My most recent hair updates!!

I wanted to share with you guys some pictures of my hair from October. I realize that I haven't showed you my hair in September but why dwell in the past? ; )

So I made a slideshow of my hair from earlier this month and I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.slide.com/r/jVmiLkCo6z9IIHKkImi_QLTVHoPnhOFu?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

It's hard out there for a pimp ...

This is just in reference to job searching. I seem to attract all the companies that people believe are scams! I don't know why and I don't know how but I do know that every time I'm about to go to an interview, I find something online that says I'll have to pay them $700+ dollars to work for them, selling insurance or some other nonsense. As you can probably guess, I neglected to show up to those interviews.

More recently, I started training for a position as a "distributor" for Home Depot/US Remodlers/The Smart Circle (or something to that effect, honestly I'm still confused). Basically this is what I had to do: I would walk around a Home Depot store, zipping through isles and speaking to people. My goal was to get them to sign up for a free, in-home consultation with a Home Depot designer that would discuss with home owners how they could update their kitchen or bathroom for 1/3 less of the cost and guaranteed 3-5 install. In the kitchen they do cabinet refacing as well as put in new countertops and backsplashes. In the bathroom they lay a product over your bathtub and/or walls that is infused with microband and has an anbacterial agent that does not allow germs to live on the surface. Sounds like a pretty cool thing right?

THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT!! And yet no one signed up for this FREE appointment. Of course many people were not home owners so they didn't have the option anyway. But I felt like a salesperson and I wasn't even selling anything. Smh ...

Besides the fact that sales is not my forte, here are some other reasons I did not like this job:

• The office felt a little unorganized because there were hopefuls galore in the small lobby, waiting for interviews. Mind you, there are 3 companies in the same tiny office.
• The amount of people waiting for interviews lead me to belivee that many more people were quitting this job than staying (which is usually true of sales positions I think). They try to tell you that they're looking for someone with the right fit for the position and they really need people but in my opinion, they just need enough people to start because they know they won't end up with very many people in the end.
• The 2 days of training I had to drive somebody that I did not know in MY OWN car to the Home Depot location and then back to the motel they were staying at because my trainers were from an office in Portland, Oregon and didn't have a rental car (most companies would put you in a nice hotel instead of a Motel 6 and possibly get you a rental car. Red flag anyone?)
• Both of my trainers were male so although I was safe, I was put in a potentially dangerous situation because who know what could have happened after leaving the office?
• Oh yeah, did I mention that they DON'T pay for gas mileage? And get this: I drove about 20 miles to the office from home, then about 10-15 to the Home Depot, then that same 10-15 miles back to the motel near the office. All because I had to drive my trainer around with me. And THEN I had to go home.
• If you didn't sign up any appointment for any given day, you would just get paid minimum wage for the hours you worked.
• Overall I just think sales is a sucky job but someone's gotta do it!!!

I am so glad I only worked there for the 2 days of training. Whew! No telling what could have gone down cuz it was giving me some shady vibes. Same thing with Vector Marketing and setting up appointment with people to sell them Cutco knives (which are excellent, but overpriced) which I also did a few years ago.

So even though I might just be bored out of my mind, I would rather work for a company that I know and recognize the name of and sit at a desk for awhile. Just to make enough cushion money to actually spend time figuring out how to make money doing what I love - browsing natural hair websites! Lol just kidding. But only slightly. I really do want to find a career without wasting time on the scams.


HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD TROUBLES WITH THEIR JOB SEARCH???

Willow Smith vs. Sesame Street!! Classic

I absolutely adore this video!! I wanted to show this because everyone has already seen Willow's swaggalicious video and we all fell head-over-heels for the Sesame Street song about loving your hair just the way it is. And more than that, being appreciative of all the things natural hair can do!! That puppet has more self acceptance than a lot of adult women I know ... Moving on

I think you will love this video too because this is hilarious! It fuses the 2 songs together brilliantly so enjoy : )

Now THIS is my kind of diet!!

My sister found this diet for cheaters and I think it is hilarious! I hope you enjoy it too : )

1.If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2.If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda.

3.When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you don't eat more than they do.

4.Food used for medicinal purposes NEVER count, such as hot chocolate, brandy, toast and Sara Lee Cheesecake.

5.If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.

6.Movie related foods (Milk Duds, Buttered Popcorn, Junior Mints, Red Hots, Tootsie Rolls, etc.) do not have additional calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

7.Cookie pieces contain no fat-- the process of breaking causes fat leakage.

8.Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are in the process of preparing something. Examples are peanut butter on a knife making a sandwich and ice cream on a spoon making a sundae.

9.Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories. Examples are: spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and white chocolate. NOTE: Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other food color.

10.Foods that are frozen have no calories because calories are units of heat. Examples are ice cream, frozen pies, and Popsicles.

11. Foods eaten while watching a major event on television do not count. Major events include: Superbowl, Hockey Finals, Indy 500, Jerry Springer show.

12. Powerbars and other type energy bars make you thinner. In all my years of exercising (at least three times a year) I have only seen thin people eating energy bars. Ergo (therefore) they must make you thin.

13. Snickers is the same as an energy bar (see #12)

14. Tasting other people's food does not add to your calorie count.

15. Containers of food that list the number of servings as greater one are lying. Every container includes one serving. Half gallon of ice cream, box of cereal, bottle of soda, bag of chips are all one serving.

Necessary Precaution or Irrational Obsession?

I am talking about something that is talked about sooooo much on hair boards and blogs worldwide:

PROTECTIVE STYLING!!!!!

The reason this was on my mind was partially because I am attempting to be a part of a 6 month protective styling challenge that is being put on by InnovativeThinking. The guidelines are to pick a protective style of your choice (mine will be twists for the most part) and also pick a set list of products that you will use consistently so that you can see the benefit a routine can have.

Now there are two sides to this debate. Some believe that protective styling is the holy grail, the be-all-end-all of hair care, the only way to properly care for your kinky curly coily frizzy wavy hair. And then there are some that believe in showing off the beauty and creativity that often comes with natural textures, no matter what time of year it may be. I can understand both sides of the spectrum.

First of all, I can only speak for myself (duh!) but I have realized the benefit of using protective styles on my own hair:

• It keeps me from manipulating my hair so much. I don't comb or brush my hair every other day like I might have to if I constantly wore my hair out. So I give my hair a break from detangling so often.
• Allowing my hair to dry in a protective styling is the ONLY WAY my hair seems to dry feeling soft. Even though I love how wash n goes look as they're drying, once they're completely dry my poor hair feels brittle and strawlike and depleted of all moisture : (   so I use protective styles as a way to keep my hair soft
• It is a lot easier for me to moisturize my hair when I have twists or braids in my hair because I know I can get moisture on all my strands without much difficulty
• I have seen my hair grow much better and retain more length when I used protective styling (mainly twists). Shrinkage kept the hair off my shoulders, my hair felt softer and more moisturized and I wasn't ripping at my hair as often.
• I also don't walk out the house every other day with a wet head which is awesome *2 thumbs up*

On the other hand, I can understand the urge to wear your hair out all the time:

• I know for me, I want everyone that sees me to see that natural hair is fun and exciting and manageable and diverse and beautiful! Not something that can't be flaunted proudly. I have a weird desire for every new person I meet to see me with my hair out because that matches the best with my personality PLUS I don't mind answering questions about hair. In fact, I love talking about it!
• I don't want people to think that the only way to manage natural hair is keep it twisted up and hidden and protected from the eyes of society forever and ever and ever. Live a little!
• What's the fun of having a ginormous, fantastical fro if you can't show it off?? We work hard to take care of our hair and I think it's feels great to reveal to people the benefits of TLC
• I live in California so the only thing I'm really protecting myself from is my own hands-in-hair epidemic
• I love to experiment with styles and different textures and different products. I want to know everything that my hair can do so that I can show other people what their hair can potentially do!

The way that I deal with this is by wearing twists as long as I can stand it (which is usually only 4-5 days) and then rocking a twistout every chance I get!! If the mood hits me to blow dry, I do it. If I see someone with a gorgeous bantu knot out, best believe I'm going home to knot my mane up. If I'm inspired on youtube or fotki or CurlyNikki or some other place, I will re-style in a heartbeat. I know that PS can be beneficial but I also know that I love wearing my hair out. So I do both! I kind of see wearing my hair out as a treat that I can only get if I've been taking care of my hair and myself and my responsiblities. Since that doesn't happen everyday, I don't wear my hair out everyday LOL

So the question is: TO PROTECTIVE STYLE OR NOT TO PROTECTIVE STYLE? WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK!

Re: Natural Hair Snobbery

This is my response to an anonymous post on CurlyNikki regarding Natural Hair Snobbery CHECK IT OUT!!!

The first thing I read was that God should not be associated with hair.  And I respectfully disagree.  I see my hair as God given because I believe he is the creator of all things, even the texture of my hair.  When he breathed life into the human race he gave us limbs and organs and purpose – and hair.  So I will continue to claim that my natural hair is given to me by God : ) 

Not only that, but for so long many people did not and could not embrace the beauty they were born with, from skin tone to height to weight to features to hair texture.  Instead of loving what they were born with, they spent money trying to buy the beauty that society sells them.  But now there is enough information that we can boldly wear the hair that not too long ago was (and unfortunately sometimes still is) banned and shunned and considered ugly.  

Also our love for curly hair doesn’t automatically mean that we inherently hate on relaxed hair.  But you posted this on a natural hair blog! What did you expect? While many people do indeed bash on relaxers and texlaxers and any other chemically altering hair technique/product, the mere existence of a site like CurlyNikki is not a slate against straight hair. It is just an acceptance that the blogger and the followers have finally been able to come around to because for so long, we were little black girls with a complex about our own hair. We couldn’t feel beautiful unless our hair was down our backs (or our weave was) because no one ever said we were beautiful unless we had silky straight tresses. And guess what? God didn’t give us hair that grows from the scalp straight!! He gave us the kinks and curls and coils that the natural hair community celebrates.

And there should be no hostility towards that point. Because as someone mentioned, all you have to do is walk outside to be accepted if you are rocking a relaxer or pressed hair. No one will have a problem with your perceived view of the world or assume that you are a political radical. No one will send you back into a salon to “fix” your hair or suggest ways to style your hair as if you didn’t spend hours on your strands *eye roll* 

The heart of the matter is that if I say my blog is about natural hair, why would you come looking for people to praise your chemically treated hair? Life isn’t a Burger King and you can’t always have it your way. But you CAN make it better by making your own space to talk about the proper use and care of texlaxed hair and even if you don’t believe it, we would all support you!!! I would definitely be a follower. The lovely people on CurlyNikki are so encouraging and although there are some questionable comments at times, we are bonding together over the struggles of taking care of our crazy beautiful heads of hair.

You don’t have to throw out your chemicals to be a part of the family but don’t expect a whole lot of discussion on how much people love straight hair. The site isn’t called STRAIGHT Nikki in case you haven’t noticed  ; )  

And I say all this not to be mean or vengeful or rude (although I realize that it may have come off that way), I only say this so that you can understand a little more why hair is such an issue for black women across the globe.  For me personally it’s not as simple as saying “It’s just hair” or else I wouldn’t expend so much energy taking care of it.  I just hope that with all the comments and responses that the original poster does not feel attacked because I, for one, enjoy a good debate!