Be Enlightened!

I am a bit behind in my posts this week so what I will do today is to include a link to two posts from two different blogs that I follow. The posts were very enlightening so I decided to share with my viewers. Do enjoy and be enlightened!

No Dryer? No Problem!

Hair Therapy Wrap

Black & White Model

My notes today is not really about my model but about my camera issues. I decided to do something different - take a black and white picture of my model. But for some reason my camera was not functioning as it use to. I also took a coloured picture to add to the mix. But all in all this lady has it going on! Look at the length of her hair!!!! Lovely!!

I was assisting the cashiers that day and attended to this customer. I took the opportunity to get her picture. Apparently multi tasking is not for me. I am not too happy with my pictures and I was not able to have a mini interview. Ah well better days are yet to come!

What Do You Think?

I have been doing quite a bit of research on Bantu Knots and decided to knot my hair and see what kind of results I would get. Well last Saturday I deep conditioned my hair with Coconut Oil, then I washed it out with my regular shampoo.

My first decision was to let my hair air dry and then I decided against so I roller set my hair. When it was dry, I removed the curlers and combed my hair into some Bantu Knots.

Putting my hair in Bantu Knots when my hair is wet, will result in my hair being too curly. I combed out my hair on Sunday morning and this is the result. What do you think?

I don't really like it but maybe I have to do it a few times for me to get accustomed to it. I really don't like to see my ends sticking out like that. My next experiment is to braid my hair (vertically) and see what the end results will be.

The last three pictures are of my lovely daughter. The first one of her is when she cut her hair in 2008. Soon after, she realized that she did not like it and had braids installed. The style looks great but it entails alot of maintenance. To get a good look, most mornings she would use her curling iron.

In addition to that, she was forced to take care of her hair because she was not able to comb it into ponytail or bun. Which she loves to do basically every day.

The last two pictures of her - she had her hair touch up about three days ago and it has grown very nicely.

Chinese Bumps, Pig Nipples!

I was so excited when I met this lady today. She came into the store wearing this Bantu Knot hairstyle. As she was leaving the building I had a mini interview with her. I asked her what is the name of her hair style and she gave me a few names: Chinese Bumps, Cork Screw, Pig Nipples, Bantu Knots, Crab Eye (I received this name from one of my Facebook fan. At first the name sounded a bit strange but when I thought of a crab's eye, and looked at this lady's 

knots, I could see the relation!)

She said that she puts her hair in this hairstyle only so that her hair has a nice curl. Her hair is natural in the dreadlock style. It is not really her habit to be out on the street with her hair like this. She says that she does it occasionally.

There are occasions where she has a function to attend and this hairstyle would go appropriately with the garment she has to wear.

Coconut Oil

I recently learned about this product and bought a bottle from Nature's Way, Road Town (by the roundabout), Tortola BVI. But before I made the purchase I did a wide Google search on this product and the reviews were absolutely fantastic! I just had to get a bottle. It is great for the skin, hair and too cook with. I even referred it to a friend of mine who has problems with dandruff. One of the articles that I read, stated that is also good for dandruff.

My regime for tonight is to apply some into my hair and place my show cap over my head. I will leave the oil in my hair for an hour and then wash it out with my regular shampoo. During this 1 hour period, I would also apply some to my face.

I remember as a young child growing up our Indian neighbours used coconut oil alot but mostly in their hair. The smell was not too pleasant but apparently it was good for hair lice. Their hair looked greasy and 'packed' with this oil. I never really learned the benefits of this oil until now.

You can find this product and lots of other good items at my estore, newly opened. All products are from Amazon so you are guaranteed good products and service.

Estore

You may also want to check out this book that I bought when I first started my hair growth journey. I learned a lot with this book and using the system recommended in the book, I was sucessful in growing my hair to well under my neck line.

Bantu Knots

About three days ago I was reading the latest post of one of the blogs that I follow and the author wrote about putting her hair in Bantu Knots. I posted a comment asking her what are Bantu Knots. 

I then decided to Google Bantu Knots (isn't the Internet just great, you can search ANYTHING!). I was amazed at the amount of videos that I found on this topic. I found these two videos that gave simple instructions on how to comb your hair into Bantu Knots. It can be used as a method to style your hair or I have seen some people wearing it as a hairstyle. 

My mother combed my hair like this when I was a young girl but we called it 'CORK SCREW'! After watching the videos I decided to comb my hair in Bantu Knots and see what the end results would be like. My husband absolutely hated to see my hair in this style! I eventually removed the knots and combed out my hair. The results were alright but I notice that my hair is very dry in these types of hairstyles.

Let's Talk A Little About Wigs!

My niece-in-law made this wig and I had to ask her if she took a course and she said no. 

She watched a few YouTube videos in combination with some assistance from a family friend and she was able to put this wig together! Isn't it amazing???!!!! She said that she likes the flexibility of being able to have a variety of different hair styles. With a wig she does not have to spend any length of time at the hairdresser for them to install a weave in her hair. 

Her words were "I am using it now as a half wing because I love sew ins but I hate that you have to sew on your real hair. There is less damage to your hair or no damage at all with the wigs. The less you manipulate your hair the longer it will grow. So with the wig I can comb back my natural hair and just pin in the wig and be good to go. My hair will lengthen and basically suffer from no damage and I can have a diverse of hair styles."

Her Journey Has Just Begun

In one of my previous post I included a link to a post by my fellow Blog Catalog member. She recently started her natural hair growth journey. Now she has sent me some pictures so I can see her progress. Her hair looks so soft and light.

Apparently she was having problems with the ends of her hair which were damaged and she decided to cut off the permed hair. The last picture is of her before she cut her hair.

I was chatting with my daughter on line and she informed me that she has finally stopped using hair gel every day and that she is making an extra effort not to touch up her hair every month. I have been trying to introduce to some of the things that I learned in my hair gowth journey. She was trying to but she just would not leave the curling alone and she had to use her hair gel.

Check out this site that I just found and it is loaded with Black hair care information

On my last post she (my friend in the pictures) commented: "Perhaps we are meant to have locks. Hair appears to grow faster with locks because there is very little hair manipulation that can lead to breakage. However, what I have discovered is that our hair grows at the same rate regardless. The key to long hair is retaining length. So even if your hair grows and there is constant breakage then long lengths are never achieved. So basically, treat your ends like a fragile baby or a precious jewel and you will see how long your hair will grow.:"

I Am Thinking About 'Locking' My Hair!!!

I saw these photos on Facebook, of this young lady with beautiful locked hair (look at the length of her hair!) and of course I had to get consent to post them on my blog. 

You know something I think I am liking this natural hairstyle thing. I notice that people who choose this hairstyle, the hair grows pretty long in a very short space of time. The model in these pictures said that she has been growing her hair for eight (8) years now and her regime is very simple, she just uses hair grease and when she washes it, she twists it so it gets nice and curly. 

One of her comments was that she was amazed how fast the hair grows with dreads and when the hair is any other way it takes forever to grow. I guess black people are meant to have dreads.

Self Portraits Are Difficult

Taking self portraits is quite difficult. I spent almost about 45 minutes trying to get some good pictures of myself. I had to find the right position because some of the pictures had too much light. Then when I got that right, I was taking pictures of the top of my head, my breast, my television ....... 

I really wanted some from my right side of my face. But even though I am right handed it was very difficult to hold the camera in the perfect position. The better ones that I took were from my left side. I went to the hairdresser on Sunday 2nd August and I had a touch up done, applied a burgundy semi permanent hair color and had the ends of my hair trimmed. 

I love how my relaxed hair feels when I just return from the hairdresser, it is light and bouncy. Makes me feel even more beautiful!! Since I started my journey to grow my hair in 2004, I stopped using a hair brush. Yesterday I noticed my hairdresser using a hair brush (the one with the balls at the end) and while she was brushing my 

hair it left like a scalp massage. So I decided to purchase one. So you should see me brushing my hair last night. It felt really good. 

I am a member of Blog Catalog and I recently met another member that recently started her journey of growing her hair natural. She has a home deep condition that she uses and I plan to start using it. I will let you know how that goes. When I first started my hair growth journey, my hair had grown to about my shoulder blades but as I was not trimming the ends, it was long and short . So in 2007, I decided to eventually get my hair well cut. Now after having it trimmed on Sunday, I would not be trimming again until maybe next year about this same time.