New York Wash Day

        My trip to New York is nearly concluded. It has been a roller coaster with more ups than downs. My best friend completed  the TACP indoctrination course (so proud!), I partied with Beyonce at Dave & Busters (thanks to my talented cousins), reconnected with family members and a friend. Got more familiar with an "adopted" family. I nearly drove myself crazy driving to different New York City boroughs but I spent time with loved ones.

        This trip really motivated me to become a better me. "Be the change that you wish to see in the world" I believe this starts at home. I want 2014 to be different and better than 2013 (obviously).

         Remember how eager I was to wash in soft water!? Well I've been loving it. I took an opportunity to give my hair a chance to feel the soft water. I didn't bring many hair products, (the ones I brought, I didn't want to use) so I borrowed a lot of the items listed below:

• Prepoo with Hello Hydration and Organix Renewing Moroccan Argan Oil
• Shampooed with Dove Shampoo
• Rinsed
• Cream of Nature Moisture Extreme Conditioner for five minutes
• Rinsed
• Towel, then t-shirt dried for an hour
• Applied Beautiful Textures Moisture Butter Whipped Curl Cream and argon oil mixed with my oil mix, section by section. Divided my hair in four and divided each section into four as well. And I proceeded to two strand twist my hair.
• Left the twists in over 24 hours. The last two hours I added two flexirods.
• I untwisted in the car because I was ready for big hair!

       My hair felt excellent. I need to continue using Beautiful Texture. Two days later, I don't know what to put in my hair to moisturize it. I originally picked up Beautiful Texture moisturizer for myself, but I decided to add it to one of my sisters gifts. I had a ball buying her a good handful of hair products. I actually can't wait for her to tell me what is hit or miss.

Happy Holiday's Everyone!

Aku

Bantu Knots for New York!

     12/13/13

       So I'm going to New York. I decided to wash and super deep condition my hair before my flight tomorrow. I was torn between flat ironing my tresses or doing a flexirod set OR Bantu knots. The commonality was I wanted my roots stretched.

12/16/13
       I opted for jumbo knots and I flat ironed the roots a half hour before I left. I will be in NY for almost two weeks. I CAN NOT WAIT TO BATHE IN SOFT WATER!

•  This wash I prepooed
• Clarified using ORS Creamy Aloe
• Deep conditioned for at least three hours. Neutragena Hair Mask and a little KeraPro Restorative Treatment 
• In the last 40 minutes, I added my Jazzing Clear Rinse. 
• T-shirt dried for two hours or so
• Giovanni Direct Leave-In and my oil mix to detangle. 
• 40 minutes to detangle and my hair ball was small
• Applied a few Bantu knots. I always accidentally made the knots bigger in the back. I always seem to do that,  I hate how the curls compare to the curls in the front. 

My curls look so luscious here

       Left them in over night and the back didn't dry completely. How do I salvage this? Loose bun. Before removing all the knots I sat under my heating cap for twenty minutes. 

      OMG if I knew I was going to New York this month, I would have went to the Dominicans to get my hair touched-up. I'm even debating on getting a corrective relaxer. It has been 4 weeks...I need a hair analysis because I don't know what to do.

     Lately I've been reading about women whose trouble area is their crown and the back of their hair has a life of it's own. I've even started saying the same thing about my hair. BUT I never had an issue with breakage or rough roots at the crown until I stopped getting my hair done at the salon.

      Yes, I wanted to be a DIY lady, but not at the cost of my hair. I honestly feel it's too late (here I go again), and I just have to suck it up and keep going with this self-texlax stuff.

This is my current stash, pre-New York! Shampoos to the left,conditioners in the middle, treatments next then leave-ins and serums. I finished and gave away many products this year. Down to 25 products give or take. Missing my staple
shampoo and a legit moisturizer. 

After two planes and a half hour car ride. My hair
was a wild mess. I didn't mind it at all, however it
was dry. Just dry, like I didn't deep condition
 for 3 hours. 

Can you all see how laid my hair was. LAID TO THE GWADS! Nov. 2012

        I need a moisturizer ASAP. It's cold out here. Last week my weather was a high of 20 and low single digits. The moment I leave, it's mid 40's and 30's all week. Now in New York it looks there will be two-four inches of snow tomorrow. Looks like a homework day to me. 

        Back to moisturizers, so far I have Cantu Shea Butter Creamy Hair Lotion, One 'n Only Argan Oil Curl Cream, Hawaiian Silky Miracle Worker and Neutragena Triple Moisture Silk Touch. I want to buy them all! Going to pick up a liter of Giovanni shampoo from TJ Maxx. Perhaps I'll look into a holding product. 

What do you guys think about the moisturizers I chose?

PeaceANDlove

Aku

Week 2 Blog Entry

Hi Readers,

       I am currently enrolled in a Master's program and I take my classes online. The winter session has begun and I am two weeks in. The professor (Professor Artz) for one of my courses requires a blog and some entries, so I will use my blog to do a few assignments. I actually started this blog after taking a previous class with Prof. Artz. I will still update you all on my hair journey and life. School is a part of my life so here it goes.

      I am always up for learning new things. The course investigates the relationship between ethics and decision-making and then “examines optimal ways to communicate both processes and results to various stakeholders.” As a person who would like to manage others, this class purpose is important. In business, decisions you make can affect a lot of people. During this course I will also learn ways to respond to ethical dilemmas and effective ways to communicate my response. People view ethical behavior different, so approaching others about their behavior may be awkward and challenging. So I look forward to learning effective responses.

Class Objective
Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:
1. Describe major ethical issues in business and approaches to understanding business ethics.
2. Compare different levels of analysis in ethical conduct and obligations.
3. Explain common problems in ethical decision-making processes.
4. Investigate methods to integrate ethics with optimal decision-making processes.
5. Recommend communication strategies for ethical aspects of decision-making processes.

       The objectives seem interesting enough. I feel ethics start from the home, but I could be wrong. Something may be ethical to others and that same thing could be dead wrong to another person. I feel this class will provide me many examples of major ethical issues in business history. This is important to learn because history has a way of repeating itself. Number says I should be able to compare different levels of analysis in ethical conducts, I am not to sure what that means but I am assuming it has to do with The Seven Layers of Integrity text. I like the way the book breaks down each layer before reaching the end. Ethical issues in business happen time and time again, I am sure we all have witnessed something unethical at work. I think it will be nice to explain the problems in ethical decision-making processes. The objectives don't look easy and they don't look difficult but help from classmates and Prof. Artz will be welcomed.

        I have taken an ethics class in my undergrad years, I didn't expect to really examine the dilemma. I thought this course would be “don't do this” “do this” type of course. But according to the objectives and purpose, it will be much more than that. The course seems far from dull to me. I started watching the Enron movie, and I find myself smirking and shaking my head.

Wash Day. Late Post

Hi guys I'm late. I know. I'm working on creating a more productive schedule. Also I will be using this blog for school. Don't be alarmed, I am still on this healthy hair journey.

Here is my latest wash day-

1. Prepooed with Hello Hydration using heat. Still lacking a staple shampoo, I used my sulfate free ABBA volumozing shampoo. I never need volume, so I rarely use this. I watered it down pretty well. 
2. Rinsed off my prepoo and and yea rinsed my hair. After that I deep conditioned for 45 minutes with AgeBeautiful and Kerapro. I wanted to do a hard protein, but the thought of a long wash day was so daunting.
3.  Rinsed it out and t-shirt dried for almost two hours. 
4. For my leave-in, I used Giovanni Direct Leave-in and Lacio Lacio(protein), I sealed it with my oil mix. Which is running low, I need avocado oil ASAP. 
5. Detangling wasn't too hard. My hair still has more texture than I would like but not much I can do about it. 

Here we go again! 

        This post is nearly three days late. Today I am going holiday shopping for some loved ones. I plan on rocking that 4-braid messy up-do. Last time I did it, I was so tempted to just leave it in for as long as possible. I don't know why I didn't. I might have felt the style would get old after a few days. However, I think it's a great protective style! 

Right after deep condition...don't you just want to cut a few
inches!? 

The shrinkage is kind of real right here

My stash is at an all time low. I need shampoo and a serious moisturizer. I think I will blog about these two topics soon.







Peace and Love yall
Aku

Messy 4-Braid Up-do!

 This morning I woke up with some time to peruse the blogs I follow. Thank goodness I did! KLP over at Saving Our Strands brought this up-do to my attention. I am not really an up-do type of chick but it looked so beautiful on her hair and the directions were simple enough, I decided to give it a go. Directions can be found on her blog. I did the Green House Effect for an hour or two with Giovanni Direct Leave-in and water. Applied my oil mix and proceeded to attempt this do. Four braids, pin 'em and receive compliments!

After being under my scarf for 15 minutes

Hair a few hours later

Next time I will try and be a little messier but I really loved this posh look. Red lips and pearls to pull it altogether! I can not wait to see what KLP has in stored for the rest of Hot Holiday Hair. 

Before bed, I will remove a few pins and and put my scarf on. Tomorrow I will either have a braid-out or wash my hair.



"It always seems impossible until its done."
Nelson Mandela 

Peace and Love everyone
Aku

Feeling My Hair!

This bun lasted all day. Two Ouchless holders and one bobby pin. Before bed I made a low loose bun with an old scrunchie.

My head looks so big, the hair doesn't help.

I was feeling this bun, MAYNE!

A little thinner than I prefer but I digress. 

My shower was fogging up the mirror.

I miss this cut. I used to love layers!
June 2012

Love and peace

Aku