Cherish My Daughter

Y'all know by now that I am the farthest thing from a product junkie. I'm a firm believer that if something is working for you then stick with it. Even if I wanted to spend my time trying new things for entertainment--I'm working with so many nappy heads I'd be broke before long. If I try something new and add it to our rotation of tried and true products--you can be sure that the product really made an impression on me. You've heard me mention my Scalp Stimulator Shampoo Bar by Bobeam Naturals. I love it on my locks but it works just as well for my entire family of loose haired nappies. I contacted Laquita, owner of Bobeam Naturals, to find out if she could recommend any of her other bars for my family. She was happy to send me several bars. I haven't tried them all yet. I wanted to use each bar for at least a month on all of the girls before making a judgement. Since we've all been swimming ALOT and washing our hair multiple times a week--this wa...

Mg3's hair is so soft! The ends look great! The bundle I created to hold the sidewinder in place held together well and came out easily with my seam ripper. I think it would have been difficult to avoid cutting hair had I tried to use scissors. If you want to try this method (bundling for the ends instead of beads) I highly recommend picking up a seam ripper. I bought mine at Walmart in the crafts/sewing department. I paid less than $3. I'm sure they can also be found in any fabric/craft store where sewing materials are sold. Here's the video ! Check out the BLOOPERS video too! This one was fun to put together.

I've been looking for an alternative to beads and a way to secure the ends of my African Threaded styles so my girls can wear their hair down the way they like. I think the SIDEWINDERS found on hairholders.com may be my solution. Here's what I've done .

When I saw this I contacted Tangle Teezer about trying this out so I can share it with you! Of course I taped my trial. You can see it here .

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I picked this up after reading many positive testimonials by nappy haired people about it online. It's cheap. I had some concerns that it would dry out my girls hair because it DOES contain sodium laurate sulfate (SLS). We used it on all four girls. Here are my first impressions: 1. I was surprised at how much it lathered up on the first wash. 2. I was impressed with how much dirt it lifted on the first wash. 3. The hair felt squeaky clean after one lathering. Maybe a little too squeaky. So far, I've decided this is a strong cleanser. It is marketed as a daily clarifier but I would never use this to shampoo nappy hair every day. I need a clarifying shampoo to remove product build up and this shampoo did a good job. I only lathered once and was satisfied. As I style the girls' hair I will update about whether I notice any extra dryness.

There's some controversy about the use of castille soap as a shampoo. For example, popular YouTuber Kim , of KimmayTube tested the ph of Bronner's Castille Soap and found it to be much higher than the recommended range for hair (between 4 and 5). You can watch her explain her findings. She also did an informative series fraught with good visuals on understanding the effects of ph on hair. That said, I've been using diluted castille soap successfully for YEARS, but I've never tried Bronner's Castille Soap. I had a bottle of Trader Joe's Castille Soap . Turns out Trader Joe's formula includes Aloe Vera --which has an acidic ph---probably bringing down the overall ph of the product--perhaps balancing it for hair. The manufacturer recommends it's use as a shampoo right on the bottle's label. I did not get a chance to personally test the ph of my bottle, because by the time I noticed Aloe as an ingredient of my castille soap, the bottle was empty...

I took down HMGs re-twisted style for these big cornrow twists. I thought a lot of shed hair was trapped in her twists and wanted to remove them to avoid matting. I tried a new mix because she'd just washed her twists and I wanted to style her hair without having to wash it again. I've been studying the effects of acidifying the hair shaft to a ph between 4 and 5. This causes the shingles on the hair shaft to lie down, creating a smooth surface for the strands to glide past each other. Open shingles snag and catch as the strands make contact. Detangling conditioners are designed to impact the hair shaft in a similar fashion, whether by chemically altering the behavior of the shingles or coating the strands to create a smooth surface. I like the idea of using aloe vera juice because of it's acidic ph and moisturizing properties. I've read testimonies that it leaves nappy hair soft and supple. I didn't really measure, because I only had about a little more than ...

You know I would NEVER use the comb part of the rat tail comb to detangle nappy hair on the first pass. I have seen people use them on nappy hair once it's already been completely detangled. I've never tried it on my girls. I do , however, frequently use the tail end to make my parts. Up until now I've been using the comb on the left--which is completely made of plastic. It makes satisfactory parts. It's also good for prying apart moderately small to big braids. I'm always looking for a hair pin or some other sharp item to remove knots and tiny braids. No more! The metal tail is the TRUTH! Not only does it do a better job on unraveling the braid/twist stitch, it's excellent on those knots. It also makes great parts. My only concern is my tendency to absent mindedly rake the tail too hard across my daughters' scalp while making a part. I have to be super careful with that metal tip. I cringe at the ramifications of making a mistake. Can you im...

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In the beginning I was amazed to discover I could groom my daughters' hair easily-- from shampoo to deep conditioning---with products I have sitting around in my pantry. I've never tried the entire process from start to finish solely with these items, instead I alternate pantry items with commercial ones. However, there's no reason it shouldn't work if the hair is responding well. I started trying pantry items out of concern for all the chemicals we find in commercial hair products. We hear so much about things being carcinogenic. Some of us are so overwhelmed by the information we put it all on ignore , figuring we may as well just enjoy life, because everything causes cancer. Others of us go completely organic, and spend a small fortune. Personally, I'm somewhere slightly past the middle, inching towards more natural items. I'm ever cognizant that the skin, our largest organ, absorbs so much. My girls are young, and I want to expose them to as few synthe...