My Big Announcement!

Hey Family! Check out my new VBlog below. I have a wonderful announcement that I'm so excited to share with you all. New adventures and a new journey up aheld. Yeah! 

Happy 2 Year Hair Anniversary to Me!

Happy 2nd Year Hair Anniversary to Me! 

This August marked my 2nd year going natural, and boy has it been a journey! My hair has gone through a transformation that I didn't expect it to. Although with all the processing, and coloring going natural has allowed my hair to go back to when I was eight. Long, think, and strong. 

I tried a lot of products, spent way to much money if you ask my husband, but I finally got a core group of products and homemade remedies that are my go-to's. 

On a deeper level, going natural has really changed my outlook on beauty. Growing up, my hair was apart of my identity. I felt pretty with long hair, and without it it felt like there was a whole that needed to be filled with other things; new clothes, new shoes...boys maybe? I moved passed that stage in my life, well the new clothes thing is a struggle, but going natural has gave me confidence in how I look, however I choose to look including my hair. I rock a fro with pride and some twist for sass. If I want to accessories with an outfit I may floss some wigs as well. I don't feel obligated to any specific look and that is so freeing to me. 

I get many compliments on my hair, and I noticed that there are a lot of women that have the desire to go natural, but say "I can never go without my relaxer" or "I can't go to work looking like that" or they have no idea where to start . Believe me, I understand. I hope that through my blog site I'm able to help some of you get started on a wonderful journey. Not everyones path going natural will be the same, but if I can encourage and inspire some you out there that would be a great accomplishment. 

 Check out my v-blog below

Sporting a 1970's flare

My first Product Review! Reciprocitee

Reciprocitee Hair Butter Creme

by Naturally Tash 9/2/2001

in Product Reviews, Reciprocitee

Retail Price: 4oz. $10, 8oz. $17


Scent: Smells a little like lemon grass.

Consistency: Whipped creme

Ingredients: 


Butyrospermum parkii (Shea Butter) Fruit,
Mangifera indica (Mango) Seed Butter,
Persea gratissima (Avocado) Seed Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe) Leaf Juice
Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Cocos nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Raw Honey, D alpha-tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), Xanthan Gum, Botanical extracts, & Essential Oils

Purchased from

Review: 

I had a wonderful experience trying the creme for my twist and twist out. The product claims to retain moisture in your hair, and it didn't disappoint. My hair smelled lovely and was super soft. Check out my video below for the step by step on my experience.

Part II

Would I recommend?: Yes

I'm Back! Camping Hair Update

Hey Fam! Oh my goodness it's been forever since I've been on here, and I've missed you guys soooo much. With moving into the new place, going to camp with the kids and adjusting to my new work schedule it's been difficult to blog with ya. But, I'm finally getting into my grove and ready to catch you up on my hair battles, the battles I've won and lost. Luckily I have no reports of battles lost, but I have a win!

Last month I went to Woodleaf for a week with Young Life, the mentoring program I'm a leader for, and had a blast! The day before we left, my hubby and I were moving into our new place and I had absolutely no time to put my hair in a protective style. I knew that I would be swimming and getting dirty so I made sure to pack up some hair essentials to make sure I don't come home bald.

My hair in a bun, on the way to Woodleaf. It was in this style for at least two days

What I took with me:

*Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie

*Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk

*Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Hold & Shine Moisture Mist

*Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner

*She Moisture Raw Shea Butter Moisture Retention Shampoo

*Kinky Curly Spiral Spritz

*Hair Dryer

*Comb/ Paddle Brush

And the Star of the show...

*Reciprocitee Hair Butter (V-blog coming soon)

As you can see, I had an extensive amount of hair products to go camping, but I didn't know what the weather was going to be like, or how my hair was going to react to the chlorine and dirt so I went prepared.

I got crazy dirty after doing the race cars. Dirt all in my hair!

My first wash of the week. I used the Shea Moisture conditioner as a leave in and added the Reciprocitee Hair Butter on the ends of my hair. Rocked a side pony for Cowboy night. Yee Haw! 

I didn't want to have to wash my hair again, so I tried my best to have it wrapped up during Messy Games, and boy did we get messy. I was covered in mud. But, my hair survived...well until that night. 

Carnival Night, the kids played games to win tickets. The tickets earned them a right to have a leader get pied in the face or dunked in the tank. I got pied TWICE and dunked. My kids are the greatest, lol. It's part of the job. 

Rocking the curly fro

So after getting the shaving cream all out my hair, I let my hair hang lose. I shampooed it, conditioned it and added some Kinky Curly Spritz for my curls. Leaving my hair out lasted about an hour before I put it up again. It was too hot to have my hair down on my neck. 

Overall, what I thought might be a troublesome hair journey ended up turning out just fine.  At the end of my trip, my hair was well conditioned and healthy as can be.  

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today I'm rocking a pony with a red bandanna that I put into a pretty little bow. My hair has been in its wash and go stage for about almost a week now. I know that may be too long for many of you, and I was a bit afraid of doing it myself because I heard that my hair could break off. But, I've been conditioning my hair with Shea Moisture's  Coconut & Hibiscus  hold and shine moisture mist every morning, then alternating between Shea Moistures Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Conditioning Milk. I'm so loving Shea Moisture's products right now. It really does keep my hair soft like cotton and you can see some of my curls in tact. But, after a week my hair is starting to look frizzy, and it's due for a good DC, so I will be putting my hair in it in twist tomorrow to give it a rest. Anyways, this is a very short blog but I 

hope you guys have  a blessed and safe holiday. 

~Love Naturally Tash 

Hair Diary App for Women of Color

Growing Locs, doing the BC or Transitioning is an on going process. For me, it can be difficult  to get a good healthy regiment down and stick to it. I'm still very much in the experimental stage, well...aren't we all? So, while experimenting with hair products, hair styles or home remedies, it can be down right frustrating sometimes.

But,  Nicolle Epps, Fonder and CEO of BlackHairMedia.com has come up with a solution girls, called My Black Hair Diary. This app allows women of color to track their salon appointments, hair growth, and share them all through social communities on the go like Facebook and Twitter.
What I love about this app is that it helps me keep record of the hair products I use, which in turn, can be a source of help when trying to identify what works well for my hair and what doesn't. For the Hair Product Junkies like myself, this app is for you!

My Black Hair Diary cost a reasonable price of $1.99. I usually don't buy any apps more than .99 cents, but I thought if I'm willing to buy an app that monitors my menstrual cycle for $6 (I'll do a post on that later) I can support my sista and buy My Black Hair Diary, which is now available now on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Coming to Android soon.  Check it Ouuuuttttt :)

Source provided by BlackPR.com and BlackNews.com

Jill Scott-Fierce!

I've always been a huge Jill Scott fan. The soulfulness of her voice the rawness of her music is one of a kind. She is one of the few soul and R&B artist out there that is still putting out quality material. And lets not forget her natural beauty, this woman's style is always fierce, and she doesn't disappoint with her new album cover. Jill Scott, channeling the 70"s meet 80"s, showcased her style in her first video out called "Shame (featured Eve and The A group), rocking the 70's sequenced dress with door knocker earrings. Get it girl!

Now, what I really want to talk about is Jills HAIR! When I first saw the Shame video, I was like I WANT THAT HAIR! For some of you newly transitioners or BC's I'm sure your ultimate goal is to get beautiful curly or wavy hair like in the above picture. I know I do, so when i saw the video i was mesmerized, but sadden at the same time thinking  my hair may never look like that. 

But, not all hope is lost girls. Jill Scott is rock-en a weave! Well, I'm no professional so it maybe a wig or hair pieces, but bottom line it isn't her hair. Which gives me hope that if I spend a few dollars (more like hundreds)  I can achieve the look above. What do you guys think?

Here is Jill's real hair in the picture above, which is still fierce. Ladies, it really is how you carry yourself. Jill just oozes out beauty in whatever style she rocks her hair. That confidence that she exudes is what you should really aspire to have. Side note, I need those glasses. 

Check out her new song with Anthony Hamilton, called "So in Love" where she rocks the cute short hair cut. 

                  Jill Scott's new album, The Light of the Sun comes out June 28th. You can pre-order her album on itunes for $13. Do not steal the album people, please support her!

Not Natural by Choice

Awhh, look at my baby picture. Head full of hair. People would tell me as a little girl, how cute I was and how i had "good hair". And I believe to many standards I did. I have to give props to my mom, for taking good care of my hair but there wasn't much I could do to it. Cutting or coloring my hair was never an option, Daddy wasn't having it.

But in college i had my little liberation movement. I thought being grown meant I could cut, color and style my hair anyway I wanted, and I did. Red hair was my color of choice!  On that same note, I burned, fried,overly processed my hair to death. Youth must of been on my side because whatever I did to it, my hair would grow back. I would even say pridefully, go ahead cut it, my hair grows fast.

Well, fast foreword to age 29. Just got married, just finished grad school and my hair stylist noticed I had some small bald spots in my hair. I've been told that before a couple years back, but it was small. I brushed it off as maybe just a stress spot. Well my stress spot turned into a stress area on my head and girsl did I freaked out. I was the black girl with long good hair, I can't be going bald!  It took me almost six months before going to the doctor, cause honestly I really didn't want to know what it was. I did do my own research via Google.  When i finally went to the doctor, he confirmed my fear that yes I did have a form of alopecia and referred me to a dermatologist.

 

To me that was a instant wake up call to make a change in my hair regiment and I was on a mission to give my hair the best care possible. So on August 21 2009, I made the pact to officially go natural. Going natural means different things to different women. My going natural process was to not press or flat iron my hair for a year, use natural products or ingredients in my hair and instead of doing the BC( Big Chop) I decided to transition out of my processed hair, gradually cutting my ends.

Sometimes, I still get emotional when i see my balding spots (I have two now) but I am blessed to have enough hair to cover it. If i didn't have the hair to cover it? I don't know how i would feel. I'm not afraid to wig it out! But,there is something about the connection a women has to her hair that is sometimes indescribable. Besides the balding, I do love my hair. I love the versatility I can have, and the feeling of being freed from not only the unnecessary products I was buying that were totally wrong for my hair, but also free from the day to day drama of having my  hair processed.  I get compliments daily, especially with  my Caucasian sistas.  They always say, "I just love how you can do so many things to your hair". Go figure! My whole life I've been straightening my hair to resemble their hair and they wish they had my versatility.

It's a growing process for me guys, and I'm constantly learning techniques and ways to continue my healthy hair mission. Thank you to all my supporters, and especially my husband who tells me I'm beautiful everyday. God Bless. TR