Natural Hair: As Compared To...

When I first began my natural hair journey, I compared it to losing weight. It was no longer a habit. It was something I had to turn into a lifestyle. And everyday my mom saw me carting in a few more bottles of oils to try on my hair, was the more she understood that I was no longer turning back. And it was the same with my weight loss. Now I kow I haven't lost a drastic amount of weight, but I haven't gained any either.

When I left High School, I was a whopping 192lbs. Not my best look and definitely not my best feeling. But I got into college and without really putting into perspectiv the hills I had to literally climb everyday to get to class, I slowly dropped weight. Yes ladies and gents. I wasn't one of those girls who gained their freshmen 15. I, in fact lost it, and kept it off throughout school because I eventually (though late) made it a secondhand lifestyle. I say secondhand because though I want it to be a first priority, my healthy has still taken the back burner amongst other things in my life. Anyway, let me stop ranting.

I got inspired to write this blogpost because of a recent video I saw on my YouTube subscriptions list entitled "Natural Hair: It's A Sport". This vlogger has a thing with the [natural] ladies in the YT community but he also spits a lot of truth. And I thought I would share. You can watch his video below or click the link in the line above.

Nevertheless, I completely understood where he was coming from! Just like a lot of Natural sistahs see it, he was able to grasp the concept of having natural hair and what it partially means. A sport you may ponder?... hmmm... I know. But what's the diff? He calls it a sport, I call it a lifestyle.

Enjoy!

It's All About: E.L.F. Products!

Night out with the Besty!

So about a week ago, I sent off for some make-up products, seeing as how I am trying to become better versed in using make-up. Not saying I'm going to using it on a regular basis but it is always good for a woman to know a few tips & tricks up her sleeve when it's time to really get down to it. I must say I am still new at this whole world of make up. I have done a few looks, like the one to the right (I'm wearing the leopard scarf). However, that "smokey eye" didn't turn out as smokey as I wanted it to... and I realized that my finger was obviously not the only tool I should be using when I apply makeup. So I began my search!

 NC 45 Concealer

First I went to MAC with my girl Netchem and splurged (or what I call "splurge") on their "NC 45" Concealer and their "Spiked" eyebrow pencil. These can be seen to the right and below. All together, I paid a whopping $40 for just these two trinkets but I am happy to announce that I definitely didn't have any buyers regret when it came to MAC! Anyway, the next task at hand was to find good tools. At first I was all focused on a brush that would jazz up my eyebrows--the one asset on your face that makes AND breaks your look depending on how you treat them. However, after being realistic about 1) my money flow and 2) my skills, I settled for a brand we all know about.  I went over to the Eyes. Lips. Face. website, surfed their site for brushes that they have in stock and went nuts when I realized E.L.F was a God send!!! Their brushes--almost all of them range in price from just $1 and can go up to $5-$8.

"Spiked" Pencil

When you think and compare, yes the other brands may use real fibers and hair, or wrap their strands more securely to prevent shedding but that's nothing a bit of Shampoo and conditioner can't take care of! So my main goal! Find a good Angled brush to use on my eyebrows ...even if it happened to be at their top price of $8 and that was an easy fix! Then I added a few more brushes, a pencil or two, a $10 100-pallet eye shadow kit, a powder to the bag and I was ready to check out. Now, I know myself better than anyone. Looking at the checkout price of $40, I was very impressed with myself but I KNEW I could find a way to get that bag lower.

So what did I do? ...

I went to trusty GOOGLE and found a site that housed E.L.F. coupon codes. Many didn't work but one did give me like $5 off of any purchase $25 and up. Just when I thought I was set and ready to go, my brain told me to take another look through at the coupon codes and out of nowhere up popped one link that would give me 12 free BRUSHES with my $20 or more purchase! I instantly plugged the code into my shopping cart and when I found out it worked, I knew it was time to adjust. First I searched for the free model that the code was giving you. Yes they turned out to be the cheaper set but who cares! Like I said, I am NO professional. So I went back to my cart, removed all the individual brushes I had added and then went back to boost my cart up to the $20 amount so I could get the 12 free brushes! Along with what I kept, I just had to add one more kit to the bag and what better than an eyebrow-ready kit.

*sigh*

I have NEVER been more proud of myself! And I believe I did very well. For now, I guess my advice to new make-up"ers" out there would be:

• Identify what you would like to enhance on your face, like how I wanted to enhance my brows and play down my blemishes
• Focus on ONE thing at a time. If you try to get EVERYTHING, you'll most likely lose a good bargain!
• You also want to start little. Don't feel like you have to get all the best brands out there. What's the point in paying for them if you'll end up using them only once a year, or at all at that!

...Pics are below to check out! And I hope this inspires all the ladies like me that are trying her best to show UP and show OUT!!

Packaging really does matter!

My 100-pallet eye shadow kit

The colors!!


MY 12, FREE BRUSHES

My eyebrow kit

My Pressed Powder

My Angled Brush (for my brows)

My turquoise shimmer pencil

Weekend Tunes: Changing the World

Writing my paper with the music blasting in my ears and I don't care HOW many people disagree with me. I just get this beautiful aura around me as soon as T-Pain's "Change the World" comes on. So beautiful I had to blog about it. Adapted from Eric Clapton's awesome original "Change the World", I could not be more proud of adaptations. All joke aside, the auto-tune can get on my nerve sometimes but this just really gave it a better feel. I don't know if it was the Harmony or Akon's alto in the back, but this song will always be a favorite of mine. Give it a listen below!

T-Pain feat. Diddy, Akon & Mary J. Blige

Trouble Sleeping?...

I arrive to work at 12pm and by 12:45, I already feel like I'm going to fall face first into the keyboard. So what do I do? I open up my email and prepare for a massive cleaning. Lets put aside the fact that I only have 4 unread emails and I'm OCD when it comes to organizing my account. Everything has it's own label, folder, and importance. Much ado that did *pssh*. Anyway, I come across an update from the blog, A Black Girl's Guide to Weight Loss--Yes! there is a blog out there for everyone--andf I notice they actually have a post up for people who have trouble sleeping. Can my self-appointed arrows shine any brighter?

If you have Trouble sleeping, I feel like this is an awesome Guide to keep you in the know. It's also filled with cool animation so that you're not just reading someone's boring thesis or script! Check it out and tell me what you think!

So far, I approve! You can click here to be directed to the post.

Free-99 Tales...

I was in my junior year of High School when I experienced my first adrenaline rush on what it could be like to acquire free things. "FREE-99" as my loves like to call it! Granted, it was a $3 Starbucks card--barely enough to purchase a "Tall Vanilla Bean Frap" from the vast coffee chain-- but it was $3 of sweet, creamy, goodness that I didn't have to flirt with to get a hold of...*pause*. And let's not forget to mention that homie was giving out 3 cards at a time just so he could get back to his "in-store" position; safe behind the counter making holiday lattes and mocha orgasms.  

Soon after that, I was acclimated into an organization with a former supervisor and because of all the events she took me to, I was picking up gift bags left and right. Yes! This was my Grammy's. And best of all, I was getting the award, the recognition, and the gift bag. Not just the plaque and a hand clap; poor Denzel and Halle at the Oscars! 

Listen, I don't mooch and I've never thought of possible ways in which to get free things but they sure have been coming my way a lot. Maybe it's my choice of career path or maybe it's a heap of good blessings. Using the word "Karma" would crush my mum--"DON'T YOU BELIEVE IN GOD, BONNIE?" she would ask. Nevertheless, I am pretty secure in writing my vast blessings/karma down. So the gift bags came and then the offers were pushed and I relented. It was just an awesome feeling. The greatest memory I have is of my 2010 summer internship at Penguin Group (USA). 

I was an editorial intern eager to get the job done and to have the bulbs to go off in my head with ideas. Hmmm, that was all good and propah (as the Caribbean would say) but the day I was given the green light...and the official I.D. card to gain access to the editor's storehouse, I didn't make joke to stack up. I'd go down with my awesome supervisor and she'd ask me if I need this or that--for the office I assumed but the day she gave me an extra pack of pens to start off the semester with, I was hooked. For the next ten weeks (1 day a week), we'd go down and she'd fill me up with rubber bands, paperclips, binders, those good-good  recyclable notebooks, fountain pens, highlighters, Post-It labels, Paper Mate markers, anything that would probably help me finish my upcoming semester of college smoothly.

After just a ten week internship, I was not only stocked for my upcoming semester but I was good until I graduated and then some. It was like heaven. 

Another encounter came up when I discovered my love for the health of hair. After taking a Journalism course and doing my final report on the sudden trend of African American women reverting back to their naturally grown tresses, it took me two years to fully gain an understanding for how big this phenomenon was. And so it occurred. I got hooked on to Natural Hair YouTubers like RusticBeauty, Kimmaytube, Blackonyx77, BeautifulBrwnBabyDol, and learned that there were activities to do that wouldn't sound suspect. Natural hair meet-ups are what I'm referring to. At these meet-ups, usually hosted by said YouTubers, we'd get to link up, meet each other for the first time, in a way be bedazzled by how many more women loved natural healthy hair, and in the process we would gain that support system that would banish all the doubts we ever had about transition back to our roots while still living in a Eurocen[trically] styled world. These meet-ups would consist of the gift bags I relished about above and inside would be every product [hair]-junky's dream! Nothing could be better than coming home with a compacted bag of top of the line product samples and possibly a raffle win. 

YES! My days of living under the Free-99 rule have benefited me in so many ways. I could not ask for better blessings...though I do accept other forms as well. And it's not about what I can get really; it’s about how I ironically get it. 

When All Else Fails...Crochet

It has been A WHILE since I have been able to put down my crochet needle. Simply because my main goal was to have a successful D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) Christmas. I know how much ear-warmers and finger-less gloves have been trending so when I saw BobWilson123's Ear-warmer Tutorial and Mikeyssmail's Fingerless Glove Tutorial, I had to revamp my christmas gift ideas and get to crocheting. At my local craft store, I was able to pick up a few fabulous bundles of rainbow yarn and with them, I made two awesome gifts! Pics seen below.

Red Heart Yarn is the best. Both in price and feel!!

I feel like my Fingerless Gloves came out quite nice!

This Flower tutorial can be found here!

A second pair that I made!

I inserted these buttons into the flowers myself!

Tell me what you think! Was the D.I.Y. Christmas gift method a good idea? Or would you still try and catch those sales? Comment below!

It's All About... Dwen!

Today--Christmas Day--marks one month since I sat down to get my very first tattoo. I know this post is long overdue but lets face it, I wasn't quite ready to show it (off) yet.  I got it on Black Friday (11/25/11) at 3pm at an awesome parlor in Park Slope called Third Eye Tattoo. And since then I have seen so many changes--both good and bad.

CHANGES LEARNED...
1) I never realized that tattoos were basically wounds. Okay! whatever, shoot me! But either way you put it, I was still intrigued. To know someone practically wounded me in the form of a beautiful significant symbol.

2) I noticed that the "ugly stage" ain't so ugly at all. Maybe it is to people with larger tattoos but my medium sized symbol made its way through its ugly phase quite gracefully. Almost made me wish it stayed a scab. Pics below

3) The final thing I noticed is the change in me. To put it simply, there is none. I am still the hyper, "young lookin'", over analyzing, smart-ass chick I was before I thought of even getting the tattoo.

CLEANING REG...
1) Washed it by hand, 3x/day w/ Antibacterial Dial Soap Bar
2) Immediately pat dry with a clean/unused paper towel
3) Used Bacitracin Ointment for the first week and a half
4) Followed up with Eucerin unscented lotion thereafter
5) Applied Bacitracin as well if I thought I needed it!
.....And YES! I got it the color red so that it could be an under-the-radar tattoo
So....

Without further ado, here she is. I call her Dwen after her cultural name, Dwennimen. She is an West African Adinkra Symbol.

See pics of my tattoo's stages below:

DWENNIMMEN

"ram's horns"

symbol of humility together with strength

The ram will fight fiercely against an adversary, but it also submits humbly to slaughter, emphasizing that even the strong need to be humble. 

11/25/11. At Parlor

11/25/11 After first cleaning

11/26/11 Inflamed Wound: Ugly Phase Part 1

11/27/11 All Scabbed Up: Ugly Phase Part 2

12/1/11 You Can See: Ugly Phase Part 3

12/14/11 The Aftermath

12/25/11 1 Month-a-versary!

Hope you find this helpful enough to pass along if you and/or a friend are looking to getting a tattoo sometime in the future. Any questions? Just comment below!