Just to Straighten Out a Few Things

There has been some misconceptions regarding my blog.

The information I post is for anyone that has curly hair. Black, white, brown, purple or green. I honestly don’t care what nationality you are. I am stopped everyday by white girls with curly hair just like mines that want advice about their curls.

Yes my blog is called Curly Headed Black Girls. So? I’m Black (not African-American… I’ve  never been to Africa.) and the friend that was supposed to help with my blog is black. Which is why I named it the way i did. Even if you are “Other” you can still have kinky, curly, nappy hair.

So please feel free to ask any and everything that you can think of about your hair.

Newest Hair Experiment

Okay so… 3 days ago I started my Hairfinity regimen. I ironed out my hair, for the first time in a almost a year. It was the first time that I had actually done an official length check on my hair since I faded it last summer. it was a little past my shoulders. I was so excited until I seen that my ends were completely ate up and over processed from dying my hair its signature honey blonde color. The only section that was fine was my reverse Wiz Khalifa patch. SMH. So I called my beautician and she found a place to squeeze me in (on a Saturday) for a basic trim and iron out. She cut off about a inch, and it looked so much better.

Before the trim

Post Trim (Hairfinity Day 2)

So in about 8 weeks I will be going back to get the rest of the processed hair trimmed off and I will be back on track with my healthy hair journey.

Confessions of a Product Junkie

Hi, my name is Jennifer, and I am a product junkie! This is a picture of all of the products that I have accumulated over the last several months. Some I recieved in my Curl Kit (which I am in LOVE with!), but most i have bought from random beauty supplies and retail stores

One thing about being natural is that as your hair grows the products change. When I first went natural i swore by Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Conditioner. I worked so beautifully, my curls were luxurious, my roots weren’t fluffy. And then one day out of no where (POOF) it didn’t work anymore. It was one of the most depressing days in my hair life. That is the moment that I became a Product Junkie. I started to try all kinds of products, some worked and others were just a waste for me so i gave them to my mother, who has a totally diffrent type of hair as me, and they worked for her. I still have yet to find one product that does everything that i want but i still have lots of produts to buy. HA!

Protective Styling and Length Retention

I always get alot of questions about protective styling and ways to reduce breakage.

The reason for protective styling it to give the hair a break from the everyday manipulation. All of the combing, pulling, brushing, and constant touching is what causes the majority of breakage.

Protective styling gives your hair a chance to grow without damage and breaking. A protective style can last from a couple of days to serval months.

Some people think that because you have a protective style you dont have to worry about your hair. YOU HAVE TO MAINTAIN YOUR HAIR WHILE IT IS IN A PROTECTIVE STYLE.

I prefer to use a  mixture of oils, leave in conditioner, and water in my trusty dusty spray bottle. (Every curly girl should own a spray bottle.) You have to make sure that your hair is not DRY while is it being PROTECTED. If you leave your hair dry while it is in your PS, it will cause your hair to break and fall out when you decide to remove your PS.

HAIR SHEDS NATURALLY EVERYDAY, no matter how good you are to your hair.

So when you take out your protective style expect to see some shedding. As long as the hairs don’t have a cuticle (white tip) attached you are in the clear. Shedding doesn’t always mean breakage.

Types of Protective Styles

Senegalese Twist

Box Braids (Poetic Justice Braids) 

Marley Braids

Weaves (Quick or Sew-In)

Cornrows

Micros

Kinky Twists

Types of Low Manipulation Styles

Low manipulation styles gives you a chance to let your hair breath for a while without having to touch or comb it. Can be done with natural hair, no weave needed.

Twist (Which can stay for a while and can be taken down for a twistout)

Braids (Can also be taken out for a braidout)

Flexi Rods

Buns

Roller Sets

And so many more…!!!

Other Tips

Deep condition EVERY week (This is the hardest one for me personally)

Protien treatments monthly

Do not comb or detangle dry hair

Pay attention to your hair, what works for some may not work for you.

So… I have “good” hair???

According to the Urban Dictionary “Good Hair” is defined as:

A popular term in the African-American community, used to describe a black person’s hair that closely resembles the hair of a typical white person (i.e. soft, managable, long, as opposed to “nappy” or “bad” hair). The closer your hair is to a white person’s, the “better” your hair is. See: “bad hair”. Note: Most people who use this term would never admit the inferiority complex from which it came.

This is the best definition I have seen. However, in my mind all hair is good. Seriously, my hair is good for me and your hair is good for you; its relative.

 

Franklin Elementary School

Gary, IN

Summer of 1995

I never thought of my hair as “good”. I mean I knew that I had long hair. I obviously knew that my hair was longer than everyone else’s, and my hair wasn’t straight like the other black girls around me. I took for me to grow up to realize that my curls were beautiful. Fourth grade I begged and begged my mother for a perm. That summer she decided that I was old enough for a “texturizer.” (For those of you that don’t know a texturizer is perm just called something else to make people think it’s not as harsh.) I LOVED IT!!! My hair was straight! Bone straight! Not a curl in sight!

　

　

　

8^th Grade

So I’m now living with my father, stepmother, and stepsister. This was possibly the worst hair year that I have her had in my 25 years on earth. My step mother and sister would go to the salon every week, religiously, to get their hair done. But ME??? OH NO! I would get a box perm once every 4 months, slap it on my roots, and throw on a skully and call it a day. My father hated it, with a passion. One day as my step mom and sister were getting ready to go to the beauty shop, my father looked at me with a straight face and said I was going to get a hair cut. I was like cool I could use a trim. No… He meant a real full blow hair cute. He wanted me to cut off all my lovely nappy locks. So I went and I told her to only cut the top and leave the back long. Yes ladies and gents, I requested a MULLET! IT WAS HIDEOUS. But I got my point across, and continued to wear skully’s every single day.

Summer 2007

My first big chop.

I had went though the process of transitioning to natural. I can’t really recall why it was that I stop getting perms. I think it was just out of pure laziness. I went and chopped my BSL hair completely off,  into the cutest bob that you would ever see!

　

Present Time

Since my first big chop my hair has been chopped, permed, and chopped again. My last “huge” chop was about a little over a year ago. It was one of the hottest summer on record. I woke up and my head felt like it was on fire. I had already faded half of  my hair, in a moment of mild depression. So it was nothing for me to take my clippers and shave the other half of my hair off and go back to sleep.

And today my hair is shoulder length, healthy, and gorgeous. I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal length of bra strap length. I hope that you all will enjoy this journey with me, and get all the tips that you need to start or continue your own healthy curly girl journey.

　

　

　

Welcome to Our Blog!

Hello and again, welcome to our blog!

We are The Curly Headed Black Girls; two individuals that want to share our opinions and ideas on natural hair with other naturals all around the globe! We each have different lengths of hair, different hair textures, different regimens, and different ways we like to style and wear our hair. We know that having natural hair can be very tiresome, frustrating, and stressful but we believe that dealing with your hair seems a tad bit easier when you have different options and methods to tackle your hair.

My name is Jennifer and I consider my self somewhat a veteran of this natural hair thing. And we have a Farah. She is my newbie, grasshopper if you will.

We want to be able to reach out to people and we plan on doing so by providing you with tutorials on how to make natural hair products, natural skin/body products, and how to achieve different hairstyles on different hair textures and lengths. We also plan to give product reviews on different products and how they work on both of our different hair textures so that you can have a clear idea of how the product may work for you.

Outside of tutorials and product reviews, we plan to share our daily life as natural haired women and we also plan to feature other naturals and their hair journeys to inspire and motivate those who want to become natural and those of us who are already natural. We hope that CurlyHeadedBlackGirls will not only become a place where you can get information on natural hair but a place where you can contribute your thoughts, share your experiences, and help other naturals that may be having a problem that you previously experienced.

The two of us may have different hair textures, different lengths, and different curl patterns but we’ve come together to achieve the same goal; to have long, natural, healthy hair and to inspire and encourage each person to love themselves and their natural hair!

Our blog is about us but it is for YOU! If you have any questions, comments, concerns feel free to shoot us an email @ curlyheadedblackgirls@gmail.com!