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 Wrap Your Hair With a Scarf

Hey everyone, 

So the summer is here again and is as unpredictable as ever. Today I'm going to show you how I do this cute head wrap with a scarf. 

I love this style because it's protective and if your hair is looking particularly rough it's stylish cover up.

I really have a thing for bright colours at the moment so I picked up this African print material from my local street market. It wasn't expensive either just £2 for off cuts, alternatively, you could use the scarves you have available.

First, you will need to wrap the scarf around the back of your head and make a simple tie at the front. At this point, you could roughly jiggle your fringe to your liking. 

Do another simple tie the opposite way. The reason for this is I found when you do it the same way your overall tie is a bit one sided.

Depending on how long your scarf is tuck in any remaining pieces. If you have a longer scarf twist the length of the scarf and tuck it in at the back of your head. Touch up your fringe if needed by tucking neatly to the side or go for the side sweep leaving some hair loose. 

That's it your done. Accessorise with some cute earrings or sunglasses and you're good to go!

I hope you enjoy the simple style, let me know if you are a fan of hair styling scarves. Let me know if there is anything more you would like to see and be sure to come back for more updates. 

Take care x

Turkish Vibes for a Black Girl

Hey everyone,

I know I've spoken quite a lot about Turkey but I feel I need to say this too, because its playing on my mind.

General Vibes:
March is not peak season so the hotel and 'excursion type' things were relatively quiet, which was cool as I really needed the head space. Everyone who I came across was so polite and helpful, there wasn't any problem with language at all. From what I noticed the majority of the tourist were English and or German, which would be perfect expect I know any Dutch whatsoever. Not that it mattered, everyone was very inclusive so you feel really looked after.

There are a few things you should look out for; the hard sale. As a tourist in any county I guess this is to be expected. But occasionally I felt it was a bit full on, so best to have your wits about you. Being black, every now and then especially in the Town centre locals would just stare or ask to take a picture with you. They seem to be genuinely surprise that you (a black person) are there and address you as 'Chocolate'. Even walking along the street people who beep their horn to get your attention. I love flattery as much as the next girl, but this much more then that.

London is quite 'multicultural' so I have never really had this before, or knew what to feel about it. The comments and looks were not done in a malicious way (most of the time it was polite), so I'm not offended as such... just... puzzled, I guess. There was not any other black people that I noticed so perhaps there isn't much exposure to black people and their culture in those parts, as to why the people reacted like that? I am by no means labelling Turkey as racist, as I did have good time and I would absolutely go back.

 I'd be interested to know, has anyone else had a similar experience or opinion on the matter?

Until next time x

Places to visit in Turkey

Hey everyone,

Hope all is well. This will be part two of my Turkey trip, here I will be talking and showing you cool places to go and see.

Things to see:
I wanted to explore the city and discover cool places. One of which was the Duden waterfall. Standing on a cliff looking at the waterfall that goes directly into the Mediterranean Sea, was really beautiful and a great place to take pictures. I imagine pictures at sunset would have been amazing... 

That being said I say a standard seflie works well too :)

Shopping:
As you may or may not know I am a scrimper, whenever and where ever I can save money I'm there. So I absolutely had to visit the markets of Turkey, as there are renowned for being a haggler's paradise. So I headed to the Lara Market which is also referred to as the Saturday Bazaar (Sirinyali Bazaar), which is really popular with locals. The Market was packed with stalls selling things like shoes and sunglasses to fresh food and spices and yes, you can buy your souvenirs there as well. You can get things at a reasonable price but watch out for fakes; the 'omg its giving me a rash' type fakes.

Look at the those colourful spices, the foodie in me was frothing at the mouth

Like with all markets the best bargains are always to be had towards the end of the day, so definitely worth sticking around if you can.

Gozleme

Side note - Where possible its always good to sample the street food ~Yum! 

Then we went to the old town of Kaleici which winds up from the harbour. There are a lot of historic buildings of note around the town and plenty of treasures to find, so lets go exploring.

Hadrian's Gate

It was so enjoyable walking through the allies with beautiful restaurants and cafés with colourful accents of flowers and textures everywhere. 

There is just so much to see and everything is so beautiful but you have to keep it moving or you'll miss stuff. I do not think this is necessary the best place to find bargains, but you will find beautify designed fabrics, nick-nacks and food.

As you reach the end there is a wonderful view Mediterranean sea. Everyone is super friendly and helpful so if you get lost they will point you in the right direction.

Up the top of hill, toward the town centre you'll find the Clock Tower and Tekeli Mehmet Pasa Mosque, if you spin around to your left is the statue of the King Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamon and the founder of modern-day Antalya.

Last picture of the town and scenery (and me) then we will move on. 

Touristy things to do: 
I know ruins are not everyone's cup of tea but I love it and enjoy hearing stories of what once was. Perge was once a bustling Roman port and the first stop for St. Paul on his missionary journeys. These ruin where once home to a marketplace, fountains and an impressive bathhouse.

Aspendos is home to one of the world best preserved Roman theatres, so well preserved it is still used for concerts and operas today! How amazing is that? This place was so beautiful I wish I could of hear the acoustics of amazing song for myself. Although our tour guide give us a song as a teaser.

The highlight of the trip: Pammukale

This as know as the cotton castle, I really love this place it was truly beautiful. On top of the mountain sits this beautiful wonder of the world with a beautiful view of mountains and town below. A collection of white pockets of mineral enriched spring waters, looks like a fairy tale. This is quite big so its difficult to get a picture that capture all the beauty of these pockets from ground level, so do google it if your curious.

Warm water hot springs please work a miracle on my feet hehe

It's a series of mountains terraces where natural springs have solidified into snowy-white stalactites and cliffs. Its not cold to walk on, but if you do go into the pools be careful as it can be slippery!

I didn't know what to expect when I went, I thought it was just the water pockets but there was a whole city that sit around it. 

The city is Hierapolis which is now an assortment of Roman ruins, one of which is the the great Roman Theatre. I wish I knew about the city and how it come to be but unfortunately due to a mix up my tor guide could only speak German. But from what I can tell it was a spectacular city. The attention to detail was mind blowing!

Amazing!

I hope you all enjoyed this post, if you have any questions or suggestions please let me know I'd love to hear from you.

Be sure to come back in a few days for more about my trip, hair updates, tips and reviews!

Hope your having a great day, take care x

My Travel Diary - Turkey

Hey everyone,

About 2 weeks I decided to get away and have a short break. My criteria was minimal; simply cheap, varied and warm-ish. Don't get me wrong I would love those 30c temperature but its March and to find that I would have to spend a little bit more then I was willing too. So I decided to go to Turkey! 

This country has everything from high mountains you can ski (yep I said ski, I didn't believe it either but its true), to thousands of kilometres long beaches you can enjoy. Not to mention the rich culture and historic gems dotted around the country. The area I stayed in was Antalya.

Money Matters: Turkey is not a part of the EU any more, however there is a heavy preference to pay for things in Euros as its stronger. However I found bartering prices with locals easier with Turkish Lira. There are plenty of bargains to be had there so best t keep your eyes peeled.

 Accommodation: I really didn't know what to exact in terms of accommodation, I've seen so many horror stories from people online, all I could do was cross my fingers and hope for the best. I stayed at the Paloma Renaissance Antalya Beach Resort & SPA. 

The hotel was lovely I would definitely recommend it. The staff where very helpful and friendly and what I really like was that remembered my name. I know it's only a small thing but it really is the small things that raises the bar. The food was great with a healthy selection of everything, even the most fussy eaters would be happy. Its completely up to you how you spend your time, whether it be at the bar, messing around in the multi-media room or chilling on the private beach. As it was off peak season there were some sections of the hotel that were closed, even still it was a fabulous place to stay. 

The room was so spacious and the bed lovely a large

For some reason the bedroom area didn't have a door, so if you having a bath use plenty of bubbles hehe :-) (Behind the bath tub was the shower).

The pools were relaxing and quiet, with plenty of chairs and loungers to chill on. 

I also discovered they had a animal pen full of bunnies and ducks, which was so cute. Until one of the baby bunnies slipped through the fence! So operation 'catch and rescue bunny' was on. 'Baby Bun-bun' was perfectly safe and returned home. They are so cute though 

You know the saying 'when in Rome (or Turkey in this case), do as the Romans do', so i absolutely had to have a Turkish bath. I didn't want to go to the one in the hotel, I wanted one that the locals would use. A authentic Turkish Bath... not sure if I hit the nail on the head here but I went to the Golden Rose - Turkish Bath and Spa Center.

This is actually a picture of the bath the hotel, I couldn't take pictures in the Golden Rose

Good first impression and welcomed pleasantly by staff. After a quick change its off to the sauna choice of wet or dry. Then the actual Turkish bath which is a huge wet room. First is splash of water. Once wet, a scrub down with an exfoliating glove all over your body (back and front) along with some cheeky slaps to you backside but not sure if that's custom. (P.S if your shy with guys rubbing you up, undoing and pulling down your bikini - prepare yourself!) Then a foam message. This feels so nice and silky again this is all over. Raise off and your cleansing is done.

Now time for some tea and face mask. Then it's time for a message. I don't get massages often but this was definitely the hardest one I've had and it was so good! I literally felt like a lump of dough - love it!

I would rate first experience of a Turkish Bath 7/10

This post is getting a little bit long so I'm going to take a break and continue in another post. But I really hope reading about my Turkish experience so far. 

 Be sure to come back in a few days for more about my trip, hair updates, tips and reviews!

Hope your having a great day, take care x

How to Get Rid of Clutter

Hey everyone,

They say you can tell a lot from a person by how they keep their house. And most of the time this is true but lets make it even easier we won't look at the whole house, better? How about we only look at one room. Okay good we're to know you more now...

Lets look at your chest of drawers.... damn!

Unfortunately this is a very familiar sight and we quickly just learn to deal with it and carry on. But seriously this is nuts, the draws can bearly close and it's only a matter of time until the bottom of the draws starts bowing. Clearly I have too much going on here.
The picture above is all the stuff that come out of one draw 

I found the best way to start is the clear out the space your working on. When your home is filled with clutter, trying to tackle a mountain of stuff can be quite overwhelming. I found being ruthless was the only way, if I haven't worn it in a year its got to go!

Where do you start when you want to declutter?

For underwear, even if I folded it super neat it would slide around through daily section, so had to come up with a better solution.

I came across these awesome Drawer Dividers from MIU COLOR, which have made things so easy. Huge thumbs up on price only £12.99

After removing over 50 items of underwear this is the result. What an improvement! I even has compartments to spare.

Now when I open my drawers I see exactly what I have, this is also a great way to control myself buying things I don't need. These are beautifully sized with enough pockets to fit all the tiny bits of clothing I have. The outer frame is sturdy, so should do me right for some time. The colour is neutral enough to blend in with whatever your wardrobe might look like.

The different sized compartments make it easy to store bras, panties, socks even items such as boxed jewellery, perfume bottles and most things that get stuffed into a drawer.

I am so happy with these, I can't wait to get into the rest of my drawers and start organizing. Officially my biggest bargain of the year - so far...

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!