Strong Brows, Sexy Curls & A Hint of Mint!!

This past weekend was my get it all the way right weekend... hair, nails and brows done...yaayy! However, I switched it up a little and I'm happy I did.  I usually get my nails and brows done at Hollywood Nails in Wilmington, DE every 3-4 weeks by my favorite nail tech, Trinny; but it has become more and more apparent that I was gonna need a replacement or at least a backup.  I don't live in the Philly area anymore and although I'm up there bi-weekly to pick up my babies, my time is still really limited and beyond PRECIOUS (time is money, time is yours and you don't get it back)! The wait and the nonsense at Hollywood is at an all time high lately and I can't deal...(as Jay says, I'm impatient and I hate waiting).  The dilemma I faced in finding a replacement tech, is that I'm beyond particular about my brows and my nails...it's kinda mental.  LOL. But the reality is there is not only one place and one person from VA to PA that can do what I need them to do and do it right.  The only way I would find that person, is by trying someone else.  And that's where I lucked up at this weekend!!

As usual I was in one of my favorite establishments, Bliss Elements Salon and Spa, Friday afternoon getting my hair all the way done (praise the Lord, b/c after I got my hair done the Friday before last, I took my Princess to the spa for the day in celebration of her 13th birthday (ummm yea, 13 at the darn spa...I didn't get there til I was in college but that's a whole other story!!) and I spent a little too much time in the sauna and clearly forgot I'm relaxer free b/c when I came up out of that joint my hair was all the way over before it ever even started)!  While I was there getting my hair all cute (how cute are those curls), my stylist kept suggesting I let the new aesthetician do my brows.  I was resistant at first (NOOOO!!), but he convinced me enough and she was such a sweetie pie and professional it wasn't that hard.  Well much to my surprise, she did the thang and I think I got myself a new brow girl!!!  Not only did she produce good results, but this experience was beyond expectation! It was straight up spa quality...I honestly felt like I was getting a lux facial when I was really only getting my brows..that good.  I say its an absolute do!! So check out Ms. JoVanna Butler, licensed aesthetician and new edition to the Bliss family. You pay a little more but you get a whole lot (including the convenience and value of my time) and you support black professionals and black business.  That's what I call Milk AND Honeey!! What do you honeeyz think about my fab brows? 

After I got my brows and hair all Blissed up, I was still left with the dilemma of getting these nails done.  They were looking a hot mess and the whole Valentine's Day theme I was rocking was sooooo beat down and over but again, Trinny was out of commission.  So I decided to give the nail salon across from my house here in the DMV another try.  I used them one other time last summer and I was less than happy, but the reality is everyone in even the best places aren't qualified to do nails (or at least mine!! lol).  So I went back and I went to a different person and I watched and directed her like a hawk...told u I was crazy.  And it all worked out just fine.  I went with a mint color and a splash of gold (you know I need that little extra).  I think they turned out awesome! Mint is the color of the moment and I'm still debating on a few clothing pieces to add to my wardrobe so i figured I could be in the moment by putting it on my nails.  This choice is an OPI color and I totally forgot the name but it had "grandma" and "apple" in the name somewhere.  :-)) 

For more candid pics of my curls, brows and nails click below!! :-)))

My hair + Michael Flagg + The Wand = Pure Bliss

I always get questions about my hair b/c my stylist, Michael Flagg of Bliss Elements Salon and Spa, is a beast (heyyy Mike)!!  More recently, I've been wearing my hair in a curly/wavy style that was achieved with one of Michael's own creations, "The Wand."  I know you honeeyz may have seen a commercial version of a similar tool but Mike actually created and designed this tool decades ago and unfortunately for he and I, he was discouraged by a trip to a patent attorney back in the day and never had the wand patented before others swooped in and duplicated the tool.  At that time, I was in high school somewhere dreaming of becoming an attorney but boy do I wish for their sake and mine that I was out of school and practicing b/c I certainly would have helped them patent the design and we'd all be rolling in the dough right about now!!! LOL.

Anyways, the wand is a hot tool with a cylinder type shape that is used to create a wave/curl/spiral type pattern with heat.  The look is similar to a wet and wavy style but super soft with lots of body.  You don't have to use a lot of product or worry about the crunchy dry look that sometimes comes with the traditional wet and wavy or rod set looks.  I decided to capture the unique process in photos during my trip on Friday so I could share with you honeeyz.  Be sure to check out the Bliss site where you can buy Pure Bliss products (ummm yes, honeeyz Bliss has their own product line which is created and produced by Mike and his wife, Sherell...amazing).  The products are genius! Check out the process below....

**First, I start out with a great wash, conditioner and then I'm under the steamer for 15-20 mins.  In addition to Pure Bliss products, Bliss Elements uses Kera Care (which I typically use for my wash and conditioner, unless I need a particular treatment) and Paul Mitchell products.   

Hey Steve!!! :-)  Steve is a style assistant at Bliss and he gives some of the best washes and massages out there! Sweet Baby Jesus!!!! LOL. 

As most of you honeeyz know, I'm 4 years relaxer free so when I get my hair washed it curls right on up!

**Next up, I get a fabulous blow dry and I'm back to straight hair without the chemicals. 

For the next steps and the final results click below!!

All Black Everything and the Ballet

I'm very excited about this weekend because I will be attending the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater  show at the Kennedy Center! The Alvin Ailey Dance Theater was established in 1958 for the purposes of bringing African American cultural expression and American modern dance form to the forefront. The show encompasses a mix of ballet, jazz and a few other forms of modern dance.  This will be my first time attending a dance show of this magnitude.  I expect to be totally wowed for so many reasons.  I love the arts, I love new experiences and I love to be educated while entertained and I believe that it is extremely important to support African American initiatives to keep them coming and going.  From what I understand, every one and their mother and anybody who is somebody will be out for the show... including all the big wig politicians and the creams of the crop...possibly even my Black President.  Heyyyyy Barack!! :-)   

The Milk and Honeey Of It:

While  it's absolutely cool to kick it  and do the usual at times, it's equally as important to participate in things with substance and value and to expand your experiences.  Learn to operate outside of your comfort zone and expose yourself and children to new things. 

Bringing Sexy All the Way Back, literally. :-) 

Obviously, the question of what to wear to such an event was immediately on my brain after securing the tickets.  I decided that I wanted to wear something a little more sophisticated and dressed up than usual considering the occasion; however, I didn't want to compromise my sexy, comfort, and edge.  The first decision I made is that I would wear black b/c black makes it so hard to NOT be sexy, classy and sophisticated.  I ultimately decided on this BCBG black, jersey maxi-like dress.  The length makes it a little more formal than the usual dresses but the jersey keeps it fun and comfortable and adds more sexy (ask Donna Karan...jersey is the most forgiving and sexy material out there).  The added surprise in the back, the asymmetry of the cut at the bottom (shorter in the front and longer in the back) with the added slit in the front and back sealed the deal.  And to keep the edge, I paired it with a pair of rockin' booties as opposed to a classic pump or boot.  I think I got it! What do you honeeyz think of this look? 

The Natural Hair Revolution: Where Do You Fit In?

This is gonna be a nice long post but here goes.... Unless you live under a rock or have been on extended vacation on the planet Jupiter, you would know or at least should know (please be aware that legal culpability applies in most instances when ya should've known even when you didn't actually know...pay attention people) that the natural hair movement, particularly concerning black women, is on an all time high and is exploding all over the place! Black women are foregoing chemicals, mostly the creamy crack (relaxers), running away from flat irons, hot combs, blow dryers and opting for more naturally curly styles, and chopping their hair off for a "fresh" start clean and clear of chemical products.  They are swapping a lot of the old school hair products for alternative products with less chemical and bad stuff (such as, sulphates, proteins, certain oils and things like that...you gotta do your own research to get all the specifics b/c I'm not entirely up on the dos and do nots but I will provide some really helpful resources at the end of this post); and they are adding homemade and natural products into their regime (this I know a little more about b/c I have done a little bit of this on my own and in doing so I have done way more research in this area).  Women of this movement are on a roll all across America and all over the world wide web! In it's current form it's like a civil war.  It's like they are angry with the stereotypes of what black hair is supposed to look like and be like and they are fighting it by rebelling and doing their own thing.  I'm just wondering is this just a fad? A phase in black hair, again? Is this really a revolution or just a style of the moment?? When the smoke all clears and the dust all settles, where are we going to really be at with our hair?

In the beginning of my
journey... chemical free!!

My hair and I have had a very special relationship for as long as I can member.  We have been through every color in the rainbow (I've had platinum blonde hair, hot pink hair, orange hair, and so forth), every texture on the texture wheel, just about all lengths possible and every single style that could be conceived or perceived! After all of this excitement, the ups and down, and a series of traumatic events, I finally decided, with the instruction of my primary doctor and the support of my BFF, Shan, to stop relaxing my hair in early 2008.  Four years later, it is still the best decision I have ever made for my hair and esteem and this is the most comfortable and satisfied I have ever been with my hair ever!!  I would be lying if I said I was less than convinced that this whole natural thing was gonna work for me when I ultimately stopped relaxing it.  I can remember telling my BFF that my hair wasn't the kind that could go perm free! I always felt like when I was overdue for a perm my hair would start to break off worse than it would with a chemical.  It would get so coarse and unruly I would get the perm just to make it behave and not so much for it to be straight.  But I was very quickly proven wrong early on in the transition.  First, I wanted a short sexy hair cut anyway.  I was sick of being married to hair and I preferred a hot hair cut (duh, Halle Berry; Malinda Williams and Nia Long has that kinda affect on a honeey!!)  to a boring long weave any day so that kinda made my transition that much easier.  I didn't have any desire to keep my length so no hesitation there but at the same time I got the benefit of not only ceasing the use of a relaxer but also cutting out the majority of any relaxer I had on my head.  Although there was a concern that it would be more complicated to keep my hair straight while natural at such a short length, but that too, with the magic hands of my stylist, Michael Flagg at Bliss Elements, became the least of my worries. With the right conditioner, products, tools, and his skills the condition of my hair and the manageability of my hair, whether straight or curly, has never been better. And with time it just got better...it's even more trained and responsive.  I could workout like crazy and sweat it up, I could get caught in the rain and humidity and easily wrap it up quickly and it rebounds nicely.  After wearing my hair cute and short for three years, I decided to start the grow out process last year and I'm now at the boring pain in the @ss medium stage and feeling antsy and stuck! It's not growing fast enough for me. But my stylist says I need to be patient and I need to just chill out b/c it's growing and more importantly it's not coming out or breaking off.  True. Guess I should chill and wait....

Grow out phase! Curled tight.

When I started my journey it was about the health of my hair and scalp and also about freedom and autonomy.  I love my hair and I think it's important to keep it done (honeeyz please don't slack on the hair...there is no excuse not to love yourself enough to care about your hair), but I was sick of being a slave to it.  And for me, the perm (relaxer) was the ball and chain scenario because it was such a process and such a laboring event and just about everything had to be scheduled around it...it was more annoying than it was good.  I know there is that constant bickering about whether or not you are more black in the "natural state," whether you're really natural if you wear your chemically free hair straight, or whether adding color makes you not natural, or if using non-natural products in your chemically free hair is not natural, or whatever other back and forth nonsense that is going on out there.  But none of that mattered or matters to me.  The truth is I don't feel any more black now relaxer free for 4 years and I didn't feel any less black before with a chemical or even with weave... all of those choices were more about styling, habit, miseducation and preference; and not about race or cultural identity so those arguments don't make much sense to me.  And in fact, I find when you set up these kinda of rules... must use only natural products, must only wear hair in the curly style, can never use heat ever never on my hair... and then live by them as absolutes just because you set them, you ultimately put yourself in the same slave like mentality as when you felt like you must have this silky straight texture, you must have this certain type of length, you must fry your hair straight to be pretty, you must have a perm every 6-8weeks.  No different.  Same mentality but just from one end to the other.  My journey was about not being dependent on some thing that was deteriorating my health and wrecking my flow.  When I let that "need" to have a chemical smacked up in my head I achieved exactly what I set out to do! On top of that, the confidence and the carefree-ness that came along with it was totally liberating and allowed for my artsy self to shine through.  I still enjoy my hair straight and wear it like this the majority of the time, although I actually don't use much heat to achieve this.  I go to the hair salon 2x per month to have my hair conditioned, blown out and flat ironed.  In between that I don't add any more heat or use the flat iron myself.  And I recently had a sewn-in weave in my hair to give it a little bit of a different style and help me through my impatient grow out phase.  But I'm chemically free and intend to stay that way.  Glorrrryyyyyy to the good Lord Jesus!

MORE PICS, TIPS and RANTING after the break>>>>