"Aku, Where Have You Been?!" I'm Here!

Hi Readers!

     I'm still at a slight loss about my hair. I used to have poppin hair man! It was great, I digress. First I want to thank my sister Miriam for holding down my blog while I took a break. I enjoyed reading her posts since I am so far away from her. Big THANKS! Don't fret she has a farewell post coming.
     
        So, for the past 4 weeks I have kept my hair in DIY Senegalese twists. I switched the extension brand, I now am using Expressions. The really really long hair, I ended up cutting the hair in half. 

April 2nd
^_^ Can you see my curlies?

     The first time I twisted my hair, my scalp was like please wash me properly. So I removed the twists ASAP. This time around I washed my hair in the extensions once and the rest of the times, I apple cidered my scalp. I moisturized my hair everyday with aloe vera juice, avocado oil and water in a spray bottle. My hair really held up. I think the switch in hair brands really helped. I am now missing my hair hair. Yes it was a nice nice break, but I'm ready to remove these twists and see my hair. I am about 14 weeks post. I have about two inches of new growth (I don't really measure). 

     

0_0 My hair is damaged

Finished product April 3rdish

    What's New?

     

Moving     

     I'm moving back to the east coast! Not back to New York but the south. I love hot temperature and my boyfriend and I hate hate snow. I'm really hoping the water is soft since I'll be near the coast. I think hard water really took a toll on me even with the filter. THE BEACH WILL BE AN HOUR AWAY!! There are no beaches in the Midwest. 

 Working Out

     I've been doing Pilates, following Cassey Ho's beginner calendar. I'm on Day 18. I usually like her workouts and she has a crap load of them, so finding the right one is hard. With the calendar she has them picked out already and each day it's a different focus. Core workout vs Abs workout and so on. 

 Mini Vaca 

     It's almost time for me to visit Florida, 9 more days. I'm going to grab my boyfriend after his TACP graduation and say "hey time to come back home!" It's been about 4 months since I got to annoy him in person. 

        I have a hair packing list in my head. I know I know I want to keep it simple since I will be removing my extensions this upcoming week. I plan on wearing Bantu knots on the plane, going to the beach in French braids and wearing a Bantu knot-out for the graduation ceremony.

Henna and a big chop? 

     I'm planning on doing a henna treatment. I have been reading and researching. The henna dye part really grinds my gears because I love my hair color, so I picked up indigo as well. Still researching. In my head I think I'll big chop my hair right before I move in July, but I'll probably punk out. But if I do big chop, all the potential red hair will be gone!!! I think I could rock a fierce TWA! 

Laid my edges with aloe vera gel

My triple knot updo!

April 25th

What's Next? 

     After I let my hair breathe for two -three weeks, I want to use the rest of my Expressions hair and do medium-jumbo sized braids. Keep them in for a month and after that...I have no idea. This spring/summer is going to be crazy. I'm excited and nervous. New home, perhaps a puppy, Master's degree in August, a big chop maybe!? I really want to do a 5k. The season has begun. 

What is your spring and summer looking like? 

Any Henna/Indigo tips?

Peace and Love everyone! 

Aku

Recap Of This Week! Happy New Week!

Hey Guys!
For this post I want to recap on my week!
I went upstate for three days, Sunday-Tuesday for college visits. I visited Ithaca College, Syracuse University, Cornell University and Bighamton University. I went with three of my closest friends.  I would first like to say that I am glad that I went on this trip! It not only gave me a feel of what the college life is like, but I had the opportunity to see the difference between the environment I live at home versus the environment and different way of living up state. This post is longer than I expected!
Here are some pictures that i took on my college road trip!

Syracuse University 

The picture on the left is a building at Syracuse! 

 My two friends are shown in  the picture!

The campus was lovely! What is shown on the grass
 is a fundraiser for the health of young children.

On the left is a picture is picture of a "village" type city,
 where there are restaurants such as chipotle,
and frozen yogurt stores. You can also see Syracuse
University shirts, and souvenirs.

Cornell University 


On my way to the administration office I took a picture of a building at Cornell. I'm not sure what it is, but all the buildings there have this Gothic-type style.

This is the inside of the Cornell Store,

 my friends and all bought matching 

Cornell sweaters!

We took a picture in front of the Cornell Store!
Starting from the left is Dana, Kristen, me and Yolanda.

Ithaca College
I first want to start off by saying that this school is beautiful! The photos do not show just how beautiful the school is. On top of that the atmosphere here is awesome! The people who attend Ithaca are friendly, and seem so kind. I can also tell they really put an effort to place education first.
We had a tour guide named Nicole! And she showed us around the campus.

There are no pictures of Bighamton. When we arrived they were still on their Spring Break!

It rained a little during the trip! When I came back home all I wanted to do was wash my hair and really clean out all the dirt etc. This weeks wash was so much better than last week! I was very satisfied. I shampoo'd, conditioned and deep conditioned my hair with a heater. I decided to use this time for conditioning The Giovanni 2 Chick Avocado and Olive Oil Ultra Moist Conditioner for dry damaged hair.  

When I applied this on my hair after i shampoo's it felt amazing! I absolutely love when my hair feels moisturized and soft! 

After I applied the

Giovanni 2 Choc Avocado and Olive Oil Ultra Moist Deep Moisture Hair Mask for 30 minutes! This is a 5 oz bottle, I really like the small size of it. Boy oh Boy! When I rinsed my hair out it felt great! I did a tee-shirt dry for my hair for about 45 minutes and then applied a little of my As I am leave in. I felt like I did not even really need to apply it because my hair felt already moisturized. Both of these products have a refreshing scent!

I want to thank my sister for giving these to me after she used them and decided it was not fitting for her hair!

If you have gotten this far! It means a lot! Thank you for reading! And i hope you guys have a lovely week!

Hair Regimen

Happy Saturday! I hope your Saturday has been well! Yesterday I washed my hair, which was the first wash after getting it relaxed. The results of my hair came out differently than what I expected. I guess my hair did not need the ORS deep conditioner. I think it may have been too moisturizing. Hopefully my next wash is better!

I wanted to share my go-to personal hair regimen this week. So here it! 

With the help of my sisters I have a few products that work well, and I feel confident using on my hair.

Shampoo: 

I use the Giovanni Smooth As Silk Shampoo. I love using this because consists of  organic ingredients! And is not to harsh on my hair. It does not give it the over stripped feel. It is also sulfate free! They have this at Target I believe, and you can also purchase it on Amazon, The Vitamin Shop etc. I shampoo about 2 times, to really get the past products out.

Conditioner: 

I use the Trader Joe's Brand, Tea Tree Tingle. This one really cleans my scalp, but also moisturizes my hair at the same time. After shampooing it leaves my hair soft, and moisturized. It contains no laurel/laureth sulfates and is suitable for all hair types. 

Deep Conditioner:

I use the ORS Deep Penetrating Conditioner, if my hair really needs moisture, and is feeling drier than usual. 

For me personally, this is the most moisturizing deep conditioner I have ever used. I bought this at Sally's Beauty Store.

Or I will use the Aussie  Moist 3 Minute Miracle Moist Deeeeep Liquid Conditioner, 8 oz. I actually really like this deep conditioner. It always makes my hair feel super soft, and moisturized. I love the feel of it when I put it on my hair as well as when I rinse it out. I'll deep condition for 30 minutes with a heater. After rinsing it out, I will do a Tee-Shirt dry for my hair. I leave it on for about an hour, and then apply my leave-in. You can actually buy this at a numerous places, such as CVS, Target, Walmart, Walgreen's etc. 

Leave In Conditioner:

I use the As I am leave-in, my sister's bought me this for Christmas. I was actually surprised with this one, because I always feel like I never got a good leave- in conditioner for my hair. It leaves it soft and moisturized throughout the day. You can get this at Target and Sally's Beauty Store. 

Sealant:

As for a sealant, I like using cocoa nut oil, and olive oil. Olive oil in the winter helps keep the moisture in, especially for my ends. I'm looking for better and stronger sealants, so if any of you have any suggestions I would really appreciate it! 

Feel free to comment and share your favorite products!

                                      -Miriam Ouedraogo

Goals- Hair, Body and Mind

Happy Friday!
It's my very first post! And first post of the month! You know what that means! New goals for the month. I have a few that I want to share with you guys. I want to set new goals not only for hair, but for all aspects of life. Mental, Physical and emotional! I made this so it could also help you guys with your own goals and give you some tips.

Hair:

• Extend my post week to more than 16 weeks!
• Deep condition every week with the heater 
• Find a good shampoo, that really moisturizes and cleanses it at the same time 
• Invest in a good sealer, such as Jojoba Oil, and grape seed oil
• Try new hair styles, because sometimes buns get a  little boring!
• Master how to roller set my hair by myself!

Physical:

• Start baking more healthy snacks and foods! I love this website, http://minimalistbaker.com/ it's vegan friendly and they also post so many quick delicious meals and snacks with out the extensive ingredient list, as well as a short amount of cooking time! I advice you to try and make these, you seriously won't regret it! All props go to Dana and John!
• http://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-vegan-gluten-free-cookies/
• http://minimalistbaker.com/chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookie-pancakes/
• http://minimalistbaker.com/healthy-5-ingredient-granola-bars/
• Complete the Blogilates calendar! I could talk about the creator Cassey Ho for days! I owe so much to her, and her website is extremely motivational for your overall health! Here's the link to the calendar and helpful meals, and workouts you can do.
• http://www.blogilates.com/
• Cook at least one new and different healthy meal a week!

Mental:

• Write down good things that happened everyday. Sometimes we forget the simplest and smallest things are what can really make a day. We seem to forget the small things and focus on the bad, negative things. Make a memory jar. This usually is suppose to start on New Years day, you simply place it in a jar and when the year is over, you reread all the good things that happened, it really makes you appreciate the simple, small things. 
• Do at least 15-30 minutes of yoga to relax the mind, sometimes that is all we need. Its a perfect stress reliever and is awesome for clearing your mind. At the end of the day our bodies go through so much that all we really need is time to relax!
• Make small goals for each day! Instead of cramming, make a list of small things you want to accomplish, it will make you feel much better and good about your self

Oh in case you're wondering what I look like!

I'm going to leave you guys with some posts that caught my eye! 

                                             Miriam :)