So excited, my new find!!!

Hey everyone!! *waves*

As the title indicates, I have some pretty exciting news to share. But first, I'd like to formerly introduce you to my new lover....

(oops, sorry about the glare)

Yes...that is a Tangle Teezer and not a man. *sigh...but I digress* lol   As I sit here bored tonight, I convinced myself to get off my butt and do "something." I ended up spraying half my hair with water and playing with my new purchase.  On Christmas Eve I wandered out to Sally Beauty Supply and picked up two. One in bright pink for me and one in a sparkly purple for my daughter (her favorite color).  For my BHM ladies...yes, I'm still buying in 2's. lol 


I took a few pics of it with my Palm Pre Plus so you all could take a good look at it. (Yes, the settings are still wonky on my real camera and I keep forgetting to take it to the camera shop...le sigh)

Ok, now that I've got the pics posted, let me tell y'all.... HONEEEEEEY, this thing is THE BIZNESS!! I seriously HEART this detangler. And I know I said I wanted to marry and have the babies of my last conditioner, but er umm....that was before the Tangle Teezer entered my life. lol  

Seriously though, this is AWESOME. Despite purchasing two...I'll admit, I had some reservations. Afterall, did you LOOK at the teeth on this thing? 

BUT, I was pleasantly surprised!  It didn't tug on my hair AT ALL and I'm working with some frizzy, tangled hair today y'all.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I've just been lounging around on the couch for the greater part of the day, sipping on hot chocolate and enjoying the visions of snow from the window.  That is, when I wasn't throwing a hat on my head so that I could walk the dog without freezing....but yet again, I digress. lol   The Tangle Teezer was very gentle with my hair strands...shocking to say, given the looks of it. It did a wonderful job of removing shed hair...and nothing more!

I parted my hair down the middle with my fingers, sprayed it with water from my handy-dandy water bottle and went at it. Of course I went straight for my ends, fully expecting to do battle, but...no. It just slid through.  I thought to myself ...

Then, I moved up the shaft of my hair...each time, the Tangle Teezer sure enough teezed itself through my tresses.  At this point, I'm getting pretty excited (sad, but true LOL) so I eagerly continued on! Keep in mind, I didn't apply any conditioner for this. I only wet my hair, which was styled 6 days ago with Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk and argan oil.

I can't wait until my daughter gets back from her sleepover so I can try the sparkly purple one on her hair!! She had already given it the side eye before she left. I could tell what she was thinking....

But she's going to be shocked and amazed just like I was!!

So for anyone on the fence about purchasing this, run and get it RIGHT now!! Ok...well, wait until morning for the store to open...or until your local/state department of transportation clears your street of snow, which ever is applicable for you. Either way, GET IT! You certainly won't regret spending the $9.99 on this.  I give the Tangle Teezer the following rating:

....Oh and if you decide to get one (or two), please let me know what you think of it!!

 Toodles!!

I know Christmas is technically over, but...

I love this video. My daughter shared it with me yesterday and it made me smile... and laugh. After I found myself watching it again today, I figured I'd share it with you all.   Enjoy!  ( Pause the music on the music player on the far right first in order to fully appreciate the video).

Happy Holidays!!!

Hello everyone!

Once again, the holiday season is upon us and I wanted to take the time to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!   It is my prayer that you enjoy time with your family and friends and remember the true reason for the season. Gifts are wonderful, but LOVE is everlasting. I am grateful and thankful for the love of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and I am humbled by His grace and mercy every day!

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.  It just feels soooo good to make sure the people I care for feel especially loved, that is always my heart's task. Not necessarily to buy loads of expensive gifts, but thoughtful ones that are packaged and delivered with loving intent.

So my Christmas wish for each of you is simple....LOVE. And I'll give you a free tip -  the best way to receive love, is to give it away first. Tell your friends and family members that you love them, don't assume the gift speaks for you or that he/she already knows. Tell them, hug them, and celebrate your love this season and always.

To my natural hair family, I love you ALL! Thank you for the bonds of genuine friendship we have formed, for the hair product tips you have shared, for taking this journey with me and for trying to talk me out of buying (yet another) bottle of conditioner! LOL

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas and ......

  Toodles!! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish you all a happy and blessed Thanksgiving!  On this day we tend to share with one another the things that we are thankful for, so I won't deter from tradition.

OMJ's Thankful List

1.  My salvation - Thank you JESUS

2.  Little OMJ - my daughter

3.  Those who love me

4. Those who've paved the way for me

5. The soldiers who sacrifice to ensure and maintain my safety  - Thank YOU!

Now...because I HAD to do it.   Here are the hair products/tools that I'm most thankful for:

OMJ's Thankful List - Natural Hair Remix

1. Henna

2. My SalonsRUs Hair Steamer

3. Hercules Sagemann Seamless combs

4. Cone Free Conditioners - too many to name!

5. Coconut & Argan Oil (yea...I cheated )

And it's a given that I'm so very thankful for my My Natural Hair Family!! Love you all! 

Toodles!

Random Post - Much growth for a year and a half?

I was playing around with Giovanni foam on my wash and go the other day and posted the pics on Twitter. Well, tonight I was going through some old pics and found some I had taken a few weeks after my Big Chop.  I guess it's a fair amount of growth, it's difficult for me to judge.  Granted, shrinkage IS a beast. lol My bottom layers are currently at bra strap length, as I've shown you in pics before.

At any rate, what do you think...good amount of growth for a year and a half?  My Big Chop was May 24, 2009.
                       
                                                                   June 7, 2009

                                                               November 21, 2010

Toodles!

Be the change you want to see in the world!!!

*Please pause the music player to your right before watching*





Mahatma Gandhi said a mouthful, didn't he???  And there's NOTHING like the love a parent has for their child to inspire one to do just that!!!  I can speak from experience and so can Joseph Mazzarino, puppeteer and Sesame Street writer.  Joseph and his wife adopted a little girl from Ethiopia. For me, this isn't about a white father and his black daughter.  This story is about a father's unconditional love for his child and his charge to make her emotional world a safer place.

 I thoroughly enjoyed watching this interview and hearing his sensitivity to his child's needs, it warmed my heart. And y'all know how I feel about the kids loving their natural hair!

As an aside... 

I know that there are some people who are complaining about his song/video. Some have gone as far as to accuse this father of taking the puppet from wearing her afro in the beginning to wearing extensions at the end where she has long braids.    CLEARLY the persons who are saying this do not wear their hair in its natural state or such foolishness would not have been uttered. SHRINKAGE is real, we all know. How many of you have seen the beautiful Little Miss A. from beadsbraidsbeyond.blogspot.com ? Do you see how long her braids and twists are in comparison to her hair in its shrunken state?? - while GORGEOUS all the while!

* PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT* 

People...we need to do better than the comments we are making in regard to a man, who's only "crime" is working to ensure that his child's self-esteem does not suffer at the hands of society's ignorance.

As a parent who's natural hair journey began from a similar place, as the one which sparked Joseph's actions,  I applaud and thank him whole heartedly!

Toodles!

Thinking about Youtube and other things....

Hi Everyone!




[Photo source]


During my hiatus I was thinking about making YouTube vids....but I'm feeling some kinda way about spreading my face across the world just now. LOL I was talking with my friend, SarenzoBeads (<=check out her site!!) on twitter yesterday about this and I think I've come to a conclusion.

I've learned soooooooo much since I began this natural journey back in May of 2008 and I really enjoy helping other people...thus, the reason why I was considering YT vids. I was once INSANELY active in the natural hair forum at BlackHairMedia, but I've been away for some time now. I genuinely LOVE those ladies! I learned so much of what I know there and spent a lot of time "giving back" to that community. Side Note: I plan to return there very soon, but I know I have to have hair pics or I'll get run out of Dodge. LOL

I had initially created this blog as a sounding board of sorts, just to share how my journey had impacted my life (my evolution to organic skin care and a raw vegan lifestyle, etc) . However, in lieu of making videos (cause I'm scurred lol), I plan to share the knowledge I've acquired right here...in addition to the personal piece reflecting the changes in my life. I've recently become re-energized as it relates to my online natural hair family. I have sincerely missed "my girls" so it's time for me to make my way "home" to BHM.

Just wanted to chat with you all a little bit about the things on my mind and the path I'd like to take with NaturalSunshine. I like the idea of picture tutorials. That might be a middle ground for me...until I get over my "stage fright."

Until then, take a look at the Natural Hair 101 thread I compiled over on BlackHairMedia a few years ago (WOW, time has flown!). It contains some extremely helpful and encouraging information and really is a great foundation to build from! It's even beneficial for the vets out there! I hope that it serves as a trusted resource for you. Be blessed!




Toodles!

REMIX!!...you knew it was coming sooner or later! LMBO

WHY did I just find this on YouTube? And why do I love it? bwahahahahaha

*As always, pause the music player first - in the bar to your right* Enjoy...I did!

PRICELESS!!

Toodles!

*twirls around & sings - I LOVE MY HAAAAIIIR!*

*Please pause the music player in order to fully appreciate the video - in the bar to your right*




I know a lot of you have likely seen this already, but I just had to post it!! I came across this video via Twitter the other day and my daughter and I have been singing the song almost none stop ever since!! I just love it, love it, love it!! Sesame Street gets much respect from me for this!! Y'all already know how I feel about kids and their natural hair...after all that's why I began my natural hair journey.


So even if you've seen it already, click on the video and sing it ONE MORE TIME!! *dances around singing at the top of my lungs*





Toodles!

... *smiles*

Hi lovelies!!!

Ok, yea...I've been MIA... again. lol I'm not even going to start with the excuses and promises anymore, BUT I am sincerely apologetic for being away. Charge it to my head and not my heart, you know I love y'all.

At any rate, I am here to share a new find with you! I'm UBER excited about it too! I was recently in the Dollar Store and picked up an 180z bottle of White Rain Tropical Coconut condish by accident. I thought it was Suave...until I got home. Weeeell, once I realized it I was bummed and just threw it in my "hair" closet. It was only $1 and not worth returning, I felt.





Fast Forward a few weeks later >> I fell into a slump and didn't wash my hair for over a week. (Yes...I know) It was frizzy and tangled ...le sigh. So for some reason I grabbed this bottle of mojo and decided to detangle my hair with it prior to co-washing in the shower. << That was my reaction! LOL This stuff MELTED...did you hear me?? MELTED the tangles away!

I am OFFICIALLY in love with this condish and plan to have it's babies. LMBO Before I mentioned it publicly, I decided to try it out again - to see if I'd get the same results. Sure did! I haven't co-washed with it (yet), but I'll bet it would work great in that regard. The slip is AMAAAAZING. Once I applied it to my hair the comb just slid through my hair with such ease... like a warm knife in butter.

Prior to this I was a fan of using Kinky Curly's Knot Today as a detangler, but as most of you know that stuff is a bit too expensive to "waste" (in my opinion) as a detangler. Especially when I can get 18oz of this for $1 and it works just as fabulously!




(hehe...I'm such a dork)



Give it a try and tell me what you think! I hope it works as well for you!!!




Toodles!

Dropping in to say hi...

Summer is over, I'm back at work - refreshed and ready to serve!! I decided to come into work today and get some things done, but what am I doing instead? Taking hair pics! LOL *ashamed* Weeeeell, since I've taken them I might as well post them...right?

I'm particularly pleased with my hair today, it's FIFTH day hair. I used Kinky Curly Curling Custard over Tresemme Naturals (the no cone one - LOVE that condish!) and let it air dry as usual. Now, of course it's a little flat in some places in the morning so I lightly spritz it with water each day and shake. Usually my hair gets bigger and bigger each day as I spritz an old wash and go (which I LOVE), but KCCC makes my curls shrink up more than any other gel so it's no where near as fluffy on day 5. But it's ok I guess, I like it. You'll see the left side is fluffier than the right...guess I didn't shake hard enough. lol I might just fluff it with my hand in a minute.

At any rate, here's my hair today. I'm glad I decided to give KCCC another try, not too shabby.

The first picture is the left side, the second is the right side and the bottom pic is the back. All pics can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Oh wait...let me give you a length shot. Shrinkage is the devil, let me tell you! This is today, I'm BSL (Bra Strap Length), right? If you look closely you can see my black bra strap because my blouse is pretty sheer (click on pics to enlarge). I'm thinking about cutting it though. Haven't made up my mind yet, but I want a different look and I don't really care about the length all that much. It's just cool to watch it grow.

Alright, I'm outta here...time to get some work done. For real this time! LOL Oh, but lemme tell you...it was rough trying to take this pic by myself!! Thankfully I remembered I could take pics with my MacBook, it has that little timer feature... I was getting no where fast with my Palm Pre Plus! hahaha





Toodles!

Some random hair pics :<)

Hi everyone! *waves to all*

I took these last week and since I can't sleep...I thought I'd come on here and post them. Nothing spectacular, I was just lounging around in my sarong (Man, I love this thing! lol ) after washing my hair and decided to take some pics. Problem is, I've screwed up the settings on my real camera and it's too complicated for me to figure out what I've done...AGAIN! *ashamed to admit this* Soooo, these were taken with my Palm Pre Plus.

At any rate, here ya go...random hair pics. July 24th will make 14 months natural!! I'm still extremely happy with my decision. (You can click on each to enlarge- if you're bored. LOL)

Toodles!

PLEASE watch, act and share!

(Please pause the music player first- in the bar to your right)


This story broke my heart and enraged me simultaneously! Please don't sit idly by and do nothing. This family needs support, show your love. And if you know a great legal mind, please be certain to share this with him or her, as well as everyone else that you come in contact with. They need all the support they can get.

Be blessed...and be a blessing!

Oh how I love my fuzzy hair today!!

Sitting here at work and decided to play with Photo Booth... look what happened!


Yes, it's frizzy and yes it's bushy today, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! I decided to experiment a bit this morning and put two flat twists in the front. It's kinda cute...but my flat twisting skills are weak. hahaha Hey it's Friday, who cares? LOL I love how the light from my office window shines through it...it sorta looks like a lion's mane. Me likey!

Here are a few more, the quality isn't so great but I was just playing around anyway. I'll post "real" hair pics next week...shrinkage is a mug, but it's all good!



And yes, I know I need to get my brows done. *ashamed* Hmm, maybe I'll smooth my edges next time (Dang, I'm all on the internet looking a hot mess lol) . I don't know...I kinda like it this way. I just spritzed the front of my hair with water and twisted it without much thought.




Toodles!