30 Days of Pinspiration: Day 4

Day 4: Natural Women Who Big Chop TWICE!

Check out my explanation here: 30 Days of Pinterest: Day 4

Source: sheisdiva.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I love y'all for free,

nNb ♥

New Protective Style: Yarn Twists

"You have the funkiest, most unique hair in the world. Own it."

~Knottyandnice.org

Hey y'all!

I've decided to do some protective styling for the winter. So after lots of research (procrastinating from other things, lol!), I chose yarn twists. I was so excited that I decided to do a video on them. Check it out below:

Be blessed,
nNb :)

Natural Hair "Style" Challenge: Week 6 (Chunky Braids & Curly Fro)

Hey y'all,

I'm back in action with my Natural Hair "Style" Challenge! In this video, I showcase my hairstyle for the week! Enjoy! Remember to rate, comment & subscribe!

love,

nNb :)

Natural Hair Style Guide for Winter

Hey curlies!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Hopefully you all get to enjoy the holidays with your loved ones :) As I was searching for a cute Christmas hairstyle on my favorite blog CurlyNikki, I came across a post called the Natural Hair Style Guide for Winter. It has a list of all hairstyles as well as links to pictures of them and tutorials. If you're trying to find a nice divalicious style for the holidays, this post is a great place to start!

Here's the link: Natural Hair Style Guide for Winter

Enjoy peeps!

nNb :)

Winterizing Your Natural Tresses...

"The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony."

~Mary Baker Eddy

Hey y'all!

I hope the week is going fabulously for everyone! So...if you haven't already noticed, it is starting to get colder outside. With colder temperatures and less humidity, natural hair starts to get SUPER dry! I have been natural since the summer of 2008 and I still struggle with retaining moisture in my hair during the colder months.

Well, during my routine search of my favorite natural hair blogs, I came across this GREAT post about winterizing natural hair. This article has great tips on product usage and optimizing your hair routine so that you don't use anything that will strip your hair. Check out the article here. Hope the article helps y'all retain moisture for the winter...I know it will help me continue to stay fly!! LOL!

peace,

nNb :)

Natural Hair Challenge!!

"Everything that God created is GOOD...and my kinky hair is no exception!"

~Cherie King

Hey divas/divos!

If you're anything like me, you may get stuck in a hair rut every once in a while...sure the occasional updo is executed, but normally your hairstyle repertoire consists of wash-n-gos and two-strand twists... In order to escape the notorious hair rut, I usually get my hair braided. While braided, I research and finds TONS of cute styles. However, after the braids are removed, I go back to my mundane routine of wash-n-gos and two-strand twists. The sad part is that I encounter natural beauties everywhere I go and I simply LOVE their uniqueness in hairstyling.

I have decided that this madness must END! So...I'm instituting a NATURAL HAIR CHALLENGE FOR 60 DAYS! I will try different hairstyles and upload in a special group on Facebook so that you all can see the styles that I'm rocking...The catch is, I can only wear each style for 2 days (this will help me learn how to protect the styles at night). Hopefully after this challenge, I will no longer be stuck in the funky little hairstyle rut that I'm in and I can finally learn to style my locks!

Here is a website that I will use for inspiration: http://bglhonline.com/gallery-2/

And of course ya gotta accessorize: http://rachelstewart.bigcartel.com/

Anyone is more than welcome to join me in this endeavor. I will post the logistics for the challenge later. As it stands right now, I will create a group on Facebook for anyone that will be interested to participate and share their stories...The challenge will start in about 2 weeks, I'm still gonna rock these braids for a few more weeks...lol!

love -n- peace,

nNb :)

Updates!!!

Hey y'all!

It's been a longgggg time since I've done a post of any sort. To all my followers, I truly apologize for the delay. So much has happened in such a short time span, both good and bad and I am excited to share all of it with you :) Rather than bore y'all with lots and lots of text, I decided to relay the information in the way I do best...you guessed it, VIDEO BLOG POST!!! In addition to this video, I will be doing a lot more blog posting, artist spotlights and I will RESTART and COMPLETE my weight loss journey! So much excitment to come your way so keep it posted!

Here's the vid. Make sure to comment below and follow me on Twitter: @natNaijabeauty :)

Peace -n- love,

nNb :)

Mane Chic Michelle

"Natural, beautiful color on the face. We want the casualness of the hair and it's sort of rumpled, you know--but it's done with intention. So it's not just letting your hair go naturally, but we've created the natural." - Donna Karan

Hey fellow curlies!

I'm delighted to say that I was recently featured on one of my favorite natural hair blogs Indulgenceiskey. She started a new segment on her blog entitled Mane Chic (pronounced sheek) and I was blessed to her first feature! To see my feature, click here. Hope y'all enjoy it!

Be blessed,
nNb Y

Video Blog Update!!

Hey lovelies,

Here's a quick update vid that I made yesterday.



Enjoy y'all!
Peace,
nNb Y

Natural Hair Update: 2 YEAR NAPPIVERSARY!!!

"We have the same spiral in our hair as electricity, tornadoes, whirlwinds, DNA and galaxies!"

-Nekhena Evans

Hello my fellow curlies!

I am officially TWO YEARS NATURAL!!! woot! My nappiversary was on July 8th! (yeah, this post is kinda late...)

This journey has had many ups and downs, but I never once regretted freeing my locks from the evil known as the creamy crack...haha! During this year, I took more risks with my hairstyles and went wayy outside of my comfort zone...

While I was in school, I didn't really have time to experiment with my hair the way that I wanted to. Between classes, work and studying, I was lucky if I was able to wash my hair before I passed out. After growing tired of seeing my asymmetrical bedhead hairstyles, I finally decided to take some time and put in kinky twists with the help of good ole' YouTube. (hehe!) I wore that hairstyle for about 1.5 months and then took it down after graduation...Then, the fun began :D

I had more time on my hands, so I watched all kinds of YouTube videos and experimented with some hairstyles...some I liked, others...not so much... Here are a few of the styles that I liked:

Chunky twistout

Pinned up two-strand twists

Chunky two-strand twists

Bantu knot-out with two strand twists

Curly up-do with bang

Wash-n-go that turned out VERY cute!

Twistout

Cute Updo...(tutorial here)

Here's to many more years of beautiful nappyheaded bliss!

Peace,

nNb Y

Hair Tutorial: Cute Two-Strand Twist Updo

Hey lovelies!

I finally finished another hair tutorial...video editing can be a real pain...(haha). This tutorial was inspired by a tutorial that SunShower143 did on YouTube. I thought that the style was uber cute, so I decided to replicate it. She originally did the style using big twists, but I tried it doing with 2-week old micro two- strand twists. The style came out really cute...Next time, I am going to try it using big twists and see if comes out even cuter! Here's my tutorial:

Hope y'all enjoy it! More tutorials to come!

Stay blessed!

nNb Y

The Truth About Baking Soda Hair Concoctions...

Hey y'all!

Ever try to create your own hair concoction to help save some money on products? I know that I have...there are plenty of recipes out on the web for hair moisturizers, conditioners and shampoos that you can make from the things within your kitchen pantry. Some of these recipes can be a godsend, while others can turn out a bit tragic. One of the main ingredients some of the recipes is baking soda.

While I was on my favorite natural hair blog site, I came across a very interesting article about affects that baking soda can have on natural hair. The article was soooo interesting that I decided to post it on here so that everyone to also enjoy it. Click here is the link for the article on NaturallyCurly.com.

Next time that you decide to create your own hair concoction, make sure that you take the time to research the things that you are putting in your hair...it can prevent a lot of pain and anguish later =)

Peace out curlies,

nNb Y

Hair Tutorial: Two-Strand Twists!

"To keep my hair the same texture as it grows out of my head is looked at as revolutionary,Why is that?" ~Tracy Thoms "Good Hair"

Hey y'all!

I know it's been a while since my last post... Today I've got a nice treat for everyone! I have FINALLY completed and POSTED my first natural hair tutorial! In this tutorial, I show you how I make micro two-strand twists. This video was originally filmed on May 20th and it took me a couple of days to get it posted (more like a lot of days, hehe!). There are two parts to the video and the end result is in the picture above. The videos are posted on my YouTube channel under naturalNaijabeauty but I also embedded them below. Enjoy lovelies!

Part I:

Part II:

Be blessed!

nNb Y

Hair Goal!

"The recipe for beauty is to have less illusion and more Soul, to retreat from the belief of pain or pleasure in the body into the unchanging calm and glorious freedom of spiritual harmony."

-Mary Baker Eddy

Hey ya'll!

I was browsing the web between classes, looking for a nice professional hair style for a convention that I am leaving for on Friday. As I was looking at pictures of hairstyles, I came across a picture of a lady with really nice shoulder length hair. Her hair was soooo full of body, I couldn't help but post about it!

Here's the picture:

I want her hair!!!!!

In order to achieve results similar to this, I need start and STICK to a good regimen so that my hair can grow up to be like hers! lol!

Peace and blessings all!

nNb Y

My Natural Hair Journey

"Remove the kinks out of your mind, not your hair" - Marcus Garvey

Hey hey!

Yesterday, I started thinking... What would I say if someone asked me why I went natural? After thinking about the question for a while, I realized that I probably wouldn't answer the question concisely. I would probably go into a few anecdotes about past hair experiences. Here's what I would say...

Two years ago, I started noticing that a lot of women around me on campus began cutting their hair. Now, I'm not talking small trims, but full on buzz cuts and afros resulted from these cuts. I couldn't figure out why people where cutting off all of their hair. Part of me got mad because some of the girls had really long hair and I was struggling to keep my hair at shoulder length.

5-30-07

7-13-07

During the summer, I watched Madea's Family Reunion (movie) and saw an actress with really beautiful two-strand twists. Her name is Lia Arrindel Anderson. Her hair looked sooo beautiful and long and I wanted mine to look that way. A couple of weeks after I saw the movie, I went to get kinky twists at a local hair salon. They didn't come out anywhere like hers did:

The look I was going for...

The look I got :(

In about a month in a half (Oct 29, 2007), I took down the hairstyle only to find out that my hair had locked pretty badly... After crying for over 3 hours, I decided to go to a hair salon and have them fix my hair... That day I found out that they would have to cut out all of the locked hair. After crying a bit more, the stylist promised that she would make me look fly... Here's the haircut: This was also the very last time that I would get a relaxer, although I didn't know it yet...(Pics taken in Dec.)

I started wearing my hair in protective styles because I didn't feel like flat ironing it all the time. So I got a friend of my aunt to twist my hair for me (not sure what the style was called, lol!)

1/4/08

After a while, I started looking asking some of my friends why they cut their hair. I pretty much got the same answer from everyone... "Natural hair is beautiful and it's me!". That made me start looking about natural hair websites, and blogs to see what all the buzz was about... While looking at the pictures on the websites, all of the women looked like they were basking in confidence... They all looked gorgeous and their hairstyles were sooo cute! After some time, I realized that I was looking at natural hair photos everyday!

So...one day (July 8th, 2008) I washed my hair and allowed it to air dry...Later on when I went to the library, I checked out my hair in the ladies room... All of my new growth was nice and curly and looked beautiful while all of my relaxed ends were thin and stringy... It looked horrible to me (it's funny because I used to love wearing my hair like that!). It was then that I knew that I wanted to go natural and cut off all of my relaxed ends. That night, I went home and took some scissors and cut off all of the relaxed strands. Then my little brother helped me clip off the rest of the relaxed ends :) (Disregard the boobage in the first photo...hehe)

07/14/08 (Puff with braids in front)

11/2/08 (Wash 'N Go Pulled Up)

1-17-09 (Twist out w/braids)

4-26-09 (Blow Out)

7-14-09 (Ponytail!!!!)

9-7-09 (Wash 'N Go, Pulled Up)

9-26-09 (Wash 'N Go)

11-23-09 (Blow Out)

12-9-09 (Bantu Knot Out)

1-1-2010! (Wash 'N Go, Pulled Up)

Throughout my journey, I have had some rough patches with learning about my natural curls. I've learned what products work and don't work for me. I've learned to deal with people who may not like the path that I have chosen to take. Through this experience I have learned more about myself and have become wayyy more confident. Now, I look at my pictures and see that same level of confidence that I saw in the natural pictures I was looking about a little over a year ago... :)

So, that's pretty much what I would tell anyone who asks me about why I went natural (sans the pictures, lol!). I absolutely love my natural curls and I will NEVER relax my hair again! :)

Peace,

nNb Y

New beginnings/Resolutions/and much more! :)

"Women need real moments of solitude and self-reflection to balance out how much of ourselves we give away."

-Barbara De Angelis

Hey lovelies!

It's been a while since my last update and A LOT of things have occurred since then... First off, I want to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I know I'm super late, but I hope everyone had a great kick off to the new year.

So...I have been doing some soul-searching and I am making some big transitions/changes in my life. First, I've decided to try to find a job right now (hopefully through Americorps in the nonprofit sector to prepare myself for a career in nonprofit work! I'm super excited and nervous all at the same time...it's going to be a really big change for me, but I my heart is being pulled in that direction. I still haven't decided whether or not I want to devote my life to working with children or whether or not I want to work to help save the environment. Hopefully I will be able to come to the decision soon. If I could find a position that combined both of those things, that would truly be my dream job :D

Ok, I did say that I am making a lot of changes, well, I came up with some resolutions for the new year... Now, I know that most times people make resolutions and then forget about them down the road (I'm guilty of that!)...but I am really determined to change my life and lifestyle...

Here goes...

1. Attend church more often and stop finding reasons to not go...



2. Lose 57 lbs, to get to my healthy weight of 141 lbs.



3. Begin a daily regimen to take better care of myself (morning, nighttime, workout schedule)



4. No more flat ironing my hair...find better ways to naturally stretch and straighten my hair...



5. Do not settle for anything less than I deserve from ANYONE!



6. Try different hairstyles and don't allow myself to be stuck in a rut.



7. Donate clothing that I don't wear to charity



8. Become more organized and more tidy

Another thing that I have decided to do and stick to is to remain celibate until marriage... I have had a hard time doing this because I didn't want guys to lose interest in me..but now I need to focus on myself and build up my self-esteem and sex only complicates things. Besides, I want to wait for the guy that loves me enough to profess before God that he loves me. Please pray for me...

That's about it for this update, I will be back with another one really soon...I just did this really cute hairstyle and I want to upload the video onto the blog so y'all can see :)

Peace,

nNb Y

New Hairstyle Attempt! --> Bantu Knot Out (and Extras!)

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Hey lovelies!

Although I have been swamped with studying for finals and preparing for presentations, I somehow found the time to look up a natural hairstyles. During my search, I found a lot of great styles on Curly Nikki . I am sooo excited to attempt to try some of them! Check it out when you get a chance!

Ok, so I attempted to do a bantu knot out today and the results were FABULOUS!!! Here's what I did:

1.) First, I deep conditioned my hair with Jane Carter's Nutrient Replenishing Conditioner.

2.) I detangled then I used a special leave-in conditioner concoction that contained: Honey, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Jojoba Oil, Vitamin E Oil, and hot water. It makes my hair feel so soft!

3.) Then I sealed my hair with Elasta QP Mango Butter, Herbal Essences Totally Twisted Conditioner and Kinky-Curly Knot Today.

4.) I parted my hair into 4 sections and held each section with an ouchless hair tie.

5.) Working with one section at a time, I made small parts and began to two strand twist the hair. Afterwards, I wrapped the twist into a ball and tucked the loose end of the twist into the ball.

6.) Let air dry...however, I blow dried mine (I was crunched for time).

7.) Beautiful curls!

Before I head out, I just want to mention that there are a few artists that are really making some powerful music:

Raheem Devaughn - "Bulletproof"

Sade - "Soldier of Love"

Chrisette Michele - "Blame it on Me"

Peace,

nNb Y