This page is for my Natural girls, and ladies that are thinking about going natural. The reason for me making this section is I dont blog on natural hair enough for you to catch every post that I do unless your following me on Twitter/Naybesa subscribed to my YouTube/Naybesa or you “liked” my facebook page which you should have done anyways *points to side bar* so with that said enjoy, click the title of the post if you want to leave a comment or question and I promise to respond.

Natrual Hair Talk: “Confessions Of A Curly Girl” I Dont Feel Like Doing My Hair!

Last modified on 2011-08-30 04:12:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

So I said I was going to do my “Confessions Of A Curly Girl” in a video form but right about now I dont see that happening so I think I will just type out my thoughts until further notice.

Now….since I hit 1 year natural, I have gotten more and more lazy with my hair. Like it’s been a good 3 weeks [maybe 2 weeks] since I got off my butt and washed my damn hair. And dont get my started on how long its been since I took the time to do a real protein treatment. Like honestly I dont know what my issue is, all I do know is that I dont feel like dealing with my hair at this point.

I think the reason I dont feel like doing my hair is because well… I’m bored with it. I have to be honest with you “newly naturals” when I say that the excitement of being natural wont last forever, well…. at least for me it didnt. I mean after a while I personally realized that its just hair, and to keep is on top of my hair and growing like I want for it to be I have to take care of it…. But that’s about it LOL.

When you first BC [Big Chop] your pumped! You have some new hair to play with, you dont know what to expect, you have to relearn your hair, and its just and exciting journey all together…. But thats only in the beginning. Because once you figure out what your hair likes and doesnt like + once you figure out what it needs… Unless your a “product junky” there’s not much else for you to experiment with aside from different hair styles and I dont do either. Im not the type to expiriment with hair styles all the time and I’m not the type to buy damn near every hair product in the stores [and online] to where it looks like I have a damn salon in my bathroom. I mean thats just not me. I have always been one of those people that feel like “if it aint broke dont fix it” or as I always say “if it aint broke then leave it the f**k alone” in other words, if I know what products work just peachy in my hair I’m not going to waste my money on something else unless I truly need it. If you want to do that hunnie bun be my guess, but Janay Naybesa will never be that chick.

Anywho’s this post is already getting longer then its supposed to be. The point of this post was to say I’m getting bored with my hair so I will be coloring it very soon + I think I’m going to get a weave because I dont feel like dealing with my hair for the next couple months. Like for real you guys, I’m not saying I dont love my natural hair anymore. But I am saying that I’m over my infatuation with it and I’m ready to get a weave so I dont have to be bothered with it for a little bit.

Tell me if you ever hit this point in your journey, and how you got over it

—-

For natural hair related questions, or request e-mail me at naturalhair@naybesa.com

Reviving Damaged Natural Hair: Wear Protective Styles, Twist Your Hair at Night

Last modified on 2011-08-16 06:12:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

WARNING!!!! I didnt go to school for hair [like most people on the web that give hair advice] therefore any bit of advice I give will be simply from personal experience with my hair and with the hair of those that I take care of on a weekly basis. With that being said I hope this helps someone out

I always feel like doing a video is helpful, but having both the video and write up is always the best way to go. With that being said lets talk about how wearing protective styles and  how twisting my hair at night has helped me revive my damaged natural hair.

If your familiar with my youtube channel you know that back in January I had some hair “snapping” [see video here] or shall I say weakening due to the fact that my hair was lacking protein. Of course I started giving my hair protein treatments [and I still do see updated video here] but I knew that wouldn’t be enough so I stopped wearing puffs and simply kept my hair in twist. Ever since then, my hair has been on point!

More Protective Styles Less “Cute Styles”…

This was pictures taken when I was doing someones damaged Natural Hair NOT MY HAIR!

Believe it or not, unless your hair is dyed fried and sat to the side you dont truly have to do a “Big Chop” [cut off all your hair] over again just because your hair is thinning, becoming weak, or shedding more then normal. What you will have to do is ask yourself, how are you taking care of your hair on a day to day basis. Are you:

1. Not twisting your hair at night….

2. Applying heat to your hair more then 2 times a week….

3. Wearing your hair in puffs, wash and goes, twist outs ect.. everyday….

If you answered yes to any of these questions and you’ve been having damaged hair then that just might be your answer to whats going on up there. I will get back to “Not twisting your hair at night” a little later but lets talk about what I like to call “cute styles” you know the typical, puffs, straight hair, twist outs, blow outs, things like that. If your doing this all the time and your hair is thin, breaking, heck just simply not growing then taking a break for all that is what you should do. Like they say “it hurts to be beautiful” and in a natural girls case, “cute styles” cause stress on the hair, hair loss, missing edges, and weakened hair.

This is a style I do with my twist when Im being lazy LOL

I feel that if you are going to as we call it “fire your hair stylist” after going natural then you better be able to take notes on what you are doing to your hair on a daily and know that those “cute styles” could be the reason why your hair isnt retaining the length that it should be. Don’t get me wrong, wearing a “cute style” from time to time is just fine, and if your hair is heathy, please be my guess, but if your hair is damaged, there is no reason for you to be wearing your hair out and lose unless you would like to lose more hair then you already have. A protective hair style can be cute if you make it cute. Personally I could care less if its cute. I just want my hair to grow. When my hair started to become weak and shed more then normal because of its lack of protein, wearing my hair in a puff or twist out was the last thing on my mind for a good month if not more. Some people like to style their protective styles I dont. I just put my hair in some big twist or braid and throw on a hat. Reason for this is because if my hair is damaged why would I want to cause stress to my hair by pulling my twist this or that way? It almost defeats the purpose dont cha think??? Depending on how tight that your pulling those twist to be in a style that you feel looks good you could be causing more damage then you realize. So in my opinion, for the fastest results, just put your hair in some twist strand twist for a few weeks and leave it alone, while conditioning it and keeping it moisturized.

Twist Your Hair Every Night!

This is what I do to my hair EVERY NIGHT before bed sometimes they are bigger though..

This may seem time consuming, but its going to be more time consuming when your hair is dry, brittle, and deflated, every morning so you now have to take care of that before you go anywhere….Now I dont know about everyone else but if I decide to be lazy and not twist my hair up and night, when I wake up in the morning my hair is dry, brittle and flat on the parts that I slept on the most. I’m sorry but I dont like that, and come to think of it when my hair was becoming damaged I was not doing my hair every night and it was always dry the next day. However once I stopped being lazy [and yes not doing your hair at night is being lazy] and began to twist my hair up every night, my hair started to retain length the way that it should be, I didnt have to dust my ends as often, and when I wake up in the morning my hair isnt dry as a tumble weed.

The other benefit of doing your hair at night is, if the next day you want to lounge around the house, your hair is already in braids so it wont be all flat and dry from rubbing up against things all day. Personally since I’m a blogger, I maybe busy all day but I’m normally at home therefore the last thing I want is for my hair to be lose in my bonnet rubbing up against my couch, getting dryer by the hour, while creating knots that I will eventually have to cut out; meaning I will be loosing more length. Personally I try to keep my hair in braids when I’m just chillin at the house because I dont see a need to get all dressed. For what??? Im at home, and I’m working.

If I and doing a protective style this is how my hair will look on a daily

With that being said, I will end this post with a video, and some video links that I think you all might like incase you are having trouble with your damaged hair. Let me know if you have request for spacific natural hair videos or post by e-mailing me at nay@naybesa.com

Reviving Damaged Natural Hair

UPDATE TO: My Hair Is Becoming Weak

Weekly Protein Wash Routine PART 1 [applying Henna N Placenta]

Weekly Protein Wash Routine PART 2 [appyling Cantu Shea Butter]

 

Janay Naybesa’s Reactions After First Week Of Having Natural Hair [VIDEO]

Last modified on 2011-08-12 01:16:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Have you ever wondered what my reactions where a week after going natural???? Well here ya go

I recorded this video on Aug 27, 2010 and pretty much just addressed my thoughts on my first week of being natural. In doing so I talked about that “negative” comments that I got over the week [which was pretty much none] and I also gave some advice on rocking your natural hair. I love how even back then I knew that if you “rock the natural hair” but not let it rock you, you will still look stunning no matter what. That might be why I have never gotten any negative comments on my hair. Whatever the case is, check out the video below and tell me what your thoughts about your hair was one week after going completely natural.

I will be one year natural on August 17 2011

Natural Hair: Hair Of The Day [VIDEO]

Last modified on 2011-08-05 01:23:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I cant front I recored this video a back in like June and I’m just now getting around to posting it up on youtube. Damn shame right???Anywho, I hope you all like this style the only things you will need is:

Comb

Hair Pins

Elasta QP

After you get those things this hair style is quick and easy. Its one of those styles that I like to do when I want to look cute BUT I dont really feel like doing my hair. I hope you all like it:

Sidenote: the song in this video is by Seattle’s very own [well she at least lives here so kinda] Dice. The song is called ‘Prisoner Of Love’ and its off my girl Casey Carter’s mixtape ‘Miss Casey Carter Radio Vol 1′ which can be downloaded for free here….

Subscribe To My YouTube Channel!!!

Natural Hair: Miss Jessies “Curly Buttercreme” Review

Last modified on 2011-07-27 23:57:12 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

This video was posted on April 9th but I figure that its still pretty relevant since I still dont like the Miss Jessies Curly Buttercreme.

I’m not going to write up my thoughts on the Curly Buttercreme because I think I explain how I’m feeling very well in the video LOL.

Check out my review below:

Subscribe To My Youtube Channe YouTube/NayBesa

Natural Hair Talk: You Hair Texture May Change After Big Chop

Last modified on 2011-07-23 23:44:48 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

FYI BEFORE YOU READ:

I am in now way shape or form saying that if you have 4b or 4c, your hair is not beautiful, this post is to the people just are in their first couple weeks of BC and hair is nothing but a big fluff and need a little extra engorgement. With that being said, enjoy, and let me know if you have questions or topic request at nay@naybesa.com

Its about that time for another Natural Hair post. Once again this one is going to my newly naturals, or shell I say anyone that has just Big Chopped [aka cut off all the permed hair]. I remember when I first did my BC I was so filled with joy and excitement until I woke up the next day and saw how dry, flat, and shrunken my hair was. And not to mention the extra shrinkage I would get after doing a wash and go. It was to a point of if I didn’t know any better I might have thought I damn near had a fade. I don’t care what you say, that day after you BC is always epic, because the look on our faces when we see our hair the next day is always priceless LOL.

The point of my writing this post is the talk about how my hair’s texture has gone from 4b to 4a and in some parts 3c over these last 11 months. I remember last August when I would do my wash and goes my hair wouldn’t curl up all over, heck for the first 2 weeks [might have been 4c at that time] I was trying to do my own little version of finger coils all over my head and that didn’t even get my hair to curl, twist turn or anything of that sort. Like seriously it was bad you guys LOL. But after I hit a month I started noticing that as my hair got longer it would get curlier, softer, and in some places straighter. Not to mention that my hair doesn’t shrink up to the same degree as it use too.

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because when some women BC they become extremely discouraged when they don’t feel that they have the curl pattern that was expected. And that’s ok! If you turned out with 4b hair and thought you would have more of a 3b and are a little disappointed that’s just plain fine. There’s no point in kidding yourself. If you wanted curlier straighter hair that’s fine and you have the right to feel that way. But the question is what are you going to do about it??? Are you going to say forget Natural Hair, wear a weave and then get a perm again, are you going to mope around not taking care of your hair and just be looking crazy??? Or are you going to do like I did and rock it to the best of my ability??? Personally I be damned if I let some “Kinky” hair make me have a bad hair day, and bring down my confidence. Lets be real its just hair! You can have “bomb” hair not take care of it or never style it and all of a sudden its nothing special to others anymore because if it doesn’t look good, who care what hair type it is. I know I sure don’t. In other words don’t let 4b or 4c hair stop you from learning how to love it, take care of it, and make it look fly at all times.

Never the less, the texture of hair that is left from when you did your BC isn’t the texture your hair is going to say. After you perm or relax your hair for so many years, your natural hair texture isn’t your natural hair texture anymore because its used to being strengthened all the time, so it takes a little but for your hair to get to its full potential, heck to be honest if your someone that likes to “hair type” then I wouldn’t worry about trying to figure out your hair texture for a good 3 months because when it changes your going to think that you was seeing things back when you Big Chopped thinking you was 4b when your really 4a.

Quickly for those of you that don’t know the different between 4a and 4b, 4a has a curl pattern, and 4b is more like cotton, and for more info on hair typing you can check out Naturally Curlly, or ask me to e-mail you a copy of my 10 pg natural hair paper in the comment section because I talk all about that in there.

Anywhos, back to the topic at hand, for those of you who just BC and you cant get your hair to curl not matter what gel you use, or what you did like me, then just give your hair a little time to grow and you maybe surprised at the hair texture that was hiding under all those chemicals this whole time.

FOR MORE NATURAL HAIR TALK FROM ME CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE/NAYBESA CHANNEL

Side Note: in case your wondering I will be one year natural next month on the 17th

Rock the Natural Hair DON’T Let It Rock You!!!

Last modified on 2011-07-01 08:14:10 GMT. 2 comments. Top.

I think its important for you to always remember  whether you are a 10 years natural, or you just did your first big chop, that your hair is just another accessory you have and for it to look good you have to rock it and not let it rock you. I see so many women here and there with these cute natural hair styles however because of the way they look as a whole [meaning outfit and over all confidence] it quickly goes from something that could on point to being just ok. I don’t know how many times I have walked out the house and people tell me that my hair is cute, but its only in a puff… Like really??? A puff??? As simple as the hair style is, if you make it look good people will think it looks good. I always use clothes as an example because I feel the people can relate to it very easily. So my example for this post will be Leggings… Leggings is one of those things that just came in and took over out of the blue! I remember a time when you would see someone wearing leggings and you automatically thought they looked crazy no matter how they wore them, however something happened in 2007-2008 because all of a sudden you couldn’t walk down the street without seeing them. My point is, there was someone [idk who made those popular but whateva] but everyone seen them wearing leggings and thought it looked hot! They thought it was different, and they finally seen a way that these, cheap thick a** stockings without feet would look good and not just a hot mess.

In other words, the world sees Natural Hair as a hair style that forever is looking just plain crazy unless you have “good hair” and even that can be subjective to judgment because everyone has a different definition of “good hair” however if you make sure that you rock your hair like you would rock your fav pair of leggings with some cute boots you wont have friends and family asking you things like “when are you going to do your hair” or “your  going outside like that??” because lets be real, there is good Natural Hair and there is BAD Natural Hair. Good natural hair is on the head of people like myself who take care of their hair, style it, makes sure its never looks dry, ashy or like me and my girl Ash like to say “African Pride” [I know I know that’s not nice but I bet you got a good picture of what I was talking about when you read that LOL]. I mean when you really think about it, even when you had relaxed hair, if your hair was looking crazy someone would be like “girl when are you going to get a touch up” or “when was the last time you ever tried to brush your damn hair” simply because a good friend will let you know when you aren’t looking like your public eye ready.

So I say this, if you have people coming to you saying your hair looks crazy ask your self “does my hair look crazy or is it that I dont have enough confidence with my hair” now I have to clear this up really quickly though….. having confidence does NOT and I repeat does NOT mean that you can go outside with hair that looks like its hasn’t been moisturized in weeks, no matter what, your outfit may look cute but people are going to be talking about how dry your hair looks and that’s when people start to bring up the fact that you might need a perm. The confidence is just something extra that makes you, well sh*t look better. I don’t care what nothing says, there is nothing more unattractive then someone without confidence.

No one said this natural hair journey would be easy that’s why its called a journey. As you go along you will learn your hair and you will be able to make simple styles like puffs look good, and have men that don’t normally like natural hair tell you that you hair looks good. That happened to me the other day and I was like let me find out lol.

I hope this post was helpful.

Please let me know if you have questions about me and my hair journey by hitting me with a e-mail at nay@naybesa.com

Also subscribe to my youtube channel for natural hair talk and learn how i take care care of my hair at YouTube/Naybesa

BTW in case your wondering I’m 10 months natural as of right now

 

Is Using Only Organic Hair Products On Natural Hair Necessary?

Last modified on 2011-06-23 04:36:00 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Depending on how much research you do or dont do when you go natural you might think that just because your now natural you can only use all organic hair products, but I’m here to say thats not the case.

When I first started my natural hair journey for about a week I thought the only things I could use on my hair was all natural or shall I say organic hair products, and I’m happy to say that I got over that very quick. When you make the decision to only use natural products your cutting out a lot of other general products that might even work better for your hair and most likely doesnt cost as much. Dont get me wrong, if you only want to use organic hair products because thats what you like, and you feel that products with non organic ingredients are just oh so bad for your hair, then be my guest. However I’m not talking to you all right now. This post is about newly naturals that want to know if you should truly only use organic hair products and the answer is no, because it’s all about preference.

When it comes to the products that you use in your natural hair think of it like the clothes you buy. When you go shopping, your not just going to get what “in” at the moment your going to get what looks good on you and put your own spin on it to make it look “cool”. It goes the same for your natural hair. As bad as people make ingredients like mineral oil sound, for some naturals like myself mineral oil works just fine in my hair. Believe it or not, a lot of the all organic hair products that I have tried so far doesnt work for my hair. However simple products like Herbal Essence that you can find in drug stores like Walgreens for less then $5′s works just fine in my hair.

So in conclusion, if you are newly natural, or transitioning to having natural hair and your wondering if once you go natural you will have to get rid of all your drug store hair products and go to organic ones; the answer is no unless that is something that you truly would like to do.

Below I have linked to a few Natural Hair Youtuber’s I like that dont only use all organic hair products however their hair still is growing, looks, and feels just fine:

YouTube/NayBesa

YouTube/AshleAriane

YouTube/CurlyGirlJess

YouTube/Vivalacious

YouTube/LolaKinkz

Natural Hair Of The Day Frohawk [VIDEO]

Last modified on 2011-06-17 21:19:20 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I recently just remembered that I havent been posting up the videos I have been doing on YouTube and I thought it was about time that I changed that. Yesterday I upload a Natural Hair video where I did a “Frohawk” for my hair of the day. The products used in his video:

Eco Styler Gel [the clear one]

Bobby Pins [like 5 on each side]

A brush [random brush]

And a little bit of patience

The tutorial is truly only like about 3mins however at the end of the video I’m talking about how my head held up that night, and how the club went in general. Hope you enjoy

Have Natural Hair video request??? E-mail me at nay@naybesa.com with Natural Hair as the subject title and tell me what you want to see.

 

Natural Hair Summer Talk: “Its summertime and my hair is extremely dry”

Last modified on 2011-06-10 01:34:37 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been on the hair boards a little bit more then I normally would have been and I’ve been seeing a lot of ladies say pretty much the same thing “its summer time and my hair is dry what should I do” or “my twist out aren’t lasting in the heat what should I do” and since I haven’t had anything extra dryness going on I thought I would share how I have been dealing with my hair over the last 9 months and what I do so that I don’t have the issue of dry hair.

When it comes to your hair being dry, you should always take that seriously because if it’s dry for too long then your hair is going to break off, and began to give the illusion of it not growing and no one wants that. When I was 5 months natural and I started using puffs as my staple hair style and even thought it was quick, easy and cute, I quickly noticed my hair was a little dryer then normal because one my hair was now always out and two I wasn’t retwisting my hair at night. Don’t get me wrong, there are some women that can just go to sleep and not retwist their hair at night, but then there are other women that need to make sure that their hair is protected at all times. I have hair that can be out in the day but when its time to take my butt to bed whether I like it or not I better twist up my hair or its going to be some kind of dry in the morning. With that said, one thing that I do to keep my hair from drying out is retwisting it at night. This also helps my hair to not tangle, become matted, or get little knots on the ends that will soon need to be dusted off [if you don’t know how I dust my ends read the post I did about it here] meaning less hair on my head because I wanted to be lazy.

Another thing I like to do is deep condition my hair every time I wash my hair. I would say I do this every week but lets be real I don’t always wash my hair every week although I do try. Deep conditioning my hair is a must! Deep conditioners sole purpose it to help retain and regain moisture in your hair. Which is why when you used to go to the hair shop your hair dresser would say “ooooo your hair is DRY girl its time for a good deep conditioning” and after your hair was back on point. Now fair warning too much of a good thing can definitely be a bad thing. If your deep condition your hair too much it can be damaging, signs of over conditioned hair is limp, or weak hair. And in that case you may need to add in some protein [check out my protein videos here here and here].

Don’t try to style dirty hair; just because you add moisture to dirty hair doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay soft for all that long. First of all because its dirty, all your going to do is cause build up to your hair. Two your hair may become greasy feeling and or looking and that’s a hot mess of its own right there. In all reality at this time of year washing your hair at least once every two weeks should be a staple unless you have been washing your hair once a month for years, you still have healthy hair, and are retaining all your length. But for everyone else once every two weeks should be a good place to start. Reason being, its hot out there, your hair is sweating, and when hair sweats for one it doesn’t always smell grate after a certain amount of time, and two your causing more build up. However this time its natural build up being added in with product build up which is just plain gross if you ask me. What some people don’t realize is that when your hair is dirty for too long the products will build up and create a film on your hair. Also, your hair growth may be affected. If you want your hair to grow then a clogged up scalp is not the route that you want to take simply because your hair is going to keep growing, however it doesn’t mean that the hair that comes out will be healthy.

My last bit of advice for keeping your hair from being a dry tumble weed in the summertime is co washing [washing hair with just conditioner] in between wash days. I will say this, I don’t recommend co washing every single day. It goes hand and hand with deep conditioning too often, and I personally have experimented with co washing everyday, or just once or twice a week, and in my personal experiences I found out that doing it everyday took out my natural hairs oil, and made my hair more dry then it should have been. However just doing it in between wash days to add in some moisture is very helpful. Now for those of you that like to do wash and goes I’m not saying don’t use conditioner if you do it everyday if it just is truly working for you. However you shouldn’t have to co wash every single day to get a wash and go, your hair should be able to get second day hair by just rewetting it. I have type 4a hair and I can get second day hair without always using conditioner so its always worth a try.

Anyways this is just my advice on how to get your hair through the summer because its working very well for me and I thought I would share it with everyone. But I will say this. Advice is just that advice, so take it at your own will. I hope this was helpful.

For more nautural hair talk from me check out my youtube channel at YouTube/NayBesa

And follow me on twitter at Twitter/NayBesa

If you have request on natural hair topics/question you would like me to address e-mail me at nay@naybesa.com

 

Open Discussion: Is “Transitioning” Cheating When Doing A Natural Hair Journey?

Last modified on 2011-06-04 23:46:02 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

hey everyone i havent posted up a discussion topic in a little bit so i thought i would post about this topic. let be real, everyone has their own opinion on whether or not people should transition for a long time [long time meaning like a year or two maybe even 8months] so that you dont have to worry about having a TWA and instead and skip right to collar bone or something around there, or should you just get it over with and do the BC.

the reason for this discussion topic is because today while on the phone with a friend she asked is transitioning “cheating” and i said no, because if you dont want short hair then you shouldnt do the BC. along with all the drama that comes with the BC. i see it this way, going natural is already a big step so when you go natural and you pretty much have no hair your really going to get looked at in a different light and if you dont have that confidence to make people be like “hey your hair looks cute short, i wish i could rock my hair like that” then maybe a BC isnt for you lol. in other words i feel that its all about preference, if your used to having long hair you might wait longer before you BC but if you dont mind like me, then just go on ahead and get it out the way.

we didnt really get into a big conversation on whether it is cheating or not i kind of just gave my thoughts on it and that was pretty much the end of it and we started talking about something on a whole different topic [yall know how we do when on the phone lol]

so i want to know your HONEST and when i say HONEST i do mean HONEST opinion on wether or not you think Transitioning is cheating.

if you think it’s cheating, i want you to say HELL YA ITS CHEATING and why, if you feel like NO ITS NOT want u to say so and why. because i think this is something that gets a lot of transitioners caught up, because some people say you should wait a while others say you shouldnt and then their sitting there looking crazy like i dont know if its bad if i cut off my hair now or later.

with that being said LET GET THIS CONVO STARTED

BTW DONT FORGET TO SUBB MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR MORE DISCUSSION’S COMING THIS SUMMER @ YouTube/Naybesa

Natural Hair: Wigs Or Weaves Right After Big Chop?

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:27:21 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

As you may or may not know I like to watch a lot of Youtube videos [whether they be on natural hair or not], the reason why I bring this up is because while watching MsVcharles video today I decided to write a blog post on that same subject. “Natural Hair & Wigs” was the name of her video, in other words, is it ok to wear a wig if your natural. And in my opinion just because you don’t have chemicals in your hair doesn’t it mean that you shouldn’t wear, or rather cant wear a wig anymore. However I would say ask yourself this… If your going to take the time to transition out of your perm for whether it be one month or even one year, so that one day your hair will be “healthy”, [if your wondering why I put healthy in quotations click this link] what was the point if your just going to cover it on up with a wig or weave anyways. If you ask me, if that was the case, you might as well just keep your hair cut short so you don’t have to deal with it. Heck you could even keep it relaxed for that matter, no one’s ever going to see it.

When I first went natural, I may not have warn and wig or weaves for the first month or so but I did wear a hat for the first week, because I was worried about what others would think. But I soon realized that if I don’t take the hat off now I’ll be hiding my natural hair until I’m 32 and even then I wont be comfortable wearing my natural kinks out for the whole world to see… I mean that is what makes us wear our hats, wigs, and long weaves right after we go natural right? It’s a comfort that we are not ready to give up.

To be honest when you first do your Big Chop, because your natural hair texture is so left field from your relaxed hair texture its best to play around with it for the first 5-6 months. The reason why I’m saying 5-6 months is because my hair pattern has been changing every other month after the my BC and if your just wearing wigs, or weaves your not going to see this process, your not going to know what’s going on with your hair, your not going to know when your hair is breaking off or just shedding, your not going to know when your ends need cutting just by the way that they feel rather than the way that they look, not to mention you won’t know the best ways of moisturizing your hair, because you’re not dealing with it throughout the day. I mean I can go on and on about all the things that you will be missing out on if you don’t learn your hair before you start hiding it away.

In the end, I’m deff not saying that wearing a wig or weave while natural is a bad thing, because in a few months I’m sure going to get some tracks to give my hair a nice little rest. However I am saying when you first BC you need to become good friends with your hair before you go hiding it from yourself and the public. As for those of you that are 6 months on out and are completely confident rocking your natural hair, hunnie be my guest and give your hair a nice rest. But just make sure you keep it moisturized when doing so

Jill Scott Says “I wasn’t trying to be the spokesperson of natural hair”

Last modified on 2011-06-05 03:07:23 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Well I’ll be damned. You know I have been waiting on someone to do a interview with Jill Scott about the fact that she’s not “natural” anymore and I finally got it. In a interview with Afro Bella Jill states “I wasn’t trying to be the spokesperson of natural hair” and you know what, I’m not mad at her. Check out what all she had to say below.

Afrobella: …to so many people, they look at your and they brand you as an icon that speaks to their particular experience. So to so many women, you’re considered a natural hair icon, or plus size icon and now you’re in a period in your life where you’re changing. How is that, and how do you feel about being seen that way by women and how do you feel about your hair and your beauty and your evolution that we’re all getting to see right now?
Jill Scott: Well I think that change is good, and its necessary. Typically when I go through something, I’ll always cut my hair off. And I’ll wear wigs, and I’ll wear weaves and I’ll wear pieces because I like fashion. I like style and its fun to me. I’m very much a girl and I don’t know. I wont say worried…I’m interested to see how people look at me as someone who’s lost 60 [lbs] and working on 20 more. I’m interested to see if they’ll still feel connected to me or not. I don’t know. I wasn’t trying to be the spokesperson of natural hair. I just like my hair. I like how it feels, I like how I look. I enjoy my culture and my heritage. I see my mother and my father in my hair and I enjoy that. But at the same time I’ve been natural for 20 years and it was time to change. And when I get bored of this, I’ll cut my hair off again.

When it comes down to it, if you ask me just because a celeb is natural, unless they come out like ooohhhh say Kim Coles did you really cant blame them for changing their hair style. I mean really when it comes down it its their hair and who are we to get brittle about what these celebrities do and don’t do with their hair. Another way to put it is, you wouldnt want anyone telling you how to do your Natural Hair journey and if you decided to go back to perming I would think you would be a little irritated if everyone was jumping on you about YOUR hair as if, if you dont have hair like them anymore they feel like they have no reason to hang in there. I dont thats just me. Dont get me wrong I realize that when things like this it means there is one less person repping for naturals but at the same time, its and it is what it is situation and theres nothing that we can do about it.

All I gotta say is as long as her hair stays looking nice I could care less if she’s natural or not.

What do yall think?????

SideNote: i will say this though, if she so didnt want to be a spokes person for naturals why did she really go out and get a type 4a like wig and wear that on her album cover. Do you think it was because she just likes hair like she said, or do you think it’s because old habits die hard, and she just was having a I wana be natural moment.

Newly Natural Advice: How I Trim My Ends

Last modified on 2011-06-08 22:17:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

this is all the hair I cut from the last time I dusted my end

When I said that I was going to start doing more natural hair post I was dead serious about it. I wana talk about hair trimming this time around, because I think that a lot of people that go natural sometimes will think just because they are natural, they don’t have to cut their ends anymore and if they do, they automatically think they need to straighten their hair to do it. The technique I choose for cutting my ends is called “dusting”. Dusting is pretty much when you two strand twist your hair and clip off the dry looking, frizzly, slip, and just down right unruly ends.

The reason I choose dusting over completely straightening my hair and cutting my ends that way is because your hair has to be in a whole different kind of shape to be able to rock it straight. Everyone that I have seen on youtube, including myself that has tried to straighten their natural hair always has a little bit of extra frizz on the ends. Its as if the last inch or so just wont straighten all the way, and just plain doesn’t look all that good if you ask me. It’s not as if they have split ends or anything it just doesn’t get as straight on the ends like the rest of their hair does.

Now I will say this, if you know for a fact that your going to want to straighten your hair a lot then you should either go to a hair salon to and get your ends cut, or you should always straighten it before cutting that way you wont be looking crazy when you do straighten your hair. However if your like me… someone who doesn’t plain on truly flat ironing their hair for a couple of years, dusting might be the way to go. In the last 9 months, I haven’t even had split ends, and all I do is dust my ends, when they start to look a little crazy when I take the time to retwist my hair.

I hope this helped a little, I’m going to post a couple of video links [click their names] below:

Trimming/Dusting the Ends of My Natural Hair By BeautifulBrwnBabyDol

Trimming & “Dusting” MY Natural Hair By Ms Vcharles

For more nautural hair talk from me check out my youtube channel at YouTube/NayBesa

And follow me on twitter at Twitter/NayBesa

If you have request on natural hair topics/question you would like me to address e-mail me at nay@naybesa.com

 

Herbal Essences Totally Twisted “Curl Scrunching Gel” Review

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:30:17 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I feel like so many naturals are feeling the need to order all of their hair products online instead of useing what they have in the drug stores near by them. Now if what’s in the drug stores dont work for you then be my guest, I dont blame you for going online and ordering things you cant just grab and go with, however if you haven’t really taken the time to check out what’s there then if you ask me you just might be missing out.

So far I have found my new favorite product for two strand twist, and twist outs.What is it you may ask, Herbal Essences Totally Twisted “Curl Scrunching Gel” But just like any other products that we love this product has is pros, as well as its cons. But lets start out with the good and end with the ugly since the bad parts arent all that shabby.My favorite part about using this product is when I finally take out my twist outs I have a hard time telling whether or not some of my hair clumps are twisted still or not. It defines my curls so well and it holds my twist out pattern in place so good, that although there are a few things wrong with it, I’m willing to deal with it until I find something better.

Now the issues I’m having with the product is it can be a little bit drying, and it can leave white flakes in your hair if you dont moisturize your hair enough. But for $2.59 I will deal with it until I find something better that wont brake my pockets.

The way I use the product is after washing and conditioning my hair I will do a simple twist out, whether you want them to be big or small [personally for me the twist out came out better when they are done big] it shouldnt matter too much, sit under the dryer until the twist are dry. The reason I say sit under the dryer until the twist are dry is because for some reason when I dont sit under the dryer the hold isnt as good, so I suggest doing so.

Now when it’s time to take out the twist, I recommend slightly misting the hair with a spray bottle then adding a hair moisturizer, and your favorite oil to each twist as you take them out. This way your hair wont be all dry, and it will have a nice shine that will last through out the day.

You shouldnt have to retwist your hair everynight but if your like me and always want that fresh and crisp twist out i would just go and ahead and retwist your hair before bed.

All in all I love this product and I’m deff going to be getting some more when i run out.

 

Natural Hair Diary: Im 4 Months Natural [yay me!!]

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:24:42 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

sheesh is about damn time. now i warn you know this video is from last month and i am now 4 months natural but im posting it anyways because nothing has really changed besides the fact that my hair has gotten longer. i reminber when i first started going natural and i would do wash and goes all the time because i couldnt do a puff or a decent twist out for that matter. now a days all i do is puffs and twist, but now that its the winter time keeping my hair in twist as a protective style is the best bet.Products I use:

Shampoos:

-Shampoo Bar from Wholefoods

-Wen Shampoo and Conditioner

Conditioners:

-Pantene for Relaxed and Natural Conditioner [mostly for a deep conditioner, but never a leave in]

-Kinky Curly Knot Today [leave in]

-Herbal Essences Body Envy [leave in]

-Herbal Essences Totally Twisted [detangler]

Moisturizers:

Pantene Relaxed and Natural Daily Oil Cream

Oils:

Coconut

Jojoba

Walnut

Gels for Twist Outs and Puffs:

Eco Styler Gel [level 10]

Kinky-Curly Curling Custard

OSR Lock and Twist Gel

Got2b Spiked-Up

now if that seems like a lot it might because your thinking that i use them all at once, when i do my twist i wash and condition my hair, pic and leave in, and for the most part i just just OSR Lock and Twist Gel to do my two stand twist and im done. OH! not to mention i have to add in some oil before i do my twist. so when it comes down to it, i like it keep things quick and simple as of right now.

one thing im supper pumped about is me closely approaching my 6 month mark. i dont know about everyone else but i have a length goal of getting my hair to the bottom of my neck by the time i hit my half year mark. if i cant get my hair down there by then i want to be no more then a centimeter or so off. now dont people are doing their journey simply to have as healthy looking hair as possible. now dont get me wrong, i want the same thing to however i want my hair to be as long as possible also. my goal is by the time i hit my 3 year mark i want my hair to be as close to my belly button as possible. so yall know what that means, simply just protective hairstyles for me for the next few years

anywhos im going to post some pics of my hair now and i will give another update on my hair next month. until then check out my What Is Hair article and stay tuned for my reviews on different products and other educational natural hair post to come.

What Is Hair???

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:20:36 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I havent been updating you all on my natural hair journey very much. i mean i have but its only been on YouTube. with that said i figure its about time that i start writing about hair on my site as much as i do on video’s on youtube. so lets start with what hair is….

Hair is basically dead cells that we are trying to preserve over time. But lets break that down even further. For starters hair grows from follicles inside the skin, the part of the hair inside of the follicle is what we know to be the root. At the bottom of the root is a very small white blub, which is where the hair receives its nutrients and new cells can be formed. The hair follicle also has a Dermal Papilla which is a cone shaped figure at the bottom of the follicle that feeds blood (in other words nutrients) to the bulb; the Sebaceous Glad (or simply oil gland) helps to keep the hair lubricated, shinny, and healthy. Lastly, the Arrector Pili, a small muscle connected to the follicle, that reacts to the stimulus (cord) causing hair to stand straight up, better known as goose bumps.

When taking nutrients from the dermal papilla, the hair bulb creates new hair cells. While the cells are slowly moving up through the hair root, they begin to mature into a process none as Keratinization (beginning stages of hair growth) where they fill with fibrous protein and soon lose their nucleus. Once the cell finally loses its nucleus it’s no longer alive, this is why people say hair is not healthy because it is already dead. By the time the hair surfaces its nothing more than fibers made of keratinized proteins.

From the hair follicles keratinized proteins begin to surface and create the hair shaft, which has a very specific construction that includes three layers. One is an outer covering of the overlapping keratin scales which is called the cuticle, the second is a middle layer of keratinized protein fibers called the cortex, and at times there is a central core of rounded cells known as the medulla. However for the most part the medulla is mostly only found in coarse hair and barely found in naturally blond and fine (thin) hair.

stay tuned with for info on hair later. next top i will tackle is hair typing.

NayBesa’s Natural Hair Big Chop [recap + video]

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:13:39 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

yyyyeeeeee im hella pumped yall i finally did my BC aka big chop aka cut off all my damn permed hair. you all have no clue [unless you have already done a natural hair journey] how freeing this it feels when you finally get rid of that last piece of permed hair. like its such a difference that it doesnt even feel the same when i simply wash my hair. i cant give you my reaction to going natural for a couple more days cause i only did this on the 17th so i havent been natural for more then 3days yet. however like i said in the video i use coco nut oil in my and that something that i use on a daily. it adds shine, and moisture to my hair so that its not looking so damn dry. i also sometimes use jojoba oil for shine and that seems to work pretty well also but i havent used that as much so i cant really say whether or not i plan on using that in hair regimen.

now the biggest plans that i have for right now is to do as much research on natural hair products as i possibly can, im going to be making my own shea butter, conditioner, oil mixture and lots more. the reason why i want to do this is because one this is the only way that i will know whats really in the products that i use in my hair, two it will make my hair grow faster and heather because i will simply be using products that will benefit my hair and nothing more, the other reason is because i already have to add extra this or that to the products that i use in my hair so i might as well use my own products so that i wont have to worry about adding anything else to it.

uumm other then that im just learning that its going to take a lot more time to do my hair everyday then i might be ready for because sometime i really just want to be all kinds of lazy and go right to bed at night but with natural hair and with my hair at this length for that matter i cant be being all lazy like that or i will be rocking a fade so with that said its about that time to go check and see if i need to oil my scalp, put on my satin scarf and then be lazy.

Me And My Natural Hair

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:11:30 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

So the video pretty much explains it all but yall know that i like to post my thoughts along with the video. back when my computer was fixed i did a blog post on why i went natural [if you missed it please go watch it] and this here is simply an update. i finally took out them damn tracks [which was cute as hell if i must say] and cut most of my hair into a natural state and I’m loving everyday of it. its so freeing to know that im walking around with my own natural texture of hair and the simple fact that people like it makes my life easier. but like i said in the other post im not upset with my mother for perming my hair because she didnt know any better i mean if thats all you know then thats all you know but i will say that i will she never did.so whats the next step in my hair journey, well…. i deff need to go to Ride Aid tomorrow and get some new hair products cause most of the ones that i have right now arn’t doing ish but drying out my hair, leaving residue and build up, OH and did i say DRYING OUT MY DAMN HAIR UUUHHKKK lets just say that its clear that me and my olive oil products dont have the same damn understanding anymore and i will deff be doing product reviews very soon and posting them up on here so until then, enjoy the rest of the site

My Natural Hair Journey Update + Why I Went Natural

Last modified on 2011-04-07 04:07:29 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

*fair warning*

this is NOT about celebs this is going to be all about natural hair in this particular post, why because this is my blog and i can post what i want

as some of you may or may not know ya girl has decided to get off the “creamy crack” also known as a hair perm. goodness where do i start on this subject…. for started ive had a perm since before i can even remember its sad to say but if im not mistaken i got my first perm when i was about 7yrs old. i only wish that my mother knew what she was doing to my natural hair at that time by taking the easy way out. so why go natural, well its not to save money thats for sure. the more research and yes i said research i do on natural hair and the best products to use in my hair to more i see im going to have to start putting in more hours at work in order for my hair to not fall out on me. one thing that women need to know is that you cant just say ok im going to go natural but keep straightening my hair everyday, not cut off part of the permed hair here and their, and not do protective hairstyles to let your hair have a brake every now and then and expect for their hair to grow thick, beautiful and have their natural curl pattern. this is why i have been doing research this is why i have been asking questions, hell this is why i have in a weave even though i havent warn one in like 2years. doing your research will save you a lot of tears and frustration with your hair.

one thing i have been noticing when talking to people is that they figured when they first went natural they was going to not wrap up their hair anymore and just act as of their hair was made of steal and could withstand anything that they threw at it and thats deff not that case. you need to be more careful with your hair while its natural then you did before it was natural, because if you do your hair wrong its going to give you the duces and roll out on you so cold that your rocking a fade for a few months just pissed wondering what you did wrong and soon running back to a perm because you think your hair cant do without it when in reality you just dont know how to take care of your hair. your natural hair your hair and that you was born with, your hair that your creator gave you that your just too lazy to learn how to tame it.

now how long do i plan on doing this…. well if your going to ask me that then you should ask someone how long they are going to keep perming their hair….im just sayin. this is not something that im going to do for just long enough to get long hair because of i wanted long hair i wouldnt have taken the time to cut my hair every other month if not more. i love my hair short and i hated it when it would get long so me going natural has nothing to do with that. as i get older im beginning to feel a need to embrace my natural hair ive wanted to do it for oh so long however i was always off that it wont look right on me crap and my hair is too nappy crap and wondering what will others think which is just sad. every reason that i had to keep perming my hair i blame them on the media. all we see on tv is that long straight hair is beautiful and wavy curls are exotic, but thick tightly coaled hair is ugly, shameful, and should never be seen in public. in other words that Black women should never embrace their natural hair unless they have “good hair”. im at a point in my life where im ready to brake the mold and be my own person and not be what everyone else thinks is beautiful and be what i think is beautiful. because at the end of the day thats all that matters.