The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

Aguirre Jose Ignacio's image: 'angry woman'

If I'm going to document my natural hair journey that means I have to share all parts of the journey: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Today my natural hair journey took me on the path of insanity. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Well, I experienced just that today.

So, the plan was to return the Aveda Conflixor gel and get my money back right?! So why was I in the Aveda store reasoning with myself like..."I just got Shea Moisture Smoothie maybe if I try it with the Flaxseed & Aloe Strong hold gel, I'll get my bantu-knot out back" while the other part of me was screaming, "No, you idiot, you already tried that, just give them their stupid gel and get your money back!"
I agreed with the more optimistic part of my mind and got the Flaxseed gel, yet again!!

Got home tried it with the Shea Moisture Smoothie and guess what...Same Ol' Same Ol' story. No such luck, chuck..

The funny or sad part, whichever way you see it, is that when I was in the store one of the girls basically told me that it was the last time I could return the product. Which, she probably wouldn't have found out if I hadn't told her I already made a previous exchange.
Her reason: they have to throw the product away after its been returned. So I in turn asked her where that statement was written on their policy. Her return: silence and the same lame excuse about waste.

The way I see it, I'm paying with my own money and time to be patronizing their store and so long as its not written anywhere on their policy. I'm not following some on-the-spot-made-up-excuse passing for a policy. Let me walk up in there next time and I dare her to try and not give me my money back watch if I don't threaten to sue (the beauty of living in a legalistic society) on the basis of her foolishness!

Told y'all.....Insanity and Ugliness on the same day. That's the real reason they call it Black Friday. The good, the bad, and the ugly!

Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie + Aveda's Conflixor Gel Update

Here's an update. Bought the curl enhancing smoothie by Shea Moisture today and I must mention right off the bat that the smell is divine. I usually never comment on product scent but it smells soooo gooood! Alright, I digress, here's the deal.

If you want soft hair without wetness or your hair feeling weighed down this product is for you. My hair was definitely softer after I put it on. So, I added a bit of Aveda's Conflixor gel on my hair to do my bantu-knot out and I'm still not impressed with the result. It doesn't really hold. The frizz is still there. Of course, I will be returning the gel to Aveda and requesting my money back.

Now I'm plain and simple on a mission for a gel that will make my bantu- knot results come out the way I'm used to. Defined with 'hang factor'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amnesia Cont'd

Yes. My hair did get amnesia. I've always heard of this weird phenomenon from other naturals but it's never happened to me until now. This strange thing happens when the product combination that you've always used on your hair suddenly no longer gives you the stylying results that you have come to expect.

The combination that I've used for the past 6 months or even longer to achieve my gorgeous bantu-knot outs has always been Aveda Flaxseed Strong Hold Gel (even though I did a early review where I gave it an ifinite thumbs down, that was before I learned how to use it) and my conconction of water+safflower oil+whatever else I poured in the container. And its always worked!

Until I discovered my vinegar concoction, then I took about 2 wks off from bantu-knot outs. Now that I want to go back I'm not getting the results I want at all. So, I went back to Aveda to purchase the Conflixor gel which is supposed to be another strong hold type of gel.

I have tried it with one combination but I wasn't too excited about the results either. My next plan is to purchase Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie, which I have heard many good things about, and use it along with the Conflixor gel to hopeful achieve the bantu-knot out results that I'm used to.

We shall see.

Amnesia

Crap-to-the-Ola....did my hair get amnesia!
My tried and true combo is not working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

An Observation: Heat on Coily aka Kinky Hair

In my almost 3 year journey of being a natural I have noticed something strange about the direct use of heat in forms such as flat iron, hot combs, other new fangled hair straighteners and what have you, on coily or otherwise known as kinky hair.

These observations are based on my experience, real life viewings, and on-line browsings. These observations apply to coily hair only. It seems to me that if you want coily hair to grow to its optimum length, whatever unknown length that may be, it is best to stay away from the direct application of heat.

Case in point, all the naturals that I have seen in real life or on-line that are in the extremely coily/kinky hair category who have never applied direct heat to their hair have very long hair. I do not believe this is a co-ink-i-dink!

Even if they have been natural for either 2 years or 12 years they always rock:1) amazing volume and 2) tremendous length. While those naturals who flat-iron their hair on the regular seem to always have a shorter terminus point i.e. the hair either grazes slightly past their earlobes or barely grazes their necks.

Based on this observation it seems to me that the direct application of heat to extremely coily hair retards or deters the growth of the hair. All the heat protectants and serums of this world will not debar this fact because the heat protectants do just that; protect your hair from being singed and fried by the heat and falling of your head.

In conclusion, if you have extremely coily hair and you desire it to grow to that unknown optimum length your best best is to refrain from the direct application of heat.
Perhaps a coily haired chick can consider one of those wonderful inventions known as a wig on days when she desperately wants to switch up her look.
Slap it on in the morning and take it off at night time. Convenience at its best!

A Message From ESSENCE: I Completely Agree

Commentary: Black Women Are Loving Their Hair

Friday, November 5, 2010 | 3:36 PM

by Tia Williams

Right now, black women everywhere are enjoying a lusty love affair... with their hair! On the heels of Sesame Street's "I Love My Hair" video and 10-year-old Willow Smith's debut single "Whip My Hair," nothing's hotter than Black tresses right now. And it's about time!

From birth, Black women are taught that their hair is too fuzzy, too curly, too nappy -- not white enough. Although these two wildly popular videos are targeted to the under-18 set, the messages of self-acceptance have resonated with Black women in a major way...

The Sesame Street video features an adorable brown Muppet singing a darling ditty about loving her curls ("don't need a trip to a beauty shop/cause I love what I got on top"). Written by an Italian man inspired by his adopted Ethiopian daughter, it was meant to teach self-acceptance to young black girls, but on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, grown women are writing about how the song has helped them reexamine their relationship with their hair. In a few short weeks, the song has become an anthem of self-love for Black women of all colors and hair textures.

Soon after "I Love My Hair" came Willow Smith's debut single and video, "Whip My Hair." The beat is positively addictive, but the lyrics are what's resonating with Black women. In the video, the pint-size Jada lookalike whips her long, ropelike braids to and fro, singing "Don't let haters keep me off my grind/Keep my head up I know I'll be fine/I whip my hair back and forth." For Willow, her hair personifies strength. Her tresses are so beautiful and powerful that the action of tossing it around can keep negativity at bay. Quite a message -- it's no wonder that in two weeks on YouTube, the video has 12,078,383 views; and a mash-up of Willow's song and the Sesame Street video has earned over one million views!

Why now? Now more than ever, Black women have been growing out their relaxers and embracing their natural hair, while haircare lines like Carol's Daughter, Miss Jessie's and Hair Rules are now offering top-notch products to help us care for our natural curls. We were already on the way to an honest self-acceptance, and then an curly-haired brown Muppet and a sassy 10-year-old came along and spoke directly to the little girl in us, reminding her that her hair is beautiful because it's hers. Can you imagine how evolved we'd be if we'd had such strong self-love messages as kids? No matter -- what these videos are teaching Black women is that whether you're 9 or 39, it's never too late to fall in love with yourself.

Read more: http://www.essence.com/hair/commentary_1/commentary_black_women_loving_their_hair.php#ixzz14S2urw2s