Three Hundred Sixty Six!!!!!!

OM Goodness I can't believe I let the day pass me by!!! Yesterday marked a year that I have been transitioning to natural hair!!! I am so glad that I made it to a year and I haven't really had any setbacks and I have had no regrets about choosing to embark on this journey. It has been so wonderful and full of so much more support and positivity than I ever expected.

As a result of making it this far, I am more confident in my decision to go natural. I'm no longer scared of my natural texture. I have learned how to handle my natural hair, and, while I have only had my hair out of a braid-type style for 4 1/2 months, I feel that I have conquered what I have allowed to defeat me for years. This past week I had a friend, who has recently decided to transition, look at me like I was crazy when I told her I really only comb my hair once to twice a week...when I shampoo and when I co wash. I had to laugh because I remember looking the same way and thinking the same thing the first time I heard it. the only thing I could think was that, as time goes on, and she has more natural hair on her head, her mind will change.

I have been blessed to experience extremely little breakage from what I can tell. When I took out my final batch of kinky twists in March I had my mom both trim and even up my hair a little bit and to do that she had to cut just over an inch or less all over my head. So the processed hair I have is still in good condition and its much further from my scalp today!  I'm still not at the point where I'm ready to chop. I know I have to get there, but I'm not there yet. I will probably end up forcing my own hand in the long run, but I'm not going to do that now. I don't get the itches and fidgety when I think about it as much as I used to, though.....That's what we call improvement!

So anyway, that's it for today's post. I've been thinking about doing some different things with my blog that would lead to more frequent posts, which is a good thing. We'll see how this brainstorming goes. When it happens, you'll know!

Be blessed folks!

Product Review

Typically, I would follow the directions of many YouTubers that I have heard over the past few months in reference to doing product reviews, which is waiting until you have used the product more than once. Some even suggest using it for a month before doing a review because you can then tell how it would really work with and in your hair, body, gut...whatever the product may be. BUT, I am oh so excited about the results of my first use of this product that I just can't wait to use it again. Call me impatient but I gotta tell somebody!!!

Previously, I wrote that I was searching for alternatives to deal with my scalp itching so much and that one of the things I purchased was Head & Shoulder's Itchy Scalp Care. Well, I used it a couple of weeks ago and it was AMAZING! Not only was it amazing but my scalp didn't itch for four days after using it!!! This is a major feat people! I have washed my hair at 1 and would be digging in my scalp by 8, so to go beyond 24 hours is more than I expected.

So, what's the first thing I liked about this product? The Shampoo was creamy. Almost the consistency of some conditioners, like a lotion almost, and it felt like it was really working in my scalp as I was using it. I was a little disappointed because I expected a little tingle to take place and there was none. There is eucalyptus in the shampoo and conditioner and that's supposed to be one of the ingredients that's really helpful to your scalp, but I also thought it would make me feel a little something....it didn't. Then I went to use the conditioner which was creamier than the shampoo and I really expected the conditioner to be as creamy as the shampoo, not creamier, but that was a good thing and as soon as I started massaging that into my hair & scalp...HELLO TINGLE! It was refreshing and felt really good. If I could have sat for hours with that conditioner on my head I would have (lol). My head loved the product and I'm going to use it again....and again...and again.

Also, in my alternative post I mentioned that I bought tea tree oil, as some people had advised me that it was also good for dealing with itchy scalp issues from a number of causes. Not knowing what actually causes my itchy scalp, other than the possibility of eczema, which I have on other parts of my body, I thought that maybe that would help too. Well, I have been using that for a little while now and I can't really tell a difference in my scalp from that alone. I'm sure it is benefiting my scalp in other ways (that I haven't looked into yet) but for the purpose of healing my itchy scalp issues, it hasn't proven itself to be something that would work on its own. I have, however, added it to my pre-poo hot oil treatment container as well as my moisture spritz that I use on my hair during the week. I do happen to love the smell. I don't know why, but the medicinal aroma it has is pleasing to me.

That's all I have for today. I plan to do a growth post in the near future because I have a lot of hair on my head! This no heat-reduced manipulation-treating my hair good thing is proving to have great results. Who knows, if I had put more effort into these kinds of things while I was processed I may have had a completely different experience over the last five or six years....but oh well. I'm not going back!

EPIC Haul!!!

Okay, this month has been a very busy one. With me doing some much needed things for myself both mentally and physically as well as getting back in the swing of being back in the swing of many things. So I am, of course, excited to be doing some of the things that I am doing (it really doesn't take much to please me, lol) and I also took some time to participate in some much appreciated (whether or not it was "needed" is yet to be seen) RETAIL THERAPY!

For those of you who were not aware, Bath and Body Works's Semi Annual Sale was this past month, in fact, it ended July 3rd. They have this sale twice a year, in June and December, and this is the time that I avail myself to stocking up on their anti-bacterial hand soaps for my bathrooms. So I walked into BBW with the intention to buy "hand soap." I picked up the mesh shopping bag to load it up with "hand soap." Then....I looked around me at the massive display of all things 75% OFF and in the "Hello, Goodbye" containers to see that many of the fragrances that I liked were on sale either because they were discontinuing them or because they were changing the packaging of the product. Either way, I couldn't beat the deals! I loaded up on shower gels, hand soaps, some of the fragrance oils that you can heat up in the little devices with a tea light (I have no idea what they are called). Long story short, I got a lot of stuff. Five trips in three weeks and seven BBW bags later and this was the end result:

   As you can see, I have

much more lotions and shower gels than hand soap.........But I can pretty much promise that I won't be going back to BBW for quite some time. I'm even considering giving away these coupons I earned while shopping....CONSIDERING! They would have to be used before 7/29, so we'll see.

Next in my retail therapy escapade was a trip to Lane Bryant. There, I stuck to my guns. For those who shop there you are very much aware that LB tends to be a tad bit overpriced and, while the clothes do tend to be long-lasting and of decent quality, trips there are better left few and far between and specified to the sale racks. Well, this time, I went specifically looking for shorts, which I haven't bought or worn in about 8 years, and tanks because the tanks were on sale and I love using them as a pop of color to my strapless sundresses. I walked out with 3 pairs of shorts and 4 tanks. Job well done!



Then, there was a trip to the outlets. Including my 5th and final trip into BBW (they had an abundance of the White Citrus shower gel that other stores had sold out of), I picked up these wonderful items:

First were these cute little babies from Adidas! I needed some new walking/workout shoes and these were on sale at an unbeatable price and they have a little bit of purple in the color scheme. Although my favorite color is blue, nothing with blue was on sale at a price that could beat these bad boys!



Next were these cuties from Nine West. Now, I must admit, these were not what I initially went in there for, but they didn't have my size in the grey (which they called black) and upon rationalizing that I have no natural toned shoes that I could wear in the colder months, I scooped these up and they are adorable! I must give myself kudos for waiting for my payday to get these also because they had gone down another $10 in price when I went back to get them.



Then there were these little puppies from Charlotte Russe. I must admit, I am not a Russe shopper and only, typically, go into the store for their accessories (I also got some earrings for $4) but I had been watching these shoes for about 4 months and finally decided to buy them and was able to get them at less than half off!!! Yay me!

Last, but certainly not least, I attended the CD Celebration Concert for my friend Derek Dunn and I purchased his sophomore project entitled "Relationship" (available on iTunes). The music is awesome and Derek is an anointed minister and amazing vocalist.

That is the end of my haul and the finale of a wonderful Fourth of July weekend! Needless to say, I won't be doing much more shopping in the near future, but it was certainly fun while it lasted!