clothes. I left the oil in my hair overnight. By the time I went to wash the castor oil out, my hair was really soft and some of it had turned into little curls.

 I styled my hair in a twist-out using the raw shea butter. Before applying the shea butter in my hair I put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. This just made the butter softer making it easier for me to work it through my hair.

  Even though this is only Week one of my natural hair challenge I'm really loving the results so far. My hair feels a little bit stronger already and has a nice shine to it that I could only get before by loading tons of product in my hair. The ultimate goal of this natural hair challenge is to make my sides grow back in. I'm hoping for the best and will keep you all posted on my progress:)

Bring on the Mayo!

For ages, I've been hearing about Mayonnaise and the supposed "wonders" it does for your hair. But the thought of smelly mayo in my hair never really appealed to me and it was something I thought I would NEVER want to do. But the familiar saying "Never Say Never" was made evident to me. Curiosity got the best of me and I HAD to know; IS MAYONNAISE REALLY GOOD FOR YOUR HAIR? I went about looking up what Mayonnaise did for your hair and while doing a bit of research I also looked up other things such as eggs, honey, and olive oil. All have different proteins and qualities that help promote your hair's strength, gives hair sheen, and keeps hair moisturized. So, being the curious person that I am, I mixed mayonnaise, pure honey, and one egg together to see what would happen. I didn't see the real point in putting an egg in the mayonnaise since mayonnaise is made of eggs but I said "What the heck?" and threw it in anyway. I used about a 2 cups of mayonnaise, about 3 tables spoons of honey and one egg (all approximations except for the 1 egg of course) and then I stirred them together. The mixture still had the scent of mayonnaise but the consistency was slightly thicker than just plain mayonnaise due to the honey. 

(left) picture of the mayonnaise mixture
(right) after applying the conditioner

Now, before I put this "concoction" into my hair I went on YouTube and other natural hair blogs to see what other people put into their mayonnaise conditioners and a lot of people used some of the same things. The only think I didn't directly put into my mixture was an oil. I wanted to see how the mixture would take to my hair without an oil. So dampened my hair with warm water and I proceeded to put the mayo conditioner into my hair. I was expecting the mixture to remain soft but as I moved on to different sections of my hair I started to realize that the sections I had already finished were beginning to get hard like a mask. After putting the mayonnaise conditioner on my entire head, I put EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) on my entire head as well and put a plastic cover over my hair. I would say I let the conditioner sit in my hair for about an hour. For majority of the time, I was in a hot bath tub. I say this because the extra heat and steam may have played a factor in the results that I got. So after the hour passed, I first rinsed as much as the mayonnaise conditioner as I possibly could with just warm water. My hair was soft and smooth but I still had residue in my hair from the conditioner and I still felt as though the smell was in my hair and I needed it OUT! I washed my hair with Herbal Essences: Hello Hydration Shampoo and finally got the smell and remaining residue out. After doing this I noticed that my curls had more definition and in some parts I had very defined coils. Usually after washing my hair, the ends of my hair would be tightly curled but the rest would be loosely curled. I don't know if this mixture worked or if this was just a time where my hair wanted to be extra nice to me and show me some of it's surprises. So I was wondering. . . has anyone ever tried mayonnaise as a conditioner? And if so, what things did you add to you're mixtures? And what results did you get? Feel free to let us know either on here (by clicking the link that says "comments" below) or our twitter page( link located on the bar at the bottom of the page)!