6. Coconut Junkie.

Let's talk coconut oil!

I don't know when or how coconut oil became so popular but I am thankful that I jumped on the wave. You better believe that my hair, skin and life is popping severally all thanks to coconut oil.

I love how versatile it is. I use it; on my hair, as my lotion, lip balm and I cook with it too. I remember reading a post on tumblr that was advertising people to put a teaspoon of coconut oil in their tea and drink it 😕. Coconut oil shouldn't be taken THAT seriously! It's really not that deep b. I personally would never advise to anyone literally drink oil that's a bit mad but each to their own. 

 I'm going to derail just for a bit; but I've noticed a lot of 'naturalisas'
like to do the most, they love going above and beyond when it's not necessary. An example would be; when a friend sent me a picture of a woman using baby poop as a hair mask 🙁🙁🙁excuse me ? You cannot be surus. You cayynnntt be suruss. Wanting long and healthy hair shouldn't make you do crazy things. If you've ever thought of putting baby poo in your hair, please erase that memory from your mind ASAP. That's not cute. I feel like it's because of extreme procedures like what I've stated above that allows people to mock the "natural hair movement ".

Anyways back to Coconut oil. what are the benefits ?

• Moisturises your hair and scalp.
• Anti-fungal and gets rid of dandruff 
• Protects your hair from losing protein when washing, which results in thicker hair.
• Contains vitamin E and Lauric acid, both essential for strong healthy hair and prevents hair loss.
• Gives your hair healthy shine 
• Slows hair loss 
• Makes your skin really soft 
• It can increase your energy expenditure helping you burn more fat.

I think we can all agree that coconut oil is simply amazing! and if you haven't tried it yet please do, you can find it Paks or any other beauty supply stores, as well as super markets for a very decent price. Give it a go for a few weeks then let me know how it goes. x 

5. Coconut Scrub.

This is just a quick post on a scrub recipe I found online a while ago, I initially made a post about it on tumblr and I got a great response so I thought it'll be a good idea to put it on here too. Hopefully you guys can appreciate it too. 

For this scrub you only need either salt or sugar and coconut oil. I'm sure by now everybody has coconut oil in their house, If you don't I suggest you hop to your nearest Paks or any other beauty supply store and cop that b! 

I mixed together half a cup of coconut oil (liquidised) with a cup full of either sugar and blend/mix.   I got into the shower and used my light exfoliating glove to distribute the mix all over me whilst scrubbing and then I took the glove off and used my hands to evenly spread the mix and waited for a minute or two before rinsing with Luke warm water. You can already feel the difference as you start to rinse off. Next you use your normal wash cloth/exfoliating glove to wash with your normal soap and then you rinse again and there you go ! The feeling is amazing you’ll truly feel like a baby’s button all over. I’m loving it so much right now I don’t even want to put clothes on (I’m literally writing this naked 😂). But yeah guys try it out and let me know how it goes xx ✨

4. Little Product Hoe.

 Hi  guysssss. Firstly I would like to apologise for my disappearing act, how cheeky am I ? I had my reasons but I'm back and I'm here to stay. I promise x 

Little Product Hoe!! 

I'll admit it, I'm a such a product hoeee! It's really bad. I need some help guys. i like to experiment. I've tried to many shampoos, conditioners, oils and so many other products, any brand you've heard of I've probably tried it. Whenever I see someone advertising a product and also gives it a great review I always feel the need to also try it, but I've settled down and I've chosen my favourite products for me. I don't plan on changing them anytime soon, but who knows what the future holds.
Here's a list of all the products I use/used and a few pictures to go with it.

Oils.

• Coconut oil (my life in a bottle!)
• Tea Tree oil
• Jamaican castor oil (edges saviour)
• Pure Shea butter.
• Jojoba oil

     • Creme of nature shampoo and           conditioner 

     •leave in conditioner (Creme of nature;liquid )

    •leave in conditioner (Shea butter-cream)

    •Creme of nature hair pudding (curl activator)  

    •Eco styling gel

    •Doc miracle edge control 

   • Doo-gro pommade ( mega long hair vitaliser ) 

When I first started using Creme of nature it was so good to me, this would have been the product I would have used forever, until the shampoo started irritating my scalp. I had no other choice but to switch up. Now I use CANTU! And I absolute love it ! I only use the shampoo, conditioner, co-wash and the curling pudding. I will dedicate a whole blogpost to the cantu products very soon .  You see what I mean guysss? I'm such a product hoe, I don't even feel bad for not being loyal lol. 

Once again i would like to apologise for being away for this long. I have so many ingredients and little secrets for hair and skin to share with you guys. 

Stay blessed x 


- Patty. 

3. What Type Of Hunny Are Ya?

Great news guys my mum finally big chopped today woooop wooop ! (Everybody congratulate her) I'm so proud of her, it took her hair damaging for me to finally convince her to even transition but today she made the big decision to big chop. You're never too old nor is it ever too late, as long as you start somewhere. 

Now lets get to the real reason as to why we are here!
Is you  a 3c,4a.4b or a 4c hunny? (just kidding). No but seriously, like for real for real. Do you know what hair type you have? do you know what your texture is, what your curl pattern is or why your hair shrinks the way it does? knowing your hair type is very useful in understanding why your hair responds to certain products and why it doesn't respond to others, it's also useful for knowing which hair styles are best for your hair. In this blog I'm going to help you recognise what type of hunny you are and give you a few tips on how to look after each hair type. I got most of these tips from naturallycurly.com

We were never taught these things, not many people are aware that you treat different textures differently. If not for Tumblr I don't think I would even know about the hair texture chart. I thought natural hair was just natural hair, yes I knew that everyone had their own texture but I wasn't aware that these textures could be categorised ( am I making any sense? ). Someone I follow (on Tumblr) posted a link, out of curiosity I clicked on it and it directed me to a hair chart and I was bloody amazed! so guys prepare to be blown away too.

Flawlessssss

Excuse the bad quality, I couldn't find a better quality.
This picture is so important so I'm using it any way. 

Amazing isn't it ? just compare your curls to what you see in these charts, obviously use the first chart because it better quality (don't worry I'm going to elaborate). I think in my first blog I've explained that I've had multiple textures in my hair before and I thought that was because of the creamy crack ( hair relaxer) however I was wrong. You see the way my hair is set up (was that funny... or nah ?) I have multiple textures naturally. A bit of the front is type 3c and the rest is a type is 4a. I also noticed that the texture of the front of my hair changed when I straighten my leave-out too much (oops). Because majority of my hair is type 4a, I tend to focus on that just to make my life easier  but when I do have time and the products I do the necessary treatment for my type 3c section.

As you can see the front
is different from the rest.

3a

3C Type hair has expansive tight curls which are approximate the circumference of a pencil or a straw. The curls can be either kinky, or very tightly curled, with a large amount of strands densely packed together. Getinng this type of hair to blow dry straight is more challenging than for a type 3a or 3b, but a pretty blow out can always be achieved with patience of course.
TIPS:

• You should always hydrate and repair curl hair with a moisturising cleanser.
• A use of rich and nourishing conditioner is highly recommended to protect your fragile curly coily hair.
• Use products that offer maximum moisture. creams, Shea butter and oils. Hair milk is also a great hydrating product. 

4a

All type 4 hair is very sensitive/delicate which means it can break easily, extra care is needed. Type 4a hair has a 'S' pattern to it while type 4b/c is more wiry and has a zig-zag pattern. although this hair type is much coarse and appears thicker than the curly hair type, it is actually quite fine.

TIPS:

• Use a cleanser to prepare your coily springy hair for conditioner or stylers without stripping all it's natural oils
• use leave in conditioners to hydrate and moisturise your hair
• finish your style with a pomade (a scented ointment applied to the hair or scalp ) or simply hair grease that preserves moisture.

4b

Type 4b is tightly coiled, less defined curly pattern, it has more of a 'Z' shaped pattern. This hair has a cotton like feel. It is very tightly coiled or bent and very fragile, you mist take great care when working with it. Type 4b hair can shrink up to 75% of the actual hair length.

TIPS:

• Use a heavy creamy cleanser to keep your coils healthy and moisturised.
• De-tangling your coily hair should be an essential part of your hair care routine. De-tangle with a conditioner that has a lot of slip and your favourite wide tooth comb.
• Seal in moisture and add shine to your dry hair fragile coily hair with hair milks and styling butters. Deep condition weekly to ensure strong healthy and hydrated coils. to intensify deep treatment ass heat.

4c

Before I found out about the actual hair chart i always used to hear about 4c hair but I didn't know what it was or how identify it, eventually I noticed that it was always being associated with this type of kinky hair that seemed to be very popular, when i found out about the chart it all made sense!

Type 4c is composed of curl patterns that will almost never clump without doing a specific hair style. It can range fom fine/thin/super soft to wiry/coarse with lots of densely packed strands. 4c hair has been describedas a more challenging version of 4b hair. Some say 4c is identical to 4b except that the curls are so tightly kinked, there is seemingly no defintion. 4c hair can shrink more than 75%.

TIPS:

• Limit your cleansing to heavy co-washing conditioners.
• Use products like oils, creams and butters to moisturise and seal your coils.
• Use heavy pudding and creams to help elongate your coilu ziggy hair.
• Don't forget to deep condition as often as you can to ensure healthy strong coils (this is mandatory but I strongly advice it ).

Hopefully this has been very useful and it has also helped you in identifying what type of hunny you are. Of course there are more tips to what to do for each hair type but I didn't want to bore you guys by going on for ages so I kept it short and sweet. If you have any questions or any concerns please leave a comment below along side your email and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. stay blessed guy.x 

2. Progress

5 months

6 months

9 months

11  months

1 year

First things first, I am not a slave to my hair and I never will be. I do whatever I see fit, suitable and comfortable. I'm not afraid to walk out my house without having a weave in or braids, yes it did take sometime to gain this level of confidence but when you learn to please only your self and not those around you it becomes a lot easier to do what ever you want.

 I personally think the first year of being natural is the easiest well from my experience anyway;

• you're very excited about the journey
• you're extra careful with the way you handle your hair
• you want to see your hair reach its full potential.

 when I first big chopped I wanted to wear my hair out all the time but I didn't like the way I looked so I made my mum do my braids, I had braids in for the first 5 months (no not the same braids). Every time I took out my hair I would just shampoo and deep condition then a day or two later I'll be back in braids. I guess I was very protective I wanted to play it safe, I was too scared to experiment because I didn't know what my hair could handle, what hair type I had (4a,4b,4c etc), what I could and couldn't do. I went to my local hair shop and was advised on what shampoo and conditioner I should use, I also bought Coconut oil (my life) mainly because I always heard people talk about it, so I thought I will also give it a go. Out of all my many many hair products Coconut oil is baeee and it'll forever remain my favourite. 

I soon realised that my hair was long enough for a weave with a natural leave out. I can't exactly remember when I did my first weave since being natural but I think I was about 5/6 months in. now I've never been a fan of the invisible parting or the full head sew-in except for the full fringe/front fringe, I always did the natural leave out and I had to strain my hair with heat which at the time I didn't mind but now I sort of regret it. I was never a fan of heat protector because it always made my hair extra dry so I just never used it at all ( crazy, yes I know), like I stated in my first blog post I didn't have many people around telling me that not using heat protection was a bad idea. Whilst others were happy that I was back in weave especially my dad. He thinks once you get to a certain age you should only do a weave to grow your hair. Yes my dad is a little crazy and likes to contradict himself lol. I like to think that my first year was a success!

The growth of my second year was a bit slower. I noticed that my hair grows in width before it grows in length, which I'm very okay with especially after my episode of ultra thin hair. During the second year I started watching YouTube tutorials religiously. My favourite naturalista (natural hair guru) is Naptural85 she is amazing although she is miles ahead of me (hair/length wise) but I've learnt so much from her in the past 11 months. I've also learnt different tricks and made them my own. Don't worry I will reveal them in my later posts. I guess this was my year of experimentation, i tried so many different shampoos and conditioners, oils, hair masks, hair treatments, deep conditioners, leave-in conditioners the list is bloody endless!

What you see here is a failed attempt of me trying
to put bendy rollers in my hair. of course it
didn't go according to plan, everything just shrank lol.

This right here was after a hair mayonnaise
treatment. The shrinkage gets a bit extra
sometimes.

This was during an air dry.

And once again another flopped style ruined by
the shrinkage, this was suppose to be bantu knots out.
 As you can see they didn't work out lol.

Remember; everybody's hair grows at their own pace and we all have different textures x

1.The Lead Up

Hello, bonjour lol (cliche I know, I know), I'll start off by introducing myself- My name is Patricia Katula and I'm 19 years old. I'm Congolese, "omg you don't look Congolese wow" (I get this all the time and till this day I’m not sure whether it’s a compliment or not, but I'll just keep it moving). I live in London and study Criminology at Birmingham City University. I’d also like to thank you for clicking on this link and for even considering reading on. I am very grateful- may the good Lord bless you. 

Oh look! That's me 

 

In order for me to tell you all the purpose of this blog, it’s only right that I tell you why I started this blog as well as my journey. On the 28th August 2012 I proceeded in “the big chop”- for those of you who don't know what this is, it means cutting off the relaxed/permed parts of your hair.

From as long as I could remember, my mum used to relax my hair every six months. At a very young age I had no say in regards to what was put in my hair. It was all up to my mum as you all know, mama knows best lol. It wasn't until secondary school that my mum eventually gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my hair- even yet, I still stuck to frequently perming it. My sister’s wedding came and I got my first weave in august 2009. Of course I was very excited because my hair was Laiddddd. But before I got my weave I was scared of the idea of it since most of the girls my age that got weaves didn't make it look very good; luckily for me my hair was done very well, which I'm grateful for.

I didn't do another weave again for about a year and just continued relaxing and braiding it. I've always had very full hair even though my hair wasn't very long, but the more I relaxed it the thinner it got; which at first I didn't see a problem with. My mum has always been my hairdresser so I've never needed hairdressers or anyone else. However my half-sister once did my hair so tight that I literally couldn't move my head and I cried like a baby. My mum had to take it out in the middle of the night and as each cornrow came out, so did my hair and as my mum finished, my hair had completely broken beyond repair( I have very soft hair). 

I stopped relaxing it and began putting weaves-in and braids until I saw that it started repairing but I stupidly decided to relax it again… what a big mistake! By Prom 2011 I mistakenly bought super relaxer rather than regular relaxer (considering I have super soft and super thin hair), which of course didn't mix well with the super relaxer. I didn't even have the relaxer in for two minutes however my scalp began to itch like crazy and it lit felt like my hair was on fire so I began crying (second time in my life crying over hair). My mum rushed me to the bathroom and washed my hair with cold water. Upon finishing, I came downstairs and my mum began laughing. I rushed to the mirror to see what was so funny (praying that I wasn't bald), luckily I wasn't, but my hair was three different texture - the back was straight and relaxed, the middle hadn't relaxed and all and the front was curly (3c type). I was beyond confused but there was nothing I could do as prom was around the corner so I just had to deal with my confused hair. Prom came and went.

 I've started college now, Christmas 2011 came and normally my mum would do all our hair or I'd do my own hair (oh I forgot to mention I do hair, I'm pretty good at it too, I don't mean to blow my own horn but you know ...) but for some reason this Christmas was different as I had my natural hair and I didn't know what to do with it so I decided to relax it and put it in a bun ( bearing in mind I hadn't relaxed my hair since prom) so I relaxed my hair this time using a regular relaxer however within just 5 minutes my scalp was burning, so I immediately washed the relaxer out. Once again I had multiple textures but this time it wasn't as bad as before and it almost looked cool so I just left it and I put it up in a bun. My mum said "I don't think relaxer is for you any more" I simply agreed. So from that day on I decided I would never go back to relaxing my hair again. 

And so began my transitioning journey December 2011 to august 28th 2012!
Back then I didn't know anyone who was natural or wore their natural hair out so I had no idea how to deal with the transitioning stage. There was no one around to give me advice and literally everyone I spoke to had relaxed hair, so everyone thought I was crazy for giving up the creamy crack; but I knew it was for the best. I'm not even going to lie, I didn't know that I could go on YouTube and find basically everything I needed to know about natural hair. I wish someone had told me sooner that way my transitioning period would've been easier. First year of college I met two girls who were on their 'natural hair journey', one was transitioning and the other one was officially natural. I was intrigued by them and they soon became my inspiration. Fast forward to summer 2012 I told my dad I was going to cut my hair and he said "not in my house you won't " lol the thing with my dad is, he is very old fashioned and believes a woman should have long hair because long hair equals beauty where the longer you hair is, the prettier you are. I thought this theory was very stupid tbh but I kept that to myself. August 28th I said “mum I'm cutting my hair” and by this time I had loads of regrowth and I'm sure all the girls with relaxed hair know that regrowth is such a problem no matter you hair texture. I took a pair of scissors grabbed my hair and cut my hair to show my mum I meant business as she was doubting me.

This is 3 months in.
 I can't find the actual picture
of when I big chopped 

           

   credits: Irinie x