Straightened…

Hey beautiful ones! I recently straightened my hair and I am so glad that I did. My hair is very coily and kinky and because of those reasons it makes it hard for me to trim my ends. I decided to straighten my hair on a whim. It was a quick decision, I washed and conditioned and when I was thinking about a style I saw straight hair. I used a ceramic iron and heat protectants. Below I will list some tips that I used to straighten my hair and prevent heat damage.

** Deep condition or treat your hair prior to using heat
** Use heat protectants (I used grape seed oil, coconut oil, Motions Thermal Heatseeker Spray, and IC Fantasia straightening serum)
** I blow dried using the tension method on a medium heat setting
** Work in small sections during the blow drying and flat ironing
** Some chase the hair with a small tooth comb behind the flat iron for a straighter finish, I did not though
** Use a heat setting for your desired look (The higher the heat setting, the straighter the hair)
** I passed the flat iron one time, trimmed the bad ends, and then passed the flat iron 1-2 more times
** Follow up with a deep condition or treatment once you are ready to wash again to help your curls bounce back

I didn’t desire bone straight results but I was very please. This was a few days after the flat ironing, m hair was thickening back up

I was pleased with the flat iron results but most of all I was pleased with getting my ends into good shape. I stretched the flat iron results over a few weeks with flat twists and rollers and I did not apply more heat. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on straightening natural hair and I didn’t create any heat damage. Now I think my hair is healthier because I was able to really get a good trim. I trimmed at least an inch or more from my hair. May seem like a lot but STRENGTH BEFORE LENGTH!!

In the last picture you can see “FreeDa” reverting back to her natural ways!
What do you think of using heat? Have you experienced any heat damage?

Throw It In The Bowl… DIY Deep Conditioner

 

I feel like it has been forever since I did a blog post.  Just call it a little bit of being busy, a lot of being lazy, and just not having the motivation to blog.  My blog is still a baby and when I look at other blogs, I get a little intimidated because I don’t have all of the bells and whistles that other blogs have, frankly because I don’t know how to do all of that stuff. LOL But I digress and I try to look at it this way, although the aesthetics of a blog are important, the content is of a higher importance and if I put out quality material that my readers find helpful and informative then the purpose of my blog has been served.  Sooooo with that being said, let’s THROW IT IN THE BOWL!!!! I love treating my hair but I have not found a deep conditioner that I love.  There are some good ones out there but I just have not stumbled upon those yet so until then I am going to throw it in the bowl!! (Every time I type that I sing it to the tune of the The Dream song, “Throw it in the bag”, SMH, don’t judge me y’all!!) What I threw in the bowl was ingredients that made the best deep conditioner I have used.

$9.99 purchased at Wal-Mart

I purchased the All Natural Deep Conditioner by Eden BodyWorks a while back at Wal-Mart.  I like Eden BodyWorks products but after I used the deep conditioner, I felt like it was good but just needed a little more.  So I decided to add in some oils, conditioner, and honey.  It worked great!! My hair was soft, shiny, and very easy to detangle after using my mixture.  The recipe I used is below but feel free to throw in your own products if all of these are not available to you.

*The products I used minus the Morrocan Argan Oil*
Honey-Food Lion grocery store
Coconut Oil-www.vitacost.com
Macadamia Nut Oil- http://www.amazon.com
Jamaican Black Castor Oil- http://www.amazon.com
Tresemme’ Conditioner- Target

**All Natural Deep Conditioner by Eden BodyWorks (the base) – 1 cup

**Honey, jamaican black castor oil, coconut oil, macadamia nut oil- 1 tablespoon of each

**Tresemme Naturals Conditioner- about 2 tablespoons

**Morrocan Argan Oil – 6 drops (I only used a little because that oil is very concentrated)

I mixed it up, put it in my hair, put on plastic cap, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and rinsed.  The results were great!!  I dare you to try and mix your own or if you have a mixture I would love for you to share!

Thanks for all of the support, comments, and love!!

Until next time,

Be You, Be Beautiful

Is it real???

Hello good people! I felt it was time for a new post (past time) so as I was considering what to do a post on tonight I decided to go another route from my twist out or wash and go post and share my thoughts on some natural hair topics, debates, questions.

IS IT REAL? I ask this because it seems that everyone ( I know not everyone, let me exaggerate please)  has natural hair or is going natural So is it a trend, a phase, or a lifestyle change? For me, it has been a lifestyle change. It has opened my eyes to a whole new way of seeing things.  I have become more confident, outgoing, and open-minded.  Ok, I am not saying that I was a totally shy, boring person but everything has grown and I love myself more than I ever have.  When you can embrace something that gets ridiculed, put down, and downright disrespected as much as natural hair does, you can embrace and love N-E-THING!!!  So back to the question, IS IT REAL for everyone else?  Now it is not my business what someone does with their life let alone their hair but I just wonder if people are just going along with what seems to be hot right now or are they truly wanting to embrace their natural hair FOREVER, Forever, ever??? Honestly I think natural hair is the most time consuming change I have made in my life except for having kids. Don’t get me wrong, I love every minute of it but it takes time, effort, patience, and in some cases MOOLAH to maintain healthy natural hair and I definitely would not be wasting my time if it was not something that I was 100% committed to. I am so delighted when I see natural hair women out and about, its like we are apart of some sort of secret sisterhood or something.  We need to create some kind of secret hand signal to give when you see another natural LOL.

Natural hair has really turned into a MOVEMENT! I hope its real and the ladies (and men) of the natural hair community love and embrace every kink, coil, and curl  that is on their head and not be discouraged by the naysayers!! LET ‘EM HATE WHILE YOU BE HAPPY AND NAPPY!!

Love you all and ’til next time,

Be you, Be beautiful

My new LOVE… Pre-Pooing

Hey people!! Hope your day is going well.   This post is about a new love of PRE-POOING  that I have.  Pre-pooing is a moisturizing, conditioning treatment that you do BEFORE  you shampoo, hence the prefix PRE.  It is very simple, coat your strands with product of choice, work it through, cover with plastic cap and some people sit under heat for a while.  I have seen people pre-poo for 30 minutes and I have seen people pre-poo for hours or even overnight.  That is your choice.  You may be saying, OK, I understand what it is now but what do I use to actually pre-poo????? Good question, various oils, such as, coconut, olive, castor, and jojoba can be used.  Also products such as hair mayonaises, conditioners, and other treatments can be used and/or combined with the oils.

I used to pre-poo frequently while I was transitioning but once I chopped I strayed away from this technique but man OH MAN, the prodigal child has returned and it is all because of HONEY!  Yes, honey!!  While scrolling through Instagram (follow me @simplee-ifree) I came across @glossymimi of www.lipglossandbinky.com,   upload of a jar of coconut oil and a jar of honey and she stated that she was about to pre-poo her daughter’s hair so of course I was intrigued because I love when I can make a product have multi-uses as I have already discovered a love for honey to exfoliate my face and lips.  Then I think the next day, I was tweet watching and Ariel of www.fashiondevotee.com tweeted that her hair was having a love affair with honey, so I was like OK i’m sold, and headed to the pantry for the honey!!!!

I was lucky that I was coming up on a wash day because the excitement of trying this out would have killed me!!! I put some honey in a bowl, if I had to measure I would say maybe 1 tablespoon and then I added the beloved coconut oil, let’s say about 2 tablespoons but of course you will need enough for your hair.  As you read, I put a little more oil than honey, mixed it up, worked through my mane, put on plastic cap, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and then rinsed in the shower.

OMGGGGGGGGG  While I was rinsing I could tell a difference in my hair.  It was the softest it has ever been!!!! NO EXAGGERATION NEEDED! As I was rinsing I said to myself, “I see why bears love this stuff!” and then I laughed at myself for even thinking that thought!! I am in love with it now but be mindful that it is honey so it will be sticky and somewhat messy depending on how you apply it but it does rinse out easily and your hair will love you.  Well at least mine did so I hope the same results for you if you try it.

One more thing, a few days later I paired the honey with extra virgin olive oil and it still did a good job of softening and moisturizing but my results with the coconut oil and honey were better X 3 so the two must be soulmates or something!

IF you want to see some examples there are a ton on youtube just search for pre-poo (duh India) and if you try or have tried it let me know how it works for you!!

FYI the honey I used came from wal-mart and my coconut oil was purchased at Whole Foods Market.

Until next time,

Be You, Be Beautiful