Anger is a BITCH!

Now that I've got your attention, this is what I mean to say.

There is a word for every season and today my heart turns to these comforting words of scripture: " Be angry and sin not.... Eph. 4:26"

There will always be times when those we love or maybe hate, lol, cause us to experience emotional turmoil. For me my default plan is always to suppress my feelings. 

Anger like the more positive emotions of love. joy and happiness is a legitimate emotional response and it's meant to be expressed, so yeah, go a head and smash a few dishes, it helps. I said few, don't go breaking them all, but if it helps well....

Seriously, be angry but sin not, vent but don't blow anything up, scream but don't scratch! And at the end of the day, let it go and give yourself a break, anger is exhausting. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, Eph 4:26 continues, I see this line as a reminder that keeping anger will only hurt one person: me, and bitterness is bad for anyone's well being.  Don't want to be sick from being mad, so what do I do, focus on things that will give me a huge rush of endorphines ( is that how it's spelt?) and a good rush of dopamines. Letting go of anger will help to re-energize your mind, body and spirit, it's all about you, give you a chance to be happy, go to bed happy.

And if you wake up still angry, remember to vent but don't blow anything up, then let go again, till it's all gone. Remember, if you believe, He's there with you helping you through it, it's going to pass because He's there.

OK back to my fro, my henna treatment went very well, it was very hard to wash initially but I love the results, and my hair is still black, phew! My new motto for this week is grow and retain, I strongly  believe that as long as my hair doesn't break or shed unnecessarily, it will grow longer. Much love to all my natural sisters especially the Hair's a thought (HAT) family on facebook, these are a bunch of really inspiring and supportive women, click on the Like button to enter this beautiful world of natural women, you will be amazed at what you'll find, my dear there is a lot to learn. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading, please share your thoughts either here or on facebook.

Happy birthday Daddy, I love you, will always be your girl.

Henna Deep Treatment

I'm doing a henna deep treatment this weekend, so I thought I'll do a bit of research on the web about the benefits and I stumbled on Henna For Hair. It has plenty of information about henna; what it is, how it works on different hair types and colours and most importantly for me is how to mix to achieve the desired results.

Henan works by releasing Lawsone into the hair shaft when applied as a paste.

The term dye is relative as natural henna will produce results relative to the colour of your natural hair. So blonde hair will appear red after an application while dark hair will sometimes come out even darker or have a tint of red colour in the sunlight. Also henna has been known to elongate the curl pattern and make hair feel heavier, this is down to the additional molecules that binds itself to the hair shaft during application.Natural henna can be applied as often as necessary as it is chemical free.

What I would like to achieve using henna as a deep treatment is to get thicker and fuller hair, more shine, and retain length. I bought my henna from buy whole foods online uk, 500 grams only cost £4.93 and this should last for about five weeks as I plan to apply weekly.

This is how I plan to mix my henna following recommendations from  Henna For Hair:

100g of natural henna powder
1 bag of green tea diffused boiling water
lemon juice
honey

The honey is from Curly Nikki's Henna tutorial and more mixes can be found here

Have you used henna as a deep treatment before? What was your experience? Any tips/tricks for me?

Scripture Inspiration for Today

God has reminded me today that there is great strength to be found in confidence and quietness that grows from knowing him. As Isaiah 30:15 says

"For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength:"

I know you're here for me Lord, I feel you and I'll rest in your arms.

Products and Regimen

I'm learning that for my hair less is actually more, My regimen is really simple, it goes like this:

Pre-Wash:V05 Deep Nourishing Elixir Hot Oil Treatment

This is a keratin based oil treatment, I run it under a hot tap for  few minutes then apply to my hair before washing. It only needs to stay on for one minute before rinsing off, it helps to reduce breakage from combing, brushing, heat and adds shine to hair.

Wash: Dudu Osun (Black Soap)

Black soap in an elixir for afro hair, and a little goes along way. I noticed very little or no shedding since I started using black soap for washing instead of co-washing. Since then my hair has changed dramatically from being coarse and dry to soft and moisturised.


Moisturise and Seal

I use coconut oil on wet hair and scalp after washing to seal in moisture, I follow this up by using my butter mix which contains shea butter, olive, almond, jojoba, vitamin E,  tea tree and bergamont oils. I leave to air dry and then section before de-tangling

De-tangle: Paddle Brush

I've found the paddle brush to be quite effective in de-tangling hair very quickly with minimum casualty to strands, all I do is gently run the brush in an  upward motion through each section. The great thing about de-tangling this way is that it creates volume without using heat and it removes single strand knots.

What's your regimen? Please share with me.

Bantu Knots

This thing took ages to make, but I'm very pleased with the results. I've decided to wear it out for two days and get two days worth of twist out before I knot again. But for now, here are the results of my very first bantu knots made all by myself, with only my butter mix, coconut oil and a water in a spritz bottle.

All photos were taken with my phone, as my camera decided to die on me!

My Frohawk

I tried out a fro-hawk on my hair and it looked really great, so I thought I'll share. I used pink styling gel to hold the sides down and pulled hair together at the back with a butterfly clip. Cute eh...

Caring for Natural Hair: Clarifying

I started out my natural hair journey as a no-pooer, am still a no-pooer but I've now
included black soap as my clarifier and I'm clinging to it for dear life.

While a no-poo or low poo regimen can be great for black hair it can also leave the hair and scalp dry and flaky. A clarifier will help remove build-up, help hair retain moisture, keep scalp flake free and
leave your hair feeling nice and soft.

There are different products for clarifying black hair, on top of my list is black soap. It is 100% natural and works well with my hair. I've also tried apple cider vinegar (ACV) for clarifying but this was not as effective as black soap and only softened my hair temporarily.

I prefer my hair being as chemical free as possible so I avoid most off the shelf shampoos, even those with a natural tag. But not everyone has to go this way, just check you shampoo does not contain any of these 10 chemicals  and you're good to go. But if you try and it's still great for your hair please carry on using your poo!

If you chose to go natuaral all the way, check out  Kitchen Curlies  ACV and baking soda mix and Napturalities natuaral shampoo recipies

The rule of thumb with any clarifier/shampoo of your choice is not to over do it, this is open to your interpretation, how much is too much?  You tell me, with a twa you can get away with pretty much anything.