Meetup Concoctions

On Saturday I attended a hair meetup where we were given several recipes for homemade hair products. I made a leave-in spritzer and used it immediately. Ingredients?

• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp aloe vera juice
• 2 tbsp glycerin
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO as my friend Rachel Ray calls it)
• a few drops of your favorite essential oil (I used peppermint oil)

I like it! Granted I need to us it more than once to tell definitively but just the process of making my own product was super easy and somewhat fun. What's your favorite product to make?

Hair Talk | Jan 27

Sunday: in the wee hours of the morning I LOC'd my hair with some water, JBCO+vitamin E mixture + Jane Carter Moisture and Shine then twisted into ~10 twists and bantu knotted each group of 3-4 twists

Sunday's bantu knot-out

Monday: didn't like the next-day hair so I co-washed + created an impromptu braided up-do for dinner with friends

Friday's blended "hair hat"

Tuesday: took out the braids but my ends looked dry so I ended up creating another random PS, this time pulled back into a bun

Wednesday: kept Tuesday's PS, spritzed with JBCO+shea butter oil+Carrot/Aloe Vera oil

Thursday: took out Tuesday's PS and decided to wear a hair hat

Friday: My roots and the hat didn't match so I spritzed my hair with water and twisted a 1 in front row into individual twists using Design Essentials oil (for sheen), halfway untwisted these twists so it would match the "hat"

Curlucopia

ATTN Baltimoreans (?) and DMVers :)

Are any of you going to Curlucopia this weekend? You know the feeling! Not trying to go by myself. Plus I've never been to Busboys and Poets and want to attend!

Meetup Montage: What type of meetup goer are you?

Tonight I attended the Natural Beauties Monthly Meet and Greet at my all-time favorite place (Panera!) It was put on by The (DMV) Natural Beauties Group. I met a lot of great ladies and was glad it was informal. Not the typical - let's go around the room and share our hair journey. I've began to notice that certain personalities/characters arise at each meetup. 

• One, of course, is the leader, the person who organized the event. 
• Two is the stylist. There may be more than one but they're always there to give helpful tips. 
• Three is the newbie natural who has tons of questions and keeps the conversation going. 
• Four is the seasoned professional who has tried it ALL and rarely buys products (she might even make them). 
• Five is the product junkie. Gotta love em! They usually come with tons for products they don't want anymore and for free (really gotta love em)! 
• And last but least, there are "the others". 

Which meetup goer are you?

1st Maryland Meetup

This summer was my first time attending meetups where I was interning in San Jose, California. Tonight was my first meetup in my home state, the mighty state of Maryland. It was a Swap n' Eat where we had dinner at Stoney River in Towson and then swapped clothes, hair products, shoes, accessories, whatever! All the ladies were so lovely and I look forward to seeing them again.

This meetup was a double endorphin-releaser. After eating my delicious salmon, I was in a food coma. Then after trading, I know I came home with more stuff that I left with. There's nothing better than free clothes :)

 

Pictured above Schezwan Salmon [first]; Motions Naturally You cleanser and conditioner, Miss Jessies Pillow Soft Curls, and Curls Leave-in Conditioner [second]; a nine west purse and 2 fabulous necklaces [third]; a black and white dress, pink island skirt, orange dress with flowers, and a gray tube top [fourth]

Do the Dula

FYI - Mountain Dew is the official soda of computer scientists. Had some at work today and based on the hair meetup I attended tonight, I was inspired to name the title of this post "Do the Dula"

Okay, so enough nonsensical banter. Tonight I attended a meetup in San Jose with a couple friends (Maryland alumni. Go Terps!) "It'll be A Sassy Affair" was the name and a stylist ad owner of Bebe salon answered questions we had about our hair and products and gave free consultations at the end. Plus there were free cocktails, so that's always a plus! During my consultation, I learned about an oil called Calendula Oil. Supposedly it's great for dry skin and can help with hair also.

Calendula Oil is extracted from a flower call pot marigold otherwise known as.... a calendula! You can find more details about the specific extraction process online, but the mildness of the oil and the antiseptic within makes it a great product for treating infections.

But the real question is, can it be used for your hair? I've found a recipe for Calendula Soothing Scalp Oil which is said to help combat dandruff which consists of:

• 6 ounces of calendula infused oil
• 2 ounces jojoba oil
• 10-15 drops of rosemary essential oil
• 10-15 drops of tea tree essential oil
• 10-15 drops of sage essential oil

Apply directly to your scalp and voila! I'll try this once I can get my hand on all these ingredients. It may be a little tough to do out here in Silicon Valley. Might have to wait until I get back to the DMV.

In other news, I did get a free sample of the Curls line's Curl Gel in our goodie bag!

 

The Itch

After attending the meetup on Saturday and reading through numerous hair blogs today, I am SO itching to take my hair out of these yarn braids. But, I know my hair does better when I don't mess with it. Plus this west coast dryness can NOT be good for me.

But I still want to take out my hair by 4th of July weekend. I miss my twist-outs!

First Meetup!

I attended my first natural hair meetup this past Saturday in Campbell, CA. Since I'm interning in the Bay area this summer, I figured I'd give it a try. Plus, I have no clue where to find natural hair care products out here!! 

The meetup was geared towards Transitioning & New Naturals, but even though I'm fully natural, I'm a new natural to the area, right? 

Anywho, I enjoyed the company of the ladies that were there. Each of us were at different stages and had a different story about their hair.

Back to the hair products issue. I never realized how much I took the DMV area for granted. In the DMV Targets, there's at least an entire aisle dedicated to natural hair care. Here, I'm lucky to find a shelf (unless I'm in Oakland, but I may be too afraid to venture out there lol). 

How easy is it to find hair products in your neighborhood? Or do you just tend to buy everything online?

Geek Chic

Having a background in computer science brings out the inner geek in me. So this post is dedicated to natural hair and phone apps.

Current apps include:

1. Natural Hair by App-ology Technologies (for Android)
2. Natural Hair Care - Tips & Remedies (for Apple)
3. Natural Noir LCD - Hair, Fashion (for Android)
4. NaturallyME - (for Apple)
5. CurlyNikki.com's Forum (for Android and Apple)

Features include forums where users discuss topics of hair care products and issues. Tips and tricks are shared as well as how-to advice. The Noir app provides links to other natural hair care blogs. NaturallyME shows hairstyles and locations for black beauty supply stores. 

While I have not tried the Apple apps (team Android!!), many of them seem to contain the same information you can find on a computer. So what are some mobile-specific features that currently exist in these applications or should exist?

• beauty supply store locations - I find this very important living downtown Baltimore..there are NONE that are walk-able near my apartment; but I did just find out that OyinHandmade is a short drive!
• natural hair stylists - while I have never been to one, I think it would be beneficial to include information on how to find them; it'd be even better if I could even schedule an appointment on my phone!
• curly girl locations - while many people are sensitive about their privacy, I think the natural hair community is quite friendly & if enough people use the app, we should be able to see who lives near us...who knows, maybe it'd be easier to organize product swaps or meet-ups
• meetup locations - speaking of meet-ups, on this same map, we should be able to see locations and dates of upcoming meet-ups in the area (and be able to create one if there is none)
• ingredient DON'Ts - even more importantly in the grocery/beauty supply store, how are we ever to remember all the ingredients that are bad for out type of hair? I would want to select my hair type and my phone would list all the ingredients I should stay away from in my shampoos/conditioners... if only

What do you think? Is there a benefit to having mobile apps for hair care?