Who are the true naturals?

#TBT

So yesterday, I heard about a massive sale on virgin hair by a big retail hair store in Lagos. Being the cheap person that I am, my attention was drawn to the word SALE. LOL.

So, I thought to go have a look; if the price was right I would get me some exotic virgin hair.

I did find something that was good for my wallet. I got two bundles and closure 10 inches natural color, which was made into a wig.  I wanted to have it colored to a light brown but story changed when I asked how much that would cost. (I can color my hair myself! MTCHWEE)

Feeling content, I showed my boyfriend my new acquisition and he said “but are you not natural, why do you need this human hair stuff?" And I said “because I have natural hair doesn't mean I can't wear other types of hair. His response was “NO! That doesn't make you a true natural". We had a long conversation about the matter and we agreed to disagree. 

Our conversation brought to mind an argument I saw online once within the natural hair community. There was #teamnaturalwithoutanyextensions, #teamnaturalwhowearextentions #teamnaturalwhodonotGAF (I made up the hashtags)

11 Benefits of lemon or lime water

Why lemons?

Lemons are packed like a clown car with nutrients, including vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber. (Fun fact: they contain more potassium than apples or grapes!)

Because of how hard lemon juice can be on the enamel of your teeth, it’s important to dilute it with water of any temperature (though lukewarm is recommended). Drink it first thing in the morning, and wait 15 to 30 minutes to have breakfast. This will help you fully receive the benefits of lemon water, which are listed below.

11 Benefits of Lemon Water

1. Gives your immune system a boost.

Vitamin C is like our immune system’s jumper cables, and lemon juice is full of it. The level of vitamin C in your system is one of the first things to plummet when you’re stressed, which is why experts recommended popping extra vitamin C during especially stressful days.

2. Excellent source of potassium.

As already mentioned, lemons are high in potassium, which is good for heart health, as well as brain and nerve function.

3. Aids digestion.

Lemon juice not only encourages healthy digestion by loosening toxins in your digestive tract, it helps to relieve symptoms of indigestion such as heartburn, burping, and bloating.

4. Cleanses your system.

It helps flush out the toxins in your body by enhancing enzyme function, stimulating your liver.

5. Freshens your breath.

It also helps relieve toothaches and gingivitis (say wha?). Because the citric acid can erode tooth enamel, either hold off on brushing your teeth after drinking lemon water or brush your teeth before drinking it.

Oatmeal pancakes

So I have been toying around with the idea of substituting oatmeal for regular flour for cakes and pudding. Then I realized that I can use oatmeal flour for pancakes as well. Now this is not a new idea or recipe but it isn't one that is widely talked about in the clean eating circles or could it be that I just haven't heard of it? Shrugs*

So I gave it a try, adjusted my recipe after the first attempt and now I make pretty good oatmeal pancakes. Oatmeal is sort of dry, when cooked like this it tends to be a little dryer (for your consideration). So what will you need?

• half a cup of oatmeal
• milk
• one egg (if you want to really eat clean, take out the yoke and use just the whites)
• cinnamon to taste 
• a non-stick pan

I started off by mixing my egg and milk together, half a tea spoon of cinnamon then threw in my oatmeal flour. (I used regular oatmeal, put it in a dry mill and blended till it was fine and smooth like flour). When I was happy with the consistency, I began to cook them in a pan with no oil. You can use a little drizzle of olive oil but I prefer not to. I tend to leave the pancakes to cook a little longer on low heat because I feel oatmeal needs a longer  time to cook properly. When it was done I left to cool and packed them up for breakfast at the office.

The one on the left is a little brown cos the heat was too high but it was good all the same

This morning I had my oatmeal pancakes with honey and jam and a glass of water. I didn't feel like tea or coffee.

You can also add banana, strawberries, mangoes or cheese etc. to this recipe but the idea is to keep it as clean as possible with as few calories as possible. So be as creative as possible with this.

Do you think you will try this?

Natural in the city; a trend or here to stay?

If you live in Lagos, you should have noticed the rise in the number of ladies going au naturel. Now I am sure in other cities in Nigeria there is also  rise but I live in Lagos now and can only comment from my experience here.  

So natural hair is on the rise; more and more Nigerian women are doing the BC and starting out the journey of self-discovery and hair and all that jazz. You don’t have to be an overly observant person to have noticed all the kinky sisters walking around Lagos. Because believe me we are everywhere. I mean everywhere; from TWAs to big in your face afros to twists outs and two strand twists, we are everywhere.  So the "trend" has caught on, I don’t think it is a bad thing. But the thing with trends is that they pass and if ladies are doing because it’s a trend then once this trend moves on what happens then? 

I worry that if one does not go natural for pure love of one’s hair and self then one can easily be swept away with the tides. I hope that ladies are going natural for their own personal reasons and they have truly seen the light. As much as this may be a trend I believe it is a good trend. We have not won yet but we are getting there.

I remember seeing picture of my mom when she was younger with an afro. And it wasn’t just her, everyone in that era had afros and afro puffs. Then came the relaxers and weaves and human hair and now looks like we are right back to the beginning. You can also say that this will mean another cycle has begun, maybe, but I doubt it. We now know more about our hair and the benefits of keeping it in its natural state.  May be on the return of the relaxer only the true converts will stand tall, flying the natural flag (lol)

I really don’t like it when people say “oh your hair is natural, it’s in vogue now or it’s the trend”. NOPE! I went natural because my hair didn’t do so well relaxed and I didn’t help the situation by flat ironing and coloring it. I am happy I went natural; do I think of relaxing my hair again? Not in this life time.

Best tip for cooking brown rice

So this year I got on my fitness horse again, started eating better (still very much a challenge) and working out more. TBH working out is fun for me I love sweating and pushing my body, but giving up my haribos has been very hard. Which is such a shame because for proper weight loss clean eating is 80% of the work; alas I still struggle but I am making improvements and I am seeing changes in my body.

So as part of clean eating I cook a lot of my meals especially my lunches for work. Meaning I eat a lot of the same thing lol I mean, I eat a lot of brown rice. Now brown rice isn't the tastiest and it can be chewy. I also eat a lot of beans, boiled yams, sweet potatoes and un-ripe plantains. Any ways back to brown rice, it's chewy and not so tasty, so I thought of a way to cook brown rice so that I would really enjoy it. I enjoy spicy, savory foods so most of my meals are packed with flavor, chilli, garlic, ginger and different spices. So one Sunday while prepping my meals for the week; I had some stock left over from boiling my beef for stew;(Nigerian style stew is most tomato, chilli and onions based) Not wanting to throw away the spicy beef stock it came to me to boil my rice in the stock; that way the flavors from the stock will get into the rice. And it was an amazing idea I tell ya..... with even more more amazing result.Once the rice was/is cooked it can almost be eaten on its own.  I then chop cabbage and/or carrots into the rice when it has been cooked and the heat turned off then I let the heat from the rice cook them.

Brown rice and beef stew prepped for the week

Half eaten lunch at work, I assure you it tastes better than it looks lol

So clean eating does not have to be boring, there are many creative and fun things to do with healthy food. I am unsure by how much brown rice is healthier than regular rice but I really believe in portions. You can eat most types of carbs because our bodies need to fuel but you have to really consider your portions and obviously no frying and oily stuff.

I have to know my hair's porosity?!

Not only do we have to know our hair type we need to know it's porosity as well. When I read or hear fellow naturals describe their hair in type and porosity I am like “mehnnn….. una get time “. But we all know that knowledge is power and using that power is even better. 

So what is porosity? Simply put hair porosity is the ability of our hair to absorb and retain moisture. Porosity is import ant in understanding our hair and hair care since moisture is what defines and shapes our hair (relaxed or natural). The inability of our hair to retain or absorb moisture will minimize our hair’s health and potential growth and length retention. The experts say that if we do not know our hair’s porosity we won’t be able to make the best product and maintenance choices. 

There are three different levels of porosity:

Low porosity: the cuticle of the hair shaft is too dense which does not allow moisture to enter or leave the hair shaft. Hair with low porosity are susceptible to product build up and take a longer time to completely dry.  

Normal/ medium porosity: hair with this porosity absorbs and retains moisture well; product properly formulated for this type of porosity will easily penetrate the hair shaft.

High porosity: open hair cuticle allows for moisture to be absorbed and lost easily. Overly porous hair can be a result of over –processing from chemicals, heating etc.

Stand test:

To know your hair’s porosity you can do a simple strand/float test.  All you need is a few strands of hair (clean with no products on it) a glass or bowl of water. Put the hair in the water and watch to see how fast or slow the hair sinks to the bottom. Hair with low porosity will not sink after a long period of time. Normal/medium porous hair will sink at a pace that is not too fast or too slow (like huh?!... I Know!). Hair with high porosity will sink very quickly in the test. 

So you know your hair porosity, now what? Well now you can buy products that are good for your hair and maintain a routine that helps balance or maintain the health of your hair. 

Hair with low porosity should avoid product build up, use water based products but avoid over moisturizing the hair. Use indirect heat like steam to open the cuticles, also avoid heavy butters and oils. 

Normal/medium porous hair should strive to maintain a healthy hair routine including deep conditioning, proper moisturizing and avoid too much heat. Excessive manipulation and heat can change the porosity of the hair. 

High porosity hair require product layering to retain moisture, heavy butters and oils work best on this hair also daily moisturizing is necessary. Cold water rinses will help close the cuticle and protein treatments will strengthen the hair.  

To date I believe this to be the most technical post I’ve put up. So I plan on taking the float test this weekend and will post the results and pictures next week. Have a good weekend 

Neem leaves or Dogonyaro as we call it

Neem tree or as we call it Dogonyaro is a very common tree across Nigeria and semi-tropical regions of the world. Almost all parts of this tree are used for medicinal and beauty purposes. It is popular for the oil in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Neem products are believed to be anthelmintic, anti-fungal, antibacterial, antiviral, contraceptive and sedative

If you live in Nigeria, you should know how common this tree is, it can be found from north to south of the country. It has numerous uses and most parts of the tree are used. The leaves and fruit are mostly used traditionally to cure malaria and sores but there are quite a number of ways and propose to use this powerful plant. 

Due to its antibacterial and anti-fungal properties Neem products are used to maintain healthy skin and cure problem skin such as acne, scabies and eczema. Its anti-inflammatory properties help with puffy eyes and swelling from blemishes. When the oil is used on the hair it helps reduce/cure dandruff, moisturizes the hair, control lice and adds shine. 

Extracts from this plant can be made into soaps, masks and oils. The leaves can be boiled or soaked in warm water to bathe with and wash/rinse out hair. 
I use dried Neem leave to rinse out my hair when my scalp feels a little dry and itchy. I bring about two liters of water to a boil then put the leaves in and let it cool down before I sieve out the leaves, The water than becomes a little brown, I use it to rinse my hair after a co-wash or deep conditioning.
The next face mask I make I plan on including fresh Neem leaves to help with my acne and spots. I will post the recipe for that once I try it out.

Nature is so wonderful; imagine the powerful plants and trees that grow in our backyards.

Thursday morning preping for the weekend

It’s Thursday, the day before the weekend. For me and I am certain other naturals the weekend means TLC for a gorgeous hair. Natural hair can take up a few good hours no matter what the routine a natural has. And this does not include the amount of time it takes for the hair to completely dry…. Na wah!.... lol I completely understand when ladies say they are lazy when it comes caring for their hair, because it can be time consuming. Hey! But you know what they say “no pain no gain” and “beauty is pain” and in this case beauty is time consuming. 

My plan for this weekend is a 20 minutes deep conditioning and overnight henna. I usually have one or the other but I think my hair needs extra love as I have ignored it in the past few weeks due to me moving houses. All settled now in my new small apartment, my coils will get some good loving this weekend.

I will start off with co-wash using my inexpensive VO5 conditioner. Then apply my home made deep conditioning mix of avocado (they are in season), honey, EVOO and Miss Jessie’s best darn treatment. I will leave that in for 20 minutes, rinse out then use a cotton t-shirt to dab excess water from my hair. Note that I dab and not rub. I will then apply my locally sourced henna mix to my hair, put on a shower cap and tie my hair with an old head scarf and keep that in overnight. In the morning, rinse out thoroughly with luck warm water and then finish up with EVOO. My current length does not require too much work so I am constantly rock wash and goes.  Also I do not need to detangle and I do not comb. 

I have some Neem leaves (dogonyaro) I need to use. Neem leaves when boiled helps with dandruff, itchy scalp, fizzy hair and it also moisturizes the hair. Simply boil the leaves, fresh or dry and use the water to rinse out your hair. 

Whatever routine you have always ensure to reduce manipulation for length retention and think moisturize moisturize moisturize.

Hope you have a lovely weekend! 

short hair..... don't care

What cha been doing down in Lagos ??

So I moved to Lagos in October to take up new employment. I was initially nervous and excited to be moving to Lag; Lagos being the center of commercial  and social activity in Nigeria but also having very bad traffic jams/go slow and high crime rates.

So far Lagos has been good to me, I avoid certain areas during the week and peak traffic times, I stay away from certain places and people. My new job has been very interesting, being the end of the year there are a few social outings that I've been opportune to attend (thought work) and there are a few more in the works. There is a very bubbly night life in Lagos but I have not been interested in that recently. Below are a few pictures of things I've done and places been.

Golf outing ( I didn't play, was just there for the free food and drinks)

At a Private beach, was a guest of company's client

Handing out sweets to the local kids from the near by community

Halloween party, went as a Nubian queen (or sort of)

My nephews who insist on dressing alike to Church

Lagos is being good to me sort of. I have had my hair in weaves because there just isn't enough time to get it done daily and weekly. All I want to do on Saturday mornings is sleep, but as I get more settled in, my hair is going to my out more.


I just got information on a natural hair meet up in Lagos so excited to be attending my first one ever.