Liebster Award Nomination

Yeah!!! I just got nominated for a Liebster Award, by the lovely Tomes from Tomes Edition!
 
This is my first ever blog award, am so honoured! It’s nominated to new blogs with less than 200 followers.
 
Now to fulfil the rules around the award.....

List 11 interesting facts about yourself

1. I am a Taurus (29^th April baby woop woop)
2. I am Malawian by birth but live in the UK
3. I am an accountant by profession and love numbers
4. I am notorious for starting new exercises and never following through
5. I started blogging in January this year on hair, but had another blog before that.
6. I have 1 really cute nephew; he pouts a lot, such a drama king!
7. I recently got engaged
8. I absolutely love pork, but think I might be allergic
9. I used to love chemistry in school
10. I have a younger sister who has dreadlocks
11. I used to love love love baking, but now I don't bake anymore L


and for my nominations……….


- perfect tress
- Scarlet Girl
- dessyluv
- hair here there everywhere
- below the waist



My interview from Ms Tomes….

[1]   Where was your favorite vacation to date and why?

Favourite vacation will have to be my last holiday to Malawi this year, I witnessed my brother's wedding and got engaged myself, nothing can top that!

[2]   What’s your favorite hairstyle to rock?

I loved the results I got from my side bun, so effortless, yet sophisticated.

[3]   What’s your favorite Food and Drink?

Love roast pork and fav drink will be fresh mango juice

[4]   What’s your favorite movie and why?

Hmm... I love my movies, I will say Untouchable, that is the best movie I have seen in a long time, it is a French movie with subtitles and it translates to well, if a movie can be funny after translation, this it’s amazing. It’s wins with me.

[5]   How long does you wash days take?

Hmm... I would say 3 to 4 hours if I remove air drying time, I am really trying to cut this time down.

[6]   Where do you spend some of your free time – Blogs, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, hair forums?

I love hair blogs, my free time is spent reading blogs and writing blogs and watching YouTube hair video, seriously, it is sooooo addictive!

[7]   If you were stranded on a desert what are the 3 hair essentials you would want on you?

- Moisturiser, my hair will surely dry up on this warm island
- Wide tooth comb – nothing like detangling at 10 weeks plus post
- Moisturising conditioner – I am hoping am not stranded for more than 4weeks J

[8]   What motivates you to blog?

I love connecting with people and helping others out. When I get lazy I always remember it’s a community out there and need to power on.

[9]   What was your career choice when you were a teenager and why?

I wanted to be a chemical engineer, I really wanted me to sit in a cosmetics manufacturing place and just make cosmetics, you would think I would opt for the oil places, but making cosmetics just fascinated me.

 

[10] Describe yourself in 3 words?

- Smiley

- Reserved at times

- A silent fighter

 

[11] Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

 

Wow, with my partner and 2 kids in some hot country working as a consultant, with amazingly long hair!!!

 

 

Thank you again Tomes Editions for the nomination, and I hope you got to know me a little better!

 

Happy Hair Journeys Ladies! :)

 

‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.’- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

Caution on protective styling

I am a believer in long term protective styling, I have got my best length retention from it in my pre-hhj days, so I will never knock long term protective styling, the only thing I will knock is the lack of hair bonding time you get with permanent protective styling.

I have a good friend of mine who is always protective styling, and she has recently just got past MBL, with little effort, the issue is, as soon as she removes her weave she has to quickly install another weave because she complains about breakage. Her hair breaks , not stupid crazy, but it breaks. She is uber scared to have her hair out. The issue is she has never had bonding time with her hair. She doesn't know what protein and moisturise balance is, she doesn't know that conditioners have different properties. She definitely has no clue why she has her hair snapping midway, or feels dry and brittle.

I do my best to tell her to use more moisturising products when her hair feels brittle and dry and protein just before her weave installation and not to forget moisturising with a good moisturiser and a give her hair and scalp a good wash. 

Now don't get me wrong I am not trying to say everyone should be on a journey or protective styling is bad, absolutely not my point, I just feel that if my friend gave her hair some time other than relaxer days and the week after to be with her hair and understand it's needs she would enjoy her MBL hair more! Her fear now is she has long hair but if it's left out it will break right down to pre long term protective styling days. As for healthy hair practices, her attitude is 'oh it takes so long, not for me'

A hair journey isn't for everyone....yes.... but an understanding of your hair is so important. 

I will always long term protective style my hair in winter, but if I didn't it's not the end of the world, I understand my hair and we can work something out. Long term protective styling should be a style and not a remedy to avoid dealing with your hair, because as soon as the protective style is gone you start losing all your amazing length.

In the same way we take care of our skin, teeth and general healthy of our bodies, do the same with your hair, if you can't deal with it get a good stylist/beautician, however, if you don't know much about your hair I wonder how you would make sure your stylist is treating your hair well? 

I personally don't think we all need to spend an half a day doing our hair, over the weekends or precious evenings, but we do need to spend some time In order to understand our hair. I don't see a quick fix with hair, unless am missing something can anyone let me know however I can help my friend without her feeling like she is on a journey?

Happy hair journeys ladies! :)

“ To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny. ”— Alan Cohen

Review of goals #2 oct

Week 2

1. 1 litre of Water a day - did 7 days out of 7, yeah me! 

2. Roll set - #fail, due to travelling over the weekend I couldn't? Should have packed my flexirods 

3. GHE - check did it Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as stated. This sadly makes my scalp itchy, so once a week is all I'll do from now on

This weeks 

1. 1 litres a day

2. Roller set

3. GHE once on Thursday

Happy hair journeys ladies! :-) 

Wash day - 5 weeks post

I have been so busy lately and the way this wash day went shows it. I couldn't do my normal weekend wash day as I was out of town visiting my friends new born, so my wash day was moved to Monday morning.

1. DC on dry hair for 15 to 20 mins with Herbal Essence Hello Hydrations Hair Mask.

2. I rinsed off the conditioner and shampooed my hair  with elasta qp creme conditioning shampoo.

3. T-shirt dried my hair 

4. Spray Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance leave in.

5. Detangled and applied Herbal Essence Beautiful Ends

6. Bunned my hair and left it to air dry for the day.

7. Moisturised with Elasta QP Olive oil and mango butter

Thoughts on my HEHH hair mask, I don't think I benefitted fully from it this wash day, more detailed review to follow when I use it for a month, notes so far

1. One tub can only be used for up to 3 washes.

2. It soaks right into the strands, maybe why I used about half a tub

3. It has really good slip. 

All in all shortest wash day but it got the job done!

How was your last wash day?

Happy hair journeys ladies! :)

“ The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. ” — Paul Valery

My product staples – series 4 – the moisturises

Last week in series 3 it was all about the leave ins and the instant conditioner, and it was interesting to learn about the different leave in combos that you ladies use and instant cons. I will be experimenting different leave ins depending on what I am doing to my hair after, i.e. roller sets, air drying, flat ironing etc, at the moment, I use the same leave in for any styling option I go for.

This week in series 4 it’s all about the moisturizers. I use several moisturizers on my hair and one thing I have noted is I rarely seal in my moisture, it’s a combination of laziness and also because I feel I have my oil within my moisturiser and this will make my hair oil and weigh it down.

My current staples are:

Ø        ORS Carrot Oil – I used to use this at the start of my hair journey and then stopped it for a few months to try a new moisturizer. Now, since ORS rebranded (Organic root simulator now ORS) the new packaging seems to have changed an ingredient in the product I am not sure what but the oil that used to sit at the top of the moisturiser is gone, it has a buttery consistency, just like Elasta QP which another one of my staple. The ORS Carrot oil moisturiser has a lot of oils, castor oil and carrot oil to name a few, plus it does not weigh the hair down. I was not so keen with it before because of the separation of oils, but ORS I think am sold again!

Ø        S Curl No drip moisturise – this moisturiser, I use on my new growth only. My NG gets so dry when I am a few weeks post, and I find using S-Curl or a glycerine and water mix really helps me out. I usually use it when am 8+ weeks post. This product seems to be a hit or miss with other HHJ ladies, but for now I definitely cannot go through a stretch without it. The only issue I have with this is I need to use a clarifying shampoo more often or even wash my hair more than once a week, as I have a lot of product build up (I use it almost every other day if not daily at about 8 weeks post)

Ø        Glycerine & Water – I use this as stated in the note above. I mix 1 part glycerine to 4 parts water and spray it on my NG.

Ø        Elasta QP Mango and Olive Butter –This moisturiser I love, love, love. It soaks right into my strands and does not weigh the hair down. It is much cheaper that the ORS Carrot oil moisturiser, but it’s not stocked in main stream shops. The only thing that bugs me is the smell....it’s just weird! It not mango and it aint olive oil, what is it!!! Every time I use it my brain goes into overdrive trying to place that smell....Aside from that, all the hype around it is so true, it’s a really good moisturiser. (...but seriously...what is the smell in the moisturiser? Lol)

Other products I used for moisturising are my leave ins on my wash day only, I tried moisturising with them mid wash, my hair did not like it one bit.

As for sealing oils, as I don’t usually seal in my moisture, I don’t use them often but when I do I use oils, it would be coconut oil or almond oil.

What moisturisers do you swear by?

Do you always seal your moisturiser in with an oil even though your moisturiser already has an oil?

Happy Hair Journey Ladies! =)

‘He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator’ – Francis Bacon