Unbeweaveable

As I said in my last post, I am currently wearing weave. Just like anything else to do with my hair, everyone had questions and opinions. One friend wanted to know why I was getting weave when I was "supposedly" natural. I tried to explain about protective styling, etc, but his eyes just glazed over. My cousin assumed I got weave so I could work out more. Um no, I don't let my hair stop me from hitting the gym. These are just a couple of the questions people asked but I had many, many more.

Mainly, the reason I decided to wear weave is because I simply wanted to give my hair a break. Any time I have worn braids or weave my hair has grown like a weed. I wanted to leave it alone to grow without being manipulated daily.

I wanted hair that looked like my own, just longer. I did a ton of research on the Black Hair Media forums, and decided on All About My Hair's Kinky Curly wefted hair. It can be found here. I got the 12 inch length, and my stylist ended up cutting a lot. I wish I had left it a little longer looking back but there is always next time.

Had I left my hair out (another regret), it would have blended perfectly. The hair was kind of an off-black/really dark brown color, and that did not work for me. I guess I am too used to coloring my hair! Here is how it looked when it was first installed:

It's hard to see how dark it is there, but it was dark. About a week and a half later, I went to MPS to get my color done. It's the same salon who did the color on my natural hair. I can't believe how good it turned out. I gave her minimal guidance and it turned out absolutely perfect. However, my stylist was not too impressed with my weave install. She had to tighten up parts of it for me, a week and a half after it had been installed. Oops! Anyway, here is how it looks with the color. Yes, I am having a photo shoot at my desk at work. Shouldn't I be working?

All in all, I love my hair. There are a couple of things I wish I had done differently, but it's not a huge deal. Since I got a good, quality hair this time, I'm hoping that this install will last me awhile and I can reuse the hair.

I'm baaaaaaaaack

Hey all!

As you can see I have had quite a hiatus from my blog, but I had a new reader comment this week which made me think "Someone is still reading my blog!" So I thought I would get back to it. I stopped partly because I spilled some melted Nourish & Shine on my computer keyboard. At first I thought it didn't really affect anything, but slowly but surely different keys started going out. The 5, T, G, B, and space bar stopped working properly. Pretty important keys there.

Besides that, life just got busy with work, the holidays, and everything that comes along with that.

I'm still running, and I also started the Insanity workout DVDs. That along with journaling my my eating on Sparkpeople (I gave up on Weight Watchers after they introduced their new plan - sorry, JHud), has enabled me to drop nearly 30 lbs and counting. I started dating someone, my BFF got engaged.... I could go on and on but I won't. I'm back now and that's all that matters!

Right now, I have my hair weaved up, which I will take some pics and give some details about in another post. I am also approaching the anniversary of my big chop! I'm a little sad I won't get to take pics of my hair for the occasion but such is life =)

So that's what has been going on with me, I promise to update more often going forward!

Breaksfast On the Go

I was supposed to share these recipes last week. Oops. Anyway, I have found that I do better through the day when I have a healthy and filling breakfast. These two recipes definitely fit the bill, and they are portable. I make a batch on the weekend and put them in the freezer. I take out what I want each morning and by the time I get to work and get ready to eat, they are thawed and ready to be heated.

Quiche Cups

12 eggs
10 oz frozen chopped spinach
3-4 slices Canadian bacon, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese (I use Kraft 2% Cheddar)
salt & pepper
splash or two of Tabasco, if you like a little kick
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Chop the bacon and onions, saute briefly in a small skillet with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Microwave frozen spinach until thawed (approx. 4 minutes). Squeeze out any excess liquid.
3. In large bowl, mix all ingredients thoroughly.
4. Pour evenly into cooking-sprayed muffin tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.
5. Can eat hot or let cool on rack, then refrigerate or freeze individually.

To reheat, microwave on 6-7 or medium power for one minute.


Baked Oatmeal

2 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup fat free skim milk
1/2 cup Egg Beaters (or 2 eggs)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup Splenda (I don't like artificial sweeteners so I just use regular sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
cooking spray

Preheat over to 350 degrees

1. Combine wet ingredients and add dry ingredients.
2. Bake in sprayed 8" square pan for 35-45 minutes.
3. Keeps well in refrigerator or freezer. Good cold or warm.

Variations - I like o add chopped walnuts and dried cranberries to the mix. Also good with mashed banana instead of applesauce. Experiment to change things up!

Success! First Weigh In

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are doing a Biggest Loser type contest at my job. We had quite a bit of time between the initial weigh in and our next weigh in due to the Labor Day holiday.

Our first weigh in was on Friday, and I lost 4.2 lbs! Woo hoo! We are doing teams of two, and my partner lost 2 lbs. Which she confessed was purely by accident - she hadn't been tracking her food (she is doing Weight Watchers), nor had she been working out. And she doesn't seem motivated to do either one. GRRRRRR. But what can you do? I can't make her do it.

This week I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing with a few minor tweaks. I am going to step up my workouts, and try to add more fruits and vegetables. This is something I really struggle with but I am going to try and do better. Wish me luck!

On another note, I bought two pairs of jeans in a size smaller than I wear as motivation and they arrived on Friday. I thought I would try them on just for fun and they fit already! I didn't have to jump and down to get them on or anything. They just fit. I was able to wear them to a party yesterday. I guess that running is really working!

BKT Wash N Go

I just wanted to share some pics of my wash n go on BKT'd hair. Enjoy!

First Post- BKT wash

Here are pics of my wet hair which were taken this afternoon. My curls are definitely more loose, especially in the front where it was already loose (because of the highlights). But I have my curls back and I feel like myself again.




The best thing about the BKT, now that I see my hair will curl up, is the fact that I will have more options. I wore my hair straight all weekend, where I spent most of the days in outside in the heat, and my hair only reverted slightly at the roots. I very much prefer my hair curly, but if I decide to change it up for a week, I can do that. I'm also hoping the BKT will help with the single strand knot problem I was starting to have as my hair grew longer.

Major Hair Update - BKT

Well I succumbed to peer pressure (haha not really), and I got a Brazilian Keratin Treatment on my hair (BKT). So far I like it, even moreso once I saw that my hair still had my curls. It seemed to be BKT week at my job, as one of my coworkers also got it, and now another is considering it.

I went to a stylist that a different coworker also got her BKT from a few weeks ago. I went in last Tuesday. Here are the before pictures of my hair:



My stylist used the Coppola brand. After washing my hair, she blew it dry, then applied the keratin. She used a hair color brush and applied it in very small sections. After covering my head with the keratin, I sat for 30 minutes with a plastic cap over my head. She then blew it dry again, then flat ironed it straight.

It was evident I needed a trim, so she cut off about half an inch. One thing I loved was that she showed me exactly how much she was going to trim, and let me watch in the mirror. Most of her clients have longer hair, so I knew she wasn't one of those scissor happy stylists. Anyway, after the trim, my hair was just hanging there. She couldn't put any curl into it until after three days had passed, and I had my first WTF have I done to my hair moment.


The next morning, when I did my hair, I am going to admit I cried. I didn't know what to do with it! I went to work and of course everyone loved it. No one understood why I was upset, except my coworker who had gotten her BKT on Monday of the same week. She felt the same way I did. I went through the next two days trying to my hair. I was so mad at myself. Then came Friday *cue angels singing and heavens opening up*

I went back on Friday for the three day followup. This was to wash my hair and style it again. She washed my hair and of course my first question was, "Is it still curly?" Yes, yes it was! I even saw for myself (thought I didn't get to take a picture). She then dried me under the dryer (and I timed it, at her insistence). It took **6** minutes to fully dry my hair under one of those regular salon dryers. SIX! Anyway, she then flat ironed my hair again, and here are the results:


I went home to see my family this weekend, and my mom's first question was "what did you do to your hair?" Once I reassured her I had not relaxed it, she admitted it was cute. I was proud of my mom, she has come a long way. She was so against me going natural and now she was worried I was going back to the creamy crack. My other family loved my hair but my aunt took it too far saying that this was so much more flattering to me blah blah blahhhhh. My mom got her told.

So that's my experience! I don't know if I would do it again but I'm glad I got the itch out of my system. My advice if you are interested is to go to someone who is trained on doing the BKT, and look at before and after pictures. The stylist I used had one of those digital picture frames full of before and afters. Also, ask a lot of questions - and if the stylist acts irritated that you are asking a lot of questions, keep it moving. Some people who do the BKT flat iron and blow dry on high temperatures no matter what. My stylist took one look at my fine strands and knew my hair couldn't handle it, and blew dry on cool and did not use anywhere close to 450 on her flat iron.

Tonight after the gym I am going to wash my hair myself for the first time and I will be attempting a wash and go. My stylist said I should do it exactly the same as I did it before so we shall see!