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4 Month No Heat Challenge

Posted on by Michelle

Finally!  I’m gonna stop being stubborn and just own up to the fact that using heat on my hair is keeping me from achieving greater lengths.  I had my suspicions of this earlier this year but now I’ve decided to put myself to the test.  Even though I like the look of straight hair, I’m going to go without using my flat iron until February of 2014.  This may sound like a walk in the park to those of you who gave up straight hair a long time ago.  For me though, I’ve actually kept up with wearing my hair straight every other month.  Sometimes I even straighten twice in the same month.

Of course I saw how other naturals who were gaining two to three inches of growth every time they decided to lay of the heat for a 4-6 month break.  Still, I kept up with the same regimen hoping that maybe my light protein treatments would rescue my curls.  After having to trim some loose curls last month I decided that that was the final straw.  Using heat means I’m gonna be up for a trim so the more I use it, the more hair I lose.  I just can’t keep doing it so it’s time for me to step away from the flat iron and just style my hair in other ways.  Here’s a video discussing the, “rules,” for my personal no heat challenge.  Feel free to join in!

4 MONTH NO HEAT CHALLENGE

Tresemme Naturals Conditioner Formula Change and Back Again

Posted on by Michelle
Tresseme naturals conditioner
Old formula and New formula (black label & top)
on the shelves side by side

I never even saw it coming and, up until now, was in denial.  Yes, my beloved go-to, all around
conditioner made a change to its’ formulation.  The conditioner in question is from the Tresemme Naturals line.  I’ve always liked the Nourishing Moisture one but the Radiant Volume conditioner was also pretty good.  The first I heard of the change was a few months ago on an online hair forum.  At the time not many people were aware of it and were still wondering if the conditioner was still pretty much the same.  From the looks of it, the new ingredients list made for a drastically different product and even a change in the consistency.

OLD INGREDIENTS LIST
Water(Aqua,EU), Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Carprylic/Capric Tryglerceride, Stearmidopropyl Diemthlyamine, Fragrance (Parfum) Lauroyl lysine, Carprylyl Glycol, Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordi oil Copolymer,Aspartic acid, Distearyldimonium chloride,Persea Gratissima (Avocado) oil, Citric Acid, Alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, aloe barbadensis leaf juice.

 Why change an already good product?  Well, the Alberto Culver company (VO5, Noxema etc.) was recently taken over by Unilever Corporation (Suave, St. Ives etc.).  The new owners of the Tresemme brand decided to change things up a bit.  This was probably an attempt to save money on ingredients.  However, if you head over to the reviews page for this product on their website, you’ll find that many people expressed their negative views on the change.

Apparently the new company is listening and started putting the old formula back on the shelves with a minor change to the packaging.  There is now a pump installed on the bottle but supposedly the conditioner inside is the same as before.  I say, “supposedly” because I have yet to compare the current ingredient list with the old version (see above).  Once I get this confirmation then I’ll be more than happy to pick up a couple of bottles because this is my staple conditioner we’re talkin’ about here!

On a side note, over the summer, I found out that my hair absolutely loves Aussie Moist conditioner.  It’s very rich and has loads of slip so I will most likely be deep conditioning and detangling with that in the meantime.  It sometimes has a weird reaction with hair gel though so I have to make sure to rinse it completely before styling.  However, I did find out that it works well for conditioner only styling so it’s already pretty far up on my favorites list right now.  If I can’t find my favorite version of the Tresemme I guess this will have to be my new go-to conditioner.  I’ll keep you posted on what I find.

UPDATE 10/2/13-I picked up the old formula recently in a new bottle with a pump on top at Walmart.  Not all stores carry it yet but I’m just glad that my staple conditioner is back on the shelves!

Summertime Slim Down — On My Way to a Healthier Me

Posted on by Michelle
Green Smoothie
with Kale, Apple, Cucumber and Banana

This year I’ve been learning lots about the importance of eating a diet heavy in fruits and vegetables.  I even found out a thing or two about juicing and how beneficial it can be.  Still, it took my upcoming summer vacation to finally get me motivated to lose some weight.  I’ve been telling myself how great it would feel if I could just lose the 7-10 lbs. that have been keeping me from looking my best.  There are all sorts of reasons why I fell off of the exercise wagon so I’ll save the long story.  Thankfully my diet only needs a few tweeks here and there because my family and I eat pretty healthy.

After watching the movie, “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead,” earlier this year, I decided to start juicing more.  At first, there was a bit of a learning curve but I’m used to it now and can whip up a glass of juice for breakfast with no extra fuss.  I’m happy to say that it helped with my psoriasis which was crazy out of control for most of the winter.  One of my favorites is a green smoothie with Kale, Cucumber, Apple and Banana.

Now that my skin is looking better, I’ve been trying to exercise more in hopes of losing a little extra cushion around the middle and thighs.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that I’ve been around the same size for years.  It would be nice though to not have to rely so much on help from shaperwear when it’s time to dress up.  Plus, I want to have more energy to help me get through these long summer days with the kids.

As for my hair, I’m hoping that the cardio and strength workouts will lead to a faster metabolism.  This in turn can lead to faster hair growth (maybe).  So for now the Wash n’ Go hairstyle is super easy for me.  Since I use a heavy gel product like Eco Styler, I can just wet my hair in the shower to reactivate my style.  Co-washing is also pretty easy because it removes most of the product without stripping my hair or causing my curls to go into shock.  Sometimes I even use a light oil on my hair either in the shower or right after to seal in the moisture and combat dryness.  The wash n’ go style is so much easier now and great for the summer.

Becoming Catwoman (Eartha Kitt Style) for Denver Comic Con — Pic Heavy

Posted on by Michelle
Me as Eartha Kitt style Catwoman and
Wolverine from the X-Men
at this year’s Denver Comic Con

Yes, I finally did it!  I have wanted to dress up as Catwoman from the Batman Television series and attend a comic book convention for ages.  When I heard that Denver finally had it’s own Comic Con I knew it was time to put a costume together.

For those of you not familiar with what a Comic Book Convention is let me fill you in.  It’s usually a three day event where fans of comic books can gather to meet people from the industry and other fans.  Science fiction movies and television series are also showcased.  There are conventions each year in several major cities and this year was the second convention for Denver.

At the Denver Comic Con my family and I were able to meet many comic book creators, illustrators and graphic artists.  There were even classes, gaming and a film festival.  One of the other fun things about a Comic Con is that there are people who dress up as their favorite characters or superheros.  Knowing this, I decided long ago that if I ever had the chance, I would dress up as Catwoman (Eartha Kitt style no doubt) from the Batman TV series.

We took the kids and had a blast people watching and looking at all of the cool comics and artwork.  My husband has a huge collection of X-Men comics and his favorite character is Wolverine so we were very excited to see someone dressed like him.  It was a long day but we had lots of fun.  I’m just glad I was smart enough to bring a comfortable pair of shoes because those Catwoman high heal boots were just too much!

Old Denim Belt I painted gold with
Acrylic Paint

Rit Dye to turn the Satin Gloves Black
old satin gloves

The costume took some time to put together but I managed to get it done in time.  I purchased the pants at Ross and went thrifting for the top.  The belt I already owned but had to change the color to gold with acrylic paint.  I also had a pair of vintage satin gloves that I died black to match the outfit.

Took this apart and attached
Cat Ears
Gold Belt for some
Catwoman Bling

I really had a lot of fun constructing the mask and ears for the costume.  They were probably the most time consuming but I loved how they turned out.  I took apart an old halloween bat headband and attached cat ears to it constructed out of material and foam from an old cami.  I used more of the same material for the mask after making my own paper template.
Used an old black Cami for
mask and ears
The mask took forever but totally
made the outfit

Now for the hair, my favorite part of course.  I googled the hairstyle Eartha Kitt wore on the Batman Series so that I could see it up close.  Come to find out she wore a braid crown just in front of the cat ears and a long flowy ponytail.  The ponytail was a sinch because I’ve bought drawstring pony’s before but the braid was a little tricky.  I ended up buying a pack of braiding hair and cutting a big section of it to form one long braid.  I put rubber bands on both ends and used bobby pins to secure it.  I used Eco gel to smooth my hair into a high bun and placed the drawstring pony over it.  The style was so cute I didn’t want to take it down!
Section of the braiding hair secured
with a rubber band

Braided down to the end and used another
rubber band to keep from unraveling

Slicked MY hair into a high bun using Eco gel

Attached the braid using bobby pins

Added the drawstring ponytail

Final look with the Mask and Ears
The Denver Comic Con was a blast and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

From Wash n’ Go to Braid Out

Posted on by Michelle

For Memorial Day I decided to wear a wash n’ go because it’s seemed to be the easy thing to do with my hair.  I had a few errands to run but still managed to fix myself up before heading out.  One of the things I tried was stretching my roots with the blowdryer for the look of more length.  My hair was still damp when I was done so it shrunk up a little.  Still, I was pretty happy with the end result.

Later that evening, I wanted to co-wash my hair and re-style the wash n’ go which meant re-applying all of the products and waiting for it to dry.  Instead, I decided to just kick back and watch Youtube while braiding my hair up for a braid out.  I was surprised this morning to see the amount of definition I had.  I was also happy with the look of length I got without having to use any heat this time.

There was already plenty of product in my hair from the wash n’ go so I just spritzed each section with a little water before braiding it into plaits.  I then spritzed a little more water on the ends and twisted with my fingers to get a slight curl.  The product in my hair helped with this step.  I didn’t even have to use a comb or denman brush.  I just stretched my hair with my fingers and detangled a little here and there.  It was almost too easy!


I’m beginning to see a routine forming here.  I can totally see myself wearing my wash n’ go’s for a few days and then turning them into braid outs when they start to get a little fuzzy.  I hope this is the case because I get the feeling my hair needs a more simplified routine and this may be it.  What’s funny is the fact that this is what I used to do during my first year natural.  Now I’m not sure why I

ever stopped.

Wash n’ Go on Memorial Day
Braid out the next day