Because I know you newly natural ladies are on the lookout for some bold pieces of jewelry that don’t break the bank, I’m going to share with you a site I found through LHCF.

The site is called Two Dollar Jewelry…if you have two dollars, you have enough for a pair of earrings, a necklace, a ring, or a bracelet. Shipping is $1.60 for the first item and then $0.55 cents for each additional item. Then, if you spend over 50 bucks, shipping is free.

Now, this jewelry is two bucks and not something you’re probably going to be passing down to grandkids or anything, but for the here and now, it’s a great deal. Especially for those of you who like to have a different pair of earrings for each outfit (you know who you are!).  I’ve had all of mine for a few months now and only one thing broke on me.Hence my reasoning for not recommending any of the stud earrings. I fell asleep in a pair and I woke up with them laying on my pillow. The dangly earrings seem to be a better pick.

I have ordered two necklaces which seem to be pretty sturdy thus far. I also ordered two bracelets from this site, but have yet to wear them. They also have some non-two dollar items such as scarves and hats that are pretty cheap inexpensive. I’ve not ordered any of them so I can’t vouch for them.

The delivery was pretty quick, I believe it shipped the same day,  and I had to sign for everything to receive my package, so I think you need to have a physical address.

If you’re afraid of your skin turning green, try and get the wooden jewelry which they seem to have plenty of. I got wooden necklaces and bracelets just for that reason.

Still straight right now though I’m rocking a bun currently. Someone at work asked me why I straightened my hair only to put it up in a bun. I wore it down one day, the other two days, I had it up.

I told her three reasons. One, I don’t like hair on my neck very much, especially when I’m working. Two, just because my hair is straight, does not mean I’m giving up on the protective styling! My ends are still fragile, maybe more so. Finally, I like buns. They are elegant and they are simple. Here’s my messy bun from yesterday.

In other news: For those of you who’ve been asking, I will do more youtube videos, so you can expect those in the future. One I’m working on right now is a puff tutorial. I’m also working on more hair history related pieces that I hope you will all enjoy. This week you can expect a few posts on straight natural hair.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Company Name: Aubrey Organics

Product Name: Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner

Price: $10.00 11 oz

Ingredients:Cetyl alcohol, alcohol denat. (38b, lavender*), triticum vulgare (wheat) germ oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis (almond) oil, glycerin, aloe barbadensis (aloe) leaf juice*, pimenta acris (bay) leaf oil, pimenta dioica fruit extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil*, citrus grandis (grapefruit) seed extract, jojoba esters (jojoba butter), butyrospermum parkii (shea butter)*, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit juice*, salvia officinalis (sage) oil*, foeniculum vulgare (fennel) fruit extract, humulus lupulus (hops) extract, melissa officinalis (balm mint) leaf extract, viscum album (mistletoe) fruit extract, chamomilla recutita (matricaria-German camomile) extract, tocopheryl acetate, hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) water, ascorbic acid, achillea millefolium (yarrow) extract, equisetum hyemale (horsetail) extract, tussilago farfara (coltsfoot) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, daucus carota sativa (carrot) root extract, beta-carotene.
*Organic

Scent: allspice (eww!)

Consistency: Extremely rich and thick

Purchase from: health foods store, AO online

Review:

Another great AO conditioner! As much as I love AOHSR, this baby might just replace it.  I’ve used this during times when I was in desperate need of detangling and it works like a charm. I can’t possibly describe how thick and rich this stuff is. So, here’s a picture:

I’ve left it on for several hours and have not used it with heat yet. With the results I’ve been getting, I really don’t see the need to add heat.  As we can usually expect from AO, the ingredients are top notch. To sum it up, I love this product.

Now, it would be perfect if it didn’t have that smell. The smell almost had me returning it to the store to get my money back before it even touched my head. Other than that, I give it a big thumbs up.

…is that she gets inpatient and lazy at times. Usually not with my hair, but rollersetting is usually enough to crack through my patience!

If you haven’t been a regular reader, you probably don’t know that I can’t rollerset properly. With this last attempt, I got much closer, but still!

Let me also say this about Kcurly. She hates having rollers in her hair, she hates sleeping in rollers. Wearing rollers is about the only thing you can do to your hair that you can’t really hide what’s going on under a hat or wig.

Anyway, here are the results, view them if you dare! I oil rinsed, DC’d, and then set with Aveda Brilliant Damage Control, coconut oil, and a bit of Aveda Anti-humtecant Pomade. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be using heat but I wanted to protect my hair just in case.

I post pictures of my successes as well as my failures because I think it’s important for people new to the hair game to know that there is a learning curve when styling your hair. I’ve gotten pretty good at doing mine, but there are still hurdles to overcome. So if you’re out there now struggling to do a particular style, please don’t give up. I’ll be right there with you!

I'm being silly here, but I tried to make a face that properly displayed my dismay at having so much more hair to roll. Six in, fifty to go!

Here I am being smug, because I see the first couple turned out pretty nice. "Yay, I can rollerset!!"

This is after I seperated the curls. It turned out nicely in the front...

And then...Hmm...

What the...?!

Sooo…what happened?

I got lazy in the back. I started out in the front grabbing small pieces, making sure they were thoroughly wet, all that. By the time I got to the back, I felt rushed and I was ready to be done. Big mistake on my part. I also did not pull them as taunt as I did the front. Now, granted, the back portions of my hair are much more coarse and a tighter curl than the front.Which means that I need to start in the back first, when I am fresh.

I am not completely disheartened however. I did do much better than I have in the past and I’ve realized my mistakes. I plan to try this again in the next month.I’m going to stick to perm rods and try to just do the same type of curly ‘do as I think it will be easier.

I ended up flat ironing it with my maxiglide, which turned out ok. I am also going back on a No Heat Challenge for a few months.  My maxiglide and I have been meeting up far too much lately.

Here’s the website, if you want to read more about it.

The Turbie Twist has been around a long time, but I’ve never bought one. I think I considered buying it when I was doing a lot of wash n go’s, but when I found it wasn’t microfiber, I kind of put it out of my mind.I went on eBay and found a microfiber turban towel. That worked great while my hair was shorter, though I usually did have to end up putting another towel around it because it was thin.

Flash forward: I’m in the Sally’s buying perm rods and a new satin pillowcase. Since I can’t find any product worth buying, I have to buy something else I spot the Turbie Twist and put it in my basket.

Here’s the thing. My hair’s too big to stuff into that turban towel anymore.

Old turban towel vs Turbie Twist

On the left, old and busted…on the right, the new hotness!

Seriously, I like the Turbie twist much better. I initially thought that it was made of microfiber too, but the packaging says it’s made of terry. It doesn’t feel like your average towel though. It holds a lot more of my hair and doesn’t get soaking wet as fast. I won’t be using this when I’m doing a wash n go, because of frizz factors, but I’m going to be using it after I wash my hair for other styles.

It’s not bulky at all and it’s got a nice little elastic loop at the back that holds it tight. It stays on securely, even when you bend down to pick up your three year old! I think I left it on for up to 30 minutes and it only got saturated on the sides. This towel is also not a bad price at around 5 bucks.

I also see that they are available in two packs, though I’ve yet to come across this in the store.

Just a side note: I’ll try to post pictures of my rodset tomorrow. I’m also behind on emails again but I’m working this weekend so I’ll have to get to them Monday or so.

So, Macy was one of the first contestants eliminated from this round of competition. I’m not a big TV watcher anymore, but I’ve been trying to follow it some.

The following clip shows me exactly why she was eliminated so quickly. (Sorry, got to keep it real!)

Love the dress, wish I had one. The dance moves… eh. I have to commend her for getting out there and trying though!

She did much better in the cha-cha, see around the 2:00 mark.

Now, on to more important things: I think her hair looked really great. It was nice to see a dancer out there that didn’t have the same run of the mill hair. And it looked fab on her! Go Macy!

What do you think her more recent ‘do?

The picture below has been circulating online. I don’t know if she’s worn her hair like this before, but I’ve never seen it on her. I can’t tell exactly what was done…is it a “messy” rollerset or a twist out done with really big twists?  Whatever it is, I personally like it. Gotta love Macy! And she’s 42 years old! I never would’ve thought!

Company Name: Jane Carter Solutions

Product Name: Hydrating Invigorating Shampoo

Price: (will update this later)

Consistency: Creamy, has a sheen

Ingredients: (will update this later)

Scent: lemon verbena

Review:

You may remember me mentioning this shampoo in this post awhile back. I finally was able to use it when washing out my twistout. I thought it’d be a good test for it since I hadn’t washed my hair in three weeks and I also had a small amount of buildup in my crown area. Naturally, I wouldn’t use a gentle shampoo if I had some heavy buildup and needed clarifying.

The texture is very much like regular shampoos. It almost reminds me of cream of nature detangling shampoo in consistency. It doesn’t lather as much as I thought it would, but it suds up just a tad. The smell is heavenly and kind of reminds me of Nourish and Shine (one of my fav butters), though not as strong.  I cleaned my scalp with it and it gives you that tingly feeling, I’m assuming from peppermint oil.

I never tried their other shampoo, but this one is pretty nice!

Hydrating? Not really, but my hair wasn’t stripped.

Invigorating? Absolutely!

As I mentioned in the other article, I was sent a sample of this to try out, but I don’t think it’s available in stores or online for purchase yet. I’ll edit this post with cost and ingredient info when it’s available. I would think that ingredients would be pretty high grade though.

Congrats on winning the hair tie from Sarenzo’s Beads! I hope you enjoy it! Please send your info to me and I’ll get it out to you on Monday!

First, I’d like to thank you all for the patience you’ve had with me while redoing the site. I hope that it is still easy to find information. Though I may change a few minor things or try to add some picture galleries, it will remain relatively the same. Thanks for all the wonderful input ya’ll gave me!

Turqouise Hair Tie

Would you like to win this lovely hair tie? It’s from Sarenzo Beads, whom I’ve recently made a purchase from.  Not only does she have unique hair ties, but beaded headbands, flower clips , earrings, and necklaces. I’ll show my purchase later, but here is what I have for the lucky winner of this giveaway!

This hair tie is a lot larger than ones that I’ve seen before. It’s incredibly cute and you can wear it as a headband, to hold twists/locs back, or a puff. The eleventh (11th) person to send me an email will win this lovely tie. Email me at kcurly@newlynatural, only one person per entry, must be a subscribed member, blah, blah, blah.

Bet you can’t guess what I ordered!

Type II diabetes is rapidly increasing, especially among African Americans and Hispanics. At current, 3.7 million African Americans ages 20 and over have been diagnosed. For every white American diagnosed with diabetes, there are 1.6 African Americans diagnosed. One in four black women over the age of 55 have diabetes. In additon to having higher rates of diabetes, African Americans also suffer higher rates of complications due to the disease.

There are three types of diabetes: Type 1 (formerly juvenile), Type 2 (formerly adult onset), and gestational (developed while pregnant). Diabetes is a disease in which glucose (sugar) is unable to enter your body’s cells. Since it has no where to go, it starts to build up in blood vessels. This buildup causes poor circulation and ineffective blood flow. Have you ever heard of diabetics being unable to have wounds heal properly, even to the point of amputation? Poor circulation is the problem.

It therefore stands to reason that people suffering from diabetes may also suffer from hair loss and hair growth problems. The scalp is very blood vessel rich…if you’ve ever had a scalp laceration, you know this already. So, the poor circulation stemming from diabetes affects the scalp too. Due to decreased ability to fight infection, fungal infections may also appear on the scalp further hampering hair growth. In addition, some medications used to manage the disease may cause hair loss in some people. You should consult your doctor if this occurs.

How can you improve your hair loss due to diabetes?

There is no cure currently for diabetes. But there are some things you can do to help your hair and your health. This link had a lot of helpful tips. As I’ve said many times before, exercise is a good way to increase blood flow to the scalp. So, try to perform at least 30 minutes a day of aerobic exercise.

Also, if you are prediabetic (meaning that your blood sugar is higher than normal, but under the diabetic range), now is the time to prevent or prolong this disease. Talk to your doctor and get on task. Not only is it important to the health of your hair, but your health overall.

Sources:

The connection between diabetes and hair loss by Anthony Galz

Am I at risk for Type 2 diabetes?