“Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody. Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different.”
-Martin Luther King
Vatika Oil is enriched coconut oil infused with other natural herbs. It contains lemon oil, henna, and amla, which is a hair nutrition that works to prevent graying and hair breakage. It provides moisture and softness as well as helping to lessen the amount of breakage and shedding. I finally copped a bottle thanks to my older sister, Debbie, who made a trip to the Indian Store and picked one up for me. She, like many others, loves the benefits that she has been noticing in her hair. I tried it for the first time today and I definitely think it won’t be too long until I fall in love with it too. The smell was…different, but definitely not foul. It’s not sweet nor is it nutty like most of the other products I use, which is not a bad thing. I implemented it into my moisturizing routine and I must say my hair seems to be responding very well to it and my hair feels softer than usual.
“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself.”
Henry Ward Beecher
This weekend while shopping in Target and walking through the beauty aisles, I was enlightened that Shea Moisture extends it’s products past just hair care to body/facial products. Amongst the butters, lotions, and scrubs were several choices of bar soaps all ranging at $4.99 each. Since their Coconut Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie works so well for my hair I decided to try the Coconut Hibiscus Bar Soap. It’s a ‘brightening and toning bar’ which I suppose is to help you achieve even toned, glowing skin. I have been using it for about 4 days now and I think it’s working great. Of course, it’s too early to notice any drastic changes but I’m loving it so far. The smell is fine although I don’t think it has the same delectable smell as the hair smoothie. It has a rich lather and feels smooth and refreshing. It leaves my skin looking fresh, feeling soft, and smelling great. I also looove the fact that the ingredients are au natural, exempting any harmful or unneccessary products.
The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up.
~Charles L. Morgan
The other day while at work I was engaged in a conversation with one of my coworkers about ways people can prepare themselves to become better competitors for employment opportunities. She began to give examples of how people can be more presentable in professional environments during an interview; a firm handshake, proper attire, an impressive resume, and a clean neat haircut whereby she deemed dreads as ‘inappropriate.’ I was taken aback. Not long ago, I was reading an article about a boy who was refused from a school because of his locs despite the fact that he was more than qualified to attend. Descrimination at it’s finest. Personally, I believe whether his dreads were an extension of his religious beliefs or not, he still has the right to style his natural hair in dread locs and not have them define him. Dreads are not only an extension of religion, it’s also an extension of CULTURE and that is something that no one has the right to take away or frown upon. I could see more with my co worker if she had said ‘neatly styled dreads’ but she eliminated dreads altogether. She just associated it unprofessionalism right off the top. Why? Dread locs are a form of styling for natural black hair and it’s been worn since the biblical days. There are plenty of professional intelligent successful black men and women who wear their hair in dreads and hold noteworthy positions. It must be a result of ignorance when it comes to our culture or maybe more so a result of rejecting our culture.
What we feed our hair on a daily basis can also be beneficial to skin. In fact, many of the products I use double as hair care products and skin care products. Afterall, NATURAL products have multiple remedial uses not limited to hair care. Here I’ve listed a few of my favorite natural products and the methods to which I use them for both hair and skin.
Olive Oil: Olive oil, which is one of the most important oils in my hair care regimen,is known for it’s moisturizing, softening, and growing abilities but the skin also loves the fact that it’s filled with antioxidant, Vitamin E, which makes it a wonderful candidate to apply to face after washing or applying to skin after showering for glowing skin.
For Hair: Apply to hair to seal in moisture and/or apply to deep treatments and conditioners to enhance them and to stretch them so they last longer.
For Skin: After showering, without toweling, apply oilive oil on skin to seal in moisture to skin. It leaves skin glowing and soft to the touch and is also recommended for stretch marks. It is also great as a face moisturizer after washing for the same effect.
Castor Oil: Castor Oil is a natural vegetable oil that is very frequently used in medicine and cosmetics due to it’s wide range of advantageous properties.
For Hair: Apply to ends and hairline to thicken weak or thin hair.
For Skin: Use as a facial cleanser. Also referred to as the oil cleansing method, involves applying castor oil to a dry face. Message the oil into your skin for about a minute. You can also mix the castor oil with other natural oils such as olive oil, which is great for moisturizing. Next, wet a rag with hot water and place over face to allow steam to open pores. Gently wipe the castor oil from face with warm rag. You will look fresh faced and your skin will appear to be glowing, not to mention soft to the touch.
Honey: Honey is a humectant which draws moisture fom the atmosphere. When applied to hair it draws moisture and binds it the hair shaft, ideal for thick, kinky, curly and/or damaged hair. It also leaves hair looking shiny and feeling soft. It is a natural homectant and is full of antioxidants which makes it ideal for healthy luminous skin.
For Hair: Apply to deep treatments or mix with your ordinary conditioner to enhance and stretch it.
For Skin: Use as a facial mask. I use it when I exfoliate by mixing it with brown sugar and rubbing it all over my face. After I have messaged and scrubbed the mixture entirely, I then wash with luke warm water. * I hear that this mixture is also great for scalp exfoliating which is when you rub the mixture on the entirity of your scalp and then rinse before washing. This does the same thing that it does for the face by removing dead skin and allowing hair to grow out of a cleansed scalp.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.
Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
- Helen Keller
O what we do for the sake of healthy hair! We’ve created a community based on the love of our hair and the quest to optimally care for it by educating each other. We take the knowledge learned and abide by them, unquestionably, in hopes of attaining lustrous strong locks. We firmly stay clear of ingredients in which we’ve learned just simply don’t have our hair’s best interest in mind. Adapting to what seems like a new world of hair care is at first very challenging but we indubitably abide. Sadly this same firm commitment often does not carry over into the health of our bodies. We don’t spend hours researching the best ways to care for it and we most definitely don’t stay clear of all the things we undeniably know certainly don’t have our health as an interest. Sadly, I am guilty of this too. Ironically, myself and many others who are committed to the health of their hair, knows that what we put into our bodies manifests itself outside. Having a healthy diet is beneficial to your overall health and will make itself evident through our hair, nails, and skin. We know this all too well which is why we take pills such as biotin, prenatal, and b-complex vitamins. But just imagine what other transformations would take place if we drank more water, excercised more often (or any at all), and ate healthy foods such as carrots and berries.
Water, for obvious reasons is healthy, and it’s hydrating advances help skin look its best while assisting with the provision of transportation of nutrients. Lack of water intake can be disadvantageous in ways that may not be overtly noticeable. It’s reported by many women that a healthy intake of water helps the growth and overall health of hair. That is not hard to believe seeing as water is the most important ingredient needed to moisturize our hair. What’s even more interesting is that dehydration causes the parts of the body that require water for survival to utilize whatever water is available, leaving parts such as the scalp to go without. A dehydrated scalp is obviously incondusive to healthy hair.
Excercising is not only good for toning but it’s a known fact that it improves self esteem, reduces stress, and advances mental outlook. Not only that, but it also has beneficial affects for hair and skin. Excersing increases blood flow that carries oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. Anything that allows for healthy circulation throughout the body results in improved skin condition. The scalp is part of your skin and therefore, the hair will benefit from the increased blood circulation and increased nutrient flow.
Healthy foods such as carrots and berries provide much needed nutrients that aide in healthy hair and skin. They are full of antioxidants amongst other things that fight against free radicals and the oxidation of cells. Therefore, incorporatin these nutrients into your diet is advicable and also essential to truly acheive healthy beautiful skin and hair.
As I get further into my natural hair journey I am increasingly more AWARE of my diet and the things that are labeled ‘good’ vs. not ’good’ for my body. Although I have become more aware of these things I haven’t made any real committment towards it. Subtle changes Yes, but real committment No.Why is it that it seems even more difficult to commit to a healthy diet when we have already decidingly made a complete 360 degree change in our hair care so readily? It shows that the problem is not the lack of capability to commit. Surely our hair can’t be more important than our bodies.