Curly Nikki's Twist -N- Curl



Okay, I came across this video and KNEW I had to post it. I've been dying to try the Twist N-Curl, but I'm a little remedial when it comes to new hairstyles! I tend to keep it simple. A little twisting here and there, a braid-out, an updo, a ponytail, and that's about it!!! I need to find new ways to switch my look up!Nothing too drastic, but I'm definitely about to start trying rollers. Anyway, hopefully this video can help anyone else who may be in a bit of a "hair rut" right now!! LOL

I love how the "Twist -N- Curl gives your ends something more to do than just HANG! LOL I love the extra curl it gives to your hair.

Happy Sunday!

Download This!!!


Came across another hot podcast! This one is by "The Freeminds Lounge". It's a blend of progressive hip hop, lounge, nu-jazz and neosoul. It's smooth and mellow!

Give it a listen.

http://freeminds-lounge.podomatic.com/entry/2009-04-08T19_26_31-07_00


Artists include: Black Moon, Common, De La Soul, and lots of beautiful music!!!!!!!!!

**Warning- includes some profanity.


***************************************************************************

Here's another one. An eclectic collection of new and old from DJ Black Wizard.

http://djblackwizard.podomatic.com/entry/2009-02-16T13_55_54-08_00





1) sometimes Brand New heavies
2) stay with me Platinum pied pipers
3) fallin in love Faith Evans
4)for da love of da game DJ Jazzy Jeff
5) she lives in my lap OutKast
6) just because J*Davey ft phonte
7) discipline Gangstarr
8) take off the blues Foreign exchange
9) gettin up Q-Tip
10) didnt you know The Rayne
11) relax J*Davey
12) electric relaxation A Tribe Called Quest
13) lucy pearl's way Lucy pearl
14) been in love Eric Roberson ft phonte
15) comfortable Lil ' Wayne ft Babyface
16) as serious as your life is (dilla remix) Fourtet
17) love's off tha chain Amerie
18) oblighetto Jack McDuff
19) scenario A Tribe Called Quest ft LONS
20)fools paradise Melissa morgan
21) i'll be good to you The Brothers Johnson
22) hangin on a string Loose ends
23) whatcha gonna do with my lovin Stephanie Mills
24) baby i'm scared of you Womack & Womack
25) dont walk away Jade



Enjoy the music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Raspberry-Almond Smoothie Recipe

Less than a handful of raspberries

Handful of almonds

1/2 of a banana

Less than a handful of cubed pineapple

1/4 cup of agave nectar OR natural maple syrup (or sweeten to taste)

(** Purchase at Whole Foods/ Trader Joe's or any other natural food store)

4 ice cubes

8 oz of cold water

Directions:

1. Put all the ingredients in the blender.

2. Blend.

3. Pour into a glass and enjoy!!!!!

We have this for breakfast all the time, and it is DELICIOUS!! Perfect for people who don't really do "breakfast."

Coily Inspiration!!!!

Her hair looks so cute! I'm gonna buy some flexi-rods TODAY and try this style! I absolutely LOVE this look!!

Download This!!!

Good morning, Coily Girls!! Happy Sunday!! I will be starting a new feature called "Download This", where I will share links to hot podcasts and music. (mp3's) I have gotten a few requests, so I figured I would just start sharing the links on my blog.

Here are some podcasts I really enjoyed:

Delano Smith- "The Essential Michael Jackson House Mix"

When I tell you this mix STAYS in rotation in my car, I am not exaggerating. It's the best MJ mix I've ever heard. Granted, if you're looking for traditional MJ music, this is not it. The producer of this podcast remixed all of MJ's songs and added a house beat to it. I love it! I think you will too. Check it out:

http://mixmodedetroit.podomatic.com/entry/2009-07-07T20_23_24-07_00


If you're a fan of 90's music, you'll love these two podcasts!!!! For me, the 90's reminds me of my college days, so I love these podcasts for nostalgic reasons!

http://thegetdowncrew.podomatic.com/entry/2008-04-09T15_38_54-07_00 (slow jams)




http://thegetdowncrew.podomatic.com/entry/2008-04-09T15_38_54-07_00 ("Daily Crack" podcast. It's called "R and B U Don't Know U Love Yet"

Enjoy the podcasts, ladies!! :)

Assault With A Deadly Weapon! (Scissors)


Okay, so I'm having a hair crisis right now!! I'm realizing just how much of my hair the stylist cut last month!!! Every time I try to style it in my original hair style, I'm realizing it won't GO in that style because the HAIR isn't there anymore!!! She cut a whole bunch of layers in my hair,(especially on top) which was NOT what I wanted at all! I planned to still wear my hair straight sometimes, but I'm not even sure how this style would look straightened.

I wish I had taken my OWN advice, which is NEVER GET YOUR HAIR CUT WHEN IT'S WET!!! It's fine for relaxed hair, because relaxed hair is still straight when it's wet, but my hair shrinks up RIDICULOUSLY when it's wet, so as a result, I got SCALPED when I only wanted a trim!

I'm having a bad hair day, ladies..... LOL, so I'm posting these inspirational pics to console and inspire myself, and hopefully YOU as well. (I'm being overly-dramatic, I know!!)

Have a great day!!

Another pic of Solange's hair. I love this on her! I can't believe she got so much flack over this style! I think it accentuates her features! I could NEVER go this short, but I think Solange really has the face for it!

Maxwell's new album is H-O-T!!!! I would have liked MORE SONGS, though, but I won't complain!!!



Me and Maxwell, 2000.

Sorry I took so long to post these. Pics of my haircut.

Wash and Go Vs. Twist-out

Just thought I'd show the difference in how my hair looks after a Wash and Go and a fresh twistout. The Wash and Go is okay in a pinch, but my style of CHOICE is a twistout. For one thing, as you can see, my curls shrink up really tightly!!! It's just pinned up with bobby pins in the pic. I really needed that cut!! My hair curls up a lot more now that all the split ends are gone! Ironically, it seems the longer my hair gets, the more SHRINKAGE I get !! I don't know if this is possible, but that's what it seems like! LOL

I also wanted to show you my trim. I got it cut in an angle in the front, and it's now a little shorter than the back. I didn't ASK for this cut, but this is what I ended up with after the salon. Luckily, I like it. Well, let me put this another way. I'd like it BETTER on someone else. I liked my hair better BEFORE I got it cut. I miss the length I used to have in the front. Oh well, it'll grow back! Funny how I couldn't be this light-hearted about getting a lot of hair cut when my hair was relaxed. My hair took a lot longer to grow back then. LOL

Hey Coily Girls!!

I'm back! I needed to take a break from blogging to wrap up summer school. Now that's over, and I'm in VACATION MODE!! Here's what SUCKS now, though. August has always meant BACK TO SCHOOL to me. I mean, granted, we still have almost 4 more weeks left, but seeing the Back to School sales and commercials kind of takes away from idle relaxation for me. If you're a teacher or a student right now, I know you feel me on this! LOL

This summer, I haven't really gotten away as much as I would have liked. I went to the beach ONCE. I plan to go a few more times this month. Typically, August is vacation month for me, but financially, I don't think that's feasible right now. So, me and my bf will probably do some local get-aways. (Better than nothing!)I'm open to suggestions, if you have any! :)

Well, I need to get dressed now... supposed to be going to lunch and I should have BEEN ready! I always get sooo caught up with Facebook and all my hair sites, and before I know it, the day is GONE!!!

Have a great day, Coily Girls! It's GREAT to be back!

Coily Girl of the Week: Naturallysweet09!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of my Fotki friends who recently BC'ed!


Why did you decide to go natural?

To be honest, I felt like I was never going to "find myself" spiritually. I have always cared about what others thought of me whether their opinions mattered or not. I had been trying new things (such as wardrobe changes, etc.) and while finishing up my last semester of college, I wasn't even paying attention to my hair. I had gotten a traumatizing relaxer complete with chemical burns and shed/damaged hair. So I decided to chill on washing it every week, flat ironing it every other day and condition alot. It seemed to work and before I knew it, I had gone 2 1/2 months without a perm. I started to search the web for new styles and I had done them all before. Short, bob, long.....and the list went on with the same STRAIGHT styles. So after stalking nappturality.com and fotki.com for another month, I decided that going natural would help me "find myself" and to accept whatever was staring right back at me in the mirror each morning!

What are the best and worst things about having natural hair?

The best thing is that I get to wet my hair if only just to rinse it in the shower! Something that I once dreaded getting close to my head is now welcomed....my friend WATER!!!! : ) The only thing I can say is the worst thing about my natural hair is that it doesn't look the same way everyday. One day I'll wake up and cowash and then I'll have beautiful shine and softness. The next day I can wake up and cowash and then have low shine, and hair that feels like I didn't love on it that morning with oils, lol. I'm still learning and I will find out what makes my hair almost, if not the same way, every day.

Do you straighten your hair? What precautionary measures do you take?

Well, at this point, I can straighten it! lol I'm still in the TWA stage. But while I was transitioning, I used the generic version of chi infusion heat protectant (I'm frugal yall! lol) from sally's and it worked wonders for me! You can see where I straightened it in my fotki (4th month transitioning album). http://public.fotki.com/NaturallySweet09/

Your current products/ routine:

I ALWAYS use cold water....its crazy at first but its worth it for killing unruly frizz. I mix VO5 Passion fruit Moisture Milks and Giovanni Hydrating Calming 50/50 conditioner together for my co wash either every morning or every other morning. I use Giovanni Direct Leave In (love this), then olive oil mixed with coconut oil!IF I want a little definition, I will use a little of my Aubrey Organics Aloe Vera gel mixed with my ecostyler gel. But I rarely use it....good, but I rarely need it. For shampoo I use Dr. Bronner's Rose Hemp Castille Soap. I do this maybe once every two weeks. For my weekly deep conditioner I use warm honey, olive oil,Olive Oil Replenishing Pack, a squirt or two of my trusty VO5 Moisture Milks, melted shea butter, and melted coconut oil! I throw on a shower cap for 30 minutes and let the heat from my head work it's magic!

Do you have any color in your hair? If so, what kind?

I am absolutely terrified of color so if I do, I will be using henna. Heat altered my texture while I transitioned for 6 months and I had to cut off most if not all of my progress. So that's why I am extremely afraid.

Your hair type:

I have never really "typed" my hair since I have quite a few in my head. But my guess is majority 4A and 4B at my temples.

Has reaction from family/friends/opposite sex been positive or negative?

My mom absolutely hated it. My grandma is afraid that it won't grow back but likes it. My brother keeps calling me India.Arie so I take that as a compliment since I love her hair. lol And my boyfriend is the one that "fixed" my BC so he loves it! I've gotten mostly positive comments or the famous, "It's cute on you." or "Only you could pull that off."

Favorite hair accessories:

None yet. I have enough hair to pick out and throw a head band on but I'm trying to keep my edges in tip top shape for now because they are thin by nature.

Your hair length goal:

Shoulder length unstretched. That's all I ask! If it grows past that then so be it! : ) I just want it to be healthy!

Your hair idols:

I'm gonna have to go with NowIAmNappy from fotki.com. I saw alot of her posts on nappturality and she always had the most detailed and informative answers. Then I found her on fotki and I have been stalking.....excuse me, keeping up with all of her picture updates! lol She has helped me EVERY TIME I needed help and I'm thankful! : ) Copa-Canary from fotki, Zahra from fotki, Ebony Princess from fotki, and of course I love luvbenet3's hair from fotki! ; ) Other than that it is sooo hard to just name others because every head of hair is different! Advice to transitioners: Be sooo very careful with heat. I mentioned above that I had to cut off 6 months worth of progress because of the heat placed onto my new growth with a cheap heat protectant. Don't compare your new growth to others and realize that there is beauty in ALL natural hair. Not just your favorite texture that you've seen on youtube, fotki, etc.


Picture five: What her shrunken TWA looks like now!
Picture four: 1 month right after a wash.
Picture three: Right after her boyfriend "fixed" it/
Picture two:Flat twist and curl
Picture one: relaxed hair







To see more of naturallysweet09, check out her Fotki page: www.fotki.com/naturallysweet09