Hair Crush?!?...Naptural85

I I love her hair and had to share! Naptural85 is my hair crush...Who's yours?

Good bye Scissors!

Today i was doing my rounds on YouTube of old & new hair vids when I heard an unexpected statement: You don't  need to trim your hair to make it grow.......What? Stop the presses! I hate getting my hair trimmed and I dont have to do so to get the length results I want? Ok, i was interseted.  (It was The Hair Doctor- Lisa Akbari) My experiences with "trimming" has been horrible...from stylist, to friends, to family & myself we have all messed up! I thought it was part of a sacred code of healthy hair. I began searching for others rogue natural hair ladies who didnt trim or not as often and this group of rebels is very large.  Women with beautiful long hair were appearing everywhere.

Soooo..Ive decided to begin a hair challenge. I will seal my ends  daily & nightly with  shea butter & oils.. I'm hoping to see a difference in the length & overall appearance of the ends of my hair.

  Will you join me? Have you stopped trimming or decreased the frequency of trimming? Leave me a comment lets go off the grid together!

I will whip some Raw Shea butter in a sealed container with Jamaican Castor oil, Coconut oil, Jojoba Oil & Olive oil... you can use what ever oils you like! 

Here's a couple before pics.. my allergies are very bad so Im very camera shy these days...

***I have a lot of split ends so if you have trimmed you may get better results but i'm going to try and heal my injured ends.

Collage of my ends 5/24

those are some raggedy looking ends :(

Summer time w/kids Part 1 Reading

Summer has reached the South! It may be officially still Spring but the thermostat & the school year ending in a few days means summer is here.  As parents we never get a vacation, so the summer poses a few challenges. We must prepare our kids for the upcoming school year, make sure they stay or get physically fit, stay out of trouble, and have a lot of fun. The resources for summer help are endless but I thought I would share a few....I will break them down in categories each week with a post...Let's begin with Reading List:


 This will get a lot of moaning from some of the kids but we have to keep them learning all year. Most schools provide a required summer reading list for the new school year, local libraries also have suggested reading lists by grade level. One way to make reading more fun is to create or join a book club. Book clubs can be found at local libraries, bookstores & even social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter.  Encourage your child to connect with their friends and have a meeting once a week where they can discuss the book, take notes & be prepared for the reading test for the Fall.  It can be a lot of fun if you switch the meetings up. Have a meeting on Skype one week, a meeting at a local park another and maybe a themed party for the final...use your imagination and tie in the book; the details wont be forgotten.


If your child is more of a loner or has a lot on their schedule try including a nice notebook & pen to go along with the new book.  This can give them the opportunity to jot down notes they need to recall the book later as well as place they can journal their thoughts and activities from the summer.  Let them chose the journey or notebook that reflects their personality. If your child is like mine then they love their IPod and Itunes has an assortment of apps that are used to take notes and journal thoughts...let them decided...we love the pen & paper in the summer in my family but what works with your child is best!


Finally reading with your child no matter the age is a great way to get those books read. Local libraries usually have multiple copies of book titles. So get your lists and get to reading!

Charming Charlie

I decided to take a trip to Parkway Place Mall in Huntsville today to get my daughter the Sesame Street "I Love My Hair" shirt from Forever 21 and fell in love....not with the store I intended to visit but a beautiful store I stumbled on traveling there.  I walked pass a glass picture window that was showcasing beautiful accessories like necklaces, earrings, hats, purses, shoes etc in every color you could possible need to make your next ensemble pop! It looked like an exclusive boutique... I was intimidated at first because I knew I couldn't make any expensive purchases today but I had to enter.  I was greeted by a nice lady (in a trance forgot her name) asking if I needed any help..i just nodded "no" and began to explore.

The first thing I noticed was a beautiful turquoise butterfly ring and I slowly turned it around to view the price tag...it was only $7.95 what???? OK it was time to ask some questions....I asked the sales associate what the name of this accessory heaven & she pointed and said "welcome to Charming Charlie"..she explained how the store was arranged by color and to let her know if I needed any help...

I love this store! I was in a rush so I couldn't explore as much as I wanted but i will return.  The store opened August 2010 here so I'm a little behind & need to take trips to Huntsville a little more often! Check them out, you wont be disappointed. Here's a few photos.

Pre-teen Hair Goals

Motherhood is full of challenges and helping your children to have a positive self image is a very important & difficult one.  My only daughter Tia is twelve and she is beginning to discover that the way you look has an effect on the way people respond to you in society.  Embracing her natural hair is what I want for her but I also want her to know that she can chose. She will always know that I see a relaxer as the "creamy crack" but that if her reasons for getting one don't include self hate I will accept it. We sat down together and discussed what goals she had for her hair, here's what she said: long.long.long,long hair!

I explained to her to have long hair you need healthy hair so we have partnered to create just that! She has dedicated her time and effort to achieve her goal by wearing protective styles, sleeping with a satin bonnet, taking a daily multi-vitamin, 6-8 glasses of water a day & caring for her hair with conditioning and oiling it. The process has just begun for us so join in and help your daughter achieve her hair goals too!
Please post some of your pre-teen hair struggles, styles or success. All styles pictured were styled at home by myself unless noted.  Here are a few of the styles:

roller set - front

roller set back

cornrow ponytail-front

side of cornrow ponytail

wash n go with Eco styler-front

wash n go - back

cornrows w/extensions back

cornrows w/extensions

two-strand twists

kinky twists

kinky twists shoulder length

press n curl with professional trim

kinky twists dipped w/coldwave rollers

 **Beginning May 29 I will begin my Ultimate Make-over Challenge & Tia will participate in the hair portion also so please stay tune for that also!