So I’m starting to think my new cut is bringing about some sweet luck!  The lovely CallaLily of BreaKINK New Ground nominated Back To Curly for the Kreativ Blogger Award!

#1. I NEVER win anything

#2. I’m so thankful & flattered, thanks girl!

#3. I have to pass this sweet award to 7 other fab blogs, but if you’re  a regular reader…you might know I suffer from slight agita over picking randomness relative to just about anything! So…off the top of my head here are just a few lovely blogs run by some inspiring groups of ladies;-)!

Leave In The Kinks

MAKEUP FIEND

The Soap Seduction

Naturally Obsessed

Black Girls Run

Stay Blessed Everyone;-)

*update, so silly! Forgot to mention…rules to accepting are:

Copy and paste award onto your blog/post, nominate 7 other Fab kreativ blogs and do make sure they hear the news by stopping by their blog;-)

So yesterday was finally the day to reassess the situation.  It’d been weeks since I started rambling and complaining about my ends needing to be trimmed.  Just last week I wrestled with so many snarls and knots, I was forced to reach for a pair of scissors, turn a blind eye and snip! It really did feel like the worst kind of defeat, knowing the state of my hair was of my own doing. Shame.on.Me.

Thankfully, with the help of a good friend and a pair of sheers I was able to claim some hair sanity by shedding several inches of damaged colored/fried ends. This had been my dirty little secret for some time…my nicely camouflaged damaged ends.  Each week I’d treat them to EXTRA TLC by sealing and twisting until all was smooth and tucked away.  But with winter, there really is no fooling the harsh winds and the inevitable hat hair, so…what started out as a ‘trim’ transformed into a surprisingly nice hair cut! Ends are now smooth, and the ‘cut’ is layered and happily asymmetrical;-)!

After the cut, the hair was styled with a bit of Afroveda Shea-Amla Whipped Creme and I went about my way.  The twists were medium sized & this morning were undone to rock a short twist out.  NYC’s Indian Summer weather over the past few has been the best blessing in terms of retaining moisture, perfect to let the hair loose for this week without the worry of re-moisturizing each night.

Turns out I’m secretly excited to be sporting a bit of a shorter do.  I lost some length but gained hair health, and the trade off is beyond worth it. My heat damaged fiasco is a mere figment of my imagination these days, and even though I’m still growing out the rest of my hair color from over a year ago, I’m happy to be experiencing a change in my hair routine.  It’d been a while since I did anything beyond washing/conditioning/styling in twists and the week to week Process was resembling a farce. I didn’t want to color my hair, not yet interested in committing to the idea of kinky twists, henna etc., and in my case the happy medium was attained  two-fold by getting rid of the damaged ends & shaping up.

Below are before and afters. The first pic is of last week’s twistout, and the second is my new cut!

Next week I style my new bouffant, and my PJ hands cannot wait!

Grab a pen and take note. The wonderful CallaLily has put together just a wonderful video serving up the who’s who in the African American hair care industry right now. You know why I LOVE this? Because it’s necessary. Press play, and pass on the link;-)!!

Do check out her blog along with some crazy good hair recipes over at BreaKINK New Ground. Thanks CallaLily;-)!

Time to divulge some truth.  I do not like pomades. Yessir. I do not adhere to the wonders of the grease as I once did when these strands were  once relaxed.  Now though, when I say ‘grease‘ you have to understand something, maybe even take a short trip back with me to a time when we were all little brown girls getting our hair parted, braided & laced up with bows for kindergarten to KNOW of what I speak. My visual may be different from yours, my two french braids may have even been a bit more crooked, but I hint and point to that fanciful pic on the left…you’ll hopefully understand where it all began.

I’m a product of the ’80′s, the decade of cultural identity & Carebears.  Rainbowbright & L.A. Gear…all the good stuff.  Hecked if I sound old, yet in those days mothers like my Mum used the powers of DAX to cure everything a hot comb couldn’t.  I promise you, the smell of this stuff still lingers in the child-full colors of my mind…the memories are both good and cringe appropriate. After my first perm relaxer  in the 6th grade, I continued the greasy tradition, using the DAX to store the kitchen hairs that typically escaped my dollar scrunchy.

There really was no reason to cease the grease over the years, but in High School the idea of using Let’s JAM! to obtain that slicked back grown look was much too tempting. But even that only lasted until my hairline and remaining baby hairs screamed at me to stop the crazy and just let my Dominican Hairstylist take the wheel.

Wow, so I say all that to say that I’ve quietly reunited with a lost love in the form of Oyin’s Burnt Sugar Pomade! Wooozah! I’ve kept this love under wraps for a few months because…well it was really that hard for me to get my nose physically out of the jar. If you’ve already sampled this stuff, you might just get it.

Some have compared it to the smell of warm pancakes slathered with maple syrup…oh my.  I won’t disagree with the consensus, but the scent is strong enough to force you into the worst food cravings if you were born with a sweet tooth, or just discovering the joys of comfort food.  It’s sniff worthy to the tenth degree, and I can’t get enough!

As per usual, the gist from the site:

Does your hair love oils? Our “Burnt Sugar” Pomade is a nourishing all-vegetable pomade and styling product named for the uniquely translucent, shimmery quality of warm, homemade caramel.

Similar in texture to an old school ‘hair grease,’ This blend of oils, butters, and veggie waxes acts as a humectant and protectant for hair, increasing shine to a high glossy sheen and locking in moisture. It’s packed with essential fatty acids to nourish scalp, and actually sinks into your hair and skin for a long lasting, non-greasy feeling. It’s great for braids, imparts shine and moisture to loose hair, brushes nicely into the hairline for a glossy finish, and adds luster to locks!

This was an impulse Oyin buy many months ago when I began the search for the now infamous Honey Hemp conditioner. A store in my neighborhood that typically stocked up was out, so I compensated by purchasing the pomade, never really thinking it’d be a gem because…well, my history with pomades runs a bit deep.  The consistency is very similar to a traditional pomade, it might even be a bit more hardened before first use, but  is also quick to emulsify and spreads fairly easily.

A l’il dab will do so very much to impart crazy duty shine, and how I’ve been using it lately to seal my ends when needed after a wash, or even midweek when the twists begin to slightly unravel. The Summer months found me a bit heavy handed with the pomade, using it to slather over the crown of my twist-out fro, and I won’t lie…the best part was leaving a scent trail every which way I turned…forewarning, heads will turn if you dabble more than a l’il.

But what I love best about the pomade is it’s truest claim, NON-GREASY! It instantly sinks into the hair/scalp, letting the hair absorb all the goodness, leaving hair shinny and locking in any existing moisture in the hair.  It’s a natural humectant which scientifically means it draws moisture from the air, pulling in what’s needed to moisturize the hair.  In winter this can signal some trouble if the the air where you live is naturally dry, yet using the pomade while in the run of protective styling helps to avoid this slight, at least for me.

In the vid below, Jamyla and her hubby explain the best ways in which to winterize your current humectant stash if your hair is not adjusting. (Added Oyin Coupon code @ the end of vid!)

If you’re not a scent person, you will not be entertained by this product.  The site description hints to a ‘subtly sweet fragrance,’ and my trigger foot is down to say….Ummm…no. On my best days I do not mind smelling like a floating pancake so it suits a purpose in my PJ stash, but if you’ve ever walked by a candle store and gone (WTH!!), abort this mission & wait until the lovely Jamyla introduces a scent free version.  Either way, disappointment is not an option.  A 4oz jar runs $10 while the new larger 8oz size will set you back $16.

Alright, all systems are a go, my dilly dallying is temporarily on pause until tomorrow night’s Yankee game. Don’t judge;-).

My hair is happy to report  though that the pre-poo has made it’s return, thanks to a quick pit stop at CVS this past weekend. Seriously…V05′s Strawberry Milks condish has my heart, and at 99 cents it can afford to love me back.  My hair does well when I apply (liberally I might add because the consistency is watery), and this week was no exception.  My hair was still in twists when I applied the condish in sections, followed up with a new poo by Naked Naturals. Picked this up also while at CVS, and took a chance, hoping it wouldn’t be too stripping.  The formula is the Shea Butter & Avocado Smoothing Shampoo, contains no Lauryl/Laureth Sulfates, and has an added plant protein (Keravis).  Is there anything smoothing about this Shampoo? To be honest, a bit hard to gage on this claim, thought it certainly cleansed my scalp without leaving the hair completely stripped. Automatic thumbs up!

In hindsight, what I would do differently is NOT poo the hair while it’s still in twists. Time over the years has taught me this one thing…there are no short cuts to doing this thing on my head. NONE! So why did I think adding shampoo to tiny twists would affect my weekly routine for the better? Dunno…

Pushed forward though and used Jessi Curl’s Weekly DC again, this time 30-35 min. under a heating cap to ensure effectiveness.  Heat did make a noticeable difference with much added softness and manageability…an upgrade from last week for sure.  Styled this week with Darcy’s Botanical’s Herbal Leave-in Spritz under the Madagascar Vanilla Styling Creme. Twisted the hair while watching the game…which meant Miss Dilly Dallying ended her session after over 4 hrs of arm torture.

Compensation = aweSOME HaIR!! Twists came out lovelier than love, moisturized and easy to pin up, pull back or just hang. Options with twists are limitless in my book, always bringing the promise of good hair days! Monday for work, pulled the twists back with just a few twists swinging on the side.  Last night used a few perm rods to curl a few twists than have stragly straight ends. So Protective Styling lives to see another week, and I am predictably falling into a groove. Niiiiccce!

*What I really want to push out by the end of this week are a few PJ reviews.  Been a bit lax on those for some time, and just recently did a winter product haul.  All purchased products include several oldies and a lot of new butters and stylers to add to the mix. Had a lovely visit to the Karen’s Body Beautiful shop this past weekend (finally met the SUPER nice Karen!) to pick up the last of the haul and will share my trip in a future post!

Till then…..goooOOOOO YANKEES!! (it’s almost over y’all;-)!

See, what I really should be doing right now is updating this week’s Process….but…the Yankees are up 3 games to 1 and are playing to clinch the Series tonight…Soooooo.

I’m a bit…slightly…just a TAD distracted.  I’ll be working on the post for tomorrow while watching the game, but in the meantime, this video below absolutely BLEW me away in terms of creativity, content and delivery.  To me this lovely youtuber by way of kimmaytube is in myopinion the best of the best on the Tube so check her out!

*embedding might be disabled, click here to view more incredible vids from kimmaytube.