Wigs and Working Out

Now that my winter wig regimen is in full swing, I've had to decide how to wear my hair when I exercise.  I'll share what I do and then I'll offer some alternative suggestions.

For ballet class: I remove the wig, unbraid the cornrows, and put my hair in a high bun.  Last winter, I actually wore my wig to ballet class, but I've changed my routine because the old wig was synthetic and this wig is 100% human hair.  Human hair wigs (like real human hair) will hold odors from sweating.

For horseback riding: I remove the wig, unbraid the cornrows, and put my hair in a low bun.  I always wear a helmet when I go riding and I would be hard pressed to fit my cornrowed hair under a helmet.  I'd rather not get a headache from the helmet squeezing the wig, my cornrows, and my head.

Fortunately, my ballet class is on Thursdays and I go riding on Fridays and Sundays.  So after I remove the cornrows on Thursday, I do a few plaits instead of re-cornrowing my hair.  I'm still able to fit my real hair under the wig.  I then wash my hair on Sunday night, cornrow, and restart the process.

Natural to relaxed and back to natural!

By MsNastassja

(Although I have posted a few comments as Afro Chiq, I'll be going by MsNastassja from here on out. Sorry for the confusion.)

I heard people have been asking about me (YAY!). So I figured I should write a little blurb about myself and the journey I have gone through with my hair.

I first got my hair relaxed in the 4th grade. I don't have any pictures saved on my computer from when it was natural in 3rd grade, but surely you can use your imagination.

4th grade - 1998

In the 7th grade I took swimming lessons, and the chlorine damaged my hair. That, plus me not knowing how to take care of my hair (and obviously being too grown to let my mom help me out with it), led to my mother deciding it was time to go natural in the 8th grade. She said that she too had to go natural at one point due to damage and breakage, but that once my hair was healthy again I could go back to relaxing as she had done. She made it sound fine and dandy.

Sister Sister: Introducing MsNastassja

Me and my sister on my wedding day

I'm so excited about the feedback I've received about my sister's hair. My goal is to help all women, relaxed and naturals, achieve their ideal hair health and length. To that end, my sister will be posting on Kibibi Hair about her natural hair journey. The frequency of her post will depend on her schedule. She is currently in her first year of medical school and naturally (no pun intended) that takes priority.

She will be posting as MsNastassja (unless she decides otherwise), so look for her name in the "by" line of future posts.  Although you will soon come to recognize the difference in our "voices."  To my chagrin, I'm not nearly as witty as she is (smile).

As an aside, Nastassja (pronounced "Nass-tass-sia") is her middle name.  Just as Kibibi is my middle name.      

Winter Wig Regimen

I will post a summary of my winter regimen shortly.

Survey Results

Thank you for taking the survey telling me about your hair. Here are the results below, along with information about how I plan to use it.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

In my Rawr, I'm a Stegosaurus post featuring my sister's hair, I shared how she wore a bantu-knot mohawk as a hairstyle.  She eventually removed the bantu-knots to create this hairstyle.  I love the waves and curls created by the bantu-knots.

I didn't realize that medical school students were this fashionable in class; aviator shades, silk scarf, and to complete the look: pouty lips.

Winter Wig Preview

Here's a picture to whet your appetite.  I recorded my winter wig regimen video today.  I will edit and upload it this week.  

I need a name for the wig and for some reason "Drusilla" stuck out to me.  Who remembers Drusilla from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" tv show?  Come on, I know I'm not the only one who watched that in the 90s. 

"Help me help you"

I watched "Jerry McGuire" last night and couldn't help quoting from the movie.

In order to better help you, I need to know more about your hair.  To that end, please take this brief survey.  It only has 5 questions and should take less than 2 minutes to complete.

Thanks!

HatSoMe!

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One great way to protect your hair and stay warm in the winter is with a hat or scarf.  Unfortunately, not all hats and scarves are hair-friendly.  Fabrics like cotton and wool will dry your hair out immensely, which is a big no-no for healthy hair.  

Enter HatSoMe!  All of their hats and scarves are lined with 100% silk or 100% satin.  And the best part of it is - they have hats for big hair!  You may already know that I can't wear regular hats, because my noggin is huge.  I'm not talking about my forehead either, I'm talking about my entire cranium.  LOL.

I reached out to the company and asked if they would be willing to set up a coupon code for you, my readers, and they were happy to oblige.  Here are the details:

• Website - HatSoMe
• Discount - 10% off entire order, free shipping in the continental US
• Code - Kibibi10
• Expiration - 2/15/11

I ordered this hooded scarf and beenie hat, and will post a review after I receive my order.  I paid for them myself with a discount. 

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Feel free to send me a picture of what you get.

My New Hair Inspiration: Kimora Lee Simmons

Image Source: theYBF.com

When I first started my hair journey, singers Aaliyah (may she rest in peace) and Amerie were my celebrity hair idols.  I also had non-celebrity hair idols from the hair forums including Adrienne and AJamaicanDiva. 

Well today I saw this picture of Kimora Lee Simmons and I love her hair.  Whether this is only her hair or she has some assistance for length is neither here nor there.

Its good to have a hair inspiration photo to help you along your journey.  I'm a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, and visualizing what you want for yourself as a tool to manifesting it into your life.  

Who is your hair inspiration?  Leave a comment with a link to your hair inspiration photo.  

"Rawr I'm a Stegosaurus!"

Some of you may remember my sister from the Tantrum in Target video.  She sent me some pictures of her current hair style with the email subject line "Rawr I'm a Stegosaurus."  I love her comedic wit.  Her hair is natural (no relaxer and no color) and we have the same hair type.

To get the look, she did 6 bantu knots (or as we call them in Jamaica "Chiny bumps").  This is actually the final look of the style.  I know most of us think of bantu knots as a way to "set" our hair and then we remove them to get waves.  But she rocks the bantu knots as is, sometimes all over her head or in a mohawk.

This is a great protective style.  However, I would not recommend it for the extremely harsh winter weather, because of the scalp exposure.  If you live where it is warmer or at least not snowing, then it would be a great winter protective style.        

My Hair: One Year Ago

Blow dried hair. January, 2010

The longest my hair has ever been is a few inches below waist length.  Unfortunately, it was that long for a very short time.  I didn't like how my ends looked.  So my husband gave me a trim which put me back to waist length.

Come to think of it, I completely forgot that he cut a couple inches at the beginning of last year.  Which brings the total number of inches I cut last year to at least 9".

When I started my hair journey, I was very resistant to even lightly trim my ends.  Now I can't seem to stop cutting LOL.  I may need to add "No more cutting for the rest of the year" to my list of 2011 Goals.  I certainly need to stop cutting in order to reach my length goal of waist length, by December 31, 2011.

Sometimes we have to look back at how far we have come in order to move forward.

How was your hair one year ago?


  

January Hair Update

Here's a brief summary of what I discuss in this video:

• I cut another 1" because my ends were looking thin.
• Since my last haircut in October, nothing "bad" has happened to my hair.  
• My stylist and I both suspect that the thin ends were caused by the plastic bands I used to secure my braids when I wash my hair.
• I will find an alternative way to secure my braids when I wash my hair.
• My next video will be on my winter regimen - with and without wearing a wig.

Welcome to the New Blog!

I'm so excited about the updates, and I hope that you find the changes more user-friendly.  I appreciate all the feedback when I asked for suggestions. Thank you for continuing to support me and my website.  You, my readers, are the best.

All of the old posts and comments have been transferred to the new blog.  However, here is what's new:

• Style Gallery - Pictures of various hair styles that I wear.

• Hair Basics - Basic reference guide.

• Truncated posts - To speed up the website's load time, I will truncate long posts.  To read the entire post, just click "Read More."  This will be especially helpful for viewing the website on a smart phone, iTouch, or other mobile device.  

• Related Posts - This feature shows you related posts.

I would love to hear your feedback on the website and how I can improve upon it.

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited about the new year.  I shared in my previous post that I prefer to set concrete goals and mottos to live by.  Here are some of my hair related goals for this year:

• Redesign my blog
• Finish my book (more details to come)
• Post at least 15 times per month 
• Have better quality videos
• Achieve waist length by December, 2011

As for my motto, I decided on "Today is the Day."  I got the inspiration for my motto after I felt oddly compelled to read "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss.  It's okay, you can laugh.  I'm currently reading "Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy, and felt like reading something lighter.  I was surprised by how much deeper the Dr. Seuss book is than I remembered.



This is a new year and a new day.  Whatever your goals are, today is the day to get started.  How will you maximize today?