Book Series: Hair growth and break points

"[Break point] The point at which your hair always breaks is the point at which you may need to change your routine....Think back to the longest your hair has ever grown.  Even if your hair is still at this length, if it doesn't grow any longer this is likely to be your break point."

Excerpt is taken from Chicoro's book titled, Grow It! (Copyright 2009 by Chicoro)

When I read about this "break point" my jaw dropped.  I was quite fascinated with the idea.  I thought to myself..."OH MY GOSH, so my hair grows fast and quite easily until it reaches a break point.  This explains EVERYTHING!!!"  I definitely over-dramatized the point, but, regardless, this idea of a break point is interesting.

Although I have no scientific proof, I do believe I have experienced this in my own personal hair growth.  My hair has always grown to my shoulders with no extra care necessary. Coincidentally, it has never grown more than 1" past my shoulders.  I used to think that this was where my hair just stopped growing (LOL, I laugh at the thought of this now).  However, now I believe this point to be the place where my hair needs some extra TLC.

Chicoro goes on to explain that individual break points vary AND that individuals may have multiple break points.  She says to combat the break points by considering modifying your hair routine and to fortify the ends of our hair!

What do you think about this "so-called break point?"  Have you noticed this with your hair?

For more information on Chicoro and her book, visit her website: http://www.beautifybitbybitgi.com/.

The value of knowledge - New Book Series

For those of you who don't know, I'm an avid Kimmaytube follower!  Her recent vids have been AMAZING and because of her suggestion I purchased two books on black hair growth:

Grow It! by Chicoro

Ultra Black Hair Growth by Cathy Howse

My purpose in reading these books is to enlighten myself :) on black hair growth.  As a chemical engineer, I have the capability to understand the science behind how everything works.  Thus, this new knowledge should help me as I move along my hair growth journey.

Chicoro focuses on natural hair while Cathy Howse focuses on relaxed hair.  I've already finished Chicoro's book, and I have definitely learned from her book.  I'll highlight some excerpts moving forward.  I'll call these posts "Book Series" so look for more soon!

Day 2 roller set & mini-twists return

Hola amigos!

Things have been crazy (doesn't it seem like I always write that...you're probably thinking..."So when are things NOT crazy?")!  Anyway, I only kept my roller set in for 2 days.  I'll tell you why after the picture.

Day 2 Roller Set

So, by day 2 of the roller set, I felt my hair was too wild for both my co-workers AND the hard hats I have to wear, out in free-form ;-).  Thus, the curly pony was functional and worked well.  Unforch, my hair does not like being out - it's a super absorber, takes in everything and dries out quickly, so I knew by day 2, there would be no day 3 for my roller set.  I put my hair in mini-twists again.  Here's a cute style I did with my twists.  It's sort of...Janelle Monae with twists...but more of a side-pomp w/ less to the front...RIIIIIGHT!

Sorry for the evil face :-/  I pulled the back of my hair into a french twist roll and used tons of bobby pins to hold them.  I used a single bobby pin and a couple extra hair pins to hold the pomp.   These mini-twists may be my favorite style.  I did the twists on Monday and still love them 1 ENTIRE week later.  This is quite abnormal for me...I'll see how long this lasts!  I am thinking that mini-twists will be the perfect style for me when I go on my vakay this summer!!!

My first stab at making pizza

I will start off this post by writing this: Don't judge me :) LOL!!! I write this only because the pizza does not look very pretty.  Presentation means a lot for food, so it's a good thing I made this for myself.  Let me get into the pizza.

I made my own homemade pizza sauce with a couple of Roma tomatoes, 1 onion and a couple of garlic cloves.  I let these three items cook in the oven for about 1.5 hours.  I also made my own dough for the first time.  I used a recipe that my friend Bethany gave me.  This is where the fun begins.  Have you ever made pizza dough before?  If not, you at least have seen the guys at the pizza shop toss the dough around...well, I started off by not necessarily purchasing quick-rise yeast = PROBLEM #1.

Whole Foods didn't have quick-rise yeast, so a nice lady in the bakery gave me some of there's au gratis.  Only thing is I didn't have any instructions for it - she just put it in a plastic container for me, so I just assumed it would follow the instructions my friend gave me = PROBLEM #2.  When I first made the dough it felt dry, I remember the lady in the store said to add 2 cups of warm water - contradictory to my friends recipe which called for 1 cup of warm water.  I added 1 cup of water and let it sit for 10 minutes...nothing happened, so I added another 1/2 cup of water = PROBLEM #3.  The dough turned SLIMY!!!  I added more flour to balance the slimy dough.  I covered it to let it rise again, after 1 hour it rose...so much for quick-rise!  It was still all the wrong consistency.  I had to eat my pizza like pie, the dough was really thick and wasn't really cooked through. :(

Now for the pizza...the sauce was good - after roasting the tomatoes, onion and garlic I put it in a food processor to make it into a sauce.  I spread it over my failed dough and added the toppings - goat cheese, kalamta olives and basil.  Can we say DELISH?!?!?!  That combo of toppings tasted SOOO good.  Next time when I get the dough right it will be a really good meal!

Fat Twist Updo Style

Hello Everyone!

Remember when I was saying that I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to 'do' my hair?  Sidenote: I've just been wearing a bun - I JUST reached a bunable length, but the style is iffy to me...it's not really cute YET, plus I have a big head and it shows when I bun, lol.  Anyway, I used some inspiration from youTuber chisellecouture to try a version of a style she did.  It's a Fat Twist Updo style.  Here are my pics...

Forgive me looking evil as everything in the last pic, lol!  I should have taken a 'top of the head' pic to get the best view of the style - sorry.  I had 12 twists all together - this style took me less than 30 minutes.  It's a good mid-week change up style.  This is one of those styles that ALMOST makes it for me.  The reason why I say "almost" is because the back is just...blah...it's OK.  I'm sure the back will work for me when my hair is longer because I'll be able to wrap the twists like I want to.  I like the front, I had to tuck the twists into each other to get the look I wanted.  If your hair is longer you don't have to worry about this.  Alas, I thought I'd still post pics since it may work well for some and it's protective!

Check out a vid with a tutorial from Cali below.

Click here to go to chisellecouture's youTube page.

Click here to access the original video post.

I finally got around to set my hair!

First, Happy Mothers' Day to all the moms who read my blog and to my mom specifically - I love you!

I bought some rollers a couple of weeks ago with the intent to roller set my hair.  I tried rolling one piece of my hair last week and thought it wouldn't look right considering my kinky hair texture.  I got back to Philly after a visit home last night and decided to just try it.  The verdict is...well, I'll just show you the pictures and let you judge the results.

I think I separated the curls too much in the back - that's why you see some skinny little ringlets.  However, I'm pretty pleased with the overall look.  I did my usual condition/wash/detangle session in sections.  I applied Kinky Curly's Knot Today as a Leave-In along with a local-made whipped shea butter to the large sections.  I applied Trader Joe's Aloe Vera Gel to each individual rolled section to "set" my hair.  You can see my texture at the roots and the curls come right in at the bottom.  Works for me!

The true tell of this style will be to see how long it lasts...I'll try to post pictures of Day 2/3/4 pics and let you know how I keep the style up (if I can).

My life over the past two weeks...

On Being a Semi-vegetarian...

I made a three-bean chili last week which was DELICIOUS.  Levi (boyfriend) actually ate it for 2 days, this means he REALLY liked it!

I purchased two cookbooks that both totaled $18 - YAY!  I got, Vegan Comfort Foods and Chili and Curry the latter was a cheap Borders cookbook - not vegetarian, but I love chili and curry so I think I can "vegenize*" some of the recipes.

*Vegenize is a word that I totally made up, I will pronounce it veh-jah-nize*

This week I started the week off with this Crab Egg Noodle Pasta dish which was an EPIC FAILURE :( I should be making some pizza later this week.  I'm making a homemade sauce, the pizza will be topped with goat cheese, kalamata olives and basil...hopefully it will turn out better.

Me and my hur...
I've been so busy, I haven't had time to even two-strand twist my hair.  It's been pretty ridiculous.  Here are some pics of styles I've been rocking.

Princess twists

Side twist w/ a braid

My 'Fro

I have to make a comment about my afro.  I wore my afro when I went into Anthro and I got compliments galore.  These girls were so surprised that my hair could "do that."  It was hilarious, one girl asked me, "where did you get it done?"  I simply explained that, "This is how my hair looks when I do nothing to it."  They even ventured to say I looked like a model.  I typically avoid rocking my natural fro because I have received comments such as, "Bad hair day?" or, "Did you forget to do your hair today?" when I've worn it like this.  Clearly I was shocked to receive such positive feedback at Anthro!

Sidenote: I have noticed that a lot of natural models have kinky hair and rock short-medium fro...not saying I'm a model or anything, lol!

My life in general...
I cut my eye in a bball game (I play 1/wk in a local league), so that's the generation of the scar over my eye if you see it in my hair pics.  It was just a deep abrasion from an elbow...nothing serious...

It's festival/flea market season in Philly.  Last weekend was the Spring Festival and the Fairmount Flea Market.  I picked up a GORGEOUS 1950's a-line dress from one vendor.  I will be showcasing it soon and will definitely post pics when I do.  I also picked up this great beaded Native-American inspired belt...probably from the 70's.  FYI...Pine Street Flea Market (4th & Pine) is this weekend!

I saw Corinne Bailey Rae LIVE in concert.  In summary, she's amazing.  I love her new album, The Sea, I feel that it's a soulful mix of rock and jazz.  Her voice is so pure - not a lot of vibrato - and I love it!  I'm going to see Erykah Badu in Upper Darby in a couple of weeks...I hope she's just as enjoyable.

That's it in a nutshell...hopefully I can get back to updating my blog more often, we'll see about that!