Loc Journey Update/ Loc Anniversary

Hey everyone, 

This is just a quick post to mark my loc anniversary! whoop whoop! Actually I kind of missed it as it was in July but let's carry on anyway. 

I am still very much enjoying this journey, I feel so comfortable with my hair and within myself. From my previous hair journey update (Starter Locs Journey), things were a bit up and down and at times I felt ugly but I'm a lot more confident. I don't feel intimidated or insecure about girls with 'luxurious silky' weaves because I'm just being me - that's it.

My hair is still 'immature' at times where it is still quite frizzy, my locs are not as smooth and tight as more 'mature' locs can be. But I don't mind that. My growth has not been as dramatic as I have seen by others but I love the progress so far, this length is neat not too heavy and just about long enough to get into a ponytail

 I have learned a lot about my in getting the dryness under control, which has meant I've been able to chill out and relax about my hair. I'm not worried about the having a fresh re-twist or how neat they look. In fact, I think I prefer when there is a little regrowth, it looks more rustic and natural. The only thing I still haven't tried braid-out but I am so excited to get involved in that. 

Products-wise I don't really use a lot I like to keep it simple so simple shampoo/conditioner (recommendations welcome), olive oil/coconut oil with rose water to moisturize. That's pretty much it, it's ridiculously simple and I love it. 

If any of you guys have any products or methods to try out please let me know, I'd be happy to give it a whirl. 

Well, that's all for now see you! x

How to Remove Lint From Locs

Hi everyone,

I knew this day would come eventually but it still managed to take me by surprise. How the heck did it take me so long to notice the nasty white highlights dotted all around my hair? 

Not just on the surface either, these buggers have had time to in-bed themselves into my locs. It's just so annoying and looks so... not cute. It just make your hair look dirty and is just a constant stain on your look.

How can you prevent or remove the lint? 

1. A popular choice is to remove it with tweezers or needle. For this I would begin with picking at the lint with my fingers the lift the lint up then I would use the tweezers to individually remove the lint. The problem with this I found I was picking and attacking my hair at the same time. So the loc would get frizzy and slightly thinner then what it was when I started. I imagine if I continues doing this it would cause more harm then good to my hair. Or perhaps the way I'm doing it is wrong? Let me know

2. Shake it off, shake it off! I do this often as my hair is quite short and isn't really long enough to be tied up, I'm always shaking it trying to poof it up. But it's a good way to get out any fly aways, dirt and bits of lint sitting on the surface of your hair. 

3. Brush your locs with a baby brush, similar to shaking it off I've found it an effective way of getting out debris and dirt. I like to do this before going in the shower; as wetting my hair allows the debris to in-bed themselves into my hair. However brushing can cause some frizzing so if it bothers you, you could palm roll the hair back in place. 

4. A good habit to get into is to cover your locs with a satin scarf/bonnet at every opportunity. If your cleaning...cover it, if your sleeping...cover it, when you are taking off your favourite fluffy jumper...cover it! Better yet as soon as you get through your front door just wrap it up. 

5. Sometimes it just is not worth the fight - dye it. Hair and lint can become one and nobody need know. In some cases dying hair to a darker more even shade can make it appear healthier, shinier and cleaner. Dirty mouse brown be gone.

Before (my natural colour)

After (I was too chicken to go permanent but I probably will next time)

As I mentioned before I am no expert, these are just things i've learnt along the way. I'm still learning things so if you guys know anything or have a experiences of your own please share I'd love to know about it. 

 Until next time...laters!

Short Hairstyle for Women

Hi everyone,

We all love fabulous intricate styles and it is my hope to one day master it for myself. But unfortunately I am not there yet, that aside I wanted to share a style I was sporting this summer. (I know I'm a little late but bear with me)

I got this done at Premiere Dreadz which is one of my favourite places to go regarding my hair, I completely trust them, the staff are very professional plus the banter is really good :)

This styles can be for Starter Locs, Short/Medium Locs, and Twists. The style is essentially twisted to the sides, into mohawk down the middle and side fringe. What I like about this style its low maintenance, which is perfect because I am bit  lazy. I really like that most of the hair is twisted in, so my locs do not get frizzy and messy as quick and stand a better chance of holding the retwist of the roots.

To honest I thought my hair was too short for styles like this so I was delighted that this was possible. I think the fringe at the side added  a bit of femininity to style without it, this style could easy work men.

I absolutely love that its neat and edgy at the same time, so can be professional at work and be fun and funky on the weekend.  

If you have any styles or tips to share let me know :-)

Take care x

Starter Locs Journey

Hey everyone,

As I mention previously I have decided to locs up! Yay!! whoop whoop! One more for the natural sisters of the world.

Ok, so I've made the decision now what? Although I got the gist of starting locs is two stand twist and leave it for a while, but even still I had so many questions. Like how thick should my dreads be? What is the best technique for my hair? What should I do to my hair before I start? How do I look after my locs? How often should I wash my hair? and biggest question was how will it before hair is down to my bra strap?

I am so excited to get to the point were I can do those amazing locs styles I see in the magazines and videos. Seriously check out pinterest the styles are amazing!

Before I get into my story, just a little disclaimer I am not an expert, everybody hair and experience is different this just my personal experience. Before I started I washed my hair, had a treatment and trimmed my ends. The technique used on my was a two stand twist that was interloked at the base (with fingers). In terms of how thick i wanted the locs, I wanted them to be medium/thick. As pretty as skinny locs are, I was worried about the strength of them. So the size partings the stylist did was approximately 1 inch squares. My hope is that my locs/hair will be thick enough to fill it out.

This was my first day, hopefully you can see the twists

Not going to lied you, once it was done it really wasn't want I was expecting. It was far too gappy and I could see too much scalp. This was not how the girls on Youtube look! After a little sulk I remembered that locs is a journey and there are no quick fixes. Time to man up and get on with it. I noticed my hair had shrank at bit since the initial twisting, which I was not expecting.

After about a month this is what it look like - thank goodness for hats!

I went through an 'ugly' stage (tbh I still go through this every now and again), this is development stage. My hair hadn't quite worked out how to be and was not 'looking' the way I'd like. I didn't feel very attractive, I couldn't do much with it. It took time for me to build confidence at first, but slowly but surely its really started to home in that my hair is for me, not for anyone else.

Although its neater still looks thin and a bit gappy 

About 5 months into locs I decided to go to a different salon and get my hair neatened up and interlocked tightly with the tool. I decided  to do this because my hair was starting to unravel and the 'interlocking' that was done was pulling out. After doing this my locs felt much more secure and fuzziness at the ends had reduced. At this stage I also noticed my hair had began budding so progress at last.

This was in January

Fast forward another three months and this is were I am. I try to re-twist my hair every 8 weeks or so. My aim is learn how to re-twist and style myself and only go to the salon for special occasions. I'd like to talk about product build up and lint, as well as frizzy ends. But I'll leave that for another post.

Overall I am happy with my hair and the way it looks, but I still have much to learn. There is no set time on when your hair will loc. Patience is needed, its a process. Its going to take time.

Take Care x

Birthday Wishes

Hi everyone,

I should have post this a month ago but you know me; might take a  while but I get there.

Well there goes another year... dam it gets faster every year. As you know birthday's are a time of celebration and thankfulness (well most of the time it is).

Even though our faces are cut off I quite like this picture

Okay so I have a small confusion to make I did not have a party for my birthday... nobody loves me :-( lol only joking, thinking of one next year ;-)

 My birthday was pretty simple it terms of things to do, but it was still special for me. I spent the majority of it with my sister goofing around, eating yummy food and pampering ourselves at a beauty salon. Then meeting up with family in the evening. My sister was quite sweet, although she can a pain sometimes, she went out her way to make me smile :)

Here's a picture with our full faces. Big thanks to her for giving me should a lovey day.

We had a food a at really place called Havet, which is a smart Turkish-Cypriot venue with contemporary styling, serving hot/cold meze and chargrilled fare. For a local place I was pleasantly surprised the food was as good as it was, yet still be a reasonably price.

We went for the King Prawns with spicy rice and Monkfish shish with mixed leaf salad. King Prawns are one of my favourite things to eat, so I knew that was a safe bet. It was delicious, I easy could have eat them all day. But this was my first time trying Monkfish...wow so good. If I was going to go pescetarian this would be definitely be on my shopping list, its meaty, fulling and not too 'fishy'. Also if your easily embarrassed, do not tell them it's your birthday and you have cake, they will play Stevie Wonder, sing and light the candles for you in front of the whole restaurant. I however loved every second of it lol

My most attractive face lol :D

So I welcome my new year. A more grown up me, please please bring me happiness, joy and love, and maybe my future husband pretty please!

Hope you having a good day, take care x

My Natural Hair Journey

Hi everyone,

It feels a bit late to say Happy New Year, but it would be rude if I didn't. Thank you for visiting my little blog and lets continue to get to know each in the new year :-)

So a while ago I decided to give up the perm and go natural, well... sort of. The transaction period of straight ends and thick bushy roots was incredibly frustrating. Simple styling or even basic combing was becoming difficult and painful, no matter what I did my hair would not cooperate. It was embarrassing and it really knocked my confidence, I didn't want to go outside and I felt so unattractive.

My quick style for natural hair

For over 10 years my hair was permed. I was never really one for long hair so I was sporting short styles, it was easier and manageable. However over time I was beginning to see a difference in the texture and thickness of my hair, even though I had regular treatments.

Doing a big chop was a bit too much for me but I felt more comfortable using extensions and weaves and deep trimming the ends between installments. I've had single plaits as a child but 2011 was my first sew in weave. It was fun to able to change things without causing too distress to my natural hair.

Weave Downsides:

• Hair does not age well (this does depend on the hair you buy)
• Crazy ass shedding - Hair all over the floor, hair all over your back... eww that's nasty!
• Once you have regrowth hair looks high and puffy -  When the wind hits the front of your head and it lifts up it looks NUTS!

Two Strand Twist Extension Downsides:

• Can take a long time to install and take down
• Difficult to hide messy roots and your hair is more liking to loc if left in too long

Out of the two I'd prefer to have two strand twist extensions in, I think it looks more natural (especially with a little regrowth) then straight weave. Its more versatile in terms of styling and its easier to moisturise the length of your natural hair.

In 2014 I decided its time time for a new chapter in my hair journey. I'm locing up! For me it just make sense, I've always been a fan of natural hair, but never really had the skills to manage my hair; problems with shrinking and tangles were a constant battle. Having locs means I can do all the things I did with the twist extensions but with my own hair and half the fuss. It won't be easy though, there will be times where it will look rough, it will be short and look thin/stringing. After much research I have learned that locs is a game of patience. It is different for everyone and it certainly doesn't happen overnight. So this is me the start of my locs journey, hopefully it would be happy and rewarding.

Goodbye little afro puff 

I do another post on my loc journey so far, but for now I hope you guys have enjoyed looking back with me. What has your hair journey been like and what have you learned? Any tips for locs please do let me know!

Until next time, take care x

Cracked Dry and Peeling

Hi everyone,

Can you believe we are in the middle of the year already? The time of year we get foot confident and wear sandals and show off our feet. This is quite a disgusting post so I feel I should warn you I'm going to show a few yucky pictures.

So I'm sure you guys have come across a type of foot mask that promises smooth and baby-like soles after using? I've always thought my feet were in quite good condition in terms of softness but I've always wanted to try. There are various brands out there but the one I decided to use was Exfoliating Foot Mask Papaya & Chamomile Extract - At less then £5 why not?

This product claims It removes all calluses, over time, visibly smoothing your feet within 2 weeks.

Simply apply the mask socks for 60 - 90 minutes and rinse off. If you have things to do around the house my tip would be to cover masks with large socks so they stay on or chill out watching your favourite shows. 

For a while I didn't see a difference, but then on the seventh day.

PEELING OFF!

Once you notice the first signs of peeling, soak your feet in warm water for a minimum of 30 minutes to loosen up the dead skin so that it can be rubbed off easily to reveal baby smooth skin! 

It is very disgusting i know but let me tell you it was also ultimate pleasure peeling off those dead skin i kid you not. I feel a snake, shedding away.

As tempting as it is you cannot pick the loose dangling pieces of skin on your soles, my tip is to soak your feet in warm water (or take a shower!), and then put lots of moisturising lotion, and give it a gentle rub. All the dead skin will come off without you using force.

Overall I have enjoyed this experience and the results have been better then expected, my feet really do feel beautiful and soft. My only regret is that I did not do it in the cooler months as I'm wasting sunny 'sandal' days and the UK they don't come that often!

Thanks for reading, take care.

Ughh! What's On Your Face?

Hi everyone,

I've been quite fortunate over the past few years to have clear skin, not that I did anything special. I'd often try different products not because I needed too but to see what works for me and how it feels. But it wasn't always this way, my teens was a constant battle with these disgusting spots coming out of my face. Now for some reason there are back! Least to say I ain't having it.

Memories of my youth came flooding back, when just touching my forehead feels like I'm rubbing up a kebab. Yet parts of my face (mainly my cheeks) are crazy dry? Now I certainly do not claim to a beauty guru or any of the jazz, I'm just a normal girl with for now a spotty oily/dry face.

I rarely rave a products but this one is so lovely I'm going to. Biore Combination Skin Balancing Cleanser has been an absolute life saviour, I love this product!

 The formula leverages Skin Purifying Technology that addresses the needs of combination skin, whilst providing an all-over clean without stripping skin's natural moisture. Personally I really like the soft thick texture. After application there is no stickiness or oily residue, my skin feels soft and hydrated.

Also, application is so easy...

On a clean wet face, pump the cleanser into hands and work into a form. Rinse thoroughly.

The result?

Instantly rejuvenated, hydrated skin

Hope you guys find this helpful. Biore Combination Skin Balancing Cleanser can be find at Superdrug and selected departmental stores and major hypermarkets, for about £4 - Bargain! ;)


Take care!

Supermarket Goodies

Hey guys,

We here in the UK are so lucky right now, the weather is gorgeous!

Beautiful blue sky :)

Seriously I can’t believe this is October, I mean c’mon our summer wasn’t even that good.

I thought I’d show you guys a few things that I’ve pick up recently that I’m loving. Check these little beauties out!

I really needed a jumper, cause around this time it starts to get cold so I wanted something that wasn’t too thick to like a light day jumper. And this one from Tesco’s works a treat the color and pattern are so cute for that preppy-look and the quality is really good and soft. And to top it off the sleeves are lovely and long, which is something thing that I normally straggle with. Buy Jumper from Tesco

I also picked up these gorgeous loafers, aren’t they cute. I wanted a pair of day-shoes because living in converses all the time just doesn’t work. Anyways back to the loafers really comfortable and as if by magic when they are on they make my feet appear small and cute. This was my first time buying clothing from Tesco and I am impressed (every little helps indeed!) :)

Continuing on through my supermarket sweep ASDA do a decent pair of plain black leggings, this is actually my third time buying these. Quality-wise really good, they hold their color well, they don’t bobble and they don’t gather at the knees. And most importantly they are NOT see through! (this is a big problem with leggings these days).

As you can probably tell I’m a make-up novice but I am really liking this All Over Face Brush from Avon. Very good quality and well made. It doesn't drop any bristles and is soft and silky so feels lovely on your face when applying powder. I think It is a bargain even at full price but if it's on an offer you should go for it! I would defiantly recommend it. Buy All Over Face Brush from Avon

I haven’t really been buying much recently, these days things are getting quite expensive but if I do see a bargains I’ll defiantly share with guys (^_^)

Bye x