Merry Christmas everyone!

We wish you a merry Christmas and a very happy holiday season from O'Naturals. Enjoy and keep it natural!
O'Naturals

Do you hear what I hear?

Of course you do! Nobody can hide from the Christmas carols and songs on TV, radio, in the stores and all around. We started out in November by asking "Is that a Christmas carol I hear?" to now wondering why some radio stations are not playing enough Christmas music. Well ... some people are probably tired of the songs BUT NOT ME! I have been listening to Christmas music since November. Say what you like but I thoroughly enjoy Christmas. Thoroughly.

Thank God for Jesus Christ who is the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Without Jesus Christ we would be hopeless. Thank you God! Thank you God!

Since I have my radios tuned permanently to a station that plays Christmas music, there are some songs that I am enjoying. It is hard to pick favourites so I'll just say I really really like the following songs:

Go tell it on the mountain
Joy to the world
O Holy night
Feliz Navidad
Christmas must be something more

There is one song that makes me turn up the radio and sing along. The song is "I wanna be your Christmas" by Andrew Allen - a Canadian from Vernon, British Columbia. The chorus is:

"I wanna be the 12 days wrapped in one/I wanna be your drummer boy/parum pum pum pum/I wanna be the egg nog in your rum/ I wanna be/ I wanna be the lone star that you see/I wanna be the partridge in your tree/I wanna know that Christmas just ain't Christmas without me"

I looooove the "drummer boy" line and it makes me smile all the time. Never-the-less I remember that Christmas just ain't Christmas without Jesus.

Omozo

Bangs anyone?

Once upon a time, I had bangs. Have any of you ever had bangs with your natural hair? Do you have pictures? If you do please send it in (o.naturals@gmail.com) and we will post it on the blog. I would love to see other naturals with bangs. Thanks

'Tis the season ...

Christmas day is almost here and everywhere is buzzing. People are talking about family, friends, gifts, food, parties, getting days off work and on and on. IT IS CHRISTMAS! The radio stations are playing Christmas songs and some are playing Christmas songs all day every day.

And then we wonder "what do I do with my hair for ...?" It could be an office party or a family gathering or a Christmas wedding or any Christmas function that you may be attending. The question still remains "what do I with my hair?"

There are many options for hairstyles and as we always say on this blog BE CREATIVE. Don't limit yourself - have fun with your hair. No matter what you do, please remember to keep your hair moisturized, hydrated and healthy. The healthier the hair, the nicer the hairstyle.

Here are some hairstyles you may try this Christmas.



You can wear this style to a Christmas party with your family or at a friend's house. It is playful and fun. I achieved this hairstyle by taking out my week old twists. Shake your hair a little for your hair to fall as it pleases. For people with short hair, shaking your hair might give you a headache which will make you not enjoy your party. So use your hands to fluff out your hair. Add dangling diamond (or something that looks "diamondy") earrings to give yourself a hint of "playful glamour".




Wear this to your work Christmas party. Wear it to work for the day. Then for the party change accessories and add some make-up and you are ready to rumba!

To get this hairstyle: twist your hair with two strand twists. Then put the twists into bantu knots or china bumps. I kept my hair in twists and bantu knots over the weekend for a tighter curl. Then take out the knots and the twists and sweep in the sides. Add some "wow" by using a nice shiny hair jewel like a hair comb or some shiny hair pins / clips if you are having an evening office party.










The style below can be worn to a Christmas wedding. Now if you are in the wedding party, I recommend you wear a hairstyle the bride agrees to. Showing up with your own unauthorized/unapproved hairstyle may cause a little wedding day drama. It is Christmas so do your best to avoid the drama! Getting this style is easy.

For this style, I rinsed out my twist-out . Stand under the shower for about 30 seconds and don't use your hands to massage your hair. Just let the water run through the old twists. Or pour about 3 bowls of water over your old twists and you get the style. Then put in some accessories and you are ready to witness a couple become man and wife.


So you see, you have options. It is your hair so have fun and be creative.


Omozo.

The head scarf

I confess that I have been in a hair slump for the last few weeks. In fact, I have been in an all round slump. I'll do a weekend post on how to manage those times in life when you generally feel "blah". You know those times when you are just going through the motions and nothing really seems exciting...

But anyway, back to hair. Since I have been been feeling so "blah" lately, I have generally stopped styling my hair. In fact, I have been wearing a scarf for weeks now. My dad asked me yesterday, why I was wearing a head scarf. If my dad noticed then it means I have been wearing a scarf for a long time.



Even though I have been wearing a scarf I have tried not to neglect my hair. I still try to wash weekly and moisturize my hair every other day. Now I have resulted to spraying my hair with a little water and moisturizing with Castor oil or shea butter. I am especially worried about the front of my hair because I wear cotton scarfs. So I make sure I spray water on the front of my hair morning and night and rub some castor oil or shea butter on it. When I had a satin bonnet I would wear the satin bonnet over my hair before wearing the cotton scarf.

And Nigerians are famous for the gele. Here is a picture of me wearing a gele I tied all by myself. I am so proud of me.




This youtube video helped me when I was learning how to tie a gele



And a shout out to one of my favorite actresses ever! Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi. She often wears a head scarf.

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

I have raved and raved about The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I have recommended it to every one I know who enjoys reading. I am recommending it again. It is the best book I have read in a while. The Book of Negroes has a different title in the USA and in Australia and New Zealand. It is known as "Somebody Knows my name" in those countries. Why? I don't know! I hear it has something to do with "literary politics".

The book follows Aminata Diallo, a young woman kidnapped and sold into slavery. She is taken from the continent of Africa, to North Carolina, to Canada, back to Africa and then to England. Aminata knows how to "catch babies" and she can read. A slave who reads? She uses her skills in her struggle to stay alive. She just wants to go home! Read the book to know more.

But this post is not about the book. It is about Aminata's hair. I don't remember the author describing her hair (correct me if I am wrong) and so I wondered what would her hair have looked like. What hairstyles would this girl and woman have worn? What challenges did she face regarding her hair as she was fighting to stay alive and "traveling" from place to place?

Here are my thoughts on it. I think when she was home before her kidnapping; she wore lovely corn-rows with bantu knots at the end of each row. Maybe she even had some dried and dyed raffia strands adorning her hair for special occasions. I think she also wrapped her hair in thread sometimes.








On the slave ships she probably kept her hair in big braids. I am sure the conditions on the slave ships did allow her be too fussy with her hair. Maybe she even experienced significant hair loss because of the stress and poor diet. It is possible that her hair may have started knotting into locs.

In North Carolina, I think she may have tried to recover her hair. Maybe she picked/combed out the locs so that she could have her hair out again. I think she may have had her hair in big corn-rows. Perhaps she even tried twists for the first time because of her interaction with people from the Caribbean.

Maybe at one point she wore a teeny-weenie afro because she could not be bothered with too much hair maintenance.




I wonder what hair moisturizer she used? Coconut oil? I think that when she went back to Africa, she either wore afro-puffs or nice and neat corn-rows.




As she aged, I think she may have cut her hair and the grey strands would be peeking out more and more. I think she probably kept her hair in a teeny-weenie afro and allowed her grey hair to pepper her head nicely. And anytime she looked in the mirror, she smiled because her hair was free and so was she!

For more information on the book go to Lawrence Hill's website. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.


Omozo

Holiday hair

We had Thursday and Friday off for the Muslim holiday. So I decided to try something different with my hair. I wore a side bun for two days.





And then on the third day I wore a curly fro.


I kind of like the way it turned out. I achieved this style by putting my hair into about ten twists and rolling the twists with rollers. (I actually do not use rollers. I just use strips of cloth to roll my hair) I slept with the twists in my hair and the next day I took them out and divided the twists. And the above was what i got. I really liked this style. Next time I try it I think I need to use a product to give me more hold.

Detangling Hair

How do I detangle?

So basically, I had been loosing wayyyyyy too much hair and I could not figure out why. After reading about some naturals who used finger detangling. I was able to come up with a detangling method that works for me. I attribute this to divine inspiration because I do not understand how I could be natural for 8 plus years and still have no clue about how to leave hair on my head when I detangle. 

 

My method is like this:

When I take out my twists, I simple do a pre-wash conditioning treatment then I wash my hair. Sometimes I wash by putting my hair into big plaits but lately I have not been doing this. I just wash my hair loose and it works for me. I think making a choice to wash your hair loose depends on how long your hair is.

It is important for me to do a deep conditioning treatment before I detangle.

After I rinse out the deep conditioning treatment and remove excess water from my hair using an old shirt, it is now time to detangle.

I take little sections of my hair, put some shea butter in it and use my fingers to separate the hair. Then I detangle the section using a wide tooth comb starting from the tips and working my way to the roots. When I’ve combed through my hair, I twist it up. When I’m all done I can go to sleep with the twists and  the next day my hair is stretched out enough for me to style.

Fake versus Real Coconut Oil

I only just discovered that real coconut oil will start to 'solidify' when it is in a cold room. But the coconut oil I bought from Ojota market recently does not do that. Hmmmm, I think my coconut oil has been mixed with another type of oil. I'm not happy at all :(

For those of you who buy your coconut oil from the market, watch out for the fake stuff.

Hair Interview with Ibhaze

Name

Ibhaze Uduehi

Where are you from?

Edo State

What do you do?

I work as a Business Development Officer in an Information and Communication Technology firm in Abuja.

So I know that in secondary school you wore your hair natural but afterwards you tried relaxers and texturisers. Tell us why you decided to go natural again?

I was in France for a while when I noticed my relaxed hair had started breaking off and it was getting more and more difficult to maintain it. Of course, in the small city I was living in, there were only 2 African hair salons and they weren’t cheap, so I had to beg a friend to help me relax my hair whenever she could(she was studying law so that was almost never).

So, one day, I walked into one of the African hair salons and noticed a framed picture of a black woman with a glorious natural mane. That was actually the 2^nd time I cut my hair.

The first time was after Oghomwen came over, I saw her lovely long hair and wanted to do a transplant. So some months later, I woke up one fine and cut all the relaxed hair off. Since then, I tried jehri curls and baby curls for the “mixed” look but it just never felt right.

So I cut my hair early this year and I’m back to my natural wiry kink for good!

What’s your natural hair regimen?

I’m actually at the “obsessive” phase of my hair so this is the point where I’m trying anything and everything that’s claimed to be gold for natural hair. So far, I’ve been using Oghowmen’s shea butter mixture with essential oils, castor oil and glycerine as hair cream, Dark ‘n’ Lovely Ultra Cholesterol Deep Conditionning which I leave in overnight with my hair in a wrap and any basic oil spray to soften and moisturize my hair.

So far, so good! Now onto the famous coconut oil and I’ll be trying the Organic Mayonnaise Conditioning to see if it’ll make my hair softer and even healthier than it is right now.

I’ve had my hair in braids for a couple of months now with barely any intervals between braids so I feel it needs to breathe and be nurtured. So I’ll be doing a lot of deep and leave-in conditioning and try to make it a habit.

How do people react to your natural hair? Are they positive or negative?

People are actually very positive about my natural hair. Random strangers walk up to me and ask if it’s my hair that I’ve twisted or did I put something in? Then, they touch it and wow at it and go on to tell me why they could never do what I’m doing cos their hair’s too this or too that. I used to believe that I had the worst hair texture in the world as it’s really wiry (hairdressers never fail to stress that) and it’s not that full. But I’ve and am learning to maintain it and am loving the adventure!

People sometimes ask, with amazement on their faces, why I’m keeping my hair natural. A male friend though recently advised me to relax it for people to see the length. That was funny.

Comment about natural hair in the work place. Do you feel awkward about wearing your natural hair to work?

Not at all! And I’ve never been brought to book on my locs, twist/twist out or whatever style I had on. People compliment and also generally mind their business otherwise. As long as I look good and presentable, there’s no problem at all. It also helps to have a mouth that puts them in their place when they start voicing opinionsJ.

**bisous**

Digging for Gold

It’s easier to strike gold if you’re digging. Only once in a while do you hear about people who actually stumble upon something of worth when they weren’t looking for it. Sometimes, you hear about people who stumble upon something else while searching for another thing. For example, you may be digging for gold but then strike oil instead. Either way you were digging.

Occasionally, when you’re digging for gold you may not find anything at all. That’s life. You win some and you loose some. Digging is never a waste of time though, because digging helps you develop strong muscles. So if ever you decide to stop digging and start building something, like a pyramid for example, at least you would have had some practice in hard labour.

At other times you may find that while you are hard at work shoveling and grunting, somebody significant stumbles upon you.  After inquiring about what you are doing, he or she may decide to employ you to dig for them on their own land where they are sure that there is gold. The decision of whether to keep on blazing your own trail or abandoning your territory to blaze the trail for another is entirely up to you.

There is also the possibility that you may be digging in the wrong place or with the wrong tools which is why you are not finding anything. Since we are only human, we make mistakes like this. However, a knowledgeable spectator may decide to let you in on the secret that you are digging in the wrong place or with the wrong tools. Then at least you would have acquired the knowledge you need to correct yourself.

At this point I will add that this same law applies to fishing, cooking, sewing, and many other professions. You are definitely more likely to catch something if you are fishing. Just like you are more likely to make a garment if you are sewing.

In case you missed it, the translation for digging is W-O-R-K. By work I mean you need to be doing the activities that push you forward and move you closer to what you want to achieve. In summary, you are more likely to succeed at something if you are working. You need to work to actually make something happen. If you are not working but instead loafing about, you are definitely on your way to achieving nothing. Dreams don’t just happen; people actually work to make them happen. Careers don’t just materialize, instead everyday people with the same abilities like you and I wake up every morning and spend hours of their day putting the pieces of their careers together. Businesses don’t just start by themselves. Nope. People make them happen. One reason why successful people are actually successful is because they decided to get up and work. So, pick up your shovel and start digging.

 

Oghomwen

Hair Spa Afternoon - Toronto Style

Hey! Hey! It was a great day when a few natural/nappy/kinky haired women got together for a Hair Spa afternoon. We laughed, talked, argued, disagreed, encouraged one another, exchanged hair products, and sighed too. I have to thank the ladies who came out because they made it a great day.

So the Hair Spa Afternoon was inspired by the blog post from Indigenous Productions which you can read here.

After reading the post, I decided to go for it! I invited some ladies who have natural and relaxed hair. Hopefully the hair tips we share on the blog can be used by anyone who wants to have healthy hair. The women who came all had natural hair and are in different phases of being natural. We had new napps, old napps and “napps in hiding”. *LOL*

During the afternoon, we talked about why we went natural. We learned some cool hair tips like how to extract coconut oil from coconuts. Trust me, you have to be patient to extract coconut oil from coconut and you need a whole lot of coconuts to get a reasonable quantity. We learned that ALL NATURAL UNPROCESSED shea butter can be used to cook too. We heard horror stories of salon visits. One of the ladies went to a salon where she was told that she is confused because she is natural but wanted the hairdresser to press her hair. Can you believe it? She said she was bewildered by the hairdresser’s accusation. The funny thing is I have been to the same hair salon and had a horrible experience with exactly the same hairdresser. I think I shall post a blog entry on hair salons that are napp haters. We heard about how family and friends reacted to the news that we were going natural. We also gave one of the ladies a hair treatment. We twisted her hair using Kinky-Curly curling custard. She loved it! We did too.

One thing that was so cool is how everyone wanted to touch everyone else’s hair. I think this is something only natural haired black women do. I could be wrong but I doubt it. Ladies complimented their hair and asked “Can I touch your hair?”. Another cool thing is how everyone said to everyone else “You have nice hair.” I think that is so wonderful! It is encouraging and empowering when you interact with people who appreciate and are excited about natural, kinky, nappy black hair. It started as a Hair Spa Afternoon and ended well into the night. At the end of the night, each lady got a bag of goodies. They got all natural shea butter, black soap, hair jewels and candy. Sweet gifts for sweet ladies!

So go ahead, get your friends together and have a Hair Spa Afternoon. Email us and let us know how it went.

Omozo.

Today we are coloring with Henna

 Omo’s henna recipe taken from SimniCity and modified

Ø  Half pack of henna

Ø  2 eggs - Protein will help strengthen your hair so it is not brittle

Ø  Half tub of full fat yoghurt (I do organic) / or 2 avocados (your choice) – fat to help your hair remain soft and shiny

Ø  1 big mixing bowl

Ø  A spoon to mix

Ø  Cling film

Ø  2 tea spoons of coconut oil or 1 cap  (5mls) of sweet almond oil + 1cap (5mls) castor oil – to help moisturize the scalp and add shine to your hair

Ø  Oven (or somewhere warm)

In the large mixing bowl, pour half the content of henna into it, crack eggs and beat it lightly.

Add half a tub of yoghurt and 2 teaspoons of coconut oil and the other oils, mix thoroughly until it is almost a green brown color (I think this is dependent on the type of henna you buy so just mix until there are no clumps and it looks even. I mixed mine for about 20mins. )

Then cover with cling film and put it in your oven at 50degrees C or lower (or put it somewhere warm) overnight.

Day 2 – part hair into sections and apply using hands or a small comb.

Apply product on hair up to ends if you want. Cover hair with shower cap and a towel around it to retain the heat. Leave on for 3-4 hours (I recommend even longer ‘cos my hair did not retain a lot of color).

Rinse out with warm water, do a warm oil steam, wait 30 mins then wash hair gently with mild sulphur free shampoo.

My hair turned brown or color 33 (a darker shade) and I loved the way it came out in streaks. I did this in April, its October and the color is still vibrant

I took out my braids last weekend and I am putting another one in again. I am happy to say 1.3” of new growth sprung forth.

Have an awesome weekend people don’t hesitate to ask any questions and for those who are in transition, hang in there and please remember; we are here to help you get through this hurdle.

The first picture is the final result with Henna.  The second and third pictures are showing my hair after I took out the braids and the growth, which I am so proud of. 

Also you can read about henna here

Omozee

My first experience with henna was over 15 years, in Malali village, Kaduna. My “bestest” friend for a long time Halima, stole some henna from her mum’s room and taught me how to mix and apply it on my finger tips and soles of my feet.

A few months back, I stumbled on SimniCity (unfortunately she is off youtube at the moment) and her henna recipe for coloring her hair. Halima’s image came to mind so I called Halima up; and asked if I could use henna for my hair. She told me about henna, and how to identify the good ones (there is no trick to recognizing good ones, read the label and make sure it is LEAD AND MERCURY FREE) and where to get it (Most south Asian stores (Indian) and North African Stores (Egyptian) ) and so I am going to share this with you. Let me put a disclaimer saying what works for me, may not work for you!

O shea! O shea O!

First, let us give thanks to God for shea butter!

Shea butter is called: “Nkuto” in Ghana; “Beurre de Karité” in French; and “Ori” in most places in Nigeria. If none of these names mean anything to you – Welcome to the wonderful world of Shea Butter!

Shea Butter comes from the Shea tree which is mostly found in West African countries like Ghana, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso & Nigeria. Traditionally, the nuts from the tree (called Shea Nuts), are picked, roasted, and pounded. They are then boiled for several hours to extract pure unrefined shea butter. Pure shea butter is yellow or ivory in color and does not smell unpleasant. By unpleasant I mean it does not have an offensive “get this away from me or I am going to vomit now” type of smell. Having said that, I guess the issue of smell might be relative in this case. *sigh* It is advisable to use products made from pure shea butter rath

er than those where chemicals such as hexane are used.

The main question is this: Why does it seem like shea butter is the “product” of choice for black natural hair and black hair in general? It is because shea butter has moisturizing properties and it is an emollient. As a result, it adds to and maintains moisture in dry brittle hair, in addition to retaining softness and preventing breakage.

The key words are moisturizer and emollient:

1) Moisturizers: make the external layers softer and more pliable by increasing its hydration (water content) by reducing evaporation. Moisturizers prevent and treat dryness, protect sensitive skin, improve skin tone and texture, and mask imperfections.

2) Emollients: are substances that soften and soothe. They are used to correct dryness and scaling. Emollients have three basic properties: occlusion, humectant and lubrication.

a. Occlusion - providing a layer of oil on the surface to slow water loss and thus increase moisture content;

b. Humectant – increases water-holding capacity;

c. Lubrication - adds slip or glide.

To put it simply, shea butter is great for black hair in general and especially natural/nappy/non-relaxed black hair because it increases the water content in our hair; it also slows water loss in our hair thus increasing the moisture content in our hair.

General benefits of using shea butter on hair include: returns luster and shine to hair; absorbs quickly without leaving greasy residue like petroleum, beeswax or mineral oil based products; doesn't clog and block hair shaft; great moisturizer; protects against harsh weather and; revitalizes and prevents breakage.

**Side note: Shea is also edible, used in cooking oil, chocolates and cocoa butter.

Simple whipped shea butter recipe.

Ingredients:

*4 tablespoons shea butter

*2 tablespoon cocoa butter

*4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

*A few drops of your favourite essential oil for fragrance

Method

Melt the shea butter and cocoa butter over low heat until melted and add the olive oil. Pour the oils into a bowl and at this point, add a few drops of the essential oil. Put bowl over another bowl filled with ice to allow the oils to set faster. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is light and fluffy (you may want to use an electric hand whisk for this). Spoon into a jar and enjoy!

This recipe makes an excellent hair moisturizer and sealer for both natural and relaxed black hair. It also makes wonderful body butter.

Omozo

Hair typing system

A popular hair typing system is Andre Walker’s system. Andre Walker is Oprah's hair stylist You can read about his hair typing system here 

I spent a few years wondering what my hair type was. I think it is a 4b. But honestly it really does not matter what my hair type is as long as I know how to take care of it properly. Perhaps the hair typing system allows women to be more deliberate when they are choosing hair products. I dunno. But I would encourage people with afro textured, kinky, nappy, tightly curled hair not to be too hung up on what their hair type is. Instead concentrate on finding out what works for you and your hair and stick with it.

Leave a comment and tell me what your thoughts on hair typing systems are. Do you find hair typing useful? Or is it just a waste of time? Has figuring out your hair type helped you on your hair journey?

Interview with Miss Fizzy from Leave in the Kinks

Name: 

My blog moniker is Miss Fizzy (a nickname given to me by some friends) but my name is Ofe. No it does not mean soup or free.

Blog urls:

http://leaveinthekinks.blogspot.com/

http://fizzychaoticorder.blogspot.com/

 

Where are you from?

I was born in Nigeria but have lived in a few other countries since then. I am presently in the UK.

 

What do you do?

I am a graduate student.

Why are you natural?

Hmmm... let's see. I'm natural because it is more representative of who I am. I am a no frills type of girl when it comes to clothes and makeup, yet with an afro, everything I wear is just made fabulous. Natural hair is beautiful and should be the norm and I believe I am a walking advert for this. It can be cute, glam and professional. Anything relaxed hair can do, natural hair can do better. I got tired of bad hair days and running from water and having my hair dictate my schedule. I didn't go natural for a deep political reason or in an effort to find myself. I liked the way it looked and when I did my research, I found that it was easy to handle.

 

Tell us about your natural hair regimen.

My hair regimen is very simple. I wash once a week if my hair is out or every other week if it's in twists. I use Tiens aloe vera herbal soap to clean my scalp and condition with Suave naturals or Alberto Balsam. I deep condition every two weeks with either Organics hair mayonnaise or a mixture of Alberto Balsam strawberries and cream conditioner and an oil (coconut, jojoba, etc). I stretch my hair after washing, with braids or twists and then I either rock a fro or twists. I moisturize with products from the CURLS line or I use a mixture of shea butter, coconut oil and aloe vera gel. I put shea butter on my ends every few days to keep my hair from drying out or I spray my hair with a mix of water and the shea butter mixture, with a little conditioner thrown in.

 

So you were recently in Nigeria visiting tell us what was the reaction you got from people about your natural hair?

I've been told I'm not approachable (arrant nonsense) so nobody outside friends and family actually came up to me to say anything about my hair. Most people assumed I had extensions or a weave and asked me where they could find the type of hair I used lol. Mostly the reactions were positive. When people asked me what it took to be natural and I mentioned big chopping and growing out "due hair" they promptly lost interest. I got lots of stares, but I imagine it's either because I'm sooo hot (lol) or because they were trying to figure out if I had a wig on or not.

 

If you could give one piece of advice about natural hair, what would it be?

Do a lot of research so that you know how to style and care for your own hair. No one should know how to work with your hair better than you.

 

What is the most ridiculous question you were asked about your natural hair?

Lol. That would have to be "Where did you buy your weave from? I want to do my hair like that."