Where Would We Be Withouth Hair?

Here are representations of all types of hair since I am hoping all types of people will read my blog. Hair is an interesting topic indeed because it brings out a range of emotions in people. I remember as a child when one of my sisters had a vest that had hanging fringe on it and me playing around with it and acting like it was my hair. I would put it on my head and swing it around and pretend I was singing on stage. That was the good old days. I don't understand why hair is so important, but when I think about it I know its important. I remember many times trying new relaxers back in the day and them burning my hair out until only a few strands of over processed hair was left on my head. I even went to a beauty shop and had my hair relaxed a few times. One time I went to an older Black lady who probably was more familiar with using a hot comb as opposed to chemicals to straighten hair. If I can remember correctly I think she used the new relaxer that had just come out that claimed that you didn't have to "smooth" the hair and get beautiful results. I think it was called French Perm by Revlon. She put the relaxer in my hair and was assuring me that my hair was going to be looking so nice and I believed her. She didn't smooth the relaxer and washed it out of my hair and then blow dried my hair afterwards. The whole time I was thinking that she should have smoothed my hair since my hair was resistant and coarse. She gave me a mirror to look at my hair after she had relaxed it and I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't say anything to her and left. When I got home I looked at my hair in the mirror under a good light and it was the same way before it was relaxed, tightly coiled and nappy. I was beside myself. I paid her $30 dollars and this is what I got? The next day I went to the BSS (beauty supply store) and bought my usual relaxer and re-relaxed the mess she left and my hair promptly fell out. I'll never forget that. See, hair woes again. I had bald spots on my hair and was so disappointed that I wore a wig until my hair grew back in. The reason I posted the different photos above is to say that hair is beautiful no matter what type, thickness, etc. you have. For us women, hair is our crowning glory. I don't know of a woman or man for that matter, who doesn't fret frequently about their hair. To think that something dead could garner so much pressure is unbelievable. I didn't invent the love of hair or hairstyles, but I do play the game. In my opinion, people should love their hair no matter what type of hair they have. To me "good" hair is hair that is properly conditioned and looks good. Good meaning it doesn't have a lot of split ends and is clean and conditioned properly.

Can I Get A Wittness

I'm wondering can I get a shout out from the peanut gallery concerning shrinking hair? There are people who do not have this problem. I will stretch my hair and it's long and when I wash it, it looks like a pulled in Slinky(photo to the left). I guess people know what a Slinky is, but if you don't: (you know I'm gonna tell you) A slinky was an old time toy that I had as a youngster. It's made out of metal and coiled tightly and you can make it do tricks and so on. Here's a story for you: I remember when I was younger wanting a Slinky so bad. When my mother finally relented and bought this contraption for me guess what?? I thought I was going to re-invent that Slinky and make it do things nobody else could make it do and I completely twisted it up. You should have seen that Slinky and what I did to it. It was twisted, mangled and looked like a crazy person had used it. I was devistated about ruining my new Slinky. Ha Ha. I still think about that Slinky from time to time. I think I'm going to get me a new Slinky one of these days because it's a great toy. Well, back to hair, what I was trying to say is the shrinkability of tightly coiled hair can be a problem when you are trying to achieve certain styles. I'm going to post a photo of my freshly washed hair looking like a dozen Slinkys. I knew someone who did not have hair that shrank and I couldn't believe this woman's hair. When she washed her hair it just stayed the way it was before she washed it. She had a baby fine texture and it just stayed out and didn't shrink. I'm going to invent a product that when you wash your hair it doesn't shrink. Well, good luck to me. There are numerous products on the market that are supposed to "tame" unruly and tightly coiled hair, but none of them really seem to work. I have so many things that I have tried and been disappointed with. These products only coat the hair and make you believe that they are improving the condition of your hair. I probably could retire on the money that I have spent on products that did not work or worked minimally. Well, I keep looking for good products for my hair and will continue to do so until I find what works and keeps working.

My New Wig

I bought a new nice wig last week, but haven't worn it yet. It's a really hot looking wig. It is a lighter color wig than I usually wear and I'm going to be kicking it live with this one. Hope the haters don't come out in droves when I wear this wig. You know I see so many types of wigs being worn by women and that's a good thing. It used to be that haters were waiting for you when you wore a wig. I was watching an episode of one of the court shows on television the other day and saw an interesting case. There was a woman who said she had bought one of those lace front wigs from a lady who didn't deliver on the wig she thought she was going to get. The judge went on to ask the woman being accused of giving the defendant a wig she didn't order, about the "wig". The defendant insisted that she referred to the wig as a "hair system." What? Hair system? Oh, I see. When people in Hollywood wear these "wigs" they are not really wigs, they're "hair systems." The last time I checked, anything on your head that is supposed to be hair and is a full cap and is not growing out of your scalp IS a wig. Call it for what it is. I would like to know how wigs came about. I believe that even in ancient times women wore wigs. Ancient Egyptian wall paintings show women in what appears to be wigs. Wigs have always been a part of history if you think about it. Even early presidents wore powdered wigs. In England, even today, judges still wear wigs. Like I said in a previous post I always wore wigs and didn't care what anybody thought about it. I had some ridiculous wigs throughout the years too. I bought this one wig one time that was sort of an auburn & strawberry blond mix and decided to wear it out one day. I knew I was so fine in this particular wig. My daughter broke my bubble big time when she came home from work and said "Hi Tina!" What?? She had the nerve to say my wig looked like Tina Turner, and then went on to sing her rendition of Proud Mary. She made me so mad that I didn't even know what I was saying as I started to give her a few choice words. It makes me laugh when I remember that day. I have always been interested in different color wigs, but never seem to find one that compliments my skin tone that is on the lighter side. Maybe I'll have to become rich and then I can have my wigs custom made like Beyonce and the other women in Hollywood.

Hair Typing Woes

After my last post I am putting up this one concerning hair typing and why some people are so overly concerned with hair typing and hair typing systems. I just got finished reading some posts on nappturality.com concerning hair typing and thought I would put my two cents in on my own blog. Some people posted comments that said that some people do not know what type of hair they have etc. All heads have multiple hair types and the majority of people have a few different hair types on their heads. I was a bit perplexed to read some of the posts from people who said that people try to "upgrade" the texture of their hair or that they have a different type of hair than what their photo looks like. Who cares?? Hair typing systems are only as an index so you have somewhere to start from to get helpful information to style your hair. Just like it's impossible to count every strand on your head, it's probably almost impossible to exactly type your hair correctly. Other than going to an experienced hair stylist who is educated in hair types, the only way anyone can type their hair is to look at other people's photographs and their self stated hair types and compare your hair to theirs to try to figure out what type of hair you have. If someone believes they have a hair type and you view a photo of their hair and you happen to disagree with the type of hair they say they have, what do you gain from that?? Nothing. Now I wasn't born yesterday and I know that some people will try to "upgrade", that is say they have type 3 hair when in reality they have type 4, but so what? Hair has always been a hot bed of conversation for a long time and probably will be for years to come. As far as I'm concerned, unless you are right there with the person and you can closely examine their hair there is no way you can tell accurately what type of hair someone has. In addition to the type of hair you have to take into consideration the thickness and texture also. There are many people with 4A/B/C type hair who have a baby fine texture and their hair will appear to be more "curly" or "wavy" looking than someone with a thicker or more coarse texture. I have personally cornrowed the hair of a guy who had what appeared to be "good" hair only to have the hardest time trying to cornrown his hair because it was so thick and coarse. I would estimate that he had type 3b/3c hair just looking at it, but it was very very coarse and unruly and difficult to handle. There are people all over the internet who are very concerned with hair, but only in a negative type way. They may have a little curl or wave pattern to their hair, and they believe that if your hair isn't as "nice" as theirs, then something is wrong with your hair. I remember when I was younger having a neighbor hate on my hair because I didn't have the same texture of hair like one of my sister's. I bet that person is reading this blog right now! Hate on hater. My sister has baby fine wavy type hair and me on the other hand have coarse kinky type hair. And what?? This hater had the nerve to tell me I didn't have hair like my sister. SO?????? Well, this hater didn't either! This hater was trying to hate on my hair when the hater's hair was more nappy than mine! Now that's really stupid. I never told anybody that I had my sister's hair. This particular hater was always jealous and envious of me and my family and is to this very day! I bet that same hater and some family members still are using "creamy crack" (relaxers) while they hate on everybody's hair. I personally know people who talk through both sides of their mouths. They will talk a good game about the beauty of natural hair and being Black and so forth, only to get up on their soapbox to crow about their curls & waves, as if the fact that they have what is known in the Black community as "good hair" makes them something they are not. You'll see them with a truckload of Dippity Do on their hair, knowing well they were in that mirror for a whole hour brushing their hair back to slick it down. Don't be a hypocrite. Hair has always and always will be individual. Anyone who wishes to alter their hair to please anyone other than themselves, I feel sorry for. If you are happy with your texture, style, type of hair then that is all that should matter. There will always be people who do not like your hair or hairstyle, but that's their problem and not yours. It's very easy to point the finger at someone and ruminate about their hair, whether you like it or you don't. But at the end of the day it's still your hair and not anyone else's.

4A-4C Tightly Coiled Hair Information

Here is some general information for types 4A thru 4C hair. My hair I believe, is a mixture of 4A, 4B & 3C. The front, crown and middle perimeter of my hair is 4B & 4A. The nape & the sides are 3C. After washing my hair it is tightly coiled and shrunken. I use a lot of conditioner when I conditioner wash because my hair is thick. I comb out my hair in the shower when it it full of conditioner to cut down on damage and hair loss. I use a wide tooth comb to comb out tangles in the shower. I try not to sweat too much about the amount of hair in the comb because sometimes my hair has been braided for a few days before taking it down for a shampoo and conditioner and I know more hair is going to be in the comb if I haven't combed it for a few days. If you want to know more about shed hair in your brush or comb you can pull a few hairs out of either your comb or brush and examine them closely. If you see a little white bulb on the end of the hair strand, then that is natural shedding of your hair and not breakage. What you have to look out for is a lot of short pieces of hair without the white bulb on the end when you comb or brush because that could indicate breakage. And do not be fooled into thinking that because your hair is natural that you will not have breakage. That's a fallacy, that natural hair doesn't break off. If you do start to notice more breakage than usual, then check out what you have been applying to your hair and how you have been handling your hair. You may need to change up your hair routine some to stop breakage. You may need a good trimming of ends also. As I have said before, hair grows differently on each head. Some people have fast hair growth and some slow. How and when you decide to trim your hair depends on the growth and whether you have a lot of split ends and/or damage to your hair. How I trim my hair is I usually twist and trim. I will twist my hair and trim each twist when I finish the twist. Nappturality.com has some good information on Type 4 hair.

More Good Products & Cheapies

I should have posted about this product before but didn't so now I will. I find White Rain products to be good and cheap. I don't use the shampoos, but I do use the conditioners. I have two different conditioners by White Rain and like them both. In a pinch I used the Ocean Mist conditioner on my hair as a leave-in type conditioner and it worked good. I also use the Energizing Citrus to conditioner wash from time to time. I rotate my conditioners that I use to conditioner wash and do general conditioning to my hair. If you like a lot of smell to your hair after conditioning, then this brand of conditioner delivers. The Ocean Mist is quite perfumey and the smell lasts a while. The only problem I sometimes have with using conditioners as leave-ins is sometimes they make my scalp itch or I find that I'm allergic to them. After using the Ocean Mist my hair felt nicely conditioned and moisturized. There are no 'cones' (silicone) in these two conditioners, but they do have some herbal extracts like seaweed, chamomile & aloe extracts in the Ocean Mist. I don't feel like I'm throwing money down the drain when I use White Rain products because they are so inexpensive.

Something For Your Funny Bone

From time to time I'm going to include something funny on my blog like a funny clip or whatever I can find funny on the net. Here is something funny from one of the funniest shows on TV, Crank Yankers. Enjoy. NOTE: This video is available. Press on big arrow to see video)

Crank Yankers
Get More: Comedy Central,Funny Videos,Funny TV Shows

EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

One of my favorite things to put on my hair is EVOO. I got that name from one of my favorite people in the world, Rachel Ray. I just love her. She can cook on a shoestring and quickly. I know, I know, this is supposed to be a blog about hair, but from time to time I'll put up other things for entertainment or informational purposes. I like to cook and always wished I could cook. I sure try to from time to time. I can eat my own cooking and that's half the battle. Anyway, extra virgin olive oil is one of the best things on the market both for cooking and for the hair. I buy it by the gallon cans. I get the ones imported from Italy that are first cold pressed. All olive oils are not created equal. When I go to the supermarket and see some of the stuff on the shelves in the olive oil aisle my head is spinning. They have all types of olive oil out there. If you cook with olive oil and buy a bottle of first cold pressed virgin oil, you're going to taste the difference right away. Your hair is going to "taste" the difference also. You don't need to use a lot of olive oil on your hair either for good results. I have thick hair and usually use about two quarter sized dollops of olive oil on my hair. It's relatively cheaper that some of the very expensive conditioners on the market that do not work on hair anyway. I sometimes cruise the shampoo/conditioner aisles in stores and look at the products they offer and see more of the same all the time. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Scarves, Do Rags ,Stocking Caps & Grease

Everybody with natural kinky hair probably have all of these things in their possession. I have them all and use them all. Scarves don't stay on my head at night while I'm sleeping. They come off and I'm always half putting them back on in the middle of the night. I hate that. I have been using stocking caps on my head at night. They work better than scarves and even the dreaded do rag. I got one, so what? I love my do rag. It come in handy for a lot of things. I sometimes wear it to bed, (it comes off too) and also use it when I want a more polished look when I pull back my hair. I wear my scarves when I have my hair braided up around the house. Do rags are traditionally worn by Brothers when they want to have that "waved" look to their hair. I think it looks nice. This talk of do rags etc. brings back a memory of one time when someone told me to try out one of those pomades marketed to Black men, on my hair. The directions on the can says to wet a rag with hot water and put on the hair, then put on the pomade and then brush hair in desired style. Well I tried this stuff and ended up with a greasy mess. My hair stunk and looked awful using that pomade. I still don't know why this stuff is even still sold. It's the hardest type of grease known to man. My hair looked like I had blow dried one of those old type of plastic rain things that us ladies used to wear back in the day right onto my hair. Now I know some of y'all remember those things. It folded up like an accordion and had plastic strings that you were supposed to tie underneath your chin to keep the rain thingy in place. Ha ha. Stupid thing! I tell you I need photos of this stuff because I know that anybody reading this should remember how silly women looked wearing those things. My mother used to make me wear these things when it rained and I hated it. Anyway, that's how that pomade made my hair look. My hair looked like it had a light coating on snow on top of it. I never saw anything like it ever. So ugly. The newer pomades are a bit lighter and probably were not like the one I tried. And the grease that I used to use, I tell you stupid. They still sell them in the stores even today. Some like: Dixie Peach, My Knight, Marcel Curling Wax, Bergamot (I used to actually like this stuff). Here is a story about Bergamot: One time when I was younger, around 9 or 10 years old I would guess, and I was going to camp and wanted my bangs to look nice, I put a whole scoop of bergamot on my bangs and off I went. Them bangs looked so nice, but I didn't put the grease on the rest of my hair. I had the nicest looking bangs and the rest of my hair looked like I had been in a tornado. I still remember that. And then I remember one time when I was young, a lady had a good laugh about my hair. See, always people hating. She called me over to her and asked me who did my hair. I was all proud thinking she thought my hair looked nice, since I had did it myself. I was very independent as a child and didn't want anyone doing my hair so I used to do it myself. I told this hater that I did it all by myself and she looked at my hair and began to laugh so loud other kids came to see why she was laughing. I'm laughing as I type this up because it's funny now when I think back on it, but how juvenile of a grownup to make fun of a child. She had a good laugh then, but I bet if I saw her now, I'd probably be the one laughing. She was short, ugly and wore glasses and probably thought she was so fine. Hair haters is what I call them. Then there were various neighborhood kids that used to laugh at my hairstyles, only to copy them a few days later! Such hair haters. It didn't bother me then and it doesn't now. I just keep trucking while the hair haters hate. You know what, it will be 30 years from now, and the hair haters are going to be still hating, still doing the same stuff like the previous years, NOTHING. I've put up a photo of what I believe the hater who laughed at my hair as a youngster probably looks like today above. Enjoy! Ha ha. Now I'm laughing.

Cheap Conditioners & Conditioner Washes

I have a lot of conditioners that I use on my hair and none of them are all that spectacular. Some of them have become conditioner washes for me when I tire of using them to condition my hair. I sometimes use Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner to conditioner wash my hair. Some women rave about this particular conditioner on many websites so I decided to try it. It's an okay conditioner in my opinion. When I conditioner wash my hair with it I don't see anything that I can write home about. It works, but nothing special about it. I do happen to like the Nexxus line of shampoos and conditioners though. They are pricey and I don't use the conditioner I have to conditioner wash my hair. I used to use Nexxus products when I had relaxed hair and they worked fine then and now. I got a special price of $25 for both the shampoo and conditioner and they are the liter sized bottles! Any trip to your neighborhood BSS to price Nexxus products and you will realize that twenty five dollars for two bottles of the liter size is a real bargain. I do not like to use a lot of shampoo on my hair even when I shampoo, but sometimes that isn't possible since I have thick hair. My hair drinks up whatever I apply to it. I didn't know anything about conditioner washing my hair before looking at the websites on the net. I usually look at Nappturality.com for good ideas on natural hair care. That's a good website. When I conditioner wash my hair I use a lot of conditioner, so it's in my best interest to find cheap and effective conditioners to do this. So far all of them are mediocre at best. When I read the ingredients on them, all of them have about the same things in them: Water, a lot of chemicals and fragrance. I do happen to like a little silicone in my conditioners even though a lot of web pages and sites frown on using silicone on natural kinky type hair. I believe whatever works you have to use. I don't find silicone particularly damaging to my hair. It makes my hair a little smoother when I'm combing it after washing. One line of shampoos and conditioners I don't particularly care for is VO5. I have tried this line many times and always end up with super itchy hair. They have good products, but they don't agree with my hair. I tried the tea tree conditioner and liked it a lot. The smell was nice and it left my hair feeling good until the next day when I couldn't stop scratching my scalp. No more VO5 for me.

My Wish List

This post is about some of my wish list stuff. I have wanted to get the Nita half wig forever and cannot seem to find it anywhere. It's kind of old, so not that many stores have it I guess. I like it a lot. It's not too long or too short, just right. I've put up a photo of Nita (bottom photo) & Polly(middle photo). I'm not really impressed by Polly as much as Nita because the ends of this half wig are too free form. I kind of like my ends to be a bit more curly and not so out there. I've also included Ruby (top photo) because I have never seen this one and I like it. Imagine me out with this one!! Here come the haters!! I think maybe I'll get this one and wear out to a club one day and fool the guys into thinking it's mine. Ha Ha funny. Some women like to do that. They have all this fake hair and try to let everyone believe it's their real hair. I guess if you want to do that it's okay, but not for me. I've always come clean with my hair. I have never tried to let anyone believe that something I bought was growing out of my scalp. That's me, but I'm not everybody, just me. Maybe I'll get it in a nice shade of blonde. Here come the haters twofold! With this wig (Ruby), I probably could score a husband. Boo Yah. Guys seem to like a bunch of hair on women and I don't know why that is. Look, get this scenario, you with a fine young thang you been sweating forever and you finally get her and then she pulls it off!!!! Good lord. Now imagine again you with your lady and she has her own hair, whatever the length etc. Which one do you like best guys??? I know if I was a man, I sure wouldn't want to run my hands through somebody's hair to have it come off in my hand. Hair glorious hair, so much fuss about something that everybody has. I'm chomping at the bit to get up on You Tube. When I put up my video, I'm going to get so many hits with my ridiculous and silly video.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MUSHROOM?

I was thinking about some old time things when I remembered a hairstyle from the 70's called a mushroom. I used to wear my hair in this ridiculous style too. The hair was put in a page boy all around without any parts and then the back was combed down into a smaller bottom page boy. I wish I could see an old photo of somebody with this hairstyle because it was so odd looking. It was nice back in the day, but to think of some of the styles we wore can definitely call for a good giggle. Then there was the flat top. This was a blown out afro flattened on the top and then patted down. I've got some photos of myself with this style that I'll post in the near future. Warning, you're gonna be laughing! So ridiculous. Remember the days when you wanted to buss on somebody and called them either Jackson Five or The Silvers? If you do then you're getting old. Then there was the style that some Brothers wore that defies logic. It was a sort of half straightened afro combed towards the front of their head. It looked like they had on a cap. This is going back some time. And the style of all styles that some girls wore when I was in high school was a flat top afro with one large box braid in the center of the flat top. Those were the good old days. Days when you could wear your hair how you wanted without somebody hating. I used to wear all of those styles. I got pictures of some of them too. Then back in the days when us girls was describing how fine a Brother was, if you threw in the "he got a big bush," you knew he was fine. The bigger the bush, the finer he was. So many memories based on hair. Then remember when Vigorol came out? This chemical was supposed to loosen the kink just enough so you could then straighten it and the straightening would last and last. I never personally tried Vigorol, but many of my friends did. I do remember getting my hair pressed & curled one time (got the pictures) and I knew the sun was rising and setting on me. I thought I was the finest thing that ever existed. I found the photo of that press and curl recently and couldn't stop laughing at how I looked. I had some little blue glasses on and looked so stupid. Well at least I thought I looked good. One of my favorite styles from back in the day was cornrows. I loved having them and doing them. I still do cornrows on my hair from time to time and on one of my grandkid's hair. I'm pretty good at doing cornrows too. I taught myself how to do them. I think I'm the only one in my family that knows how to cornrow. This next little story goes out to my very good friend Inez. She was one of my favorite people until the day that she pulled my wig off of my head back in high school. She was sort of a prankster and I had on this afro wig and while we were at lunch she kept looking at the wig. I was wondering if she thought I looked cute with my afro wig. Anyway, on our way home she plucked that wig right off of my head in front of everybody. I think I said something smart to her earlier in the day why she did it. I still remember that, but we remained friends for many years even after that. I wish I knew where she was today. Then here's goes the can't stop laughing story. One time I was coming home from work and had on a wig. I've been wearing wigs etc. for years. I was wearing wigs even when it wasn't cool to do so. I didn't care, because I always do what pleases me. On this day I was coming out of the Broad Street Subway. Well, anybody that takes the subway knows how you have to hold onto your hat, keep your dress pulled tightly when you are walking up the steps and the train is leaving the station. I completely forgot about the woosh of wind when the train took off, and my wig came flying off and I had to chase it back down the steps. I was embarrassed that day because my hair was a complete mess under the wig. Well, these are life lessons and that's why I'm glad I'm natural today. I still wear wigs, but keep them in place with big bobby pins.

HAIR HATERS, YIKES!

I recently was checking out some sites that I look at on the web and saw that one of my favorite people with natural hair had decided to put a relaxer in her very long natural hair. I believe that she must have been natural for many many years because she has a lot of hair. I was sort of shocked, but then thought that it's her hair and she can put a relaxer in it if she so chooses. I'm on this again because something came to mind to me a few days ago. I was visiting a family member and had my natural hair out in a parted afro on this particular day. A neighbor of my cousin happened to come over to her house and instead of her focusing on my cousin she immediately put her focus on me and my hair. (What else is new?!) She looked at me and then looked at my hair and matter-of-factly asked me if didn't I know how to twist my hair tightly and then let it out so I could have "curls" & "waves"! What the %#$@!!!!! Now I know good and well Miss messed up hair with an old weave did not just ask me a question about MY hair! You know I could have given her a few choice words about her hair, but I let her slide, because I know whenever I say something biting to people IT HURTS! I guess whenever people have you on a high horse, whatever you say about them HURTS! I can be minding my own business, as I usually do, and here comes somebody trying to hate. Look, it's only hair. And by the way, hair is dead. Why so much craziness about something that's already dead when it comes out of your head????? It's 2008 and people have all types of hairstyles today. No matter what your race or ethnicity, hair comes in all types from poker straight to super kinky or curly. Get over it and do your own thing with your own hair. As far as I'm concerned I can have any type of hair I desire by using a wig if my hair can't attain that particular style. I can go straight one day and the very next day curly and so on. I think the next thing I'm going to do is get a video of myself up on You Tube to address the hair haters. Well, that's my little anecdote for today.

Relaxer, Hot Comb & Hair Piece Nightmares

I have come across web pages, blogs etc. of women/men with natural hair styles and still am puzzled about some of the things I see on these sites and pages. Natural hair to me means that the hair is not altered ie., applied heat or chemical treatments of any type that include: relaxers, perms, chemicals that loosen natural curls or kinks, blow out kits, wave type relaxers and the list goes on and on. When I go to either the BSS or anywhere I go to purchase hair products the shelves are full of all types of hair altering chemicals. These chemicals are both marketed to Black people as well as the ones geared towards White people. All races have people who chemically alter their hair and it's okay if that's what you want to do. Hair to me is individual. What works for one person may not always work for another person. I see sites where people get up on their soapboxes to scold women for putting products in their hair to style their hair the way they want to. Now that's a shame. I have come a long way as far as hair is concerned. I remember many times in the past wanting to wear my hair natural, only to be met with rude comments and stares from my own people. Now that's really sad. I remember one time in particular a girl had the nerve to loudly say that "somebody needs a perm!" When I turned around to see who made the statement there she was in all her glory with about two or three spriggles of overprocessed and badly damaged permed hair. I don't have anything against any person that straightens their hair because that was my reality for many years. It worked for me then, but not now. I happen to like the texture of my hair. I used to think that it was way too thick and kinky to do anything with other than relax or straighten. That was then, this is now. I like my kinks. I resisted relaxing for many years, but then relented because straightening didn't hold well in my hair. And talk about burnt ears and foreheads, it happened all the time. I can remember well one time that I straightened my hair with a hot comb and then decided to curl it with those old time hot curlers you put on the stove. I just knew I could do hair! Wrong! Evidently the curlers were on the burner for too long and and I put it in my hair and turned them curlers and guess what????? After I pulled it out of my hair, I decided to check my nice curl and wouldn't you know the curl crisped off right into my hand!!! I can laugh about it now, but then I was left with one sided hair. All burnt out by those damn hot curlers. I should have saved that crispy curl as a memento and should have went natural the next day. I'm laughing as I type this up because when I looked in the mirror to see what was left of the crispy curl, I saw a sad mess. I was self conscious for weeks all the while thinking that everybody saw that crispy curl. And another time I put in a relaxer that said it could straighten the most resistant hair and again I was left with about three or four strands of overprocessed hair. It looked fine the day I did it, but by the very next day half of my hair was gone. Those were the days. And another time I can remember a particularly hot and humid day and I was going somewhere and decided to press my hair. I got through one side and by the time I had started on the second side, the first side was all but an afro. I was so mad. I was hot and mad. And when it rained I had to take a deep breath and say a prayer before attempting to go out. I remember one time I thought I was really cute and put on a very loose type curly hair piece on my relaxed hair. Well that day it was really windy. I mean trash and people were blowing in the wind. I was waiting to take a bus and these two women were killing themselves with laughter. I didn't pay them any mind because I didn't think they were laughing at me. Then when I got home I had to pass a large hung mirror in my living room and then I saw IT!! You should have seen the piece I had on top of my hair. It looked like about five or six dead raccoons were curled up on top of my head. There was fake hair everywhere. It was a mess. I stood there and laughed for a good five or ten minutes. I couldn't believe I was looking like that. I kept it like that so that I could show my daughter and when she saw it, she nearly died laughing. The memories I have about my hair are too numerous to put up on here. I could go on telling stories for an hour or more. Anyway, those days are behind me for two reasons, first no more hot combs or chemicals and second I'm not bothered by people's comments about me anymore. To each his own. So in closing all I can reiterate is, love yourself to the fullest. Wear your hair however you please and don't let other people define who you are.

Favorite Products (Leave-In Moisturizer)

This product by Cantu, Shea Butter Leave-In is a good product. The strange texture of this product at first was somewhat puzzling. It reminds me of coagulated mayonnaise. It smells good, kind of like something tropical like pineapples and other tropical fruit. It absorbs well into your hair and does not build up with frequent use. I can wash this product out of my hair using a conditioner wash. I use this product year round. Some products are better in the summer and some better in the winter months, but I find this product works well year round. I don't like having to buy different products for different times of year, which I find is a waste of money. The only product that I usually use in the summer months that I don't in the winter months is glycerine. Glycerine is a cheap product you can purchase almost anywhere. This Cantu leave-in is a good product to layer on when you pull your hair back. It gives good moisturization and acts like a base to put under gel to keep the hair moist and give the gel a little more holding power. Top the whole thing off with a little EVOO and voila! you can have a nice pulled back look.

Some Of My Favorite Products (Gel)

Here are some of my favorite products that I use to keep my hair in control, to moisturize and keep dryness from the ends of my hair. Ends equal length. I still have not found the perfect product as of yet. IC Gel from Fantasia Industries seems to be a good all around gel. I also like FOTE Gel, usually using it once in a while. I don't put a lot of gel on my hair anyway because if I pull it back I usually just go with it like that. If I want a really polished look, then I do use gel and a holding product like a heavy moisturizer to keep the hair down. I have tried both the regular clear IC Gel & the super hold. I did not find much difference in the super hold at all. My hair is thick and I thought if I used the super hold that it would hold better, but have not found that to be the case. The ingredients in this Gel I believe are better than most gels that do no contain any aloe. Aloe is a good moisturizer and I always look for it in gels or hair products.