Caruso Curlers: The good, the bad and the foam?

I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding next saturday. At first I planned on pinning up my hair, but since it just got retightened, its not as flexible as it used to be. Plus, my hair is getting fuzzier and more unkempt? looking. I've lost about half of my fluffiness and I'm kind of in a weird in-between stage. So I started to look into purchasing some Caruso curlers to try to smooth things out. Reading Blaqkofi Leighann, LaChanda and Brunsli's posts about Caruso's was helpful. But after reading a a lot of customer reviews I'm starting to freak out.

I learned several things:

The good: You get great curls without damaging your hair. Hair looks smoother, and makes your ends look pretty. They last one day to several days depending on your hair.

The bad: There's this ticking noise that's annoying but not annoying enough to keep people from using the curlers.

The foam (or should I say the ugly): This unit, the newer one that doesn't use salt, has died on people within months. And, the foam doesn't last! What's up with that?!

I know there are SL sistah's with Caruso curlers out there. After all this reading, and at the risk of being redundant, I still gotta know some thangs. Could ya give a gal a hand?

How long have your rollers or the heating set lasted? Have you had a set die on you?
How do you run out of foam?
How do you heat up the rollers without getting your hair wet and losing your curl?

Any advice is welcome. Thanks in advance (:

Happy Memorial Day!!! Summer's here Yay!--that rhymes!(:

Danielle is America's Next Top Model!!!

Hey people,

I don't watch a lot of TV but I do have my favorite shows. And I was so excited to watch the Finale of America's Next Top Model because my favorite girl won! Danielle, the country gal from Little Rock, Arkansas, the one who sprained ankles and became sick and was ridiculed for her gap and her accent won! She overcame all of her obstacles and let her beauty shine through. When they announced her win, my best friend and I were screaming and jumping all over the room. I think I like her so much, because there are so many little black girls who are like her, and want to become a model in a "European-friendly" industry. You could tell she had to face a lot of cultural hurdles when the judges constantly admonished her about her accent-- despite the fact that she tried to suppress it. Although they tried to water down her "Blackness" she stayed true to herself and is a genuine beauty inside and out. Cheers to you Danielle, you go girl!

When I grow up, I wanna be a scientist! (One month and 11 days down)

I wrote the blog below on may 10th and never got around to sending it. But today I was reminded why I went to grad school to learn how to become a scientist.

Today was mind-blowing day. Today I learned to think like a geneticist. With a background in biochemistry, I'm trained to understand topics at a very basic level. However, a biochemist tries to understand either proteins or DNA and then employ techniques that allow them to understand the structure or how to understand the nuts and bolts of how that protein works. A geneticist takes away a one or more genes looks at outcomes (or phenotypes) and uses those outcomes to create a story (or model) of what the removed gene does within a cell. This approach is very direct and helps simplify very complex problems. I love it!

Today I met a potential postdoc mentor. His science was very interesting but after having lunch with him I was reminded that I really love being scientist. My lab hands are not perfect or "magic". But when things actually work I get this high that's unbelievable. Science is truly a drug you choose. What else would make me stubbornly pursue difficult topics and techniques and allow me to believe that I could just learn them and keep going. The hours are long because you have to motivate yourself. You spend days, week, months, years even working at something. Along the way, some things work and some don't. I think it took me a few years to learn how to let a project go because my heart was so invested in it I just had to make it work! In graduate school there's always some obstacle you have to work through. If its not your project, its the psychological aspect of learning how to live with and more importantly, learn from failure.

Anyway, I met this guy and he was so passionate about his science he just made me excited about science again. I get excited when things work and then that high lasts for a few days and then something else grabs your attention and your back in the trenches again, banging your head against the wall. But meeting successful scientists excite me because they remind me of who I want to be in my future career. In a perfect world I would like to be a scientist in academia and run my own lab. But the real world, the tenure clock runs right along with your biological clock and successful grant writing makes your world go round. Not to mention the fact that there are typically 200+ applicants per faculty position. There's just not that many jobs to go around.

For me, I'm gonna focus on learning as much as I can and just enjoy what I do. Don't get me wrong, my job search (post doc and faculty/senior scientist) will include both sides (academia and industry) because self preservation is the order of the day. But today, I said aloud "I would like to be in academia" to my boss, and I really meant it. I'm willing to put up with the politics and the stressful grant funding cycles, and the stress of teaching and the not living where I want (although I think I'll have to cross this bridge when it comes) to reach out, mentor, and make a difference. I want my science to make an impact on the lives of others. I don't want to study a random protein because its interesting, I want my science to apply to disease and the development of therapeautics. I don't know how I'm gonna do it, I just know that I am. And today I got that free feeling you get when you're doing what you love and you understand where you're going. It doesn't come often so I'm gonna ride it for as long as I can.

Cheers!
Chi(:

The Africa Channel

Hey y'all
Have you heard of the Africa channel? My consultant sent me a link to its website but this is an actual cable channel that talks about events going on in African countries. I wish I had this while growing up. Unless you visit, the only media access we have to African countries is when there's something negative going on (war, famine, scandals, etc.. . ) They don't offer it in Chicago and I doubt it is widely offered but if enough people call their cable stations, it may be more readily available. Check out the site and tell me what you think.

Chi(:

Quick Hello

Hey people,

Just wanted to send out a quick hello to all my friends in blog land. It's been a while but I've been keeping up wit'ya! Here I am at 5 months locked with Janet Hubert of the "Fresh Prince of Belair" I meet her at the Biotechnology conference this past April. She is such an inspiration and truly has a beautiful spirit. If you ask me, there was only one "Vivian" on that show. The conference was a blast! President Clinton and Magic Johnson spoke at our luncheons and I learned how academia, industry and non-profit organizations fit together but are yet so far apart. . . but that's for another post. The conference hosted receptions every night. On the first night we went to Navy pier and several Drag queens showed us the way to the show--so you know I had to take a picture. I also had a conversation with a robot from Nebraska--yes a real conversation! That was last month. But I just realized that May 4th is my six month lock-aversary! Here's my most current photo, just hanging out in the lab, playing around with the lab camera. My hair is sort of locked in the back (almost teenage looking) but hardly in the front. Diana said that it would take a year, but I'm not in a hurry. I really love my hair at every stage during these past six months (except after retightenings--ouch!) I love to just shake my hair out and go everyday. Getting SL's is the best self investment that I made for myself in years. Until next time, Cheers!

More Braidout fun

Well, almost two weeks have past since my experiment and I must say it's been fun. The braidout definitely helped me hide my unraveled edges. I want to prevent my edges from unraveling. Other than waiting longer before I wash, what else can I do to prevent them from falling? Any advice is welcomed. What I really loved was the texture! I loved the extra length as well. I was able to see how long my locs were with this style. When I do it again, I'm definitely going to keep the rollers in longer. This is a pic on the morning after. I received so many compliments from my friends and family. They really felt like the style fit my face--isn't it nice to finally find a unique style that fits your own personal beauty?! Unfortunately, my little bounce was gone after I slept on my hair. I could regain it after putting the rollers in in the morning but somehow my hair kind of fell by the end of the day. I also pulled my hair back into a bun and rocked some bangs for a few days. That was fun because the crinkles gave my hair extra texture so it looked like a style instead of a hair faux pas that I tried to cover up. James liked the little bun style (go J!) and of course I had to eat up all that positive attention. When I got tired of curling my hair, I misted it, gave myself some bangs and Bam! another hair style. Normally I just mist and freestyle but with the braidout, my misty freestyle had added volume! I felt all jazzy! Man I love SisterlocksTM! This braidout technique is too addictive! I can see why Blaqkofi likes it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see how long my crinkles would last because I had to wash my hair for my 2nd retightening on March 3rd. I really love the texture of my hair before and after the retightening. That after pic reminds me of the 'fro that I used to rock a few years ago. I thought that I would be able to do the braidout again afterwards but my head hurt so bad, it was hard for me to sleep on it let alone braid it. It's funny, I have tender spots on my head but in other places it didn't feel painful where Diana retightened. But if I put my hand on my head to move the locs, my head hurt. It think my hair strands aren't used to being bound in a different position and are unable to lay in their original position. Does that make sense? Anyway, it's been about 4 days and my hair has loosened so I'll try it again this weekend.

Fun with the braidout!

Hey all,
It's been a long hard week and today I had to make chromatin which is physically taxing. So after work, I treated my self to a lavender/epsom salt/almond oil bath (See below). I put on a soothing iTunes playlist, lit a candle and laid back to enjoy my impromptu spa date. I like to play it low key on Fridays since the week can kind of catch up to me then. After my bath I decided to catch up with my SisterlockTM sistahs. After reading blackluvdmom's blog I was inspired to do a braidout--my first one (see what y'all make me do! (: ). Usually I freestyle, out of laziness, so a braidout was well overdue. Next week I'm going for my second retightening and some of my edges have unraveled. I'm hoping the braidout would help me cover them up for the week. Unfortunately, I ran out of SisterlockTM shampoo last week so I gave myself an ACV rinse while I took my bath. I love ACV because it clears buildup and make my hair feel squeaky clean without shampoo. I started to braid my hair when it was almost dry so I just redampened it with some lavender water (1 drop to a misting bottle). I took about 30-45 minutes to braid up my hair and I was delighted to see the length. Sometimes its hard to tell when you're free-stylin' but I'm proud of my little length (: I decided to let them dry overnight and after having so much fun braiding I decided to have some fun. At first my pictures were kind of timid but then I decided, what the hey, let's go crazy. I tried the little girl with pig-tails look. Then, I wanted to go Vanessa Huxtable. After all the fun, I rolled up my braids with my rollers but I won't leave them in overnight. I don't want my hair to shrink too much. I'll sleep with a satin cap (that will probably fall off) to keep the curls. In the end, it was fun to pamper me for the evening and playing with my hair. Tune in tomorrow, I can't wait to see how they look!

Lavender/Almond Oil/Epsom Salt Bath
-A nice clean bathtub full of warm water (as warm as you can stand)
-3-4 drops of Lavender essential oil--Aromatherapy--it is calming
-2-3 capfuls of Almond Oil--good for the skin because it has Vitamin E
-Epsom Salt (MgSO4)-not sure how much I added, maybe 1 cup; relaxes your muscles.

Directions: Lay in the tub, meditate, enjoy the ambience, music and relaaaxxxxxx. . .

Post Birthday Celebration wrap up

Hi all,

Here is a blow by blow account of my birthday weekend. After all the celebrating, I just have to say that I am very blessed to have loving friends, family and a joy for life. This was my best b-day weekend ever, and I hope it only gets better.

I started my birthday weekend friday on my actual birthday with the R-gap pre-Valentines Day party. There was poetry, there was a raffle and I played a game where I had to "pick up" a guy (James) with my best line.Let me tell you, guys have it hard, I was never so nervous. Let's just say that I'll never do that again. Later, James and I went to Starbucks and enjoyed each others' company over cider.

On saturday, it was time to get my Karaoke on! I had a party at Trader Todd's Karaoke bar, home of the Best karaoke in Chicago. I had so much fun laughing and being laughed at. But most of all I was blessed to be surrounded by the love of my friends and family. My song selections were, "Dancin' on the Ceiling" by Lionel Ritchie--a true party starter, "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul--that was a vocal challenge, and "All I Do" by our favorite, Stevie Wonder. I had to sing that one to James, he serenaded me with "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder--and he was so sweet.

Then on Sunday I got my birthday surprise, James treated me to brunch at the Bongo room. Let me just tell you, I had pumpkin carrot cheesecake pancake, crusted with with graham crackers and honey roasted peanut/toffee butter on the side. Next, we went to the Chocolatefest at the Garfield Park conservatory. Let me tell you, its a blessing to have a birthday near Valentine's Day. Although we waited 30 minutes in cold to get inside, it was worth it. I saw a cacao plant and learned how to make chocolate from cacao beans, and I potted a chocalate mint plant. But most of all James and I had fun together and that made the experience all the better. As you can see, he keeps me laughing.

Well all, I hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day. My only Sisterlock comment for this entry is, "I was loving my hair and it just added to the fun!" I don't know how I'm going to top this birthday weekend but if I'm blessed with another year, you know I'm gonna try. Stay blessed!

Happy Birthday to me! (Pre-party entry)

Today is my birthday! Hooray!!! Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who still gets excited about their birthday. I've been talking about it for two weeks because I'm having a Karaoke celebration tomorrow. It's a blessing to be alive another year and I love to celebrate that blessing. Here I am at 28 and now 29 (on the right). Look at the difference! (not so much although I look much happier at 29). I think turning 30 will be the same, no difference. Lookin' forward to that. That's all for now, Peace!

As I emerge from MIA status. . .

Hey ladies,

Haven't been around in a while, I wanted to have a lot to blog about, and then I got a little busy. . .But while I'm workin' late in the lab I figured now would be a great time to make a comeback.

In mid-January I got my first retightening. My roots were tight and so was my head! Ouch! For the first time I felt like a plucked chicken! So I tried pulling my hair back with a bobbie pin and a cowrie (sp?) shell on the end.

I've also been MIA because I met a boy (sigh, grin, blush. . . ). No he isn't white--yes I know, I hate to disprove the theory. But he's. . . .(sigh) Grrrreat! On our first date (in my sixth week), he said, "I love your hair like that. . . " Yes friends, we have another AA brother on our side! Yay! I've seen him for about four weeks and so far so good. I'm not gonna worry too much (although I worry and overanalyze over everything!) I'm just gonna enjoy our time together and see what happens. . . for some reason I just feel at peace with him. There's no drama to worry about and no "I like you more than you like me" or vice versa. Ok, yes I'm gushing, and the sarcasm in me just is dying to come out--but ya know what, it feels good to feel good in the space of someone else. I'm really enjoying it. If we keep goin' on this well, I'll have a pic for you next time. Peace!

Just an ordinary day. . .

Whenever, I go through everyone's blogs I'm so glad to be able to interact with some really cool sistahs. Although our hair has brought us together, its the beautiful personalities and williness to show love that makes me stay. Thanks y'all (:

I think I'm in my sixth week now. The front of my hair is starting to act right. Isn't it a wonder what our hair will do when we work with it and not against it? I guess that's the choleric in me, I want the best and I feel like my SL's are the best for me!

Peace!

Hey I'm purple! I mean that's my inner hair color...

Your Hair Should Be Purple

Intense, thoughtful, and unconventional. You're always philosophizing and inspiring others with your insights.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

I love these tests they're so fun.

You know, its funny how God works. Here I am, lamenting over my hazy future in academia and I learn about a mentorship program that is geared towards pairing minorities (at any stage of their career) with someone in industry. For anyone who has yet to try to break into a pharmaceutical company, let me tell you, you betta know somebody cuz it's not easy. So I found about this program by reading the Science Careers Forum that's moderated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS. Its 11PM on Wednesday, January 4th and the deadline (postmark thank goodness) is Friday January 6th! So what do I do? I take the plunge. I managed to finangle recommendation letters from my dean and my advisor (with one day's notice! ouch!) without raising a lot of ire. And then I put my experiments aside and get to work on my personal statement. As I wrote my statement today, I got my usual writer's block (of course) but then I started to verbalize innermost desires. I thought, "What the hey, what's the worst that could happen?" So I started to describe how I wanted to pursue research in Immunotherapy and develop a cell-based therapeutic with stem cells. As soon as I wrote these words, my excitement for science began to return. If you took away all the drama of academia (the grantwriting, the politics, etc. . .), all the things that make me want to avoid it, I would still choose to perform research in this area. Industry may be the way to have what I want without the drama of academia (although I'm sure industry has its own ills). Writing this statement helped me to really focus on what I want. I know that I want to do this because I can feel the passion in my bones. Wish me luck y'all I have a good feeling about this.

Thanks for the Temperment Test Jen, that was fun.

So I jumped on the bandwagon. I'm 100% choleric. But I'm not surprised. This comment: "Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life. You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation.", describes me to a T. I'm finishing my degree program this year (Pray for me y'all), and I want the best, I'm just not sure running a lab in academia is my passion anymore.

They (actually I don't know who "they" is) say that you only live once and I want to live my life to the fullest. I want to be passionate about my career and enjoy the challenges that it brings. Basic science research gives me this challenge but instead of enjoying it, I feel a war-torn and battle-weary. I do know that when I mentor undergrads or even explain my work to elementary school children, I get a buzz of excitement when I see their eyes light up with interest. I know that I need to work more with the community. So I'm thinking Science Policy with a focus on diplomacy. But there's still part of me that loves science and the possiblity of conducting research that will one day lead to a cure for cancer or HIV. So here I am, back on the fence. Only time and networking will tell.

You Have a Choleric Temperament

You are a person of great enthusiasm - easily excited by many things. Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life. You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation. You posses a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon. Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall. You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others. At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults. Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion. A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior.

What Temperment Are You?

Now, could this happy-go-lucky gal celebrating the new year be all of these bad things (said in a passive-aggresive, guilt inspiring tone made to make you feel sorry for her)? Don't know if I could be proud of my faults--seems kind of pompous to me. And I am a bit more flexible, but they did say "at your worst" and I usually try to present and feel my best (see the first paragraph). I can see the narcissist trait with my SL's. I just can't help lookin' at them! But maybe I'm just giving myself some much needed self love--there's nothing wrong with that(;

Peace!

HOORAY FOR SISTERLOCKS(TM)!!!!!!!

HOORAY FOR SISTERLOCKS(TM)!!!!!!!

Today I feel like bursting into song because I did my first curl! I haven't tried anything yet because I didn't want to do anything to my baby SLs that would keep them from locking. Now that I'm used to my SL's I figured that they would survive some cold rolling and I was just curious to see what would happen. Anyway, I was bored, doing my New Year's ritual of organizing my house, bills, etc..., so I decided to curl my hair while I filed and threw away old bills. It took a while because I didn't have enough rollers for my whole head so I had to rotate them. I just dampened my hair with my rosemary water (I add 1 drop of this EO to a misting bottle) and then rolled my hair with some velcro rollers (medium and semi-large sizes) that I've had for a while. I know that sponge rollers aren't good to put directly on SL's (they dry out your hair) but I wasn't sure about velcro so I gave it a try. After my hair dried, I removed the rollers (they stuck to my hair so I think I'm going to find a different kind) and after a lot of finger combing my hair was curled and styled! I couldn't believe it, my hair is in an actual style! Hooray for Sisterlocks (TM)! I can do my hair now (: Ok, I know I'm overeacting but is this how everyone else felt after realizing that this is an actual, low maintenance hairstyle that makes you look stylish? I know what I read but I never really experienced it. I'm just so happy because I feel like a large weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I FEEL beautiful and I didn't have to use any Un-natural products to do it. I'm able to feel beautiful with what God gave me and I feel so blessed. I understand now why "SL Sistahs" love their hair so much. SL's allow our inner beauty to come to the surface--cool! Alright, enough gushing stay tuned. . .

Three weeks down, 5 months and one week to go!

Well here I am at week three. My parents have seen my hair and haven't passed out. I know they aren't happy with it but I'm not surprised. Nigerians just don't lock up. Locks have a social stigma that is associated with people who were social outcasts. This happened a long time ago (before colonialism). Families that were considered outcasts are supposed to be a welcome part of society now but if you read, "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer At Ease" by Chinua Achebe, you'll find that stigmas aren't dropped that easily.

I'm at my parents' home, eating my mothers' beloved cooking. For Christmas we had goat meat stew, jollof rice, plaintains, Fufu with egusi soup and it was Tha Bomb! I'm still smackin' my lips! Throughout this weekend I kept thinking, "Is Christmas really for children?" When kids aren't around, what brings the Christmas spirit? I can see why people get depressed when the holidays come around. If you're alone, it's hard to feel cheerful if you aren't the source of cheer. At first I was a little down but luckily, I'm here with my parents, my brothers, my best friend is down the street and I've sent everyone in my cell phone phone book a text message with good cheer (:

At week three, I noticed that when I wash my hair (left), it shrinks up after its dry (right). I think I like it both ways, what do you think? At this point, my edges are gone but my hair is holdin' up. Good thing I'm seeing Diana for a retightening on Thursday (:

Hey check it out, I'm sporting my two week-old SL's at the Relationship Gap Holiday party (see link for details). How do I look? (I've been watching that show all weekend, it's growin' on me).

Well, although belated, I wanna wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah and Happy Kwanza, and for my muslim friends a very belated Eid Mubarak! I'm out! Peace!

The beginning of my SL "Hair-story"

I was just reading Brunsli's blog. I have to say it's very entertaining, check it out when you get a chance. She did a quick survey that described how Sisterlocked (SL'd) tend to date/marry outside of their race. Now that I have SL's does that mean that I'm gonna catch me a white guy too? Just kidding, I think that SL'd people may be more open to. . .life I guess. Once you've decided to get 'em you've pretty much decided to care only about your inner and outer beauty without worrying about what society or my mother thinks (How did that get there! Sorry Mom!).

Here are some pictures of my SL journey. I had my SL's installed on December 4, 2005. It took 2.5 days. We did 12 hour stints at a time and I was sitting in a comfy chair (thanks Diana!). The total time was 30-31 hours. My Sisterlock consultant, Diana McNeal was very careful. She made my head feel like a work of art! But she did a great job, I feel like I got her for a steal (@$500). And you know that kind of money isn't easy to come by for a grad student in the sciences.

The pics below show my 'fro and the pic above shows me with double strand twists. That was the usual puff that I sported day in and day out. One day I got tired of looking like 18 instead of 28. I was on the fence with my hair. Either I cut it off or lock it up. Being natural for 6 years (since 1999) has been great for me. I really enjoyed feeling my actual hair that was growing free from the roots. I learned love the different textures of my head and came to love the coils that my hair formed. BUT, unless I left in twists for up to 3 weeks (which took 8-10 hours to put in--who has that kind of time!), I really couldn't do much else. Cornrows looked wrong on my head and getting braids was out of the question--Who wants to sit for a week and take someone else's hair out of your head!--and let me tell you, when I did sit for that week, taking out all that hair, resisting the urge to just cut the braid and my hair off and be done with it, I vowed to never get braids again.

When I first saw SL's, I was like, "Man that is too expensive, I am not tryin' to spend money that I don't have!" Then a few months later, my friend Johanne installed her's and the seed was planted. Could SL's give me freedom from natural-hair-prison? Can I really have long flowing tresses without a weave or braids? Next thing I know, I'm looking at photos, visualizing myself with curled locks. I looked at every photo that I could find, then I looked for as many SL blogs that I could find. The more I looked, the more I convinced myself that this is the look that I've been longing for. And I mean longing for since 6th grade when you just wanna have easy hair like the white kids. Yes, I said it. Before I moved to Chicago, I grew up in a white bread town in central Illinois. It was hard to be the only or one of the few black kids in school. You're constantly looking for acceptance and falling short. But I digress.

Four days before SL installation and I choke. I'm still reading as much as possible and now I'm having second thoughts. These things are permanent! Before, I told myself, "Don't worry, if you don't like them you can cut them off and sport a short 'fro" Yeah right, not for $500. I went to see Diana. And she helped me realize that yes, SL's are a lifestyle but its just hair! And all though they aren't maintenance free, they are low maintenance. In the end, I decided to put 'em in . What the hey! It's time I experimented with my hair and take a chance. So I took a chance and loved it!

Here I am after the first wash (one week) I don't think that I can go more than a week before my head starts itchin' and starts to feel "not-so-fresh". At this point, and after my SL installation, I started freakin' out because my ends felt dry and I couldn't oil them! Oh hair oil, I didn't know how much I loved you! Before I used a light hair oil with an almond oil base combined with rosemary extract (stimulates growth, good for preventing dandruff and giving hair shine) and Jojoba oil (another conditioning oil that's good for a dry scalp). Now I couldn't use anything?!?! Luckily, Diana let me know the essential oils oxygenate so its ok to use water and EO's together. I was glad because I had already put some rosemary extract in water to sooth my "No more oil blues". Since rosemary extract has such a strong scent, I stopped using it and took Diana's advice on spraying with lavender water daily and using an apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinse after washing. Lavender essential oil is good for moisturizing and can be used as aromatherapy for keeping babies calm or helping them sleep. An ACV removes scalp build up and can help with dandruff. Make sure you wash that stuff out though 'cuz it stinks! Here are my recipies:

Lavender water from Pioneerthinking.com (http://www.pioneerthinking.com/rht36.html):
Hair Tips - BY VIOLETA G
From a book about hair I learned that Lavender Mist is a great way to moisturize the hair and make it smell good . This is the recipe and the other necessary information:

"Lavender has cleansing properties, so this quick mist not only makes your hair smell like a lavender field in Provence, it's also indispensable for cleansing and reviving your curls. Make it in large quantities; keep a large spray bottle in your shower and smaller travel-size bottles in your purse, desk, and car.

1/2 gallon water
5 drops pure (not synthetic) lavender essential oil
3 empty spray bottles (available at most drugstores)

1. Fill a large pot with a half gallon of water.
2. Cover, bring to a boil, and simmer for an hour to get rid of impurities. (Check occasionally to make sure water isn't boiling away.)
3. Remove from heat, add lavender oil, stir, and replace lid.
4. Let steep until cool, then pour into empty spritz bottles.

Lavender mist makes a wonderful gift for friends, whether or not they are for curly girls. Once you get hooked on the spray, you'll find lots of other uses for it. Some of my clients have told me that their husbands sprayed it on them in the delivery room, for a very calming effect. "

ACV rinse Ingredients: 1 ounce apple cider vinegar 1 quart of distilled water Directions: Combine the apple cider with the water, stir. Pour through hair to get rid of buildup and soften hair at the same time. Rinse with water.

You can also check out this website for recipies that use ACV to remove dandruff: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/af_dandruff.html



Well here I am at week two (second wash). My hair is coming along. I love how it's curling up at the ends! I think I've figured out how my hair is going to lock (being a scientist-in-training I can't stay in the dark for too long). My hair is coiling up at the ends, which causes my SL's to kind of expand and coil up too. Next my hair coils will tighten and form locks! Ok, its not rocket science but for weeks I've been wondering how these ridiculously small twist/braid-like creations were going to turn into a lock. I think I can tell how big/round my locks will be. Its like looking into to future (: There is one thing that I'll miss though--those curly ends! I love my little coils! But right now I have them and I'm going to enjoy them while I can. I have a serious case of "Handinthehairitis".

What's up people. I'm the new kid on the blog scene.

I was originally inspired to start a blog after reading so many great sisterlock blogs. Now that I've had a chance to check out the blogs of others I've decided to let you become privy to my private (well maybe, only if you're nice) thoughts. So sit back, relax and let me get my blog on!