Milk & Honey Hair Smoothie - Pre/Post Swim Conditioner

Here's a great hair smoothie/deep treatment recipe from Curls. I don't swim in chlorinated pools because chlorine is to me what sunlight is to a vampire. But this would make a great DT for any parched hair. I would apply pre- or post-cleanse on dry or wet hair, and use with my Micro Hair cap.

• 1 can of pure coconut milk (rich moisturize - hydrates, conditions and de-frizzes hair)
• 1 ripe avocado (natural source of protein - chlorine robs the hair of protein)
• 2 tablespoons of pure honey (conditions and adds sheen)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (hydrophobic oil that acts as a barrier to chlorine and salt water)

Directions:
Add ingredients to blender. Mix at high speed until your concoction reaches a smoothie consistency.

Store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. You can warm up your hair smoothie in the microwave before next application...just enough do de-chill.

Father's Day

Fathers Day is hard. I'm used to ignoring it and ignoring my feelings about it. But not this year. This post is way late because for the past couple of weeks I flittered around the subject like a dragonfly over water, avoiding heavy water that could drag me down and cause me to drown.

I have many mixed and uncomfortable emotions about my father. Our relationship has been too close, too distant, too uneven, too silent, too codependent, too controlling, too bitter, too poignant. I cannot in my lifetime remember having a direct, heart-to-heart, mind-to-mind, loving conversation with him -- one where he asked and listened, and I asked and listened.

Until a couple of years ago, my parents and I were estranged.

Hair Haiku, or Will Write Poetry for Free Products

Clinging wavy wet
hair shrinks tight when air touches
cotton candy strands


Or something like that.

Do you feel inspired to write a hair haiku? Post it at
http://www.curlynikki.com/2009/07/kccc-giveaway.html
for a chance to win a free jar of Kinky-Curly Curling Custard.

Michael Jackson: In Memoriam

Michael Jackson entertained us and performed for us for 45 of his 50 years on this earth. His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time. His music videos helped define the medium.

"From his earliest days with his brothers in the Jackson Five in the 1970s, through the remarkable peak of his solo career in the 1980s, Mr. Jackson’s music is characterized by risk, invention and musicality....

In the coming days, we will be overwhelmed by stories that will summarize, and maybe even gloat about, his misadventures. The most casual pop fan has heard the stories of the abuse he claimed to have suffered as a child, his many plastic surgeries, sexual indiscretions, short-lived marriages, health woes, financial troubles. In the public forum, Jackson had been a caricature for a good long while. Make no mistake, there are those who were eager to see him fail in London.

But now is the moment to put all those grotesque tales aside and concentrate on his work. Think of Jackson onstage, moonwalking, silver glove glittering, spotlight reflecting off his sunglasses, stardust twinkling amid the curls of his hair. Think of his incomparable intensity as he sang and danced. Listen, even if only in your mind, to the music he made with his brothers or as an enormously successful solo artist. Don’t let anything conflict with your memory of his great gifts—and the joy he brought to us for most of his life and ours as well."

Jim Fusilli, Wall Street Journal For full text, click here

R.I.P., MJ.

Hair Q&A - Castor Oil

Got a PM from pulchri2dinous (is that a cool name or what?) --

Q-- I remember you commenting on a thread saying that castor oil should be avoided in the winter (I've heard others say this too). I am wondering if it would not be a good idea to use a creamy moisturizer containing castor oil (like Qhemet's AOHC) during winter?

Thank you

A--You know? I don't recall writing that. If I did I was talking about my hair a few years ago perhaps. Hair changes over time and the products I used in my first natural year are not moisturizing enough on their own for my hair today. It's like someone who has been fasting or is very, very thirsty and dehydrated. You can only give them a bite of food and a sip of water at first. Then as their system gets accustomed to nourishment again, you can feed them more. So in my third year as a natural my hair is soaking up butters and oils, whereas it could not tolerate them in my first natural year.

Many women use castor oil year round. The way I use it is to apply it right over my conditioner (after detangling) before cold water rinsing. I prefer Jamaican Black Castor Oil for its down-home nutty goodness. However the lower-priced American cold-pressed castor oil is just as good albeit a tad thicker, and has no smell.

Qhemet Biologic Amla & Olive Heavy Cream (AOHC) was a bit heavy for me back then, but on my hair today it probably work for me the way Hairveda Almond Glaze works - on wet hair, again over conditioner.

Experiment and see what your hair likes. It will tell you pretty quickly.