Happy Holiday's

I got married in JAMAICA!!!

(Liebster Award) A "Darling" Nominee!

Healthy Hair and Body for nominating me for the Liebster Award!!!

(Liebster means darling or favorite in German)

How the Liebster Award works....
1. Each person must post 11 random things about themselves
2. Answer the 11 questions that the tagger set for you.
3. Choose 11 bloggers who you would like to give the award too.
4. Create 11 questions for the bloggers you have tagged with the award to answer.

1. What do you enjoy about blogging? Sharing my thoughts & information to those who don’t know

2. What guilty pleasure makes your day go right?

Watching “YouTube” and learning new information about hair & health

3. Who is your hair influence? Sunshower143, Aliciajamesmusic, Kimmaytube & Naptural85 

They all taught me how to keep my hair moisutred, how to style and my favorite of all "Regimen" and I can't forget about Naptural85 "how to maintain mini twist for 4 weeks!

4. Do you have kids? Yes 3 boys

5. What do you want to be when you grow up? CPA; my plans are when I retire from working with the government to teach on-line.

6. What’s your favorite fruit? Apple

7. What’s your favorite vacation spot? Jamaica, because my wedding was there!.

8. What Charity would you like to contribute to? American Diabetes Association

9. What would you like to see change about the world? The end of WAR!!

10. What’s your favorite season? Summer…. Love, love, love the beach

11. If you could go on a date with any person in the world, which would it be? President Obama, any advice I can get from him to give to my boys would be a pleasure!

My Nominees

1. Mzbeautifulbarnes

2. mahoganycurls

3. Sunshower143

4. Aliciajamesmusic

5. FusionofCultures

6. Jemy1415

7. Forusnaturals

8. Blaklzbeautyful

9. Nalia1908

10. Naptural85

11. Mstanish1

Nominated Questionnaire

1. What do you enjoy about blogging?

2. What guilty pleasure makes your day go right?

3. Who is your hair influence?

4. Do you have kids?

5. What do you want to be when you grow up?

6. What’s your favorite fruit?

7. What’s your favorite vacation spot?

8. What charity would you like to contribute to?

9. What would you like to see change about the world?

10. What’s your favorite season?

11. If you could go on a date with any person in the world, who would it be?

T.G.I.F. Hair tip

Moisturize!

Moisturize!

Moisturize!

I am so happy to share how I finally learned what my hair loves to keep it moisturized.  I use the L.O.C. method

L - liquid ( water)

O - oil ( any of your choose) 

C - cream base product (Shea butter)

Words of Encouragement!

"Keep your focus & stay consistent!"

 

"Never stop

Natural Products!

Today there are so many natural products to choose from here are just a few that I found.

MY HONEY CHILD

 I personally love this as a deep conditioner, I usually use after a protein treatment.....

BEE MINE PRODUCTS

 

I have not used this product, but heard lots of good things so I decided to purchase the deep conditioner and hair serum....

 

 

 

Bee Mine Products

 

My Honey Child

 

 

 

 

 

T.G.I.F. Hair Tip

If you want to avoid dry brittle hair it is recommended that you choose silicone-free hair products!

Silicons ingredients to avoid:

• cetearyl methicone

• cetyl dimethicone

• dimethicone

• dimethiconol

• steryl dimethicone

 

Soul Food Wednesday's

Are you getting ready for the holidays?   Sweet potato pie is my favorite desert....



Sweet potato pie 

Ingredients:
1 recipe single-crust pie pastry
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 5oz can evaporated milk
3 Tbsp. butter (melted perferred)
dash ground nutmeg
2 medium sweet potatoes peeled, cooked, and mashed
cool whip

STEP-BY-STEP

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  prepare pastry and line 9-inch pie plate.
2. In bowl beat eggs add sugar, evaporated milk, butter, nutmeg sweet potatoes mix well.  Pour into crust.
3. To prevent overbrowning, cover edges of pastry with foil.  Bake 30 minutes.  Let cool.

Do you have a recipe you would like to share for the holiday's?

REGIMEN

Regimen - a way of life, a plan, a daily, weekly, or monthly step-by-step, day-by-day routine.

Everyone should create a regimen that works for them!  Having healthy hair, skin, and health just doesn't happen, it's the result of proper care.

A hair care routine can consist of:

Shampoo - Conditioner - Styling

 

A skin care routine:

cleansing & moisturising

 

A healthy routine:

fruits - vegetables - exercise

The key is sticking to it! for some of us it's getting started....  Do I have a regimen, I do now! but it was the result of waiting for something bad to happen. 

First, my hair care regimen is the result of thinning hair, second, I developed a skin care regimen after waiting until I had adult acne! Last, my health care regimen is the result of being diagnosed with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes 

The negative of the 3 is only 2 can be eliminated, (hair & skin), my health is something I will have the rest of the my life, but I can help to control it by eating healthy and exercise.  At times, I wonder would it matter I'm already on prescription, the answer is YES, taking control now will help me live a longer healthier life.

The positive my regimen cleared up my acne, my hair is no longer thin, and my blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes are under control and have been for the past year.

Do you have a regimen?

5 Steps To Balance Your Everyday Life!

After giving birth to my sons the first thing I notice was my life was not in order.  What I mean about that was being a full-time student, working, cooking, cleaning, bathing the kids, finding time for myself and my husband, etc.

By, the end of the day I was tired and drained!  Balancing everyday life as a WOMAN became overwhelming I had to take the necessary steps.……

·          – put the most important thing first which for me was the kids.  What needed to be done and how can I put this on a schedule and stick with it. First I needed a  bed time (8pm) for the boys, I learned how to plan dinner throughout the week that work for both me and the family.  For example, on Sunday’s I would cook enough dinner that would be enough for Monday.  Tuesday I would do the same cook for Wednesday.  By the end of the week it would be something I can easily threw in the over or microwave, like pizza.  Did this always work, NO BUT, I can honestly say this work well at least 3 weeks out of a month.

·         – don't over do it! I knew my time was limited during the week with the boys so I saved laundry, cleaning, food shopping for the weekends.  I made it my duty to have less clutter in the house.  (It just made me feel better).  DE CLUTTER was my best friend, organizing, decluttering, budgeting, cleaning made my life easy!  I learned from my grandmother if your house is not in order somewhere down the line your everyday life is not.  Start with a fresh clean house!

·     – you can’t do it all by yourself have DADDY help! 

      Men should be a part of the daily routines at least until the children are old enough to do it on their own.  For example, my husband had the responsibility of picking and dropping the boys off to school.  This was very helpful because I was able to go straight home and prepare dinner.  While in the kitchen I also made sure I was preparing next day breakfast and lunch if necessary.  For instance,   I would make the batter the night before for waffles in the morning, this little step saved me about 10 extra minutes in the morning.  It may sound like a lot, but it wasn't.

·         – PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, find time for yourself even if it’s only 15 minutes.  Give yourself a break!  My husband every Sunday during the summer months take the boys out to watch basketball games around the neighborhood.   I would have hours alone every Sunday! Love it! During this time I got to watch my favorite television shows, cook, and wash laundry at the same time!  During the winter months he would usually find time with the boys to occupy their time still giving me that alone time to stick to my daily routine.  I used Sunday’s to prepare for the week.

·         ASK FOR – be willing to ask family or close friends for help if needed.  I had the advantage when the boys were younger to ask other family members (sister, grandmother) can they keep the boys for the weekend here is where my husband and I got to spend time together.

Balance is the key to everyday life

Yes, sometimes we do fall off track that’s a part of life but the thing is to make sure you get back on track.  If you find yourself always tired, exhausted, never having time to get things done then follow the steps above.

Enjoying my journey continues......

In 2000, I decided no more perms! My hair was thinning.  So, the beginning of box braids extension and cornrows done by the Africans of course began.  Needless to say 10 years later not only was my hair thinning, but my edges seem to be disappearing…..

February 2011, after a bad hair day I found YOUTUBE! And I swear my life as a natural began.  I think that year I end up dropping all my classes because I could not stop watching videos on how to do my hair.  I was so excited about learning how to care for my hair, skin, and body I didn’t know what to do.

What excited me the most was actually seeing others do their hair, care for their skin, and actually work out and lose the weight! Wow!  The enjoyment I had, I would run home after work straight to my office and YouTube here I go…

 I’ve read plenty of magazines, articles, but nothing like watching these young women with my eyes.

Almost, 2 years later  I can share my experience of what I learned so far!

·     PATIENCE - patience with learning, handling, and growing my hair.

·    PRODUCT – there is no MIRACLE product that will grow your hair.  Our hair grows the key is to retain the length.  Products are designed for styling, cleaning, strengthen, and preventing dryness.  What may work for you may not work for someone else.   

 

·    PROTECTIVE – protective styles….. Here I learned that wearing protective styles help your hair retain length.  Do you have to wear protective styles for your natural hair to grow? No!    

 I continue to love my hair and want to share with others that this is not a Fad!!

PRETTY NATURAL GIRL....

Janelle Monae!

Products (part 2)

Shampoo ( I wash weekly with Neutrogena; Monthly I use Giovanni or Kinky Curly Come Clean)


Conditioners..(before washing I detangle/prepoo with Tresemme or Suave)
 

Deep Conditioners ( I deep condition with plastic cap; under a dryer for 30min. after every wash)


Leave-in

I APPLY MY LEAVE IN AFTER EACH DEEP CONDITIONER; MY LEAVE-IN CONSISTS OF A MIXTURE OF CONDITIONER AND OIL AND ALOE VERA JUICE.

Moisture's (I apply moisture to my hair as needed; in addition to Blue Magic and Shea Moisture I have a Shea butter mixture as a leave-in which consist of Shea butter and oils)

Leave in - my leave-in are always mix with oil

         

Oils



Gels (use as needed)

Protein treatments..( I do this protein treatment twice a month)