Bringing in the 2013 with C.A.N and W.I.L.L

This year I've refrained from making "resolutions". It's a redundant and a overated new years traditions. Which are very basic and repetitive: lose weight, eat healthier, study more, get better grades,make more friends, stop drinking, stop smoking...and the list drags on. Those are goals we should use for our LIFE not just the new years.  Anywho! *steps off soapbox* Instead of making "resolutions" i've decided to do C.A.N and W.I.L.L.

Those are lil acronyms i've made for myself. They are reasonable and  very simple. C.A.N is to  Control And Navigate my life. I will  no longer let others take over my thoughts, mind, goals,and dreams. But I will take that bull called "life" by the horns and tug and push and pull it into the direction I WANT MY LIFE to go!  I'm not going to make a simple "resolutions" or "goal" and work on it little by little until the end of the year or when the excitement dies down! NO! I'm going to GRIND into my aspirations! Mold them! Guide them! Build them! All with my bare hands, sweat and blood because ONLY I can make it happen by C.A.N!!!! 

As for W.I.L.L, it is the ability to Walk In Life and Love! I can speak for myself and say, " I have not been walking in true love and life!" I have not love as hard as I should, not accepted it as I should, I've longed for something I secretly feared!! I've made excuses for not " LIVING" life, for not adventuring to different places in life, waiting until its my "time", WHEN MY TIME HAS BEEN WAITING FOR ME!!!! Wheew I had to get dance around just now!! HAHA!!

Are you ready to Control and Navigate your life while you Walk In Life and Love?? I sure am!!! Now I didn't plan on making a post on this but dang it just happened!  I did however, plan on making more blog posts not on for 2013 but for long my heart desires. It may be for one day or for one year! That's the beauty in it all!!!

I do want to do more reviews, update my hair journey and skin journey, and update on ways i've been "embracin my roots". So to anyone that reads this, Stay tuned is you'd like but don't miss out on life! Get off the computers, laptops, tablets, phones, and ipods and get out and love on your family and friends and pets and nice strangers and enjoy the beauty of life despite finances, struggles and burdens for they all are only temporary!!

God bless you all ViBlackberri

1st Attempt at Loose Two Strand Twists

As I'm getting deeper into my transition, which will be a year on September 1st, I'm more tempted to try more "natural hairstyles". Such as two strand twists, twist outs, wash and go's and ect ect. So inspired by Alicia James from http://aliciajames.wordpress.com/ and the youtube channel, AliciaJamesmusic. Alicia James has been natural for 4 years and has gorgeous long natural hair and with the loose two strand twists, her hair is absolutely GORGEOUS!! There's such volume and length and its as versatile as regular two strand twists.

So what are loose two strand twists? They're exactly what they say they are; two strand twists that are twisted loosely. Below I'll show you a lil picample( examples through pictures) that will described how they're done and my results. It's best to try this style on stretched or blow dried hair; I did mines on blow dried hair, which I would document another time. So lets begin on the picample!!


 Place stretched/ blow dried hair in sections...

 

 

Section out a piece for the two strand twist...

                                                         
 Separate the piece into two ...

 

 

Twist the beginning tautly, not too tight( about 5 times)...

 

 

Then loosely twist the remainder..

 

 

 

End the twist tautly just like the beginning...

 

 

 

And there you have the loose two strand twists...

 

This took me approx. 2 hours, a fairly quick process. It adds so much volume! It simply imitates locs or/and kinky twists and can be styles the same as regular two strand twists, locs, or kinky twists.
The best part about it is  you can take them out, style as a twist out for couple days, wash and re twist again in less than 2 hrs( depending on hair type/ length) I am in love with this and will post the different styles I 'll try in the future

Curls, "Cleansing Cream" Review

I received this product in my June's(and first) month CurlBOX( for more info visit, www.curlbox.com) and I was very anxious to try the product and must I say, I was far from disappointed. Within this review, I'll illustrate my likes and dislikes about the product, from its outer appearance, to its texture, the affect on my hair and the ending results.

Packaging

The bottle itself is very cute and a simple size to travel with. The labeling is very busy and repetitive about how safe the product is, due to the fact that it is free of sulfates, silicones, parabens, mineral and /or petrolatum oils. They do mention it about three times; which is of course the attention phrase that many new "natural curly" hair products use to grasp the eyes of a any kinky or curly hair top.
I do love the fact that the bottle is see through; allowing us to see the consistency of the product and  the amount of it left after use. I  however, do not know if it's a all natural/organic product since the ingredients list consist of various scientific name chemicals that I am seriously unaware of; but it does contain  various organic  such as, carrot seed oil, organic horse chestnut extract and sage leaf  extract. In my opinion, it's not organic but is safe to use on the hair since it lack sulfates and other damaging ingredients.

Texture

Now with the consistency of the product, with me, it hit the SPOT!!!! I love love love thick creamy products. What you can tell from the picture, it's not that thick like my Suave Naturals Conditioner BUT it is creamy and easy to smooth into the hair. And that I LOVE! The smell of it reminds me of coconut but the ingredients doesn't mention coconut so I'm not sure what's giving it that distinct smell but it is a lovely smell. Side note: with the creamy texture, i did expect for it to be a moisturizing shampoo but instead it's a cleansing shampoo; which I find to be interesting.

My Experience

This shampoo, showed me qualities about my new texture that I was HIGHLY unaware of. Now after rinsing it out of the first section of my hair,which is in the back,  ( check washing regimen), my hair felt slightly stripped. Not hazardly stripped but like a squeaky clean strip. BUT after I rinsed it out of the front sections, it felt very soft and moisturized. Now to keep note, I used equal amount of the product on all sections ( nickle sized). That therefore, showed me that I have different textures in my hair( the front and the back) but that is another subject to discuss. However, my hair was cleansed and felt soft and smelled awesome!

The Verdict

My overall review of this product is:

The see through bottle is very convenient but the busy label can be a turn off
The ingredients are still held in question but it is sulfate free, leaving it "safe" for the hair.
The consistency if smooth and creamy and not too thick and easy to smooth into the hair.
It also has a comforting smell that is not over powering but also a mystery.
The shampoo will have different effects on different textures; with thicker hair, it might leave it slightly stripped and with spongy hair it might leave it soft and moisturized.

Over all, this shampoo might be within the workings of being a staple. HOWEVER as i forgot to mention, the price of it is steep. For this 8oz bottle, $15 is not worth it. But I will continue to use this shampoo, esp when I need a proper cleansing after 2 week protective styles and product build up.!

For more information on this product and other products on the line, you can visit www.curls.biz

Disclaimer: I am in no way being paid to review this products, the thoughts on these products are my own bases off of my experience using the product.

Skin Care Recipees

Below are a list of facial and skin care recipees i'm currently using: HOPE YOU ENJOY

FACIAL
Usually when one is cleaning and moisturizing one's face, one should try the following steps:
1. Cleanse
2. Scrub
3. Steam
4.Mask
5.Rinse


Milk Cleanser Recipee(To cleanse and exfoliate)
1tsp powdered milk
1tsp water

Mix and massage onto face, leave for two mins and rinse


Brown Sugar Scrub

1tbsp brown sugar
2-3 drops of Vitamin Oil
2tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Mix, and massage onto face then rinse

Steam face; there are plenty of ways but I tried the old school method.
Place face over a boiling pot of water and rest face over steamfor 5 mins.

Lemon Facial Mask:

2 egg yolks
1tsp of olive oil
1tsp of lemon juice

Mix, then apply  on prewashed face, leave for 10 mins then rinse.

This process and recipees left my face feeling soft, and moisturized. Something I will continue to do once a week.

SKIN: There are plenty of ways to moisturize my skin, but the following are ways I used.

1. Open Pores- by running warm water on skin
2. Apply body scrub
3.Rinse with cool water
4.Air dry or towel pat dry
5. Oil with oils- lightly oil skin (also optional)
6. Moisturize with lotion or moiturizer(optional)

Body scrub Recipee:

2-3 tbsp of brown sugar
4 drops of vitamin E oil
Extra oils or body gel( i prefer to use gel since it already has in oils)

Mix, then apply to skin gently and rinse with cool water

I also have very dry lips so i do a lip scrub everyday or every other day; same recipee as brown sugar scrub just less oil and sugar

Place mixture of a new toothbrush and gently scrub lips, then rinse and very lightly oil or moisturize lips.

These recipees and processes are helping me. I hope they help you!
If you're interested in more recipees, visit my "Blog and Websites I've Found Helpful" tab