Where have I been.......... LIFE!

Hello my FINE Natural sistas! It's been a minute! So where have I been and what have I been up to? LIFE! If you've been following me on YouTube you may have heard my hubby and I are moving. Not just around the corner mind you, but completely out of state, over 2,000 miles away! In the process we are selling our home of 14 years, definitely a lot going on.

However, the one thing that is completely solid for me right now is my hair! Yaaayyy!! It's almost as if overnight I finally just "got" it. Moisturized hair is the key to all the goodness you see out there in the natural hair community. When I say moisture I mean WATER.  H-2-O, plain and simple. This fact has had my hair taking off in leaps and bounds and I'm at a point where I rarely have a bad hair day. If I am having a bad hair day I can pretty much attribute it to one thing - product build up. If my hair begins to have build up it definitely affects my style and if you have FINE hair you know build up occurs quickly. It's very important for us FINE haired naturals yo cleanse our hair regularly. For me that means every 7 days but sometimes I can stretch to 10. Anything past that I'm pushing it and my hair is probably pinned up some type of way. 

So what does this mean, we can't use product? Not at all! What it does mean is it does not take a bunch of product to make a style. I repeat - it does not take a bunch of product to make a style. In fact, my hair looks best on freshly washed, freshly L.O.C.'d (liquid oil, cream) hair. It's shiny, it holds definition, it actually looks like I know what I'm doing! :)

So if you haven't tried using less product and upping the water you use on your hair, try it and see if it changes things for you. I've also gone to using "milks" on my hair instead of butters. Shea Moisture curl and style milk and their yucca and baobab milk are my favs. Since Shescentit is my goto conditioner of choice I recently ordered their hair milk to give it a try. Can't wait to see what that does. I'm thinking the water content in hair milks is also making the difference in my hair since it's enhancing the moisture level as well. Let me know how this works for you I'd love to hear your feedback! Also if you've already discovered this little tidbit for your hair journey, tell us about it! Thanks sistas!! 

IN-Joy!!

Moisturize hair (4th or 5th day twist out)

Dirty Hair (but moisturized!)

I'm Back!! Just completed 3 New Videos!!

Hello my FINE natural sistas!! It's been a little bit but I've been quite busy trying to get my house up for sale and move across the country. I just posted three new videos for your IN-Joyment!! I discuss moisture and I did two fun tags - Husband  and Natural Hair Journey with my Daughter!!

 

As always ......  IN - Joy

 

Up Your Moisture Game!

 

Husband Tag

Mother/Daughter Tag - Natural Hair Journey

NEW VIDEO - Is your "Dew" on Point?!

Hello my FINE natural sistas!!! I recently visited Californ-I-A and discovered something I never considered....Dew Points! Considering the dew point can mean the difference between your Doo being on Point or being an epic fail. I learned this the hard way because I spent two weeks with my hair not being what I wanted it to be. I live in Ohio and the products I traveled with work well on my hair...... IN OHIO!! When I packed for my visit to Cali, I checked the weather to ensure I had the right clothes for any given day, but I never considered my hair! Watch my new video on this and on reconsidering a product once the weather changes. I also posted a tutorial for one of my go to low manipulation hairstyles in the summer that allows me to have 5 day hair!

IN - Joy!!

 

Low Manipulation Style Tutorial for Summer - Part 1

 

Low Manipulation Style Tutorial for Summer - Part 2

Tutorial - Defining My FINE Natural Hair with Mousse

Hello my FINE natural sistas!! New video tutorial on how I define my curls using mousse. I have defined my curls using gels but sometimes I want a softer hold. Please watch and tell me what you think. Do you think mousse is a viable option for your natural hair?

IN - Joy

 

Hello my FINE natural sistas! I went to the salon today and had a much needed trim. She also styled my natural hair using mousse. This is a complete revisit as I had forgotten that mousse gives me great curl definition and does not weigh down my FINE natural hair. Check it out!!

IN - Joy

Have you tried styling your natural hair with mousse? Do you think using mousse would work for you?

New Video!! - Protein Treatment After Flat Ironing

Hello my FINE Natural Sistas!! I've posted a new two part video about the products in my normal wash regimen, as well as using a protein treatment on my fine natural hair after flat ironing.

I've always been scared of heavy proteins and shied away until recently (I normally use a light protein in my regimen). But, since I flat ironed my hair, I wanted to give my hair an extra boost this time. Do you use protein in your regime? What has been your experience?

 

IN - JOY!!

Part 1 of this segment

 

Part 2 of this segment

New Video!! - My Hair Paradigm Has Changed

Hello again my FINE Natural Sisters!! I've posted a new video in which I talk about how my paradigm regarding my hair and natural hair in particular has changed! Come check me out and feel free to comment!

 In-Joy!!!! 

 

My Hair Paradigm Has Changed

 

New Video! - Flat Twist Styling On My Fine Natural Hair | April 17th 2014

Hello again to my FINE Natural Sisters!! I've posted a new video! This video talks about helpful tips I've learned about styling my FINE natural hair with flat twists.

 In-Joy!!!! 

Watch this video below or click this link - Flat Twist Styling On My FINE Natural Hair

Our Beauty Is Endless!!!

This is a repost from my blog page on CurlyNikkiForums. I posted this on October 15, 2013 and I thought it deserved a bigger forum. Enjoy! 

I was in Walgreen's a couple weeks ago looking for scarves. There was an older lady in there looking for products for natural hair. I overheard her ask the sales associate what products would make her hair curl. The Hispanic salesclerk was clueless and turned to ask me if I knew what she was talking about. I turned around and what I saw was a unbelievable to say the least. Her hair was dried up and looked like she had taken a bunch of brown gel and gobbed it on her head. It wasn't rubbed into her hair but dried up on top of her hair. Then she asked me what was going to make her hair curly. I proceeded to tell her that nothing "makes" your hair curly and that we each have our own unique curl patterns. I further explained our hair needs moisture. I said all of that and she asks me, "but what will make it curl". Again I told her nothing will make it "curl" and I began to tell her about healthy hair products and finding what you hair likes and doesn't like. She then proceeds to blow me off because I wasn't telling her what she needed. When I pointed to some of the natural lines they had there such as Shea Moisture, she says, "And that will make my hair curl up?"

Is that where we are? Do we still think our hair is ugly because its not spirally straight. I'm not casting off on anyone since that WAS me not too long ago. Our hair is beautiful. MY hair is beautiful just the way that it is. I wish I could have imparted some words of wisdom to her to have faith in what she has. I know we've held these ideals for so long that everyone else is beautiful, but our beauty is so much more. Our skin color comes in a myriad of shades and others try and tan to get our color. Our hair is so versatile it can do almost anything. We can create a straight look, crinkly look, wavy look, spiral look. It really is endless.

OUR BEAUTY IS ENDLESS!!!!

New video coming soon!

When life gives you lemons, ROCK YOUR FRO!!!

Hello again my natural "Fine" sisters! Okay, maybe that's not quite how the old adage goes but you know what I meant - Make lemonade! It's a great life philosophy and certainly one to adopt when dealing with natural hair, especially "Fine" natural hair. There have been many days when hairstyles I've tried have been an absolute fail. Most naturals experience this some time in their journey, but if you're a fine-haired natural, it probably happens more than you'd like. 

Recently, I decided to do a twist out on my hair, even though it hasn't worked for me the last time I tried to achieve this style. Partly because I'm at the dreaded "awkward" length and partly because my fine hair doesn't have enough weight to hold the style. I woke up the next morning to find my hair wasn't quite what I wanted it to be, but admittedly it was more of the product I used than anything. I have a bit of a problem..... product junkyism -  that's another blog for another day. :) This particular time I retried a product that did not work for me the first time. I know, I know, that doesn't make any sense at all, but I was hoping it was more the amount of product I used instead of the product itself. I thought if I'd tweak the amount it would work this time. Needless to say it was an epic fail. The next night I went back to flat twist in hopes I would have success. Unfortunately, since I never washed out the other product and used a light leave-in on top, hairstyle two was also a FAIL.

The next night I was looking in the mirror trying out different styles such as a roll, tuck, and pin, large flat twists, but neither of those styles worked. In the midst of combing through my hair I noticed how full my hair looked in a picked out Afro state. I got my hand mirror and looked at the back of my hair and lo and behold IT WAS CUTE! My hair looked very full in the back I was in shock. I decided to try and rock that style so I took several ponytail holders, put my hair in ponytails, and braided each one to keep my hair in a stretched state.

The next morning I got up and picked each ponytail until it was a perfect fro.

Since the front of my hair is noticeably thinner, I rolled and tucked it, pinned up the sides of my hair, picked out the back a little more, and VIOLA!!!

This wasn't the style I was going for in the beginning but I forgot about the versatility of natural hair. Just because one style is a failure, so what, our hair has options! Sometimes playing with your hair a little allows you to find other styles that look just as good. This picture doesn't really do the style justice and unfortunately I did not get a picture of the front. Let me tell you sisters I rocked my fro with my pick in my back pocket fist up!!! I received a lot of compliments from my coworkers who are in awe daily of what our hair can do. So, how do you get over your hairstyle failures? Does it stop your day?

Until next time My FINE Curlies.......... muah!

My Very First YouTube Video!!

Hey there my Fine-Haired Natural Sisters!! I've posted a video! My very first YouTube video! I am VERY proud of myself. In this video I introduce my channel and talk a little about some of the struggles that we Fine-Haired naturals have during our journey. Take a look and tell me what you think and if you'd like to see something in particular, let me know!! Thank you!

Sooooo..... Where do I begin?!

I have been thinking for awhile that I may want to do this blog thing but I've been hesitant. Why you might ask? Because there are a gazillion natural hair blogs!! Okay that may be an exaggeration, but you get my point! However, I will say although there are numerous blogs out there, not many are dedicated to OUR hair - The Fine Haired Natural. (Thank you RavenPriestess for your inspiration). You know, those of us who don't have a million strands of hair per square inch on our head. Those of us who watch countless videos on YouTube only to find our hair won't EVER look like the hair on the video. BUT.... that's okay! Fine hair is just as viable, just as important, and just as beautiful as any other natural hair.

WNG with Eco Styler and KoilsByNature Shealoe Leave In

So come along with me on this journey. I'll be really honest I don't exactly know where I'm going, but I do know where I've been - Creamy Crack! and I'm never going back!  Hey!! That rhymes! :)

Until next time.....!