Famous Naturals Going Back To Relaxed!

I never thought I would see the day that Lauryn Hill and Jill Scott would ever get a relaxer. Since I can remember, these 2 ladies have always have natural hair since their stardom. I was shocked to learn that they actually gave into the "crack" lol. I've even noticed a lot of natural women on the hair boards throwing the towel in and going back to relaxed too. I wont mention any names, but I've gotten emails/messages from natural women to give them advice on how to care for relaxed hair because they were getting ready to make the switch. Hmm...I guess relaxed hair is cool again! There was a point in time where i thought the whole world was going natural. I think these 2 ladies are showing their fans that at the end of the day, it's just hair. These 2 are definitely NOT their hair. Hair is just hair and will grow back eventually. If they want to go back to natural, they can easily do so.

Miss Haiti 2010!

I am so happy that the Miss Universe pageant is allowing Haiti into the competition again! After 21 years of Haiti being left out of the pageant, somehow in 2010 it's back in! It seems like after the Earthquake, many doors of opportunity opened up for Haiti. Anyways, after 21 years of no Miss Haiti, this year, Miss Haiti 2010 is Sarodj Bertin! She's beautiful.

Personal Details:

Name: Sarodj Bertin

Age: 24

Height: 175cm / 5′9″

Place of Origin: Port-au-Prince, Haiti (city that was devasted by the Earthquake)

Background:

After almost 21 years in hiatus, Haiti will have a representative this time in Sarodj Bertin. The beginning of this year has been a very unfortunate piece of history for Haiti and the millions of its people, Sarodj will make them proud as she represents the beauty and the hope of her nation. Before her winning, she is a practicing lawyer in the Dominican Republic where they moved after her then lawyer mother was assassinated. Sarodj Bertin is Haiti’s official representative to the 2010 Miss Universe pageant to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

My Phone Upgrade!!

I had my old Blackberry Curve (don't even remember the model number) since April of 2008 with a 2 year contract from T-mobile. This phone has been dropped a million times, and has been lost & found a couple of times. There was even a time when I parked my car in the parking lot at my house and got out, and my phone unknowingly fell out of my purse. It was snowing outside too! I went inside and took a nap. When I woke up an hour or two later, something felt missing. I realized it was my phone, and went outside to go see if I left it in my car. Once I got outside, there it was right there laying in a blanket of snow right by my car's tire. This phone has been through many rough times...and it shows! There's a crack on the side of the screen, the ball thingy in the middle is dirty, and even half of the Blackberry word has completely been wiped off. People would look at me funny whenever I pulled it out to make a call or something lol..

My 2 year contract ended in April 2010. But for some reason, I was too lazy (and cheap) to get a new phone, so I kept my old one with intentions of saving up for a better phone and having it by Christmas. Well, that all came to an end this past Monday! I went to go use the bathroom at my house, and as I walked in, my phone literally slipped through my fingers and landed in the toilet bowl. Omg! I couldn't believe that happened. The toilet water was clean, so I pulled it out as quick as I could and it started flickering....than died on me. In a way, this was good because I know I needed a new phone..quick! So I called T-mobile and upgraded to a newer version. I got the Blackberry Curve 8520 and it's so cute! I love it so far. The shape and size of my new phone is more feminine than my old phone. My old phone was big and squared, and seemed like it was more masculine. I even bought a cute purple case for it...I cant stand seeing finger prints on a brand new phone.

[Click to enlarge]

What vitamins do I take??

Garlic = 75 mg [1 every other day]
Biotin = 5000 mcg [1 every night]
Iron= 28 mg [2 every day]

In order to have nice healthy growing hair, one of the many things you should do is add vitamins to your daily regimen. You don't necessarily have to take vitamins if you don't want to. If you're not taking any vitamins, then I hope you're eating a well balanced meal!

I feel that vitamins give you that extra boost that you need to get the hair growing a little faster than usual. Sometimes, our bodies may lack vitamins and minerals that we need to maintain growing hair and other bodily functions. We need to take vitamins to be sure that we're supplying our bodies with things that we're lacking.

I dont take that much vitamins. I only take 3.

My first vitamin, and by far the most important one in my regimen is IRON. I'm very anemic which means my body is not supplying itself with all the iron that it needs. So I need to take iron every day to try to bring those iron levels up. Being iron deficient comes with a consequence for hair. With out much iron, the hair tends to shed a little more than usual. This is one of the few reasons I take iron. I take 2 pills everyday.

My second vitamin is GARLIC. I recently started to take garlic probably a month ago. I take it because it helps control shedding. I am seeing results already! I am almost 3 weeks post relaxer and have only shed a few strands since then. I take 1 garlic pill every other day. When I see my shedding being controlled, I will stop taking them. But if the shedding comes back, I will be retaking them again. As of now, I am still taking them.

My third vitamin is BIOTIN. I am currently on day 3 of taking them so I cant speak yet as far as results go. I am taking the 5000 mcg's. My first day of taking them, I got a huge headace and felt really lazy. The headache followed me to work the next day, and I felt I couldn't function that well, and the time was going by so slow because I wanted to go home. But the headache went away after my break at work. Now, I take biotin every night before bed...never again in the middle of the day. I am also increasing my water intake so that i dont break out. Many people break out when they take biotin. If you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day, it should help resolve the problem. I have a goal to be as close to BSL before the year ends. I know I will not make BSL, but I want to be near it! This is why I am taking biotin. I take 1 pill every night.

Caruso Steam Rollers

I am so interested in investing in the Caruso Steam Rollers system! I've heard of them before, and even watched videos about them..but I was never interested because I already had magnetic rollers and a hooded dryer. I saw it as a waste of money since I already had rollers. But 2 months ago, my hooded dryer decided to stop working..which left me a little lost. I didn't know what else to do with my hair on wash days except air dry and wear it in a bun. But a couple of days ago, a light bulb turned on in my head and I came up with a great idea. I could use steam rollers instead! They're fast, and easy, and they dont require the use of hooded dryers.

Every time i do a roller set, I always wrap my hair after wards, I never wear the curls out...I just don't like that look on me. I just needed a technique to give me the ability to wear my hair down with a little bump at the ends with out using direct heat. Roller setting and doing a saran wrap method was my only option, but unfortunately, my dryer broke! I can now alternate by using steam rollers.

Steam rollers are a lot more healthier than regular roller setting because it actually uses steam instead of heat. Steam adds moisture to the hair and seals the cuticle, whereas heat draws moisture out of the hair causing it to dry out the cuticle. I plan on buying this at Sally's Beauty Supply during the weekend. I will definitely keep you all posted on how my first Caruso roller set goes!

My July 2010 Relaxer Updates

I relaxed after 9 weeks post on July 23rd. My cousin relaxed my hair at the salon she works at in New Jersey. What a day...But I loved my results.

She used Affirm Fiberguard relaxer, and as requested, she left a little wave in my hair because i don't like when my hair is relaxed pin straight. She wet wrapped my hair, sat me under the dryer, then blow dried lightly and flat ironed. I also got a trim. I don't think I'm gonna make BSL this year, but I want to be as close to it as possible so that's what I'm aiming for. She always trims my ends with every relaxer, even if I don't want to lol. She says it'll be better for me in the long run. I'm really not in a rush to reach longer hair. As long as it's thick, healthy, and the ends are not split, then I'm good to go.

When I'm 6 weeks post, I plan on getting a partial sew-in and leaving it on my hair for 2 months. This will definitely help me stretch for 16 weeks with no problem. Here's a picture of my hair 2 days after my relaxer. I didn't have time to take pics before since it was so hot and humid outside, plus i was also very busy and tired.

I'm surprised I still have hair on my head after all that shedding I got for the past few weeks. I'm glad Im beginning to see results from the garlic pills though. I didn't shed as much as I did during my previous stretch. For the next few weeks leading up to my sew-in, Im gonna do protective styles 98% of the time. I'm getting kind of tired of this length.

My protective bun

I am back to wearing my buns! I stayed away from buns for so long because the style is so boring to me. But I realized in order to achieve my goals faster, I need to wear them. I tried something new with my bun yesterday. I added a side braid to the front to give my bun some personality. I like it. I will be wearing my hair like this for the whole summer up until I relax again in November. Speaking of buns, I need to do a tutorial on how i did my bun. I get quite a few requests. If you follow me on Youtube, keep a look out for my bun tutorial!

Front view

Side view


Back view