Kudos......that's not so extra ordinary

Okay, I know I'm a day early, but this happened today and it made me smile so I had to share.  I came home from work today to find that someone had brought my trash bin and recycling bin back to my house and placed them outside my back door.  When I got home and saw this I was reminded of how important it is to do little things for people because you never know how those acts will impact that person.  I stayed up late getting work done, had a long day at work and was so tired when I got home.  To have one less thing that I had to do after arriving home just made me smile inside and out.  

So, actually, I think that was pretty extraordinary of my secret knight and shining armor trash man/woman.

Tootles for now......

Hump day happiness.......

Here it is.....

1.  God woke us up this morning

2.  Family reunion next week

3.  Mini Charleston trip next week

4.  Almost finished designing the online class

5.  Great blessings for Erica

6.  Cool chiropractor.  He had to touch my coconut oil (Vatika really) filled hair this morning and didn't even mind. 

7.  Florence after five this Friday (if it doesn't rain)

8.  Sea world next week

9. Oprah's next chapter with the black women of Hollywood

10.  Beach time next week..........

Tootles for now........

Hump day happiness.......

1.  God woke us up this morning

2.  An amazing vacation last week

3.  The beach

4.  A wonderful evening with Elton last week

5.  A new vacation spot (are you all seeing a theme with my happiness :-)

6.  A new chiropractor

7.  Church tonight - I missed last Wed and Sun it feels like forever

8.  Doing a closet purge

9.  Got new glasses yesterday

10.  I got a post request - I really like when people ask that I write about specific topics on here

That's all I'll give for today although I am grateful for SO many more things

Tootles for now.......

My hair is so cute today, now what do I do with it at night?

This is a 5 day old twist out.  I maintained the style as I do for all my twist outs.  How is my modeling?  I watched Master Class Cindy Crawford yesterday and was feeling inspired :-)

Hey there lovelies~

Today someone inquired about maintaining a twist out.  Maintaining a style is something that heavily depends on your hair and your time commitment willingness.  The most common techniques that I have heard of for maintaining a style out is to pineapple, low bun, multiple puffs, braid.  Whichever method you choose it is imperative that you moisturize every night or every other night at the very least.  Common moisturizers are leave in, oil (jojoba and coconut are popular ones), Shea Butter, or water.  I will go through each of these options below.  

• Pineapple: this is the method that curly nikki uses to preserve her hair styles.  Basically, in order to pineapple you take all of your hair, bring it forward, loosely secure it with a ponytail holder and sleep with all of your hair in a super high ponytail (I'm talking almost on your forehead high).  I have tried the pineapple back in the day when my hair was longer, but didn't like it.  When I tried to pineapple, the next morning the ends of my hair were fine and the front was okay but the back was all flat and mushed.  Of course it is completely possible that I did something wrong, but as of now the pineapple is not for me.  I do however like to pineapple (when my hair is long enough) when I work out.  If you want to try pineappling check out this video.   
• low bun: this is the method that naptural85 (she does a low bun at about 5:20 of this video) uses to preserve her styles.  As the name implies you take all of your hair and place it in a low bun at the nape of your neck.  I have also tried this method, but I didn't like it.  I find that when I put my hair in a low bun the definition of my twist out goes away.  If I am tired I will do this, but I try not to do that more than once a week if at all (it is rare for me to do this).  
• multiple puffs: this method is essentially the low bun for those whose hair may not be long enough for one bun.  I have also tried this and don't like it for the same reason as above.  
• Braids: ding ding ding, we have a winner.  Each night I braid my hair.  I put the very front into flat twists (one flat twist on each side) and then I braid the remainder of my hair.  Right now with my hair shorter I usually end up with about 6-7 braids (just regular braids).  When my hair was longer I would usually do 4-5 braids or if I was being lazy I would just do 2 french braids (I always do my two flat twists in the front. As long as the front looks good the whole hair looks good).  In the morning I loose the braids, fluff a bit at the roots, and voila.  This may sound like a lot of work, but I usually spend 10-15 minutes braiding at night (the time decreases with longer hair due to less braids). 

I just took this picture tonight so this isn't exactly how I maintain my hair, but the two front flat twists are my staple regardless of what I do with my hair to maintain at night.  The remainder of the twists that you see in this pic would typically be braids were I maintaining a style (I washed my hair tonight so they are all twists tonight, but you get the idea).  I usually try to part my hair however I think I'll want it the next day and then do the placement of my two front twists based on that part.  I put the ends in bantu knots because I find it easier to keep the twists from unraveling that way.  If you don't want to bantu knot you can bobbi pin the ends 

Moisturizing

• Leave in: I personally only use leave in as a night time maintenance moisturizer if I haven't been taking care of my hair and it is really dry.  However, unless your leave in of choice is really lite adding leave in to your hair every night could lead to build up.  
• Oils: a lot of people like to use oils in their hair for moisture retention.  Typically, those who use oils only apply the oil to the ends of the hair.  I don't typically use oil every night because then my hair gets too oily; however, if you have normal or high porosity your hair probably won't get oily or at least not as quickly as mine does.  In the past when I have applied oil I have used jojoba, grapeseed, almond, coconut and castor.  I liked all of the oils I tried as far as oil in my hair went.
• Shea butter: applying Shea butter to hair at night is similar to applying leave in.  I personally don't like Shea butter on my hair because it leaves my hair oily, but I know that a lot of people LOVE what Shea butter does for their hair.  
• Water: ding ding ding ding ding, we have a winner.  I spray my hair with water every night.  I began spraying my hair with water based on naptural85's routine of spraying with water every night and morning (I don't spray in the morning and don't feel like I need to).  At night I take a section of my hair, the section I am going to twist or braid, and I spray the ends of my hair with water.  I work a bit of the water in by running my hands down the ends of my hair and then running my hands down the entire section.  Next I twist or braid and then that's that.  Now I don't drench my hair, I give about 3-4 pumps of water from the spray bottle for each section; so my hair is wet enough that I can tell I put water on it but not soaked and barely even damp.  

I usually tie my hair down with a satin scarf at night, but I don't think that you absolutely have to do this.  I feel like my hair is shinier in the morning if I tie it with a scarf.  

So, that's what I do with my hair.  I find that spraying with water each night keeps it moisturized and braiding keeps the definition going.  Using this method allows me to keep a twist out for a week easy.  

I hope this was helpful.  If you have any night time routines or preferences that may provide insight for others please leave a comment below!

Tootles for now......    

Hump day happiness.......

Here it is......

1.  God woke us up this morning

2.  Visiting another wonderful US city (hooray for Kure Beach)

3.  I get to see Elton

4.  Mini shopping spree yesterday

5.  My family

6.  Fresh insight

7.  Potential new leave in for twisting....is it just me or is Cantu leave in getting harder to find?  There is one walmart that I can never find it at anymore :-/

8.  My hair growing back healthier and better than ever

9.  My church family

10.  This year will be our 10 year Rho Zeta "ladies of intrigue" reunion....oh the college AKA days

That's all for today

Tootles for now.......

  

Do you know what today is?......It's my anniversary

Me having fun on my couch.  My hair is an old twist out.  I used my usual products of Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner to co-wash and Cantu Shea Butter Leave In to twist with.

Hello there lovelies~

Today marks my two year anniversary since the last time I straightened my hair.  I have thought about straightening my hair a couple of times since then in order to trim or for something a little different, but I am glad that I didn't.  I love my hair and am so happy to be able to embrace what God gave me.  As is the case with anniversaries, I think that this is a good time to reflect.  So, I think that I will mention my favorite thing thus far about being natural.  Hmmm.....this is tough. No more scalp burns (just one of many of course).  

What is your favorite thing or things about being natural?

Tootles for now.......

I didn't go natural I just returned.....

My hair today.   Day 2 of a braid out.  Now let me just take this time to say that I don't like braid our results necessarily, but they are much easier to do than twist outs with my hair at this length.  

Yesterday I visited a library co-worker, and she commented on how she loved my hair.  For some reason I think that a lot of people didn't realize that I was natural until I cut my hair last year :-/  Anyhoo, she said, "you love it don't you?"  I replied, "yes." Then she told me that when people ask her how long has she been natural she tells them that she didn't go natural she just returned to it.  I LOVE it.  People don't "go" natural, they simply return their hair to the way it was created.  Recently, a student asked me why I went natural.  I told her that I went natural because I didn't like getting relaxers.  Sometimes I think that people are a bit disappointed in my response as to why I returned to natural.  People expect some deep political health conscious reason for women wearing their hair natural, but nope, sometimes we just want to return our hair to the way it once was.  

What inspired you to return to natural?  

Tootles for now......

Hump day happiness............

Here it is.......

1.  God woke us up this morning

2.  There is no such thing as a bad hair day (and good thing because if there were I would have had one today, but I got two compliments so clearly bad hair days don't exist)

3.  Healing

4.  Feeling inspired by a library co-worker, she's just so full of life

5.  Zoe visited Furman

6.  I have my house back (although I am still finding cereal on Miles, thanks Micah and Taylinn)

7.  Making friends at church

8.  Church tonight, this month we are having bible study and I'm excited

9.  VACATION!!!!  NEXT WEEK!!!  ALL WEEK!!!! 

10.  Just found out that a Psychology co-worker used to be a personal trainer, HEY!

That's all for today, share some of your happiness in the comments section.

Tootles for now........