Ah, memories!   Looking back at old pictures definitely is a great way to see how far I've come over the years.  Some pictures were just down right horrible! LOL   But, I have learned a lot over the years caring for my hair.  I've learned that my hair just wants to be "itself."  I've learned not to try to change it into something that it's not. 
    I don't miss my straight relaxed hair one bit!  Sometimes I'm shocked by this because I wore my hair that way for about 15 years!   I have learned to embraced the texture God has blessed me with.  And what do you know?  I'm a lot happier now beacuse of it! LOL


Suggestion:  Take some pictures of your hair every now and then to track your progress during your hair journey.  It's soo rewarding when you see that all your hard work has paid off :)    Happy Growing!


Check out my Hair Journey Video on YouTube!
Natural Hair 4C - Hair Journey! (So Far) 

     I LOVE THIS SPRAY!  LOL  Phew!  Now that I've yelled it from the rooftops,  let me tell you why...
    The Shea Moisture Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Hold and Shine Moisture Mist is a light spray that provides sheen, softness and slight hold to the hair all at the same time! The price is usually around $9.99-10.99. So it's not too bad on the wallet.  I have known about this spray since I started using this line during my tranistion to natural.  However, in my mind I felt like I could make my own version by mixing Shea Moisture's Organic Coconut and Hibiscus Curl and Style milk with some water. LOL (The ingredients are soo similar lol so I thought it would work.)  I was totally wrong!  My hair responds to this spray way better than the milk.  In fact, I haven't had to use the curl and style milk to refresh my fro!  
     The water and Curl and Style Milk "combo" was good for softening my hair, but I would have to refresh it throughout the day to keep my hair feeling soft. This product leaves my hair moisturized during the entire day!   I've used this spray almost every day since I purchased it.  I can't get enough of it!  LOL  It works great on my children's hair and it leaves their hair feeling baby soft and shiny.  I really wish I tried this a long time ago, but I guess it's better to try it late than never.   :)



                                                                         

    I must warn you ladies, if you end up loving this spray as much as I do, be prepared to find yourself randomly spraying your hair for absoluetly no reason at all!  LOL


Check out my full review on YouTube :)  Natural Hair 4C - Shea Moisture Mist Review 

    We just want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!  We hope you have a great day spending time with the ones you love :)   God bless!

Check us out on YouTube!   NaturalMe4C - Happy Holidays!

    Do you have MAJOR shrinkage? (I do!)   If you have a hair texture similar to mine than you probably know all about some serious shrinkage!  LOL  I love to rock my shrinkage every once in awhile but I tend to lean towards stretching my hair in some sort of way.  When I allow my hair to fully shrink, I get lots of tangles.  I also get more single strand knots. :(   Stretching my hair allows me to show a little length and it also helps keeps knots and tangles at bay.  My hair stays moisturized and soft when it is stretched vs if I let it dry on its own.  Below are 3 ways to achieve stretch on your hair without using heat.

                                                                 1.  Twisting
    Twisting is a quick and easy way to add some stretch to your fro.  It doesn't give a ton of length, but it leaves the hair full, moisturized and soft.  Once the twists are removed you can rock a twistout!  

                                                                                                       2. Banding 
                                            Banding is the process in which hair elastics are used to stretch the hair.  You can use one elastic or several depending on the length of your hair.  Some ladies are able to remove the bands and wear it as a style....something that I haven't been able to do yet lol.  Whenever I remove the bands, I have to then style my hair with an updo or dry twist/braidout style of some sort.  I hope to achieve a "band out" style one day!

Tip:  If you choose to use this method, be sure to use bands that do not have any metal pieces on them to avoid damage.  The metal on elastic bands can rip out hair and actually get caught!  (I actually use to combine the banding method along with twisting when I first big chopped.) 

                                                                                                        3. Braiding
     Braiding is another way to stretch the hair.  Braids allow the hair to remain moisturized and soft. Once the braids are removed you can wear it in a braidout style.  With having fine hair, sometimes braids can stretch my hair so much that it makes my hair look stringy lol.  I'm still working on this  :)   

 Tip:  Instead of braiding the entire length of the hair, try twisting the ends so that removing the braids will be easier :)  This also allows me to have more of a "chance" to wear a braidout because the ends aren't as scraggly.  LOL

    So which section gave me the most stretch in the end?  For my hair, it was a "tie" between the banded section and the braided section of hair.  The twisted section left me with the most shrinkage.(But I love my twistouts! lol)  So there you have it!  3 quick and easy ways to stretch your hair without using heat :)  Which method do you use the most? 


  Check out my YouTube video Natural Hair 4C- Stretching hair (3 way comparison) Heat free :)

    Good Morning!  So, I actually attempted another braidout!  After finally having a successful braidout not long ago, I was encouraged to try it again lol.  This braidout was done by braiding the hair a little over half way the the length, and then twisting the ends.  I did not have to use rollers on my ends of my hair this time,  thanks to having a fresh trim!   This braidout  lasted about 3 days before loosing all of the definition. I decided to re-twist my hair the night of day 3.  I chose not to re-braid my hair because I have been spoiled by the ease of twisting lol!  
     I just wanted to show you guys a comparison between not re-twisting and re-twisting :)  Pics on the left are results of styling a 3 day old braid out without re-twisting it at night.  Pics on the right are results of re-twisting the braidout.  I was left with more "stretch" and volume after re-twisting :)   However, I actually like the shrunken look better lol.  Take care :)

    Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus line is near and dear to me because it helped my transition to natural hair, go smoother. This is a line made with all natural ingredients and no chemicals.  I have learned soo much from this line over the past 10 months.  During the beginning of my transition I decided that I needed to branch off from using heat and heavy silicones.  I had caused way to much damage to my hair!  After much research, I came across this line and gave it a try.  After a couple of uses my hair completely changed!  I was using healthy products and less product on my dry hair!  I could not believe it.  It was soo moisturized that I even experienced moisture overload lol.  (I didn't even think that was possible for my hair! LOL)  But, I took it as blessing because it showed me that real moisture was finally being put into my hair.  This is when my eyes were opened and I realized that I needed to look for products that were simple but full of quality.

    (I love this line, but because some of the products contain glycerin along with coconut oil, I do not use them as much because it is  getting cold outside. If I do....I'm sure to have very hard feeling hair! LOL)

    Ok guys, so I am not the best flat twister! LOL  So I like to "make do" with what I "can do." :)   This is a very quick and simple style, done in under 10 minutes, using "flat rolls" instead of flat twists. You can do this with previously stretched hair or even your natural fro depending on the length of your hair.  I rolled the sides of my fresh twistout upward into a fro hawk shape, securing the ends of the rolls with bobby pins.  This style is a nice and funky change of pace when it comes to wearing a twistout.  It also works fantastic if your hair is entering the "awkward length" stage and your sides are constantly sticking out all of the time lol.   I hope you guys like this style!  Let me know what you think and give it a try. : )

For the tutorial of this style, check out Natural Hair 4C- Twisted Fro Hawk (sort of... lol) on YouTube :)

   Alberto Vo5 Moisture Milks and Herbal Escapes
     Alberto VO5 Conditioners are my favorite conditioners to use for cowashing!  These conditioners can my purchased for prices as low as 88 cents!  (That's what I'm talking about!  Great products without breaking the bank lol.)  Since I currently do not shampoo my hair,  I love to use the Herbal Escapes Clarifying Conditioner in Kiwi Lime Squeeze, as my shampoo replacement and one of the other two afterwards.  The Kiwi Lime Squeeze conditioner cleans my scalp nicely and does not strip my hair in any way. The smell is nice and refreshing.  This conditioner is able to be used alone as it does not dry out the hair.  It is also silicone-free :)
    Alberto VO5 Moisture Milks "Strawberries and Cream" conditioner is lightweight but packs in lots of moisture for my coils.  It leaves my hair baby soft and smelling sweet!  It  also works great as a detangling aid.  The scent from this conditioner is sweet but not overwhelming. This conditioner contains soymilk proetins, so keep that in mind if your hair doesn't like protein. This is a silicone -free conditioner.  I am currently experimenting with using this condtioner as a leave in as well.  I will be sure to let you know how that works out :)
      Alberto Vo5 Moisture Milks "Passionfruit Smoothie" smells wonderful! It's my favorite scent out of these three conditioners.  This conditioner is light weight and leaves my hair very soft.  This conditioner also contains soymilk protein, so keep that in mind if you are protein sensitive.  It is silicone-free so it doesn't leave any build up.  Alberto VO5 "Passionfruit Smoothie" conditioner seems to activate my coils better than the other two conditioners.  So, for days I want more "pop"  from my coils, I reach for this one :)
 I have used all three of these conditioners together and separately and they are all fantastic.  The price point makes it tempting to collect them all!  (Which I can assure you I will be buying a few more scents soon. lol )

    TRESemme Naturals Conditioner w/ Aloe Vera and Avocado
    This is a lightweight, silicone free conditioner.  I like to use this conditioner as a leave-in because it leaves my hair moisturized and soft for a long time.  This conditioner has amazing slip for detangling.  It even has a nice hold for twists if you do not wish to use gel.  This conditioner can be purchased for around  $6.00.  The bottle is huge so the value is wonderful :)  Although this conditioner is great as a leave-in,  the smell is a little too light for me.  It doesn't seem to linger very long in my hair.  I enjoy fresh smelling hair, so I'm starting to experiment with other conditioners to use as my leave-in.  I also have to be sure to concentrate on the ends of my hair rather than my scalp. I have had the "itchies" from getting too much on my scalp at times. 


    Suave Naturals Tropical Coconut Conditioner
    I love to use these conditioners as a part of my deep conditioning routine.  I tend to mix them with Castor Oil and deep condition wearing a plastic cap.  This conditioner leaves my fro super soft.  Suave Naturals "Tropical Coconut" conditioner smells wonderful. There is no real reason why I am using the Tropical Coconut fragrance...  it just happens to be the one I have under my sink lol.  I tend to like most of the Suave Naturals conditioners.  This conditioner is thicker in consistancy in comparison to VO5, so it is better to use for deep conditioning.  I have co-washed with this conditioner and although my hair feels nice, it doesn't clean my scalp as well as the VO5.  The price of this conditioner is usually under $3.00.  Another great deal!

      Some mornings you just gotta rock a fro :) Today is one of those mornings. After removing my satin bonnet, I noticed that my twistout had pretty much reverted back to a  complete fro.  So I quickly decided that wearing my afro "as is" would be best. I remember when I was younger, if I would have woken up to completely smushed hair, I would have lost my mind lol. Since my big chop, I have learned rather quickly not to panic when I see smushed bedhead. I almost don't even worry about anymore!  The fro will work itself out with a little steam and moisture :) 
        
     I realize now, how much time I have spent over the years fighting my
hair. From childhood up until my big chop, I have never really allowed it to "do
its thing."  I have learned that if I want a hassle free relationship with my
hair, (which has a mind of its own lol) sometimes I need to just let it be.  Have a blessed day!  (Pictures below are of Day 3 Twistout)

    Hi everyone!  So today is my 2nd day wearing my twistout.  For this twist out, I have to admit that I was in a rush to do it. ( I was verrry tired lol. )  So this time, I only twisted my hair with olive oil and avocado butter. (I'm still experimenting with using these two products alone :) 
  To my surprise, the 1st day came out with what "looked" like a nice "hold."  However, after sleeping on it.....I lost most of the pattern created by the twists LOL. (Using a little aloe vera gel really does help with holding the pattern from my twists better.)  I don't mind that my hair looks a lot different than Day 1 :)  I love to rock a fro!  
   
     When I first big chopped, I had to re-twist my hair nightly to avoid looking crazy the next day lol.  Now, as my hair is getting longer, and I am able to go several days without re-twisting. Yay!  I just have to make sure my hair remains moisturized. I also sleep with a satin bonnet and a satin pillowcase.  That's it!  I've been keeping it very simple.  :) 

Note: Since opting not to re-twist, I tend to wake up to some pretty serious bedhead lol. For a quick fix, I like to use the steam from my shower to bring my coils back to life.  :) 

    Today marks me 10 months post relaxer!  I'm soo excited at how far i've come in 10 months.  During my transition, I was sure I wouldn't chop my hair any earlier than 2 years.  I even tried shortening the time period to 10 months because I wanted to start the new year out as fully natural lol.  So this is the day I marked on my calendar, (along with Feb 3, 2014 lol) to do my big chop.  That obviously didn't happen lol. 
     Sometimes things don't work out as planned but they work out for the best.  :)  I wouldn't change the fact that I chopped alot sooner than I planned because I think I would have been a mess if I had waited until now!  I big chopped during the end of summer and I encountered problems with retaining moisture.  However, I was able to correct it with daily cowashing and glycerin rich products.  Neither of which would work for me now that it's freezing outside! LoL  So I have enjoyed the past 10 months and I look at today, December 3, 2012 , and think 'I was strong willed enough to big chop early... and I love it.'  :) 

    Keeping a journal or photo album during your hair journey can be very helpful.  I've been taking pictures throughout my hair journey for quite some time. Most of the pictures I took during the beginning of my journey were really bad lol.  My hair was soo damaged!  I have been through many ups and downs throughout the years and the pictures prove it.  They allow me to see how my hair has changed  (good or bad).  It also allows me to see if I need to make any changes to my regimin.  If I take pictures during a trial period of trying out a new product, and my hair doesn't look its best in the photos, then I will know that the new product isn't for me.  It also serves as a great way to recycle old hairstyles that I haven't done or tried in awhile.  It's a great way to keep tabs on your hair growth and thickness changes as well.  So, I encourage everyone who is on a hair journey to take pictures of their hair every now and then.  You can even make notes on new techniques and products you are trying out. It is encouraging to be able to see when you are making progress...especially during those times where it seems like your hair is at a standstill.  So begin your hair journey album or journal today :)   God bless!