Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sweet Almond Oil

I recently purchased some Almond Oil for my skin and hair. It's a natural moisturizer and is often used for aromatherapy and massage. Here's some more information about almond oil...

Almond oil has become one of the most popular vegetable oils due to its many uses. However, there are two types of almond oil: sweet and bitter almond oil. Bitter almond oil is extracted from the bitter almond plant, and can actually be quite harmful so consumption is not recommended. Sweet almond oil on the other hand has some wonderful applications and has become more and more popular in the beauty industry. Extracted from the sweet almond seed, almond oil can do wonders for our skin, health and even our hair.

Skin Emollient:
Almond oil is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and E, and as a result is great for the skin. Almond oil acts to balance the moisture in our skin and helps to nourish the skin. It is easily absorbed and is most effective for combating dry and irritated skin. Also, almond oil has a fine texture, so as a result it will not leave your skin feeling greasy or block your pores. As a result of its moisturizing qualities, it is now being used in many soaps and moisturizers. It’s great for the complexion and can even help with the removal of dark circles under your eyes.

Healthy Hair:
Almond oil’s properties even extend to having benefits for our hair. Massaging a few drops of almond oil into your scalp adds a healthy glow to your hair. Also, it helps make your hair stronger, thicker, and adds shine as well as nourishing and smoothing hair cuticles. Almond oil has also been known to facilitate hair growth.

I've already used the oil on my locks and it feels and smells great. I can't wait to see the benefits in the long run. I'll be adding it to my skin care regimen as well! I hope this information is helpful/useful to you. Let me know if you start using almond oil and how it works for you.

Inspirations and blessings,
Nat

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Hair Steamer Review Pt II

So I've washed my hair twice since I got my steamer at full working status and I must say that it's made a big difference for my babies!!! My locks have always been very healthy, but now they're extremely moisturized and oh so soft!!

I've colored my locks twice in the past couple weeks. First, I colored the lower half of my locks black. Then, I colored the other half of my locks black to the root. Both times I used the steamer. I sat under the steamer for approximately 15mins with the deep conditioner in my hair and then after rinsing the conditioner, I sat under the steamer for an additional 20mins after applying my oils.

With the summer heat in this area, my babies needed that moisture. Having done both the color and steam treatments, my locks have a great sheen about them. I venture to say that my babies have never looked this good before. I think I've found a new way to keep my babies looking and feeling their best!

I'll be posting pix of my newly fully black and shiny locks very soon!

Inspirations and blessings,
Nat

Monday, September 13, 2010

Updated pic...


Hi guys, I know I promised that I would post more photos from my recent shoot, but I have to admit that I don't like the way most of them turned out. I was outside and sweating in the sun, so it's just not a good look. I've posted the few shots that I actually liked in my Fotki album, so feel free to check them out.

I've posted my favorite shot of the day above, hope you like it!

Inspirations and blessings,
Nat

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

8 Mile

The subject of this blog entry is a pun... I'm in the city of 8 Mile, Detroit Michigan. I just posted a quick sharing vid on youtube, so I thought I'd post it here too!

Check it out guys:

Monday, September 06, 2010

Black locks!


My girlfriend and my photog, Vicki, took some update photos of me today. I'll post more when they're available, but here's a sneak peak. You can definitely see how rich and black my locks look with this new color. I think I'm going to do this color from the root because I think it will look very dramatic and compliment my skin tone.

What do you think?

Nat

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Hair Steamer & Dreadz-n-Headz Review:

So, I just washed my hair this weekend and finally had a chance to use my steamer afterward. First let me tell you about my color dilemma.... I had honey colored highlights in my hair from years before I began locking. It just so happened that when my locks condensed and matured, all the color was concentrated in the tips of my locks, so they naturally looked like brown tips. I wanted to have burgundy tips for the longest time so a few years ago, after much apprehension, I dyed my tips burgundy. Nothing too dramatic and since it was a rinse, over time, it faded back to a honey color. I didn't bother to color it again.

I didn't feel the itch to color my hair again until this year. I finally decided to make an appointment at a local hair salon named Dreadz-n-Headz because I'd met the owner, Malaika Tamu-Cooper, at a natural hair show years ago and was impressed by her professionalism and the dos that her hair stylists were providing at the show. I don't know anything about coloring hair, so I figured that I needed to go to a professional to color my locks. Bad idea, at least for this salon.

To make a long story short, it was THE worst salon experience I've ever had. I was overcharged, it took all day (I was in the salon for over 6hrs), my hair color was on more than the tips of my locks and they were varied colors of burgundy (light & dark orange as well), the stylist ruined the shirt I was wearing by getting bleach and color on it, and my hair was never conditioned afterward. I could go on and on about how upset I was with this experience. I had befriended Malaika on FB when I joined a couple years ago, so I thought I would just write her a letter via email detailing the unprofessional and unacceptable experience I had at her shop. This woman NEVER responded to my email!! Like she just couldn't be bothered. I was and am still appalled. She then proceeded to remove me from her friend list. I've since spoken to a few people that were unhappy with their experience at the shop, so I'm not alone and although I don't normally say things like this, I hope her business fails because this isn't how a serious/good business person approaches customer service & complaints in general.

Needless to say, I've been trying to repair the damage done ever since the end of June when I went to the shop. I've colored my tips a true burgundy via henna and Adore (a popular hair color brand). Nothing worked because after just a couple washes, my tips would turn a dull brown again and now that the color was covering much more than just the tips of my locks (3"-6" at the end of my locks), I wasn't at all happy with the results.

I promised myself that if the last attempt to color my tips didn't work, I would simply dye them black and be done with it, so that's what I did. I decided to just put my locks in a pony tail and color the entire pony. I used L'Oreal Feria 21 bright black and I have to say I'm in love. I don't know why I hadn't colored my locks black before.

I sat under my hair steamer for approximately 20mins after applying the conditioning treatment that came with the coloring kit. And I again sat under the steamer after rinsing the conditioning treatment out of my locks. I first moisturized my hair with extra-virgin olive oil, Oyin handmade burnt sugar pomade for my scalp area, and some Nexxus leave in conditioner. My locks feel so soft and moisturized. The color is so rich and my locks have an amazing shine which I'm sure I can attribute to both the steamer and the color. I have a lock update photo shoot scheduled this week so I'll post those photos when they're available and you'll see how gorgeous the results are!

I also did a steam treatment for my face again after doing my hair and my skin feels great. I think this steamer was an amazing investment and I'm already profiting from the benefits!

Inspirations and blessings,
Nat

Friday, September 03, 2010

Bun Pic


I found a pic I took of myself in Charlotte, NC while on travel for work. There's just something about a bun that I love so much. I find that since I have very chunky ends to my locks that it usually presents a problem in trying to form buns because it's not at all easy for me to tuck my ends in and hide them (lol). Hopefully as my locks get longer, this will become easier for me and I can do my buns more often!

It's a cute pic, so I thought I'd post and share it!

"Human Touch" by Kem

I'm a huge fan of Kem and I'm so excited that he has a new album out called Intimacy. The link will take you to Amazon where you can listen to a snippet of all of the songs on the album. Kem has a very laid back, jazzy feel about his voice and music. I think his voice is very reminiscent of Al Jarreau in my opinion, but with an updated sound of course.

I'm absolutely LOVING this song called "Human Touch". This link will take you to a vid to hear the entire song. Check it out and tell me what you think....

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Locked Beauty of the Month: Lenise Safi'Yah Smith





Lenise Smith is a model, poet, and actor. She rocks her gorgeous locks with style and flair. I found this gorgeous locked woman via Facebook thru a mutual locked friend. I haven't seen a bad photo of this locked beauty.