Book Review: Curly Like Me: How To Grow Your Hair Healthy, Long and Strong

Friday morning I purchased this book's e-book version on my Barnes and Noble Nook (if you don't have one, GET ONE!). I'm already a huge fan and follower of Teri. Her website (www.tightlycurly.com) is one of my absolute favorites. So when I heard back in the fall that she was publishing a book, I was so very excited. Her website is absolutely amazing. I especially love the ingredients dictionary she has on the site. It's helped me countless times identify ingredients that can be harmful to my curls or if I didn't know what an ingredient was or what it's used for. It's helped me to avoid spending a ton of money on products that could damage my hair instead of making it strong and healthy. So, needless to say I was excited to read her book. In her book she goes in to great detail the techniques she used to grow and maintain her beautiful hair. This technique is also described on her website as well. I've been using bits and parts of her techniques (combing, cleansing, products and ingredients to avoid), but I still wanted to read her book. I was glad that I did. Teri shared some wonderful insight into curly hair. She shares her vast knowledge and research on what makes curly hair, well, curly and unique! She also shared her own personal horror stories of her struggles of trying to make her hair fit the ideal straight hair, something I think all naturals can relate to. She also filled her pages with great styling ideas for long hair, as well as books that she encourages everyone to read. Over all I'm glad I purchased her book. Like I said I've only used bits and parts of her styling techniques and I'm seriously giving some thought to trying all of them out as I'm kind of in a stying rut. Hopefully, these techniques will hold up to hard workouts and keep me from over manipulating my hair. If you haven't already visited the tightlycurly.com website or read Teri's book, I would encourage you to do so. The information that she has can prove to be very helpful or at the very least teach you which product ingredients to avoid. Thanks Teri for sharing your knowledge with the world!!

Styling Rut

Ok, I've officially entered a styling rut with my curls. I've been wearing the double side buns with flat twists in the front for about three weeks now. I'm kind of burnt out on this style. I do like it a lot. It's cute, simple and quick to do. It lasts until I co-wash and deep condition every five days and though my sweaty workouts. I'm wanting to give the twist and curl a shot again, but I'm not sure if this style will survive daily workouts. I've done a twist and curl style before back in the fall and it turned out well even after a workout. But I would like something that would last at least five days and doesn't require a lot of manipulation. With the double buns all I have to do at night is tie a scarf around the my head and untie in the morning. So I'm not sure what I want to do. Thought about going back to just tiny twists, or a single bun with various hair pins and clips for decoration. But again I'm not really sure. I would really like to start wearing my hair down and out and really show off and enjoy my curls, but I'm just not sure how. I've been stalking some of my favorite blog and sites for ideas but nothing has yet to strike my fancy. Most of the styles look really awesome on hair that's much longer than mine *sigh*. Anyway, hopefully by the time it's time for me to co-wash and deep condition again I will have come up with something. Below are some pics of some styles I've tried before.

Pony Poof. This was my staple style last summer. I gave it up out of fear of putting too much tension on my hair.

Twist n' Curl. (Fall 2009). This pic was taken one afternoon since being at work since 4:30am and an hour long workout. I think this was second day hair and I can't for the life of me remember what products were used in the creation of this beast lol.

This was taken last week. I'm rocking my double buns with my straw hat to protect my hair from the sun. Plus it's super cute and goes pretty well with the earrings.

I guess we'll see what comes to mind.

I'm Baaaaack!!

Wow, I can't believe it's been since the end of February since I've last posted. Things have been really busy but good news to report. The Hubs and I are gearing up for our next duty station in the next month and a half or so. I've added to my health and fitness resume by becoming a licensed ZUMBA Fitness Instructor and have been working with another ZUMBA instructor to build my teaching skills. This paired with my ACSM Personal Trainer Certification will certainly help pay for grad school.

Zumba and Zumba Fitness are registered trademarks of Zumba Fitness, LLC. Used with permission

In more hair related news, I've become a contributor to my favorite curly hair blog CurlyNikki.com. I post weekly health and fitness tips and can be found on the CurlFriends section of the CN.com community. I'm going to start poisting the same health and fitness tips here as well. I'm so excited and happy to be apart of CurlyNikki.com. I've also celebrated my 1 year natural anniversary. I'm so pleased with my hair's progress and growth. It's been slow coming but it's healthy. I've started noticing texture changes in my hair. I still have alot of 4a/b curls, which seem to have loosened up, but I'm starting to see alot of 3c curls at the nape of my neck.


I've changed up my routine a bit. I'm back to taking my GNC Hair, Skin and Nails vitamins. I've been wearing my hair in a new style, two side buns with flat twists across the front. I wear this style during the week and then wash, deep conditioner and back to buns. I love this style. It's easy and talks very little time to do and allows my hair to rest and keeps me from manipulating it too much. It also holds up very well in the gym! I've also stumbled onto an awesome find in Giovanni 50:50 Balancing and Hydrating conditioner. I picked it up by accident thinking it was the Smooth As Silk conditioner. It's super thick and super slip when the water hits it. Left in and pared with my shea butter, jojoba oil, castor oil and vitamin E mix yeilds super soft and mosturized hair when dried. A total win for me.

I also fell in love with CurlFormers! I've used these for two formal events (as part of a wedding and for a military ball) and both times have yeilded great results with paired with Oyin's Shine and Define styling pomade. (Will post the pics when the portraits from the ball arrive My styles held up after lots of dancing and sweating and even produced second and third day hair. I've also been working with two new deep conditioners from the Carol's Daughter line. The jury is still out on the ruling but we shall see.

I also got a surprise today! I checked my blog and noticed that I have two followers! HI TNT5150 AND PAMELA!! I'm flattered and excited at the same time. Thanks ladies and welcome! I am defenately going to have to stay on top of my blog now *smile*.

Anyway, I'm so glad to be back to work on my blog. I think this is such a helpful tool in my natural hair journey and I'm disappointed in myself for letting it fall to the wayside. Sometimes you have to see your progress to really "see" your progress. Reminders are always helpful. That's it for now. Later tonight I'll post my latest health and fitness tips from CN.com and will post past tips in the upcoming days. Glad to be back!