I know we've all heard the song "Everlasting Love" by Natalie Cole. If you've seen Parent Trap and watched just a bit of the credits, then yeah, you've heard it. It's one of my favorite songs, but the only one most of yall know by her. Miss Cole is seriously underestimated. Let me bring some jazz to ya.
This is Natalie's cover of her daddy's song, "Mona Lisa". Its always been my favorite. If you like this, get some Nat King Cole in your life! It's good for your soul. :)
Am I the only one who thinks the Mona Lisa painting is scary? :-/
Natural hair, natural hair, natural hair. My love. After cutting all my perm off in November 2011, I've been obsessed with watching videos, making leave in conditioners, and just watching my curls "boing" when I pull them away from my head and let them go. I am a fierce advocate for getting off the creamy crack and going natural and embracing the hair that God gave you. There's been a huge natural hair movement, and I've seen literally dozens of women with beautiful natural hair, and plenty more with their curly locks protected under a sew in weave. I respect and love both; I really think the most important thing is realizing that relaxers are not healthy for the hair, and realizing the prison us black women have put ourselves in by using them. I mean, the other day I was running some errands when it started raining. My first instinct was to cover my head immediately, or my hair was definitely going to...wait. Realizing that my hair was not bone straight anymore, and how much my natural hair needs moisture, I braved that drizzle of rain with an uncovered head. That's the freedom natural hair gives us. Not just that we can wet it, it's much more than that. No more routine salon trips to get straightened, no more worrying about new growth showing when we don't make it to the salon. Ugh, just thinkin about it makes me tired. All I have to worry about with my hair now is moisture. And the proof is in the pudding. My hair grows so much faster without the relaxer. Girls who have worn their relaxed hair in a short little bob for 5 years balk at my curly TWA (teeny weeny afro) now. But I seriously don't understand why. Because it's shorter than their hair? But it's definitely more healthy! Why does longer hair precede over healthier hair? How dumb,right?
I could go on and on about natural hair for hours. But do your own research. The one thing that really drove me to go natural was the videos on the girls' hairgrowth. You hardly ever see a girl with permed hair actually wear her hair out now. They almost always have a weave in. But whenever she does wear her hair out, it's probably going to be really short. But in all the 6 month length check videos I've seen of naturals, it's almost always shoulder length(remember that natural hair is curly. so the length checks involve pulling the hair down straight. Where the hair ends after being pulled straight in considered the real length). Watch these girls length check their natural hair. Hopefully this will be the first step in your research, so we can get you off that creamy crack. :)
Okay, the question for today is....do you know how to wash your face? Like for real? I used to have a really hard time keeping my skin clear because I never had a serious regimen in place. I would just wing it and wash with whatever kinda soap i was using, and my skin would feel ska-weeky clean. Too clean. Washing your face with the same soap we use to wash our daily grime dries the face out. And then our faces counter that dryness but sending our oil glands into overdrive. Which means shiny noses and whiteheads galore. So, with that said, how do you wash your face? You go to Walmart and see aisles and aisles of cleansers, toners, astringents, moisturizers, scrubs, peels, lighteners, etc. Where the hell do you start, and do you need one of each of these? And if so, which ones are the best? Um, no. They throw all that stuff out there and expect us to find our way to Victoria's Secret Angel skin. Let me be real with you for a minute...
The first step to clear skin is cleansing. You don't need anything too expensive or with a big name. I use Cetaphil's Daily Facial Cleanser. Super cheap (about 9 bucks for 8 ounces at your local Walgreens) and gets the job done.
I personally don't use a toner. They're used to get makeup and stuff off your face, but to me that's just too much "clean" right after you've used a cleanser. If you do have heavy makeup on and are trying to take it off, I recommend Pond's Cold Cream. French women swear by it. Just rub it all over in circular motions and wipe off with a clean towel. The makeup comes off like magic. :)
I swear. A good moisturizer is key to beautiful skin. Just like ashy knees and elbows, our faces get dry and need tending to. I LOVE a good natural product, and Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions Daily Moisturizer gets my vote. Not only is it 100% natural, but the lightness of the product doesn't make me feel like I put grease on my face. And it smells divine!
Now once a week, I exfoliate my skin. Exfoliating gets all the dead skin off and opens pores. It leaves my face feeling brand new and smooth. Of all the exfoliaters I've tried, I have fallen in love with Dollar General's Apricot Scrub. Yes, Dollar General. On the bottle it says compare to St. Ive's Apricot Scrub, but after buying this one, I never felt the need to. I apply this scrub to my dry face after putting a nickel sized amount in my palm and wetting it a little. I rub in circular motions all over my face and rinse all the icky dead skin off with lukewarm water. Now if you just don't want the Dollar General label on your scrub (girl,please) go ahead and get the St. Ive's. I'm sure they're very similar and just maybe $1.50 or so more.
As a dark skinned girl I've had problems with acne scars. Heck, still having problems. But I'm using Ambi's Even and Clear Targeted Mark Minimizer now, and the marks seem to be letting up. I apply it after I use my moisturizer to finish off my face. It's zapping these acne scars, boo. And for about $10 for the itty bitty one ounce tube, it better be.
To finish up the blog, here's one of my favorite Odd Future tracks, Assmilk. Mmhmm, I know. But the song is really good. I know you've heard of Tyler the Creator and his roach eating fiascos, but you probably haven't heard of his fellow Wolf Gang friend, Earl Sweatshirt. Listen to this while you try your new face washing regimen and feel extra hood-like. :)
Hello 2012 friends! How's it? I absolutely hate intros into blogs and things of this sort, so I'm just gonna start.
Natural Hair. Shoes. Makeup. Music. Boys. Movies. All the crazy artistic things I think about on the daily. I just plan on swaggin out this blog and making it an expression of me and the people I come in contact with. Any cool tips I have on beauty will be shared here. So let's do the damn thing. :)
Wanna hear something cool? This song was featured in the new, American version of the movie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (the best book I've read in a while). Lookit!
