Hair Update: Jan 2010

A little late, but better late than never, right?

I got my relaxer on 1/9 after 12 wks, and got a trim too so all is well.

It's growing out well since the cut in May and the setbacks all through last fall.

Earlier tonight I found some old pics from 2008, and pissed myself off so bad!! Ugh, I hate that I've had to go through so much drama and issue over hair, but I guess that's what the journey is all about. In any event, I'm come out the other end much stronger and wiser about the decisions I make for my hair, regardless what anyone else's opinions about it are.

*sings Destiny's Child "Survivor"*

Next Update: Apr 2010

xoxo

Makeup Inspiration: Rihanna

As I am sure everyone can agree, Rihanna--in her own way, in her own style--is iconic. In my opinion, she is a great example of some of the best old school styles gone modern. I'm not into fashion much (although I wish I was), but her makeup style is always something about her that inspires me. Here are a few of the looks I like from her...

Hoping to get some FOTDs up soon, but school and work are both taking over the nation, lol.
Keeping it together, though...

xoxo

RIP Prescriptives! You will surely be missed..

As I am sure most of you out there know, Prescriptives, the 30 year old beauty brand under the Estee Lauder company, will be officially closing down at the end of this month (Jan 2010). Most of the counters in my area are already broken down and are a figment of my own cosmetic imagination.

I've known about this since last fall (Sept, maybe?) and for some unfortunate reason, it didn't really hit me until New Years that Px was seriously about to be gone. Like, seriously. Because I didn't buy any back ups of my beloved foundation. Doh!

Luckily, about 2 wks ago, I found some sites that sold what I needed in my shades and I will be okay for a little while, but the fact that I have to now go and find a new brand to match me (which I hadn't found) still makes me upset. Px realized that while brown skinned women do have yellow undertones, and sometimes red or orange as well, not EVERY woman needs the one undertone accentuated through her makeup. (Please take note, Bobbi Brown...sigh) Px kept it pretty neutral and remembered that some of us are olived toned, too. So, yeah--big loss for the team, y'all...

So join me on Jan. 31, 2010, pouring out a little liquor for my homies...

Peace/love.

A.

Relaxed Hair Care Part 3: Prevention

Ok, this is the final stage of this series. If you've battled through stage 1 and stage 2 and made it here, congratulations! Now you can do whatever you want, lol!! Just kidding, haha. Don't want to go back to where you started...

Styling ideas can be a little more adventurous when you have a head full of actual healthy hair. All the hair has this gloss to it, this natural sheen. So now, what do you do? Maintain it!! Keep deep conditioning weekly or every other week (don't forget your regular protein treatments). If you were getting trims every 6-8 weeks to get rid of damaged hair, see if you can safely push your trims out to every 10-12 weeks. (No later than 12 weeks though). Remember the point of trims is to prevent problems. So even if your ends appear healthy, they still could be a little drier than they used to be. This means that if you don't trim now, they will get drier and drier and then split. You'll be cutting less hair off now, versus if you wait. (This is when dusting the ends is appropriate).

And um, yeah, that's it. Just keep consistent and don't do anything to your hair that you may regret lol.

Hope this series was helpful!

xoxo

A.

NARS: Lipgloss love

Here are some swatches of some of the Nars lip products I own--lip glosses. I will need to take more pics later, since of course I've hauled since these were taken last year. Enjoy.

From the top:

Stolen Kisses, Sunset Strip, Sandpiper, Scandal, Stella

Lipglosses (on C7 skin), left to right:

Stella, Scandal, Sandpiper, Sunset Strip, Stolen Kisses

I love lip products but I don't wear them nearly as often as I should...add it to the resolution list, lol.

xoxo,

A.

Hair Steamers...yay or nay?

Maybe about a week ago, I was at my hair stylist's and asked her whether or not steaming was a good idea for my hair. Her reply? "Absolutely!" LOL. Then she moved on to say that weekly steam treatments with a good quality deep conditioner almost completely eliminated split ends from her life--and she likes the flat iron like I do, so um yeah.

So the moral of this story: Don't tell a product junkie that buying something is a good idea. I mean really, like I need a reason. Haha!

I'm looking into getting a tabletop (probably like the one pictured above) because Darth Vader (aka Pibbs 514) already is cumbersome to pull out and use. Not that I'm complaining, hehe.

xoxo

Hair Update--Coming Soon!

I have not posted any entries on my blog in a long while, but I have still been taking pics and updating my Fotki (now private), so when I get my relaxer this weekend, I will post update pics and pics from my haircut in May. My hair has grown a lot, but I have a lot of damage to reconcile, so I've found a length I want to stick with for the next year or so until I have grown out the ends to my liking. This cold weather we are having has kept my hair pinned up most of the time, but that's working out for me, so it's cool

Stay tuned.

Relaxed Hair Care Part 2: Maintenance

Ok, so once you've figured out where you stand with your hair and you have a good stabilization routine down (being doing it anywhere from 6-12 weeks), you then start looking to maintain what you've built with your hair. By this point, some new hair has grown in, or the scalp has calmed down, so your focus can switch from a "911" mentality to more of a "critical care" mentality. Depending on what you had to deal with in part one, this can take anywhere from 3 months to 2 years. I know when I started my hair journey, I had to stay here for 2 years to grow out all new hair. (Unfortunately, I recently had a couple of setbacks & fell back into Stabilization phase, but I'll get to that.) So it's up to you and your hair to determine how long Maintenance will be.

In maintenance, you can do more with your hair in terms of styling. For example, if you air-dried only in Part 1, you can wet-set your hair in Part 2. Your hair has built up enough strength to withstand the manipulation of wet and dry combing due to your intense conditioning regimen, so your style variety expands here (finally!) What you shouldn't do is use your blowdryer or flat iron just yet. Any damage you have that isn't completely shot and broken-off could easily go off the deep end due to incorrect styling, so don't EVEN go there!

Think of it this way: When we break an arm or leg, we rush to the ER to get the injury assessed and repaired (or more accurately reset), but as soon as we get that cast put on, we can't just go out and do whatever we were doing before (throwing a baseball or running a mile). We have to sit it out and wait for the break to heal completely. And in some cases, we might have to enroll in physical therapy to "re-learn" the proper use of the arm/leg. Then once we heal completely we have to be mindful of the injury and try not to do it again, which will cause more damage if the limb is injured again. Same thing with hair! (and skin, too.) So take your time, and give your hair a chance to get better :)

I feel like I am always in Maintenance, lol! My hair is often quite fragile, and one wrong move can have me right back in the Hair ER. So this is something I have to mind for myself, too. You know, when your hair starts feeling good, isn't really breaking and is behaving, you begin to think that all is forgiven and your hair is CURED!! Fat chance, girls, that damage is still there and you have to GROW IT OUT or CUT IT OFF. Sorry, but trust me (a chick who is starting her hair journey over again...) this is the only way to deal.

If anyone feels discouraged or frustrated in the purgatory of Step 2, leave a comment. Let's get through it together :)

xoxo

A.