Afroventure: embracing the FRO

Grammy Winner for best new artist goes to.... Esperanza Spalding! Who Dat?? Yea... definitely never heard of her! Justin Bieber and Drake fans were blown, expecting one of them to win. The three of them were nominated for best new artist. In this case, it wasn't a popularity contest which was a shocker for a lot of people I'm sure. I'm happy for her although I know nothing about her. I think it's funny when stuff like this happens. I like Drake, and I think Justin Bieber is okay, but One person can't have it all geeez! I listened to one of her songs, and she's pretty talented! She's pretty too! And how could you miss that fro! WHOA!

I'm usually not the type to wear my fro out. I don't know why, I was never really into it. My hair has gotten "bigger" too. This past week I tapped into my inner fro, and wore some fro styles and shocked myself! I must admit, I felt awkward at times, but in the end I guess I liked it. I call it my afroventure week:

My initial intention was to braid my twist outs and see how much I can stretch out my hair in it's twist out state. It stretched all right...

This was day one or two..

This was day three or four lol (didn't really keep track...) By this point the twist out was barely there. I liked it at this stage the best. I decided to comb it out and try a style i've done once before, but it came out like 'who did it and why?!, get back in the house!' soooo i was forced to wear a plain fro because I didn't know what else to do and I was late for class. I did put a band around the edges, but it was pretty much a plain fro, no manipulation. 

This is me with it over the weekend...

Everyone liked it, I eventually liked it too..

Well that was my "Afroventure" week!

Tata!

~Miss Sizzle

Love? POEM

L- Live live live can't live without it. Its warm and fuzzy yet painful and unbearable, beautiful, draining  unexplainable...the equilibrium of our lives
O- offered and turned down, expressed and unappreciated,
V- Valentine: sugar spice and...
E- Everything nice. What is love? Shucks, I don't know...love is a mother and child, friends, a man and a woman...all of that I guess. One thing is certain God is love.

~Miss Sizzle

Twist Out

Hey people! As promised here are the pics after I ripped out that weave! I can't really tell how much my hair grew *shrugs* Anyway, I had twists in but they didn't look as cute as i wanted. I  bared it for a few days, then I wore this twist out today. 

Sooo tell me why today this girl asked me if this was my real hair *scratches head* ...I mean I would never get a weave that looks like this #fail. 

TATA!

It takes patience to accept others, It takes peace of mind to really accept yourself" 

~ Miss Sizzle

Managing Hair

How In the WORLD do you manage that hair??


Hey people!!


I know it's been a while since i've posted anything, but school started and I got kinda busy. Anyway, this blog is for those who are considering natural hair and those who are already natural, and have the burning question of "how in the world do you manage that hair??"


So far for me, I've gotten a lot of comments like "your hair is cute, I wish i could do it" or "I want to wear my hair natural, but it's just too much work". From my experiences, dealing with my hair was a struggle only in the beginning when i knew nothing about it. It's not too much! God made it that way, and he makes no mistakes. I look at it this way: Going from relaxed to natural is like getting a new phone. At first you have no idea how to navigate it. Or you may be transitioning from buttons to touch screen. It's the same thing! You have different texture on your head that you've never had to deal with before. 


It's a process, and once I figured out the following things, managing my hair went from challenging to fun...


1. Find products that keep your hair moisturized. Find what your hair "likes"
This was the hardest part for me. Many people go through quite a few products and end up spending lots of $$$ before they actually figure out what their hair "likes" :o) or what keeps their hair feeling good. It's good to look up product reviews before you buy, but sometimes trying it out is the only way to know. Everyone's hair is different.


2. Find a few styles that work for you
I have my main styles that i wear, but when i have time I try other styles. My main styles are the styles I know I can always fall back on and I know they will work. Mastering a few styles made me feel comfortable with my hair. As my hair got longer I able to do more things. Shucksss.. I just tried styles I saw other people doing! Some styles worked, some didn't. 




3. Make a hair regimen
This is a routine that you do daily or weekly. After you figure out what your hair likes, you can have a routine and use the products to keep your hair feeling good. =O)


4. Figure out your hair type
This is important because while you are researching styles and products, it can be most helpful to get suggestions from people with hair similar to yours. They actually have a scale for categorizing hair textures. The scale has numbers and letters. 1-4 and a-c. The numbers may go past 4 but i'm not 100% sure. Anywhooo, 1 is the straightest hair type (that's not black hair obviously) but as the numbers increase, the more curly or "kinky" it becomes. I categorize my hair as a 4b-4c. (I have a few different textures)


Here's a video that gives a better visual. Take a lOOk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eFeeC8pUN4


One of my most valuable products is the one i made myself. It's a spray bottle full of goodies and it's apart of my regimen. I will have a separate blog on that. In the end, for me all natural products work the BESTEST! =D I know that's not a word, but damnit it's my blog :-p


Anyway, just an update on my hair...I still have my weave in, but i'm taking it out tomorrow which will make it a month. o_0 My hair is super dry :o( Hot oil treatment and deep conditioner coming right up!


Pics will be posted when I take take it out.


LaTEr PeOple!!

~Miss Sizzle

Planet of Perception

Planet of Perception

 

The thought crossed my mind today on my lunch break: 

In public, no one is completely themselves. Think about it, in an elevator for example, people usually act calm and quiet whether they want to or not. Because that's just what you do in an elevator! Who wrote these behavioral rules anyway?! Seems as though we all make a conscious effort to act the way we think is "acceptable" to others, or to even act "unacceptable" on purpose. One may do this to act like everyone else, fit in, seem tough, seem proper, stand out or prove a point. I think the society is selfish because of this. Everyone is their own planet, moving at their specific orbit around the sun. If life was about you and only you, I think God would have made a million planets, and put one person on their own planet. We have to all be together for a reason.

Seems like most of us judge each other at first sight (consciously and unconsciously). I believe most people are actually cool people, but society has taught us to judge.

 

So anyway, I ate in the cafeteria of this hospital i work right next to. As i sat down to eat, i noticed these two fat girls eating luch together across from me. Im sure just as i noticed they were rather large, they noticed I was really skinny. One of them was eating quietly and the other one was on the phone (and talking very loud about somebody's drama -_-). I guess i should add that they were both black (just to give you a visual). They both kept staring at me constanly. And i guess i was too. I mean I was sitting directly across from them. 

On my end it seemed like a 1:2 ratio of staring and I got a little uncomfortable lol. I could almost hear them saying "You skinny bitch" or "She needa eat more than that" in their minds lol. Ok, so there's no way i could be sure that's what they were thinking, but I felt like one of their first thoughts had to do with weight. I felt like they were judging my character in their minds, but really I was judging them by even thinking that they were judging me!...That's when I thought to myself, We (people )are soo deep in our own infinite tunnel of perception, we can't even see a person brand new when seeing or meeting them for the first time. It's not that I wanted to judge them, it was an automatic thought that I had no control over....

....Yea, just a thought

 

Speaking of perception...I was on concreteloop.com today and had hellA automatic thoughts in my mind when i saw this picture of (rapper) Gucci Mane:  o_O

 

Judging is bad. Yes, but damn. As an artist with kids looking up to you, "you got some splanning to dooo" *Husband from "I Love Lucy" voice* All the comments online were negative about Gucci's tat. Personally Gucci Mane doesn't add or take away from my life. I have a few of his songs in my i pod, but no i'm not a fan. I don't even listen to rap that much. I like it, but i love other kinds of music more. Anyway, my thought on this was: for real, if your gonna distort your face permanetly, at least go hard. Ice cream tho?! Not a gangster move! lol im sure some little kid has the same picture on their face somewhere, except they're at a birthday party and it's face paint. To me he looks like a fool, and i pity anyone who thinks he looks good. Although I never heard anyone say "Gucci is sexy" o_O lol. One of the people who commented online said gucci was "visually challenged". I guess that's their nice way to call him ugly. SMH.

 

So now, are we allowed to be in our "plant of perceptions?" is it okay to judge in Gucci's case???

 

Here's something someone name'd "QW" said on concreteloop.com:

 

QW

Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 3:27 pm

"See, white people are usually the ones to do crazy mess like this. But nowadays, we have our own foolish behind black men and women doing things that were never tolerated or celebrated in our homes our cummunity and culture. When did these things become o.k. or right? What the heck is wrong with these young men? Pants down to their knees, chains flooded with diamonds down to their bellies ( but no home to live in ) tatoos allover the face & body ( white boy sh!t ) and using vulgar language to describe women or being intimate with a woman ( throw it back & let me bust it wide open ). Now more lets get it on, the way you make me feel, and thats the way love goes.

Actually for me, I listen to musicians like Marvin, Michael, Teena M., Anita B. & Janet all the time & I sleep with my radio on WBLS, so I’m not in the ignorant nutso loop, but the kids & unfortunately some old fools are. This is sad & embarassing for our race. Where the most powerful, beatiful & talented creatures on this earth but yet alot of it gets overshadowed by bafoonery because the white media will embrace these images moreso so that we can be stereotyped by it and uninspired."

He seems to be from my parents's generation. I thought it was kinda funny, and i agree to a certain extent...Tell me what yall think? When should you be "allowed" to judge?

...Just a thought!

-Miss Sizzle

protective styes

HEY PeopLe !

So the other day, (1.6.11) my very own big sista became officially natural! whOOp whOOOp!! She's been growing it out for a while (maybe about a year...she's not sure), but she always wears weaves so I never get to see her hair. She uses the weaves as her "Protective Style". A protective style, for those who don't know, is a hair style that allows your hair to "rest" so you don't manipulate it as much. For example: braids, weaves, twists, wigs...ect. I find that leaving your hair in a protective style allows it to grow in PEACE!

I cut off all her permed ends and took some pics of her virgin hair, and this is how it looked...

Then I put in a full weave for her protective style. I think full weaves are good because all of your hair is braided up and none of it is exposed....anywhooo, here's her full weave...

I also have a protective style right now myself! My sis ^^ did it for me. Its an invisible part weave. It is my first one, and it turned out pretty good. It's a little over a week old. I haven't had a weave since the beginning of 2010. Since I've been natural, I don't weave as much, because I like to wear my natural hair out. My usual protective style is two strand twists. I l<3ve them! :-D... The hair I used is Outre wet and wavy 10 inch :

OMGEE!!! one very important thing i need to point out about protective styles:

Please don't forget about your real hair!!!

Many people get braids and weaves and will keep it in forever, and forget that they have their real hair underneath! You must find a way to moisturize your hair. For braids, you should spray braid spray like African Pride or Sulfur8 Medicated spray. I prefer the African Pride spray because it doesn't have a strong odor like the Sulfur. There was a point in time when i sprayed the African Pride spray on my hair daily when i didn't have braids, and it was an awesome moisturizer! The only reason i stopped is because i made my own spray.

 The spray can be sprayed on the actual braid or the scalp. The scalp should also get special attention. Oils or regular scalp moisturizers should be applied weekly, or as often as needed, depending on how dry your hair gets. Moisterized hair will grow! This makes the protective style technique complete!

For a weave, I usually put some kind of moisturizer on my scalp. I don't use oil, only because I personally don't like the combination of oil and weave *yuck face* It makes it look greasy and matted. The oil tends to migrate from the scalp to the weave itself! 

Something I learned about natural hair is that, it needs a balance of water and oils. Yes, water! Water that I use to run away from in my relaxed (permed) days! (unless i was washing it of course!!) Turns out water is the ultimate moisturizer! I find my hair is the softest when its wet. I have a spray bottle that I use daily when my hair is not in braids or weaves. It has water and oils in it along with some other good stuff! I'll explain that in another blog...

Other Thoughts...

So this whole natural thing..some people see it as a fad, and others see it as a movement. People have different perspectives on why this fad or movement is happening. To me, its a decision I made for me. I was inspired by people (mainly Youtube) who seemed to have a new kind of success with healthy, long hair. Another thing that attracted me was the attitude that came with it. I felt a "loving yourself"..."confident"..."independent" kind of vibe from these "natural People" and I wanted to feel what they seemed to be feeling. It seemed like a nice addition to having healthy long hair!

Although us naturals may show this non conforming "confidence", it doesn't make us some type of clan! A friend told me the other day that she was talking to her guy friend about the trend of new natural haired women. The guy friend says, "Are these girls going natural because they can't afford weaves? Are they broke?" Then he asked her if she's gonna start advocating for nature and acting weird (my friend is natural). He said other stereotypical comments...I can't remember everything, but I found that conversation rather annoying. But I guess all I can do is --> lol. There will always be people like that. I'm the same person: Permed, natural, bald, whatever! (don't plan on being bald though) 

Check out this long haired diva on youtube -->http://www.youtube.com/user/longhairdontcare2011?blend=1&ob=4

Anywhoo, I wanna show you guys a few pics of some pretty ladies you might recognize who are in the lime light, natural, and rocking their kinky crown is clearly not a "fad" to them:

Alek Wek (Sudanese model)

Lauren Hill (Singer) One of my favorite people!!

Sophie Okonedo (Nigerian/Jewish Actress)

Solange Knowles (singer/actress)

Nice to have some inspirations in the media :o)

Peace,

-Miss Sizzle 

Hair Journey

Hey PeOplE!
As promised, I have uploaded my natural hair journey so far! I didn't explain to much in the video, so i'll briefly explain the journey. So I've had a relaxer since i was young, I don't even know how old I was. Anyway, my permed hair was healthy and i had no problems with it. Until one fine day, when i bleached my hair! A few weeks later i got a relaxer and my hair fell out towards the front and i had a few short patches. I knew those patches would take forever to catch up to the rest of my hair. So i grew out my hair for 6 months, then cut that bad boy off! I couldn't deal with the two texture thing! :-/  I've been natural for a year and 6 months. My nappaversary was yesterday, January 3rd! :-D I don't have a picture for every month, but you can still see the growth overtime.

So here's my journey...enjoy!

ps: The video quality SucKs...its extra dark and fuzzy ugh!..it's my first time doing one of these

Tata!

-Miss Sizzle