Beauty Goals for My MMO Challenge and my wishlist

It's been a while but I'm back I had a long week last week it was my pastor's appreciation week and I am so tired...I just wanna go home and go to bed but I have to press on and keep going. I still gotta work. Well still going on in the Journey and listing out what I wanna do and what I need to do for this journey so I do know that I need to develop a few more regimens other than my hair and my body because I have been going through some embarrassing moments lol. I need to start a manicure and pedicure regimen and get back into gear with shaving....I was always on top with shaving my under arms but my legs is a different story so I definately need to tighten up.

My husband has been fussing at me about my feet since we've been dating about how i need to take better care of my feet...especially cause I like to rub my feet with his well I can't do it know because my feet be so dry on my heels and I don't own one nail polish but my mother in law does have a foot spa and my husband did buy me a pedicure set but when I moved out of my mother's house I lost it so I do plan to get all than I need cause I would like to do my feet every two weeks. Because of my schedule and my budget I can't go to the nail salon every two weeks like that and when I do go it's just to get my nails and I would always neglect my feet :(   I know I know I need to tighten up. I know as far as my fingernails I will everynow and than go to get my nails done but after three weeks to a month the acrylic will start to rise and after a while will break off and make my nail bed weak and if I do grow my nails they're flimsy and scratch so i think that it's time for to take as much care of my nails and feet as much as I take care of my hair. While I was doing my regular search on Youtube....I found two videos one for my nails and for my feet so I will soon purchase the items that I need and experiment with a few nail polishes. So like I said I alreadt have a foot spa thanks to my mother in law the next few items I need are a clear base, top coat, finger nail file, buffer, foot file, hand and foot scrub, toe separator, cuticle oil and cuticle stick, I already have vitamin e-oil and nail strengthener..nail brush and a pumice stone.....I can find alot of these things at walmart, walgreens, the dollar tree and of  course the beauty supply store. So yes I do need to get on that asap....

As far as my hair I am as of saturday I will be five weeks....post I actually went two weeks without washing my hair isn't that a shame....the reason is because I was weary of using heat on my hair to dry it and tame it...so until I finally figured out how to arydry right I was gonna hold off.....well after watching sunshine for Hairlista on her air drying tips, with the T-shirt drying and the scarf method I had two successful air drying. So now I will be air drying and using the scarf method and also using the Chi Silk Infusion has also helped to lay my edges down. I just hope that it gives me the same results when I start to see some new grow. Another thing that I am trying is co-washing and I wanna try the VO5 moisture milks conditioner I keep hearing about....I realized since my hair is getting thicker and I do use a lot of product to keep my hair moisturized I have to keep it clean so now I actually understand the benefits of a cowash and I also need a new deep conditoner. So I keep saying it but I need my ends trimmed...

So when I get my ends trimmed I really have to evalute how I'm protecting my hair. I have made my wish List of what I want for my hair

  A standup dryer....I think this would be easier to have so I won't have to deal with the trouble to messing with a normal overhead drying and trying to keeping it still.

rollers        caruso steam rollers


 more flexi rods       satin pillow rollers (have the cotton but it dries my hair out

 bananna clip


My goal is to do a rollerset every week so I can be perfect at it and it would really make a great way to style my hair without having to constantly use a blow dryer and a flat iron I'm trying to cut out using so much heat on my hair as possible so I can retain lenght. Some of these things are pretty pricey but I do believe that it will a great investment for my hair since I can't afford to go to my stylist consistently like I want to but I wanna learn how to do this on my own as well. So I hope this works be blessed.

Protective Styles & My Wishlist

Well, as I stated in my last post I have just been wearing a ponytail or wearing it down. I’m not as talented as some other folks on Hairlista and Youtube when it comes to styling and also because I don’t wear weave a lot that makes it even harder for me. Thanks to youtube I have gained a few ideals that’s gonna get me through my stretch…because I do plan to go a little longer than 12 weeks this time so I think I know what will work. The first thing that I had to do is to limit the amount of heat that I have been using over the past two weeks I am usually good with going without it but my hair appearance wise hasn’t been decent everyday so I do know that starting September I will be at least 5 weeks post and During weeks 5-10 I say maybe a month…I plan on just rocking a weave ponytail that matches my hair texture…and also to master this air drying issue cause I really need to lay off of the blow dryer at least with the heat and use cool after air drying for maybe an hour so I am researching on how to do a better airdry.

Also I forgot I am including goddess braids into my style list as well…my church is having their annual marriage retreat and honestly I don’t wanna worry about my hair so I plan to have goddess braids for about a week or two….

Now after week 10 I want to concentrate in just cornrows in the front and keeping a nice bun or ponytail in the back and just keeping it up for about two or three weeks and just keeping it moisturized and tied up I am raking up my girls to assist me in the braiding section because I am not quiet an expert in corn rowing my hair. Twists will also be included as well….. here are a few styles I wanna recreate......

           

 

I like these styles because the require low manipulation and it's protecting my ends and giving me liberty to retain length.....Alicia Keys is known for her cute braid styles so this is what i plan to do all through late September through November, and depending on how it goes maybe even december. This for me is something i can stick with. There are a few other styles that I will want to recreate along the way through my journey. I do see that this is somthing that I will just have to accept that as of right now styling my hair is not anything that I'm good at but i won't give up and i won't stop with my regimen....this is all a part of me keeping my hair protected. And aslo i can't seem to keep my hands out of my hair. So wish me luck that all of this will work out well for me.

Be Blessed....

Relaxer Update

Well since my relaxer on July 29th, which was on a friday and I was also 12 weeks post...sigh...I wanted to go longer but my hair was crying for help so I had to end my stretch. I didn't take pics because I do have a SD card for my phone so I can't take pictures yet and I don't like using my husband phone when I'n trying to take the pictures myself...so I'll just talk about it I guess. For my relaxer I used the ORS olive oil lye relaxer. I actually like it because It really does a good job of making my hair straight when I do it right. I based my scalp with grease and put olive oil on the relaxed part of my hair.

One thing that you will know about me which is sort of my weakness is that I am a scratcher...I will stratch my scalp for the fun of it and I am really trying to stop because I am seeing that it's unessecary manipulation
to my hair and it does more harm than good but this is a habit that I had since I was a little girl in elementary school and I am 26 years old now so yeah it's a lifelong habit I've developed. Well my smart butt had a scratching moment the day of my relaxer day and no matter how much vasenline I put in the areas where I knew I was stracthing the most, I still got burned. The first one I've gotten since I started self-relaxing. I just had to keep nursing it until it went away. I know now that if I did some heavy scratching (which I need to knock off on) on my scalp I need to wait a few days before I relax. Well other than that my hair was good and I got some good length....I am sooooooo close to APL. I think one more stretch, maybe another 12-14 weeks I'll make it there even though I still need a trim. So all I did was blow dry, flat iron, bump the ends and wrapped my hair. I still hate the fact that I had to used heat tools and I am aware what consistent heat will do to my ends.

As of Friday I will be 3 weeks post relaxer and all I've been doing is rocking a ponytail or a wrap and just bumping the ends (ugh more heat :( ) so I haven't been really creative this month mainly because I've been sick so I have been trying to avoid messing with my hair all together. So far so good my hair is doing ok. Just have to limit the manipulation of my hair that's all.


Until Next time Be Blessed!!

Hair Journey- Stretch Update and Protective Styles

Well, this stretching period wasn't a good one. My hair has been so dry and as a result I think I may have suffered from breakage which isn't good at all so I'm gonna have to tighten up on my moisture balance. I think switching my moisturizers was a bad ideal...I was using Herbal Essence Long Term Relationship but I don't think it's great for moisturizing new growth. My new growth is usually managable but not this time. I miss my S-Curl so bad my roots weren't as moisturize like it usually is. The S-curl makes my new growth so shiny and soft and manageable so I got paid today and when I go to the beauty supply store to get my tools to relax my hair tonight I'm getting the S-Curl. Also I ran out of Castor oil and Olive Oil so I have to get more of that and also I need another Moisturizing Conditioner I was using Queen Helene but I may use the Cream of Nature brand. I see now that my hair still needs more moisture than protien....I will still alernate between the moisture and protien levels so I won't get an overload of both. I am still searching for a new leave in....The Garnier Frutis is ok but it makes my hair wet and leaves my hair feel residue-y like I don't know so until I buy the all ingredients for the Kimmaytube Leave-In I will stick to my Elasta QP leave-in. So I had to get that out cause my hair is in a ponytail and it's a big frizzball I am so disappointed I hope this next stretch will be better.

And futher along with that my protectuve styles weren't as great either. I have been wearing either a bun or a drawstring ponytail that my husband hates. And to be honest I really don't like it anymore either...So I have been doing some research on Hairlista, Youtube, Google, and a few blogs to get some ideals on how to keep my hair looking good but still be protected. I have found some channels on youtube that I've subscribed to and they have a gift with styling their hair. I don't have it yet it'd gonna take me a while but I'm not giving up. And I also have some friends and family members who would love to do my hair for me lol (Tamika & Shamika no relation). And when I stretching I think cornrows & twists will be my bestfriends so I won't have to worry about my edges. I'm practicing on how to cornrow and twist so me styling it on my own right now isn't a first option. I am considering adding half wigs and sew-ins to my protective styles as well. I'm a little nervous about this cause I never owned a wig before and I hate the fake shiny look with wigs as well. Ponytails will still be my staple but I think I won't limit myself to just using drawstrings and I am also considering making my own clip on extensions because I refuse to pay $100 for any and I don't like using glue either. So I'm adding extensions. My husband doesn't really care for weave and honestly neither do I but with being shoulder length it's not really easy to keep up with and also that length is the most vurnerable because it right at your shoulders of course duh lol. But anywho your ends are rubbing against your clothes and causing friction which will cause split ends and breakage so I'm coming up with some simple styles like for church and work and for concerts so my hair will be straight and safe during this time until I reach APL and I'll have more liberty.

"MMO" Journey Series- My Hair Journey

In February of 2008 I cut my hair completely off due to boredom and breakage...I always liked short cuts but it was too expensive to keep up with and I didn't want it short any more. So through 2008-2009 I wore braids and ponytails (thanks to my sister in law Tamika) or I just brushed down lol I know right not so good....so in 2009 I did managed to get my my hair to about neck lenght. I was always able to get my hair to at least shoulder length but then it would break off and then I would have to cut it again. Since 2004 that was sort of like a cycle. By the end of 2009 early 2010 I was looking on Youtube lol trying to learn how to wrap my hair. That was when I came across Sunshyne's channel from Hairlista and I was amazed at how long her hair was and also the fact that she was a sistah. She wasn't mixed ...I used to think in order for black girls to have long hair they had to either have two things: either you had to have some other ethnic background or money to have a real good hairstylist that knew how to take care of your hair. Ms. Sunshyne has 4B hair I believe and her hair is past her bra strap when I saw that I was hooked and was determined that if she could do then so could I.

I know this picture was already posted but this was the last pic I really had before I started my hair journey. As you can see my hair is different lengths..short in the front and long in the back. I don't know why but it always grew like that. My hair was dry and very hard to managed at the time and always breaking off..well that was before I knew better. I didn't know half of what I know now about Healthy Hair Care lol or at least of what I think I know. Well after watching Hairliscous(lol i know i spelled that wrong) I joined Hairlista.com which is her social website. I joined in December of 2009 but I really didn't get serious about it yet because I guess wasn't shopping for any good products and I really didn't know my hair at all. All I knew was that it was thick and it was breaking lol. Like I said youtube became my inspiration and I found other people as well like UloveMegz and Tracyee from K-I-S-S(Keep It Simple Sistah) I saw so many progressions and success from these ladies. Before Youtube and Hairlista I didn't know anything about my hair and the fact that all these years my hair was travailing lol for help and I didn't even know. So after all of the info I read I finally made up my mind that I wanted to take better care if my hair. So in October of 2010 which was my last relaxer at the time, I officially started my hair journey and became obscessed with anything hair care related.

My goal is to reach APL which is Arm Pit Length I haven't reached it yet but I'm not giving up I know it's possible. I believe the last 9 months was a time of trial and error, a moment for me to learn what products work and what didn't work....the few setbacks that I have to overcome. I had my last relaxer May 7th 2011, I remember because I had to take pictures that day I blow dried it and bump the ends and didn't use a flat iron...here's a pic on the left. As you can tell from the last pic the front has grown a lot longer and thicker. I thank God for the sources that I found and I have stuck with since October of last year. I now know how to balance my moisture and protien and how to keep my hair moisuturized and sealed. Staying away from constant heat and trying to limit how much I manipulate my hair. Since then I have stretched my relaxer since this picture and here's a picture of that.

Front (i just washed my hair and airdried)

Back (lol I'm horrible at taking pictures with this phone)

I know it doesn't look like I have lenght but boy is it thick OMG. Since May was my last relaxer I am about 11 weeks post as of now. These pictures were taken Wednesday. I have so much new grow and I have to keep it moisturized on a daily basis or else I will have a problem. I planned to relax my hair in September but my new growth is too coarse and is sucking up all the moisture I put on it so I will be relaxing in August I think maybe either this week or next week when I'm 13 weeks. This saturday I'll 12 weeks, afterwards I will bw getting a trim. But I am jumping off on my journey in September with everything and keeping up with my regimen.

My Hair Health/Length Goals

• Short Term - To reach APL by April 2012
• To stop Breakage and Shedding
• To learn how to airdry my hair the right way
• Eliminate how much I'm using heat and how much I manipulate my hair
• to grow my nape and my edges ( i have thick edges they're just shorter than the rest of my hair)
• Reduce my relaxers to 3-2x a year (after I reach APL)
• My Long term Length is BSL by October 2012

Hair Styling Goals:

• Learn how to cornroll and twist (Still practing but I need a baby doll or something to pratice on I'm manipulating my hair too much)
• Learn how to do a prefect braid out, and twist out
• Learn how to style with weave
• Learn how to do a good rollerset and flexi rod set

My wishlist

A hooded dryer/ and rollers for my hair length

A better blow dryer with a comb attachment

A new flat iron

The Split Ender/ sheer scissors for my dustings

As far a my regimen and what I plan to revise well here it is.....

Shampoo 1x a week

Deep Condition 2x a week

Cowash 1x a week (after I'm 6 weeks post...and I need a conditioner for this I think it will be either VO5 or Elasta QP)

Use a Leave-In/ Airdry (After I get a new blow dryer I'll blow dry on cool)

Moisturize and Seal Daily

Hard Protien Treatment ( It was a week before relaxer which is every 3-4 months so I may just still do that but also add every 7 weeks to it)

I need a trim after my relaxers

And I do protective styles ( as of now buns and pony tails but there will be more)

My Products:

M- moisture  P- protien

Shampoos

Elasta QP Creme Conditioning Shampoo(M)

Cream of Nature Detangling Shampoo (M)

Aphogee Shampoo for Damaged Hair (P)

Conditioners

Queen Helene Cream Cholesterol (M)

Elasta QP Conditioner(M)

Aphogee Keratin 2 min reconstructor(P)

Leave- Ins

Elasta QP H-2

Aphogee Keratin Green Tea Reconstructorizer

Aphogee Pro Vitamin Leave In

Garnier Frutis

(I do Plan on Using Kimmaytube's Leave-In I have heard great reviews and also wanna try Giovanni Leave in)

Moisturizers

Herbal Essences LTR

S-Curl (going back to my first love)

Oils

Castor Oil

Olive Oil

Jojoba Oil(plan to buy)

It's Pretty Detailed but I am on my way to APL and I'm determined to get there. My next Hair post will be on my relaxer update. Until then Be Blessed....

Introducing my "Make Me Over" Journey

I think I am going somewhere with this blogging thingy lol. Since after few months I see that I only have like one follower lol, I think that this will be the place where I’m going to post this challenge that I have been thinking about doing for a while and the more I’ve been pondering on it the more I want to do it…and I called it the “Make me Over” Challenge or Journey cause that’s what it’s gonna feel like.

After watching Youtube, Hairlista, KISS, and so many blogs, I realized that I wanted to change….I’m 26 years old and I have no kids and so there’s some things about me that I don’t like and would like to fix. Lol don’t get me wrong I love myself I can look in the mirror and tell myself that I’m beautiful. It may not mean much to others but for me it was a very big accomplishment because I had low self esteem on every level. But with God, maturity, self evaluation, a loving family, and a loving, devoted husband…my confidence is a whole lot better. So now there are some habits and ways about myself that I have with myself that I wanna break and I realize that I need to treat my body, health, mind, and spirit a whole lot better than I have been over the last some odd years….since adolescent years. So I am planning to out myself on a Journey to get myself together for the rest of what God has purposed for me and I have to have myself in place to receive it and I’m not missing it this time…so to whoever’s reading this (lol mainly me cause this is who this is for) this will be a long road but I willing to stay determined.

Lord God ,

Thank you for loving me and keeping me God when I didn’t love myself

For thinking of me and knowing me long before I was born,

Please forgive me God for the abuse I have done to myself by not taking care of this creation you made

You knew what I needed and what I could handle even when I was wishing I didn’t have it

The big legs, the tall frame

Thank you Lord for giving me what I need

For I am fearfully and wonderfully made, this is my body this is my temple

Lord please guide me and keep me dedicated on this journey

Keep my encouraged during the times when I want to give up

God keep me surrounded around people who will support me and hold me accountable when I slack off

Lord I give you the glory and all of the praise because It’s only you Lord that will make this possible

You worthy Lord and are able to do All things

In Jesus’ Name

Amen

Everything that’s in God’s Perfect Will is the best plan and the Word does say that He wants us to prosper and be in good health so I am going to succeed and I will achieve my goals so keep praying for me.

These are my goals during this Journey

• Stay on my Hair Journey….but create a more detailed regimen and routine and make more short term goals
• To begin my Spiritual Journey by walking in the Lord’s Will and strengthen my relationship with Him…asking the Lord to show me my purpose in life, strengthening my prayer life, fasting more, reading and studying the Word and spending more time with the Lord, becoming an effective Praise and Worship leader and being available to His Will and sensitive to the Spirit…
• Start my weight loss Journey as well as improving my overall health…
• Embrace my love for Make Up LOL J
• Learn how to dress better, develop my own style, as well as dressing for church, learning how to dress according to my shape
• Be more organized
• Be a better wife to my husband
• Learn how to love myself even the more
• Develop more strength in my singing

There’s always more but these are what’s been the main things I’ve striving for so I am excited.

I’ve set myself for a nine month challenge to get a head start to make a huge lifestyle change cause basically that’s how you’re gonna be able to seen success is to change lol mainly break your old habits so nine months I believe will be long enough….Hey it work for the pregnant ladies out there. I am making this as detailed as possible so for me to understand. Every since May I have been researching and planning for this. My starting month is September the reason for that month is because that is when I will be getting my relaxer after a 4 month stretch and I will be getting a trim to get rid of my split ends…so this is the first post of this journey so Let’s Get It!!!!!

Stay Blessed!!!

Keisha W.

My Makeup Wishlist

I have been into makeup since I was about 20 but now I'm deep into makeup I love it. I love that I have the ability to add more personality and attention to my eyes and evenness (if that's a word) to my skin tone. I have been dabbling with drugstore makeup for a year now and i have had my hit and misses with my makeup now that I can that have tried them all I want to the good quality makeup.


One thing that you know about me is that I am cheap....I like to save some kind of money out what i buy. But i have learned that cheap isn't always good. I will post a pic of my makeup bag soon....I have become a product junkie definately. I would buy cheap makeup and if i don't like it then I won't use it and buy something else. I don't wanna keep doing so if i purchase what i really want then maybe I can build my personal makeup kit. So here what i want in my dream makeup kit.


Foundations
And I will do a post about my deal with foundation...

• 

MAC Studio Tech Foundation $29.50

I have watching YT for a while and MAC is popular. My makeup artist used this for my wedding and it look great in the photos...i don't know why i didn't get this when i went to the MAC counter I got StudioFix in NW45 and it was too light and I was so mad that I spent almost $30 and i don't even use it. So I want to try this again. (Bought it!!!)

MAC StudioFix Powder

I really like this powder. I actually have this powder but it's in NW50 and that's too dark and one of my friends gave it to me. But I like powder foundation a dupe for this to me would be Ruby Kiss Blemish Control Powder from the beauty supply store in chestnut for $4.....i just want it.

MAC's Translucent Powder

I have the NYC setting powder and I'm getting weary with it....I've heard great reviews about this.

Iman Second to None Cream to Power Foundation

I actually like Iman’s products because of the value of it but I wasn’t going to get it again after buying two of the stick foundations in Earth 5&6 and how about Earth 6 is lighter than Earth 5 so I wasn’t going to buy the sticks again. So I still wanted to try the Cream to Powder even though I just bought MAC’s studio tech which I do love but it’s not a full coverage foundation and for $30 I’m gonna make it last a while so I wanted an alternate foundation and wanted to give them another shot.

These are the foundations that I want so I'll move on to eye shawdows and eyeliners which isn't much...