My Homemade 'Dos

Wig #1 made with Outre Premium Duby in color 1B. This is 100% human hair. I placed the tracks practically right on top of each other. I used about a 1 and a little over a 1/2 pack to complete the look. I used two wig caps (because someone in one of the videos did) over a shower cap. It took me about 2 hours to complete (that included a break to rewatch a tutorial vid to figure out the crown). I razored the bangs to get it out of my eye. I barely touched it with a flat iron because I am awful at styling my hair. Ugh! Gotta work on that. Right now, it looks kinda Keith Partridge (not in the pics...or maybe?) which is kinda not what I was going for even though it works on me. Oh, also I used the closure that I bought with the hair. Purchased from www.samsbeauty.com. Fastest shipping ever (even if you have a crappy mail carrier). I ain't mad at myself! Wig #2 made with Model Model Pose in 1B. It too is pre-bumped hair. I bought it at Bling Bling off Lake & Chicago. This is a 100% human hair mastermix...which means it is not 100% human hair. I only used one wig cap over the shower cap this time. I placed the tracks about a finger-width apart on this one, so it isn't as puffy as the first. It also has a little more body and feels a little silkier. The color is a lot darker. I only used one pack and used a bit of the remaining Outre hair to complete the front. I actually split the Outre track which was ridiculously easy and I made my own closure this time (all these FIRSTS!). The Pose tracks aren't double-wefted so I didn't need to split them. Overall, I like this one best so far. The layering looks a little better. I still have a pack of the Pose and a bit of the Outre as well. I want to try another with straight hair. I am coming to realize that I might have been doing a piss-poor job of caring for the sew-in I had which may explain why it turned into a rat's nest. I still have no plans to buy that crappy hair again. I think I will go with Lillian's original suggestion of the Onyx Black Diamond hair (which is cheaper anyway). Gonna have to keep an eye out for sales on hair. Buying online is not a bad deal, but sometimes when you factor in shipping I may as well just hit Bling Bling. On the stocking cap issue. I would not use two again. I also wouldn't lay the tracks so close. I think the first wig might be shrinking a tad. On the second wig, I pulled the cap down pretty low and I started the tracks a little above the nape. Since I have a long bang, it's not a big deal. Also, I can push it up a little to hide it. So I'm pretty dang proud of myself, y'all. I am really excited to do this again and experiment with styles and colors. Stay tuned for new looks.

Napptural Hair

So I have decided that I am going to take my hair on a healthy hair journey. I plan to develop a hair care regimen that is healthy and will, hopefully, grow my hair back in its bare spots. I have been doing a LOT of research on these here interwebs trying to find out information and tips. YouTube is a wealth of information on African American hair. There are a ton of divas out there doing great things on natural, relaxed, and weave hair. I have spent much of this little vacation of mine (and a few weeks before) watching videos and visiting blogs. Heck, YouTube is there reason I decided to try making my own wig (SUCCESS!!!). Did I cover that already? As I'm in the middle of this post, I can't check, but if not, please know that I made a wig. Actually, I've made TWO. It was bananas-easy (which is why I made two). Truth be told, I can hardly wait to get more hair and try another style since both of the ones I made are kinda practically the same...but different. I think I already covered the wig-making and just need to post the pics. In due time, y'all. Anyway. This healthy hair business is NO JOKE. There is so much to learn and so much to figure out. As with UN-healthy hair, there are a billion products out there and I just need to figure out which ones will work best to regrow my hair and KEEP it healthy once that happens. One of the things I think I'm gonna try first is taking biotin. It's a vitamin supplement that supposedly stimulates hair growth. One step I've already taken is to start taking my multivitamin (and my vitamin D) again. Granted, I only started today, but I really want to make sure I take those on a DAILY BASIS from now on. Another step I am attempting is to DRINK MORE WATER. Apparently, one may suffer from a lot of acne breakouts if she doesn't drink enough water when taking the biotin. I'm too old for that crap and besides, I really need to drink more water anyway. Since I started working at MGM, I have really been slacking on that. I drank hella more water at Town Square because they actually had filtered water dispensers in the break areas. There are fountains at MGM, but they're not filtered and Minneapolis city water has a funny, metallic taste to me that is really off-putting. However, it IS clean water and I just need to suck it up because it can't be any worse for me that my daily Coke Zero intake. I have been really looking into the different types of natural oils and butters I can use. I think my next purchase will be either castor oil or coconut oil. I also want to get some shea butter or avocado butter. And aloe vera gel. Heck, maybe I'll just head up to one of the ethnic markets and get myself a big ole can of EVOO, as it is apparently a great oil to use on hair (and I can still cook with it!). I still need to grasp concepts like pre-pooinng and co-washing and moisturizing and sealing and well, my natural hair styling options. I haven't even bothered much with the hair typing business. Balding is currently my type and I just want to work on that for now.

I did it!!!!

I did my first ever quickweave! It was crazy-easy! It didn't even take that long. I cut and glued the first track at about 8:00 and was done at 10:00 and that included a 15 minute break to rematch one of the YouTube tutorials, I was using as my guide. And i5 looks pretty good too. It's a little big is my only complaint. It looks very natural. Like I have thick, unrelaxed hair that I have straightened and bumped. I got so excited about what I did, I'm gonna do it again. I bought this stuff from Model Model. I laid my tracks REALLY close together which my explain the poufiness, so I'm gonna try laying them a bought a fingers-width apart next time. Hope, I'll get a flatter, more-layered look. Pics to come!!!

Gettin' Wiggy With It

I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna make my own wig/do a quickweave. I went over to Bling Bling today and bought glue, caps, a wig head, and a razor comb. I'm super-excited to do this. I can hardly wait to get my hair. I hope I can do it right and it doesn't look like crap. I did buy two packs of hair, but apparently the Duby hair is double wefted, so I can split the tracks if I want. I will see when I get the hair. I'm, like, ready to burst!

Wiggin' Out!!!

So my wigs arrived and I have been wearing them and it's...not so bad. I have mostly been wearing the human hair wig. It is most like the weave I had (well, half-have now because I was able to remove some of the tracks, but still have some work to do and I am just too cheap to pay Lillian $30 to remove it, but I might break down and do it because this ish is itchy and tough to wear under a wig). The medium-length one is actually my favorite, but it is extremely shiny and the color (1B) is kinda wack. I wore it out and about a couple of times with a hat that I did not remove and that was fine. I got one that is extremely curly and long. I have dubbed her "Texas" because it is like straight-up Texas hair. It is soooooo not me, but she, too, looks pretty cute with a hat over her. The bob is looks the most natural, but it also makes my face look kinda chubby and, I think, older. So far, I'm not filling her. I took a crap-ton of pictures of myself wearing each of them and will try to attach a few below. (I put some on Facebook and got positive responses over all.) Thursday, I ordered new hair for my next weave. It's Outre Premium Duby which is pre-bumped and pre-layered. I was watch YouTube videos of ladies doing quickweaves with this hair and I am seriously contemplating giving that method a try myself. It looks incredibly easy and man, would that save me a lot of money. Based on the (many) videos I watched, the best method is to put a shower cap over my hair then put a couple of wig caps on and then glue the hair to the wig cap. I could even to it on a wig head. Plus, the quickweave is like a wig, so I can take it off and let my head breath and take care of my own sad natural hair. The hair itself was hella cheap. It was just $13.99 per pack (I bought 2) and I also bought a closure for $1.99. We are coming up on Thankskilling and I took the Wednesday before and the Monday after off. So maybe during those six days, instead of sitting around watching my stories, I'll sit around gluing hair on my head. This is Texas. This is Texas with a hat. The straight, human hair wig. The Oakland girl. The Bob.

This is my confession

Okay, not really. I have worn braids in my hair for about 15 years, so fake hair ain't no thang. Before that, I was doing my own relaxers at home. Needless to say, all that has taken a mighty toll on my hair. That toll has come in the form of massive hair loss. I'm balding, y'all. While my hair in the back is still relatively thick, the top is extremely thin and well, the front is holding on tight to just a few strands. Once I took my last braids out (braids I kept in so long they had started to dred which I didn't mind until I cut the braids off and realized my shit did not look like Lauren Hill's), I decided that weaves were the way to go. I got a weave about a month and a half ago and initially, I loved it. However, over the course of the last few weeks, I've come to hate this thing. The hair I paid $60 for is a tangled, lifeless mess. Since I don't have another $200 to spend (the stylist charged me about $160 and she didn't even give me the exact style I wanted), I've decided to supplement in the meantime with wigs. I was (am?) kinda nervous about the wig thing. I associate wigs with my Auntie. However, after doing A LOT of research, I have selected 4 that I think will look nice while I save up for the cute little bump weave that I want. I bought a couple longer styles the other day and I expect them to arrive tomorrow. One is a human hair straight wig and the other is synthetic with curls. I just ordered two others from a different site, one a sorta medium length and the other a bob-type dealy. I'm hoping I like them and that it won't be too weird wearing them. I shouldn't be so self-conscious, but I am. However, there really is no shame to it. The only really shameful part is that I am doing this because my self-consciousness before led me to over-relax my hair and not to let it rest between braid sessions. So that's my confession. I'm officially a wig-wearing old lady now.

Not Winning Any Cool Points

So this happened:

On the bus. Bus driver hits the brakes a little hard causing everyone to lurch forward. Passenger sitting sorta turned sideways ends up grabbing the woman sitting next to him. Woman flinches. Man begins apologizing & Woman gives him the "no biggie" wave & smile. Somehow, this offends guy whose apology turns accusatory. He is loudly and aggressively telling her he didn't mean to touch her like that. Again, she says it's okay. Dude then goes all, 'you act like I did that shit on purpose. You ain't that cute.' Woman settles on ignoring the asshole. He is now so offended that he gets up and moves.

Um, what the hell? How did she suddenly owe him an apology or any other reassurance? Why do some men think that turning into a complete jerk is going to win them any points? I see this with guys on the street who go from 'hey, baby girl. How you doin?' To 'fuck you then, bitch' in seconds flat. It's like they've decided women OWE them a smile or a wave or something. Newsflash, fellas: WE DON'T OWE YOU SHIT!!! A lady is not required to acknowledge you whether you are as graceful as a prince or as rank as 2 Live Crew. And when you get so offended by her failure to swoon at your charming advances that you resort to screaming insults at her, you can be assured that all you're doing is firming up any negative impressions she might have had about you which lead her to ignore your sorry ass in the first damn place.

From The (Aching) Hip

I am getting old. While I'm not the most health-conscious person, I don't necessarily feel my age...or maybe, I do. What is 40 supposed to FEEL like, anyway? I guess my point is that I live in a 3rd floor apartment with no goddamn elevator and I walk to or from at least one of my two jobs (20+ minutes at least once a day. I KNOW I most certainly don't LOOK my age, at least that's what people keep telling me (and I choose to believe them, dammit). But the truth is I ain't no spring chicken anymore. Black may not crack, but it does get creaky now and then. And outward appearances aside, I have more senior moments than junior ones nowadays. Hell, the fact I just said 'nowadays' makes me seem old.
A number of cold, hard facts/life-events have brought my aging into sharp relief for me of late. Stuff like realizing that I have 2 nieces and 3 nephews who are or will be old enough to vote in this year's election (GObama!!!). Like the fact that the other day when my Duranniversary came, I was a bit too embarrassed to post it to Facebook because of how LONG I have loved this band. Like the passing of celebrities who were kinda big parts of my pop cultlure childhood. Like seeing people who were born in 19-freakin-96 come in for a driving test. Like seeing some hot customer dude come in and discovering he was born the year I graduated high school. It is a harsh reality, yo and I don't like it.

Hello, Blog

It's been a while since I have written and new stuff has happened. Well, one significant new thing which is I got a new job! I still work for The Man, but now I have less far to travel to get to The Man, Inc. I am at his Midtown office and despite trying not to kill a particular CoW, I am diggin' it. I don't have to get up until 7. Heck, I could probably swing 7:30 or even 8, but I like to get breakfast. Which brings me to the bad part of my new gig: shit is expensive up in here.