FOTD: Sand & Surf

 This face of the day is a tribute to my PCB getaway… ENJOY 🙂

PRIMER: Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte e/s primer

BASE: NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk

SHADOW: I covered my lower lid in gold & highlighted my tearducts with matte off white (both from WNW Vanity palette).  Then I applied orange e/s to my crease (Shany 120 palette), matte dark brown to my outer v & matte camel to my brow bone (also WNW Vanity palette).

OTHER DETAILS… I used CoverGirl single e/s in Smolder to define my eyebrows. L’Oreal Collagen Mascara in Blackest Black on my eyelashes. I defined my upper lashine with Wet N Wild cream eyeliner in black. On my waterline, I used WetNWild eyeliner pencil in turquoise & topped that with a shimmery aqua colored eyeshadow for emphasis.

FACE: Estee Lauder pressed powder in Deep (05)

CHEEKS: Ulta single e/s in Sparks in the hollows of my cheeks & Black Radiance sheer finish blush in Soft Honey (8305B) on the apples of my cheeks

LIPS: Carmex + Estee Lauder lip gloss in Rose

I wanna go back…

Adventures in hairstyling… Giovanni’s Vacation

This is what my hair looked like at the start of our trip: soft, loose curls… left over from the last roller set.

Then we spent the day at the beach & my soft curls morphed into a curly fro…

 We had plans to go out that night & my former look was basically destroyed, so I went into Macguyver mode. I took a shower sans shower cap, to let my hair soak up all the steam & maximize the volume. I pinned back my edges using bobby pins, then I threw some makeup on my face… I was dressed & ready to go in less than an hour *GO SHAM!!!* My brother was completely flabbergasted 🙂

We went to out for drinks at Tuscany Italian Bistro, located in Pier Park. It was fabulous & Craig is a magician behind the bar… I highly recommend!

Sunday morning I had to get my wig together for worship service. So I co-washed with Suave Professionals Almond & Shea Butter Conditioner & rinsed. Then I detangled (using my beloved Tangle Teezer), added a little bit of conditioner & EcoStyler Olive Oil Gel & finger-coiled my entire head. I let it hair dry halfway, then blew it dry with a diffuser (low heat & low speed).

  

This is what it looked like…

Apparently someone told my hair we were on vacation & he wanted a break from the norm as well… LOL! (YES… my hair is MALE in gender. I call him Giovanni. It’ll tell you about that some other time). I’m digging this coiled-out, curly fro…

I smell a new staple style!

Tutorial: Dry roller set

This is my nightly routine on days when life has caused my curls to frizz, fall or become undefined. I don’t do it every night… About every 2-3 nights, depending on how my curls are looking.

The next morning…

Thanks for watching 🙂

Hair Porn: The Tracee Ellis Ross Edition

Get your bibs out & let the drooling begin!

 

Do you love her hair as much as I do?!? LOL

Who is your hair idol?

On setting hair goals…

I’ll keep it real with you, the journey to natural is NOT an easy one. But as with any other challenge in life, you can succeed by setting attainable goals.  During most of the first year of my transition, I blew my hair dry, pressed it with a flat-iron (to tame the frizz) & then curled it (to add body & style). What on earth was I thinking?!?!? I was probably thinking I could make my hair behave the way I wanted it to… or that my styling skills were so dope I could catch the “WG flow” sans relaxer. Silly rabbit… Tricks are for kids!  At some point I realized that the excessive direct heat was negating the positive effects of not relaxing my hair. Oprah calls this an “Aha! moment”… I realized that simply not perming my hair wasn’t enough & that I needed a hair goal. Enter Tracee Ellis Ross…

 

Check out her wig… it’s voluminous, shiny & everything a curly fro should be! Why is this an appropriate hair goal for me? Simply because Tracee’s hair texture is similar to mine (meaning this look is attainable), but the length & width of her hair are greater than mine (giving me something to strive for). Any worthwhile goal will take you outside of your comfort zone, but that’s alright… it promotes personal GROWTH! Speaking of growth, human hair grows at a rate of about half an inch per month (this is an average statistic), so obviously mine is a long-term goal. What am I doing in the short-term to make it happen?

1. Maintaining a healthy scalp (by using tea tree oil, cleansing as often as needed & keeping it free of debris)
2. Deep conditioning twice a month
3. Doing protein treatments every other month (6-8 weeks)
4. Using a hooded dryer (indirect heat at a lower temperature) instead of my blow dryer
5. Trimming my ends every 2 months (Remember I’m slightly past a year & a half into my natural transition, so there are still a few permed ends… PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE)
6. Limiting the use of heat tools (namely my curling iron & flat-iron) to hairwashing day
7. Using thermal protection spray & leave-in conditioners to style my hair
8. Using coconut oil (or shea butter) to seal my ends after hairwash

Although I have seen a tremendous improvement in the condition of my hair & reasonable length retention, I could be doing more… Wanna know what I should be doing?

1. Attempting low manipulation hairstyles. Why? Because they limit stress & minimize breakage. BTW, roller setting is highly manipulative *WHOMP WHOMP*
2. Keeping my hands out of my hair… Yes, I’m a curl twirler… So sue me!
3. Throwing away my motions pomade… It gets my edges SUPER SLICK! but it’s full of synthetic crap 😦

What can I say, I’m a work in progress…

What are your hair goals & what are you doing to achieve them?

 

The Protein Cocktail Review…

FOTD: Pacific sunset

Hmm… I’m not sure what to say about this FOTD. I used the NYX pacific duo (pictured below) then I added purple & orange to the mix, to mimic a pretty sunset… The results? It didn’t quite turn out the way I’d planned. One must be extremely judicious when using light-colored eyeshadows in frost finish & that’s all I’m gonna say about that (LOL). I will probably submit a do-over after I perfect this look, but in efforts to keep it real, I’m gonna share my rough draft 🙂

PRIMER: Coastal Scents Shadow Worx Matte e/s primer

BASE: NYX jumbo pencil in Pacific

SHADOW: I covered my lower lid & tearducts in a frosty light blue e/s by NYX called Pacific. Then, in a rainbow fashion, I added matte fuchsia (Shany 120) e/s to my crease, matte tangerine orange (Shany 120) e/s above the fuchsia, eggplant purple (WNW Lust) to my outer v for depth & matte camel (WNW Vanity) directly under my eyebrow.

OTHER DETAILS… I used CoverGirl single e/s in Smolder to define my eyebrows. L’Oreal Collagen Mascara in Blackest Black on my eyelashes. I defined my upper lashline with WetnWild cream eyeliner in black. Using a pencil brush I added eggplant purple e/s (WNW Lust palette) under my waterline.

LIPS: WetNWild Mega Last Lip color in Sand Storm (913C) + CO Bigelow lip gloss in Pink Mint

CHEEKS: WetNWild Blush in Heather Silk (832E)

FACE: Estee Lauder pressed powder in Deep (05)

________________________________________________

RANDOM NOTE ABOUT MY HAIR: I’m on day 11 of my original roller set (4 days since the cantu leave-in revival) & it seems that the curls along my front hairline have come undone *WHOMP WHOMP* I will not be using any heat on my hair this week until hairwashing day, so this is what I did…

  

I put a little bit of shea butter on the hairline closest to my right & left temples. Then I brushed that hair back & pinned it just above my ear, with a bobby pin. Finally I fluffed the hair in the center & positioned it to fall over (therefore concealing) the bobby pins… and I was DONE in less than 10 minutes!

Gee willikers (Part 2)

I started out with a frizzy, curly fro:

I detangled my hair in small sections, added a little Cantu Shea Leave-in condish…

Then I rolled it up & went to bed. *Tangential commentary* Can we please discuss the fact that I’ve been wearing this eyeshadow for like 14 hours & it hasn’t moved?!?! #WINNIN!

This morning I pulled out my rollers…

Wrapped my hair & tied it down (to blend the roller parts)…

After I put my makeup on I picked it out & this was the finished product:

My thoughts… it feels slightly product-y, but it is week 2 (post-wash), so that’s to be expected. My hair is still kinda frizzy in the back, but that’s what the back of my head always looks like. Cantu made my hair smell heavenly & today it’s extremely soft to the touch. Who knows if the curls will hold, but I’ll keep a headband, elastics & bobby pins on standby just in case 🙂

Gee willikers… what happened to her curls, Batman?!

Before…

And after…

Total elapsed time: 12 hours… and it hasn’t even started raining yet, it’s just threatening *SMH* I’m not even gonna complain this time …

Part 2… HAIR STYLING

This post is a continuation of yesterday’s https://shamiamglam.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/its-that-time-again-hairwashing-day/…

I pulled my rollers out & put coconut oil on each section of hair. This is what it looked like @ that point… tightly curled, slightly puffy @ the root. Then I picked it out (using a wide-toothed comb) & pulled it up into a pony tail, slicked back my edges & tied a scarf around it. I left it up like that for several hours while I was house cleaning & stuff. When I set it free, it looked like this:

Although this hairdo meets standards as a curly fro, I was not going for this particular look this weekend. So, I fired up my barrel curling iron (1″ diameter by Conair) & curled my hair in sections. I used the iron to press out my wavy roots & curled my hair vertically instead of horizontally. I do this b/c my hair is cut into a lot of layers & it flips & feathers out more dramatically when I curl it this way. It’s still very curly, but they’re looser elongated curls with straight roots…

Normally I would stop right here, because this is the look I was going for. But now it’s bedtime! So I wrapped my hair & tied it down with a silk scarf & went to sleep. This morning I combed it out & fluffed it & this it what it looks like now…

So now you’re thinking “WOW SHAM! that’s a lot of work”…and you’re halfway right. It takes a total of about 4 hours or so to achieve this look, HOWEVER… it takes at least 4 hours to get your hair done at the salon, right? So to be productive, I just multitask & use hairwashing day to do household chores. Do you remember when a wash & set was $30? Ahhh, the good ol days! Well now they cost about $60 AND they charge more money if your hair is un-relaxed… NO BUENO! Doing your hair at home might have upfront costs (buying rollers, clips & utensils, a hair dryer & styling products), BUT it pays for itself within the first 30 days. By the way, this hairstyle lasts for 10-14 days, which is a GREAT return on my time investment. All I have to do to it is wrap (or roll) it every night. It only takes about 4 minutes to style each morning… that way I can spend more time on my MAKEUP! 

Well, I’m outta here people. Time to go see the one who gave me life! HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 😉