So when you go to the ocean...

and you braid your hair, you get ocean hair!!! I decided today, no more crazy damaged ocean hair. You know like when you go to the beach tryna wear your super cute fro and then it gets all tangled, matted and frizzy once you get outta the water?? Well I decided to put my hair in about 10 braids this morning before I went. I made sure it was super moisturized too :) Sooo when I got home from the beach I took it out (it was still damp) and this is what you get...

<3 Ocean Hair

Saving one nappy head a day

Coconut Oil Taught me a lesson

Lesson learned: Don't use coconut oil to twist my hair in the summer.

I washed and conditioned my hair, applied a leave-in conditioner, and applied coconut oil to each section of hair as I twisted. For 1.5 days coconut oil was dripping from my hair down my neck. I looked like I was sweating all day, LOL.

Inspirational photo of the week - Yasmine Modestine

Piture singer of Yasmine Modestine

http://www.yasminemodestine.com

http://www.myspace.com/yasminemodestine

The Avocado

I recently read the Avocado: A Luscious Hair Care Treatment article on Naturally Curly. Not too long ago a purchased an avocado with the intention of using it on my hair (I don't eat them) because I already use the oil so I became curious about what the actual source would do for my hair. The oil keeps my hair soft, is light, and doesn't have a heavy smell to it.

According to the article the avocado is a fruit that can be used as a deep conditioning treatment for the hair. The avocado is filled with proteins, vitamins, and amino acids. At the end of the article there is a list of recipes and since I never used and avocado before - those recipes served as my starting point:

Avocado Conditioner

Avocado Conditioner is designed to be made and used immediately. Discard leftovers, use as a facial or share it with someone else to use.

Flesh of a ripe avocado

¼ cup coconut cream

¼ cup coconut water

3 tablespoons mayonnaise containing egg

In medium-sized bowl mix avocado and coconut cream). In very small bowl whisk together coconut water and mayonnaise; use spatula to add this to the first mixture. Whisk all together until smooth.

Divide hair into 6-8 segments. Slather green mixture on each segment working all the way into hair, from scalp area to the ends. Put on shower cap or other loose fitting plastic cap. Sit out in the sun if possible or under dryer on medium high setting, if available. Leave on hair for 45 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Shampoo and style as usual.

You know that pH rave that is going on right now?

Check out this post by Jc on The Natural Haven:

Does hair really not react in the pH range 4-9?

I don't know about you but I love scientific data! (Science was my favorite subject in school until I got to Organic Chemistry UGH)

Thoughts on this? Has this post changed your mind?

Protective Style: High Bun

Ever seen a pentecostal style protective do??

NOW you have :)

Cute, big and my ends are protected! It doesn't get any better than this. Personally, I love high buns and big hair. Well this hairstyle makes me feel like I have big and high hair for sure. It is so easy to do!!

How to make a bun:
-Make sure your hair is wet and detangled
-Pull your hair into a puff (see tutorial or blog post for more info)
-Pull out the middle of the puff and section it off with a hair tie
-Moving in a circular clockwise motion, wrap your hair around smoothing your hair down into a bun. Use bobby pins to secure
-Once the bun is finished, grab the center part of the hair, wrap it around your fingers into a bun and tuck under. Secure it with pins!

**kudos for creativity! I made the hair accessory and added the ruffle to my cardigan with some leftover scrap fabric**

WALAH! It takes 10 minutes and lasts a week!

Saving one nappy head a day

PARTY PEOPLE

Camera shy?

If you're not, then you probably have a Youtube channel, post the link in comments!

YOUTUBE CHANNEL LINKS ONLY (blogs, twitter, facebook, etc will be (or have been) done in separate posts) I will reject non-youtube links.

My YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/tiashauntee

Sun and sea

I am now in Oslo, enjoying a couple of days here living in my sister's apartment before I tomorrow take a flight to my good friend Amalie's wedding near Trondheim. I am so much looking forward to it as I'll surely be such a wonderful wedding and also because I will get to see my friends again (we're sharing a cabin together for the weekend). So far in Oslo, I've just been walking and looking around, shopping a little and pondering the purchase of an SLR camera.
I had planned on blogging more while I'm here, but my sister's internet connection is down and right now I'm blogging from a library. I am not sure whether I'll be able to blog before Sunday, when I'll be back in Tromsø - it all depends on whether the cabin I'll be staying at for the wedding has a wireless network. We'll see.




Anyway, over to today's post. These pictures (and video) are from last weekend when we stopped by at the beach in Tel Aviv. We were frolicking about in the waves (I really regretted not having taken my bathing suit as the sea looked so inviting) and taking pictures. I had also taken my Diana camera that I had just received and I am longing to see how the pictures will come out!






Dress by Dahlia, hair bow bought in Sweden, sunglasses from H&M and Diana camera

Ron Carroll, CeCe Peniston - In Love With A DJ -

http://www18.zippyshare.com/v/13456098/file.html

Romulo Morada - Listen to Music

http://www.mediafire.com/?217jtf3zutl98cb

3 year old's sew-in weave!! :-(

 Absolutely Crazy! Never, can I see, how someone can justify giving a 3 year old child a sew-in weave. It is not that serious!!  The mother in the video is getting her daughter ready for a pagent. She states that they usually use clip in hair pieces but she decide to do a weave on her child's head this time. I am sure the little girl would have been even more beautiful if the mom had taking time time to create a style with her daughters own natural hair and texture. Wow....

Seen on Beads, Breads & Beyond

IN THE FIRE- MELBA MOORE

http://www42.zippyshare.com/v/78658627/file.html

More From Watrous

Here are a couple more pictures from our agility demo at Watrous last weekend. Thanks Greg and Andrea for taking them! Love to see my boy at work!

Catchin' up

Bad crop ... but the uncropped version with me included looked like I had a pole wedged
in my butt crack.

Weeee! Tunnels! At least this picture makes it appear as if he has tunnel drive ... he doesn't.

My bouncy little guy. This must have been his ONE set of nice weaves all day.

Weavin' is serious bizniz. (The finger keeps him in there ... we're working on weaning it out.)

He loves that tire now.

Chilling in the shade, waiting for the next demo to start.

A slightly better angle on the group shot from last post.

I'm So Mad At Myself!!!

Okay, I did what I said I wasn't going to do... I textlaxed! And guess what? Gobs of my hair came out! My precious hair.... I'm not bald or anything, but gobs! That was my lesson learned. That's what I get. I don't want to see another bottle of relaxer in a loooooooong time! Totally my fault. I'm trying to figure out what did it. I'm wondering if it's because I Mega-Tekked the other day. Maybe my hair was still weak from the coloring fiasco last month. I think I'm over proteined. After I rinsed out, I put more Mega-Tek on the ends (as opposed to the roots) and slathered Silk Elements Luxury Moisturizing conditioner on my hair (sitting with it on now). I'll rinse and let it air dry. The only thing I'm doing next week is braiding up and slapping a wig on. Big lesson learned. I will diligently take the biotin and drink water. Also on payday, 2 big bottles of Nexxus Humectress ($32 each).

I just uploaded the pics above. From the pics, I can't see the breakage. That damn relaxer is like crack... must.... stay away... from .... the jar...

WTW?!: Lindsay Lohan allowed to keep hair extensions in jail; officials say it's not special treatment

If you watch "Meet the Browns" then you know Brown always says "What The What?" I have adopted his phrase, LOL.

I had to say WTW when I say this:

Lindsay Lohan allowed to keep hair extensions in jail; officials say it's not special treatment

Typically when I see Lindsay Lohan news I go "Why is this news?" I only read this article because is has to do with something hair related, LOL.

Lohan's hair extensions were not removed by L.A. County jail staff when she entered the Lynwood detention center because they are essentially sewn in near her scalp, officials said.

Since Lohan entered the Century Regional Detention Center, some released inmates have complained in the media that Lohan still had extensions when other inmates were force to remove them.

Steve Whitmore, a sheriff's spokesman, said extensions are removed when they are detachable from the inmate's hair. In Lohan's case, her hair extensions were not removed because they were bonded into her hair, Whitmore said.

I don't even know what to say about this one. Seems like special treatment to me, what do you think?

Twists pinned up

I recently joined a twist challenge on CurlyNikki. Back in January 2010 I wore twists for one entire month (never removed) and had a lot of SSKs. This time I am taking my twists down at the end of the week (Saturday or Friday night) and putting them back in on Sunday (while watching True Blood, LOL). So it takes me one hour to re-do my twists.

I section my hair into 4 sections and put 6 twist in each section. I am hoping that by taking my twists down weekly that I will not experience a repeat of the amount of SSKs I had back in January.

You Asked...I Answered

You asked:

Hey I love love your cornrow-up with twist.. Questions: Can you do a video tutorial on how to braid upside down....I have tried doing it but i am catching my butt. I know practice make perfect. But i would love to see a tutorial on how to do it.

I Answered:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29EzIqIvWJA The upside down cornrows start at 2:17.

You Asked:

Hi Tia, have you found that your spring/summer regimen has helped with the number of SSKs you get. Are you still using Kimmytube's leave in condish? How does your hair like it?

I Answered:

Honestly, no. My fall/winter regimen actually resulted in a decrease amount of SSKs. I am currently in bad need of a trim to get rid of those pesky little things. Reducing the occurrence of SSKs is something that I am working on and is still a work in progress. I have read a few blogs where individuals experienced less SSKs when moisturizing their hair daily. That so far is not working for me.

I am still using Kimmaytube's leave in condish and I am truly impressed. I rarely buy leave in conditioners because they did not seem to make a difference with my hair. The store bought leave in that I like the most is Shea Moisture's Shea Butter Leave in.

hike: glacier mountain

Finn and I set off for Granite Mountain Sunday morning with four liters of water for the two of us, way more lunch than I could eat (I'm usually ravenous when I hike, but not this time), and not a speck of extra clothing (an oversight on my part, but I was way too hot to care). And, sans camera. But whatever, we all know what Mt Rainier looks like on a spectacular cloud-free summer day, right?

Eight miles round trip. Every single step out was uphill, and every single step back was down. Certainly an exercise in heel blistering and toe bashing. Ow. But great. Really great, actually. The top half of the trail is almost entirely exposed, sparse trees creating little oases along the way. On the way back down, Finn would plop his butt on the trail in these shade oases and refuse to move for several minutes. Once we were back into the forested lower portion of the trail, he trotted right along.

I am nearly as sore as I was after Mt St Helens last summer (ok, probably not even close, but it is reminiscent). Wait a minute... that too was eight miles... up... back.... view of mt rainier.... same old, same old....

Sunday Style

This weekend was so busy that I didn't have time to do the hairstyle that I had planned. It was humid so I did my 'ol reliable twist-out. It got bigger as the day progressed. I achieved this big hair by doing four flat twists, two on each side, on damp hair.

Sunday's Message:
It's Party Time

Luke 15:22-24

Some "church folk" believe that Christians can't have fun and can't party. But in the Word you will see that God is a partying God: Psalms 23; Song of Solomon 2:14; Isaiah 62:5; Zephaniah 3:17; Psalms 129:3-6; Ecclesiastes 3:4; 2 Samuel 6:14; and when Jesus turned water into wine so that the party could continue (John 2:1-11).

In the text the Father celebrated his son's return:

1. He had a reason to celebrate because his son was dead and now he's alive

2. He had a right to celebrate what the Lord had done

3. He had a responsibility to tell the world what the Lord had done for him.

This song always makes me want to move.

"Party by rejoicing in the Lord and His goodness. What makes a party memorable is your relationship with the host. You can never get so low that the Lord can't pick you up."

Google Reader

I had a busy weekend so I really didn't get to touch my computer much. When I opened up Google reader I had over 100 blog posts to catch up on. Google reader is really enabling my addiction, LOL

Do you use Google Reader?

Hair Growth Update!

I've fallen off with updating the blog with hair growth pictures. I only thought to do it tonight because I was wanting to do something to my hair all weekend, but stopping myself for my own good. I was tossing back and forth if I should textlax, but it's only been a little over a month since the last time.

I wanted to add some blonde to the tips of my hair, but I thought against it. I ended up Mega-Tekking tonight, during the commercials of the season premiere of Mad Men. It took me an hour and a half to do my whole head, parting and putting the Mega-Tek in the parts (see the middle picture). I'll be putting on my IRBW for the Rush concert the weekend before August 9th. It's been awhile since I had on a wig. It's so funny but I never thought I'd say I have more hair than I know what to do with. My hair has never been this long, maybe by choice, but the last two years have been a HUGE experience with learning how to let my hair grow. I don't even Mega-Tek as often as I used to. I'm still taking Biotin (5000 mcg). I was taking 10,000 mcgs, but I was breaking out all over my body, so I scaled back. I can't believe it's been more than a year since I've put heat on my hair. I don't miss it one bit.

flowers, flowers, flowers.

On Friday I wore this Zara dress that I bought in the sale a couple of weeks ago, and it is actually the same dress as this one that I bought in April. I felt a little silly buying the same dress, but I decided that I really like the shape of it and since it was discounted I told myself that it was okay.
I'm pretty busy at the moment as I am flying to Norway for a holiday on Tuesday (which I am beyond excited about: cool weather here I come!), and won't you believe it, I still haven't started packing. Tomorrow I'm going to have a little packing marathon between everything else that needs to be done (giving English lessons, babysitting, making purchases for the travel).








Dress from Zara, socks from H&M and shoes from Chie Mihara.