Natural Beauty spotlight - Kara from LA!

Kara is my natural beauty inspiration of the week. I love her retro style, vibrant colors and gorgeous hair. Kara keep being you.... cause it works!

My "Hair Bible"

When I started my loc journey, I was on the hunt for any and all the information I could find on hair maintenance, loc styles, the loc'd and deadlock community and more! I was happy that I was able to find wealth of information on the Internet. But shocked and saddened that mainstream publications pretty much ignored or didn't acknowledge women or men with dreadlocks / loc’s.



Once in a while, I would see an article in Essence Magazine featuring a loc style. Or there might be a featured article in an African American hair magazine. But that’s it. In a world where straight hair is the ultimate goal - all I saw when I opened magazines where tips, tricks, products and every idea imaginable on how to get, keep and maintain long straight hair. For quite a while I felt as if society did not value the beauty of loc'd hair. So I decided that I had to move passed that desire, for everyone to see the beauty in natural hair, which I saw. For some, that day may never come. But one of the challenges of having loc'd hair is being able to love your crown of hair, no matter what any one else has to say. From that point on - I decided to make my own "hair bible" as I like to call them. Over the years I have collected photo, articles, how-to guides, recipes, maintenance idea's, inspirational stories and lots of information on dreadlock / loc accessories and styles.



I treated these binders as my own source of information, guidance and inspiration. If I ever felt lost about my choice to be natural or if I feel like I am own my own... all I have to do is open up one of my binders and look at all of the information I have put together. It took time, love and patience. I hope that in the future, we can pick up a mainstream publication like Elle, Vogue or W Magazine, and see someone that looks like us throughout the magazine. Until then, I will continue to add to my own collection of amazing pictures, articles and stores sharing knowledge, and more.

Tight & Curly by Teri

I found this great site called Tightly Curly Hair by a woman named Teri. Why would I be looking at a website for woman with curly hair?... you ask. Well it's simple, I have two daughters that are mulit-cultural, and they have big curly hair. We have tons of products at home, but still have not found that perfect combination of shampoo and conditioner for them.

So often, instead of them having these big beautiful curls, they walk around with curly puff balls for hair (here is a picture if my little ones with their hair down).

It's cute, but I know it can be better. I am still learning. So for me, websites like Teri's are godsends. I look forward to learning more about what products to look for what will work best for my girls. Something that will keep the curls formed and keep their hair moisturized.

I am so looking forward to checking out a website called Mixed Chicks: http://www.mixedchicks.net , a website by Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge.

Feel free to offer suggestions or share you experience with curly hair.

Five stages of Dreads / Loc's

Five stages of loc'ing your hair from the book "Nice Dreads" by author Lonnice Brittenum Bonner.

Here are the 5 stages of a loc's/dreads:

1. Coils — Coils resemble tightly coiled springs that look like baby spirals and can be as small as a watch spring or fluid and loose as fusilli. Hair can be as short or as long as one likes. The key factor here is that your hair is able to form and hold a coil, but the hair within the coil has not yet begun to intertwine or mesh.

2. Sprouts and Buds — Known as Sprouting or Budding in that miraculous moment when the magic has begun. First, you shampoo your hair and notice that all of a sudden, the coils don't all wash out like they used to. You may notice that some of your coils have little knots of hair in them, about the size of a small pea. This knot is more or less the nucleus of each lock; the hairs in your coils have begun to intertwine and interlace. Individual coils may seem puffy and lose their tightly coiled shape; this is part of the process and shouldn't be disturbed. What is important here is to keep the original scalp partings, to allow the spinning process to become established for each individual lock. Don't redivide your budding locks, twist them to death, or get to patting them down, trying to make your hair look "nice," because you'll just end up with a badly packed, busted-out do.

3. Teen or Locking Stage — This is when the buds and sprouts truly begin to look like locks and few, if any, locks shampoo out or come out during sleep. The peas you saw and felt in the budding stage have expanded, and the hair has spun into a network of intertwining strands that extend throughout the length of individual locks. The locks may be soft and pliable or feel loosely meshed, according to your hair's texture. This is the growing stage of lock development, and it extends into the lock's mature stage. Shampooing doesn't loosen these locks. They have dropped, which means they have developed enough to hang down versus defying gravity. This is when you start to relax and feel more confident about locking.

4. Mature Stage — Each individual lock is firmly meshed or tightly interwoven. Some loosely coiled hair textures may retain a small curl or coil at the end of the locks, but most will probably be closed at the ends. You will begin to see consistent growth because each lock has intertwined and contracted into a cylindrical shape. Think of each individual lock as a hair strand in itself. The new growth is contained in the loose hair at the base or root of each individual lock, and regular grooming encourages it to spin into an intertwined coil that will be integrated with the lock.

5. Beyond Maturity — Think of this stage as akin to the shedding stage of hair growth. After many years, depending on the care you have lavished on your locks, some locks may begin to thin and break off at the ends. For the most part, this deterioration can be minimized and controlled by monitoring the ends of your locks for signs of age and getting regular trims.

Joshua Humphries

Joshua Humphries is one of my favorite artist. His use of pencil, shading and color are fabulous. He is a very talanted artist. Check him out at http://www.myspace.com/bigdreadnauts

Natural hair perks!

I really believe that woman are beautiful no matter what. If you want to rock an amazing weave and it makes you feel good - then do it. If you want to be natural because that's what makes you feel good - then more power to you! Women come in all sizes, shapes and forms. Loc's, braids, curls, straight hair and extension's... 

But, I really want to be a source of encouragement for those of us that have chosen a more natural route. So I want to list a few of the perks of being natural and or having Loc's / Dreads: 

• No more expensive, time consuming, bi-weekly hair appointments.
• No more painful chemical burns, flat iron burns or damaging chemicals on my hair.
• No more freaking out when it rains, when I sweat or every time the wind blows.
• No more obsessing about how straight my hair is and hating it when my edges are not perfectly straight.
• No more trying to fit into the ideal image of beauty.
• No more bad weaves... lol 
• And no more comparing my hair to the next person.

It's very free'ing to not have to do any of this stuff, or worry about any of these things any more. It was a daily battle that I no longer have. I feel more liberated than I have ever felt in a long time. 

How about you?!?  If you have natural hair, what are some of the perks that you have because of it?

Amazing photo...

One of my Facebook friends had this amazing photo and I wanted to share it. I think this is supermodel Liya Kebede. Just beautiful...