Here's the Definition of Good Hair

 #AMEN Agreed?

Sent via @MissTikiBaby on Twitter.

 

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)

10 Reasons Why YOU Should Attend the Nzuri Showcase!

So many things to participate in!

As you guys already know, I'm one of the VIP bloggers for the Nzuri Showcase Dec. 10-11th. :D Still excited over here! lol So I'll be there, but will you??! Here are some reasons why you MUST be at the Nzuri Showcase!

1. Bloggers Speak! From the Web to the Table-Come & meet me & the rest of the Nzuri bloggers/vloggers in a discussion session & Q & A! I'm SO excited be apart of this & I get to meet you wonderful ladies. :-)

2. The Miss 'Happy' Headed Pageant! Dec.10th at 3:30pm. Yes, I'm a lover of pageants. :D I loved participating in pageants when I was younger. It helped me immensely in getting over my shyness & having more self-confidence. I'm the woman that looks at the Ms. America, Ms. USA, etc. pageants every year...and i get MAD if I miss them. This pageant is such a great way for natural girls to embrace their natural beauty. And to boot, Aevin Dugas, Guinness Record holder for the 'Largest Afro', will be emceeing the pageant!

 3. 2 words: Fashion shows. Nzuri has partnered with Macy's to bring you 2 fashion shows: "Fashion 2 Fro Fix" & "Fabulous Fashions 4 Over 40." Nothing like seeing a cool fashion show! And after finding this dress for $9, I'm now a fan of Macys. My sister is proud. lol

4. Felicia Leatherwood, Jill Scott's hairstylist, will be in the house teaching her infamous "Loving Your Hair with Natural Care: The Felecia Leatherwood Experience" workshop. I'm always hearing about how great & informative her workshops are on Twitter. You may remember me featuring her on the blog big chopping Tomiko's hair a while back. Tickets are $25.00. Workshop will be held Saturday, Dec. 10th: 11-12:30pm.
5. Best Kept Afro & Best Looking Locs Contest. Now ya'll know it's no secret that my go-to style is the 'fro. It's one of the biggest reasons I went natural....to be able to rock the biggest 'fro possible. :D I was already trying to achieve that with the braidouts I did on relaxed hair.

6. Cool "Total Natural Look" Contest. This is for the natural woman that who has it all together from head to toe. Natural fashionistas! And you know who you are. ;-) Think you've got the "Total Natural Look" or do you know someone who does? Apply here!

7. The Vendors! Need I say more? Here's a few to name: B. Natural Apparel, LAMIK, Koils by Nature, & Upscale Magazine. See the full list here.

8. Miss Jessie's will be giving out their infamous 500 gift bags for the 1st 500 attendees! Get there early! No need to add anything else to that.

9. Dr. Nina Ellis-Hervey aka BeautifulBrwnBabyDol of YouTube will be educating the masses with her workshop, "How To Create Fabulous Yarn Braids! Yarn Braids: The Ultimate “How To” on an AWESOME Protective Style!" Armed with 53,000 subscribers on YouTube, Nina was recently named one of the Top 5 YouTube Natural Hair Care Vloggers by the Huffington Post. What a fantastic accomplishment! Workshop will be held Saturday, Dec. 10th: 11-12pm. Tickets are $10.

10. Kim Roxie of LAMIK will be teaching a workshop entitled, "Eco Chic Beauty Revelation: Put Your Best Face Forward in Under 10 Minutes." Some of the key points of her workshop will be brow defining & correctly identifying your skin type to choose healthy products for your skin with benefits. Speaking from my recent experience with LAMIK, they're excellent at brow defining. I'm definitely going their soon to get my brows shaped.Tickets are only $10 online! $15 at the door. Check out the rest of the passes here. Workshop will be held Saturday, Dec. 10th: 3pm. Free.

Need some more reasons? Check out the Nzuri Showcase website: naturalhairshowcase.com! I'm sure you'll find plenty more there. ;-)

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)

RECAP: Uncle Funky's Daughter: Do What Comes Naturally Event!

Heyyyyyy!

I know lately I've been posting a lot of events & recaps, but I promise ya'll HairGurl is NOT turning into an event blog. lol... I'm going to be doing a hair update next week & I have so many product reviews to post it's ridiculous. I'm so behind in that area. So as you all know I attended the Uncle Funky's Daughter Do What Comes Naturally event Sunday, Nov. 6th & let me tell ya'll...I had the time of my life. :-) Photo shoots, dancing, shopping, eating, talking about hair, nails being minxed & MORE....with all of those activities, who wouldn't have the best time?!

 I met Nicky. One of the highlights of my night! She follows my Facebook page & she is so sweet. She's always leaving such positive comments on the wall. :)

Check out my minxed nail! #doingit I picked this Zoya nail polish color in Gemma because I wanted to try a color I hadn't tried before. I almost went with a bright red, but I already paint my nails red a lot. I didn't know my minx nail would be red & gold though. I would've picked red had I known. Sidenote: This nail polish is fantastic! It's barely chipped since Sunday. Hmmm. Maybe I need to buy some more expensive nail polishes.

Me & Katie. Having fun as usual!! Hahaha.

 Beautiful ladies everywhere!

The back of the Uncle Funky's Daughter shirt Katie purchased.

How cool is this?! A 5 dollar table.

I REALLY wanted that black headband, but it wasn't stretchy at all. :-(

Tonya, one of the owners of Uncle Funky's Daughter, doing a demonstration of 3 strand twists. Check out Tonya's beautiful bold hair cut!

Zumba!

Iknowlee from YouTube was there too! Had no idea she was in Houston! I immediately recognized her face. She looked gorgeous & her hair was so pretty! She was so much fun to talk to!

To top it off, Katie & I interviewed Tonya & Ray, the owners of Uncle Funky's Daughter!! :D They were so cool & even schooled us a little on their vegan lifestyle. Loved their spirits.:-) Thank you guys so much for speaking with us!

We had a BALL!! Can't wait for the next UFD event! I left feeling uplifted & inspired to try new things...like zumba for instance. I also had a headache (the effect from laughing and talking way too much) which is always a sure fire sign that I've had a great time. lol! Thank you Uncle Funky's Daughter for such a wonderful event!

P.S. I'll be posting the interview & adding it to this post. Stay tuned for that!

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)

Healthy Hair Icon: Joi!

1. What city can we find you twirling your hair? Northern New Jersey, even though that's not exactly a city.

2. Favorite food? A big juicy bone in steak medium well with a side of ketchup for dipping!

3.  Relaxed or natural? Relaxed

4. How do you keep your hair looking fly? I love getting roller sets because that's when my hair looks it's best. It's fluffy, but sleek. Shiny but super light. What's your hair care regimen? My hair care regimen is pretty simple, every week I shampoo, condition, and then deep condition. My add-on treatments include pre-poo sessions, henna treatments, relaxers every 10-14 weeks with a protein treatment the week before and the week after. For daily maintenance I moisturize and seal my hair with an oil when it feels dry, so it ends up being every few days instead of actually daily.

5. What's the craziest thing you've ever done to your hair? The craziest thing I've ever done to my hair is over process it. There was a time when I would get a touch-up every 5-6 weeks and then do a 'halo' in between that time. For those of you know don't know what a halo is I'll explain. A 'halo' is when you just relax your edges. I know, I know insert gasps here!

6. What are your fave hair products?  My new huetiful hair and facial steamer, Miss Keys 10 en 1 Conditioner, Creme of Nature products, and the Arganics Relaxer System. I have a ton more but these are at the top of my list right now.

7. What is the hair product, tool, or accessory that you absolutely can not live with out? Hands down it's Coconut Oil.

8. Favorite hairstyle? Side part with a low bun ... I know it's boring but it's my signature look.

9. What's your favorite color? Tiffany Box Blue :-)

10. The best season for your hair is summer because my hair is always wet, I'm a water baby and every time I swim I co-wash and use a deep conditioner. So essentially my hair is always getting the maximum amount of moisture. 

11. The worst season for your hair is winter because the moisture in my hair just runs for the hills! 

12. The best thing about my hair is it's health. When I first started my healthy hair journey I had no idea that my hair was so un-healthy. The things I was doing to it and how I was handling it were terrible. Fast forward to now and it might seem like I'm a bit overzealous with my hair care but really these are just the basics for healthy hair care. Shampooing, Conditioning, and Deep Conditioning are things you HAVE to do for healthy hair, especially if your hair is chemically treated.

13. 3 words that describe your hair's personality. Healthy, Flirty, and ((looks around shyly)) SEXY!

14. Where can we find you on the web?
Website: www.antihairslave.com I began The Anti Hair Slave as a progress style diary to track my progress and it has since grown into a resource for women who also desire beautiful healthy hair. The Anti Hair Slave is written by a woman of color for women of all colors.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/antihairslave
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Anti-Hair-Slave/196178760417981
Youtube: www.youtube.com/antihairslave

*********************************************************************************

Yay, Joi's BSL! Congratulations! That's my ultimate hair goal, ya'll. I've been following Joi's blog for years. I consider her to be a hair blogger veteran! I remember when she first started The Anti Hair Slave years ago & back then there weren't very many hair care blogs. Her hair always looks so healthy & bouncy. She's infamous for getting doobies which I'd never heard of until I started following her. Thus, I had to get her to dish about her hair regimen. ;-) Thanks Joi for allowing me to feature you!  

Got a head of beautiful hair & wanna show it off?? ;-) Email me at thehairgurl@yahoo.com

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)

Repost: Hair Length Chart!

This post remains one of my most popular posts. Why? Folks wanna see the hair length chart. Figured I'd repost it for any ladies out there looking for a way to chart their hair growth. :-)

(Originally posted on 10/5/2008)

This is a chart that anyone can use to track their growth. I am trying to get to apl or arm pit length right now. That's not on there, but it's basically the arm pit. This chart is compliments of http://www.longhaircareforum.com/ This is a big help to anyone trying to grow their hair out! 

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)

My Birthday Hair!

My birthday was yesterday! So...I'm officially 29. :-) On my last leg before 30.... I wanted to do something different with my hair besides the usual 'fro so I tweeted late the night before that I would be rollersetting my hair. I was up at 2am doing this, but I was determined. Been trying to stretch my hair for awhile now. I washed & dc'ed as normal except for this time I dc'ed with Redken Smooth Down Butter Treat. I had a little left from purchasing it a long time ago so I decided to finish off the bottle. I bought this after Tracy recommended it. I used Mixed Chicks Leave In Conditioner to set the hair (remember I won a set a few months ago?). Then...I braided my hair and rolled it with random rollers. I chose to braid it because ya'll know I'm partial to the braid out look. This time I was going for a more curly look. Next time, I'll twist & roll.  I chose to braid it just to stretch it more.

I undid one of the bottom braids & roller....

Some of the braids were still wet when I awoke the next day (remember I was doing this at 2am). I unraveled them a little...not much though. It wasn't as 'curly' as I thought it would be. No worries! Still gotta rock it. ;-) It took me sooooo long to decide on a hairstyle. This is what I came up with. Basically, it's a side puff with a bang. I brushed my hair up, twisted the side & some of the back.

My "other way around" outfit: The top is a skirt & the bottom is a shirt.

Voila! I LOVED IT. I wish I'd thought to do this style when I was relaxed. I could've rocked this with a braidout.... For the last 6.5 months, I've just been rocking my 'fro (which I love), but now I'm going to be trying some different styles. Ya'll knew me just rocking my 'fro wouldn't last for long. I have to create hairstyles. That's just how I am. It took me awhile though because I really love rocking my 'fro, but now I'm getting a little bored so let the creative styling begin! The 'fro will forever be my go to style though. So easy & convenient! Oh & I forgot to tell you ladies...when I took my hair down last night my head was sore. : \ I blame me because like I said my natural hair is not used to hairstyles. haha The hubs relieved it with a head massage. Wish I could get those everyday!!!

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-) 

To My #1 Hair Fan

My #1 hair fan is my husband Reign. He has many nicknames, but Reign is the coolest one. ;-) He always takes time out to post comments on HG (although most are random, lol). As a matter of fact, he posted the very 1st comment on HG. He's always stuck by my hair decisions & supported me. I know in some case, significant others can be just as bad as the naysayers, but not my Reign.

He's watched me go through so many adventures with my hair. I've known him for almost 11 years, but I'm mostly referring to the last 4.5 years when I got more serious about my hair. At the end of the day, I'm still his K.D. After we moved to the D.C. area I (his hometown) in '07, I held on to my weave. I would get so tickled when he said my weaves looked "glamorous". He even taught me how to sew in weaves. You see, I didn't know how to sew in weave, but I knew it had to be like actual sewing. So I bought the weave, needle, and thread & he demonstrated how to sew in the hair track. That's love! LOL. Basically, I wore weaves because I'd given up trying to grow my hair very long. I was used to it getting to a certain point & then my hair breaking off. Usually somewhere around the shoulders...

Here's me w/ a weave in the summer of '06.

I would cut the weave sometimes to make it shorter....

After a month, I thought I'd try wearing my own hair out since I'd been donning a weave (half-weave really to give that illusion of "real hair") for about 3 years. I sewed the hair in faithfully every month no matter how much I missed wearing my real hair. It felt good to wear my own hair again though. And just like that my weave stage was over.

Dec. '06 w/ no weave.

Twistout!

Bored with my hair, I colored it in June '07...

...and along came the breakage. Enough to make me cut my hair into a bob in August. By the time my birthday came along (Aug. 10th), I was on a mission to obtain & maintain healthy hair after finding sites like BHM & LHCF. I started thinking "Man, I can do this!". There were so many beautiful heads of hair on both sites...They really gave me the inspiration I needed to grow my own hair.

Since then, I've been growing my hair & taking better care of it. I've stumbled along the way & made mistakes (still making them), but that's how I learned. :-) I was scraping apl by the summer of 2010...#longback  He was the 1st person to congratulate me when I reached apl.

He even submitted a hairstyle pic last year for Hairstyle Appreciation Day. :-)

Then we moved to Houston and I found out I was preggie. That's when I wondered if this was the right time to transition to natural. I decided it was. What other time would I not be relaxing my hair for this long?? I told him my plans and he was very supportive....Shocked, but supportive. He may not have agreed, but he supported me-which is the most important thing. In my defense, I did try to 'prepare' him for the day when I would go natural wayyyy back when I started taking better care of my hair. Because of my love for big, curly hair, I knew going natural was inevitable. I just didn't know when I would have the courage to do it! So last fall I started small chopping my hair....I had to do this so I knew I couldn't back out of going natural. The small chops motivated me even more. ;-)

 

And then out of the blue on a random Thursday evening (Jan 20th), I big chopped! Initially, I was going to big chop much later, but hey when I cut my hair into that wack hairstyle (remember?) I knew it was time, lol.

Yep, he must love me. :-) Through all of my hair adventures, he's encourages me, listens to me rant & rave when I didn't reach a hair goal, gives me most of the counter space for my hair products, celebrates my hair achievements with me, and is my ready listening ear when I just wanna talk hair. Thank you for all you've been to me & all you continue to be. I love you Reign.

Does your significant other support your hair decisions? 

Make sure you are following me on Twitter & Facebook for more of my ramblings about hair and anything else I want to talk about. :-)