Protecting Hair from the Sun- Healthy Hair Tip

As summer approaches its the perfect season to allow our hair to flow free and there are alot of style options. My personal favorite is the wash and go. mainly because its quick and easy and only requires a little effort.

However you should at all costs try to avoid over exposing your natural hair to the sun in order to maintain healthy hair. Heat damaged hair is much more suceptible to sun damage as is color treated hair. Unprotected hair may be suceptible to breakage due to the harsh UV rays.

For that reason, I highly suggest using a good leave in conditioner that contains a sunscreen to lock in the moisture and help nourish dry hair.

Other important things for protecting your hair in the summer sun are to try to avoid using excessive heat methods such as the blow dryer, curling irons and glat irons. Protect your hair by wearing hats or scarfs and by using protective styling!

So I got to see my hair straight for the first time in months Here it is! I didn't fall totally off the wagon, didn't violate any of the rules I had set for myself.... no flat iron, no blow dryer.

Basically what I did was rollerset my hair on large magnetic rollers.
Products used- the Design Essentials naturals line, shampoo'd and conditioned my hair, leave-in condition, coconut oil, wrap lotion (Jane Carter wrap and roll).

After My rollerset I wrapped my hair then covered it in saran wrap to smooth it out. Here it is! Its exciting to see my growth. Lovin how healthy my hair looks but I must admit I am missing my curls! :)

Corporate & Curly- an oxymoron?

This seems to be a recurring subject for me I spoke about it before as a response to a Vlog posted by
CurlyCrazyfulLeah on youtube about Natural Hair and the perception of Professionalism. I work in corporate America and have forever. I have been natural the whole time, always flat ironing/ straightening my hair, pulling it back into a bun or ponytail to keep it "professional" and conservative because I was afraid of how I would be perceived in Corporate America and that I would not be taken seriously.

In this last year as I have 'gone curly' I have begun to embrace my curls 24/7 including in Corporate America. I've found that its not Corporate America/ White America that has placed judgement on me for my hair. In fact its been quite the opposite. I receive compliments consistently on my hair the love my curls. What I fail to understand is why it is so difficult for the black community to embrace our natural hair, not saying that everyone should go natural. What I am saying is that I have been judged more by my own people than by any other people. My own father constantly asks when are you going to comb your hair? Do you think that looks professional?.... The remarks continue week after week. What I have learned to do is to just laugh to myself at the ignorance of some people, whip my hair and walk away! :)

I find that with work I am more conservative with styling my hair and experiment more on the weekend which I would do even if I were wearing my hair straight honestly. Attending Fro Fashionweek in Atlanta last week I saw such beautiful styles with twists and braids I was inspired to come home and do some protective styling of my own. I twisted my hair in two strand twists and have been rocking them all week, getting lots and lots of compliments along the way. So this week I am "totally twisted". I'll be posting my Totally Twisted Corporate Friendly Protective style at http://www.youtube.com/kurlygirl08

fro fashionweek bloggers panel review

So I arrived at Fro Fashion week shortly after breakfast and went straight to the Bloggers Panel. I got some video of the intros and will include in my recap on the vlog. But so far its really interesting.
Panelists shared info about their blogs how they got started what their blogs are about, how they got started...then they shared their hairstories and spoke about how and why they went natural and how their journey has been. Their stories range from one blogger who had been natural for 11 years to a blogger that had been natural for 1. Their stories were vey inspirational and motivational. The next topic
is the state of the black blogger and how black bloggers are received or rather not received, and went on to discuss suggestions on building a following to you blog. It was pretty consistent feedback
1. focus on creating solid content and don't focus on your numbers
2. involve yourself in social media as a form of marketing your blog
3. network with other bloggers

Other topics discussed included how to make your blog more esthetically pleasing; Blogging vs. Vlogging; and I asked about cross marketing when you run multiple blogs. BTW have you visited my other blog... http://makeupbykeikei.blogspot.com/ . This was an excellent discussion and very informative, culminating in a drawing for a giveaway from Shea Moisture and some samples from Komaza Care, which incase you didn't know is my personal favorite! exciting great things!!!!

After the panel there was mixing and mingling with some new curlfriends and even a discussion with Michelle Breyer co-founder of Naturallycurly.com about her journey.

Far from over, but so far Fro Fashionweek gets 2 thumbs up! Great event Tarin. Oh yea, I almost forgot. I met TashiraMone, one of my favorite hair vloggers and got to see her new Devacut! Ahmazing!!!!