Do Men Like Women's Natural Hair?

When I first started growing my hair natural in 2013, my husband would frequently tell me that he didn't like my hair but I didn't let that deter me from persuing my natural hair journey.  One of my friends who started her natural hair growth journey around the same time as me, had the same issue with her husband not liking her natural hair.  When I saw her a few months later, she had relaxed her hair again to please her husband.

I remember through my transitioning phrase my Caucasian friend would tell me all the time that she likes my hair.  She was, and still is, very supportive of my natural hair journey. On one of her shopping sprees in Puerto Rico, she bought me some lovely head bands.

So I thought that I would ask a few male family and friends what they thought a black women's natural hair.  The majority of them said that they had no problem with the natural hair.

During my research I found a video my a Caucasian male - the name of his channel is No Joke Howard and in one if his videos (titled -  DREADLOCKS, WEAVES AND WHY I LOVE BLACK WOMEN'S NATURAL HAIR) he spoke about his love for the black woman's natural hair!  I was amazed!  I inserted a small clip of his video in my video below.  

I also found another popular video by my African friend Sava (also the name of his YouTube channel) and the title of his video titled Why Black Men Hate Natural Hair - in which he talked about his experiences with his natural hair growing up.  I also I settled a short clip of this video in my video below.

It is now three years since I started my natural hair growth journey and I am 100% natural now and loving it.  My husband does not say anything about my hair any more, however, occasionally, he would put his hands in my hair.  May that's a good sign??!!

How I Avoid Painful Ear Popping On A Plane

I was reviewing one of my older videos where I talk about how I clear my ear piercing that was semi clogged.  Then I remembered an event, that happened to me many years ago, which I thought I really should share.

In 1982 my mom and I were traveling from Trinidad and Tobago (my home town) to Canada for the first time to visit my uncle.  This was our first time travelling so far.

The flight was direct to Toronto and the pilot flew the plane at a height of 33,000 feet!  Every thing was going great until the pilot announced that we were approaching the airport and he was beginning descend.  As the minutes passed I felt a tension in my temples. This tension grew to a excrutiating pain in my ears.  The pain was so bad I was in tears and thought that my ears drums were about to explode!  My mom was also in pain and I could tell that she felt helpless.  We did not know what was really going on.

We even asked the flight attendant for assistance but they were no help at all. Those last few minutes went by so slowly it was as if time was going in slow motion.

Eventually I felt a pop in my ears and the pain eased up for a while but headache and soarness of ears lasted for a while.

So my mom and I told my uncle what happened and he informed us that we needed to chew gum, swallow and blow very hard when we feel the pain coming on.  So on our trip back home we tried the suggested tips but none of them worked.

I learned about another tip of putting cotton in my ears on my next flight.  This tip worked!! I only experience the pain if the airplane plane has to fly very high.  I have no problems when I fly around to the Caribbean islands.

For this technique to work for me I must put the cotton (now I use ear plugs) before the door of the plane is closed. When I am in this state I can't speak to anyone because I can't hear!!

There was a time the plane had already taken off and I totally forgot to put in my ear plugs.  I then put them into my ears when I remembered but it was too late the pressure had already developed in my ears.  When the plane began to descend I paniked and tensed up in preparation of the pain which began soon after but it was not as bad as the very first time.

Other members in my family don't have this problem for which I am grateful because the experience is very unpleasant. I remember on one flight there was baby that began to cry as the plane began to descend and I knew what was going happening.  It hurt me to hear the poor child crying in pain and there was nothing much that could be done.

Nine Ways To Use Coconut Oil

As a young child growing up, I remember some of my friends of Indian decent, use to put a lot of coconut oil in their hair and the hair looked very greasy and shiny.  Plus their hair smelt a bit funny so since then I grew up with a negative attitude towards coconut oil. 

As I grew older I learned that coconut oil is a very healthy oil and can be used for so many things.  In this blog post I will be sharing with you nine ways that I use coconut oil.  Note:  Coconut oil becomes firm in cold temperatures and liquefies in warm temperatures.  So in some of the ways mentioned below, you may need to use the coconut oil in its liquid form.  Tip:  Try putting a small bit of coconut oil (when it is in the solid form) in your hands and rub your hands together.  The coconut oil will quickly reduce to a liquid form.  The heat from the friction of rubbing your hands together causes the solid coconut oil to become liquid.

1. Great for the hair. Use generous amount in the hair as a deep conditioner.  Put a show cap over your head for about 45-60 minutes then wash your hair in normal fashion.  You can also use coconut oil as a daily hair moisturizer, apply some to the scalp as well and massage.  It is good for hair growth.
2. Apply to your skin as a skin lotion.  You can also mix with your regular skin lotion and then apply to your skin.
3. I mix coconut oil with some baking soda and apply to my face as a exfoliator.  You can also use brown sugar instead of the baking soda.  The crystals of the brown sugar are big and will give you a nice facial scrub.
4. Add about a tablespoon in your smoothie.  I make a green smoothie every morning and I add a tablespoon of coconut oil.  You can also digest a tablespoon of coconut oil just like that if you think you can handle it.
5. Cooking oil is great to cook with.  When I prepare my eggs, I use coconut oil instead of butter.  If I am baking a cake for example and the recipe requires vegetable oil, I use coconut oil instead.
6. Oral Health:  I have been using coconut oil to do my oil pulling every day.  What is oil pulling?  Oil pulling is a technique where you put a tablespoon of oil in your mouth, swish it around for a few minutes and then spit out the oil.  This technique helps removes all the bacteria and toxins in your mouth.  Another benefits of Oil pulling, with coconut oil, is that it whitens the teeth.
7. I have been working from home since 2015 and there are days I don't put on my earrings and on the days that I do, I find it is a little difficult to get my earnings into the piercings in my ears.  So I apply a small bit of coconut oil to my ear lobes and massage them a bit and it is so much easier to put on my earrings after I have done this. 
8. Coconut Oil is great to use as a make up remover.  Just put a small amount of the coconut oil on a piece of cotton and apply to your face.  Wash your face and you will be amazed how effective this is and your face will be well moisturized and feel really soft.
9. Use a bit of coconut oil on your lips to moisturize.  I also like to apply a bit on my lips after I putting on my lip stick.  My lips have a beautiful shine and they are well moisturized.

Coconut oil is a great product in the home.  I always keep a bottle of coconut oil and baking soda in my pantry.  When purchasing coconut oil, look for the organic, cold pressed ones.

HOT NEWS: Gymnist Gabby Douglas Hair - AGAIN!

So today I decided to join the debate about Gabby Douglas hair during her performance at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and 2012 in London.

Olympics 2012, Gabby was the first African American to earn an individual, all round Olympic title!

OMG I am appalled at the amount of negativity out there especially on twitter about this young athlete!  People are talking about how she should have made an extra effort to make her hair look more presentable and that she has enough money to do this so why didn't she.  These same people are not even acknowledging that she has won more gold medals this year.  I am soo happy for her and her team!!

I was proud of her when I first saw her performance in 2012, I am not into watching the Olympics etc but the first time I saw her, she made an impression on me.  She is truly a gifted and talented young woman.  She works hard and I mean hard, to achieve this level of skill.  What I see is a woman that is FOCUSED and does not intend to let anything get in her way - not even her hair!

There are other athletes who have their weaves, extensions and braids while performing but not everyone is the same.  Gabby chose not to have any hair distracting her during her performance, she has her hair neatly tucked back and she is happy with that.  As I look closely at a few of her photos, she does have a weave or something in her hair but it is all pulled back. Gabby choice to put her money into her training which paid off BIG TIME!! But you can be guaranteed when she has to do go to an event, she would go all out to make herself look 'fly'!!!

Please people, stop the hating and show more love!  To Gabby, I am so proud of you and your accomplishments!  You go girl and please, please, ignore these haters.

Here is a response from Gabby in 2012 to the haters:

“What’s wrong with my hair?  I’m like, I just made history and people are focused on my hair?  It can be bald or short; it doesn’t matter about my hair.  Nothing is going to change, I am going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals.  You might as well stop talking about it!”

Review Of Possiave Hair Straightener Brush | Natural Hair

I had a desire to try one if those hair brush straightener that I saw on TV and the reviews from other YouTube creators are positive.  Eventually on July 30, 2016, I took action and ordered one of these products.  The first one that I tried ordering on Amazon for some reason my order was not going through.  Anyway I ordered the Possiave Hair Brush Straightener and on August 4,2016 the product was in my hand!!  Wahoo!! ☺️

I began reading the manual and by the third page I realized that the content was translated from another language because the translation was a bit rusty and I had a little trouble understanding the instructions but I was able to put the pieces together to be able to use the product. 

On the side of the brush handle there are three buttons, the top one is to start and turn off the brush, the middle one has a plus sign and is to be used to increase the temperature of the brush.  The third button has a minus sign and is to be used to decrease the temperature of the brush.  There is a LCD screen on the back of the brush handle where the temperature of the brush is displayed. The electrical cord is approximately 6 feet in length.

I had my hair in mini twists so I untwist my hair, brushed it out and applied some Kuza 100% African Shea butter.  While I was doing that, I had the brush heating up and stopped at it when it reached a temperature of 200 degrees celsius. Next I sectioned out my hair and began using the Possiave Hair Straightener Brush.    I think the highest it heats up to is 230 degrees celsius.

I used the brush straightener to brush each section of my hair and the curls of my hair began to stretch out but the ends of my hair were a bit husky.  However I was pleased with the results.  Keeping in mind that I don't want my hair to be bone straight but I just want to stretch my curls to make my hair more manageable.

When I was done even though my curls were stretched out a bit, my hair was like a big mass and believe or not I did not know what to do with it.  I found it to be a bit unmanageable. 

Issues.  While brushing my hair with this brush straightener, as I held the brush, my hand was over the controls which would fluctuate as I brush my hair.

On my second attempt (August 8, 2016): I co-washed my hair, sectioned it out and applied some Blue Magic Hair Grease and combed my hair into large twists.  By the next day when my hair was totally dry and I used the brush straightener again.  I brushed my hair in small sections and with each application, instead of using the brush as a brush, I used it as a curling iron and stroked my hair with the brush slowly, from the roots to the ends of my hair.  Right away I realized that I was doing the procedure better this time and my hair was a bit more straighter than the last time include the ends!👍👍

Now I can easily comb through my hair and put it into some sort of protective style.  My stretched hair basically lasted for a week.

My Friends Cut Off Their Dreadlocks Because Of Health Issues

My topic today is about another friend of mine that cut off his beautiful dreadlocks because of health issues. 

I did a post in 2011 about a lady, that I met in Trinidad, who had her dreadlocks cut in a bob hairstyle and it was dyed blonde.  I had a mini interview with her and asked why she cut the hair and she informed me that the hair was heavy and she was getting a lot of headaches.

Click the following link to read that post Heavy Long DreadLocks

My second friend (Kat), I also did a blog post about her in 2014, and she too cut her dreadlocks but this time she cut everything off.  She said that it was an injustice to the rastarfaian tradition if she just cut off some of her dreadlocks.  She was experiencing headaches as well and had problems sleeping.  After numerous massages and trips to her family doctor, she made a finial decision to cut off the dreadlocks.   The length of her hair was to the middle of her back. 

She is doing pretty good rocking her short natural hair.  But honestly she looked fabulous with her dreadlocks anyhow health comes first. 

Click the following link to read that blog post - Interview with my friend who cut off her dreadlocks

Now this year I saw a post on Facebook from friend's (Kat) husband that he too cut off his dreadlocks!  His hair was always nicely maintained and the length was up to his buttocks.  I had the opportunity to speak with him briefly a few days ago and asked him why he cut off his dreadlocks and he said that he was having some neck pain.  I know that his hair was his pride and joy so I am sure that this was a very difficult decision for him.  He too is donating his locks to the local cancer society!

Note to my friends:  you can lock your hair again and begin another journey!

Dreadlocks Stocking Cap

We Need Muscle To Burn Body Fat

On one of my many visits to my local grocery store, I met one of the workers there who every time I see her she has a different hair style.  So on this particular day when I first saw her my first comment to her was, "I can't keep up with you because every time I see you, your hair style is different!"  This time she had some purple braids installed.  They looked fabulous! 

So we were talking and I asked her if the braids were heavy and she said, "Not really".  But her only problem was when she is taking a shower it is a little hassle trying to avoid the hair from getting wet.  Plus she said she has not been going to the gym for the past couple of days because she is trying to avoid to sweat in her head.  In addition to that she said that she found that she was putting on weight even though she was working out so hard at the gym (we use to go to the gym at the nearby local community center and we became acquainted there - I no longer go to that gym)!

Well I became additionally alert when she said that! She said that she is building muscle and found that she is putting on weight!  I asked her if she is making this judgment based on what she is seeing on the scale and she responded positively.  I took the opportunity to tell her that she is on the right track because muscle is heaver than fat.  So at this point of her work out journey, she should not allow the scale to guide her but instead monitor how her cloths fit! 

Even though the scale may record that your weight may have increased but your cloths are beginning to get loose, you are on the right track!!! I encouraged her to continue with her work out routine!  Muscle increases our metabolism which interns helps our bodies to burn fat!!!

My Struggle To Maintain My Natrual Hair

I work from home full time and lately I have been struggling to maintain my natural hair. Before I was working from home, maintaining and styling my hair was a daily routine, as I had to go to work, plus my hair was much shorter. I started my natural hair growth journey in 2013.

Now my hair goes for days without being combed.  About a few weeks ago I tried something different.  I would wet my hair, apply some moisturuzer and pull my hair in one and leaving the ends exposed.  But on the day I decided it comb out my hair it was a little difficult to comb out even after wetting my hair a bit.

I don't like installing braid extentions and weaves into my hair. Presently it is my intention to get one of those brush straighteners.  I am very excited to try this product out.  If that doesn't go well which I think it will based on the videos I have seen reviewing the product.

However my plan B is to apply a mild texterizer to my hair.  I did this before and my hair looked lovely it was not straight my curls were just slightly stretched.

If you are thinking about growing your natural, first ask yourself why you want to do it.  Maintaining the natural hair is not as easy as it looks.  There is a lot of preparation involved.  Its not like you could just pull back your hair in one and go about your business if you have to go to a casual event.  For me most times, as long as I know in advance that I have an event to attend, I like to style my hair the day before.  Style in the sense that I will wash my hair, divide in sections, moisturize and twist.

Most times if my husband says let's go for a drive, my hair is not in an attractive style to go out the house because sometimes I may have my hair in mini twists and I don't really like how it looks when I go out.  Untwisting them takes a little time and my husband is very impatient.

Then the other side of that scenario is when I return home, I have to twist my hair again, which most times I don't do.

Review Of My 1st Soufeel Charm Jewelry Order

My 1st Soufeel arrived a few days ago and I was extremely excited to open my package.  The first thing that I removed from my package was a slip of paper that is a certification stating that my purchase is 925 - Sterling Silver.  The other things that were in the package were the charms that I purchased, a velvet pouch which I received free and it had a little slip in it with the words printed on it - POLY TAB - DO NOT REMOVE - ANTI TARNISH, a black piece of cloth which I assume is to clean the jewelry.

I purchased two charms for my test run.  I got the Hollow Lake Flower charm that has some tiny blue gem stones in the center of the flowers in the charm.  The original price was $45.00 and I got it at a whopping discount of about 80%.  I paid $9.99!  The next  item that I got is a dangle charm titled the Sydney Opera House.  I purchased this one for my travel bracelet.  The original price was $50.00 and I paid $25.00.

With this purchase I earned 11 points which can be used in a future purchase.  Soufeel has items on sale every day.  Each day a different one.

Note:  I purchased these items and they were NOT given to me free of change in exchange for a review!

Soufeel sells jewelry similar to Pandora and the great thing is you can put their charms on a Pandora bracelet or chain.

Review Of My 1st Soufeel Jewelry Order

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrXsjKP46UY

A Crazy Moment With My Natural Hair

I received a telephone call a few days ago and the caller invited me to a job interview for an application that I submitted.

The appointment was for the next day at 9:00am. So I decided that it was a good idea to style my hair the night before and gently combed out my hair.

Here are a few pics that I took, I felt a little crazy with my hair opened out like that.  It has sure grown a lot!

Using Baking Soda To Clean My Pandora Jewelry

Last year around this same time, I was about to put on my Pandora bangle bracelet and realized that it was tarnished!  The bangle bracelet was my first piece of Pandora jewelry that my son gifted to me a couple of years ago.  And I already had acquired a number of charms.  Alot of people would tell you that a Pandora jewelry collection could be a bit expensive.
 

The jewelry is available in sterling silver, gold, rose gold, sterling silver with bits of gold etc.  At this point I have only purchased the sterling silver Pandora Jewelry.  I have one leather bracelet that I received during one of Pandora's annual specials.

So you could understand when I got very upset to see that my Pandora jewelry was tarnished, to the point that I almost threw it away!  Then I thought about applying some baking soda on the jewelry. So I placed the Pandora bangle bracelet with the charms into a bowl and poured some baking soda (aka bicarbonate of soda) over it.  Then I mixed in some water to make a paste.  I rubbed the paste on the jewelry and left it for about 2 hours.

I then washed off the baking soda paste from the Pandora Jewelry and was amazed at how shiny it looked!  I was so happy!!  I am also grateful that I made an early decision to pull out my camcorder to record the event so my viewers could see the transformation!  That first video was not planned and was a bit unorganized so I recorded another one and explained what I was doing step by step.

I have received numerous comments on the first video from viewers reporting that they tried this tip and it has worked great for them.  Other people would tell you to take the jewelry to your local Pandora store to have your Pandora Jewelry cleaned.  Sometimes it's just more convenient to clean it yourself at home.  Note:  I tried cleaning the jewelry with dishing washing liquid but it left my jewelry looking dull.

Pandora Sterling Silver Jewelry Maintenance/Cleaning Tips

You might also be interested in Pandora's cleaning kit. Here is my video reviewing this product. CLICK HERE 

Using Baking Soda To Clean My Pandora Bangle Bracelet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-lnwDweKQ

How I Use Baking Soda To Clean My Pandora Jewelry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDjsGktXQSg

Blog Name Changed To Pearlina1925 about my Natural Hair Growth and Pandora Jewelry Collection

Okay so I have changed the name of this blog again!!!  I have a related YouTube channel and the name was Beautiful Hair (or something like that).  On that channel I have also done a few videos about my Pandora Jewelry collection and a few beauty tips.  I have realized that the Pandora jewelry videos are more popular than my natural hair growth videos.  Then I realized that the content on the channel is not only about my natural hair growth journey and made a decision to change to name to Pearlina1925.

Why Pearlina1925?  Well I thought this would be a great opportunity to give a tribute to my mother whose first name is Pearl and since I keep forgetting which year she was born, I decided to combine her name with the year she was born so I would not forget.  Now my first name is Martina, as you may already know so I used the last three letters of my name and attached it to Pearl and walla!!!  Pearlina!!!  Pearlina1925!!!

My YouTube channel Pearlina1925

Conversation With A Natural Hair Twist Out Model

I had a very entertaining conversation with a young lady yesterday.  I went into a store to purchase some stuff for my kitchen and while doing the checkout, I observed that the cashier's hair is natural.  It looked like she did a twist out - it look full, lush and beautiful!!  

A twist out is when you separate the hair in sections and separate each section of hair into two and then twisted them.  Also known as a two strand twist. The next day or maybe days later, the sections are untwisted and left like that or styled.

I told her that I made an attempt with unplaiting my hair and did not like the results, my hair would just stick out.  She also shared that her hair needs alot of water and her experience with braiding her, she realized that she had to keep moisturizing her hair even though it was in braids.  

As you can see even though her hair is natural, some chemical dye was applied to her hair to change the color.  This causes the hair to be dry so that's a double set of dryness as our hair is naturally dry.

Extra caution has to be taken to moisturize the hair even though it may be in a protective style.  Which is where a lot of women fall short in their natural hair growth journey.