Natural Hair Update #2

So the other day I braided my hair into about 20 braids (10 on each side) and let my hair completely dry overnight. The next morning I unbraided my braids,which had helped my hair to stretch out so that I could do an overall hair check. Sometimes its hard to check the health of your ends when you're rocking the curly fro. It always seems like my ends are really rough & choppy, but surprisingly they don't seem to be all that bad. I'm thinking that I'm going to break my heat free streak before I go back to school just to do a length check. A lot of people, who don't like to use heat at all, like to simply stretch their hair at the ends in order to check the length of their hair. But my hair kinks up so much that it's really hard to check the length of your hair simply by stretching it with your fingers....especially when you've had a couple of bad experiences with the scissors like I have (lol) and your hair is several different lengths. For the time being, I've braided my hair into about 30 (Okay so I just counted & its more like 50. I obviously don't have anything productive to do with my life lol) braids and I plan on keeping it like that for the next couple of days. No heat, no water, no combing  & bothering my hair. Just a couple of days of R & R for my hair. I will definitely post an update when I straighten my hair. But for now here are some of the things that I've noticed about my hair:

• Before I started my no heat campaign, my hair was thinning along the scalp directly above my forehead. On a perfect wash cycle, when I put heat into my hair the dead straight look last for about 2 days while the roller set curls last for about a week and 1/2, after which my roots start kinking up and it's time to wash my hair again. However, usually I get lazy and decide not to do anything with my hair at night. This leads to instant kinky roots which are thrown into my go to bun. I tend to pull my hair up into a really tight bun in order to give the appearance that my roots are still straight. Hah! Well this bad habit has caused some horrible thinning at the hair line. Thank God the good thing is that my scalp is now filled with lots of mini curls that are filling in the gaps where my hair line was thinning.
• I am really having a hard time figuring out if my hair has gotten any longer since April. I have trimmed my ends twice, cutting off no more than half a centimeter. Healthy hair grows 1/2 an inch per month so I'm assuming that it's grown 1 1/2 since April - the small bits of hair which I trimmed from the ends. This is why I want to "cheat" and straighten my hair just to see how long it is. I will say that my fro sits directly on my shoulders now, even on the hottest most humid day (which normally causes my fro to shrink). So that must be a good thing right?
• My kitchen hair comes down to my shoulders now when they are stretched out! Yay (:

I am adding a couple of new changes to my routine. I am trying to improve the health of my ends by sealing everyday with either shea butter or palmers growth treatment. I am in search of a good sulfate free shampoo. The co-wash was working well, but I still feel like I need a good conditioner to clarify my hair completely. Also I've been using Kinky-Curly Knot Today Leave-in/Detangler while I'm detangling. I'll be sure to add more updates soon.

Love love love,

Jackie (:

It's time for School!!!

Hey Everyone (: 

First of all, did yall notice the new look? I decided that it was time for a new background & layout. I hope yall like it. Just thought I'd point that out. Anyway...

It’s that time of year again! School is starting soon and all of you upcoming freshies probably have no idea where to start when it comes time to buy things for your dorm. As I'm preparing for my sophomore year,  one of my cousins  who is starting college asked me to make her a master list of things that she would need for college. I decided to post it on here in hopes that it will make someone else’s life easier too.

Enjoy (:

Things you need for college (in no particular order)

1.       Shower shoes (especially if you have yucky community showers like  I did)

2.       A good pair of tennis shoes. My school is super hilly. Often times girls try to walk around in sandals, flats and other non walking type shoes and end up being on crutches because of excessive stress in the arches of their feet

3.       A Broom (if you have tile floors in your dorm)

4.       An area rug (if you have tile floors in your dorm)

5.       A mini vacuum, if you decide to purchase an area rug

***Note: with both the broom and the vacuum, you can just stick it out and mooch off of your dormmates for their brooms/vacuum. My roommate & I didn’t have a vacuum, so we just borrowed from our friends J

6.       Cleaning items:

a.       Windex (we used windex wipes. They come in handy for cleaning mirrors, dirty laptop key boards, desks etc),

b.       dish washing detergent (even if you’re on the meal plan, you’ll prob have some plates, cups etc  from going out to eat that you might want to  wash and reuse)

c.       Air freshener (I bought a big spray bottle of febreeze and it lasted the entire year)

d.      Lysol spray

7.       Rain Boots and a good medium sized umbrella- trust me, these are a must! Remember you have to trek across campus to all of your classes, regardless of weather. Nothing sucks more than sitting in a freezing cold classroom for an hour with wet tennis shoes/sandals. Also, clear dome umbrellas are really popular on my campus because they come down over your backpack & keep you totally dry.

8.       A good alarm clock. Some people just use their cell phones, but I’m always scared that something might go wrong. I use my I-pod dock’s alarm and it never fails me.

9.       A desk lamp for when your roommate is sleeping and you are up studying.

10.   Toothpaste, deodorant, fluoride rinse, soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, cocoa butter, Vaseline/chapstick etc (it’s easy to forget the basics)à I went to Sam’s Club and bought jumbo family sized products to get the most for my money. Then I bought travel sized bottles and containers to keep them in so that I don’t have to lug huge bottles to the bathroom every day.

11.   Razors, q-tips  cotton balls & nail polish remover (I am slightly obsessed with nail polish)

12.   Sanitary napkins, Tampons

13.   Hair bands, hair products, brush, comb, rollers, sleep scarf, shower cap

14.   A shower caddy. Mine is a big pink plastic one that came from bed bath & beyond. Also one of my neighbors gave me a monogrammed makeup bag that I also use as a shower caddy

15.   Vitamins, Tylenol, midol, allergy meds, Benadryl, inhaler, epi pen. If you have allergies/medical issues, make sure that you make a detailed list of all your allergies, medical needs and give a copy to your roommate, her/his family & maybe even your Resident Assistant. Ask for the same from your roommate. This way, if something happens to you, your roommate will know what to do.

16.   A Laptop & Printer (you don’t have to get a printer, but it makes things a lot easier if you have one of your own. I have one that is a copy machine, scanner and printer all in one. It’s a big investment, but you save a lot of money and time in the end because you don’t spend extra time and money trying to find a place to print or paying extra to print/copy.

17.   Printer ink

18.   A good lap top case

19.   Notebooks, college rule paper, printer paper

20.   Jump drive

21.   Wipes and hand sanitizers (they really come in handy, esp. if you don’t have a sink in your dorm)

22.   Casual, casual, casual clothes! College is super casual. I wear nothing but shorts/jeans/sweats and t-shirts. Bring a couple of dressy items for interviews/worship. Also don’t forget to bring a couple of items for when you go out with your friend. When you have limited space take only items that you are gonna wear. Try to find pieces that you can make lots of outfits with. Solid colors always work because you can pair them with multiple things. For example, I have a short black pencil skirt that I can match with lots of different tops for party nights. Also I have running shorts that can work for going to class, hitting the gym & lounging around the dorm.

23.   Snacks for your room and a case of water.  (Sometimes you get hungry when you’re up late studying & the dining halls are closed).

24.   A mini fridge (You may want to hold off on purchasing one. Your roommate might end up purchasing one and you can share with her.  Also, I didn’t waste time purchasing a microwave because our floor kitchen has one)

25.   a good id holder key chain. You can put your id and money in it & then you can put your keys (& I even put on of those pocket back hand sanitizers) on the key chain. This way you don't have to carry around a purse all the time.

26.   A lock for your closet door...so that when you go home your stuff will be safe.

27.   A damp rid. It's the little plastic container that you put on the floor in your closet. It soaks up all of the vapor in your closet so that your clothes don't get all mildewy. At the end of the year, both my roomate & my damp rids were full to the top with water that had been soaked up. 

28.   Space saving hangers

29.   Over the door hangers for shoes...I put my medicine stuff into it. 

30.   Oh I thought of more things.

31.   1.  A mattress topper (like an egg crate foam topper or even one of the more luxurious ones is great). Trust me, your bed is gonna be soooo uncomfortable.

32.   2. A couple of sets of sheets so that you can switch them out.

33.   3. A comforter, usually most dorms need size twin xl, but I would check with your school to make sure.

34.   4. An extra blanket to put under your comforter for the winter. Because if you're like my school, they might wait until 2 weeks before Christmas to turn on the heat -___-

35.   5. A throw for when your doing hmwk in your room & it's cold. Can you tell I'm cold natured? lol

36.   6. A bedside organizer. If your bed is lofted you can put this on the end of the bed & store your cell, books, water bottles etc so that you don't have to climb down in the middle of the night.
Happy Shopping Everyone!!!
xoxoxo
Jackie

Music makes you lose control

New music post! A couple posts back I talked about how one of my goals for the summer was to find new music. Well I definitely did that & I decided to share some of my newly discovered songs. Also, since I've been blabbering away about all of my favorite artists who have recently released albums, I decided to post some of the songs from the albums on here that I've continually been talking about. Also, I've categorized my songs this time. I'm going back to my old format, so click the link to listen to the song. For a more aesthetically appealing approach links just look better than inserted youtube videos. Enjoy!


Newbies (or at least newbies to me):

• Settle Down/Cameo Lover- Kimbra. This singer from New Zealand is brand spanking new to the music scene. I recently learned that at age 20, she's only a year older than me. I still can't use to the fact that the majority of newcomers to the music scene are most likely going to be around my age (I still feel like a 16 year old at heart ;) ). I am so happy to add yet another album to my look forward to list of albums coming out. Kimbra's debut album, Vows, is set to be released Sept. 2.
• Dancing with the DJ-the Knocks. I was in American Eagle (a store that I don't normally shop in) when I first heard this song. I got that feeling that you get when you hear a song for the first time and you just love it. This catchy dance song sounds straight from the 70s. It makes me wanna hop onto the dance floor & bust a move.
• Gucci Gucci- Kraeyshawn. I seriously can't believe I'm posting this song. The first time that I heard it I seriously thought it was the most annoying thing that I'd ever heard. But something about this song is just so catchy. You can't help but to sing out "Gucci gucci, louis louis, fendi fendi, prada." hahaha 
• Donald Trump- Mac Miller. I think I'm a little late with this song. But as my future husband Drake would say, "Better late than never, but never late is better." haha. A lot of my friends had mentioned Mac Miller in the past, but I stayed away from him because I figured he would just be another sell out rapper. However, this song is pretty good!

From the albums I've mentioned:

• The Adventures of Raindance Maggie-The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I don't think I can explain to you how enthusiastic I am about this song. It's been half a decade since RHCP's last studio album, Stadium Arcadium, was released...and boy has it been a long five years. I really love this song because it's like a mix of RHCP's old funk style and their new rock style. Adventures... is the first pre-released song from their upcoming album, 'I'm With You.' I can't wait for their new album to come out! Yay (:
• Summer Jam/Bundle Up/Swimsuits- The Cool Kids. The Cool Kids are probably one of the most greatest, yet underrated and under appreciated rap groups of the 2000s. This indie rap duo has its own unique flava and the topics which the pair raps about actually has some substance to it. Their songs tell stories or have a common theme other than the stereotypical "sex, drugs, and money" scheme that many of these dumb ahh rappers seem to be so caught up in now-a-days. These three songs are my favorites off of their newly released album, 'When Fish Ride Bicycles.'
• Adolescents/Promises Promises- Just like RHCP, I am super excited that Incubus (another one of my favorite bands reminiscent of my 90s-00s childhood in white suburbia) has released another album. Along with this album comes a new Incubus tour which my friend and I are making plans to go to. If things work out this will be my second Incubus concert. We saw them in August '09 as part of their 'Monuments and Melodies' tour. If I do get to see them again, trust me there will be a future post devoted to them. (: For the time being, please enjoy my two favorite songs from their new album, 'If Not Now, When?'

Happy listening! Also, if you have any suggestions for songs that I should mention, feel free to drop a comment below.

xoxo 

Jackie :)

It's been a while

Hey Yall! As usual, it's been quite some time since I've posted much of anything. However, for once I actually have some things to blog about! Yay!

poponthepop.com

1. RIP Amy Winehouse- I was devastated today when I heard the news that one of my all time favorite artists, Amy Winehouse, passed away. My heart has been hurting all day. It almost feels like I lost a friend. Her music reminds me of sooo many memories from high school. My friend Kevin singing, "Tears Dry on their Own" when we went out to eat one night. My friend Asha's love for her song "F me Pumps." Listening to "Valerie" 98758763583745 times while shopping for a dress for my debutante club's Christmas dance and hearing that song in one of my favorite movies, "27 Dresses." Introducing the song "Back to Black" to one of my friends. My neighbor loved the song "Rehab." The music world has truly lost a talented, ingenious performer. I'm scanning through other singers in my mind and the only other singers who are somewhat (and this is a far fetched somewhat) similar to Amy are Adele and Duffy. And although they are both still EXTREMELY talented, they just aren't Amy.  From the unique sound of her voice and amazing vocal range, to her unique musical style and that classic beehive doo, there will never be anyone that could replace Amy. Her first cd 'Frank' was an excellent jazz inspired debut, while her 'Back to Black' took the US by storm with her 60s girl group inspired anthems. The thing that makes me the most sad was that her death was totally preventable. Why didn't the ones who were closest to her make more of an effort to force her to get the help that she truly needed? It was so sad to watch her transition from a beautiful, healthy songstress which a powerful voice to a tiny woman overcome by the drugs which she chose to use. I had really hoped that she would make a comeback and release a new album. At least she now rests in a better place where she can no longer continue to harm herself. Amy, you will truly be missed.
2. I bought some kinky curly knot today detangler/leave in & so far I'm falling in love. I only used it in a small section of my hair in the front & it work amazingly. Knots were slipping right out & I liked the way my hair turned out after I combed it.
3. I have several countdowns going on for some of my favorite artists to release their new cds:
1. Drake's 'Take Care' is set to be released Oct. 24 (his birthday) ;)
2. RHCP's I'm With You is set to be released Aug 29th. Woot
4. Pretty Little Liars fans? Is this season getting extreme or what? I cannot wait to see what happens next. Since I haven't really had too much to do with my life recently, I've been keeping up with the show & it is absolutely amazing. Yay (:
5. urbanbushbabes.com- I think this website describes my life in url format. I absolutely love it. Everything from the style to the big natural hair to the arts & music scene is AMAZING! I would def suggest that you check this website out (: