product reviews-shampoos both old and new

You know I'm always on the lookout for new good quality affordable shampoos. Also I prefer sulphate-free shampoos, with sodium laurel/laureth sulphate being the ingredient I'd most like to avoid. I found got2b unglued shampoo by schwarzkopf in the £ shop. I bought a couple, but I'm really sorry I didn't load up on this one 'cos it's an excellent shampoo at £1.00 per bottle. This one's Arashia's fav. And no wonder. It's leaves her locs 'clean' without drying out,has a wonderful pineapply smell and contains hydrolysed wheat protein, biotin, ascorbic acid,panthenol,tocopheryl, retinyl palmitate.....Goodguide gave it 9.2 for healthy shampoo. So if you come across this shampoo, it's well worth getting.

Waitrose baby shampoo: I bought this only because I was after a mild sulphate-free shampoo. I knew I was going to henna my hair and thought I should use a mild shampoo. Well it's OK, but nothing much to write home about. It smells of vanilla and contains aloe vera, vanilla, lavender and mandarin oils. It cost about £2.50, so it's quite cheap.

Hair Fitness Shampoo. I love this one cos it's packed full of nutrients. The downside is, it's pricey. £9.95. I bought this shampoo at some craft or hair show (I can't rightly remember) just b4 I locked my hair and put it away cos I couldn't use it on baby locs. I looked through my stuff and found it. It's a lovely shampoo. Smells tropical- mango/pineapple with herbs and contains hydrolysed wheat protein, amino acids,cystein, vit b5,silica,vit E, vit A&D,allantoin,biotin,oatstraw, saw palmetto, alfafa, horsetail,comfrey, coltsfoot,evening primrose oil,selenium zinc calcium, essential fatty acids...phew and that's not all. It doesn't have any sulphates,MEAs,TEAs,or DEAs. I'd say it's worth paying for, wouldn't you? It does leave your hair soft, so don't use it unless your locs are settled. But you wouldn't need the conditioner(which is equally jam-packed with nutrients).

MEA,TEA and DEA are chemicals in most shampoos bubble baths,lotions, creams etc known to be toxic, and hormone disrupting. They also form nitrosamines in conjunction with other chemicals and can be cancer causing....well a little chemistry lesson. So here is something else to avoid if you can. Otherwise just pray and trust God.

As always, my african black soap is on standby.

henna results (18mths SL-ed)

texture shot

Here are the results of henna-ing my sls. You can see it's a deep coffee colour, blends in the greys - with a reddish tinge. To be honest the greys are still there, only not so noticeable. The colour will improve with further henna application. Also I've been locked for 18 mths so these photos give an idea of how my hair is doing. This is a result of a 'braid-out'. I don't do much styling, but braid-outs are my fav style cos it's so easy.

Check out the freezee texture. My locs appear very frizzy indeed, and the majority of loc ends are still open. Frizz comes with the territory.(I don't mind cos it makes my hair look fuller). This will gradually change as each loc becomes more condensed and tight. I daresay the henna has given me MORE frizz.

Henna(caca brun) you need like 4 arms to do this.

I'm in the process of henna-ing my locs. I added a goodish dollop of instant cofee to make it darker. A couple of weeks ago, I tested henna, one with cofee, and one without on some ol loc ends that snapped off. The one with cofee seemed slightly darker hence..... but we shall see. So I mixed it in a casserole dish over a steaming pan on the stove, allowed it to cool slightly and applied to my hair. I put it in one of those colour applicator thingies - which would have saved me a lot of hassle except...except the mixture was either too thick or had lumps so it did not flow. Note: It really does save you dealing with mess if you put the mixture in dem applicator bottles and apply to your hair. I can't imagine what would.ve happened if I tried to scoop up that mess to put in my hair. Anyhow, I took the top off and used it that way and it still worked except for the odd blob that went it's merry way. Good job I decided to put some newspaper over the sink, bath and floor, 'cos those odd blobs dropped in unexpected places. Infact I was so paranoid about making a mess that I'm not sure I've applied thoroughly ie every strand aint covered, but hey I thought I'd quit while I was still ahead of the game. (y'know how everything's gone well and you think, let me just go over it once more then something you dont want happens? Yeah, so I thought, I've covered all the main bits(hair) no disaster, stop now.) I'm now waiting for x amount of hours to pass then I'll wash it out. I was going to do all this outside, but the way the wind was blowing, my mirror, newspapers and towels went flying so I retired to the bathroom. Erm, the instructions say 'cover your head if you want it redder or leave uncovered if you want it browner.' I cling- filmed my head for 1/2hr to stop bits going everywhere and removed it for the rest of the time as I want it brown-ish. I have no photos, my camera went to spain with my daughter Mary. I'm on the lookout for a new camera 'cos that one's old anyway.
Stay tuned for the results. So far, minimal mess, so good. We'll see when I come to wash it out.. aah, but I have a plan. Hopefully, I'll take a photo when Mary returns tomorrow.

It's 9.45. I've just finished washing the henna out. I wasn't sure whether I'm supposed to shampoo or just rinse. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed and then shampoo-ed with waitrose baby shampoo and again with hair fitness shampoo then did some prolonged rinsing. Then I rinsed with diluted ACV. Oh my back! My hair looks dark brown coffee all over. Some grays are still trying to peak through especially where I wasn't careful to slater it on properly.
Conclusion: Henna works. It conditions your hair, adds body to it. The colour isn't bad. You can repeat it deepening the colour with each application. However, washing it out is a job and a half! The smell is strong and lingers for hours. Fortunately I didn't mind the smell, but my daughter said it made her feel sick.

See the Action!

This photo shows the christian hurdling his way to silver at the English schools athletics. The boy in green was the gold medalist. However Christian intends to go for gold in the Nationals in 2 weeks time so he's training hard. Apparently the boy had a better start on the blocks so Christian is training on the blocks.

fewer strong locs vs many skinny locs

I've just completed another retightening. It took just about 5 hrs over the course of 4 days.
Day 1: 2hrs
Day 2: 1hr and a bit
Day3: 1 1/2hrs
Day 4: 1/2 hr.
I'm doing OK with this retightening thing. I've got a rhythm going. I've also combined most of my smalls to medium and dramatically shortened my sessions. I've also saved many locs from premature death. So far, I lost 1 loc and I'm not about to lose any more. Like Nubianlockedprincess said "Small locs are great, but you have to know when to draw the line with large loc numbers! They too come with a price!"
I guess I lost my desire to have gazillion locs especially bc I DIY. Also I just can't stand to see a skiny loc hanging by a thread. I saw the size of dewdrops locs and I thought, those look pretty sturdy and healthy whilst still maintaining the sisterlocks look so why not strengthen some of my own weaker looking locs. So I did. I'm very pleased with the results. I still have around 360-ish so it's still a high number, but I'm comfortable with that.

cape coast(Ghana) angry with obama

Taken from the 'Ghanaian Journal'

"Some Chiefs and people of the Oguaa (Cape Coast) Traditional area are angry with United States President, Barrack Hussein Obama and his security detail.
A number of Chiefs and other Cape Coasters who spoke to TODAY on President Obama’s visit to Cape Coast and his subsequent visit to the city’s ancient Castle, expressed serious misgivings about the refusal of the security detail of the Obama entourage to allow them carry through with the elaborate programme drawn up by the Cape Coast Traditional Council to welcome the US President to Cape Coast last Saturday.
What irked them most was the refusal of the US security personnel to allow for the conferment of an honorary queen-mother title on Mrs. Michelle Obama, who many Cape Coasters believe, has an ancestral link with the former capital city of Gold Coast.Although she conceded that the programme was unique, Central Regional Minister, Ama Benyiwah Doe, was equally not happy about the hard-line posture of the Obama security, which invariably curtailed most of the programmes line-up for the Cape Coast visit.
“I think it’s a very good and successful programme, although I am not really happy about the way the US security is handling affairs here”, Mrs. Benmyiwa-Doe told a section of the press. Her concerns were shared by other top government and party officials like Kojo Mensah-Bonsu, Lawyer Barton Oduro and Nana Sam Brew Butler, an indigene of Cape Coast.
TODAY’s investigations established that the US security did not allow for the coronation of Mrs. Obama, which would have included conferring on her an honorary Cape Coast citizenship, because that would have affected the tight and strict travelling arrangement of the American President.
The Obama security detail did not also allow for an elaborate address of the durbar of Chiefs and people of the Oguaa Traditional area held at the fore court of the Cape Coast Castle, citing the similar excuse that if the Obama address were extended, it would have affected the return journey of the US President.
Some of the Chiefs and people who the paper spoke to said they were really humiliated and indeed disgusted about the sudden turn of events. They were equally not happy about the almost three minutes address by the US President after his tour of the Cape Coast Castle.
“As far as we are concerned that address by President Obama was his personal observation about the Castle, its symbolic role in the Slave Trade and the its central importance in ensuring that it remains a global monument that will remind us of some of the inhuman treatment meted out to some group of humans”, a sub Chief told this paper.
The anticipation among many of the people who gathered at the Cape Coast Castle was that President Obama would have given a proper address at the Cape Coast Castle durbar just as he did at the International Conference Centre in Accra, prior to his departure to Cape Coast.
“That was the more reason why most of us defied the scorching sun to travel miles away from central Cape Coast to attend such a unique event, only to be disappointed this way”, Mildred Hutton told TODAY.
Mildred thought it was indeed an insult on Ghanaian tradition for a Chief to be carried in a palanquin, paraded in the streets, be seated for hours without proper recognition and respect. The Christians among them said they even went on their knees, praying to God, days before Obama’s Cape Coast visit, “so that the weather will be perfect for such an august visit”, Brother Andrew, a Catholic Brother of the Holy Cross, disclosed. "

Not suprising since such treatment is tantamount to lack of respect, and ignoring the honourary queen-mother title is very insulting in their eyes. No doubt, better communication and greater understanding of the culture would ensure that neither side gets offended.

We meet at last, nubian and I at agape hearts' celebration

me,eni,nubian1

loc huddle

olori oko (kpanlogo)dance

fashion show

These pics are from the agape heart celebrations at Spring meadow barn last sat 4th july. Quite a few natural heads turned up.

We (ie daughter's and myself )were taking part in these celebrations organised by a friend to raise money for a bore-hole(well) in a village in Nigeria. I invited Nubian and she came!! So we've met at last. I can tell you right now, that even with my shoes on I'm only up to her shoulders. YES-SHE'S THAT TALL. She had to stoop for the 'loc huddle' amongst us shorties hehehe. (I hope your knees are ok sweetie). Arashia said 'your friend ought to be a model, she's got the height.' Not to mention, her kids are lovely. Her daughter is gorgeous. We thoroughly enjoyed our day. Nubians' locs look just as good in real life as in pics. Her henna colour looks so good.

Among other performances, we - arashia mary and I did an african dance to some amazing Nigerian music. I'd like to put it on my blog, but I don't know how. Arashia sang 'amazing grace' with the band. Joshua delighted us with a rendition of 'fur-elise',. Mary's dance/drama group 'crown jewels' performance was just 'gripping'. There was plenty of african food, (I had 4 portions of moi moi/beans)an auction and video to show us the village back in Nigeria and the beautiful inhabitants. (These poor people depend on a rather stagnant brownish river/stream as the only source of water.)We all finished the day by dancing to some Nigerian gospel. All this in the back drop of beautiful scenery, a valley of pine trees in acres of woodland. This is 'spring meadow barn' owned my dear friends who kindly open up their premises for use by christian groups.

homeschool persecution by homeschoolers!!

As some of you know, I home- educate my children and am part of a large homeschooling community. Recently there's been a review by the govt more or less smearing homeschooling based on totally unfounded accusations and recommending unprecedented powers for officials, including barging into homes to interview kids on their own without a parent present! Understandably H-Edders are up in arms about it- doing the usual stuff, writing to MPs pettioning, lobbying, organising protests etc. In conversation with some parents I revealed the fact that I was praying and was asked to put a prayer on the forum we share, so others could join in. I did. WOAH!That's when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE! Although I wasn't in violation of forum rules, I was shamefully attacked by some. The moderator was mercilessly harrased b'cos of it and asked me if she could delete the prayer. I agreed, since my intention was not to create strife or cause offence, but rather get any/all who wanted to join in praying the opportunity to do so. Whilst this fuss and ruckuss was carrying on, I've had email after email of people declaring their support and agreement. I was overwhelmed. Even non-christians supported me.
It's been a pretty rough ride, b'cos even someone I considered a friend did some back stabbing. As Mary said'mummy it mst have been some powerful prayer cos the devil sure doesn't like it'. However today at church I was really refreshed and encouraged by God. I went up for prayer and a lady came to pray for me. It turns out that she home-ed'ed her own children, knew all about the review causing concern and understood my situation completely. She gave me a word from God...it was refreshing. Thank you Lord for noticing me and being with me in trouble.

Can this be true?

Read the article for yourself. Jordan Chandler recants the molestation charges agaisnt MJ! My eyes filled with tears when I read this. Can human beings be so wicked? Why did he wait until his death to recant?

http://www.ampedasia.com/forums/jordan-chandler-michael-jackson-did-not-molest-m/e-t-15028.html

I pray it all comes out. May the truth be known by all. I do not want to be in JC's father's shoes if indeed they did such a detestable thing, for the bible says if you sow the wind you'll reap a whirlwind - and vegeance is mine says the Lord. It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living GOD.Nevertheless, he can still repent - publicly. Same way he raked the poor guys name through the mud.
Just what Did happen? Only God knows and he knows how to vindicate.