Oil pulling and my results.

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

  

So after watching one of charyjay YouTube videos I became interested in oil pulling. When she mentioned it she was a little vague so I decided to do some research to see what it was all about. Oil pull is an ancient Ayruveda holistic dental care method that involves holding cold pressed oil in your mouth.  When practicing oil pulling you hold oil in your mouth swishing it around but never swallowing it for 20 minute. The idea is that it will whiten your teeth and make your mouth healthy by removing germs.  It can also make your over all health better, but I’ll get to that later.

  
    After I started oil pulling I’ve notice some interesting changes. One change I’ve noticed is I sleep much better at night. I use to wake up a lot at night and have trouble sleeping. Now I fall asleep easier, and stay asleep. I wake up in the morning felling well rested. As a result I have a lot more energy in the day.

   Another change I’ve noticed is the most important. My mouth feels so much cleaner. I’m not sure if my teeth have gotten noticeably whiter, however my mouth feel great. I was very skeptical about this, & most things I see online, but there seems to be a lot to back it up.

   One of the more surprising things I notice is that my weight changed a little. This was a very welcome surprise because I’ve been really struggling with my weight for the last 2 years. I went from 170lb to 205 in a matter of months and no matter what I do I can’t get my weight down. I lost 3 pounds and my body felt different. This caused me to research more into the beneficial properties of coconut oil.

   I’ve been using coconut oil in my hair for years but I never once thought I would be putting it on my mouth and consuming it on a daily basis. After doing some research I decided why not try it. I already have a ton of coconut oil for my hair.

image

    I’ve come across a lot of potential health benefits to coconut oil. When it comes to oil pulling with coconut oil the benefits are as follows. Whiter teeth, and healthier gums.  It can prevent gum disease and tooth decay. However it cannot cure it if it is already in progress. I know my teeth have some issues already. I was not about to fool myself into thinking oil pulling was some miracle cure to end all my dental problems forever. You still need to go to your regular checkups.

 It also can improve the appearance of your skin. I’ve noticed my skin seems more luminescent. A lot of my hyper pigmentation has cleared up & I have less acne.
Here is a link to one of the articles I read about oil pulling and the benefits of coconut oil.

http://draxe.com/coconut-oil-benefits/

http://artecalifornia.com/2014/10/28/ever-hear-of-oil-pulling/

http://www.primallyinspired.com/oil-pulling-with-coconut-oil/

Hello world!

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

  This is my very first post on word press.  I’ve been using blogger to blog about natural hair and my personal hair journey. I go by What My hair is doing today there. I decided I wanted to kick it up a notch. I want to blog about more then just hair. There are a lot of levels to me. I have a lot of talents, and I would like to showcase them here on ChubbyCurl. Some of the things I will blog about besides natural hair is music, crafting, life issues, religion, just life from my point of view. I hope you enjoy what I have In store.  

  Stay blessed. 

#FantasticFroFriday

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

I’ve decided I want to start a new hashtag  #FantasticFroFriday. I want to bring the natural hair community together to celebrate our varying afro’s. Sometimes I feel like we natural hair enthusiast primarily focus on definition and protective styles.

We don’t always encourage each other to just let our hair be in all its glorious bountiful beauty and fro it out. I also would like to feature some of my subscribers. All you have to do is submit a picture or video, and tell why you believe your fro is fantastic. Then share some of your hair care routine. Let me know by Wednesday of every week that you would like to participate.

 Share with your friends that have fantastic fro’s.  You can even submit a celebrity that you love with natural hair and nominate them for a feature on my blog and page for Fantastic Fro Friday. Let’s make this a thing.

Why some people see natural hair as childish

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

Whenever I have a conversation with one of my friends that has relaxed hair they often bring up the fact that they like my hair. However one draw back for them going natural is the fact that they believe that natural hair is not for adult occasions. Some style are perceive as childish. I can understand from hearing their point of view how they have come to that belief. If you really think about it some of the styles us adult naturals wear are close in similarity to the styles we wore as kids. Take today for instance. I’m rockin chunky three-strand twist. I normally wouldn’t wear my hair in such large twist in public, but I’m trying to achieve a good twist- out for Mother’s Day. As I looked in the mirror before I left work I felt like I looked like my adolescent self. All I had to do was add some barrettes and I was six again. When you are 33 you want people to take you seriously. Sadly in today’s world some people will still see your natural hair as immature. 

What a lot of people don’t realize is that natural hair is very versatile. I have three Pinterest boards dedicated to natural hair styles. One of them has 1,317 pins of ways to style natural hair. However to some it all looks the same. So people believe that natural hair can not come off polished, and sometimes I have to agree with them. I’ve planned pinned and pasted my hair with gels and pomades and my hair still will be a frizzy mess at the end of the day. To an outsider this can be less ideal. Most of us veteran naturals just roll with the punches. 

What’s a product junkie to do?

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

      Lately I’ve been trying to use less products and create a better hair regime. In the past I would get so caught up in the next best new product that I would switch up products every few months. It always happened the Same way. Super popular hair blogger does review of a product. Talks about it like its the holy grail, and I have to go out and get me some. Never mind what I was using even if it was working. I was convinced that this next new best thing would surpass that. We all know I’m hard headed so it took a while to realize all this product hopping was damaging my hair. I still revert back to my old ways from time to time. But I’ve been trying to stay away from product reviews to resist the urge.

      Theirs just one problem. What if I walk into target and see a lot of new natural hair products. Am I strong enough to walk on by. It’s been a heard  couple months for me. I’ve been finishing up all my old products to make room for one new one. Once I find that one  system that works for me I need to commit. I don’t know why it’s so hard for me, but when some of my favorite lines like Shea Moisture comes out with a new product I can’t resist. 

     One of the side effects I’ve noticed that occurs when I switch things up to much is dandruff. My scalp uses this way to say I don’t like that. Everything gets real itchy and sometimes I get bumps around my edges. At first I thought I was styling my hair to tight. But even in a loose bun or fro I have this problem.

 So I need to just find what works and never stray. In the next couple of weeks I’m going to try some new Shea moisture products. I already know which ones of the older lines I seem to be allergic to. So I’m going to give some of their more recent lines a try. I already like a lot of the Jamaican black castor oil line so I’m half way there. If your having the same problem as I am you can try commiting to trying less lines and finding that one that works and sticking with it. 

It’s a lot to become a recovered product junkie. But when the end result is healthy hair it’s worth it. 

My mom asked me to straighten my hair for her Mother’s Day gift.

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

        It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. I was having dinner with my family at Olive Garden, so bread sticks and Salad was on my mind. I was in relatively good spirits. As I was playing with my niece and nephew I asked my mom what she wanted for Mother’s Day. I had asked her on a couple other occasions and turned up with nothing. So I decided to ask one more time. I wanted to get my mom something nice that she would really like because I know she had been feeling down. My mother had just found out a week ago her cancer had come back for the third time. I wanted to make her happy with the best gift. So when I asked her tell me what you really want for Mother’s Day I was completely blind sided by her answer. “I want you to straighten your hair like your sister did. Don’t you want to look nice?” 

     Ok I kinda knew it was coming. When my sister decided to get her hair pressed for our cousin’s wedding I knew it was going to open the door for criticism. I had expected my mother to say “see your sister looks nice. Don’t you want to look nice for a change.” However she was extremely quiet in regards to my appearance. I took it as a win. I thought maybe we won’t have the why can’t you have straight hair argument for once. Maybe she had decided that my appearance at 33 was my responsibility now. But then she brought it up at dinner. We were having a good time then she said I want your hair to be straight for Mother’s Day that would make me happy. 
   I was upset, and very hurt, but we had this argument so many time that I was just tired of it. Plus it’s kinda hard to argue with someone that’s sick. No matter how wrong they may be you always come off like a jerk cause you upset the sick person. So I decided to just let it go. 
    I know it sounds bad. However in my moms mind it was not a hurtful request. I’ve been natural for eight years now and she still will tell me every month or so that I would look nicer with straight hair. I will get a better job if I had straight hair. She use to say no man would date me. Then I met Jon. Then she refused to believed he liked my hair. She would always tell me he was lying. Now I’m married and the comments have gotten less, but they still sneak up out of the blue. I’m always blind sided by the your hair would be prettier straight comment. It always comes when I’m comfortable with my hair, or feeling myself if you will. I’ll spend four hours on my hair and she will ask me why didn’t I do it. Same old song different year.  She thinks its messy.

      She’s not trying to be mean. I know it seems that way. In her mind she’s trying to help me. This is kinda our relationship. Whenever I get a good idea or game plan she’s usually one of the people that puts the most doubt in my mind. She’s not a risk taker. She likes everything to be safe, simple, and easy. She’s not the type to want to stand out. She thinks blending in is the best way to live a life. She does not see things the way I do so she tries to help me be the person she thinks I should be. She’s trying to help me succeed. It hurts me, but I know now after a trillion fights she gets hurt too. She thinks she’s helping me, and I lash out in anger when all she wants to do is make my life better/easier. Yes a better life can be achieved with straighter hair in her mind. I know that sounds silly but that’s who she is. As long as I’ve been natural that’s been her stance I’ve come to terms with it. I love her for caring for me so much that she’s willing to deal with our arguments just to keep trying to help me. I’m sure she had the same arguments with her mom about her fashion choices. This just how things are supposed to be. 

    I know natural hair is not everyone’s cup of tea. Relaxed hair is not my thing, but because of the conversations I’ve had with my mom I try not to insult those with relaxers. I come from the belief that it’s your hair. You do you, and I shouldn’t have an opinion on how you chose to present yourself. It’s not my place or business. This philosophy can be hard to live by sometimes. Especially when I see my cousins putting blond Frozen wigs on their kids and silky ponytails on 5 year olds. But I have to keep telling myself that that’s not my kid so that’s not my business. If I was to say anything I would be sticking my nose into someone else’s life and making them live by my standards not their own. If they feel it’s ok then it is. If you think about it my mothers nagging has given me a different perspective on style. She’s inadvertently taught me to respect people’s choices. I know for  some of you going natural it can be hard dealing with others critiques. You just have to let it role off your back, grow thicker skin and carry on with your life. 
In the Bible Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” The soldiers threw dice to divide Jesus’ clothes between them. (Luke 23:34 ERV)
  Most of the people you will come in contact with will never realize that they are being hurtful and using hurtful speech. Even when you tell them multiple times. Arguing with them till the end of time will never results in a resolution. They won’t see things your way. No amount of convincing will sway them because that is their belief their truth. You just need to forgive them and move on. If you keep butting heads with them on the subject and you never back down you will be wasting your precious time on a no resolution topic. Just float on. Sometimes it has nothing to do with you and it has more to do with them. 
India.Arie has this song called Get It Together  and it has this lyric that says. “The choice is yours

No matter what it is

To choose life is to choose to forgive

You don’t have to try

To hurt him and break his pride Just shake that weight off And you will be ready to fly”

So as I listen to this song after yet another conversation with my mom about her distaste for my hair, college major choices, dreams and ambitions.  I’m learning now that if I keep carrying around hurtful things said to me and arguing about the same thing over and over. I will have waisted my precious life energy, and I won’t be livening the happy life that I can achieve. Sometimes you need to shake it off and let it go. 

How to survive the struggle. Tips for new and inexperienced naturals

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

So it happened again. Today I woke up and my twist-out was done. I looked like I had stuck my finger in a light socket, and no re-twisting would rectify the situation. I had expected something like this could happen because I had been there and done that. I’ve been natural for eight years now so I’ve learned some key facts. I know a lot of new natural’s look at pics like mine and think it all must come so easy to me. Well it does not. I have my good and bad hair days like most people but I’ve learned how to navigate my way through them. In this post I will give you some of my tips to survive the stress and struggle of being natural. once you get the hag of your hair’s likes and dislikes you will fall in love.
1.) Expect disasters to occur 
I usually anticipate disaster to strike. If I’m doing a style like a twist-out, braid-out, or Bantu knots I know I have a high failure risk. It’s usually dependent on things like the weather. How much humidity is in the air. How much moisture am I lacking cause of the cold winter air. My hair can range from to dry to way to much moisture. That’s not my fault, and it’s definitely not my hairs fault so I should not take out my frustration on it. When bobby pins fall out while your sleep and your hair shifts. It’s always good to have a plan B on hand in case of emergencies. 
2.) Plan ahead 
I usually think to myself if this style goes wrong what’s your next move. What are your easy go to styles that are time savers. Let’s be real you can’t tell your boss I was late to work cause I was styling my hair. That’s a sure fire way to loosing a job. So to keep from showing up to work looking like Marge Simpson, and be on time you need some quickie styles that you know work already lined up. Another tip is I usually style my hair on the weekends so I have more time to make mistakes. If the weekend is not an option try getting up a couple hours earlier to check to see if your style was a success. If not then you have more time to fix it. 
3.) Don’t panic!
 When you panic you stress. The more you stress the more stress you put on your hair. The more stress you put on your hair the more susceptible to breakage your hair will become. 
4.)Don’t be a product junkie 
Don’t slather your hair with to much products. Don’t try new products every couple of weeks because it can cause you to have more bad days then good. It also can weaken your hair causing it to act up when you style it. Not even your favorite quick styles will work under those circumstances. 
5.) Don’t over think it. 
If you see a picture of a style you would like to try, but there’s no tutorial don’t feel like it’s impossible to do. Sometimes it takes a little studying to figure it out. Most of the time with me the style will be a lot simpler then I make it out to be in my mind. 
6.) I said don’t panic!! 
Again Really just breathe and plan. Check the clock and give yourself a time frame of when you should be finished. Work quickly but be gentle. 
7.) Accept your hair the way it is. 
Don’t go gushing over someone else’s hair all the while wishing it was yours. That will hold you back trust me. If you go on any other natural hair site, blog, or YouTube channel they will tell you the same. If your hair is not like her’s it won’t do that. 
8.) Be creative 
I like to see if I can come up with something new and easy on my own. Sometimes I even combine features I like from several different styles. Like today’s style. It’s a bun on top with a French roll in the back. 
9.) Be adventurous 
The style I did today was a little out the box, but I like it. I try to go outside my comfort zone and try new things with my hair. You can’t let Society run your life and how you present yourself. Your life will be boring, and you will be unhappy. I know some naturals that only wear straight weave because they believe that natural hair is not for corporate America. they believe twist and braids are childish and no one will take them seriously. they don’t want to do anything unique to draw attention to themselves. I feel like that is not living. Plus most people don’t care. I get more complements from other racial groups then I do my own.   It’s just hair.     
10.) Have fun. 
Like I said before it’s just hair. Don’t take it so seriously. You will make mistakes. It’s apart of the game. Today I tried to cornrow the back of my hair into a nautilus shaped bun design.  As you can see from the above braided pictures it did not work out the way it did in my head. As soon as I saw the back I laughed. It looked nothing like how I planned. I didn’t cry and throw things. I just took a moment to find humor in my mistakes and start again. 

Feeling some type of way about natural hair blogging

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment

Today is one of those days where I look at my hair facebook page and I feel like no one cares. I feel like no one really engages me when I ask a question on a post. No one shares or promotes my post even though they really like them. My numbers are going down. I just basically feel like I’m talking to myself. My YouTube channel is even worse.  I only have 3 followers that I’m not totally sure are real people. I keep promoting my videos on my facebook page because I have more followers. However; that formula doesn’t work cause I don’t get any views unless it’s me checking my videos to see if they uploaded properly. No one from my facebook page subscribe to my YouTube channel. The thing that bugs me the most sometimes is everyone I know wants me to promote their social media platforms, but a majority of them don’t ever supports mine. It feels like the equivalent of saying ‘we don’t believe in you and what your trying to do’. I’m the only one that believes in my vision and can see the bigger picture. The whole thing makes me a little sad. I’m not trying to come off complaining too much. This is just me venting today. Nevertheless something’s not connecting and I really don’t know what it is. If you have any advice on how to better engage my audience, it is most welcome.

Why I never went to cosmetology school.

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment
Today I was scrolling through facebook like any other day.  I came across a article about being a natural haired model during fashion week. 
In the article it was brought up how most stylist have no knowledge of Afro textured hair. It reminded me of one of the reasons why I never went to cosmetology school.
    Back in the day when I was in high school I was always interested in hair. I hated perms and I wanted to explore how to style my hair with out straightening it. I would wear breads most of the time but when my hair was out I was always trying to put it in different styles. I bought books and DVDS on how to twist and braid hair. And I was always at the store getting braids magazines.
 Fast forward to college after a few semesters I went natural for the 3rd time and I started styling my own hair. It wasn’t long before friends and family started asking me to style their hair. I soon realized that I had a special talent. I can look at pictures of hair styles and duplicate them. I was also able too come up with my own style creations. So dispite my parents disapproval I started researching cosmetology schools. 
When I thought of learning about hair I thought I would learn about every hair type. Unfortunately to my dismay when ever I inquired about learning to care for Afro textured hair while touring schools I was told that is not taught. One of the things that frustrated me the most is I would come into these schools and see a majority of African American women. The instructors and directors would be African American. Yet no one had a desire to learn how to do natural hair.  They learn how to perm, cut, wash, and dye hair but not how to care for it in its natural state. They had no knowledge of what products work best on african American hair especially in its natural state. In a nutshell all the curriculum was based off of a European hair standard.  
I put my school hunt on hold, but continued to wash and style many of my friends hair. It wasn’t until my best friend had reneged on paying me for the third time that I decided to take up my search again to find a all incompasing hair school. The way my friend explained it was why should I have to pay you for doing my hair you’re not a licensed stylist. Even though she hurt my feelings by stating that it was the kick in the pants I needed to get a certificate. So I started my research again to find a school that taught the study of all hair types. 

The way I saw it if I am not taught in cearing for natural hair I shouldn’t be making  a living on it certificate or no. I could be stunting someone’s hair health because I’m not completely knowledgeable in its care. This is also a reason why I don’t trust most hair stylist. 
When ever I go to a stylist they don’t even have a basic knowledge of how my hair functions. They always want to straighten my hair to braid it or do a simple twist-out. I’m always told these styles can not be achieved with out the hair being straight. Then I inform them I do this to my hair every week in its natural state, and they act as if I’m lying. If they were taught about natural hair they would know its capabilities. 

So I did a little digging. I decided to go to one of the more prominent cosmetology school to get my hair dyed, and ask the students question.  When I fist entered the facility I could see I made everyone nervous. I explained that I wanted my hair dyed and everyone kept assuming that I wanted a perm. They left me sitting for quite some time as they all talked and tried to determine what to do. More then four students came to me at different times to ask me if I wanted a perm. This happened so much I became paranoid that some one might try to give me a light perm or a texturizer without my knowledge. When a stylist finally started on my head I had to talk her through the process a little. I had to explain that if you comb my hair start at the ends and work your way up to the root. It’s easier to comb when wet or with some product in it. I had to explain that since my hair is very dense ( AKA Thick ) she may have to use more dye or leave it in longer under the dryer. The back of my hair takes a lot longer to dye so it always looks darker than the front. 

All of this took a lot of proding on my part because she kept falling back on her training and combing wrong and hurting me while yanking out hair. She didn’t even know how to twit and when I showed her she was amazed it stayed with out a hair tye or added extensions. All of this should have been covered in her instructions which she was almost finished with. 

After that little field trip. I decided to go to a natural hair meet up where I knew a popular natural hair stylist was speaking. I wanted to ask her where she went to school so I could go there. I was convinced there must be a school that teaches about natural hair that I must not have Heard of. After the demonstration I approached the stylist to ask her where she got her cosmetology license. After she told me I asked did they instruct her on how to do natural hair? She said no of course, so then I asked where can I learn how to care for natural hair? She told me that there is no cosmetology school that teachers about natural african American hair. She explained to me that she went to cosmetology school and learned how to care for hair but not for Afro textured hair. She told me when It comes to natural hair she was self taught from other naturals and being natural herself. She has a salon that specializes in natural hair but she has no certification in natural hair. I told here I wanted to go to cosmetology school but I wanted to specialize in Natural hair. What she told me to do was get certified then learn all I can about natural hair from on line, and word of mouth. That way I could do hair professionaly because I have certification and then specialize in natural hair on my own. 

This news really frustrated me. It angered me that african Americans natural hair texture is ignored by the schools. I pretty much got discouraged and gave up doing others hair all together. I know some changes will have to come. The natural hair community is growing. Stylist will have to expand their knowledge to stay in business. When the curriculum changes I’m sure there will be a lot of stylist interested in learning how to care for natural hair. To often when I do go to get my hair done I feel as if the stylist is embarrassed she does not know what to do with my hair. I imagine she feels unprepared. If you truly love hair you would naturally want to be able  to grow and care for all types. You would want to have all the knowledge that you can about your field. 

Well that’s my story. 


My personal problems with crochet braids.

~ chubbycurl34 ~ Leave a comment
1.) People are always trying to say that my natural hair is weaved because its long and thick. Even when I did get my hair permed people always insinuate it wasn’t mine. so when I do wear weave I feel like it is going to basically confirm that for them. I often feel like people are trying to expose me for a liar. So many African Americans hold the belief that black women cannot grow long hair. When they do see someone with long thick hair they automatically believe this person just has a great weave. I worry sometimes that when I wear weave people are going to just assume my hair is always fake. 
2.) It makes me not like my hair texture sometimes. Okay so the hair texture I have in right now is curly, but it’s a looser curls than my curl. It’s very manageable unlike my hair. I’m getting used to not having to style my hair or having to go through a lot to style it. I’m a little bit unwilling to go back to my hair texture at times. Don’t get me wrong I love my hair. My hair can do a lot of things that most people hair can’t do and its really awesome. But sometimes I want to be able to style it really quickly and go out the door. This hair type that I have crocheted into my hair reminds me of that. It makes me not want to go back. This in turn makes me feel extremely ashamed. I feel like I’m going through a process of self hatred towards my hair texture sometimes. I feel a little confused about the whole situation. 
3.) It makes me feel self-conscious when people like my weave better than my actual hair. The first time I wore crochet braids I went to work and everybody was like “oh your hair is so beautiful! its so awesome! that’s how you should wear your hair from now on.” A lot of people told me they preferred my hair this way. A lot of people complemented The hair that was of a straighter texture than mine and they never say boo about any of my natural hairstyles. I got 1 billion more likes on Facebook and Instagram then I do with my actual natural hair. I got to say I’m not perfect it made me feel very self-conscious bout my natural hair. When I took the crochet braids out I didn’t feel the same way I did about my hair as I did before I put them in. I again felt Shame because I was letting the European standard of beauty break me down and make me not feel that my beauty was beautiful. It brought up a lot of the old emotional struggles that I went through when I was transitioning. I Have to constantly assure myself that my hair is beautiful the way that it grows out of my head. I felt like I was starting over again. 
4.) I don’t like styling my hair with boiling hot water. I don’t want to burn my face off. I really don’t want to burn my face-off!!! While styling my hair with the rollers in the boiling hot water I came very close to burning my face!!! The second time around I tried putting the hair around the rollers in the hot water before I added it to my head. This worked until the curls all fell out and I had to do it all over again with the hair in my head. I think I might have third-degree burns on my shoulders and ear. While I was doing this I was thinking “are you crazy you’re putting boiling hot water near your face!” Having pretty hair is not worth boiling your face off. 
5.) Finding the right type of hair thats manageable where I live is almost impossible. I cannot find a soft realistic looking Marley hair to save my life. The first two times I did crochet braids was with this really itchy Marley hair that I could barely style. I went to three different beauty supplies looking for a nice type of hair to do crochet braids with. The first Beauty supply I went to there was a gentleman working there who told me this is the only type of hair you can find in Chicago. I figured he was lying to get me to buy the hair that I was looking at that day. So I went to the other beauty supply five minutes in the other direction to prove him wrong the next day. Guess what? the same guy was working at the other beauty supply. He was like I saw you yesterday? You thought you could find the different hair texture at a different shop? I own both stores.  Well all we have is the same type of hair you saw you at the other shop like I told you yesterday. I gave in and bought the hair out of sheer embarrassment. So then the second time around I thought I would go to the beauty supply directly across the street from my house that just opened. Guess who was there… So there are 3 beauty supplies within five minutes of each other close to my house. You guessed it I live in the hood. I scoured YouTube looking for the type of hair that I should get that was more manageable. I looked up all the people that I saw with crochet braids on Pinterest and checked their website to find out what type of hair they used. I came up with four different types of hair that I was in pursuit of. Vivid 
Otre batik bohemian wave, Bohemian curl hair, Cuban twist, and

Freetress Water wave. I got word from a friend that Cuban twist hair was being sold in Indiana. I wasn’t about to go that far away just for some hair. I Felt like if I did it will be an all time low for me. So I went to a Beauty supply in a near by suburb that I used to go to in high school. The sales women had natural hair which immediately put me in a state of relief and comfort. I rattled off the types of hair that I was looking for and she immediately said you’re trying to do crochet braids aren’t you? She knew exactly what types of hair I was looking for. I was able to find the free tress water wave which is the hair that I am currently wearing. I was also able to find a hair that was kind of like cuban twist. I’m going to return and purchase that to make a natural hair crochet wig for my sister. But at the end of the day after all that searching for hair I felt like “what is happening with my life?” I felt like I wasted way too much time, money, and gas searching for something as stupid as weave. I need to get my life back from this hair detour I’ve been on. All I wanted to do is have a long sustaining protective style. I’m just going to enjoy this style for a month and then I’m probably going to take a break from crochet braids for a while. They’re beautiful, but extremely time-consuming in the pursuit of the right hair and installation. Just because someone’s YouTube video made installation look easy doesn’t mean that it is. It’s called video editing. The struggle is real and I’m totally over it right now.