30 day challenge, day 17 - something that you're proud of

I am proud of graduating HS on time and walking the stage.

most of all I'm proud of these 2 beautiful girls

30 day challenge, day 14 - what you wore today

Headed to a family party. Don't forget to enter our giveaway!! Btw, thankfully we're going out today because if not my outfit would be bball shorts and a wife beater..trust!

hello kitty top from forever 21, shorts from wetseal. Excuse the big poof..it was annoying me, too.

zips up in back from wetseal

The kiddies

natural hair care basics part 3 - our routine

I know som people have a set task to do something on certains days like washing hair only on weekends but because I am a stay at home mom at the moment, I have time to do her hair when I want; therefore, no set schedule. I will explain how we do things though.

I wash her hair with shampoo and conditioner (garnier fructis olive, shea and avocado). Sometimes I will co-wash if I'm washing her hair with a style in. Sometimes I wash with just shampoo, too if a style is in. It all depends on what her hair is looking like

* When I condition her hair I apply it to her back area first and detangle gently. Then I add more to cover her whole head. I let it sit in her hair for a few minutes before fully rinsing it out.

After getting out I will lightly pat her head dry and apply coconut oil to seal.

* Normally, after this step I would let her wear her hair out for a few days before actually decide to style but I recently added banding to our routine. Here is our banding post

banded or out, her hair is left like this for a couple days and most likely styled by the end of the second day.

After I have styled her hair I leave it in for 4-5 days. I have never left her hair styled for weeks at a time because it usually doesn't last that long.

When I remove the style sometimes it is washed immediately and others after a couple days. I like for her hair to be worn out atleast 1-2x a week to give it a break. Afterwards, step one is repeated!

As you can see our routine isn't very special or definite. I have not tried any deep conditioning or hot oil treatments because her hair just doesn't seem like it needs any of those things right now. Also, at night she doesn't wear a sleep cap or sleep on a silk pillowcase so this may be what is contributing to styles not lasting long. What is your routine like?



30 day challenge, day 12 - 5 guys whom you find attractive

shady nate, philthy rich, idris elba, morris chestnut, tyrese

my family ♥

30 day challenge, day 11 - my family

screaming, crying, whining, laughing plus a whole lot more. That's what I get with these girls. All day everyday. And guess what? Its amazing (:

Excuse the spot on my nose and Leelee's mean face. There was something on the pic when I took a pic of it and Leelee was being difficult that day!

natural hair care basics part 1 - the beginning that changed everything

The first good advice that I received was to avoid the ingredients mineral oil and petroleum/petroleum. I know for some people these ingredients work but for us they didn't. I would use it to moisturize Leelee's hair, then a half an hour later it would leave her hair dry and dead looking. It was a no-no for us. Avoiding products with these ingredients was the first step to improving Leelee's hair. The first products that worked for us was Bee Mine Luscious Balanced Moisturizer and Darcy's Botanical leave-in conditioner. From there I learned of other brands and products with natural ingredients. I am way too picky about what I use to style and moisturize Leelee's hair with.

For shampoos and conditioners not so much. I learned its best to choose a shampoo that is sulfate and paraben free. I don't care too much about the ingredients in the shampoo or conditioner though. I also learned about the term co-washing. Co-washing is where you only wash with conditioner. I have gotten the best results when applying a generous amount of conditioner onto her hair and detangling, letting it sit for a few minutes and then to completely rinse out. This is what works for us.

There's also the importance of moisturizing and sealing. Sealing the hair keeps the moisture in. Both is important. I've heard it's best to apply a water based moisturizer first and then seal with oil. A water based moisturizer means the first ingredient is-water! For sealing I like to use extra virgin coconut oil. I'm still working on a official routine for Leelee because I dont moisturize her hair as much as I should.

During detangling it is important to be gentle and patient. We no longer have moments where we yank hair out of ponytail holders anymore. I gently separate the hairs and spritz as much conditioner mixed with water as I need if there is a knot of any sort. I currently do not use any brush. I gently finger detangle and then run my fingers through small sections of her hair. I start at the bottom and work my way up.

As for styles, I recently learned about protective styles where you do not use heat, rubberbands, metal ponies, ballies or barrettes. The style shouldn't be tight at all and the ends (the oldest and most fragile part of your hair) should be tucked away and protected. Some protective styles are box braids, cornrows and puffs. Some people even consider wearing the hair out as a protective style. Different things work for different people. Find out what works for YOU (or your kid!).

30 day challenge, day 10 - put music on shuffle and list 10 songs that play
Dontjudeme!
1.) Messy marv - wanna b yours
2.) Drake - closer
3.) Philthy Rich & the boy boy mess - find a new b**** ft lil blood
4.) Lil wayne - brand new
5.) The jacka ft freeway - exclusive
6.) Chrisette michele - so in love ft rick ross
7.) Kreayshawn - gucci gucci
8.) Philthy Rich - funk or die
9.) One chance - sexing on you
10.) Mariah Carey - always be my baby

its our anniversary!!!

Do you know what today is? Its our anniversary! (In my tony, toni, tone voice..I couldn't help it.) Well, its more like unofficial "hairversary". I don't remember exactly what the date was but I do remember it being the beginning of August. August was when I found Happy Girl Hair and our journy to healthy, beautiful hair began! In honor of our "hairversary" I will be posting what we have learned, basic proper hair care, basic products you may need and all that. Even giveaways! I am really excited because it means so much to me. Learning to care for my daughter's hair has truly been a journey. Not only have I learned so much or taught my daughter to love her hair, I've also met some wonderful people from it (ya'll know who you are!). It truly is amazing! Read our story featured on Untrained Hair Mom if you haven't yet. Stay tuned! When is your hairversary?

30 day challenge, Day 9 - how important you think education is
I think education is very important. Who wouldn't? As I said before, I didn't do well in highschool. Yes, I graduated but I felt like I could have done so much better. I lost sight of what was important. I even went to college but later dropped out because I couldn't find the balance between everything. Big ups to all the single moms who go to school AND work. Idk how you do it! You are never too old to go back to school..remember that! I will say this though, I have been questioning the importance of education in regards to getting a good job. In this day it seems like even though you went to school and have a degree its still hard to get a job. What do you think?

July monthly buys

At the beginning of this month I decided to add a feature on my blog where I would list all the hair-related items I bought for the month. I also gave myself a limit of $25 and $40 for ordering products online like Bee Mine, Curlz, CUSH...any specific product line online.

For the month of July I spent a total of $17.20 + the $39.29 on Bee Mine products. I didn't go over either of my limits.

Here's how I spent the money:
WALMART
Glycerin $2.89
Soap holder (for Bee Mine shampoo bar, I forgot about this so its not pictured) .97

SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY
Hair sectioning clips 12 for $1.79
Widetooth detangle comb $1.79
Ouchless ponies $1.19
Babyliss scalp massager $2.19

BEE MINE PRODUCTS:
16oz Bee Mine Luscious Balanced Moisturizer in Coconut $34.97
8oz Bee Mine Curly Hold Butter unscented $13.97
Purity Rhassoul Clay Clarifying Bar $8.00
I also received a sample of the Bee Mine Bee Lovely Moisturizing Daily Conditioner and the Bee Nrished Ayurvedic Herbal Bar.

So in total I spent $56.49 now that isn't a lot BUT that's a lot to be spending on HAIR. If I were to spend $50 every month thats $600 a year! This could be money spent on other items. I'm trying to spend smart here so I'm hoping I will be able to keep within my price ranges every month.

I'm pleased with the items I purchased this month. The glycerin is really good in the mixture I created to spritz on her hair from time to time. The flower clips I think are cute but I'm not too fond of because the clip is small and plastic not like an alligator clip or anything. So when I used it in Leelee's hair for this style, I had to grab a thin piece of hair because it wouldn't snap shut with a big amount. Also, the flowers seem frayed and pieces of it would be in her hair. The items from sally I really like. Both the brushes are great so far and I will do a review soon. I love the fact that they are both plastic with wide spaced apart teeth so its easy to clean. The ponies I bought for banding since she needed new ones and I'm still trying to decide if I like them or not for that purpose. The Bee Mine products I of course am satisfied with! Stay tuned for more reviews and updates of the items I purchased this month (:

How much do you think you spend every month on items for your hair? Do you think you need to budget?

DISCLAIMER: products were purchased by me with my own money. All opinions are my own

30 day challenge, day 7 - Five pet peeves
1.) Stepping out the shower with nothing on the floor. Ugh, I can't do it! I have to have something there to step on.
2.) Washing dishes with cold water. Noope! It has to be warm or hot.
3.) When people Typ3 AnD TaWk Lyke diiZ..why do you do this? Esp if you're over the age of 12! What is the point of adding extra letters that do not need to be there? A simple you=yuh, yew, y u uh..are you serious?
4.) When the wrong word or phrase is used. Example: don't take me for granite (don't take me for GRANTED). Recently, I seen inter-wishing for intuition -____- I'm sorry, it bugs me. #dontjudgeme!
5.) People who are loud for NO apparent reason in public places..its not that serious.

4-in-1-style

I didn't update on Leelee's new hair style too fast because right when I was done I had a ton of style variations in mind and wanted to make it all one post. Again, when I styled everything was random. I had no style in mind and just braided as I went. I will try and make this as much as a tutorial as I can since its what my blog is lacking. I'm really bad at describing things so please bare with me (:

I started on banded hair. see post here I sectioned her hair into four parts by dividing her hair vertically and then ear to ear. I started braiding the bottom left corner with four braids and the same thing with the botton right section. I wanted to switch the style up a bit so in the two top sections I decided to add criss-cross braids. On each section I started with one braid, a criss-cross braid and then two more braids. So, in total on each top section, there were three regular braids and one cornrow braid in this pattern: regular braid, criss-cross braid, regular braid, regular braid. I hope I'm making sense lol ...onto the styles:

On the first night I was done (Saturday night) I decided to put her hair into a bun and leave it like that for the next day.

top view

right side

left side

On Monday I took the bun down and braided all the loose ends together like this.

Tuesday I put it back into a bun and added a cute lil flower clip to dress her hair up.

Wednesday I unbraided the two very front braids and two back braids along with all the loose ends to create a mohawk look. I added a little poof in the front. For the loose hair I applied kinky curly curling custard because it curls her hair beautifully. I then secured random parts with bobby pins so it wouldn't fall apart.

I really wish I had better pics of the mohawk because it was sooo cute but she wouldn't cooperate with me at all. She's tired of me taking pics of her hair lol. I actually created 6 styles with this hairstyle but I didnt take pics of them. After I let her wear her hair in a mohawk the next day I gathered all the loose hair and smoothed the front and back and tied it into a bun. It was a cute lil puff ball on her head with the curls. Lastly, I undid all the braids for a braid out.

I hope you enjoyed this 4-in-1 style as much as we did. My favorite was the mohawk. She wore it like that for her cousin's birthday party and received lots of compliments. This goes to show that you can do really cute protective styles and always switch it up. Its ok to leave styles in even when there is frizz. Its fun to see what other style variations you can come up with. Be creative!


30 day challenge, day 6 - views on mainstream music
I HATE mainstream music ..well majority of them. I don't listen to the radio or watch music videos so I'm pretty late on whats new and what's "in". I use to always know music that came out before they got played but lately all the music I've heard I couldn't stand. Now, I'm not saying the type I listen to is better in any way shape or form because it definitely isn't. I think a lot of people would not even guess the type of music I like. I liked mainstream music back when it was AJ and Free on 106th and park, when they had tigger on rap city the basement, CMC with Chuy Gomez, Carson on TRL and when skinny jeans wasn't a thing for guys to wear. Get my drift?

LeeLee's first trim? + 30 day challenge, day 5 - things you want to say to an ex

Yes, first trim? With a question mark. As you can see pictured above, it wasnt a lot. I've been wanting to cut Leelee's ends for awhile now because they are always dry. Also, when she developed a ton of single strand knots I wanted to even more. What took the cake though was when I noticed a few split ends. I panicked. My hair is filllllled with split ends and I didn't want the same to happen to her. I tried to do a search and destroy but she wouldn't sit still and everytime I tried to search I couldn't find any. I decided to trim her hair while it was banded. At first I was scared but I decided to do it anyway. I don't regret it because her ends feel way better and well, hair is hair..it will grow back!

30 day challenge, day 5 - things you would say to an ex:
This is a sore subject. I don't even know where to begin. My ex is my children's dad and basically the first real relationship I've ever had. He was my highschool love. We're still ehhh with eachother but Ill save the drama and just say - THANKS! Thank you for everything you have put me through. Now I know a lot of right from wrong. I know what I want and don't want in a relaionship and I know what I deserve! You live and you learn..

Style Sneak Peek + 30 day challenge, day 4 - bullet your day

I'm not exactly sure how everyone else is doing theirs but here is my day in bullet form:

• woke up
• brushed teeth
• fed daughters, fed myself
• got my oldest and I ready
• went to mcdonalds
• went to Sally Beauty
• went to payless
• babydoll got her 6m shots
• went home
• showered
• ate
• brainstorm and wrote post ideas
• here writing this

Its only 7 o'clock but I figured id get this post up now because I'm so tired and probably wont do it later. I'm pretty much done for the day and the lil ones are still napping! Late day. This was my least favorite thing to do for the challenge ..its so blah lol stay tuned for more info on the style above!

banding + 30 day challenge, day 3 - a book I love

Banding the hair is another way to stretch the hair without the use of heat. It can also help with keeping the hair tangle free after detangling and washing. I learned about banding from BBB. I immediately wanted to try it like everything I see her do! Majority of the time it comes out nothing like hers because Leelee's hair is not long enough.

The first few times I tried to band I would always split her hair down the middle to form two ponytails and begin banding. I never used a moisturizer either. I would band as soon as she got out the bath. I would also use the small cloth pony holders because her hair is too short and fine for the regular ouchless bands. Because of this three things would happen:
1.) The cloth bands would slide up or down all over eachother. Sometimes even slide off. It would leave big gaps between the bands making her hair stick up every which way.
2.) When I would go to take the bands out there would be hair coming out with it!
3.) The hair wouldnt get stretched. It would just look lumpy and wavy.

I never left her hair banded for a long period of time either because I felt like it never worked. I decided to try it again the other day to see if it would make it easier while braiding her hair. After she got out the back I sectioned four parts, two in front and two in back. I applied A LOT A LOT of Bee Mine luscious moisturizer and even spritzed her hair lightly with the glycerin mix when I was done. The next morning I decided to reband them since it was looking loose. This time I applied a generous amount of Shea Moisture curl enhancing smoothie. Then the following evening I took out the bands and these were the results:

here is a pic showing her hair after (left) and what her hair usually looked like unstretched (right).

It was a success! This is the straightest I've ever seen her hair and I was amazed. When I decided to braid it was easier becaus I didn't have to stop spray anything because her hair wasn't tangled or needed any moisture. Will I do it again? Yes! I'm trying to decide if if I should band regularly as a routine after getting out the bath. I just don't like how funky they look while they are banded and we need to go out. I may have to invest in some good looking ponyholders then! Do you band? How does it work for you?

30 day challenge, day 3 - A book you love
I really love reading. Its one of the things I enjoy doing the most. My favorite is reading urban/street books I'm not sure what its classified under. I haven't picked up a good book recently but a few I like are:
Sistah souljah's The Coldest Winter Ever
HOODRAT by K'wan, Bling by Erica Kennedy, A child called "it" by Dave Pelzer. A child called "it" is such a sad story but its a really good reas. Also, a true one about the author himself. I can't wait to see everyone else's picks. I may have to read a few (:

nail design: Hello! & 30 Day Challenge, Day 2- something I feel strongly about

Ive been slacking on my nail posts and was tired of having plain nails. While I was writing in my "hair book" it gave me an idea....

For this I used:
Sinful Colors Snow Me White
Sinful Colors Verbena
Jordana Creamy Fuschia
And my dotting tools (forgot to picture)

I just did two coats of Jordana Creamy Fuschia and applied the Snow Me White for the polka dots. I painted my ring finger the Verbena. I originally wanted to do a bow on that finger but kept messing up. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: products were purchased by me with my own money.

30 Day challenge, Day 2 - Something I feel strongly about:

I feel really strongly about my girls and how I want to raise them. When you go through things yourself, you see what's right and what's wrong. You see what you shoulda, coulda and woulda did. I didn't do well in school and missed out on a lot. I want my daughters to do everything I never did. I want them to participate in a lot of extra curricular activities and focus on school! I want to put them up on game about every possible situation they may run into especially with love and boys. I want them to be comfortable enough to talk to me about anything and everything. I believe its our job to steer them in the right direction and always leave an open line of communication. We can only do so much until they wander off to school, but from what we teach them they should know better or atleast feel comfortable enough to talk to us about a situation. As parents we all want better for our kids and I am no different!

30 Day Challenge Day 1- 5 Ways to win my &hearts

Five ways to win my heart
1.) Being able to keep up with my girls cuz they are too too much!
2.) Making me laugh
3.) Being honest
4.) Cooking good food!
5.) Having a good time (I'm hard to impress)

30 day challenge

I decided to take part in this 30 day challenge that the wonderful Tracey from Baby Bella Hair has shared. Looking forward to it!

Will you be part of the challenge?

Btw, don't forget, if you haven't already join the giveaway she is having here.