A Line for the Coconut

Happy Sunday, dear readers!

A few weeks back, I posted an entry about trying coconut oil as a conditioner. Today, I'm posting an update.

While it has been only a few weeks since I started using coconut oil in my hair, I'm pleased to report that I'm already seeing small but noticeable results. My hair is shinier and my ends are definitely less dry. There is also noticeably less breakage when I brush my hair, though it's not gone completely.

From the top. My roots have never looked better

Look at that shine!

It feels stronger too

As recommended by the article referenced in the original post, I try to grease up my hair and massage my scalp the day before I'm due to wash it. Unfortunately, being a parent means I don't always have the time or energy to do that. So as a compromise, I grease up and massage my hair and scalp earlier on in the day and then wash my hair out at night so that the oil has at least eight hours to do its work. I do tie my hair up in a knot on my head and go about my day's doings after I finish applying the coconut oil. When I wash it out later that night, my hair is noticeably easier to comb and smoother the next day when dry.

Of course it's gonna look greasy! It's oil!

Out of my face and baby's grasp

Like a proper scientist, I kept my controls the same: frequency of washings (twice a week), shampoo/conditioner brand (Pantene Pro-V Repair and Protect), amount of each used during wash (a handful). I was initially reluctant to try this experiment since I associated coconut oil with granolas who I despise for reasons of class and education. Based on what I've seen in this short timespan, I will concede to them the benefit of coconut oil as a hair conditioner.

As an aside, I've also been using coconut oil as a moisturizer for my face. I put on a small amount every night (unless I forget, which is has happened a few times) before I go to bed and wash it off in the morning when I wake up. I'm pleased to report that my skin is looking better for it. I was a little reluctant to try this routine because my skin is naturally oily (which is a big reason why I shied away from commercial moisturizers), but I decided to try the coconut oil for a month and see how my skin looked afterwards. Since it's only been a month, there's not much of a dramatic difference. But, I notice that my face is a bit less greasy by the end of the day and I haven't had any serious breakouts like I used to (just a couple of zits in a patch near my mouth which always seems to break out at least once a month).

Tl;dr, coconut oil is a keeper, even if its use is promoted by upper-class hippies.

PS-The title of this post was inspired by this song

DIY Beauty

Greetings!

I am about to embark on an experiment: homemade makeup

During my family's recent visit here to Arizona, my grandmother implored me to start dressing better and putting on makeup whenever I leave the house. As a rule, unless there is an especially compelling reason for me not to do so, I wear whatever not-smelly/dingy clothes I can dig out of the wearables crate. However, I conceded that on Sundays in particular, I should at least make a half-ass attempt to look better than just pants and my favorite Lady Guadalupe tshirt (especially when it's our week to go to the Latin Mass church).

In addition to dressing better, I also realized that I need to step up my makeup game. I like wearing eyeshadows and do when I have the time and energy, but I almost never wear foundation, concealer, or blush. In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I've had those respective items on my face (three times, if anyone wants specifics). It's a combination of being lazy, having oily/sensitive skin, and poverty. Also, foundation tended to feel heavy on my face, though I suspect that was the result of wearing the wrong type of foundation (powders were not as heavy, but mineral-based foundations were the lightest). Whatever I wore, my skin did not appreciate it and would result in breakouts. My skin is also hard to classify (I think I'm technically "fair", but my face color is different from my wrist color which is different from my chest color, etc), which makes shopping for the right foundation color a pain in the ass.

In my quest to find something that worked, I cruised some cosmetic shopping sites I have bookmarked to see if there was anything remarkable. A few stood out, but again, the cost was higher than I'd like. I wondered if it was possible to make cosmetics, so I consulted the oracle known as Google to find out.

As it turned out, yes I can! And since most were made from food products, I was super pleased cuz food stamps can buy them (some of the more specialty items like spirulina or cocoa butter might not clear, but spices and starch bases (arrowroot and cornstarch were the two most common bases I found) will)! And if they suck as cosmetics, they can be utilized as food like they were intended to.

I cruised around some of these DIY cosmetic sites to find an easy recipe that would utilize what I had. While I have a poor opinion of the granola sorts who frequent and run these DIY health and beauty products sites, I was willing to give homemade makeup a try and see how it worked out. Maybe now my long-sought goal of finding the perfect foundation shade could be tackled! I'm all for customization and I'm trying to get away from putting unnecessary chemicals on my skin now that I have a baby to care for.

Today, I put my experiment to the test and made some homemade foundation. My ingredients and approximate amounts used were as follows:

My base. I used 1 Tbsp

About 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg

5/8 tsp of the curry powder (I probably wouldn't use this, but we didn't have plain tumeric) and 1 tsp of cocoa powder. That 1/8 tsp spoon was my measuring and mixing tool

 After mixing everything together, here are the results:

Finished product

Swatch test. Close enough!

Before

After

The verdict: not bad for a first time sample batch. As a powder itself, the coverage is pretty light. I wasn't looking for anything heavy since my skin is generally pretty clear, but I would probably use this as a setting powder. I can see it blowing away the second I step outside the door. But now that I have an approximate recipe, I can see about making it again and adding something to make it stick. I also didn't have any sort of moisturizer on my face (it was just my end-of-day face grease!), so maybe that might also play a role in helping my makeup stick. As an aside, it smells really good too! Even after I washed it off and put on some of my fresh-made aloe vera gel, I still smell the spices.

Putting my mason jars to use. Aloe vera gel on top, foundation on the bottom

Overall, I'd say I'm pretty pleased with the result. Mission accomplished!

Manicure, or not to Manicure

Hi everyone!

Check out this cool nail tutorial I stumbled upon on Youtube.



It may surprise some of you to learn that I've never ever had my nails professionally done, not even for a special occasion. Growing up, I thought getting manicures and nail jobs were frivolous activities because even though cost was not an issue, I did alot of hard manual labor around the house that would have made long acrylic nails impractical (try mowing the lawn and cutting hedges with the kind of claws seen in that video!). I did not begrudge anyone who had their nails done, but it was not something I could see myself with due to my lifestyle.

I'm older now, and while I have given some thought to the prospect of getting my nails done for like my birthday or something like that, it's a financial expense that's a bit much for me. Being the sort of rugged individualist that I am, I'd try doing acrylic nails by myself. The paint-like quality of the acrylics I've seen in these tutorial videos doesn't appear to be terribly difficult to master and there are no shortage of beauty supply shops in town where tips, powders, and nail art can be purchased. But even that little endeavor is not feasible because not only is the cost of materials and equipment too high, but an expose by the New York Times on sweatshop nail salons described how the children born to nail technicians suffered birth defects as a result of their exposure to the chemicals their mothers worked with in the salons. I'm not done having kids yet, and I'm not gonna risk poisoning them for the sake of vanity.

On second thought, I'll just stick to hennaing my nails. At least I control what goes into the paste and because it stains my nails, I won't have to worry about the baby swallowing something toxic when she sticks my finger in her mouth to chew on.

Again, I don't begrudge anyone who has professionally sculpted nails. For some of us ladies, it's a little luxury that helps make life in these difficult times a bit more bearable. But just like in times past, I don't see myself ever having manicured nails because it doesn't fit into my lifestyle. 

Bold Hair Day

I took a break for a few days to take care of something I'd been meaning to do for a while: my hair.

Yarn twists

Since my hair tends to get dry and brittle, I've experimented on and off with protective hair styling, like twists and braids, as a means of preserving and encouraging growth. While typically reserved for People of Color, my experience with protective styling is that for Caucasian hair like mine, protective styling is something that's more work than it's worth. While it's bound up in twists and braids, I certainly don't have to waste time or energy combing my hair and keeping it clean is pretty minimal too, the amount of labor involved in the installation is hard to justify the benefits. It's also kind of hard to do stuff like yarn twists with Caucasian hair because our hair tends to have alot of slippage, so the yarn doesn't hold its place well.

Occasionally, I get the itch to do something with my hair, especially now that the weather has become pretty hot and dry at the end of summer. So, out came the yarn.

Black yarn for the base color, hot pink yarn for the highlights. Both skeins were the size of that pink one before I undertook this little project. Yarn extension hairdos require alot of yarn

And then I'm reminded why I rarely do these sorts of hairdos. With the yarn extension twists I did this time, it took me two days to install them, partly because my natural hair is pretty long (it comes just above waist level) and my extensions have to be longer to compensate, and partly cuz no matter how fast I try and be, I always wind up working slow.

Unfortunately, my arms aren't long enough to show the true scale, but I can sit on the ends of my extensions if I wanted to

The good thing is, these will last about 6-8 weeks. I also put a special leave-in conditioner made from coconut oil in each twist, and finished the job off with an olive oil spray to seal in the conditioning for extra moisture. It does feel a little heavy on my head, but not so much as to restrict movement of my head and neck muscles. I did get a tension headache from having to do these twists though, so for anyone out there wanting to attempt these, do so at your own risk. But, for a little while at least, my hair is out of my face and my scalp is more exposed for better aeration.

Also, to any People of Color who might come across this blog, please do not take offense to the sight of me, a White woman, wearing a typically Black hairdo. I did this more for practical reasons than style reasons, and do not wish to disrespect anyone. Unlike Kylie Jenner and her cornrows, I do not appreciate, or wish to engage in, cultural appropriation of any sort.

Henna Hair (Tutorial Included)

Sorry I haven't written for a few days. I've been busy with the baby, and the weather here has been terrible. We've been having a monsoon thunderstorm, sometimes with rains that would make a dried turd float away for the past few days. And the lightning displays! There have been some impressive pictures floating around the internet of the monsoon lightning storms.

Due to the weather, I had to hold off on hennaing my hair. To make the paste and apply it is easy enough, but washing it off requires getting in the tub and holding my head under the faucet to rinse the paste off. It's not safe to do that with lightning crackling outside your window!

But earlier in the week, there was a break in the storms and I was finally able to make my henna paste.

I'd encountered henna for the first time when I was in high school. My two best friends were sisters whose family was of Indian descent, and they introduced me to the stuff, but it was another friend who I would meet here in Arizona who really taught me all the specifics of henna and its practical applications.

First of all, what is henna?

Henna is a paste made from the dried leaves of the henna plant, which is native to India and Pakistan, but can be found growing in the Middle East and North Africa. When harvested, the leaves are dried and then ground to make a fine green powder, which is then mixed with lemon juice or water, sugar, special essential oils (referred to amongst henna artists as "terps", thanks to certain alcohol components in the oils), and left to sit for a time to let the liquids break down the cellulose in the dried leaves and release the dye. After the dye is released, the paste is given a final stir and then squirted into cellophane or mylar cones for application on the body in intricate patterns, a practice known as mendhi. Natural henna produces a stain on skin ranging from light orange to brown to deep red, depending on location and body chemistry. Unscrupulous henna companies will often mix chemicals into their pastes to give an artificially dark stain or longer shelf life.

In addition to body art, henna has long been used to color and treat hair and nails. It's a natural antiseptic and fungicide, and makes an excellent conditioner. Like on skin, henna will stain hair and nails orange-red. How deep the stain gets varies based on color of hair (if applying in hair), how long its left on, and if there are any additives to the henna (indigo and cassia can be added to henna to darken or lighten the resulting color of hair. They will not work on nails). My natural hair is light brown, so when I henna my hair, it turns a deep mahogany red (see pix below).

My roots

What color it becomes with henna

So now that you know what henna is, where can you get it and how can you make the paste?

I buy my henna online. I use body art quality (BAQ) henna, as it is the most pure and safest sort of powder. My preferred source is Henna Lounge, as I've found her powder (both for hair and body art) to be of excellent quality. If you are unable to shop online, you can look to see if local Indian grocery stores carry henna powders, but they tend to be stale or chemical-laden. I will provide links to a few henna suppliers as well as some further general info at the end of this post.

To make and apply henna hair paste, you're gonna need a few things

I use that ice cream tub for mixing both hair and body art henna

• a non-reactive mixing bowl of some sort (I use a plastic ice cream tub)
• a 100g bag of dried henna powder 

  

  My preferred brand of henna. The package is a bit dirty cuz one of my body art cones leaked

  
  

  

  What henna looks like once the foil pouch is removed

• lemon juice
• gloves
• plastic bag grocery bag (not pictured)
• time

Step one: Open henna bag and pour into mixing vessel

Better shot of color

My cat, Pest, just HAD to check out what I was doing before I shooed him away. Don't let your pets (or yourself) eat henna. It's not good to ingest.

Step two: Add lemon juice, and mix with your gloved hands until the paste is uniformly dark (no light green powder patches) and is the consistency of thick mashed potatoes

It'll look and smell kinda gross, but this is the consistency you're looking for

Step three: Cover paste with plastic bag, and seal with lid if your vessel comes with one (like an ice cream tub) for added protection against oxidation.

Press down on the plastic bag to get all the air out. If you're not using a lid, you're ok

All sealed up

Step four: Place in warm spot, wait 4-24 hours, test spot occasionally. You'll want a stain that's bright orange

If it's nighttime when I make my paste, I put it on my dresser. Otherwise, I put it outside in the sun

Good to go. Time will vary depending on temperature (warmer=faster dye release)

Step five: Remove plastic cover, mix the paste again to redistribute the released dye (if you like your paste a bit thinner, add more liquid till the paste's consistency is like yogurt), and apply to hair like a leave-in conditioner.

Dye is now released

You can see the difference between the released brownish dye layer, and the green goopy plant matter underneath

Make sure you get all the way down to the scalp. You can also put vaseline around your hairline to prevent stains from the paste on your face

Step six: Cover hair with plastic, wrap head with towel or a hat to seal in body heat

You can use plastic wrap, but if you're poor and/or ghetto (like me!), plastic grocery store bags will suffice

Let set for at least 4 hours, but I recommend overnight for best results

Step seven: Rinse out the paste. Shampoo and condition as usual. Note: it may take a few rinses and shampooings before the water runs completely clear when you wash your hair

Step eight: Let hair air dry. Try not to wash it for a few days (like 2-3 days max) so that the henna will oxidize and darken. It'll be shiny and feel stronger/thicker in the meantime too

A day's worth of oxidation. It smells better too-more earthy, less gross

And, you're done!

Is hennaing hair time consuming? It can be. If you make it fresh like I do, it is time consuming. But, you can make the paste ahead of time and freeze it, thawing out only what you plan to use.

As for how much henna is enough, 100g is sufficient for most hair lengths (short-medium, or long but thinner hair) and touchups. 200g (two of those 100g packages in the pictures above) is sufficient for long hair (like for an initial color job or significant amount of roots between dye jobs). Use 300g or more for longer and/or thicker hair

I henna my hair every few months, when my roots start becoming really obvious. My hair does not grow very fast, so it buys me time between colorings. While I don't typically do this, I have used body art henna cones that lost their staining power in a pinch. Even if the color doesn't take, the conditioning properties are still there, which is the main reason I use henna in my hair in the first place. And because it's natural with no added chemicals, I was able to safely henna my hair all throughout my pregnancy and now as a nursing mother.

Thank you for reading this tutorial. I hope you find it useful and easy to understand

For more information:

Where to buy:
http://hennaguru.com/
http://hennacaravan.com/shop/hair.html
http://www.mehandi.com/shop/hairhenna.html

General information:
http://www.mehandi.com/shop/hennahairbook/index.html (Free downloadable PDFs filled with useful information about henna and hair. No need to download anything special to read them, just click on the links and read in the browser)