Skin before and after...so far

Here are some before and after pics of my skin. On the first one (hair down) you will notice lots of little break outs. That was the constant state of my skin, so that's why I used that pic. I have only been doing this for maybe a week (I have no sense of time, sorry), and there is already an improvement. I am a "picker" hence the scar on my neck and cheek. I am actively breaking that habit.

OCM

Just wanted to share something that I found to be interesting. OCM stands for oil cleansing method. It is a method of cleaning your face with oil. The blend that I made was jojoba (50%), grapeseed (25%), castor (25%), and tea tree (20 drops).

First I rubbed/massaged my face with the oil mixture. I wet a wash clothe with water as hot as I could stand it and put it on my face. Once it cooled a bit I wiped my face with it. I rewet it and wiped it again. After that I applied a couple of drops of jojoba oil.This morning a bump that was on my face last night had gone down dramatically. Who'da thunk it? Anyway, just thought I would give you the tip. You can find vids on youtube if you just search OCM.

Natural Hair Products

I participate in an online forum called lovinlocs. It is a really great forum with wonderfully informative discussions. Once we talked about natural hair products vs. not so natural (but good) products. Now one of the locticians talked about the chemical makeup of certain products and why they work, and why all natural products will not always give you the best result. All of what she said was true. So why, you ask, do I prefer to use natural products. Well, my reasons have to do with my health and the health of my clients. People don't realize in this day and age there are more pollutants than we care to think about. We are exposed to them on a daily basis. Most people don't do cleanses, vegetarian diets, drink clean water, and exercise. All of these things help you detoxify. These steps help you rid your body of the daily buildup of pollutants in your system. Even wearing natural deodorant that allows you to sweat, but not stink will help. Anyway, my main reason is that I want to live and help my body do what it is supposed to do.

My hair is important to me as I have expressed in other blogs, but not more important than my health. Now let me say this. My hair isn't unhealthy, it means that sometimes I have to work harder and accept somethings about my hair that others don't want to deal with. I don't use conditioner, because I don't care about my hair being super soft. I just want it to be moisturized. I use spritzes, oils, shea butter and, combinations of those products. The shampoo that I use is castile soap and it works wonderfully to remove the heavier products that I use. I take hempseed oil (pill form) to keep my hair from drying out in the winter. I know that it works because when I ran out, my hair screamed bloody murder. I drink almost solely water this helps you to keep your weight down and get toxins out. I also exercise.

All this to say that there are certain chemicals that I can't or won't give up like bleach, but I will be safer where I can. My toiletries is a good area to start. A lot of products have a cumulative affect that our government simply doesn't care about. I put this link here so that you can search some of your favorite products and see how hazardous they are and why. You don't have to give up everything, but make improvements where you can.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

If it ain't one thing...

Well, I got past the thoughts of what other people thought about my freeform mane. Now is the problem of my lifelong issue with HIHD. I just feel the need to do something to my hair. It is not driving me crazy, it is just one of those things. Oh, and now that it is not twisted I have all these "showy" gray hairs. I can tell by the length that they have been there for a while, but they weren't all out in public before. Anyway, such is life at 31.
Sidebar. I have a new nephew. He was born on the day after Thanksgiving. He is so cute. He and his sister are 13 months apart. We will be babysitting him too. That should prove to be interesting. I have found that I am a better mother in my 30's than I ever was in my 20's.
Back on task. Most of my clients are accepting of the new locking process while others act as if I have stopped bathing. I just really find it strange that as soon as locking went mainstream there became a certain "way" to "do" them. I just find them to be beautiful. My only requirement is cleanliness, and I shampoo more than most.

Twist Set Result

Okay so as promised, here is the end result. Hope you like it, but if not I'm wearing it anyway. LOL I think that I will like it better after my run/walk later so that my roots puff back up. Peace and love.

Okay so I hope I remember to upload the end result, but this is a twist set on my locks that have not be maintained in a while as I have decided to freeform. Note the knotted ends. That is to give it a more finished look. Think crinkles with curls on the end. And please excuse the plucked chicken look on the rear view. I don't know what that's about. Anyway, I did it last night and I did actually sit under the dryer for once. I gave it about 30 minutes. That is a lot of time for me. Anyway just wanted to put some pics up. Peace, Love, & Nappiness. I have to read 2 chapters for psychology and I haven't even looked at my math assignment yet. For those who know that words of prayer just pray my strength in the Lord. Seriously, because I hate math. One more off topic thing. I am going to list my other two blogs FYI. www.thebroomsexperience.blogspot.com and www.gatheringandreasoning.blogspot.com

Tagged!

I have been tagged by http://nubianlockedprincess.blogspot.com/
THE RULES!
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 non important facts/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blog.
5. let them each know they have been tagged by leaving a comment.

Okay here we go

1. I haven't watched the news since April or May.
2. I wish that I could live on enough land that I could have animals and a dog that could run free.
3. I hope that when my husband and I are old, very old, that we will die at the same time so that we won't have to be alone.
4. I am vegetarian, and I actually enjoy being one.
5. I love my hair and it makes me feel feminine.
6. If I didn't have children I would by a Rottweiler.
7. BONUS! I love reptiles and amphibians.

Hair Molestion

I mentioned this in the last post. I addressed it from the point of HIHD. However, I was reminded today by a client about being HM or hair molested by others. Let me preface this by saying that I am REALLY old timey about people touching my hair. I HATE IT!!! It is just too personal. Now I don't mean people that are close to me, like my husband, but that is about it. Have you ever experienced HM by a perfect stranger? Do people feel like it is okay to just walk up and fondle your hair? If so please share with the group.

I was in church once and this girl kept walking up behind me flipping my hair. The first time I just told her to stop. The second time I explained to her that since she wasn't the one lying next to me when I woke up that morning that she didn't have the right to touch my hair. The third time...oh the third time...I yelled "stop it" and told her what I would do if she didn't. I am not saying that the latter was Christ-like behavior, but you have to draw a line somewhere. If you have experienced HM we are here to help. For further assistance please call
1-888-4HM-STOP. If you call, we can help. PS, this is just a joke for those of you who may have missed it. Oh, and I even added pics this time. I wanted y'all to see how my freeforming is coming. I am coming out of my shell, because I love y'all.

HIHD

Hand in hair disorder can be very serious for sufferers, especially lock wearers in some sort of transition. HIHD is a serious disorder in which the individual has trouble keeping their hands out of there hair. It may also be commonly known as hair molestation. In most cases of afro wearer it is mostly harmless, but it can be a more serious issue for those wearing locks. In the case of lock wearers it may actually slow the locking process. The process is often slowed by tugging at buds, over styling, and twisting to often. It can cause major frustration in a couple of ways.

1. After wearing traditional hairstyles in which constant maintenance is required, locking causes the wearer to have to reshape their normal behavior.
2. Allowing hair to go through often unpredictable changes can be a challenge in a society where we like to control everything.
3. Due to the stigmas that are still very prominent in this society, some may feel the compulsion to constantly twist and sometimes over twist edges.

In many cases the sufferer may have a flare up during the teenage stage of locking, when switching from latching to palmrolling or the reverse, and also when changing from traditional to free form or organic locks. I hope that this will be of some help to those that are suffering from HIHD or know someone who is. It is also my hope that this will be read with sense of humor and not taken seriously in the least. Live. Love. Laugh.

People's Opinions of MY hair

Recently I decided to stop twisting or maintaining my hair. I can hear some of you gasping with disbelief. Yes, it's true. My soul's desire is the be a freeformer. I have shared some of this with clients to "warn" them of my decision so that they don't start to ask me if I am okay. Why did I decide to do this you ask? Well, it started in kind of a strange way. I used to latch my hair. I fell in love with Bob Marley and loved the freedom that was expressed through untamed locks. I liked it because I seemed to be an expression of letting God do His work. I decided that I would start palmrolling to allow myself the freedom to have the maintained look if I wanted it or to have a freeform look if I wanted that. When I wore them palmrolled, I still felt really restricted. I decided to just leave it alone. That didn't last long, because I felt very comfortable at home, but self conscious in public because of what "they" were saying. I hated the feeling of leading two different lives. I want to say this. My locks are part of a spiritual awakening for me. It's not a hairstyle. I don't fully understand the fullness of the purpose, but I love the not knowing and allowing my hair to just do it's thing. So anyway, this journey is uncomfortable for me in one way because I don't know what my hair is going to do. In another way, I know that I have to grasp this lesson in it's completeness. I see myself with locks that are full, wild, and free. Just like me. It just seems more appropriate for my personality to be freeform.
Since locks have become mainstream and legally untouchable in the work place, school, etc. everyone has an opinion of what they "should" look like. Well, I started doing this before they were an "in style" way of expressing yourself. When I moved back to Charlotte no one was really wearing them, except some people who seemed to appear from nowhere at the various Afrocentric festivals.

I don't think that the people that are telling me that my hair needs to be neat don't have a deeply abiding love for locks. I have never seen locks that I couldn't see the beauty in. As long as they are clean, I'm good. They can be fat, skinny, short, long, or mohawked and they are beautiful. I didn't start locking for style, so I don't have to follow the rules of "fashion or acceptability". This is a lifestyle for me. I love my rebellious kinky hair. It doesn't like to lay down and be obedient just because somebody deemed it should be so. If you think that being neat is the only way for locks to look, then perhaps you should ask yourself a couple of questions. Are you just mimicking the Eurocentric ideal of beauty, while retaining your Afrocentric street credit? Did you simply lock, so that you could have long hair like the women on television? Nothing is wrong with your nice neat locks, but nothing is wrong with my untameable locks either. If I can't be tamed, then why should my hair be beat into submission? I guess I really am my hair. Oh by the way these pictures were taken pre-freeform.

I am my hair!

I was lovin' India Arie until she made the song "I am not my hair". I still love her, but that was a little mainstream for me. I tried to get down with the lyrics, but no matter how I tried I just couldn't say the words. Yes, I am so much more than just hair, but I am my hair. I am my hair because history teaches me that it is the one thing that sets me apart from other races and people...it is special. My hair is an ornament of power and beauty. If unlocked it defies gravity. Some cultures say that locks are an antennae to God. Ascetics or holy people are often known simply because the wear the locks upon their heads. If it weren't important the bible would not speak of it. It's what I cover when God takes me through certain times in my life. I covered my hair from the day that my husband asked me to marry him until the day we got married. In many ways it is the way I am identified. It is a statement of my African heritage, my political stance, and my lesson in giving God control. It was the first thing that was taken when we were stolen and even used to torture the Rasta people. I am my hair and so much more, but I am my hair. Does this mean that we shouldn't love one another regardless of the exterior, no. I simply means that we are all special in our special way. I means that I don't have to assimilate to be loved or to love. I am so much more, but I am my hair.

I got tagged

I got tagged by happilynappilynish The rules are, you must list 6 non important,quirky,crazy things about yourself.You must also show the link of the person who tagged you.

1. I am a germaphobe and I won't eat people's cooking until I know their hand washing habits.
2. I still daydream at the age of 31 and will never stop.
3. I love walk around in the rain like a kid and I don't own an umbrella.
4. I don't own a watch and don't want one.
5. I only eat even numbers of things like M&Ms and cookies, but if it is an Oreo it can count as 2 cookies if necessary.
6. I love to to look at my husband and children when they don't know I am watching to catch those candid moments in my mind and heart forever.

I am new so I will tag some folks later, plus I have 2 other blogs that I have to update. LOL

My freeform spirit

To update, I have joined locks together for a thicker look. I have changed from latching to palmrolling. I palmrolled them a few days ago, prior to that I latched a couple of weeks ago. I hated that latch so I took them loose. I hate the palmroll, but I am trying to leave it alone. I just don't like the feel. It makes me feel bound in some way. I feel like I am supposed to have nice neat locks, but I hate it when they are neat. When my roots are thick with no parts showing, I feel beautiful and free. The only problem is that then I become aware of what they think. You know the "they", the invisible people that we all know are there lurking with there stupid opinions. Anyway, just as my walk with Christ is deepening in ways I couldn't imagine I guess my hair, in a way, is reflecting that. I am getting more and more free in God and learning to just do what the word says and forget about the other stuff, same with my hair just letting it be what it is. It sounds easy, but man is it hard. It seems He never gives me the easy way out. The freedom, for my hair and spirit, is on the other side of peoples opinions. So I guess that once I get past people's opinions in both areas I will be as free as the wind. Thanks for "listening".

Pescetarianism & Lacto-Ovo Vegetarianism

Pescetarians are people that don't eat meat other than fish and probably eat dairy and eggs. Lacto-Ovo(or the reverse) eat no meat, but do eat eggs, milk, butter, or stuff with those products in it.

Recently we watched a video on youtube called "Meet Your Meat". Don't watch it if you plan to continue to eat meat, it just won't be the same. Anyway, I believe in people being informed and so our family sat down and watched it together. Now, I know some will say that it is too violent for children. To that I say that as a society we allow children to constantly be exposed to things that are violent and not beneficial. This is violent, but it is true and beneficial. I realized that children often have no idea where their food comes from. Somehow there is often a disconnect between seeing a picture of a cow and knowing that he played a major part in the making of your hamburger. If we were in a third world country or on a farm our meat would not be so neatly and deceitfully packaged in cellophane. It doesn't even resemble the animal that it comes from.

The Bible gives us freedom to eat what we want, but people also perish for a lack of knowledge. God knows our end from our beginning. So the freedom to eat what we want or need to (I believe) was set for those who would be violently enslaved and forced to eat things that were inconceivable. He was looking out for those that wouldn't be able to honor those codes of the OT law.

Anyway, I am mostly lacto-ovo although I don't drink milk (I drink almond or soy milk), I do eat things with milk in it. Anyway, I feel a lot better and my innards thank me. I have stopped using canned veggies and I only use fresh or frozen. I would use more fresh veggies if my fridge weren't possessed. I would like to move more toward raw when I get a new fridge. My husband is a pescetarian, my son eats less meat (5 years old), my daughter is a pescetarian(8 years old), and I am mostly lacto-ovo although not completely opposed to eating fish. Nothing to do with hair, just thought I should share.

ACV

Okay, I seem to be ACV retarded. I tried the ACV rinse again last night with essential oils included. I thought I had done a good job...until my husband walked in. He walked in and said,"Oh, now it smells like vinegar and peppermint. Ugh!" Thanks Babe, good to have all that support. LOL People sing the praises of this stuff, but it seemed to make it crunchy. Oh well, maybe I will try it again another day some other way.

I spent some time yesterday undoing my last latching. I just don't like that "just done" feeling. I like to feel some roots. I know that isn't the norm, but I like it. I did twist it down last night so that it will have the chance to form into nice round lock. Now mind you, this will probably last about a week, because I hate that "just done look". "See" you later.

My other blogs

I just wanted to let you all know that for the next 10-14 days I may be paying more attention to my other blogs. The reason is that I am doing that my husband and I are doing 10 days or more of fasting/cleansing. The blogs are www.thebroomsexperience.blogspot.com and www.gatheringandreasoning.blogspot.com. Anyway if you are interested, please feel free to check me out over there.

Shampooing Locks

Why don't people with locks like to shampoo? I have clients, who shall remain nameless, that simply refuse to shampoo for months at a time. I have to shampoo my hair at least once a week. I just can't think of anything on your body that should go any longer than that without a little water hitting it.

I must admit that I am not a stickler for neatly maintained locks. I may tighten mine every 2-3 months. In the summer I definitely wait about 3 months, but I shampoo. We take the whole notion of freedom a little too far sometimes when it comes to being natural. If you can smell your hair, so can other people. If you work out, at least walk past some water every two weeks or so.

Water is your friend.

Merging My Locks

I started this set of locks kind of small, although I didn't realize it at the time. Since *Sisterlocks(tm) have become so popular in recent years my locks have been confused with them a time or two. I was shocked. Mostly because SLs are so small, although in recently years I have noticed them increasing in size. Anyhoo, I was watching Bob Marley videos, reading about him, etc. when I realized how beautiful his locks were. I was mesmerized. I can't let my locks just grow freely can I? Well, I could have, but I didn't. I decided to marry them. Yep I made my locks larger. I joined two or three together where I felt it was appropriate. I did this by utilizing the latching technique. I like them much more now. They feel much stronger than before. I am now waiting for some of the ones in the front to grow so that I can begin to palmroll again. I used to latch, but I like the freedom of palmrolling. With palmrolling I can have that neat look when I need it, but I can be all organic looking when I want to. Either way I love my locks more than ever.

My husband told me that I get more beautiful the longer my hair gets. I don't know why it meant so much...maybe it was the sweetness and sincerity of it, but it went to the soul depth. Now, understand that my husband constantly compliments everything about me, so I can't testify to having a husband that doesn't express love to me. That one just came from a sacred place. Maybe because I believe hair and the head to be sacred.
Anyway, just thought I'd share.
*you know you have to put the "tm" with the name or you may be sued. LOL...no seriously.

It's been almost a year

Well, it has been almost a year and I have to say that it has been a roller coaster ride. I still specialize in locs, but I have learned a lot in this time about natural hair. I am still deeply in love with what I do. God is blessing me with more clientele every week and I make more than I did working at the library. If you ask God for something just know that if it is for the good of others, He will blow your mind. I have developed a referral discount program in place of traditional advertising, and I make sure to offer other specials in this time of a lean economy to help my clients as much as possible. I really enjoy what I do. I will be blogging more often hopefully as the year comes to a close.

Just Locs

I am in Charlotte, NC and I have decided to start a natural hair business. I have plenty of prior experience and God has already blessed me with wonderful clients. I was considering taking the Sisterlocks training classes and I am interested in knowing whether it is worth it. I have developed my own technique that is working, but some people are set on having "the real Sisterlocks". I met a wonderful sister today that wants to experiment with my technique on her Sisterlocks and I am so excited, because this is the one service that I don't offer right now. Please give me some input on this.