Wash Day

1. Pre-pooed with JBCO & Grapeseed oil overnight.
2. Shampooed in sections with diluted Ion Smoothing Sulfate free shampoo.
3. Tea rinsed with green & black tea, leave to dry for 30minutes.
4. Deep conditioned with a mix of ORS Replenishing Conditioner, JBCO, Roux Porosity Control & Vitale Hair Mayonnaise (was running low on ORS).
5. Covered my hair with 2 shower caps for two hours.
6. Rinsed & wrapped a cotton towel around my hair for 30minutes before leaving to air dry.
7. Once my hair was 80% dry, applied Giovanni leave-in conditioner(haven’t used it since I bought it), Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum & sealed my ends with a mix of JBCO & Grapeseed oil.
8. Divided my hair into smaller sections, detangled & applied JBCO on my scalp.

Mane N’ Tail Detangler has been useful in helping me deal successfully with my new growth. As you can see from the picture above, I shed only a few strands. I’ve learnt a lot during this long stretch as my normal stretch is usually 4 months. By adding 5 extra weeks, I’ve learnt to be patient, be generous when applying deep conditioner & making sure every strand from root to tip is saturated. It’s really aided my stretch so far. At the end of this exercise, I’d love to see how much length I’ve retained successfully.

When I commenced my hair journey late 2012, though I stretched for 4 months but I don’t think I’ve retained as much length as I’ve got now as it took me time to establish a regimen that worked for me. Now I’m more adept at these weekly washes & have achieved thickness, volume & length over the course of 8 months. I couldn’t be happier.

Hilarious

My 2year old niece has a tender scalp and usually waits for me every weekend to treat her hair. I couldn’t do it last week since I was handling my own hair and my sister as well. So I was tired and couldn’t continue. Well after waiting for me all week to show up, she took matters into her own hands.

My sister called me up this morning to inform me that yesterday night, she found her daughter in front of the mirror  moisturizing and sealing her hair. Apparently she had taken all the hair products I usually use for her out of the bag and commenced her treatment. When her mom asked her what she was doing, she simply stated ‘I’m treating my hair’.

Have a great weekend peeps!

 

Wash Day II

I tend to end up with puffy hair since I transitioned to texlaxed hair but I’ve got more texture than i ever had before commencing on my journey to Mid-back length.

Off to treat my sisters’ hair. Will post pictures during the week.

Wash day photos & tutorials

Readers Question

Q: How do I grow my hair to bra strap length for a Nigerian lady?

Ladies, please believe that your hair can grow to any length you desire. I’m a living proof of that. My hair goal for 2013 is MBL (mid-back length) and five months later I’m an inch away from bra strap length. How did I get here? Through patience and treating my hair with utmost care. I also dropped my love for heat and learnt to air dry, deep condition, co-wash and conducted a lot of research online to educate myself.

We often think that the weather overseas helps African American ladies grow their hair but that is quite false. Houston (Texas) has the same weather condition as Nigeria and I saw a lot of African American ladies with long, healthy hair. Growing your hair to whatever length depends on how you treat and nourish your hair. Remember your hair needs moisture to retain length and elasticity.

Q: How often should I mix castor oil to black tea for my hair growth?

You cannot mix castor oil with black tea for faster hair growth. Black tea contains 14-61 mg caffeine. What caffeine does is to block the hair hormone responsible for hair loss – dihydrotestosterone. You use black tea as a rinse before applying your deep conditioner.

Q: Where in Lagos can I buy castor oil packs?
Call 07026364892 or send an email to: todaysnaira@hotmail.com to place your order.

To inspire you on your hair journey whether it’s relaxed, texlaxed or natural, check out this video from Shortysweet59 below. She grew her hair from shoulder length to waist length within 1year 10months.

Have a fantastic weekend.

Benefits of Deep Conditioning

If you are skipping deep treating your hair, you are likely not seeing the kind of results you hope for.  Deep treating the hair simply refers to the use of deep conditioners or oils that are used for a prolonged period on the hair.  Standard conditioners are not deep treatments.  They are formulated to lubricate not penetrate, although oils and other additives that have penetrating abilities can be added.  When looking for products to use as deep treatments, look for the words “deep,” “intensive” or “penetrating.” 

These products are formulated to travel deep into the hair shaft and attach themselves to weakened or compromised areas along the hair strand.  While nothing can regrow damaged areas, deep treatments can go a long way toward enhancing elasticity and stopping further protein loss.  While many such treatments’ instructions suggest that you leave them on for 3-5 minutes, most treatments are greatly enhanced by prolonged contact with the hair strand.  30 minutes to an hour or longer is advised.  When it comes to deep treating the hair, more is better.  More time and more contact are advisable.  Always make sure and section the hair so that each and every strand is getting saturated with the treatment. 

Leaving a treatment on overnight is a wonderful method to use, as is incorporating a heating cap or overhead dryer.  Heat in this instance is therapeutic, because it causes the hair shaft to relax and the cuticle to raise – ensuring maximum penetration of lubricants, moisture and nutrients to troubled areas.  Keep in mind that commercial treatments are not the only way to go.  Natural oils, honey, eggs and herbs such as henna and cassia make superb deep treatments.  Natural oils and additives should generally be used as a “pre-poo” or pre-shampoo treatments, as they need to be thoroughly cleansed from strands. 

Some wonderful oils to use as pre-poos are olive, castor oil and coconut oil.  Their molecular structure is clinically proven to easily penetrate the hair shaft and attach itself to compromised areas -  helping to stop protein loss.  Commercial products can be used as pre-poos as well – just make sure that you are using a conditioner for moisturization after shampooing them out.  Deep treatments should be used on a weekly
basis to gain maximum benefits.  With consistency, you’ll begin to see the results you’ve been longing for!

Source: Tress Buzz

Books, Books and more Books

My favorite pastime is reading books. Nothing too serious though, only historical, chic lit and contemporary romance. When I was living in Ibadan, you could always find me at Booksellers in Jericho, buying stacks of novels. I also made an habit of buying books during vacations overseas. I believe it improves your diction and it’s like taking a holiday as well when you can immerse yourself in a different world.

Overtime I lent friends and family these books and never got them back. It usually gets lost and that’s money down the drain. Anyway once I moved back to Lagos, it was a bit hard getting the kind of books I loved. So I resorted to searching for novels to download online via 4shared and other sites that allowed anyone to download free books. Fast forward 2 years later and these options are limited now due to copyright issues involved.

So I was happy when a friend introduced me (Lagos, brace yourself for this) to Nigeria‘s foremost digital bookstores known as ‘BOOKATI‘ . The owners of this bookstore offer a wide range of contemporary and historical romance for lovers of this genre. The beauty of the service offered is the ease at which you can purchase a book as a digital download instead of the physical thing. So what did I order for? I placed an order for the following novels displayed below. I paid N500 ($3.13) for each book and my purchase was sent to my email box as a PDF file which I downloaded immediately and commenced reading. Were the books worth it? Oh definitely.

Would I recommend their services to a friend? Yes and yes I would. On their facebook page, old novels are sold at the rate of N500 ($3.13) while current release go for N1,000 ($6.25). For lovers of audio books, there’s a flat rate of N2,000 ($12.50) charged.

Readers can provide a review of their favorite books and authors. Well what are you waiting for. Visit BOOKATI today to renew your love for books. The innovative thing about this is they are not restricted to a location or place. So whether you’re in Ghana, South Africa, Angola, Kenya or any part of Africa, you can place your orders at once. I’m stacking up on my Christmas reading list already.

Merry Christmas peeps!!!

If you….

Last week I had the opportunity of listening to a certain Pastor Olumide Emmanuel on the ‘School of Money’. He said something that struck me as poignant…”If you prepare for bad times, you’ll always have good times”.

That’s it folks…save, save, save and invest. It’s the mantra for the rainy day.

Have a fun-filled Independence Day Celebration ahead!!!

 

The Emerging Face of Ghanian Films

It’s no longer news that DSTV has upgraded the content and added new channels to cater for lovers of African cinema. What’s not news however is the quality of the films that are being curned out within the continent.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity of watching the following films; Bursting Out (An Emem Isong Production) and A Sting of A Tale and Perfect Picture (A Shirley Frimpong Manso production).

I know most people are of the opinion that Gene is an outstanding actress but everytime i’ve watched her films, i’ve always gotten the impression that she’s emotionally detached from her roles. To me she always puts up a cold front and I’m yet to see the script or watch a film that will bring out the warmth in her cos she’s got a lots of fire but hasn’t got the right platform to showcase it. In ‘Ije’ I saw a little bit but I still want more from her. Maybe her role as ‘Ms Adebayo’ in Chimamanda’s ‘Half of A Yellow Sun’ will showcase her warmer depths.

For the movies, ‘Perfect Picture’ and ‘A Sting of A Tale’, they were outstanding films. The dialogue was witty and short and the actors also made perfect use of their body language and facial expressions to carry the audience along. So we didn’t have to really on comical relief that does not tie in with the film (which was what I saw on ‘Bursting Out’ which had a lot of corny dialogues and scenes the producer could have done without).  The scenery and sound production was of utmost quality and I felt I was watching a ‘Tunde Kelani’ or ‘Kunle Afolayan’ film. Shirley Frimpong has done exquisite work with these films. For anyone who’s yet to watch these two films, do make it a date to see them whenever you can.

BNatural Spa Review

A friend invited me out over the weekend for a girlie treat at a Spa located in Maryland. Somehow, I never got there cos I had a gift card for BNatural Spa and I decided to give my younger sister and moi a treat.

So I called up this casual acquaintance and asked if she could meet us up at Oduduwa Way, Ikeja GRA. I’ve always had the perception that their services would be expensive but how wrong I was.

I chose the something pedicure (can’t remember the name now. Something fancy). Oh it was an exquisite experience. They had this wonderful massage chair that could wring out the knacks from the body & bum. It was completely divine and simply scrumptious.

That’s the picture of the Filipino lady who treated me like royalty. I mean the whole place is completely swarming with Filipinos. How they got them into the country, I don’t know but they do a good heck of a pedicure, manicure and leg waxing.