Back 2 Nature

Erykah Badu

2010-03-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

So Erykah is releasing her next album New Amerykah Part Two: Return of The Ankh and she performed her single "Window Seat" live on the Jimmy Fallon Show. I thought it was great and I can't stop listening to it on my playlist.......Window Seat LIVE

Random Thoughts: Rappers selling their souls????

2010-03-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

So I have been having this conversation more and more lately with people........have rappers like Jay-Z and Kanye West been selling their souls for money and power??......I think so. Over the years Hovi-baby has changed his style up. I know when you get older your rap might evolve but he doesn't even seem like the same person anymore. Now days he's all about power and he has connects with the president! Can somebody please tell me how a former drug dealer and rapper hooks up with politicians when he's not even political??? And have you checked out his latest music videos?.......My conclusion: He's part of the Secret Society, sold his soul, has the money and power and is now gaining knowledge. Take a look at Run This Town. All black everything, the hoods.......

Run This Town

And in on To The Next One there are so many subliminal messages it's hard to catch them all in one viewing. The horns in the beginning could be symbolic of devil's horns. Horns are also a part of the symbol that Knight Templars worship and is now used by the Church of Satan. There is also a bloody skull which is significant to The Knight Templars or Skull and Bones. Knight Templars are part of the brotherhood and tradition was to drink wine symbolic of blood from a human skull. Then later in the video, you see the lips with liquid coming out, symbolizing the drinking of the blood. The man in the hood and with the white painted face could represent secret societies in general because of the sown mouth. The face also resembles the movie The Crow. Black crows are shown later in the video.

On to the Next One

Now on to Kanye.........i was reluctant to believe that Kanye could have sold his soul, but after seeing a couple of things i am thoroughly convinced. First everyone needs to see his new video Coldest Winter, can you say evil!!! It gives me the creeps just watchin' it. The way I interpreted it was, the girl represents him. He sold his soul, his mom was the sacrifice and now he has the fame and the money he wanted but he is still lonely. That's what I think 808's and heartbreaks was really about. Now I think he realizes that once you sell your soul, there is no way back and that is why in the end, after the girl tries to run from the evil, she still falls into the devil's hands and her soul is dammed. Notice that you also see the black hooded figures.

Coldest Winter

Kanye also admitted that he sold his soul at a Kid Cudi concert during a freestyle rap.

The proof is in the puddin!

Kanye Sells His Soul

Kanye also collaborated with Spike Jonze to create a short film a while back. Some say it is symbolic of him cutting his belief in God out of his life...We Were Once a Fairytale

Just my thoughts.......

Style of the Week

2010-03-08T12:22:00.000-08:00

This week I decided to do a wash- n- go. For those that don't know what a wash-n-go is, that's when you wash o condition your hair and just put some product in your hair and walk out the house without really styling your hair. I wear wash- n-go's occasionally but not that often because my hair gets very tangled, especially after two days. I'm also still working on gettin' my curl pattern to fully return, but I really just felt like wearing a fro this week.

Day 2 hair

Day 3 hair

Ms. Jilly from Philly

2010-03-02T10:58:00.000-08:00

Ms. Jilly From Philly

March is the women's history month so I wanted to write something about someone who inspires me. Songstress, actress, and mother Jill Scott is the realest woman in the music industry today. I love to listen to ALL her music. It is so authentic and she really connects with songs, something that is hard to find today. She is also so humble about everything she does. With her fifth album on its' way this spring, The Light of The Sun (can't wait), Jill Scott is in the limelight more than ever. She has an NAACP Image Award nomination for outstanding actress in the TV show No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. She has also recently starred in the lifetime movie Sins of The Mother which is airing now.

In the movie Shay Hunter, a graduate student returns to her hometown in Tacoma, Washington to stay with her mother Nona (Jill Scott) because she has no where else to go. Shay struggles to accept that her mother has changed from the drunk she used to be. This was a great movie in my opinion (saw it Saturday). I thought Jill Scott did great acting and so did the daughter Nicole Beharie. Jill Scott is starring in her second Tyler Perry movie Why Did I Get Married Too? (can't wait to see this either), planning to release in theaters April 2. She is also working on an animation series Black Panther as X-Men's Storm. This animation is a collaboration with BET and Marvel Animation. And the list goes on.....She has her own bra, the Butterfly Bra, coming out too! Jill Scott just keeps on giving us her best!

My style of the week

2010-03-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

So this week I decided to try something new. I learned how to three strand twist from ayamejoy. It was so simple, I wish I had learned sooner. Three strand twists help my twists to stay tighter and they look neater to me for some reason.

Baby soft Hair

2010-02-26T09:43:00.000-08:00

So after a week of rockin' cornrows, I wanted to give my hair a special treatment. I did my avocado mix again: 1 avocado, 1 1/2 Tbsp Coconut oil, 3 Tbsp olive oil, and 1 big Tbsp of honey this time). I don't exactly measure so these are just estimates, lol! I blended it forever so I didn't get those chunks in it this time. I put that all over my hair and went to sleep with it on overnight. This morning I woke up and made my ayurvedic powders: 2 parts Amla, 1 part Shikakai and boiling water. I washed my hair with that and used a Vo5 conditioner. At first I was hesitant about getting the conditioner because I do not like putting chemicals in my hair. But since I was washing it out, I thought it was ok. I have never used V05 in my life and I never thought I would. But, I was in desperate need of a good conditioner to wash out the grit left over from the powders and didn't want to pay a fortune for it. I got the tea therapy in Blackberry Sage and i'm so glad I did. It was only a $1.05 and I used about a quarter of the bottle!

Now after I washed everything out let me tell you how soft my hair was. I have never felt my hair this soft EVER in my life. I literally felt like baby hair and I didn't even have to use a comb to detangle. I used my fingers and it was so manageable and made my curls so defined. I will definitely make this my regimen from now on.

Soap Nuts

2010-02-25T12:49:00.000-08:00

I discovered this very interesting product while trying to find this store in Brooklyn on Google. Soap Nuts, sounds crazy right?? Soap Nuts are actually 100% natural and are the fruit of Chinese Soap Berry Tree. The berries are then harvested and dried in the sun. you can use these for virtually anything that involves cleaning. Throw about 3 in a small bag and toss them in the washer in place of fabric softener and detergent. You can also boil them in water for a long time and freeze them in cubes. Then use them when you are ready as a cleaner. I couldn't believe this! I will definetly have to order them and give them a try after I run out of detergent.

Why limit organics to just hair?

2010-02-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in one one of my fashion classes, we the privilege of hearing a guest speaker Micheal Rivellino, Vice president of Linda Loudermilk. Ms. Loudermilk is a eco- friendly luxury fashion designer. She is very passionate about educating people about what a negative impact fashion can have on the environment. Her clothing line is 100% organic and also uses no chemicals that are harmful to the environment. Not to mention she creates some gorgeous designs. As he was talking about everything that inspires the line, I could tell how much passion he had for his company. It made me think, I pay so much attention to what I put into my body and what ingredients I put in my hair, but I am not as cautious about my impact to the environment. I definitely think what she is doing is revolutionary for the fashion industry. I would love to be 100% organic in my wardrobe and know that nothing in my closet caused any kind of soil erosion or water run-off. If these things were available to me at an affordable cost, I would definitely commit to eco- fashion. Just a little food for thought..........

Linda Loudermilk

Product Review: Oyin Handmade Honey Hemp Conditioner

2010-02-20T06:03:00.000-08:00

OH Honey!
I decided to order more Oyin products after loving how the Greg's Juice felt on my hair. I tried the conditioner last night after washing with my Shikakai shampoo bar and I was so happy! First of all, it smells like sweet coconut ice cream to me. I put a generous amount on each section of my hair, especially on my ends.......it made my hair so freakin' soft. I also didn't have to detangle that much. I did my hair in a conrow style and noticed as I was braided that my hair was already pretty much detangled, without even putting a comb to it! I'm officially hooked on Oyin products and will probably order them in bulk from now on.

So that's just my opinion, but this conditioner is also full of great ingredients: purified water, organic aloe vera gel, behentrimonium methosulfate ( a veggie derived from colza oil), raw honey, hemp and coconut oils, vegtable glycerine, hydrolized silk extracts, citrus essences, fragrance, optiphen (preservitive) and love!

Ayurvedic Powders

2010-02-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

So after hearing all the hype about how much better the Ayurvedic powders are than the shampoo bars, I finally tried them about four days ago. First let me say that they are all they're cracked up to be. They worked great! I actually think the powders are not as strong smelling in my hair as the shampoo bar is. So here's what I did.....

Before I made my paste, I did a pre-poo treatment with avocado, olive oil, and coconut oil. I left that on my hair with a shower cap for about five and a half hours. Then I boiled my water and mixed 2 spoonfuls of shikakai and 1 spoonful of amla. I poured in the hot water and then added a couple spoonfuls of cold rose water to make my paste. I did make my paste a little thin. I have a lot of hair and I wanted to avoid all the grit being stuck in my hair.

Let me just say that I was going to order my powders, rose water and other hair goods, but then I remembered the Indo-Paki grocery store that's only about 15 min. away and decided to take a last minute trip there. I'm so glad I went because everything was a hell of a lot cheaper than ordering it anywhere online. So if you're thinking about trying these powders, I would definitely look for your local Indian grocery store. I found the powders for $2.49 each, rose water $1.00 for 8oz., large bottle of Vatika hair oil for $4.49, and shikakai shampoo bar for only $1.00.

But I digress. So after washing out the avocado pre-poo, which did wonders by the way. It left my hair feeling soft and I was able to split my hair into sections before I cleansed it with the paste. The only problem I had was trying to get all those dagg-gone avocado chunks out of my hair. But anyways, I kinda cupped the paste onto my scalp since it was more of a liquid than a paste, but it really did the job. My scalp felt clean and afterward my hair was so thick and moisturized. My ends looked especially great. My hair didn't even have a strong smell like it did after the shampoo bar. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised after using this for the first time. I will definitely add this too my regimen maybe once a month. My only complaint it that, despite the more liquidly mixture, this stuff took forever to rinse out of my hair. Even when combing my hair out I kept finding small pieces in my hair that felt like sand. This is why I will only be doing this once a month and next time I will follow up with a conditioner with a lot of slip to get everything out.

Sheep hair

2010-02-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

So when I was in my Textiles class this morning, we were talking about wool and I couldn't help but notice that sheep hair resembles and shares a lot of the same characteristics of African- American hair. My teacher past around raw black wool in class and it felt just like unkept locs. Sheep even have melanin in their hair and produce keratin like people. They have crinkles in their hair and from a close up the texture of their hair is like my hair. Just some food for thought, something that makes such beautiful clothing and carpets and other things that keep us warm and give us comfort such as wool, why would we ruin such a good thing. This is the same way I feel about relaxer. Natural African-American hair is so beautiful and unique, why would we want to ever put such a strong chemical (that can burn through a soda can and even your skin) on our hair to make it look like something that it is not. This is just the way I feel. I would like to know what you all think too!

Products I have come to love/hate...part two

2010-02-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

So now for products I have come to "hate". I don't really hate these products, they just don't work the best for my hair. My hair type is 3b/c and it is very picky. So here's the list.......

1. Fantasia IC Hair Polisher styling gel

I know that so many people rave about this product and I don't think its a bad product, but I just don't like to use it. I really don't have much use for gel in my hair. Even when I style my hair in twists or another style where I need some hold, I would rather use my shea butter mix or an all natural locking wax.

2. Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Glossing Polisher

I used this for a while, especially when I would straightening my hair and it worked. It contains, cyclomethicone, stearoxyl dimethicone among other ingredients. The purpose of cones are to protect the hair from humidity and add a slick texture to your hair. Unfortunately silicones are not water soluble, especially dimethicone, which is the heaviest silicone, so if you're like me and your hair loves water, this really does not work. I wet my hair almost every day and this does not let water in. I plan to stay silicone free.

3. Smooth'n Shine Polishing leave-in conditioning lotion

This did make my hair feel silky when I first applied it, but it quickly dried my hair out so bad; it felt very brittle, which make me want to load it up with oil. I finally figured out why. One of the ingredients is proplene glycol which makes hair and skin look shiny, but ultimately ages the skin. Polypropylene glycol, which is a polymer of proplene glycol is found is antifreeze and liquid detergent. I could not believe this when I read it. It will never use this chemical in my hair ever again.

4. Cantu shea butter leave- in conditioner and grow strong strengthening treatment

These both worked really well to moisturize my hair when I was growing out my relaxer, but did not wok at all after I was completely natural. It also contains propylene glycol and some cones which I have completely swore off of.

There are so many other product I have tried but the bottom line is, I can only use natural products in my hair and skin and have found that everything I need a product to do can be found in nature. I do not use anything that has a sulfate, paraben, cone, petroleum, or anything that is not completely, 100% natural! Being more aware about the products I put in my hair has also helped me to be more conscious about what I put on my skin and in my body, and I hope sharing this with you has the same effect.

Products I have come to love/hate...

2010-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

Products that I have come to love/ hate
1. Coconut oil
This is the product that I have been using the longer and I have to say that I LOVE coconut oil. I don't think that I could get away without using it. It adds such a nice sheen and it is so lightweight. The brand I have been using is Spectrum and you can find it in the health food section of your local grocery store for only six or seven bucks. Kudos to my natural friend for getting me absolutely hooked on this!

2. O'pro weightless detangler

This detangler does wonders for my hair, especially after I wear my hair in a curly fro for a couple of days and go to detagle it again. It has tee tree, vitamin E and olive oil which all work great in my hair and help to get my wide tooth comb through it.

3. Carol's Daughter

I have the hair milk and the khoret amen leave-in conditioner. They both work but I like the hair milk better. The conditioner has a woodsy smell that doesn't agree with me. The hair milk is not something I use every day, but after I wet my hair I usually use a little for added moisture. It has sweet almond oil, apricot kernel oil and wheat germ oil which are not in any of my other products. The smell is great too!

4. Komaza Care Shea Butter Hair Lotion

I really like the way this moisturizes my hair. The smell is alright. It smells just like marshmallows, which it has. I actually learned that marshmallow is good for detangling and strengthening especially dry, curly hair, which is ideal for me. It also has peppermint, vitamin C, B3, B5, B6, cellulose, silk amino acid and protein. These all promote hair growth, be careful with this one though. Some types of African-American hair do not react well to protein, it actually makes their hair brittle, so you have to know your hair type. My hair seems to like protein so I do use this product about every three days.

5. Tahliah Waajid African Healing Oyl

I ran across this product in my local beauty supply store, which has so many great products for natural hair. I remembered a friend telling me that she swore by this product and loved the way it made her hair feel. Although we do not have the same hair type, I decided to try it anyway because it has great ingredients like KuKui Nut oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, and bay laurel. LOVE this product! It smells great, just like peaches to me; and it works! It softens my hair and I especially love to use it on my ends or to moisturize after I've worn a style for a couple of days.

6. Oyin Handmade Greg Juice

So I just recently got this product but I like it all ready. First of all I like to just open the bottle and sniff it. It is so citrusy, it smells like oranges and lemon. I have been spraying this on almost every day for the past week and can't get enough of it. It makes my hair fell so clean after spraying it. This is oil free concoction is something I will definitely stick with. Its' unique combination of ingredients like flaxseeds, aloe vera juice, chamomile, essence of levender, sweet orange and ylang ylang, grapefruit seed extract, and citric acid truly make it unique.

7.Dabur Vatika

This is a coconut oil enriched with henna, amla, lemon, and other herbs. I decided to try this just because. I like it so far, but you definitely don't need a lot. It took me a while to learn how to use this. It comes in a small bottle and you have to poke a hole in the top. However when I got the product, it was really cold and I could hardly get it out of the bottle. I just decided to set the bottle in some warm and it loosened it up enough to work with.

8. Black Soap

I LOVE BLACK SOAP. I can not express how much I have come to love black soap. It has done wonders not only for my hair but also for my skin. I use black soap instead of body wash and it has worked so well for me, especially in these winter months. I usually get very dry, itchy skin in the winter time, but this works wonders and cleans my skin without making it dry. The black soap I am currently using is from RA Cosmetics and its the one bar without a fragrance but and black soap works well for me. Now I know a lot of people, like myself have been skeptical about washing their hair with a bar. But I have found a system that works for me. I section my hair in six to eight sections and make little buns and secure with rubber bands. Then when I'm in the shower I just wash my hair a section at a time and put it back in a bun. This makes everything so easy, especially because my hair gets so tangled.

9. Shikakai shampoo bar

I was really skeptical about using shikakai period because I read about so many people who had failed attempts using this, especially the powder. However, I purchased a small shampoo bar as opposed to the powder so I wouldn't have to deal with brewing the mix or anything. This bar is by Swastik and it has marigold and Jaswand. I have to warn you that this has the strongest smell ever! I used it and it smelled up my whole bathroom for hours. The smell does take some time to get used to because it is not floral or citrusy. It did work really well though. My hair felt strong and very moisturized afterward. I think I'll stick with this but only every month or so because I can still faintly smell the bar in my hair after three days.

10. Honey

I saw someone using this on a YouTube video as a prepoo so I tried this last week before I wash with the shikakai soap bar. I sectioned my hair in eight sections just like I wash it and applied the honey to wet hair. It is really important to apply this to wet hair because the water makes the honey very slick like oil. I left the honey on for about thirty minutes with a shower cap on and I was really impressed. When I rinsed the honey out my hair was soft and my ends look really sealed and shiny. Definitely something I will stick with.

11. Shea butter mix

So this has to be my ultimate product that I use almost daily. I make a whipped shea butter using raw shea butter and my favorite oils and raw butters. I can not live without this! I use my concoction on my hair for moisture and also on my skin, which works wonders! I used to think that shea butter did not work on my hair because it was not very soft and it was so hard to get it to absorb into my hair without leaving a yellow residue, even with twist outs. When I mix it, its absolutely perfect and something I can't travel without.

I didn't realize how long this blog would be so I'm going to post products I "hate" in a separate entry. Please feel free to comment if you have used these products and your thoughts on them or others products that you love. I'm really interested to hear your thoughts.

My Journey back to Nappturality

2010-02-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

I have dedicated this blog to share my journey as an African- American woman who has turned back to my natural roots. I, like many other African-American women was raised thinking that in order to have beautiful hair I needed to have a relaxer. I begged my mother for a relaxer in the fifth grade after being teased so long for having big curly/wavy hair. From this point I continued to have relaxers every three months until I reached the tenth grade. At this point I decided that I did not need a relaxer and was going to grow my hair out. This part was HELL! I got hardly any support from friends and family and everyone was almost betting that my hair would either break off or I would give in and get a perm. Unlike a lot of my other sisters out there I did not do a "big chop" and cut off my hair to the new growth. My hair was a little past bra strap length and I had never had short hair in my life. So I grew my hair out for about nine months and then cut off about five inches of the damaged relaxed hair to shoulder length. The picture above is my hair right after cutting off my relaxed hair and getting red permanent color.

Since I didn't have that much support or really know anyone that was natural, I never fully embraced my natural curls. I continued to straighten my hair weekly and colored my hair every three months. When I occasionally wore my hair in a curly fro I usually received comments like, "bad hair day" or "what happened to your hair?".

It has now been almost five years since I have had a relaxer and in those years I've managed to keep my hair healthy but have not gained any length. Because of one of my girlfriends who had recently decided to go natural and do her BC, In the past six months I have been more conscious about what products I put in my hair. I would try to use more "organic" labeled shampoos, conditioners, and moisturizers.

It has only been in the past month that I decided to fully embrace my natural hair. After about a hundred YouTube videos on how to take care of natural hair, and TONS of research, I feel like I understand so much better about what to do with my hair. I've been experimenting with twist-outs, braid-outs, bantu knots and any other creative way I can think of to not put heat on my hair. This year as a part of my resolution, I hope to grow my hair five inches and actually maintain that length.

After so much research, I now know so much about what helps promote growth and what things are red flags for my hair. I couldn't believe that even the "organic" shampoos and conditioners which I thought were helping my hair so much, actually contained Sodium Laureth Sulfate that strips my hair of all the oils.This is part of the reason I end up using so much conditioner. I learned that there are more NATURAL ways to clean your scalp without stripping your hair of all its oils. Even if something says its organic, it still might contain chemicals that are not good for your hair.

I'm proud to say that it has been six weeks and I am totally mineral oil, paraben, sulfate, and silicone free. I don't think my hair has ever felt so healthy and moisturized. I used to think that my hair looked its best when it was straightened with some loose curls at the end, but now I'm beginning to like the way my hair looks natural.