Kimmie in Kimchiland...

안녕하세요!

My birthday was a couple weeks ago, but I was on campus nearly all day long that day. So, on 12 April, I went with two of my friends from Scholars (Megan & Yael) to a Korean barbeque/restaurant for lunch as a late celebration.

While I love many Asian cuisines, I haven't been able to venture much into Korean food, so this was a treat. I thought that I'd be able to use some of what I'd learned in class at the restaurant, spend some quality time with friends, and try some new foods to boot. 

Once inside, we took forever trying to decide what to order! Almost everything on the menu looked delectable. Megan decided on Jap Chae, Yael ordered Bibimbap, & I settled on Duk Mandoo Guk.

Because Megan and Yael didn't order soup, they both received small bowls of a dish similar to miso soup. I tasted a bit, and though it did have bits of tofu, it was much less salty than miso, which I liked. Here's a shot of it. If any of you happen to know the proper word for it, please let me know! It's been driving me nuts.

A few minutes later, Megan's jap chae (잡채)

 arrived! It's vermicelli noodles with chicken and lots of veggies :-D

Then my dduk mandu guk (떡만두국)...

Beef broth with dumplings, strips of beef, rice cakes, eggs, onions, noodles, and a bit of sliced seaweed on top. Heaven in a bowl :-D

And Yael's bibimbap (비빔밥)...

Beef strips with veggies, rice, and a fried egg. With seaweed to garnish :-D She got the kind in the hotpot, which kept everything nice and warm.

These cute little dishes, called banchan (반찬), are side dishes served with every Korean meal and shared by every person at the table. At the far end and going clockwise are sweetened potatoes, then fish cakes, kimchi, bean sprouts, lettuce, and squash. I tried everything except for the fish cakes (I'm very particular about seafood; the flavor is delicate), and my favorites were kimchi, bean sprouts and the potatoes.

A closeup of the potatoes. They were so yummy!

And some closeups of my soup. Here's a rice cake slice.

A bit of egg

A dumpling! This was my favorite part, besides the broth and the egg. The dumpling was filled with...meat.

And egg :-D

Ooh, and the noodles! Cellophane, to be precise, which is one of my favorites. In the background, you can see some of Yael's bibimbap.

We each tasted a bit of each other's food, and we enjoyed everything! After the meal, our waitress brought us these cute little bowls filled with a sweet rice water. It was a pretty good palate cleanser, methinks. (Random factoid: Yael, who is from Madagascar, told me that there's a similar drink in her country. Apparently they let the rice cook until it sticks to the bottom of the pot, then they pour water into it. She said that it tastes similar to this.)

Afterwards, we walked a couple doors down to the Shilla bakery, and I bought a slice of rainbow cake, which I ate at home later. It was good, but it was definitely a different type of sweet than I'm used to. The cakes we eat are heavier and much sweeter. This was very airy, light, and had a sane amount of sugar in it.

All in all, I really enjoyed my first venture into Korean food! I look forward to going again, and even trying some at home :-D

안녕!

Do you like foreign food? What's one of your favorite types of cuisine? Do you normally eat it out at a restaurant, or do/can you make it at home, too? Have you ever tried Korean food?

Hullo again! Segunda parte :-D

What my poor little curls and coils have become :-(

안녕하세여, my fellow curlies!

In my last post (19 March), I gave y'all the deets about school, spirituality and this blubbery body of mine that had been going on since I vanished from the intrawebs. Like any good naturalista, I'm sure that you're wondering what was going on with my hair at that time (above is a photo of the chaos that ensued o_O). Instead of writing the next great American novel by describing things in painstaking detail, I'll just go through each step of my regimen and let you know what went on during these two months, and some recent product favorites (or not-so-favorites lol).

We begin with the all important deep conditioner (DC):

This seems to be the aspect of my regimen with which I have the least amount of trouble. I can pretty much take any conditioner, add oils and honey/molasses (or assorted produce), leave it on overnight, and have great results in the AM. I tried and really enjoyed the Shea Moisture Yucca & Baobab Volumizing Conditioner as a DC; the fragrance was a little too strong for my liking (especially after leaving it on overnight), but it had pretty good slip, and I think that it really helped with fortifying my fine strands without giving it that dry, "proteiny" feel that I get from using protein treatments. I got about 4.5 uses out of it, which is pretty good for a 12 oz product (in my mind, anyway). I'd repurchase this as long as I was doing some finger detangling before washing, not as an overnight DC - but only because of how strong the fragrance is to me. Currently, I'm using the Eden Bodyworks Jojoba Monoi All Natural Deep Conditioner, which I also like so far. It's nice and thick, but easier to spread if I apply it to wet hair. I can also do a bit of finger detangling with this in my hair (pre-wash), and I love how it plumps up and elongates my curls overnight. The aroma of this DC can be weird if you aren't used to the smell of Melaleuca (tea tree) oil. My mom used to use a Melaleuca oil mix for our cuts and scrapes, so the aroma was familiar to me; it just seemed a bit odd to have it in my hair. But I've gotten more used to it over the couple of weeks that I've been using it. It is a tad strong, though, so I doubt that I'll be repurchasing it after I use it up.

Now, onto cleansing/shampooing:

Ugh. This is now probably one of my least favorite parts of my wash days. Remember how I had that nice little cleansing cowash mix? Well, I ran out of AVJ, and I couldn't find that VO5 Tea Therapy condish at any other store (I bought it in Essex, but I have never seen it in any drugstores or grocery stores in MoCo! o_O). So I decided to just try regular cowashing - which was a huge mistake. My scalp is very sensitive to buildup, and no matter how well I rinsed with warm water, my scalp would feel gunky and dirty within a few days. I tried going back to my beloved Yes to Cucumbers poo, but the same thing began to happen - that gross, dirty feeling after a few days. To my horror, scalp zits started popping up in random spots, and they hurt like the dickens. Recently, I did a 2.5:1 blend of vinegar:conditioner with Suave Tropical Coconut, and even as much vinegar was in there, it still didn't cleanse my scalp to my satisfaction. I even bought the As I Am Coconut Cowash, with the same result (on top of having all that tangerine extract [citrus in any form isn't especially great for my body - inside or out]). I have had just about enough of this sulphate-free shampoo and cowashing crap, to be honest. My hair likes it, but my scalp is suffering. I took a look at what I've been using to cleanse, and I realised that I need a plain, ol' fashioned shampoo that doesn't have any botanical extracts or infusions (which are all potential irritants for me), plant oils, or any other frills. If it's a sulphate free poo, I'd like it to be simple - 4 or 5 gentle cleansers (I like disodium laureth sulfosuccinate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate and cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine), polyquaternium-7 or -10 (for a bit of conditioning), and vitamins B and E (panthenol and tocopherol acetate, respectively). No irritants, extracts, infusions, nothing. But, it seems like the only shampoos like that are sulphate poos. So I'll be breaking CG protocol and going back to my Paula's Choice shampoo, simply because it's the least irritating. One of the CN ladies also told me about KeraCare's sulphate-free shampoo, which looks as if it has similar ingredients to Paula's Choice. I'll have to look more into it, but for now, sulphates here I come! I'm ready for my scalp to actually be CLEANED (not cleansed) this weekend :-D

Conditioning/Detangling:

It's not so much the conditioning part of this that has me frustrated, but the detangling that's driving me positively bonkers. I'm still using and loving the TRESemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture condish, but I switched back over to finger detangling during my intrawebs sabbatical. Ehh...huge mistake. My curls and coils need the many nylon bristles of a Denman to remove nearly every shed hair from between them. Plus, it was just taking way too long to detangle my hair! I do not want to spend an hour in the shower trying to remove shed hairs with my fingers - that is NOT the business. So, I said to heck with Massey and bought a Beautique styling brush (Sally's Denman D4 knockoff) the other day from Sally's (I only bought it because my Denman D3 had mysteriously disappeared -__-). I tested it on a section of my hair last night, and hunty-chile, lemme tell you that my little curls were singing with joy when I ran that brush through! The additional 2 rows somehow seemed to make combing easier, and the definition was killer. Umm, yeah. Definitely never doing full out finger detangling again. Also, I think I'd to look for a few more combing/moisturizing conditioners. TRESemme Naturals is my boo thang, don't get me wrong, but I want to branch out a bit more in this area. I'm looking into the Organix Nourishing Coconut Milk condish, ShiKai Natural Everyday condish, and a few of the Nature's Gate conditioners.

Styling:

This seems to have gone from good to bad to worse. I was loving that Xcess gel from my Dollar Tree; it was super easy to spread and had good hold. But then I heard about the HE Set Me Up gel, and I went crazy. It's a hard hold gel (which I like), but now I get all of this buildup, and whenever I shake my head, countless little white flakes fly onto my shoulders and surrounding items. It's really disgusting. I got so frustrated that I made a batch of flaxseed gel and might try that instead of HE. I still like the Taliah Waajid PMB; once I got the hang of spritzing it on my hair, it felt great and slippery. I also tried the Shea Moisture Hold & Shine Moisture Mist as a liquid leave in, which is good. It's not as creamy and moisturizing as the PMB, but it has silk protein high on the ingredients list (3rd after water, I believe), so I like to concentrate it on my ends. My creamy leave ins have been good, too. The SM Curl & Style Milk is still my tried and true absolute most favorite creamy leave in. I gave the Nuance Argan Oil Glossing conditioner a go, and wow! It worked just like I imagined it would - slippery, uber-moisturizing (with lots of infused oils), and it gave me great shine, too. The fragrance was a little out there, but overall, I liked it.

Overall, the big thing that I seem to have garnered from the past 2 months is the old adage: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I changed so many aspects of my routine solely based on the fact that somebody else did it. But c'est la vie - sometimes we have to learn the hard way.

I'm definitely going to give the CG method a rest for a few months, get back to the basics that I know and just simplify my regimen. I'll continue to report back at least monthly for updates on how my hair's faring with this change.

안녕!

What aspects of your hair regimen have been working well for you? Is there anything that you're rethinking/re-evaluating?

Hullo! Primero parte :-D

안녕하세요 (Annyeonghaseyo = hello), curlies!

I know that it's been an eternity since I last posted, but I had good reason for it this time - school. I'm taking 15 credits this semester again, and I really wanted to focus on classes. So, I didn't just take a blog break, but a break from most social media in general. I feel bad for leaving y'all in the dark, though *sniffles* :-( Hopefully a few updates about everything will make up for it. Sooo, here we go!

1. Universidad (College/University): MUCH better this semester! By God's grace, I'm able to really buckle down and get things done this term. I know that God is a huge part of that, just because I was having emotional issues last semester. Every day hasn't been easy, and I have been tempted to skip classes some days, but I realised how disrespectful that is - especially since my classes are being paid for by my school. So I'm really trying to be more diligent this semester. 

Also, Korean is going really well! It makes Spanish seem like a walk in the park, but I LOVE Korean! It's so different, and yet makes perfect sense to me. King Sejong (credited with inventing hangul, the Korean writing system) and his advisors were geniuses! The entire alphabet was created based on nature and the structure of a person's throat and vocal organs. It's amazing to me that just looking at a word tells you how to pronounce it! It's so much simpler and more logical to me than English. Another cool thing about Korean is that all words are built from Consonant + Vowel (always in that order!) syllable blocks, so translating names is a bit easier. 

For instance, my first name in English is: KIM-ber-lee. Korean doesn't have the strongly emphasised "-er" that I have in my second syllable. But in Korean, my name is written as this: 킴벌리 and pronounced as KEEM-bul-lee. 

The force is still on that first syllable, because the first consonant (ㅋ) is an aspirated (spoken with air) consonant and commonly used for loanwords and non-Korean words/names. The "b" consonant (ㅂ) has a slight "p" sound to it, but it's softened by the previous syllable.  Also, the first two syllables have this nifty thing going on called Patchim (or what my sunsengnim [선생님] calls C-star). Patchim is when you add another consonant (or 2) to the original Consonant + Vowel block. It can change the pronunciation of that consonant - like in the middle syllable of my Korean name. The "ㄹ" has a slight rolling "r" sound (think like the double "r" in correr [Spanish]). As patchim, though, the "ㄹ" changes to an "l" sound. The "ㄹ" would have that rolling "r" in the last syllable ("ree"), but since there's another "ㄹ" right before it, the first one makes the second one take on it's "l" sound.

Also, in the word 선생님, there's patchim in every syllable. The "ㄴ" and "ㅁ" don't have sound changes, but the "ㅇ" does. Originally, "ㅇ" is a silent consonant (needed for words that start with vowel sounds but that need a sort of consonant placeholder), but with patchim, the silence is broken and "ㅇ" is pronounced as "ng" (like the "ng" in "ing"). Pretty cool, huh? Okay, going out of nerd mode...

2. Spiritual Health: I'm keeping on keeping on. I'm still in the same life group (small group/Sunday school) at my church, and we're supposed to be starting a new series in a couple of weeks. I guess I'm excited for it, but for a while now, I've been very dissatisfied with my church. Before y'all run away and condemn me for blaspheming Christ, please believe that my dissatisfaction is biblical, and not just nitpicky things like the music. I don't want to go on what seems like a whiny rant about it, but suffice it to say that I don't feel like I'm growing spiritually at the church I'm currently attending with my family. It's bothered me for quite a long time now (I think I started noticing around 11th or 12th grade), and I've continued going only because I'm on a ministry team with my sister and I can't just abandon them. Once I fulfill my obligations with them, however, I'll be praying about visiting other congregations. My personal devotions have been erratic (what's new? :-/), but the Holy Spirit is quick to remind me when I forget. Not a pleasant feeling, but needed, nonetheless.

3. Physical Health: I must say that this took a turn for the better! I'm taking nutrition this semester, and at first I was a tad skeptical. My professor assigned us to do a personal risk assessment; we had to interview our parents about their health, their siblings' health, their parents' health, and their parents' siblings' health. We also had to compose a family tree showing the birth and death of everybody (including ourselves and our siblings), and note any nutrition-related diseases that could've been prevented. I always "knew" that both sides of my family had health issues, but this assignment made it real to me. 

After interviewing my parents, I stared numbly at my paper as I saw that relative after relative suffered from Diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), obesity/overweight and cancer. My dad, paternal uncle, paternal great uncle, maternal grandmother (deceased), maternal grandfather, maternal uncle, and maternal great aunts and uncles all have Diabetes. They also all have hypertension! Nearly everybody on my mom's side is obese or overweight, as am I. I inherited gallbladder disease from my maternal grandmother. It was just disease after disease, and I felt so overwhelmed! I wanted to cry. I was at a heightened risk for everything because it was so prevalent in my family! I already have gallbladder disease and obesity, but the one thing that freaks me out is Diabetes. After learning even more about (I picked up a lot from my dad) it during our carbohydrates chapter, I felt numb on the inside. My dad was slowly killing himself from the inside out with his horrible diet, and he didn't seem to care! He could literally keel over any day with the way he eats. It's only by God's grace that he's still alive (just like the rest of us, though, so...). He's already had a scare with clogged arteries a few years back; God provided a miracle then. But the way in which my Daddy doesn't seem to take care of his body really scared me. Death never seemed so close or mortality so real. 

I decided then that I couldn't let that happen to myself. I finally read that last chunk of Eat to Live, and for the past few weeks, I've been eating raw vegan. Before you think I've gone off my rocker, it's actually been a great way for me to eat! My normal, incredibly nauseating post-nasal drip has all but vanished. My sniffles are gone. My stomach is no longer bloated. My gallbladder no longer aches trying to provide bile for foods I had no business eating. I feel more energetic than I have in a couple of years, and my skin looks healthier, too. Typically, I have smoothies for breakfast, a salad with raw crunchy veggies for lunch, and a salad and cooked veggies for dinner (huge, huge, huge salads - about 1/2 pound of lettuce per meal). It's amazing! It's not easy, and I have succumbed to temptation several times, but I'm continuing on. I have to do this not just to look good, but to make sure that I'm taking care of the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. To put it frankly, I was being (and still am sometimes) a glutton and acting foolish about my health. It was unwise to treat my body in such a manner. But better late than never, right? I'd rather change my habits before a crisis hits my body.

I'll definitely be updating you guys with my progress! I'm a work in progress, but I can't ever go back to eating the way I was. It's too risky.

Y'all's eyes have taken enough of a hit this AM, haven't they? I thought so lol. Tomorrow I shall continue, dahlings! I'll be updating y'all about the hurr - what's been going on and where I'm thinking of going next. Spoiler alert: my CG days might be over for good *cue Twilight Zone music* Lmbo!

Anywho, how have y'all been? I've missed you (even those that don't comment; every view is greatly appreciated)! I tried to keep up with blogs, and I have to say that Dee, you and AuCurls have done amazing jobs with TC, as usual. Such pretty coils! Raven, your articles and advice are as fascinating and insightful as usual :-) GoldenBlaze, your product reviews have me drooling over here! And Valerie from Curls2Envy - great devos as always, and drop dead gawjus hurr of late! What's in those products of yours? Lol.

안녕! (Annyeong! = Adios/Ciao/Aloha/Bye)

Time, Time, Tickety Time...+ Got Carrots? + Finals Rehash

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm addicted to what my friends and I call "the magic YouTube (YT)." I'm subscribed to more than 50 channels, and I watch almost all of the updates - they vary from world events to the latest Twist 'n' Curl tutorial to homeschool curriculum reviews.

I haven't always had such varied interests on the magic YT. At first, I only came to this wonderland of media for footage of one of my favorite comedians (Tim Hawkins) and the occasional music video. Then, my sister introduced me to the brilliant minds behind BlimeyCow. Once I joined the CN forums, I was turned on to Naptural85, KimmayTube, SimplYounique, iknowlee, FusionofCultures, UsNaturalGirls, nappturality, Spiraled Halo, Waterlily716, Summyr1988, CurlyWavyDiane, BeautifulBrwnBabyDol, Katie Douglass, teaundra, MelsharyA, bishonenrancher, HairCrush, HomeSpaGoddess, MahoganyCurls, MahoganyKnots, peepla7, QuickEasyHairStyles, CuteGirlsHairStyles, TRESemme and more. I checked out Naptural85's second channel, DearNaptural85, and thus my vlogging obsession began, and I was soon subbed to BritPopPrincess, BritPopLife, gflowers02, brittser03, TheNiveNulls, BrittsBreakdown, Jamie Pmelb...

Then I remembered that YT had fitness gurus, as well! WellnessRocksGym, LiveStrongWoman, StudioEast, Blogilates and StudioPilates. I got into Kpop (#don'tjudgeme) and became a subbie of 2NE1, Tae Yang, Se7en, etc. Informal Korean lessons (TenchiJK2), political incorrectness (iamOTHER), homeschool curriculum (HomeSchlMomof3), being a Christian (Tenchijk), life overseas (AbatarTeacher), life advice (DhatAznJ), current events (AlJazeeraEnglish), and countless other channels fill up my subscription tab.

Outside of these genres stands one of my favorite groups of YTers: the life-ers. They do vlogs, album covers, do recipes, computer graphics, introduce you to their SOs and/or friends, create their own music, short films, poetry or art, do parodies, give advice, and do lots of tags. I'm just getting to know this niche among the millions of YTers, but I enjoy them just the same...and oftentimes even moreso because of the variety that they bring to the proverbial table. 

Of this group, StillNotDavid is probably my favorite. More often that not, his videos leave me on the floor gasping for air. I love his sense of humor. His latest update, though (from more than a week ago) was really thought-provoking. It's a short film that he wrote and directed, and I think it's worth watching. Peep the vid (and head over to YT to sub to his channel if you like this :-D )!

What think you?

In other news, I mentioned yesterday that I like to put regular conditioners and masques in my carrot DC. I know some of you were probably like "What the what? Carrots?" Yes, my dear curly friend, carrots. Occasionally, ideas for mixes just pop into my head, and I can't seem to restrain myself from trying them. A few weeks ago, I got the bright idea to try making a DC with carrots. I usually use avocados, but I thought that pureeing carrots would give the same results. So, I Googled it, and came across this recipe on BlackHairPlanet.com:

Ingredients:

•3 carrots

•1 overripe banana

•Honey

•Mayonnaise

•Peppermint

•Water

•Blender

•Container with lid

•Towel

Step

1)Steam or boil 3 washed and chopped carrots in 1 cup of water until tender. Fifteen minutes may be long enough to soften the carrots. If you have the green carrot leaves, we will use them in this recipe as well. You do not have to cook this part of the carrot for the hair conditioner.

Step

2 )

Pour the carrot and water into a blender, and blend until almost smooth. Add fresh or dried peppermint to the blender and blend.

Step

3 )

Add the banana and blend until smooth and creamy. The banana and carrot composition will give the hair conditioner a lot of body.

Step

4 )

Next, add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1/2 cup of mayonnaise to the blender. Blend all ingredients together, making a smooth and creamy hair conditioner.

Step

5)Spoon the mixture into a jar with a lid, and store in the refrigerator until your next shampoo.

Step

6)Add a generous amount after shampooing, making sure to massage the hair conditioner in well. Wrap with a towel and leave in for 15 minutes to 2 hours. Rinse and towel dry.

Now, y'all know me...I tweak everything pretty much. My scalp detests peppermint, so I left that out. And we didn't have real mayonnaise at the time, so I just used conditioner in place of the mayo. I also substituted molasses for honey since we were out of that, as well. I followed all of the other directions pretty much to a "T." It went on smoothly, as you can see:

Post rinsing...my hair felt uber soft, but oh, all the pieces of carrots in my twists!

And, my results after detangling. I do have to mention that removing pieces of carrot seems much easier than removing avocado chunks. My Denman just seems to pick up carrots much more easily.Now, I did have carrot pieces in my twists, but it wasn't too noticeable, methinks.

Ooh! I had some other random pictures and a video from studying for finals at Vicente's house. They're hecka (it sounds weird, I know) late, but better late than never, right? :-)

This was fuel for the weekend...I drank 4 cups of this magical coffee! Andrei taught me how to make cafe "the Southern way." It was frothy y muy delicioso :-D

The ingredients used. He added 1 heaping spoonful of instant coffee, and 2 spoonfuls (minimum 2, maximum 5, optimum 3.5) of sugar to mine. In the background is a pan of penne that Vicente cooked and Stephen's legs lol.

This video was one that I took during one of our study breaks on the second day. In it, you'll see (and hear) Julia, Vicente, Noelle, Andrei, Stephen, Matt, Lola, and moi. The obnoxious laughter close to the mic and female Kermit voice are also mine -______-

Vintage Posts from the CN Forums - Part 3

17-08-2012
Hair Regimen Update
I finally started my mini twists today! My hair looked so shiny and defined after taking out the twists this morning, I considered doing a twist out. But, I need this protective style, so I stuck to my plan.
Whoever said that Naptural85 makes mini twists look easy was right! I watched her mini twists tutorial at least 5 times before I started to make sure I did everything correctly. But I didn't have a wide tooth comb (my sister lost both of them -_-) or flaxseed gel. And my hair wasn't as strechted as hers is in the video, so my twists look kind of weird. I did make even rows, though! But my parts are strange, and the sides of the twists end up uneven, so I trimmed a few ends (first time scissors have touched non-SSKs since my BC!) to make them match up. And even though I'm twisting tight enough on most of them, the twists look nothing like hers. Maybe I'm making them too small or too big? Ugh. It's a good thing I decided to do practice twists this week. I doubt these twists will last more than 3 weeks, but I'll try again and do it better the next time. Ooh! I'll write which products I used for this (including my pre-installation) below:

Pre-installation:
Pompeian Grapeseed Oil (pre-poo)
TRESemme Climate Control Shampoo (poo)
VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries & Cream with Soy Milk Protein/Herbal Escapes Anti-Oxidant Rich Pomegrante & Grapeseed (conditioner)
TRESemme Vitamin H & Silk Protein Smooth & Silky/Vitamin E Moisture Rich, Pompeian Grapeseed Oil (DC)
ACV:H2O (2:1 ratio; scalp clarifier)
Spectrum USDA Certified Organic Expeller-Pressed Coconut Oil (leave in)


Installation:
Fresh Elements Captivatin' Color conditioner (leave in, detangler)
Fantasia IC Polisher Gel (hold)
Fantasia Olive Moisturizing Shine Serum (moisture)

I don't like the Fantasia serum much, but the gel left my hair so dry that I had to do something. But I noticed that the twists without the serum are holding up much better than the ones with it. Hmm. Guess I'll leave the serum out.



18-08-2012
Randomness: I started listening to some Kpop on my iTunes account, and it didn't click in my mind that the song was in Korean until the song ended. I thought it was in English! *shakes head* This has happened to me a few other times too, and it's so bizarre. I don't know Korean! I've got a weird brain.

Mi pelo
I went to a birthday party today, so I pulled the back section of my hair into a puff, and pinned the front sections back. I've kind of got a little pompadour thingy going on in the front. It'll hopefully make my hair stretch a bit more; I was so sick of it curling while I tried to twist yesterday! I may or may not work on my twists more tonight; I need to sleep and get up for church tomorrow morning.



19-08-2012
I ended up not doing any more mini twists last night, but I did some today after church. The going is VERY slow; I'm just finishing up the section on the left side of my head! But I'm trying to make sure I do them right. As painstakingly as I'm doing these twists though, most of them don't look right. Even if I take 5 minutes to tightly twist, they start to unravel the second I let them go *frustrated sigh* And I keep catching little stray hairs in the twists, end up twisting them in, and then have a painful time trying to pin the twists back because they're attached to 1 or 2 thin hairs at the front of my head. 
Also, I wasn't liking the way the Fresh Elements conditioner was working with the Fantasia gel. It's like my hair was too moisturised and slippery (darned dimethicone!  ) and it messed up the twists. 

Soo, I got the money from my babysitting paycheck (money!! Finally!) and hit Target today after church. I spent more than 20 minutes bouncing between the Salon Hair Care aisle (cried over the prices there), the "normal" hair care stuff (lamented over the sodium hydroxide and drying alcohols), and the Ethnic Hair Care aisle (boohooed over the prices and tiny sizes of bottles, and looked skeptically at the "all natural" ingredients). I looked at Shea Moisture, Jane Carter, Cantu, Motions, Creme of Nature, Nubian Heritage (side note: Raven, you were totally right about the Nubian Heritage heat line! I didn't expect to see such high amounts of keratin in the shampoo and conditioner [usually when products claim to have protein, it's 10th on the list and won't do much]! Not to mention the label color was gorgeous  I'll have to try that sometime!), Mixed Chicks, Curls, Curly Qs, Hair Rules, Fekkai, Rusk....on and on and on. I wanted to cry! All I was looking for was a leave in that had shea butter in it (I would use Shea Moisture's Curl Enhancing Smoothie, but it has ammonium salts in it. As little as is in there and as much as that drying effect is likely "cancelled out" by the super moisturising ingredients, I'm not a huge fan of salts in my leave ins) but that wasn't out of my price range. Every "ethnic" product claimed to be natural, but when I checked the ingredients label, all I saw was sulfates, silicones, alcohols (fatty or otherwise), and everything I could find in a bottle of Aussie Moist -_- But, thanks be to God, I finally found something!! It's from the Nubian Heritage line, and I really like it so far! It is *trumpets blare*

EVOO & Moringa Repair & Extend Detangling Leave-In Conditioner with Quinoa, Fennel & Henna

I didn't expect too good of a detangling job but this product has surprised me. I can easily finger detangle a handful of damp hair with a nickel sized amount of this conditioner. There's lots of EVOO, shea butter, coconut oil, mango butter and avocado oil in this! I love it. It's the first "mostly natural" product that has ingredients that I like and works well for my hair. It was only an 8 oz bottle for $11.99 (), but I think it'll last me for a while because much isn't needed for detangling. And, I tried this on my hair while putting in more twists, and it worked like a dream! It's cooperating with the gel much better than Fresh Elements. I'm very happy with this product so far 

I bought another conditioner, too! It's a relatively new line from Herbal Essences. It's called: Honey, I'm Strong and it's supposed to be strengthening. I know that honey is a humectant, but I don't understand how it strengthens. Moisture = Strength? Not in the curly world, at least. I bought it just to try it out (it was on sale! 23.7 oz for only $4.99!), and I LOVE the smell. That's no small feat, seeing as how I detest the smell of most of Herbal Essences' conditioners. It does have sodium hydroxide in it, which, again, I don't like having in my leave ins. So I'll use it as a rinse out. I'm excited to see how it works!

Anywho, I'm still very frustrated with this whole mini twists situation. I'm not giving up yet; I want to try it at least 1 more time before throwing in the towel and calling it quits (I really don't want to try it again, but I'm determined to finish at least this set of twists). But, if it doesn't work out, I can always go back to regular 2 strand twists. Those are plumper (you can include more hair), easier, quicker to do, and my hair suffers no breakage from putting those in. I'll probably twist for 2-3+ hours tomorrow, and update on how that goes.

Any experienced mini twisters here? What do you do to make twisting easier? How do you know that you're twisting the right amount of hair?

FINALLY - An Update!

Ay! I have been so terrible about posting on here. I started doing a blog on CurlyNikki, but I think that I'll move my blog back here again. I'd like to have something separate from my other online stuff. And I feel like I can be a bit more in my element here. On CN, I felt like I was writing just to get other people to read it (not many did because I guess I just don't have that magic blogger touch *shrugs*). Here, I can blog to just blog. So here will I stay! :-)

Well, SO much has happened since I last wrote! I'm in my first full-time semester of college, my hair has grown, I had my 13 month nappyversary (more about that later), I've gained weight (*sobs*), I'm starting a YT channel and I've gone silicone free until the spring or summer! So let's start from the beginning:

 College

The last I wrote, I was trying to make a decision on which college to attend. UMBC gave me a mid-tier scholarship ($10,000 per year) for their humanities program, plus I won another $5,000 per year from my dad's job. But, that still left a great deal to pay, and my parents would've had to take out loans. I have a 100% no-loan policy, so I chose to stay home for 2 more years and be in the honors program in my CC (I've been taking classes there since the 11th grade). 15 credits per semester are paid for, so I just pay for books and whatnot. I wasn't sure how I'd like it, but I love it! The classes are very demanding, but it's enjoyable. I was afraid of not knowing anybody, but I have 24 friends that I grow closer to every time I see them. We hang out outside of classes, have parties, picnics, etc.  I think I actually might have a social life now lmbo. Oooh! I'm a bit of a nerd, so I want to tell you which classes I'm in this semester:

World Literature II Honors

World History II Honors

World Music Honors

Introduction to Philosophy Honors

Intermediate Spanish II Honors

General Psychology

Dance Aerobics

First Year Seminar

...a total of 15 credits. The four classes at the top are actually an interdisciplinary set of courses, so those are actually just 6 credits for the semester...I'll explain later lol. I'm already signed up for next semester, and then I'll be taking:

World Literature II Honors

World History II Honors

World Music Honors

Introduction to Philosophy Honors

Introduction to Sociocultural Anthropology Honors

Principles of Biology I

Elementary Korean I

...16 credits next semester. I'm pumped! I especially can't wait to start Korean. I'm a fan of Kpop, and I just got into Korean dramas (I'm currently going through The Iron Empress on Hulu). Plus, I was thinking of teaching ESL/ESOL there someday, so I thought it was worth a try. I'm so nervous! I've never had to take a 101 language class before. But I've ordered some Korean audio things from the library (Pimsleur materials), and I found a YT channel that has videos to help with pronunciation, and a website to help with the written segment. Random fact: Korean is considered an Altaic language, and not Asiatic, like Mandarin (Chinese). I always wondered why Korean didn't have that same metallic sound as Chinese lol.

Hair

Yes, it has grown! I'm now a bit past collar bone length (CBL) stretched. I'm so happy! Keeping my hair in twists a lot has helped with length retention, methinks. I've had to trim a few ends because they looked straight, but it ended up being nothing.

13 Month Nappyversary

This one is going to be hard to explain. Bear with me. Earlier this year, in May to be exact, my grandmother (Nana) was hospitalised at Holy Cross. We found out what she had known for months but not mentioned: she had ovarian cancer. She was in there for a month, her life in the balance. After 4 long weeks, she was allowed to go to the Rehabilitation Center, but she fell into poor health yet again (this time at the hands of the doctors), and was readmitted to the hospital. She was never able to come back home. It was so difficult for me during that time. School was finishing up, I was dealing with graduation, and because of classes, I couldn't visit her very often. She passed away on 10 June 2012. I was devastated. It was one of the most difficult summers of my life. But this year, on my nappyversary date (3 September), I realised something - my Nana's birthday is 3 October. I BCed exactly 1 month before her birthday! So, in remembrance of her, I celebrate every 13 months that I've been natural instead of every 12.

Weight

Needless to say, my ambitions for losing weight were lost. I started out well, but due to the circumstances over the summer, I just got further and further away from healthy eating. I'm now at my heaviest - 230 pounds :-( But I won't give up! I'm going to Asheville in the summer, and I will NOT be buying a plus sized swim suit, nor will I be embarrassed to show my legs! I'm reading Dr. Fuhrman's book called Eat to Live, and it looks doable. So I'll be trying that starting in January methinks.

YouTube

Yes, you read it correctly, chicas! I'm going to be starting my very own YT channel! I want it to be good quality, though, so I need to purchase a camcorder, learn how to use an editing program, etc. And I want it to either be in Spanish or English with Spanish subtitles. It won't be ready until the summer, probably, though. I want to focus entirely on school and exercise next semester.

Silicone Free?! O_O

Yuppers...I've crossed over to the other side! Lmbo. After my silicone serum obsession of the summer, I was eager to see how my cones would do during the autumn. And somehow...they sucked. Like badly. Like, my hair looked like the Sahara desert bad. I wanted to cry. Soo, thanks to some encouragement from the wonderful ladies on CurlyNikki, I've been exploring some silicone free options. And, to my surprise, my hair is loving it! I'm floored. I didn't know that no 'cones could be so wonderful! So, now my plan is to use 'cone-free products in the autumn and winter and early spring (September-April), and then use regular silicone products in the spring and summer (May-August). Here's my current regimen:

• Prepoo/DC overnight with VO5 Silky Experiences Shea Cashmere Conditioner cocktailed with honey, EVOO, EVCO, and GSO (I'm going to start using the honey and oils with 2 overripe pureed avocados instead, because I want to find another conditioner for DCs that doesn't have isopropyl alcohol in it and is a bit thicker).
• Cleanse scalp with Paula's Choice All Over Hair & Body Shampoo.
• Condition hair and scalp with Spa Haus Salon Conditioner (I actually found this at the dollar store lol. I really like it; a review will be coming soon! :-) ).
• Detangle with TRESemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture Conditioner.
• Twist hair with Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk or Curly Q's Red Velvet Moisturising Curl Cream; seal with my EVOO/GSO mix.

I've been doing this for about 2 weeks now, and my hair looks great! I'll be keeping this up until May hits! :-D

That's about all for this update, bellas! I'll be posting almost everything that I posted on my CN blog on here over the next few days. 

Ciao!