No, I didn't forget you all

Pause the music player on the bar to your right.

I've been going through some things lately and was really down and out of sorts, but God is good and I'm so grateful. Sometimes it feels like everything that can go wrong, does. I'll be getting back to discussing my hair and that journey soon. However, I've shared with you all before, that this path I'm traveling encompasses more than my hair. It has become a spiritual journey on many levels.

At any rate, I came here today to share this song with you. It has helped me through...hopefully it will be a blessing to one of you who may be in need of encouragement.




Toodles! ...Be blessed

Where's Waldo...er umm, OMJ?

I know that subscribing to my blog must feel like an adventure in "Where's Waldo?" and I sincerely apologize to each of you. Upon my return I've found the addition of many more ladies and gentlemen that are following my journey and it humbles me greatly to know that so many of you care about my little piece of the world. I started this blog as a means of documenting my natural hair experience and decided to open it up to "the world." So I'm going to start doing better about this. Now that I have gotten over the flu, been rehabilitated from a dislocated knee and nursed my daughter back to health from her broken wrist (whew!) I'm ready to settle back into my natural haven here at As Natural as Sunshine.


I am happy, THRILLED in fact, to report that I am still in love with my natural journey. Oct. 24, 2009 will be my 5 month anniversary and my only regret (sincerely) is not doing this sooner. I know people say that all the time, but I truly mean it.

Ok, now for As Natural as Sunshine....I intend to blog at least once a week from here on out. As soon as I get my camera settings correct I'll post some pictures as well.

Thank you all for following my journey, for all the encouragement and kind words. It means the world to me.

Toodles!

It happened this morning...

I shared this with my friends over at Black Hair Media when I got to work this morning and wanted to post it here as well.

I woke up this morning, walked into my bathroom, took off my satin bonnet, looked in the mirror and ....I smiled! I didn't say,"What am I going to do with this front??" I looked at the mirror and I was happy with my jacked up front (gotta love shear happy gals) and the way it was smushed to my head. And y'all...it happened, I cried. I just stood there and cried. I was happy, I felt GREAT, I was looking at ME. Just ME. And it felt amazing!! I decided that I wasn't going to do the frohawk today (but I WILL mslitta!!!). I was doing ME today. Rocking my curly fro and loving it!!

So, I hopped in the shower, co-washed my hair, plopped it with my CurlEase towel and I was done. I slapped some aloe vera gel in it to keep it from frizzing up while it dried, shook my head from side to side and smiled. Like this!! => <= I put on my silver hoops, my new lip gloss and was HAPPY. HAPPY with ME, just me. D@mn this feels good, it feels AMAZING!!!

I get to work, I'm walking down the hall to my office and the Speech/Language Pathologist was walking ahead of me (in the same direction) so she hadn't seen me yet. I called out to her, "Good morning." She turns around, greets me with wide eyes and a big smile and says, "I LOVE YOUR HAIR!" I said, "THANK YOU!!," showing EVERY tooth in my mouth at the same time. Then, I turned to my daughter and BEAMED some more! And she returned the smile.

Here are some updated pics..not the greatest ones, but I'm working on that. Can't seem to find the right lighting. *sigh* At any rate...the first one is me trying to put some flat twists in the front of my hair and the others are self explanatory. The curls in the front are A LOT smaller than the ones in the back, but I love them all!. Hope to have better pictures soon.

Toodles!

Well...guess what I did?

Late last night (technically it was earrrrrrrly this morning, at about 1:40ish am) I began snipping at my hair. When I finished and twisted it all up for bed, it was after 4 am. I was sooooo tired I couldn't even be excited! :( LOL

I wasn't nervous at all...likely because I was so tired when I began. My eyes were going all cross trying to look at the back of my head and cut. I was recording with my Macbook, a camcorder and TRYING to take pics with my Fuji camera. TRUST, this was not a one woman job and I FAILED! lol Didn't take nearly as many pictures as I had hoped or thought I would. But I did mangae to get this.

Sooo....looks like I'm "au naturale" now, huh? :<) I'm still so very tired. After I've gotten more rest, I'll post my reflections and maybe some pictures of my hair styled...likely a wash and go.





Toodles!

Do YOU know what today is?

(Please scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the music prior to playing the video. I hope you enjoy today's selection! )



Yes ladies and gentlemen,

TODAY IS THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF MY TRANSITION BACK TO NATURAL HAIR!

I'm sooooooooo happy, thrilled and excited!! What I feel is beyond JOY! I can't believe this journey feels so good! Who would've thought? Certainly not me!!

I'll be back later today to post pictures!! Yayyyy me!! Can you tell I'm excited??

I'll let you in on a little secret....I just cut a little patch of hair on top of my head, I couldn't help myself. LOL




Toodles!

A TRULY inspirational mother

You all know that I am VERY passionate about the images we feed our daughters as it relates to standards of beauty and self love. Those of you who have been following me or have most recently read my first entry (and the subsequent entries: "And a child shall lead them" and my "Dr. Miracles outburst) can attest to this.

Well, I had the honor and joy of running across the blog of Nappturality.com member, mamaprincess. Her blog, NappySexyFly is THE BIZNESS! And it turns out, she's a mother after my own heart.

Please read her most recent blog post (below) and click on the link (<= here or above) to her blog so that you may see the beautiful natural mane of her daughter enlarged! I've said it a million times and I'll say it again...We HAVE to do better by our babies. Thank God mamaprincess believes so too! I hope her words (and actions) touch you as well! Now, without further ado..

HER daughter's "Beautiful Naps"

My daughter has a whole lot of nappy hair as you can see. Her hair is below waist length stretched. In the above photo I pulled a section of her loose hair in order to stretch it out so that I could show it's length (my hand is somewhere down there but cannot be seen in the pic), then I took the picture with my other hand. She is 5 years old and of course has never had her hair straightened. She knows she's beautiful because we always tell her that she is sooooooo beautiful. She knows nothing of self loathing. She loves her skin and hair and everything about herself because we adore her and tell her so all the time. We live in a predominantly white community so she interacts with them on the regular but has no issues. She attracts love and kindness like a magnet because this is what she experiences all the time in her home. This is her foundation. It's all in how you treat your children. It's all in the messages you send them. A child should not feel insecure, ugly or unwanted. Our job as parents is to make sure they know they are perfect and precious. Their lives even when we are not around will reflect the love we planted in their souls.

As for her hair, their is no way on earth her hair would ever be as healthy or achieve this length with a relaxer. I have older twin daughter's who's hair was as long as this. Their father begged me for years to relax it because he couldn't do it on their visits so I gave in eventually and let him take them to have it done. I knew what would happen but he didn't believe me when I told him. Their hair was super long and healthy to start then it began to break off. It eventually broke off to chin length in a year's time even though they had their hair done professionally and kept it up. Needless to say, they are both transitioning now and never want to see another relaxer as long as they live. Now when I send them to their father for visits, their hair is in braids. They know how healthy their hair was prior to the relaxer and how badly it damaged their hair. Relaxers hold no mystique for them. They will not be begging me to perm it for prom. Nappy hair is fragile not strong and chemicals break it down to the point that it is even more fragile and prone to breakage.

My youngest daughter (pictured above) is by my husband. We both agreed no chemical would ever touch her hair. Her hair got this long by treating it the way nappy hair needs to be treated. Very little manipulation. I put her braids in and don't take them down for weeks at a time. I wash her hair in the braids. When its time to redo, I take it one braid at a time making sure to moisturize and oil to prevent breakage. I separate and smooth with my fingers and very gently comb the ends with a wide tooth comb and re-braid. She usually has anywhere from 8 to 12 braids. It takes about 2 hours to do her hair because I don't yank and snatch through it like it needs to be punished. The keys to healthy naps are moisture, low manipulation and a gentle patient touch. That's pretty much it. Her hair is also never blow dried, in fact no heat is used on her hair.

For all those who use hair typing, we are both 4b in other words nappy. Her father is a pure blooded Ghanaian (Ghana, West Africa, blackest Africa, home of the purest naps and deepest melanin endowed gorgeous dark skin where the majority of us can trace our roots because it is from there that the majority of our ancestors departed) :) I am an African-American with no recent interruption of my African bloodline, in other words not mixed. Yes, true African naps can achieve length if so desired if you honor God's blessing by nurturing and loving them and caring enough to learn about how to take care of them instead of trying to murder them with toxic chemicals.

As long as I am in charge, my daughter will never feel the burn of chemicals or the heat of a straightening tool. She will always know and not question the power and truth of her own God given beauty just as she knows it at the impressionable age of 5.

Thank you NappySexyFly, for allowing me to publish your entry here and for being the true inspiration that you are!! *hugs*



Toodles!

I wish you all a beautiful day!

*cues the music* Oops, I did it again...

This time it wasn't out of frustration, but...just 'cause. My twist out was busted and when I walked into the bathroom my ends were yelling, "Cut me, cut me!" So...I did. :D


Look at the length of some of those pieces! But you know what? I wasn't "in shock" afterwards or anything. I had planned to put my hair in a flat twist bun today...but after my hair cutting frenzy as of late I don't know how that will work out. Oh well!

Fast forward >>>

I hopped in the shower and decided to go ahead and wash my hair while I was in there... and I start to laugh OUT LOUD! Why? Because I can feel the fifty million different lengths in my head at this time. LOL I shrugged my shoulders and kept going. I really did a whack job on the left side of my head let me tell you!

I got out of the shower and realized that the left side of my hair (in the very back) is in fact significantly shorter AND with the exception of a few strands is almost completely natural (in that spot, of course). So...what do I do?

You guessed it!!





















So here is the left side of my hair (in the back) in comparison to the right. (no product)

Now to camouflage the cutting I've done. LOL



Toodles!

How do you spell relief?

S-H-E-A-R-S! That's right...



The past few weeks have been gruesome! I've been sick, work has been hella stressful and tonight it all came to a head. I walked into my bathroom and just started grabbing pieces and cutting. Some places I cut as much as an inch (or more), in other areas maybe a fourth. There was no pattern, just whatever I got my hands on. Perhaps I shouldn't have put it all in a pile this way, you can't really see how much it is. No this isn't the BC, far from it. There's plenty of hair left.

...I feel much better now.




Toodles!

Just because I love me some him!

(be sure to scroll to the bottom and pause the music on autoplay so that you may enjoy the video)

Food for thought...

First my apologies for not checking in here regularly, it's been a stressful week, but I'm going to try to do better.

This morning as I was catching up on my reading and trying to get my thoughts focused to update Natural Sunshine I ran across something of interest to me.

Over on BHM today, one of my member friends (MizzBrit) started a thread about these ignorant a$$ (IMO) Dr. Miracle's relaxer commercials. You know the ones, they bash hair in any state other than relaxed. Don't misunderstand me, I'm NOT anti-relaxer, but I AM anti-"anything that attempts to threaten my daughter's self-esteem!" Believe that!

These are the two commercials I referenced in the discussion above, but not the two that started the discussion at BHM.

"Weedwacker"
"Baldy"

I posted my response there (feel free to click the link above and read the full discussion), but I wanted to share it here as well, in hopes that it would be food for thought for those that come across my blog.

I stopped watching BET when my daughter was born (over 10 years ago), even on Sunday, but she most recently learned of the Gospel shows (mainly Sunday Best) on there (and being the lover of Gospel music that she is) asked if she could watch. Dr. Miracle has a new set of commercials (with a husband and wife) that I do in fact find offensive. Well, I don't know if offensive is the word...but angry certainly is.

I clicked on the links you provided and watched the first few seconds and had to stop. They grate my LAST nerve. I didn't know if I was just overly sensitive, but I can't stand these newest ones I see on Sundays, I hate what they are saying to young girls, more so than grown women.

I'd be fine with them if they were presented as a styling option,but to say how awful these women's hair is (and they don't even look bad!) and that they NEED a relaxer.... The husband is calling her hair a bird's nest, then (I think) he says , "no a squirrel's nest." It just goes on and on. I'm VERY much bothered that they have to degrade natural hair in order to promote the use of a relaxer.

When I think about the millions of young girls watching that channel and digesting that message, it makes me nauseous. I CRINGED when that first commercial came on as my daughter sat there watching. She turned to me and just waited for a response, for some confirmation that this was wrong...and you can best believe she got it! Her little eyes looked as if they were saying, "Them, too? That's how my family was talking about my hair last summer, Mommy." We had a long talk about marketing ploys and how they play on the insecurities and misinformation taught to black women about their hair and about the images society puts out there. It was a productive talk and I could tell that she felt better as a result of it. We had already had a version of this talk when her "incident" happened last year and I decided to transition, but that commercial seemed like a slap in the face to her and I could see it in her eyes.

But what about the little girls that digest that and don't have anyone to talk to them?

My baby girl loves her hair and all the ignorant Dr. Miracle's commercials that they play will not change that. She said, "I don't want a relaxer ever mommy." I smiled and told her honestly, "I want you to always love your hair and know that it's beautiful just the way it is, but if you get older and want different styling options I'll be ok with that. But I don't ever want you to think or believe that having a relaxer is the ONLY option you have to obtain "pretty" hair because you already have pretty hair and I think you understand that." She vehemently replied, "I'm NEVER getting one!" Well, we'll see, I thought to myself But I was honest in my response. I'd prefer that she not, but if she does I don't want it to be because she feels what God gave her is ugly and I think I'm building a solid foundation in her that will continue to combat that type of thinking. God knows I'm trying.

My challenge to everyone: Be mindful of what we are allowing "society" to tell our children about their beauty.

Toodles!

Reflections...

Still humming along with my transition!! Friday marked 47 weeks post relaxer, which means.....5 more weeks and I will be celebrating my 1 year transition anniversary!!!

I'm so very excited!! I can hardly believe it's been almost a WHOLE year. Time really does fly when you're having fun!





Toodles!

Transitioning into a vegetarian lifestyle

As I've mentioned before, my natural hair journey has caused me to desire a healthier way of living and nourishing my body. My body is a temple, which means I should treat it better than I do - inside and out. I previously shared with you my fitness goals, training for a 5k, as well as my desire to become a vegetarian. I've found some wonderful resources to help me in this effort...so I'm sharing them with you (You will find a few of them linked in my "Knowledge is key" area to the left.) As with any undertaking I am careful to do my research and not make any "fly by the seat of my pants" decisions. There is so much information and support on the internet, it's AWESOME!!!

Blackvegetarians.org has been of tremendous help to me. Here you will find a list of transitioning tips for newbs (like myself!) If you read the information listed there (quoted below), you will find websites that will mail you a Vegetarian Starter Kit FOR FREE and there is one you can access directly from the internet.

Get free vegetarian and vegan starter guides at www.tryveg.com, www.goveg.com/vegkit/index.html and http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/index.html.

During my research I learned that there are several different "levels" or types of vegetarianism.

1.	Semi-Vegetarians aka Flexitarians
	Semi-vegetarians limit their intake of either certain types of meat or the amount of meat. For example, they might eat no red or white meat (beef, pork, venison, etc), but eat fowl and fish. Or they might only eat meat once or twice a week. Someone who only eats fish can also be called a pescatarian. (Purists would say that semi-vegetarians are not vegetarians at all, but I have included them in order to show the complete hierarchy.)
2.	Ovo-Lacto Vegetarians
	The most common type, ovo-lacto vegetarians do not eat any animals, but do eat eggs and dairy products. Subcategories: * Ovo vegetarians (eat eggs but not dairy) * Lacto vegetarians (eat dairy but not eggs)
3.	Vegans
	Vegans eat no animal products - no eggs, no dairy, no honey, etc.
4.	Raw/Living Foodists
	Raw or Living Foodists eat only raw food, because enzymes are destroyed by normal cooking processes.
5.	Fruitarians
	Fruitarians eat only fruit, fruit-like vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers), and sometimes seeds and nuts.

Here are a few of the cookbooks that I want. Don't they look GREAT?!

• Delicious Jamaica: Vegetarian Cuisine - Yvonne McCalla Sobers
• Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African American Cuisine - Bryant Terry

Let me re-iterate that while I love animals, my purpose for this is to improve my quality of life and overall health. Whatever YOUR choice, whatever YOUR reasons for your current lifestyle I encourage you to live your best life...you only get one!





Toodles!

Look what I tried...

Shout out to my girl, tru_blu09 from BlackHairMedia.com, for the information and encouragement to try putting a bun in my hair. This was my first attempt ever at using one of those bun "thingies" and it turned out ok ...even though it's off centered. LOL I'm pretty happy with my initial effort!


I decided to give in and experiment last night since today is wash day (By the way - I've yet to do anything to my hair as of yet...and it's almost 3:30pm!)








Oh, and just in case one of you would like to give this a try, I used one of these bun rings:









And I followed this YouTube tutorial prepared by Marand313. I didn't use the oils, etc that she used because I used the "mesh" versus the styrofoam-like ring. Because of this I didn't see the need to worry about my hair drying out. That and it was only in while I ran out for ice cream late last night. :<)


Just wanted to share my joy. :<)



Toodles!

'And a little child shall lead them.' ....and so she did.

My daughter is so proud that I am no longer relaxing my hair. And I am so blessed to have her in my life.


A little background
As I mentioned in my first post here, my daughter is my natural hair inspiration. She is the inspiration for every change I've made in my life since she was born...since the moment I knew I was pregnant with her. I never fully grasped how much I could love a person before she came into my life. And now that she's here, there TRULY isn't anything I wouldn't do for her. So when she (at the age of 9) started to feel like her hair wasn't beautiful, that she wanted straight her like me (insert shocked face) so her father's family wouldn't treat her like she had "the worse hair in the whole house," (insert angry face) it was a split second decision for me. I was done with relaxers, in that moment! It was as simple as that.

I had always told her how beautiful her natural hair was (and it IS!), but I was sending her mixed messages. And when I realized it, I was filled with guilt! *tears* I was so angry with those members of her family that made her feel that way (anger is not even a strong enough word!!) and disappointed in myself. I thought that I could instill a pride of her natural hair in her while having my own relaxed without any problem at all...never even gave it a second thought. But when the rubber hit the road and "society" started to weigh on her she needed a mother that was leading by example. A mother that was "walking the walk" AND "talking the talk."

*Drifts off into thought*

I didn't even have a "good reason" to relax my hair to begin with. I've been on "auto pilot" since I was in middle school. It was just what I did. *shrugs shoulders* My hair was very different from my mother's fine multi-ethnic hair and she didn't have a clue what to do with it. So when my friends started getting relaxers she jumped all over it!! ...and my aunt jumped all over HER for "ruining that baby's hair!" I thought I was cool and loved it....until that summer day in 2008. As I sat there and listened to MY baby's heart breaking I realized it wasn't cool...at least not for me.

*Snaps out of daydream and continues the story*

Happily ever after? ....
Now, she LOVES her hair once again and REFUSES to let anyone flat iron it. I thought she would have "length issues" after her decision, but she has told me that she likes the way it shrinks and doesn't care if other people don't realize how long it is. She usually wears it in twists, styled when wet, so her BSL (bra strap length) hair shrinks up to her shoulders. Her classmates who are accustomed to seeing her with "long hair" say they love how "boingy" her hair is and they are always touching it. LOL Gotta love kids!

Neither of us have had direct heat on our hair since last summer. So here we are, approaching one year "post trauma", and we're as happy as two pigs playing in the mud. :<) I'm so proud of her I could just burst!!


My challenge to ALL mothers (and mothers-to-be):
Take some time to think about the messages you are sending your children, especially your daughter(s) about their hair and their beauty. PLEASE understand that I'm not judging anyone for their "styling" decisions, but for US, it was bigger than a "styling" choice. It was becoming an "esteem" issue and I wasn't having that!! Now, I have my daughter back and she believes me when I tell her that her hair is beautiful and that it's just the way God intended for it to be because He doesn't make mistakes. She knows that:

Good hair is healthy hair. Nothing more, nothing less!

Toodles!!

Friday Update!

I'm LOVING my transition! Love, Love, Love It!!!













Toodles!

Hair day adventures

I attempted my first ever flat twists on my hair this past wash day (Sunday). I was afraid it would look a HOT MESS considering how bad they looked when I was done...but it turned out ok.

What did I do?

• Shampoo'ed with Trader Joe's Nourish Spa
• Conditioned with Aussie Moist
• Sprayed hair with mix: aloe vera juice/rose water/wheat germ oil/Castor oil/glycerin/ACV(first time including it)
• Sealed hair with sweet almond oil and ends with shea butter
• Applied a quarter size amount of Giovanni's Direct Leave in throughout hair
• Applied Lustrasilk's Cholestorol + Shea butter & Mango as my styling cream
• Forgot to add my Chi Silk Infusion so I spritzed my finished twists with Chi 44 Iron Guard as a heat protectant in case I needed to sit under my Pibbs Kwik Dryer before bed...and I did.

Here are some pics of the HORRIBLE looking flat twists I did...be gentle, it really was my first time. Oh..and try to overlook all the gray. I definitely need to order some henna ASAP! LOL

And here is the finished product. Not too bad for my first time...if I must say so myself. Don't ask what I was thinking with the front...I still don't know. LOL I'm working on that.

My body is a temple

That is one of the things that my natural hair journey has helped me to realize. No... scratch that it, it has helped me to REMEMBER that my body is a temple. Yes, that is a better word. Not only am I changing what I put into my body, but I'm being more mindful of how I treat it and the care I take of it.

Last week I began training for a 5k run as a means of exercise, but then I decided to actually enter and run a 5k .... I'm SO excited!! The first day was kinda tough, but after fighting through it (in the rain I might add!) I was THRILLED and so very proud of myself. I'm using the Podrunner Intervals: First Day to 5k program. It can also be directly downloaded from the podcasts section of iTunes and is completely free. Big thank you to AfroAwesome of Nappturality.com for telling me about this!

Check it out! I hope you love it as much as I do.

If you've never run before, or are returning to running after a long hiatus, this series is designed to take you from your first day to a full 5K (3.2-mile) run in just 9 weeks (plus a bonus "graduation mix").

...now to buy new running shoes.


Toodles!