Grown folks, into the pool for adult swim!

one of the topics I've seen discussed repeatedly on natural hair sites is how to workout and still manage to keep your hair looking nice and minimize any risk of damage. well, i saw something today that made my secret swimmer's heart race with glee!

turns out there is a way for natural girls to go swimming wihtout ending up with dried out damaged hair in the process. Kcurly over at Newly Natural has cracked the code!! check THIS out:

"So, fast forward to the next time I went swimming. I soaked my twists with conditioner, applied my lycra cap, followed by a silicone cap and furthered secured with the swim band.

"Now this is a winning combination! My caps stayed on, I couldn’t feel any water seeping in, and there was no need for a chin strap! I still looked goofy, but it worked!"

I am just as excited about the swim band as she is! finally, a way to go swimming without wearing that oh, so inconspicuous chin-strap swim cap.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
yeap. that one.
 
happy swimming!!

My Type of Christmas Giff!

ahhhh, the holidays. hot apple cider, Christmas trees, seasonal carols, sugar cookies, and (of course) the age old question most moms ask ourselves:

once it's all said and done, will i at least have enough money to buy MYSELF something that doesn't come on a dollar menu???

as if in answer to that question, i received an email today from a local natural hair care salon here in my city with some amazing news. i'd heard about this sale once or twice over the summer, spoken like an unconfirmed rumor. it is, in fact, a reality:

Miss Jessie's Christmas Special

Buy One, Get One Free for Items of Equal or Lesser Value.

November 26, 2009 - December 31, 2009

The featured products for the 2009 Christmas Special are Miss Jessie's products that are 16 oz, 12 oz and 8 oz in size.

having never tried Miss Jessie's because of the price, this is something i can honestly get behind. i mean, who WOULDN'T feel better about spending $40 for a 16 oz container when you're gonna get two? ....why yes, that was the sound of a needle scratching a record you heard when you read the words "$40 for a 16 oz container."

nonetheless, go forth and have yourself an awesome natural Christmas.

i always suspected Santa was into natural hair...

A convert to the Church of Our Lady of the Satin Cap

i am ready to admit it: despite my research and the numerous blogs i've read, i can admit that i have found myself behaving as if my hair is invincible in its natural state.

confession time: i don't really pay that much attention to the ends of my hair and i do NOT sleep in a satin cap.

now, to my defense i've never used a satin cap. i've been lucky that my hair when relaxed was still pretty manageable after a full night's sleep so i never really bothered. and vanity caused me to decide that i did not want to go to bed looking like Miss Jane Pitman. and by go to bed, i mean "go to bed," ya feel me?

but an incident happened this morning while showering that made my blood run cold and quickly reminded me of the benefits and prudence of wrapping one's hair at night:

i fought the terrible fight with a  pretty tenacious fairy knot.

what's that? you say you've never heard of a fairy knot? well pray you never experience it. in my mind, i imagine the fairies responsible for this hair abomination look like this:

having experienced this (and the sensation of breaking out into a cold sweat while standing in a hot shower), i am convinced. Miss Pitman was a strong, proud, and most likely fairy knot free black woman. I'm praying at the same church she prayed.

but she can keep the water fountain.

The Instyler hates your kinky hair, sis.

If there is one thing my friends no about me it's that i have a stupid weekend obsession with infomercials. i love watching these mini-tv shows, where they try to sell you cheaply made items dirt cheap (or not so dirt cheap) with the promise of satisfaction.

Most of these infomercials rope me in pretty easily, but the main thing stopping me if i'm broke: how can i buy a $290 vacuum cleaner when my water bill is late??? and everyone i've told is quite relieved to hear that i've given up my dream if making a Thanksgiving turkey in a Nu-wave convection oven.

That being said, i must admit that the infomercial for the InStyler rotating flat-iron has really, really, really, REALLY harshed my buzz. and i was finally driven to my keyboard by the cosigning of Kimberly Locke of the wonders and magic of this $300.00 $89.00 $45.00 $14.95 for 30 days hair tool.

when i started this blog, i made it clear that i'm not part of the "if you relax or straighten your hair, you're lost" movement. i believe we should make the choices that make us happy with ourselves, but that we should also we aware of the history behind why certain beauty standards prevail and what kind of messages we received about our natural selves, which originally drove the straightening of hair in African American women. if you want straight hair, fine.

just understand that straight hair is NOT more beautiful than natural hair. don't fall for the oky-doke.

yet, the people shilling the Instyler apparently didn't get this message. throughout the infomercial, naturally kinky hair gets the slam. and I mean slam! Cue Kimberly Locke:

as she sits in the chair, about to have her hair styled with the tool, the stylist talks about how her natural hair is dry and very difficult to manage, saying he has spent hours in the past trying to get her hair straight. and then he proceeds to link straight hair with hair that is pretty, shiny, and healthy. he takes one section of her natural hair and says "look how when i drop it, it just falls in a clump!" but the hair he's straightened with the Rod of God? "it falls beautifully and softly! and look how healthy* it looks!!"

and the whole time he's dogging out the hair that grows naturally from her head, she's sitting there grinning like a mook! and camera shots of the other black women (yeah, both of them) in the audience showed them shaking their damn heads in agreement. for a second, i thought the one with the extra long hair was going to get the spirit and start doing the jesus dance around the stage!

sure, sure, i know what you're saying: "doesn't it make sense for someone selling a flat-iron to speak highly of straight hair, helllloooo?"

yeah, yes it does. but that doesn't mean you have portray hair that is not naturally straight as dry, lifeless, unruly, and hard to manage. that's the same message black women have been receiving about our hair since forever and frankly, i'm over it. and i'm really irritated they found a black woman willing to put her limited star power behind the message that straight hair is better hair.

there's an 80s song that i have been caught singing on more than one occasion that has a lyric line saying "just because you're right doesn't mean i'm wrong."

there's enough room at the Beauty Bar for everyone, quit trying to elbow me back.

*if anyone can show me actual proof that applying heat directly to AA women's hair makes it more healthy by changing the structure of the curl pattern, i'll tell you to quit smoking crack. applying direct heat like that over long periods of time is damaging, period.

Ps: duh.

Co-wash? Try NO-wash.

the first time i tried Co-washing, it was a raging success...except for one tiny problem. it seemed like my hair got dirty again much more quickly than before. I can usually make it at least a week before feeling the need to wash again. That time, i felt the need again after 3 days! that was a rather annoying price to pay for the soft shiny hair i was sporting post was. I attribute this magic to Optimum Oil Recovery Condtioner I used. This stuff is magic, mineral oil not withstanding...

the second time i co-washed, i used a different conditioner. and let's just say the results are really troubling. What i was left with was hard, dry, unhappy looking hair. This is the type of result that drives women to the Big Chop because anything ANYTHING beats this crazy looking mess right here. I'm not sure if the fault lies with the condtioner or with the fact that i'm not really getting my hair as clean as i should be by simply using a conditioner. having read that most conditioners have a small amount of detergent in them to assist in cleaning, i wonder if the Silicon Mix conditioner does not.

the bottom line is, Co-washing seems to work extremely well if you use a moisture intensive conditioner. comparing the ingredients of these two products, the Optimum Oil Therapy conditioner really has the upper hand when it comes to natural oils and moisturizers.

so co-wash with care! not all conditioners are made equal and the choice you make can mean the difference between this:

and this:

no, this isn't my hair...yet.