Week Four: Learn to Analyze YOUR Hair & First Check In!

Hey Naturalistas!

Many of us, especially newly naturals are still trying to grasp the personality of our hair. Analyzing your hair's characteristics is very important. Especially when wanting to maintain a healthy head of curls. When we talk about analyzing your hair, we are referring to porosity, texture, density, elasticity, and pattern.

Youtuber Denimnpixie made a video on analyzing your hair and its importance. Check it out below.

You can also check out THIS ARTICLE that was posted on CurlyNikki for more information on porosity!

For those of you who want to know and understand your hair pattern/texture but are confused by all the charts and typing systems, check out these videos by Youtuber JourneytoMyRoots!

Part One

Part Two

Hope this helps!


Are you a natural/transitioner who care about texture/pattern? What's your hair porosity?


Also, today marks our FIRST CHECK IN!! We are one step closer to our goals. So far we've spoken about the anatomy and science of  hair, lifestyle, vitamins, diet, and now, how to analyze your hair. We hope that you are learning new knowledge or reinforcing what you already know!


In honor of you completing the first four weeks of the challenge...Here is a giveaway on us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Week Three: Vitamins, Lifestyle, & Diet

Hey Natural Beauties,

Everyone wants to live a healthy and long-lasting life. What’s the best way to do that? It all starts with taking care of yourself! Many of us forget that the things we intake can do more harm than good to our figures, hair, nails, and energy. We need to take the time out to start taking care of ourselves. Before we can achieve that head of healthy natural hair, we need to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

You have to feed your body nutrients such as protein for good body and hair health. Check out THIS ARTICLE by BGLH to learn more about the 13 nutrients that promote hair growth. You may also be curious about what foods you can eat to maintain healthy hair growth. Foods such as salmon and beans are packed with important ingredients for a healthy hair journey. Learn about other healthy foods for hair HERE!

Many of you know about Nina Ellis-Hervey, Ph.D., and creator of BeautifulBrwnBabyDol blog/vlog. She is a natural who has lost and maintained 100 pounds so she knows all about lifestyle changes for the hair and body. Check out her VERY interesting article HERE to learn more!

Have you been including these foods/ingredients in your diet? Is exercise a part of your regimen?

Week Two: The Anatomy and Science of Hair

Hey Natural Curlies!

Anyone that values the beauty of healthy hair will and should be interested in this topic. Today we will focus on various aspects about what is growing on your head. In order for us to take good care of our mane, we must know what causes it to grow, what disables it from growing, and what can damage it in the process.

We will focus on hair follicles, what makes up a hair shaft, and come up with several techniques on how to protect all of those things. Here is KimmayTube breaking down the structure of hair so we can ALL understand it.

Sure, every head is not the same, but the goal of retaining a healthy head of hair is universal! Here is some more basic information from another youtuber!

CLICK HERE and HERE for more information on the structure of hair!



Do you think that this information was helpful? Let's talk about it!

Week One: "Know YOUR Hair, Love YOUR Hair" Kickoff

Hey Natural Beauties!


Today kicks off the beginning of the “Know Your Hair, Love Your Hair” challenge. Welcome everyone and thank you for joining! To begin, we encourage you to create a goal that you would like to meet. This goal can be anything - growth retention, combating dryness, using better products/revisiting old products, to lessening heat usage.


This challenge will take place over the course of 12 weeks and at the end, we hope that you would have accomplished your goals or learned something new about yourself and YOUR hair!


If you decide to continue participating we ask that you keep track of your experience through diary entries, pictures, blogging, or vlogging. Remember, we will have group check-ins at the end of weeks 4,8, and 12!


This challenge is meant to be fun, stress-fee, and easy going. With that said, here are the ground rules :)

• Respect that everyone has different thoughts and ideas.
• Profanity and inappropriate comments will be deleted. 
• The way you treat your hair isn't the same way someone else does.
• Remember that we are here to achieve a goal.
• All goals are different, but this challenge will be used to bring them together.
• Most importantly, HAVE FUN

We ask that you complete the following:

1. List your name.

2. Where are your from?

2. Why did you decide to participate in this challenge?

3. What are you hoping to achieve through this challenge/what are your natural hair goals?

4. What does "natural" mean to you?

5. How will you be tracking your progress (leave links to blogs, vlogs, and/or pages if applicable)?

JOIN THE CHALLENGE!!

Curls of Joy 

“Know Your Hair, Love Your Hair” Challenge Registration

April 1-June 23, 2012

Every week during April 1-June 23, 2012, we will discuss some basic natural hair topics with the help of your favorite natural YouTube divas MahagonyCurls, IKnowLee, IslandGurl3601, and Dawn of Nappturalite Radio.You can then do your own additional research and experimentation to apply the principles into your regimen.

We encourage you to create a goal at beginning of this challenge. Goals can range from growth retention, to combating dryness, to using better products, to lessening heat usage, etc. Whether you meet, surpass, or fall short of your goals, the greatest joy is that you are more knowledgeable about YOUR hair and can then keep it healthy and beautiful. Track your progress by keeping a hair diary, taking pictures, blogging, or vlogging. We will have group check-ins at the end of Week Four, Eighth, and Twelve.

To Enter:

1. Subscribe to Curls of Joy’s Blog: http://curlsofjoy.blogspot.com/
2. You must sign up on or before March 25, 2011.
3. Under this blog post, leave your name.
4. Leave your email address. (optional)
5. Also, answer the following questions:
1. Why did you decide to become natural?
2. How long have you been natural?
6. At Week Four, Eighth, and Twelve we are going to post blog check-ins where you let us know how your hair journey is going. Active participants will also be entered to win prizes!

* Ground Rules and Goal Setting Will Be Covered During Week 1 /Kickoff*

Week One- Kickoff

Week Two- Anatomy & Science of Hair- Co-Host: Dawn of Nappturalite Radio

Week Three- Vitamins, Lifestyle & Diet

Week Four-Analyze Your Hair- Porosity/Texture/Density/Elasticity/Pattern

Week Five- Ingredients Roll Call- Co-Host: MahoganyCurls

Week Six- Hair Ph Balance

Week Seven- Deep Conditioning + Treatments

Week Eight- Moisture & Sealing- Co-Host: IslandGurl3601

Week Nine- Shedding, Breakage & Length Retention

Week Ten- Hair Regimen

Week Eleven-Styling Methods & Tools- Co-Host: IKnowLee

Week Twelve- Wrap Up & Final Check-in

Jane Carter Revisit & CURL JUNKIE Giveaway!

Review: Pura Body Naturals

If you haven't tried the Pura Body Naturals line, I recommend that you do. I had never heard of the Pura Body Naturals line until I received the Cupuacu Butter at a swap over the summer. My hair is not a huge fan of butter sand oils, so I decided to hold of using it until the Winter. I used 3 products from the line:
1. Chocolate Hair Smoothie
2. MuruMuru Moisture Milk (Tahitian Vanilla scent)
3. Cupuacu Butter (Tahitian Vanilla scent)

I cleansed my hair with the Terresentials Mud wash (LOVE this stuff!) and applied the Chocolate Smoothie. It looks and smells like chocolate mousse. I covered my hair with a plastic cap and let it sit for about 25 minutes. The directions say to use heat for deep conditioning, but I just wrapped my head with a towel to use my natural body heat. When I rinsed my hair I immediately noticed the softness and I was easily able to finger detangle. My hair looked light and fluffy and had a slight shine to it.

Next I applied the MuruMuru Milk as a leave in. I apply my leave ins in sections throughout my whole head first before applying my styling product. This milk is actually a thick cream. It felt very moisturizing but not too heavy because my hair still look and felt light and fluffy. My hair is thick (density) but my strands are fine so I don’t like products to weigh it down too much.

I used the Cupuacu Butter last to twist with. I applied the butter in sections and then twisted my hair before moving to the next section. Last winter I failed at twistouts but I realized my mistake; I was using gels for definition. Now I use creams and butters and get great results. So I was anxious to see how this combo would turn out.

I left my hair twisted for about 2 days (it was snowing over the weekend so I didn’t have anywhere to go). I really liked the results. My hair was super soft and very defined.

Since then I have used the Chocolate Smoothie several times as a Deep Conditioner, always with great results. I have also used the MuruMuru Milk as a leave in and a moisturizer a few times since this initial trial. I used it yesterday to fluff and reshape a braidout. I really like these products and am glad that I tried them. I plan to try other products from the line in the near future.

Have you tried the Pura Body Naturals line yet?