New blog address: http://suburbanbushbabe.wordpress.com/

I went on over to Wordpress.  Just like the features more.  Check me out there:


http://suburbanbushbabe.wordpress.com/

Tips to Loosen Curly Hair?

Kimberly recently emailed me with a request for tips on how to naturally loosen curly hair.  Other women might give her the verbal side eye, wondering why she has issues with the tightness of her texture.  I have no such agenda.  My shrinkage is so extreme, I live for second and third day hair.  And my favorite days are when I sport a twist out and -- yay! -- my hair is shoulder length! One day I had a fresh dry wash and go after wearing a twist out the day before and a colleague asked me "Wasn't your hair shoulder length yesterday?"  So Kimberly, I sympathize.

Dry styled second and third day hair is one of the very few ways to loosen my hair.  Somehow the act of loosely pulling my hair into a scunci overnight stretches the curl a bit.  It also gives me a wicked case of bed head, but scrunching with Devacurl Set It Free and a dab of shea butter or a tiny bit of castor oil will fluff out the dents.  Adding water or using a spritz simply results in more shrinkage.

The only other way I know to loosen curly hair is twist outs, braid outs and bantu knot outs.  I like the dry twist and curl method as it imparts volume to my fine and fairly thin hair.  If your hair is thick, twisting on wet hair will likely work better for you. 

I do a dry twist out on second or third day hair that was air dried or diffused on wash day.  I do add product to my dry twists and usually do between 11 and 14 twists. The products I use are Devacurl Set It Free for the length.  For the ends I use Afroveda Curly Custard or a similar product (Curl Junkie Hibiscus & Banana Honeybutta leave in or Botanical Spirits Kinky Coils pudding). It is important to saturate the t wist ends with product.

I don't comb or brush so my texture is incorporated into the twist and subsequent twist out. The trick is to not get the hair wet or even damp really (except for the ends), just soft enough to finger separate. I aim for smooth, not necessarily detangled hair.

Dry Twist and Curl How to:

•  With plain water in a spritzer, lightly spritz the entire loose head of hair 3-5 times tops. This softens the ends since I'm not combing or brushing.

•  Isolate a section to twist, sectioning off the rest of the hair with duckbill clips. Spray two or three sprays of Set It Free in palm and smooth that down the length of the section to be twisted. Separate with fingers and twist.

• Towards the end of the twist, smooth some of the thicker product down each end to saturate and completely detangle, then finish twisting to the ends

• Optional: roll the ends with small foam rollers.

In the morning, I undo and gently finger separate each twist 3 or 4 times. That's it!   How do other curlies fight shrinkage and loosen texture?              
                                                                                                                                        

The First Mother: Inner Beauty Trumps the Hot Iron

Doesn't matter whether FLOTUS straightens or is natural.  And there are very few women I would say this about.  In photo after photo of Michelle Obama what shines through her skin is the beauty of her spirit.  I don't gush, but I don't think I'll stop admiring this woman. 

However....if she wore her natural texture and didn't have to straighten the bejusus out of her hair; if she had the freedom of that natural beauty, imagine how much more powerful she could come across?  Just sayin'...

Arizona Immigration Reform

Don't Quit Your Day Job

I didn't. Instead, I got laid off today. I'm sharing it here because a few weeks or months from now I want to return and see in print exactly how I felt this day...surprisingly, pretty darn good!

Yes, there was shock. Being in a room with five others experiencing the same thing. My mind distanced itself from my body a bit and went into auto-pilot.  It became difficult to write my information or hear what the outplacement guy was saying. My body just wanted to stay still and recover.

After that -- I felt free. My body recovered, my mind linked back and I started to feel almost--exhuberant.  My mind was planning, checklisting...thinking, even as I packed my stuff and talked with the operations manager and my supervisor. No awkwardness whatsoever.  It also seemed that each person involved was doing their part in a caring, thoughtful way.  The only jarring note was the HR Director, who is always on-site during layoffs, was linked in by phone due to some plane issues (Icelandic volcano-caused, I think).

In the coming week, I'll be updating my LinkedIn profile and requesting the recommendations my managers offered (while the memory and the guilt of laying me off are still fresh). I may do a Youtube elevator pitch or introduction.  I'll contact the outplacement firm and begin to update my resume. I already called my former life coach and asked her to work with me again for 3 months. And I have a spot reserved in an upcoming small 6-week peer support group of career changes/job seekers called Success Teams.

I will also be grieving the loss of the physical act of going to work and working with the wacky, strange and wonderful guys on my team.  After almost 11 years of working for this company, I know I need to find or create a new structure, fast. It helps that I have a fast approaching deadline and an article to write.  Check out my latest on www.Curlstylist.com -- I interviewed  three rockstars of the curly world on curl highlighting techniques -- Christo, creator of the Curlisto haircare line, Denis Da Silva of Devachan, and Antonio Gonzales, master stylist at Orlando Pita Salon and a blogger and columnist for www.Curlstylist.com.

I got laid off, but I feel like life is good. I feel taken care of.  It feels like God cleared the decks, gave me a soft landing and created a safe, open space for me to do...what? Follow him, and create whatever he tells me to.

Monet is the Winner!

Congratulations to Monet, the winner of the PhytoSpecific Revitalizing Oil giveaway. Her "Styled or Wild" photos submissions were exactly on point. And I plan on posting them in the coming week -- be sure to visit, subscribe, and judge for yourself.

Stay tuned for the next giveaway!

Giveaway! Styled or Wild? Is it Pure Hotness or Just a Hot Mess?

Happy Easter, Curlies! Didn't find an Easter egg with a prize? Here's a bigger chance to win!

The  lucky winner of the upcoming Styled or Wild? Is it Hotness or Just a Hot Mess  feature will win the following prize:

PhytoSpecific Revitalizing Oil Pre-Shampoo (Retail value: $30.00)
Sephora.com has more information

To qualify: For a chance to win, submit 2 photos  -- one of a  hot natural do (curly, protective, Afro, locs, etc.) you'd wear in a hot minute, and one that is just plain out of control.   I'll run the winning entry on my blog and you win the goodies! Styled or Wild is planned as a repeating feature. If you show your interest by send in an entries, I'll be doing another giveaway soon! Ya know?

Deadline for Entries  - Extended to Tuesday April 13th.

Send your entries to suburbanbushbabe@gmail.com

The fine print: To be a valid entry, photos submitted in Jpeg format only must be included and the following terms must be met. By submitting content for this giveaway you grant Starry Elven Twins and Suburbanbushbabe all rights to use your submission.  You acknowledge that the content you submit is yours to provide and does not break any copyright laws.  If the photo's ownership is in question, your entry must include that information as well as the location of origin so that Starry Elven Twins blog can verify usage and/or edit the photo as necessary.

MakeupVixen is the Winner!

Actually you all are -- but MakeupVixen gets the giveaway - a copy of Thank God I'm Natural autographed by the author, Chri-Tia Donaldson.  Congrats, curly!  It was a tough choice, and I want to thank you all for participating.  Great stuff!

Check back in on Friday, April 2nd for the next Giveaway!

Giveaway! Win an Autographed Copy of Thank God I’m Natural

The Giveaway is here!  And the lucky curly wins a copy of Thank God I'm a Natural, personally autographed by the author, Chris-Tia Donaldson.

For a chance to win, submit your idea for a natural hair workshop you want to attend. You know the one. You've been jonesing for a chance to learn new things and resources, meet other curlies and exchange tips with them, and come away refreshed with new information and feeling even more wonderful about that beautiful head of hair. And you are not alone!

Guidelines - Send in your brief answers to these questions:

- What idea or topic would you like to see at a natural hair workshop?
- Why is this topic important to you and to other curlies/naturals?
- What does the audience look like?  (Professionals, college students? Age,
   hair type, etc.)
- What format is best -  teleconference, in-person workshop, or
   other format?
- How much should it cost?
- Where should it be held (school meeting room, church, bookstore
   meeting room, hotel conference room, local coffee shop, other?)
- Which matters most - Being able to attend from the comfort of your desk?
   Free parking? Public transportation?

End date: The deadline to e-mail your entry is 11:59 p.m. Friday March 19, 2010. 

The Winner - I'll announce the winner the week of March 22nd right here on my blog. The winner will receive an e-mail before the blog announcement.

Send entries to:  suburbanbushbabe@gmail.com  And please be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Good Luck, and let those creative juices flow!


Thank God I'm Natural is a must-read for any black woman who has suffered hair loss or breakage caused by relaxers — or has grown tired of spending thousands of dollars and their entire Saturday afternoons frying their kinky tresses into submission.  Featuring the advice of celebrity stylists for Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu (among others), readers will get ALL the information they’ve always needed — to look good on the outside and most importantly, feel good on the inside.  Full of personal tales — of hair disasters and ultimate successes, THANK GOD I’M NATURAL offers thorough and extremely modern and up to date information — and a plethora of tips to help women go natural the right way. You won’t want to do your hair again until you’ve read this lifesaving, reference book and heartfelt narrative from cover to cover!

Giveaway coming!

Hello, beautiful curlies. I've amassed some goodies -- so it's giveaway time! Stay tuned for the first, coming later this week. Tune in this Friday and try your luck!

Curly Archetypes: The Women of Power Who Made a Difference

Check out my latest article at Naturallycurly.com  in celebration of International Women's Month. Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is observed on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but also throughout March to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women. The first IWD was held 1911 in the USA.

Random Thoughts

I used to worry about things so much more than I do now. I guess the therapy is working.

My car was due for inspection in December and I'm driving around with an expired sticker because it burns oil and needs a new catalytic converter which it is not going to get. I don't care.

My engine light has been on for 9 months (that burning oil) - I don't care! Car's driving fine, 60 miles a day.

Toyota did a mega recall? I don't care. I'm buying another Toyota, just not in the recalled years/models. Gotta be some great bargains out there. My respect goes out to the CEO who has apologized profusely and taken personal responsibility for the mess. Just don't go and commit seppuku, Toyoda-san. Fix the problem.

Q&A - Natural and long, but too thin!

 Dora writes:


Q.  I am completely natural and have been for about 7 years now. I have bra length, fine soft hair. My hair does not like to be twisted. When I did wear twists, I did not like them because you could see my scalp. When I wear a ponytail I have to make sure I brush my hair a certain way, so that my scalp won't show. Is there anything that I can use or do to thicken my hair up. I henna once a month or every 3 weeks and sometimes it depends on how fast the grays decide to show up. I thought by being natural my hair would become thicker on its own.

A.  As a natural for 7 years, your hair has gone through all the phases of growth, probably several times. Let's just review:

Anagen - active growth - new hair is pushing out the old fiber and the follicle is growing deep for nourishment
Catagen - the transitional phase. Hair detaches from the blood supply and the hair follicle shrinks
Telogen - Resting. Hair fibre easily pulls out
And there is one more phase, mesanagen -- a returning to growth.

A full cycle can last anywhere from 2 to 5 years per follicle. And sometimes hair or patches of hair can get stuck in the resting, or telogen phase.

Everything you put into your body eventually comes out in your hair, usually within three to six months. . Hair grows from living follicles in the skin of the scalp. At the shaft, or root of the hair, all of your major systems are at work, including your circulatory, endocrine and central nervous system.

Other factors for thin hair and ways to improve hair health:

Today's Quote

"Make giving up not an option because if this is your mind set, finding solutions will be the journey and the days when your hair just doesn't look right to you, you will pass it up as part of the journey."

Gotta Have Curls from www.Naturallycurly.com

Clay-- Going the All Natural Route Without the Big Expense

Keisha writes:

Q.: I am a 9 month transitioner and loving the process. I will BC in 3 months on my one year anniversary.

I had a couple of questions dealing with natural hair clays and masks. I really want to go the all natural route without the big expense. I have been using amla and shikakai mixtures, henna and honey mixess, bentonite clay, ACV; honey and EVOO  mixes; shea butter, coconut oil, evoo, jojoba oil mixtures.


But I have been hearing about the rhassoul clays, zisyphus spina christi, and marshmallow root.  Where do you order these things from?  What are the uses of these products? Can I use them now on my transitioning hair or should I wait until completely naturally? What recipes do you use with these products? Do you know of any other clays?

A.: Many of the herbs and plants we use for our hair are also used for herbal detoxification, elimination and removal of toxins from the the liver and digestive system. These include burdock root, fenugreek, ginger root,  marshmallow root, as well as Bentonite clay (Monmorillonite).

I first used clay (Bentonite) as part of a  digestive detox.  Imagine downing 8 oz. of bentonite clay and water 3 times a day for 2 weeks! Luckily, for your hair to benefit from the "mud treatment" all you need is to slap it on your hair. 

Rhassoul clay (Hectorite) comes from Morocco and is 100% naturally occurring.  It is only for external use (unlike Bentonite) and is a very popular spa treatment.  I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs. Their Rhassoul is untreated, quarry mined and sun dried from naturally occurring lake-side deposits.

3-day hair and 3 days of working out - Touchdown!

Hair at the start of day 3. This is the side I sleep on.

I rediscovered a great multi-day combo that withstood 3 days of an 11-hour per day fitness training intensive called a NIA White Belt. A lot of sweating was done - 2 formal classes a day plus many more moving and sweating opportunities during the training. The kind of workshop that requires a change of workout clothes from the skin out, or you walk around with wet clothing.

10 Most Important Steps for Growing Healthy, Hypercurly, Natural Hair

Acceptance and Clarity - Take off the "mental wig." Once I accepted that I would never have Botticelli curls, I began to see that my hair could be even more beautiful. To actually see my hair, I need to look at photos. Mental distortion can occur when I look in the mirror, but the camera doesn't lie.

Understanding - Observe your hair under different circumstances, different climates. Learn to understand what your hair does, not what you want it to do and build on that. Look inward at your own hair, not outward at someone else's.

Look, listen and learn - It's a given that other naturals know more than I do, especially if their hair is thick and long and beautiful, right? I'm so teachable!

Protection: At night, protect the hairline with a silk head wrap, guard against friction with a silk pillowcase. Anchor the hair in a loose puff or large twists so it doesn't shift or rub against itself. During the day, I wear my hair out 95% of the time. Protection means the right products applied to each strand and a soft, aloe-vera based gel for hold. And no touching! (that one is hard.)

Celebrating 3 years of Natural Hair - 10/21/06

October 21, 2006 was the day I got my third and last “little chop” -- 3 cuts I had gotten between then and August of 2005 when I stopped texlaxing. (My texlax had been a medium-strength sodium hydroxide relaxer kept on only as long as it took for the hairdresser to apply it). With the last of my texlaxed ends cut off, I walked out onto Church Street in Cambridge, MA with naturally curly hair for the first time in my adult life.

  December 2006 - A rainy day of shrinkage

This year I became aware the date was creeping up sometime in September. I began to mentally mark the days to my natural anniversary. It would pop up in my mind periodically. I thought about possibly celebrating it, at least with a "woohoo!". I looked forward to being 3 years a natural, one more year of knowledge and increased love for my hair.

 October 4. 2009 length check - wet and styled. I lose 2 inches when it dries.

I remembered the tough spots I faced in those 3 years: a bald spot on my temple, thinning hair from menopause and dropping hormone levels; having a major cut mid-2008 to get rid of some bad ends; and finally, the painful 16+ month transition from brown, color-treated hair to fully and naturally gray.

Hair Q &A: Hair in a cold, cold climate

Q: My daughter has a hair type EXACTLY like yours, and I am @ a loss for what to try in her hair. We live in a very cold climate so I am opposed to wetting her hair daily, but NO matter what I do her hair comes out looking like an oversized cotton ball. When wet it is eerily similar to your hair type but swells into frizz. HELP!! BTW you have a beautiful mind and beautiful hair! Thanks Sis!

A: Thanks so much for your kind words, I felt really good reading them.

Cold climates are usually dry and that's the challenge. I think I'll write a post on this topic (see previous post). If your daughter's hair is similar to mine, her hair could get puffy and frizzy for 2 possible reasons:

Fall 2009 Hair Routine: Guess summer is gone. At least that's what my hair is telling me.

A month into Fall and it snowed today, a light wet snow. Alrighty then!

Life was good in the summer once I figured out what my hair needed - Up to 3 days with one wash and go and high dewpoints to help my hair more easily fluff out and back down on day 2. I would do dry twist outs after 3 days and easily go 6 days before washing again.

Now I wake up to a stringy hard mess on day 2. But you know? It's all about making those seasonal changes:

• One of these is shea butter. Haven't touched it once since maybe May. Now it's my new best friend. The thickness of it works better for me in cold dry air to keep moisture in than a thinner product like Qhemet Olive Honey Hydrating Balm or even castor oil. Both of these work like a charm in the summer, hydrating and protecting the ends yet inviting that atmospheric moisture in.I emulsify about a 1/4 tsp of shea butter in my hands in the shower and scrunch right over conditioner after I've detangled. I make sure to cover every end. If I'm dry twisting, a little shea on my ends after moistening them with Afroveda Curly Custard or Curl Junkie Honeybutta leave in is protective and softening.I'm also adding a little shea butter to my Devacurl Set it Free for dry 2nd day hair. Shea butter works especially well to hydrate if the product I'm using contains large amounts of glycerin.
  

• Glycerin, that's another thing - I dial it down in the cool to cold dry weather, when there is much less moisture in the air to be captured. Glycerin heavy products like Qhemet Honeybush gel and CJ Aloe Fix will go into hibernation until what passes for the monsoon season up here.

• More water for the hair in the winter-- This may sound counter-intuitive because the last thing you want to do is walk around in the cold with wet hair -- and I'm not recommending that. But this time of year, my hair needs more frequent hydration -- more cowashings and shampoos to get it wet more. To avoid the wet cold head, I will use my diffuser more often or even my hard bonnet dryer, and wash more frequently at the end of the day. I'll try more roller sets to bun for 3 days or so, followed by dry twist outs. Adding a light scrunch of moisturizing product daily, of course.

• More moisturizing deep treatments - did I say more? I did not do one moisturizing DT the entire summer. Not one. With the moisture-attracting and enhancing products I used and the high dewpoint, there was no need.
  

My hair's key to summer/hot/humid vs. winter/cold/dry? In the summer, I want my hair and the atmosphere to be equalized. That means I'm going to load on the humectants and attract moisture to my hair. If it's equalized I don't get frizz. If my hair is less hydrated than the atmospheric moisture, it's going to frizz. Badly (See my Summer 2009 journal).

In the winter, none of that equality with the air crap. I will do everything I can to keep moisture in my hair from being leeched by the dry air. That means more moisturizing (water, conditioners) a heavier butter like shea, more frequent co-washing/cleansing, more deep treatments, and more frequent moisturizing of my dry hair.