flawless!

oh i need this look. i'm locking myself in my room till i get it right. i sure hope i have a coppery eyeshadow on hand...lol!

megatek deserves a grammy.

and an emmy, and the nobel prize, and everything else. i did two-week measurements, which were perfect cause after the 27th my head felt so gross from the looseness of my twists. i took them out, gently detangled, and took a few pics, the majority of which are now in my fotki. after the takedown i was afraid of matting but none occurred. YAY! i prepooed/DC'd for a few hours with kenra mc and EVOO, and when i attempted to add an egg it just effed up the whole thing so i had to redo the mixture. after that i washed with CON and used more kenra as a leave-in, then airdried under the fan. it felt SO GOOD, and my hair was very soft. i truly believe in hairapy, cause i was in a very good mood for the rest of the evening. i got my cousin to put cornrows in the next day, and boy are they tight as hell...hope my edges survive this. i am trying to keep them in another two weeks so i can do another length check right before the 13th. here is a pic of my current length off to the left...i am still hovering at right past SL but my hair is thicker, so i guess i should be full SL by the end of august/beginning of september if i can keep this up. is APL by october still realistic? probably not...but i sure am having fun trying to make it. i mean...look at my bangs!!!

mission...IMPOSSIBLE.

one of my goals was to whip my skin into shape by 7/31...looks like that's an epic fail. this retin-a just isn't working as fast as i thought - that 6 weeks crap was BS. through my own exhaustive research (meaning LHCF and acne.org) i found out that most people say give it at least 9 weeks, if not 12, to see results. this must be right cause i am in week 7 and i have cystic acne for pretty much the first time ever. i'm beyond frustrated, and when i get frustrated i touch my face, which makes things even worse. my main goal for now is to stop doing that; i seriously cut down in the last 4 or so days and my face looks better (less redness) but a 75% reduction isn't enough for me. did you know skin picking can be a symptom of OCD?! i used to joke about that since i sort my skittles and m&m's, but wow. well i refuse to go on medication for anything else, so cold turkey seems to be my best option.

-sigh- ok, next goal is 8/31. i go back to the derm on august 11th, so i hope i will have something fruitful to add then.

love it, need it, can't live without it

i love to talk about makeup...yeah, even though my makeup game is NOWHERE near where it should be - but even though i am a minimalist there are a few things i cant live without. ever since i started wearing concealer, powder, mascara and gloss everyday i just feel so much better...catching myself without mascara is just really weird sometimes.CONCEALER/FOUNDATION (sometimes) - bareminerals SPF 15 foundation in medium tan. i love this stuff - it really does what it claims to do, gives me the amount of coverage i need and looks totally natural. ok, so i probably need to switch to one of the medium shades cause the tan is darker than i thought it would be, but i can't bear to part with them. frankly, they cost too much. LOL! i'm just kidding, next time i get out of the house i will stop by ulta and play around with some shade swatches.

POWDER/VEIL - bareminerals mineral veil. love it as well; i can tell a difference when i wear it and when i don't, cause it makes me look like my complexion is more even than it really is. also keeps the shine at bay...cause this retin-a makes me reflect some serious light.

MASCARA - diorshow blackout. i have so many tubes of drugstore mascara that i used to love, until i realized the only reason i liked them was because i liked the price. i bought lash exact by cover girl and liked the definition, despite the lack of volume, so when volume exact came out i started to buy it but changed my mind. figured it would lack something as well. i have a friend who swears by great lash but instead i picked up maybelline xxl and it was ok...but it was kinda flaky or feathery or something i really cant put my finger on. i saw a few magazines and ads talking about diorshow blackout, so when i went to times square back in march i figured there was nothing to do but stop by sephora and try it. did it, loved it. the sales chick said it was good for making it look like you are wearing falsies and i agree. now i have a set of falsies and don't even want to apply them when i get the urges to put em on, cause its so much easier to swipe on some mascara. yes it is $25; no i don't regret buying it. seeing that double pack of great lash at wal-mart the other day for $4 made me swoon, but i realized it would probably be a waste. not swaying on this one.

LIPGLOSS - victoria's secret beauty rush (assorted); HIP gloss in adored. (no need to post pics cause there are a lot.) i switch up glosses a lot but these are my current faves. they are shiny, although i think the VS ones are a bit sticky. still looking but these are ok. i sooo want a mac lipglass, or at least a nice bubblegum pink shade of something quality.

uh....yeah thats pretty much it. i like the mineral makeups because they feel so LIGHT, but maybe i will dabble in liquid once i get MAC money. i know summer isn't the time for it though so i dont really worry. being easy breezy is fun...makeup + a WNG makes my life complete.

"you have to stop using suave..."

what kind of nappyheaded (excuse the language) buffoonery do we have here? i was on mahoganybutterfly reading a great article on jennifer hudson's new album cover when i realized that this site is not only a blog but a community of sorts for black women. cool, i said, and i looked for hair care stuff, just cause that's what i do. when i saw an article entitled "Best Products to Manage and Grow Our Hair" (link here) i got excited. (oh come on, if you have read anything i have ever typed you are NOT surprised.) i began reading with a smile on my face...and boy did that sucker disappear in 6.3 seconds. i got to this...

"You have to stop using Suave, Salon Selectives, Motions, and Alberto VO5, because although affordable, hey will leave your hair type dry and brittle..."

and i felt one of my curls drop. ok so i have kinky twists, but you know what i'm saying. it is no secret that i stan for suave and VO5 like a teenybopper loves B2K (moment of silence for my adolescence); see my previous posts on these two darlings. i do agree that making a regular habit of using the shampoos is hazardous to your hair, but i admit that i love the suave daily clarifying shampoo when i feel the need to lose some weight on my scalp. what gives? i will admit that i know nothing about salon selectives, and motions is garbage to me (anyone want a tub of the moisture plus conditioner? how about the 32oz shampoo?) but not my babies! oh lawd not my tropical coconut!!! i seriously hope whoever wrote that article got paid by ojon, cause while i have heard nothing but good things about that restorative treatment - yes it's on my list, i'm a PJ - that doesn't mean they have to bash strawberries and creme! that's like comparing apples and oranges...like saying pink oil moisturizer has nothing on kenra mc. uh hello, cowashing conditioners and the ones we use for DCing are completely different. the brands they mentioned are not bad, but i refuse to believe that "there are only two hair care companies on the market that will leave your hair in salon quality condition" (direct quote). puh-leaze, spend five minutes lurking on LHCF and you will find so many product reviews, rants and raves, and general questions about so many brands your head will spin. shescentit, hairveda, and miss jessie's make equally splendid products, most of them in the same price range if not cheaper. so gimme my strawberries and creme, thank you very much, my hair is doing just fine.

teyana is that YOU?

peeped this over at blogxilla; while guys may ogle for different reasons i am really feelin' her hair* and her abs. (the shoes ain't bad either.) chalk it up to the "that girl" aspirations.

*yes i know it is a wig; this is where "fake it till you make it" comes in. you think her wigmaker has AIM?

she did what?

i am really struggling with this not-being-able-to-DC thing...i have a cast on my leg so rinsing in the shower is out, and it takes a lot of effort to stand at the kitchen sink. -sigh- i know i need to though...all this MT in my hair is driving me crazy thinking about it. i went from washing everyday to TRYING to get it in once a week...argh!!!

while i try to figure out something...i DC'd my mom's hair the other night with kenra mc and EVOO, then she decided to BC on me then that afternoon...

next was my sister. i got her to mix up some DC for her twists. i literally said to her "lets see if you can mix up a good DC" and 10 minutes later she was back with the creamiest looking concoction of kenra mc, honey, and EVOO that i have ever seen. i mean, i do these mixes a lot, but while mine look lumpy hers looked exactly like vanilla pudding. i was shocked and i told her so!!! i applied it to her hair (mainly the first 1/3 of her twists of course) and then she watched MTV with a plastic cap on till about midnight (3 hrs)...and all i could do is look at her and smile. i love LHCF not only for what it has done for me but obviously what it has done for her as well. i wish i was doing that at 18, much less 13!

i'm thinking i will henna with her when i get to APL...it sounds so interesting and justkiya from nappydelphia makes it sound so easy. here is a link to the recipe that she posted in the OCT thread on LHCF...i have no idea how expensive henna is but i recently found out that the shikaikai shampoo bars all the ayurvedic nuts rave about is like a dollar...so i am hoping henna is around the same price. now i have one more thing to look forward to - COLOR!

perfection

for motivational purposes, i believe that everyone with a goal in mind of what they want to look like - be it a dream body, dream hair, whatever - has to have a picture of this goal that s/he can look at on a regular basis. just like dr. wendi had us make those "hello my name is dr. ____" name tags during my first year of college, visualization is key.

well with that in mind...here is an inspirational pic i ran across while reading nappydelphia this morning. who cares if its not my skin tone...and who cares if she is a model so its her job to look flawless...i think this makeup look and the sleekness of her hair are pure perfection. i think i read on maneandchic that this is jordan richardson, who shock of all shocks is natural, and i really don't mind that i am seeing her everywhere. she's got a great look...and interestingly enough kinda reminds me of my half-sister nicole. i think it's her lips. or her eyes. -shrug-

the dream body pictures are coming later. i got some things i have to work out first...namely getting back into the yoga groove. i have been preoccupied lately, but it's only on hiatus...i got enough episodes tivo'd to last me at least until the semester starts back up.

what's done is done!

ok, so my BC was june 13th; my sister's was a week after that, and now we can add my mom's to the list. i was washing her hair (post-DC with kenra mc, EVOO and castor oil) and when i asked her what she wanted me to do with it, i expected her to say flat twists like it has been lately but she told me to just cut it off! i was a bit taken aback, but i did it...so now all three lovely ladies in my house are natural. i am still trying to persuade her to let me take a picture of it, but fortunately for her my batteries died tonight...but it's on when they charge up tomorrow! her texture is interesting...it looks very 4a-ish and maybe there is a bit of 4b but it is all very very soft and fine. i think i'll wait for the pics so i can get a more expert opinion.

my twists...

...are loose. i did not apply megatek last night, and my twists are loose. my scalp is definitely itchy too. the skeptic in me is saying that this is just a result of me tossing and turning and that it's not new growth. i redid one twist in the back and my hair felt a bit longer but i'm not getting my hopes up!

that's all...i am in serious pain from this procedure i had done yesterday so i'm off to lalaland with my friends tylox and valium.

it's here!

wait wait wait...before i write anything i wanna say thanks to everyone who left comments lately. i logged in and was like YAY...people care...lol! when i am surrounded by people who look at me like i am speaking another language ("what the hell is cowashing?!") it's nice to get product recs, likes/dislikes, and suggestions from all of you. i got a long way to go before i reach my hair goals so of course i'm gonna have a lot of questions along the way!!!

ok, back on track. i finished my sister's kinky twists tonight...i'll take pics in a minute for the fotki...but more importantly my megatek came today! my brother woke me up asking me if i had been expecting a package and i knew exactly what it was...it was in a box letting the world know it had pet supplies in it, so i'm so glad he wasn't nosy as usual. i ripped it open and BAM! i tell you, the bottle was bigger than i expected, but that is definitely a good thing. i went and bought that applicator bottle - i got the $1.69 one cause it has a cap on it - and added 4oz of MT and about 20 drops of africa's best oil to it. it's on all three of our heads now, and now the anticipation has begun. i hope i don't have any crazy dreams about waist length hair or anything now, cause i can't wait till my twists are sitting on a mountain of new growth. i'm crossing my fingers on this one!

so maybe you've noticed i can't enter a store and buy just one thing...so in sally's i ran across ion swimmer's shampoo on sale for $3.99, which i plan on using not only for my sister the fish but also for me as a chelating poo. all this stuff i'm getting and i can't even use it till like next month...grr. but at least i have it. i also got the small bottle of porosity control for my mom, cause i have got to get this shedding and breakage under control. i'm pretty sure she's not retaining length, so what good will all that growth do if she loses it cause her hair is weak? i just put some flat twists in her hair last night after washing it, and she's still not up on washing her hair more than once a week, so it looks like it will have to wait for next weekend. i hope it works; littlegoldlamb has a great review of it in her fotki (btw, if you are on the fence about buying something, check out her album - i swear she has reviewed every hair product out there, even the ones that were not intended to be used for hair) so i feel pretty good about buying it. besides, it was less than 2 bucks. no big loss if it doesn't work.

i have to speak out on my skin now - i had a really bad peeling episode yesterday on the road going to virginia tech. we left at 9am and i woke up early to do my skin routine - wash with basis sensitive skin bar, dry and use a clindamycin pad, dry and use johnson's baby lotion to moisturize, followed by maybelline mineral power concealer, bareminerals mineral veil, and maybelline MP bronzer - and i looked pretty good, but for some reason by the time we got to VT my skin was JACKED. i happened to glance in the mirror and the whole right side of my face was peeling, and i had nothing i could put on it! i toyed with the idea of putting my hand across it or something, but i need to keep my hands off my face so that didn't work. i covered it with my hair as best i could, and got home that evening so embarrassed. i had messaged a few ladies on LHCF about a good moisturizer since retin-a is hell on your skin, and i got a few recommendations, such as cerave and cetaphil, but i wanted something with SPF in it since that seems to be my problem in the first place. aveeno was too much (sorry but i can't see spending $15 on a moisturizer that i may not be using in a few weeks), so i got the eucerin moisturizer with SPF 30 for $10. not much of a difference, i know, but it is formulated for sensitive skin and has SPF so i went for it. when i put it on today it didn't burn like my other moisturizer with SPF, so i took that as a sign and applied my makeup - however, i skipped the maybelline and used bareminerals foundation in medium tan as a concealer followed by the mineral veil. lighter coverage, so this one area on the right side of my mouth looked kinda gross, but my face didn't burn. that is the worst feeling ever. NO PEELING! i would recommend the JBL to anyone with sensitive skin that doesn't peel, but for me it was a no-go. i am still looking for stuff catered to sensitive skin (acne.org has some good reviews), but my situation is weird: it's oily and shiny, yet dry and sensitive? and i have never had body acne, so it's just from my chin up?! i don't get it. i go back to the derm on the 22nd, so maybe he can shine some light on what the hell is going on. in the meantime i'm going over to target to get some origins vitamin e oil, which i heard is great for nighttime moisture. whether or not i'm using the cleay mask tomorrow night is up in the air, cause i'm kinda annoyed with my skin right now, and i feel like being like a mom who doesn't give candy to her kids when they act up. is that weird? LOL!

ending on a positive note - HIP is BOGO at walgreens this week! i kinda regretted not getting more at the rite aid sale so this is perfect. i still limited myself, but i got two eyeshadow duos: showy and flamboyant. now i shall bombard youtube and the LHCF makeup/skin care forum looking for tutorials on these two, cause they are HOT!

oh wait, here are a few tutorials:

showy 1 showy 2 flamboyant

thanks google.

sunday the 13th.

well it's been a month since the BC...and my fotki is now open to all inquiring minds. click here to see my updates.

i finally made that new moisturizer i have been dying to try. instead of rolling with the vegetable glycerin, every store i went to hooked me up with the dumb salesperson so i went to walmart and got the glycerin over in pharmacy. less than 3 bucks means i am hoping it will work. i mixed that with an equal amount of AV juice in a small spray bottle so i could test it out, and i really like it. my hair actually feels moisturized under this dry-ass synthetic hair. yay!!! in addition i was meaning to buy some infusium 23, but i never made it to rite aid this week where it was on sale for 4.99 (and apparently there was a $3 coupon in the paper?!) and it was damn near 8 bucks at walmart, so i said screw it. we have a bottle lying around the house of the original stuff, you know the kind in the white bottle, so maybe i'll risk it and use that after i shampoo my hair later this week. i'm still getting over the excitement of the fact that i did these things myself. me? the chick who can't cornrow?! YES I DID, and my sister is due for a new set of twists monday. i will use the leftover pack of hair to do hers, and try not to buy any more. keyword is TRY - the washing/base removal process was tedious. (ok, not really.)

now what i am thinking for the MT is that i will just spray my scalp/roots/whatever with this stuff, then apply the MT straight. i want the maximum results and i am kinda scared that if i cut it i will miss out on some growth. well i have three heads to try it on, so we will see. now i just gotta get that applicator bottle...i am going up to virginia tech tomorrow so i will try to get it monday.

ooh, update on that mini-haul from walgreens: i hate that smart shade so i am gonna try to take it back. it went on gray and made me feel like my skin was ashy, but when i swiped it off with my baby wipe it was the same color as my other foundations. cool...but something about it struck me as a "hate it". i think i am just gradually becoming turned off to liquid foundation. i am crossing my fingers that as this acne medication works deeper i lose the love for any types of foundation or concealers. there is something so refreshing about just throwing on some mascara and lipgloss, but i ain't there yet. till then...guess it will continue to be mineral power concealer for the blemishes + bareminerals mineral veil for the shine, with the occasional sweep of bronzer for color.

love it or hate it: aztec secret indian healing clay

it has been about 4.5 weeks since i went to the derm and my skin is looking so much better that its unbelievable. consistency must really BE the key, cause for the irst 4 weeks i was going like "when is this stuff gonna kick in?!" but when it began to show visible signs of working last week i was shocked. my cheeks have almost completely cleared up, my chin has cleared up, and the rest of my blemishes are getting smaller. i'm gonna wait the whole 6 weeks to take pics and/or get really excited, cause i'm still a bit skeptical. in the meantime, i wanna rave about this mask i posted about yesterday.

i bought this healing clay from the vitamin shoppe yesterday, and after reading up on it a bit more on the makeup and skin care boards i gave it a go. i initially mixed it with water, but apparently there are other things you can mix it with, with ACV, rosewater, and lemon juice being just a few examples. i think i left it on too long for my sensitive skin, cause it was really rough getting it off, but my brother left his on 15 minutes instead of 20 and his came right off. oh yeah, i cant believe i let him try it, but i wanted to compare our results. anyway, when i did get it all off, my face burned, but it was SO SOFT! i kept touching it, which i know is bad, but i really liked it. it was a bit red but like the container said that disappeared after about a half hour. the real test is that when i woke up this morning my face was really really smooth. i was in shock. i mean, lately i have woken up and when i look in the mirror my blemishes are smaller (i wonder why that is), but after a few hours they return to their normal size. sucks, but maybe that will stop. the key difference is my face was also less oily...i hate waking up looking like i spilled vegetable oil on my face. i looked up bentonite and it is a key ingredient in a lot of expensive cleansers for oily skin, like the dermalogica dermal clay cleanser, but luckily for me this stuff was only 7 bucks. sweeeet...now my task is to search for rosewater so i can get a really moisturizing mask. since i bought AV juice i will try that first, since it is known to be a good moisturizer. the next try will be monday or tuesday night so maybe i will post then.

verdict? LOVE IT. go buy it. now.

why did i buy this?

on a whim (cause thats the way i like it) i went to trader joe's looking for a garlic supplement (megatek shedding prevention), glycerin, and aloe vera juice. i came out with a bottle of nourish spa conditioner and nothing else. read reviews of it here. something else i have heard great things about, but the problem here is I HAVE A HEAD FULL OF KINKY TWISTS. i don't even know the next time i will cowash. i may take it back cause it's not doing anything but taking up space on my shelf; its not like it cost a lot so i will sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

after i saw that gallon of AV juice at tj's, i decided to give the vitamin shoppe a try...i just cant commit to a gallon of anything i have not tried. the smaller size was less than 4 bucks there...sweet. while looking for glycerin i came across indian healing clay, which was about 7 bucks. it is supposed to make for a really good deep cleansing facial mask so i said what the hey. maybe i will try it tonight. i also contemplated getting jojoba oil but it was cheaper at tj's...and plus i will save that chapter of the skin experimenting for AFTER the medication from the derm is gone. never found the glycerin - the manager looked at me like "huh?" when i asked where it was, even though it is on the website clear as day. oh well, i will keep looking. either that or wait till monday when i can go up to charlottesville to whole foods.

FINALLY finished.

ick, halfway through (4 hours in) with the kinky twists and i decided that i did in fact want to cut the hair in half cause it was too long. i had to take them all out. i also realized i should have put my hair in two-strand twists before i did them (i do this to my sister's hair but was impatient) but luckily she was there to do them for me while i redid the aforementioned half head of twists. i also took frequent breaks...rolled all the finished twists with blue perm rods THEN took them out so i could sleep...man i did so many things wrong, but at least they are DONE and my hair looks pretty good. i did a few too loose and a few too tight but it is easier for me to search and correct now that there aren't duckbill clips all over my head. whoo hoo! here are a few pics...sorry about the mirror, didn't realize it was like that till after i uploaded the pics. oh, there will be more in my fotki on the 13th (my one month BC anniversary!)

i ordered my megatek!

$24.99 at kvvet.com; use coupon code 054 for $5 off and there is free shipping too. i can't wait till it arrives!

going kinky!

i had to get up early this morning and when i have to do that i try to make my day as productive as possible. i stopped by 3 BSS's this morning looking for SOFT 100% kanekalon hair so i can finally put in my kinky twists and while i couldn't really find soft (the store with the femi sign didnt have any...wtf) i did find the janet marley braid hair for $5.99, so i got three packs in T1B/33. i hope the color is ok but we will see. i was looking for something with a little red in it but their selection was limited...booooo. right now i am DCing with kenra mc and EVOO to prep my hair, and to prep the extension hair i am soaking it in a sink full of water with 1 cup of ACV added as advised on growafrohairlong.com (they have really good braiding/extension care tips; click here). i will moisturize daily (hopefully i will be getting megatek so i can do that!) and wash once a week with diluted shampoo then use this bottle of infusium 23 as a leave-in. no daily cowashing is gonna make me feel dirty but i think after a week or two i will be relieved. now i gotta figure out how to DC in these things...

BOGO suave!

if you have been reading my blog (wait, let me stop and say T-H-A-N-K-S to you) then you know that i am cheating on VO5 strawberries and creme with suave tropical coconut. it is a steamy affair but i looooove this stuff. it's so thick and i still can't get over the fact that it contains biotin AND SAA! i went to walgreens today to refill a prescription and while perusing the salespaper i saw that *suave products are buy one get one half off!* i was even more shocked to see that they are the family size bottles with 33% more free! what a great deal...i limited myself and got only two, and it worked like this:

• they are normally $1.79 or 2 for $3, with the second ringing up $1.21
• this gives you a 60 cent discount on bottle #2
• so 1.79+0.61=2.40 for two 30oz bottles of conditioner....SWEET!

i will search the other stores for suave humectant tomorrow so i can do another love it or hate it. a cheaper and just as effective version of nexxus humectress always scores brownie points with me.

ooh, i also picked up some makeup: almay is BOGOF, so i got the smart shade foundation in medium/300 (hope it looks ok on me!) and the line smoothing concealer (i went from oily skin to dry skin due to the retin-a micro and clindamycin). i may trade the concealer for another one since i think it is more for under-eye spots than blemishes; maybe the blush. they also had HIP on clearance (all the stores do but i never find any) so i got the brilliant shine lip gloss in adoring. i was afraid the color would be too dark but i put on some vaseline (this medicine gives me the worst crackheadish looking lips) and the gloss and i was fine. mini hauls like this always brighten my day.

jumping on a new bandwagon.

megatek!!!

yes it is a horse product...so dont look at me like that...but yes it is cleared for human use and YES IT WORKS!

i was browsing the 2nd half of the OCT/MegaTek challenge last night on LHCF; i was led there by some wayward post about OT (Ovation Cell Therapy) being the truth. it's about 80 pages long but the info in there is damn good. what's more is i'm convinced - it is possible for me to get to APL by december, and with MT maybe even by my bday, so i gotta get crackin! upon comparing OCT and MT, i discovered that MT is wayyy cheaper (20 dollars compared to 60), so it is perfect for my college sized pockets, and very easy to use - all i need is an applicator bottle. if i get it - no when i get it, i will cut it with oil to make it last longer and to get extra moisture and let the growing begin. it is so bad that i was thinking about it all night, and woke up ready to cowash so i could begin megasaggin' (not saggin like sag your jeans, but saggin like massagin) till i realized....uhm, loser, you don't have any. i am still contemplating whether or not this is something i should run past mom since she has more money than me, but she will probably say 1) wtf do you want a horse product for and 2) we have that stuff from the dominican salons. this is true but i know of no one else using it (i need PROOF) and megatek is cheaper. we paid 35 bucks for that stuff. i think it would be mean of me to get the megatek and use it while making her use the dominican stuff. while i make this decision, i am going back over to look at before and after pics scattered throughout the thread(s) and look up pricing/shipping info.

love it or hate it: VS so sexy balancing conditioner

i love testing out new products and this is one that has been on my list for a while. i have been talking about all the great things i got at the VS semi-annual sale...and on the beauty side of the store this is one product i wanted but did not buy. must be a sign, cause a week later i found someone on LHCF selling the travel size bottle for half price. this made it the perfect time to try it...and i am glad i did.

i opened the package and was hit by a cloud of perfume. ick, right? one thing about my VO5 and suave that i love is that the smell is subtle...i catch a whiff of my hair when i fluff it, or when i shake it, but not all the time. i was put off by that and thought that maybe this wasn't something i would wanna try, but i did it anyway. i must admit, VS made the bottles really cute, and this is something i can sit in my shower or even on my dresser and people cant even tell what it is till they read the bottle. so cool! after this analysis, i pushed my thoughts about the smell to the back of my mind and hopped in the shower.

i used this conditioner following my first ever overnight DC; i used kenra mc, honey, shea butter, and EVOO and left it in about 12 hours while i lollygagged on LHCF, went to bed, woke up and took my brother to work, and came back home to some yoga. my hair felt pretty good, but there is something in this mix that is not working, cause i get a better experience with just plain kenra mc. it felt like my hair was drier than usual under the showerhead, and it was tangled. i was using my shower comb and took out more hair than normal. gotta figure that one out...but after i rinsed it all out i used the VS conditioner. it has a very thick consistency, almost like a deep conditioner, but i will not be using it for that anytime soon. i worked kinda hard to get out a quarter sized dollop and ran it through my soaking wet hair before detangling with the shower comb. again, the smell was kinda overpowering, but once it was in my hair it went away some. in other words, i wasn't choking. they didnt lie when they put something about "a burst of ultra-feminine fragrance" on the back of the bottle.

after my shower, i squeezed out the excess water as usual (although there seemed to be less water in my hair) and looked in the mirror. my hair looked really fluffy, which isn't a bad thing. i also decided to plop my hair with a t-shirt, and my drying time went WAY down. my hair was dry about an hour later....oh i took the t-shirt off my hair about 20 minutes after i put it on, btw. instead of leaving it down today i used my nylon ponytail holder to smoosh my hair into a pony puff. i love the way it looks so full, and i cant wait for my ponytails to look like this. -sniff- there goes the smell again...i am sitting under the ceiling fan as i type and every few seconds i smell my hair. thank goodness i have gotten used to it by now. it's not a bad smell, it's just that i am used to fruity smells more than this perfume-y type deal. i will continue to use the bottle...but it's not something i will stock up on. this will be my night-on-the-town conditioner more than anything.

so....verdict is in. i like it. too much fragrance and not enough moisture.

thanks for the compliment?

i knew i could change my bf's mind about my hair...despite the fact that his idiotic brother-in-law asked me if i fell in the pool...oh, not to mention we watched "meet the browns" and i had to sit through that dumbass part where vera talks about the little girl's dreads. ("you know how to spell dreads? n-a-p-p-y...." ugh. i know she wont talkin with those stupid wigs. but i digress.) i said i would get him to change his mind, and i did. a strapless dress changes everything. i threw a nylon elastic around it and made it into a large pony puff, and when i walked towards him he told me i look like "a younger, light-skinned, skinnier jill scott. i like that on you, baby." so basically i look nothing like her. thanks, babe.

he no likey.

EDIT: the pj list is forthcoming. had to take it down for a little bit but it's coming back.

i've really enjoyed people's reactions to my BC, from the complimentary (my cousin, who is and will always be pro-"perm") to the crazy (a guy friend of mine said i look jamaican???) and everything in between. the usual reaction is "oh you cut off all your hair" which i dont mind...then of course i stretch a curl to show them it's not all gone. the one reaction i was really waiting for was that of my SO, being that he was the first person i called after i did it. i haven't seen him since the day before memorial day, when my hair was straightened to an inch shorter than APL, just the way he liked it. yesterday when he came back to town for the weekend, i showed up with my staple do, freshly cowashed and airdried to perfection, and i really liked it. his mom was the first to see it, and she had the normal reaction - "oh you cut your hair!" -touch touch- so i stretched it, yadda yadda, and she asked me if i had a straw set. when i told her that my hair was naturally curly, i got the response that i have always asked myself but have never heard from anyone but my mom: "why were you getting relaxers in the first place?"

then it was his turn. i saw that smile on his face and i thought that maybe it was his way of saying he didn't like it without hurting my feelings, just like he tried to do when i dyed it blonde and cut it into a bob. well i was right...i knew he was a fan of long hair but i didn't know that translated to long straight hair. luckily it takes a lot to hurt my feelings and i told him to get used to it. (assuring him that i can straighten it easily didn't help either.) not quite the reaction i expected but at least he didn't beg me to get a weave or something. i still think it will grow on him...especially when i show up tomorrow for the 4th of july cookout in my purple strapless sundress with a flower in my hair.

like another hole in my head

well i'll be...guess part of it saved after all. here is the blog i meant to finish earlier in the week:

i can tell that i am a pj cause i am a few days off the buy nothing challenge and the list of wants is ever growing. to appease this beast in me i have decided to make a list of the shampoos and conditioners i want to try. (let's not get started on the glycerin, AV juice, sweet almond, coconut and avocado oils, and the honeyquat...blahblahbleeblahblah)

SHAMPOOS

• kenra clarifying shampoo. i have the suave daily clarifying shampoo (which i do like, dont get me wrong) but i love kenra mc so much that it really makes me want to be one of those people who is line-specific. i know that wont help with the cowashing (i am a slave to vo5 and suave) but at least when wash day comes around all my bottles will be silvery and matchy-matchy.
• kenra moisturizing shampoo. i have no idea what a moisturizing poo does; i mean cant conditioner wash your hair just as well if the purpose is to get it clean without stripping it? it's kenra though and you know how i am. read the above if not.
• ORS creamy aloe shampoo. it's a clarifier and chelator all in one, and i do need a chelating shampoo cause this water is hard as rocks. why not go the cheap route? it's five bucks at all the major stores, and that means it's also easy to pick up while i'm out and about instead of making a special trip to the mall to go to trade secret.

COWASH CONDITIONERS

• herbal essences long term relationship. i already have and love the leave-in (too bad i discovered VO5) so why not? i have heard good things about it and i am a sucker for stuff that makes my hair smell fab.
• herbal essences hello hydration. same deal here...it's relatively inexpensive...and smells like coconuts from what i have heard, just like my suave but souped up.
• organix vanilla silk conditioner. a really lavish conditioner to add to my cowashes. supposedly gives amazing slip and has a nice smell. also contains SAA so i dont have to buy any.
• organix coconut milk conditioner. sensing a theme with the coconut here? has eggs and coconut milk...so i can get the benefits without the mess.
• VS so sexy conditioner. *i actually got this one* (2 bucks for the bottle on the exchange forum!!!) so i can post a review this weekend...yay! scent "lasts all day and evening" according to an amazon review, and while it's a bit expensive for cowashing (not this bottle, but the regular stuff) i still cant wait to smell it.

DEEP CONDITIONERS

• hairveda sitrinillah hair masque. i am a sucker for deeply hydrating treatments that happen to make you smell like orange creamsicles. sue me.
• aveda brilliant conditioner. aveda products are ridiculously expensive and i am hoping that it would do well for me like it does for so many other people. like, is it really "brilliant"?
• redken smooth down butter treat. i have heard a slew of good things about redken...and since i am waiting on more reviews of the real control line this is something that i'm sure i can't go wrong with.
• pantene relaxed and natural mask. a cheap staple for many people. i hate the regular pantene r&n products but perhaps the mask will help redeem the pantene image in my mind.
• ORS hair mayo. i think this is still on my list from when i was transitioning, but just to keep my moisture/protein levels in check i need a good yet inexpensive protein DC.
• joico moisture recovery treatment balm. again with the expensive miracle products...i need some moisture recovery right about now since i am slacking on the DCs this week. oops.
• joico k-pak intense hydrator. another one that supposedly works miracles. i want to be the judge of this.

i plan on doing another list on leave-ins and styling aids...but no time soon. this is good, right? keeps me away from the BSS.