The Kinky New Yorker: April 2012

Apr 30, 2012

I Love Her Style..."Rihanna"

When it comes to being a full on Rihanna fan...I'm guilty as charged. I have a soft spot for her catchy music and an even bigger soft spot for her fashion choices. She is all about the different spectrums, the tough, the soft and the glam ,which is something that I myself love. Leather and spikes make my day, just as much as lace and chiffon. She has a devil may care attitude when it comes to clothes and takes risks whenever she can, which can either be a plus or minus (I mean...the girl rocked Tims and a baggy shirt circa 1992, for Pete's sake!), but I love the chances that she takes anyway. Whether it's about wearing a floor length dress to an event or thigh high leather boots for a night on the town, Rihanna has it down pact and with her ever-changing hair to compliment it all, she is a true style chameleon.

Product Junkie..."Curls Unleashed"

So I was perusing the hair product shelves of my local Rite Aid and almost had a heart attack. The usually sparse section dedicated to natural hair care had suddenly become the hotspot for all things kinky-curly...so many products that I thought for a second that I walked into Ricky's by mistake. Jane Carter, Curls, Kinky-Curly and a few other well to do products were staring right back at me, much to my pleasant surprise. I figured all that was missing was Miss Jessie's and DevaCurl...but I must digress. Along with these well known brands, I also spotted a few new products that my eyes had yet to see before. One of these brands being: Curls Unleashed. Curls Unleashed, a product brought to us by Organic Root Stimulator, is a full line of products dedicated to the styling of natural kinky, curly hair. The website states:

Embrace what nature got right and unleash your freedom to flaunt your natural tresses with incredible style and confidence, all in the name of health and beauty.

Curls Unleashed™ is a full line of products to help prep, style and maintain your natural curls. Made especially for naturalistas, our products do not contain sulfates, mineral oil or SD alcohol. Curls Unleashed™ products and are made with natural ingredients like safflower oil, sweet almond oil, and shea butter to help deliver the moisture and curl definition your natural curls crave but without the crunch or flakes.

Forever the junkie, the products caught my eye and I ended up picking up the "Take Command Curl Defining Creme" to try in my hair for twist outs, which I am more prone to doing during the summer months. It is said to moisturize and define curls without shrinkage.

This is definitely something that I have to see to believe, since I end up with 80-90% shrinkage anytime my hair is left out for the world to see (it is literally my biggest pet peeve when it comes to my hair). I am always on the look out for products that can help to reduce the shrink, lol. Check out the website and if you have tried the products before, let me know how they worked for you. I will do a more in-depth review of the product when I do my twist outs. I'll keep you posted :)

Apr 18, 2012

Product Junkie..."Sweet Ambrosia"

When I first heard about Karen's Body Beautiful, it was on another natural hair blog. Karen's Body Beautiful is an independently owned beauty boutique located at 436 Myrtle Ave in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Clinton Hill. It just so happens that the store was located up the block from a family members apartment complex, so I kindly asked her to pick me up one of the leave-in conditioners that I scoped out on the website, Sweet Ambrosia. Sweet Ambrosia is an all natural leave-in, which ingredients include: Purified water, Vegetable glycerin, Vegetable wax, Jojoba and Avocado Oils, Calendula, Echinacea, and Horsetail extracts, Essential and /or Fragrance Oil, Natural Enzymes Panthenol, Wheat Germ Oil and Vitamin E.

I used to suffer from extremely dry, brittle hair, before I took a more serious route to properly take care of what was growing out of my scalp. Sweet Ambrosia was a product that I started to use on my journey to getting healthy hair. It's a great leave-in after shampooing and conditioning and after sectioning my hair into four sections, I would just take a quarter sized amount of the Sweet Ambrosia and carefully cover my hair from roots to tip. It keeps my hair soft and moisturized, which is what all naturals need. Sweet Ambrosia is also great as a refresher for kinks and curls and can be used before applying any type of heat (I sometimes add it to my hair before blowdrying). Since my collection of products has grown significantly since the beginning of my healthy hair journey, I may not use Sweet Ambrosia as often as I used to, but it is one of the best products and a tried and true staple in my hair care. I always make sure I have a bottle handy in my bathroom.

Apr 15, 2012

I Think I Kind Of Want This..."H&M Conscious Collection"

I'm super excited about the new Conscious Collection for H&M. This year the collection is taking a more evening inspired approached to go along with its usual easy breezy floral designs that make up most of the Conscious Collection. Once I spotted some of the new dresses, I fell in love. Short sets, long luxurious gowns, and short dresses that come in deep jewel tones, bright neons and beautiful pastels, really make the collection pop. It was a fresh step in a great direction for H&M and I definitely have my eyes on a few of the pieces in the collection...well maybe more than a few, lol. For the more evening inspired pieces, prices range from $49.99-$299.99. Take a peek below at some of my favorites:

HM.com

Apr 10, 2012

My Hair Stories..."The Tale of a Work Updo"

I currently have my hair in a mixture of braids and twists. I had the sides of my hair put in cornrows and the middle and back placed in "smedium" sized twists, which allows me to do a number of hairstyles according to my mood. I love this option, by the way, because it brings me back to the days of my favorite style...the frohawk. I haven't worn it in like 2 1/2 years..and the more I advance at work...it's a little harder for me to get away with the look. To make my work atmosphere happy, I like to wear my hair in "work friendly" hairstyles.
Anyone with natural hair might be feeling my pain. The "can I get away with this at work?" hairstyle. This comes into play when you work in a stuffy environment, or an environment where people just cannot seem to keep their hands to themselves and somehow always end up examining what is growing out of your scalp (I had an incident at work once, where my former Director's fingers found their way into my hair and proceeded to play with it while we were in a meeting...in front of a majority of the staff!! It was considerably an awkward moment for everyone who witnessed it...not just myself).
So, for this week since I would be finding myself in a Rapid Improvement Project for my department for the next four days, decided to place my twists and braids into a simple updo.

Excuse the frizz that seems to be making an appearance as my twists are due for a tune up, but I do love tucking my hair away in a nice updo. I twisted my hair in two sections, pinned it upward with several bobby pins and left a couple twists out in front to create the look. How do you feel about updos?

Apr 8, 2012

Color Me Springtime

Happy Easter!! There is something about the promise of Spring that makes me think of bright colors. I love that everything just seems to come to life around this time of year and what better way to express that than to strut around in outfits that burst with color. Maybe it's the longer days or the flowers blooming, but it makes me happy to know that colors are popping up everywhere I look. Neon yellows, oranges, pinks, florals and mints are my new favs right now and an inspiration board of colors was what I needed to get me into spring.