Back in Acition: Full swing

WOW!!! I seriously can't believe its been this long since my last post! Im sure some are wondering what happened to Naturalluv! Well folks its a long story which is why I am taking this time out to say hello and let you know I will be back!

After I made my last post a lot has happened with my life. I moved twice and received several promotions. After I obtained my 4th promotion at my company my time was limited. I was up at 4:30 in the morning and home by 3-5pm each night, sometime later. On my days off I would sleep and sleep! I was too drained to do anything. This was becoming a problem for me. I thought chasing hours and working my butt off would make me happier, financially, but it didn't. So lately I have pulled back and since then I have been able to do more. You will see more post from not only my blog but on my youtube channel as well. I have so much in stored and now with all this extra time I can do what I love doing, sharing information with all of you!. Stay tuned for my first vid in over a year on Monday on my flat twist bantu knot, twist out!

Well it's time for me to go. See everyone around folks!!! =)

xoxo
Naturalluv
A.K.A Natty Luv

Black Silk Products Review

Black Silk Products was created by Desreta Jackson. Many people will best know her as Young Celie Harris from the Oscar Nominated Film "The Color Purple" Desreta has spent over 12 years of research to finally perfecting what she calls a “Mahoginized Technique” and a product that does what it says it will do. I was able to speak with the creator herself to get an insight on Black Silk. In our conversation she explained to me how the product came about. Her daughter was having issues with her skin. She went to numerous Doctors and nothing they gave her worked. She began to think about how West Indians used natural items for remedies. Desreta herself a native of Tortolla knew what she had to do. She began to mix, add and take away natural ingredients to make a product that would eventually turn into what it is known as Black Silk Products. What started out as a remedy for her daughter's dry skin became a hair product made by blacks, for black. It is the FUBU of the hair industries. She started to test the products on her daughter and herself. As they continued to use the products she notice who their hair began to grow longer and silkier. She moved from using the products to herself and daughter to friends, family and clients. It became an overnight success that she was able to run a successful home-base braider. The demand became so overwhelming she couldn’t meet the demand.

Interestingly enough, Desreta also owns her manufacturing plant. She has all the power on who and where she distributes her products, which is rare when it comes to African Americans and the hair industry. She stated that when she started to go into the manufacturing phase many have told her that her ingredients were on the high end. Their fear was that African Americans would not spend money on such a product. She stood her ground despite what the manufactures said because she knew the beneficial factor of each ingredient that made Black Silk Products so great.

As we got deeper into our conversation she began to explain to me how she got the data she needed to make changes to the product. Desreta did hair on the side to help put herself through film school. Each time her clients came back she would have them write down what they noticed about their hair getting real time response to what the product was doing. While attending film school she took up extra course in Chemistry. She stated to me "A lot of the time we use products knowing that its working or not working, but don't know why, I wanted to know those reason" Which is why chemistry was so important in her research.

I was able to get my hands on this products and tried it for myself. Of course I was skeptical as most will be when they hear about a new hair product that is promising wonders. First thing I remember that Desreta did we we first started to talk about Black Silk was put a sample of the product on the back of my hand. What happened next was mind blowing. The shampoo and conditioner literally absorbed in my skin. What shampoo do you know your skin will soak up? She told a funny story about her husband actually taking the shampoo one day and used is as a lotion because he was too lazy to get actual lotion. She later went into detail and told the main function of the product was made to re-balance the Ph level in your hair. So no matter what state your hair is in Black Silk WILL re-balance your ph level. Remember that your hair is basically made up of protein.

Facts About Ph Level:

Ph Scale base 0-14
Ph of 0 is considered Acidic
Ph of 14 is considered Alkaline
Pure water ph is 7
Hair and Skin ph can range from 4.5-5.5
Your hair is always adjusting depending on the weather. Your hair will take some time to adjust to the new conditions. When we use products especially new product your hair will take time for your hair to adjust to the changes. The natural oil that is produced in your hair that maintains moisture and balance is Sebum. Sebum is a natural protectant not only on your scalp but on your skin as you secret sweat. Think of your hair follicles as fish scales. As you use products the "scales" open and close. Products with low ph level (high acidity) will cause the hair follicles to lay flat and smooth trapping the moisture your hair needs. Products with high ph will cause the follicles to open like a pine cone causing the moisture that you need to escape which ultimately will dry your hair out. You can also test the products you are using with litmus paper to determine the ph level. It is important yet difficult to find balance with your hair. This is what Black Silk products are made to do just that. So you can stop the guessing game. Remember to keep away from products with a high Ph level. This can cause damaging to your hair.

My Experience with Black Silk

About a week after I received my Black Silk System I finally used the products. ( Took me while to use the system because my hair was already washed and done a day prior to receiving the products and it was styled)
First thing I noticed was the smell. It was rich of coconuts fragrance. I started with the shampoo which took only about two half pump for me. Of course I wasn’t expecting it lather because it was designed to cleanse with out stripping the moisture from your hair. After I was finished the the shampoo I felt how clean my hair was but also still soft and not dried out. This was a good sign. After my cleanse I proceeded to use the Silk Restoring Conditioner, which can also be used a a curl definer. It really didn’t take that much to get complete coverage. I did what I normally do, Put my conditioner in, detangled and sectioned off my hair where I placed medium size twist in it, place it under a conditioning cap and let sit for however long I keep it on my head. This does depend on what is going on so I can have conditioner in my hair from 1-8 hours

8 Hours later, hey don’t’ judge me lol I got real busy =)

I finally washed out the conditioner. My hair felt so soft!!! Ladies with 4c hair you know how hard our hair can feel (Brillo pad) I couldn’t stop running my hand through my hair. It was just that soft. Hmmmm I could get use to this!! Next I applied the clear protector. Now because I was so eager to use the products I didn’t read. The clear protector is suppose to be the first step I did. Black Silk Products is a system so when we hear system that means there is an order to how and when you use each product. Once you use the clear protector once (first time) you don't have to use it again for another 4-6 months and when there is new growth. So the Shampoo and Conditioner will be the only main things you would use during your regular wash.

The real test for me came in when I detangling my hair. I was amazed on how easy my hair slid through the comb with ease. I even walked on the wild side and used a fine tooth comb as I started to do my two strand twists. *GASP* GUH SEY WHET!!!???! Yes it was the only way to truly test this products capabilities. When I Say that comb went from root to tip without a snag I was a believer!!!! *Queue Shrek music* I have used Black Silk twice and I can say I love the way my hair feels with each use.

Picture of Black Silk Model

Be sure to check out www.BlackSilkProducts.com buy now and save today!!!!!

Overall I can say Black Silk Products is a must have product that you should have in your cabinet. Hope you enjoyed reading my review on Black Silk. Be sure to get your hands on this wonderful product you have nothing to loose, you try everything else so why not? Trust me, it will be worth the money!

Til next time,

Natural Luv

Sushi In My Hair/Castor Oil Challenge Update

It has now officially been 3 weeks since I started Hairlista’s Caster Oil Challenge Part 6. One September 1st I started the challenge and upon opening the Caster Oil I pours that transparent oil into a bottle and then into my DC mixture. So I went through my routine on my wash days. Pre-poo, poo, condition, avc rinse, then DC. Great!!!! I was glad to have started a great challenge and looking forward to seeing what results I will achieve on this 3 month journey. Boy oh Boy did I have a nice surprise once I began to add the oil to my scalp. I finally got a whiff of it. It threw me off because it smelled like something I smelled before. It was a distinctive smell to me. I continued to apply the oil in my scalp them massaging it in. Still I’m trying to figure out what the smell reminded me off. As I began to finish style my hair it hit me SUSHI!!!!!!! Yes Sushi out of all things Caster Oil smelled like sushi to me.  I love Sushi but ugh this was not what I had in mind.

They say that Castor Oil has an earthy smell well the oil I have has a fishy smell. I Don’t know maybe each brand of Castor Oil has its own smell, but im still trying to find the earthy part. Maybe I need to get the Jamaican Black Castor Oil to smell the earthy part lol

You may want to know how my hair been since I started the challenge, Well I have noticed a few things.

1. My edges are starting to fill in

2. My edges are starting to catch up with my hair, length wise

I was playing in my hair the other day and I began to pull and saw I was still pulling hair. I was surprised!! I got up and went straight to the bathroom mirror because I thought i  was losing it. To my surprise my hair was indeed long. WOW In all my life since relaxing my hair my edges were ALWAYS my trouble spots. It might not be much growth BUT its growth none the less. If this much growth can come rounding out month 1 I can’t wait to see what month 2 will bring.

I hope that each person taking the challenge has seen results so far because I am sure happy I am =)

Be on the look out for my review on Black Silk Products. Black Own, Black Made. First  African American Luxury Hair line. For information about this product  Please visit www.blacksilkproducts.com

Having some fun with eye shadow colors

Love Always,

Natural Luv

Tools of the Trade

When you become a follower of the Healthy Hair Movement there are a few things that are essential to our survival!!! We need the proper tools to maintain our lovely locks. It can be overwhelming when it comes to what you should have. Over the past 2 years I have gone through countless items brushes, combs, shampoos, conditioners to name a few. Now that I am well closing in on year 2 I have came up with the MAIN Tools that every person should have.

Brush: There are two kinds of brushes bristled and vented that I use. I use a bristled brush when I want to smooth out my hair to achieve a slicked down style. I use a vented brush when I am going to straighten my hair out and need to ensure that I can blow out my hair properly or I use the vented brush when I want to detangle a section before I use the bristled brush. One last brush I use is an applicator brush. Yes something that you use to put in a relaxer. You may ask why? I use this brush when I do my Deep Conditioning. I am able to get to each strand of hair for complete coverage. Try it sometime!!!!

 

Combs: Comb's are essential as if you already don’t know that! Combs help us part/section off parts of our hair. There are about three kinds that I use. I have a wide tooth comb, big tooth and a medium size tooth comb.each serve as steps to the detangling process. You don’t want to have any fine tooth comb’s because that can break you hair off as the hair catches in the fine tooth. Most black women own a rat tail comb. If you didn’t have a any other comb you had a rat tailed one. With natural hair rat tail comb is not what you need to use. You will cause unnecessary damage to your hair.

Clips: As your hair gets longer you will defiantly need clips. I use plastic clips. Metal clips tend to catch in your hair and also that can break you hair off.  We defiantly don’t want that. So if you use metal clips be carful when taking them out.

 

 

 

Pins: Pins are great when styling your hair. I try to keep away from pins with out the plastic tip. Once my pins protective tip is gone I push them to the side. With out the tip at the end of the pin it can cause unnecessary breakage. Remember our goal is to grow hair not break it. So your tools must be hair friendly.

Pin without a protective tip

 

 

Head ties/hair ties: I have LOTS of head ties. During my middle stage of my natural hair journey I utilized these ALL the time. It was a “tool” I used when I didn’t want to do my hair or when I needed to run out of the house I can take a head ties and put y hair up in a cute afro puff. There are two kinds that I have, elastic ones and cloth ones that I made out of strips of an old shirt.  If you use the elastic ones Goody’s have the ouchless ones. The head ties with the metal can cause breakage because your hair can get caught in the metal part. Same things goes when you use ponytail ties. Be smart and get the ouchless ones. We defiantly don’t want any snags.

 

 

This is my typical lazy hair doo!!! Head band rocking cute tight curly fro =)

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you were able to learn something new today til we meet again,

Natural Luv

Protective Style: What DOO you DO?

Protective Style: What Doo you Do?
Having a protective style is a must. As my hair began to get longer I realized that I can't always do twist out and putting my hair in a head band. My

twist outs would only last about 2 days (Yea I know which is a bummer) so I began to look into what protective styles I can do without having to put a w

eave or braids in my hair. After much searching I found that putting my hair in two French twist worked for me. It was easy for me to get up in the morning and do (If needed) and also cute. There are many kinds of protective styles. Today we will

 

go in depth about why protective styles are need and the most common protective styles. We all know the Pros of protective styles so we will also review the Cons (If any)

Purpose of Protective styles:
The reason a protective style is needed is to keep your ends from sight and help retain your lengthy lock.........That is IT!! Nothing more, nothing less. Protective styles won't make your hair grow BUT it helps to minimizes breakage especially if your hair is breaking off at the same pace it is growing.
I found this to be true. I noticed more breakage when I was combing my hair each day pulling it up in an Afro puff. My ends were always exposed. Although my hair grew I still was experiencing breakage at the same rate that my hair was growing.

Once I found a protect style that I can do easily I noticed that my hair wasn't breaking as much AND I was able to retain more of my length.

Most Common Protective Styles:
Two Strand twist (more so for natural hair than relaxed)
Bun or Chigon
Braids
Weave
Flat Twist

Two Strand Twist
This style is most effective on natural hair. Relaxed hair is too straight to the hold the twist at the ends. Natural hair is kinky enough to hold the twist in place at the ends. You can wear a TST for a few days until it gets old and then do a twist out. This style is called a Two Strand Twist, Twist Out.

Pros:

Easy and versatile

Cons:

not time efficient depending on the size and length of hair.

Picture: Two Strand Twist, Twist out style

Buns or Chigon
Buns are an ideal protective style if your hair is long enough to be wrapped around the shaft of the pony tail. Buns can be worn in different ways, on the crown, to the back, on the side and more than one bun at a time. You can wrap your hair around the shaft of the ponytail. You can also do a damp bun which helps help your strands and ends hydrated/moisturized at all times.

Pros:

Easy, Fast and Versatile

Cons:

Breakage can occur if the bun is pulled too tight

So if you are going to do this style remember TIGHT is not always RIGHT! Loosen that ponytail up guh!!!!

Braids
We ALL have had these......well majority of black women has had braids in one point or another. Braids are a great protective style to have. It is easy (once you have spent nearly countless hours getting them in) and you can style your braids any kind of way. Braids are a great alternative for those who can’t put up with the everyday hum drum of maintaining their hair.

I have always had weak edges. I love getting my hair braided because it eliminated the time I had to spend doing my hair BUT after I took them out……….can you say I looked like I had a receding hair line. I never knew why it was happening. I took care of my braids or so I thought, made sure my scalp was moisturized and I made sure I put it in a bonnet at night, SO WHATS THE PROBLEM!!!!!

Reminders:

Tie your edges down to help minimize movement at night so that there is not added stress on your edges.

Don’t put have a tight pony tail. Again I say TIGHT aint always RIGHT

Pros:

Versatile, easy and fast

Cons:

Damaged edges if not taken care of properly

Remember: Not because you have braids mean that you don’t have to take care of them.

Weaves

As we moved into the 2000’s you noticed a new hair trend had hit the market. WEAVE!!!!! (well it was new to me) This hair product was a God send to most African American women if not all. You can get short, long, black, pink, and blonde without having to cut our hair or put harsh chemicals to get it the color we wanted it to be. I am victim of the weave-a-palosa!!! I had a weave ponytail ALL the time. Once I was old enough my mom allowed me to get glue ins and sew ins. If you watched the Good Hair movie you know how much a woman take pride in her weave. A woman will get her hair weaved before paying her bills ( now that’s just crazy) Weave is the Holy Grail of all Grails for the average or not so average African American woman.

Although weaves are a great protective style you still have to be careful in maintaining it just as if it was your own. Hell you paid money for it so you better take care of it!!!!! With glue ins the weave is incorporated with your hair giving a more natural look. With sew ins you can get a full (all of your hair is braided) or a partial weave (some of your hair is left out to blend with the weave)

Glue ins or “quick weave”

Pros:

Inexpensive, Easy to do (like anyone) and you can get a good glue-in style done in less than an hour (not including styling)

Con:

Can cause broken roots, stressed scalp, and loss of hair if not taken out properly Picture: Quick Weave style

Sew ins

Pros:

Last longer than glue ins

Your hair can rest from heat and chemicals

Retain length easier because ALL of your hair is braided.

Cons:

Hair damage can occur If you hair is braided too tight, Damage can occur if hair is left out around the perimeter of head and the crown

Picture: Sew-in style

Flat Twist

Flat twist are like two strand twist but they twist are twisted to the scalp like corn rows. This is an easy style to do and once the twist gets old you can twist them out and do a cute style.

Pro:

Easy, Fast, works well with both natural and relaxed hair

Cons:

None that I can think of, can you lol

 

So as you can see there are many styles that you can do the help protect your hair. The styles that were spoken about are what I saw as the most common protective style. Of course you can always refer to Youtube, Hairlista and many other hair care forum to find other ways to protect your hair and look good doing it. 

I hope this post helped you gain some insight on these protective styles. Till Next time

Natural Luv

Resurrection of Natural Luv

So its been a while since I have shared my thought on my Natural Hair Journey. I figured it was time to get back on the saddle and start back writing about natural hair.

So here is a re-cap:

As you recall I began my Natural Hair journey on December 19th, 2009 (Yes its been that long) A month later I went away to Antigua and Barbuda for almost 6 months. While I was there I realized that my hair was not growing and I didn't know why. I noticed excessive hair shedding. After returning to the states my hair began to shoot out of my scalp! This was an odd surprise. It wasn't until one day I was speaking with a mother and daughter who are also natural. They talked about their trip to Antigua as well and they too realize excessive shedding while on vacation. We came to the conclusion that it HAD to be the water. Not only it was the water but also there we resources that we didn't have to our disposal or they were far too expensive. Yes I know it sound weird but that was the only explanation (water). I thought it was something that I was doing. I came back to the states and my hair began to rapidly grow. Now remember I still was doing the same thing I was doing in Antigua here in Georgia. So I let it go and move forward.

After my hair debacle in Antigua with my hair I began to look more deeper into my hair. While in Antigua I found the Holy Grail of hair knowledge Hairlista.com WOW can you say that this site blew my mind!!! I'm not going to lie it WAS overwhelming with information that was on the site. Women around the world talking about HAIR. The hard part was sifting through all non-relevant post. Each day I would go into the chat and talk with other Listas (members) about hair. What I noticed was I was giving all the great advise BUT I wasn't really doing them myself. You might want to know what advise I was giving that I was not using myself. Well here we go:
1. Regiments
2. Deep Conditioning
3. Vitamins
4. Products
5. Treatment, just to name a few.

I thought to my self.....SELF why do you have all the knowledge but don't do it. Frankly the only thing that could explain that was being lazy!!! Yes people LAZINESS was my down fall for my hair not doing so well. Well let me re-phrase that laziness was my downfall PERIOD!!! Now I can admit my hair was very healthy and still is. However my hair can be a lot more longer than it should be. Especially going into two year natural.

Now we are in the present day August 27th, 2011!! After dropping off the radar I am back to fill you in on some great information that I have discovered on the web and through trial and error.

Here's some backdrop on who I am:
Natural Luv
Natural since December 19th, 2009
Hair type: 4b/c
I am currently Ear Length ( EL) Sidenote: I have had my hair cut down twice
I want to be Bra Strap Length (BSL)
I am looking forward to start my new regiment from the NEW knowledge that I have obtained.


Well that's it for now stay tuned for updates on my NEW hair journey.

Love Always,
Natural Luv

My Big Chop

Hey guys this blog is about my journey on going natural! On December 19th, 2009 I finally did it, I cut ALL of my hair. I didn't want to do it, but i was fed up with the state of my hair: short, dry and damaged. Before i cut my hair i spoke with someone and got a consult. lol the next day i was at the barber shop sitting nervously waiting for my turn in the chair. When I finally got in the chair a lady was sitting across from me under the hair dryer and all i saw was her eyes get really big when the barber made his first cut, I almost cried because I couldn't believe that I was really doing this. After all was said and done I got up out of the chair and looked to see my new look. At first, I was thinking OMG i look like a dkye lol what am I going to do get look like a woman? I am not the girliest of girls; trust me I'm not, but I still want to look like one lol

My first two weeks with my short look took everyone to get use to. I got great compliments s about my hair, most people did believe me when I told them what I did and had to send pictures to confirm it lol after browsing a few videos on youtube and speaking with some friends I finally got my hair care regiment on lock!

My Hair Regiment:
Co-Wash every other day
Shampoo once a week ( to clean dirt)
Deep condition once a month with special recipe(in early stages)
Apply leave-in-Conditioner after every wash
Oil my hair every morning and night and apply my special hair grease *will fill you in on my recipe
Wrap hair in silk bonnet or scarf

REMINDER: Find what best works for you


It will be a month on January 19th, 2010 and my hair has had some growth. Now that I found out what works for me I'm sure that my hair will grow even faster now. The picture above is about a week after I cut it off!

I'm glad that I finally made the decision to go natural and I'm sure you will too!
*double xo* Delca J