They’re calling for 8 – 13 inches worth of snow for the East Coast tonight into Wednesday. I live much too close to work to phone in with a snow day apology for the bosses, so I’m a bit miffed the city’s preppin for a shut down & city wide alert, while I’m hunkering down with some homework for class tomorrow night.

Miffed.

But alas, if the days were warmer and the streets were toned with the sun’s heat I’m sure I’ll have something else to complain about. Riiiight.

So! If you were snow-wrecked at home, how would you spend your days?

• I’d make sure to download go out and buy this puppy. I….have no words. She’s that good. Own it. Love It.
• I’d consider it a lucky day, finding this woman & her beautiful vocals. *(Ummm… free download)
• I haven’t purchased….this…yet. Don’t have a reason. Except to say I bought this instead cuz….I’m a softee
• This has been on heavy rotation for the past two weeks & will continue as such until I finish putting that book over there and attending to the laundry over…there.
• I’d make sure to luv this dude a l’il more. *(too good)
• This came today & I’m a kid again! Much needed after taking a trip to Ohio & meeting Lizzie.

I’m longing for Spring & warmer temps more than I should these days. Lately I’ve been torn between pinning for those illustrious perfect leather strapped boots & sizing up finds for upcoming spring dress purchases. Videos like this certainly do not make these decisions easy, but nonetheless it should at the very least put a smile on your face;-)!

For sure, the one thing that can make many a natural haired femme run towards any form of protective style is a dipped temperature below thirty degrees. This week I jetted.  It’s fair to say that we are smack dab in the middle of Winter, and I’ve only managed to pull off less than a handful of protective styles.

Last week was a half-attempt with the rollerset. I set the hair, and freely pinned up-dos for the good part of the week. Hair was handled minimally, and re-moisturized periodically only when dry.

This week was a return to the twists, and me thinks one of my first allies in hair styles is here to stay…at least for a while. These days I’m a fan of what makes sense & what can realistically fit into my work/school schedule. Twists do that & then some.

Last night I got a head start in washing & DC’ing while watching a bit of television (*VH1 Doc/Soul Train was on! Who watched!?). No pre-poo, instead shampoo’d in the shower with Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Shampoo , lightly rinsed then followed up with Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle Conditioner. Massaged the Tea Tree Conditioner well throughout the hair, leaving in for 2-3 minutes before rinsing. DC this week was the remainder of the JessiCurl Too Shea Moisturizing Conditioner. A rarity, but detangled & left the conditioner in overnight.

In the a.m. woke up super-armed & committed to twisting into a protective style. Product of choice was a go-to, Darcy’s Botanicals Daily leave-in under their Madagascar Vanilla Styling Creme. I rely on these products for twists because with proper maintenance each night, the twists are effectively moisturized for a solid week – week and a half without adding other product. The creme does not leave behind a filmy residue & if I’m not as heavy handed as I’m known to be when styling, there’s not much of a greasy factor which helps keep the bedsheets quite happy;-).

I do hope to keep the style in for at the very least a week – two if I’m striving for greatness being lazy.

But even with the twists in, I’m setting some goals. I am challenging myself to not simply wake up & go with this style as I’ve done in the past – but to give myself a leg up by offering a bit more variety in how I either pin, tuck, pull back the style. I have countless headbands, feather clips, jeweled clips I can use to accessorize the heck out of this style, and I’m aiming to rock it out.

It’d be great if I could take a pic each day to document these goals….right? *I’m making a ‘yeah right face’ that you can’t see—>but goals are goals & I’m on it;-).

*Update on Giveaway: I love doing contests/giveaways, BUT…the only drawback seems to be the non-communicado that follows. A winner was chosen a few weeks ago, contacted but has yet to respond. If no response arrives in my inbox (backtocurly@gmail.com) by end this week, I will draw a random name from the entries. THANKS a BUNCH to *all who did send in your contributions! Your words made the days all the more sweet;-).

Over the past two weeks or so , I’ve managed to make a beautiful mess out of…stuff.

It’s getting to the point where the obligation to apologize for not blogging is resembling a crooked crutch I’m leaning on much too much. When did I last blog about my hair?

….

I’ll get the hang of it. Eventually. It’s all about organizing the ‘real’ and whatever else goes on ‘up there.’ My head’s been preoccupied with a flurry of syllabus’, due dates, group projects, new responsibilities at full-time job, remodeling this humble abode…figuring out a new budget loved lifestyle that befits a grad student.

…

Works in progress.  Such is life eh? But I suck still because while I’m filling the page with excuses, last week before the head hit for a doze, I kind of wanted to talk about my first attempt at roller-setting. Twas my first attempt & it was a good experience in that I was mindful in taking notes for the future.

Instead of going over wash/condition routines I need to pinpoint tips I might want to incorporate into future roller-set attempts.

• Sectioning hair is VERY important

I took the willy nilly approach into setting the hair simply because I had every intention of putting the set in an up-do protective style for the coming week. Not the best approach because effectively parting the hair before it’ s dry and set in rollers, helps the curls to lay in a more proportioned manner rather than having one curl meet east & the other meet west. My outcome was fair, but it certainly lacked uniformity.

• I ran out of rollers. Thinking you have enough rollers to set the hair as opposed to KNOWING you have enough are worlds apart when it gets down to standing in front of the mirror.

The rollers I’d purchased the day before, three packs of six. I had eighteen medium length/width rollers that I’d intended to roll the back portion of hair, while using longer/thinner rods to set the front. Not a bad idea, though the outcome wasn’t what I’d expected. The back of the hair once dried left me with nice bouncy ringlets, while the front was…not. It looked haphazard and not well put togehter. It’s best to keep the rollers within the same family in terms of length/width so outcomes aren’t as drastically different.

• Styling/Setting products are just as important as types of rollers used

I used KBB hair milk as a leave-in, with Afroveda’s Curly Custard.  Speaking only for my hair, these two products are best used to two-strand twist, flat twist, braid etc., but…eh…, not particularly fancy for a roller-set. Proper roller setting requires the hair to lay smooth, not raised(?), which has always been a problem for my hair because of the few different textures that run throughout. My hair runs on the fuzzy side even on a good day, always has. Only product that could help keep the swelling down has been some added gel (which I’m adamant in NOT using) & a setting lotion.

I’m researching different products best used for roller-setting, which is a bit tricky – last time a roller set was done on my hair was during my relaxed days & setting lotions/products used then have ingredients my hair has grown unaccustomed to over the years.

I’ll definitely try the style again, overall the change in routines was well worth it. I did not do much in terms of styling for the rest of the week. I pinned the hair up quite often, and refreshed the hair with a bit of KBB hair butter & Jane Carter Revitalizing Spray when it turned a bit dry. This week (likely tonight) I’ll wash/DC the hair & resume my regular twisting schedule because homework beckons.

Still debating on doing an Amla treatment…Bentonite? I need a lil sumthin to treat my hair, these colder temps are not forgiving.

The New International Civil Rights Center Museum

Today marks the first day of Black History Month & while I do want to update and post about the goings on related to all things hair & product, my heart wants so desperately to share something entirely different…if only for today.

Black History Month is a time that I hold dear for reasons – too numerous to count. Author & blogger Lori L. Tharps has a great post up today mapping out a great & easy strategy to enjoying the rest of this month, which has me especially giddy with anticipation because I am certainly not the only one.

I can’t be the only one who enjoys the influx of culture and historical lessons all smashed up for us to ingest in 28 short days.  You have the Times today devoting a piece to the newly christened International Civil Rights Center Museum in Greensboro, N.C., and so many other outlets taking part to commemorate such an important mark in history.

Personally, I do feel it is a celebration, and not one made of  traditional markings of hats, balloons & presents.  The rewards granted towards all people of color are felt each and every day, I feel it each time I walk into work – get on a plan to see my parents – on Nov 2008 when I woke up at 5 a.m. to make a quiet, distinctive walk with neighbors to the voting hall.

It’s that feeling…that is so very welcomed and embraced each time this year.

~~~~

A truly beautiful piece in the Washington Post yesterday had me near tears. A mother of two remarks on the rituals of combing her daughter’s hair.

Soon now, these days will be gone from me. As I settle myself on the couch, my 11-year-old daughter, Savannah, brings me her hair basket: comb, water bottle, hair grease, barrettes. She plants herself on the floor, squarely between my knees, and I begin my work. There’s the everyday hair-doing, but wash day takes more time, and slowly I separate the thick, kinky tangle growing from her head. I rub in a dollop of grease — Kemi Oyl or root stimulator lotion, but mostly just dark blue Ultra Sheen (I like the standards) — to make the hair obedient, and part it into sections, clipping each firmly to her head.

My hands are slower and gentler now than they were when she was younger and I was younger, with a career to chase, and an older daughter who had her own head of hair for me to do, and another baby yet to come.

Sometimes, if I was pressed for time, I could get by with a few surface brush strokes and a liberal application of gel to make the girls passably presentable, but it took 20 minutes of work to make them look special. Twenty minutes to make them feel pretty so that neighbors would comment on the straightness of their parts. Twenty minutes to be reassured that I’d sent my children into the world making clear that they were valued and loved. Twenty minutes. Every day. Minimum. Apiece. For me to feel assuaged that if one day, please, God, no, they suddenly disappeared, I could persuade the 24-hour cable networks that my girls really were worthy enough to be news– because, after all, black mothers can’t recall a time where missing black women and children got national media attention.

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