Monday, November 24, 2014

My Week In Photos #2

Hey guys!

Once again, we have reached the end of the week, thus cometh thy week in photos. To be honest, not a whole lot happened this week. I was in the city around 37th St earlier this week at one of my favorite cosmetic stores. When I left, I saw these pretty window displays for Christmas. Oh man, are the holidays speeding by or is it just me?! Sheesh!


Later in the week, I did makeup on a mom and her daughter for her quinceanera. (It's the latino equivalent to an american "sweet 16" but when you're 15 instead for those who don't know what it is.) It was so beautiful! Beautifully decorated and the little cupcakes and candies were so cute! 




Lastly, I got a phone call just when I got home from my friend Ryan telling me to go to CVS because they were doing a little beauty club giveaway. Best believe I got my tired ass up and stopped by! Plus I had $24 in extra bucks so of course I made good use of that and got some goodies while I was there. Mostly makeup of course lol. 


That was my week! How was your week?

Xx
Melissa. 




Sunday, November 23, 2014

DO IT 👇

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My Current Hair Care Items | Healthy Hair Journey

Hey lovelies! So, I've decided to share with you all the current hair products I've been using (and loving!) to take care of my hair while on my healthy hair journey. 

Since going natural, I told myself that there were a few things that I need to do to aid along the process if I wanted healthier hair:

1. No more heat tools. I gave my flat iron away immediately!

2. No more chemicals. I made the switch to much more natural hair products that don't contain sulfates, parabens, etc. 

3. No more hair dyes/relaxers. I bleached the crap out of my hair. Relaxers/perms and hair bleach is the worst thing you can do to your hair. 

Phew! Now that we got that out of the way, I can talk to you a little bit more about what I use!


As you can see, most of the products I use are from the Shea Moisture Curl & Shine line. I mean, it's so perfect tho, right? Let's get into what I use and why! For my hair washing routine, I use the Shea Moistire Curl & Shine Shampoo & Conditioner. I wash my hair usually once or twice a week, depending on what's going on that week and how dirty my hair gets.

In between washes, instead of using the shampoo & conditioner, I'll use the Shea Moisture Co-Wash Cleansing Conditioner. Co-washing conditioners are so great because you get the benefits of gently cleansing your hair without it stripping your scalp of its natural oils. This is such a big help for me because idealy, you don't want to over wash your hair because over washing can leading to a very dry scalp and the key to growing long healthy hair is a healthy moisturized scalp.

Once a month, I like to use Doctor Bronner's Pure Castile Soap to deep clean and clarify my scalp. Regularly clarifying your scalp is such a great thing because even if you wash your hair regularly, your shampoo and conditioner can still leave behind waxes and moisturizers that overtime will weigh down your hair and give it a greasier appearance. Especially if you're using any kinds of hair products like gel, hairspray and mousse daily. So, I really love doing this monthly to remove any excess buildup and revitalize my hair and restore its shine.

As for weekly treatments go, I love using my Shea Moisture Anti-Breakage Mask. My hair feels sooooooo soft after using this! To alternate it a bit so that I'm not using the same mask every week, I'll also do a coconut oil hair mask with honey and half a banana mashed together. Sometimes I'll also do an evoo (extra virgin olive oil) mask with an egg and an avocado. I just ran out of olive oil! Ha! But this is my current favorite coconut oil from Doctor Bronners. The reason I do some type of hair mask once a week is because I have really curly hair and curly hair tends to be dryer so I have to constantly add moisture to my locks to prevent them from frizzing up like crazy and also to prevent them from split ends. I add in extra things to my natural hair masks because it's not all about putting moisture in because believe it or not, TOO much moisture for your hair isn't good for it if you don't have the protein to back it up! So I'll add in some extra ingredients so that they're moisturized but also getting "muscle juice."

Lastly, we are left with the hair care products I use to style my hair. Now, I have completely given up hairspray, gel and mousse. Long gone are the days of crunchy brittle hair! I only use Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk (I also use the Shea Mousture Curl & Style Curl Enhancing Smoothie but I'm all out of that right now), argon oil, coconut oil and water! The most I'll use is 2 products at once so if I use the coconut oil & style milk, I'm not using the argon oil, etc. 

So yea! Those are my current hair care items that I'm using (and loving) to get my hair where it needs to be! Any other naturalistas on this hair journey with me? Leave hair product suggestions down below!

Love & Rockets,
Mel. 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Healthy Hair Update!





About 7 months ago, I decided to stop the use of heat and hair dyes and hair products with harsh chemicals that were destroying my natural curl pattern and since then, I never looked back! Since my first post, talking about why I decided to go au naturel, this is my first official healthy hair update! And I have to say.... I am really freaking exciting about it. Let's recap, shall we?


Yesss, ugh. I know. My hair looks horrible not to mention, the rediculous face I'm making haha. But this is the best picture I can find of my hair in its "natural state" during its neglect. Barely a curl anywhere to be found.




Such a huge difference! It's amazing what some patience and TLC will get you. My hair is much shinier and softer and my curls are growing in nicely. Of course, my curls on top are more curly than the ones on my ends because on top is my new growth but look at the difference in even the damaged hair. It actually has a curl pattern again!

I have been trimming it little by little every month or so but a few days ago, I trimmed off some pieces that showed no progress at all, as well as pieces in my bangs area. At this rate, I'm confident that I will have rid of all the badly damaged hair. I'm on my way to a long head of luscious locks, my friends!

xoxo
Melissa. 

Monday, November 17, 2014

My Week In Photos #1

Jeeeez! So many days have passed since I have posted up here! Work has been insane and with a recent passing in the family, it is way too easy to neglect your social networks but time away is good sometimes, right?
I've decided to start a new segment on here called "My Week In Photos" and it's not like I invented it lol! It's been around for a while now so I decided to give it a shot because I think it's an interesting way to give you guys a better look into my life with a couple pictures of things I've done during the week, week by week (hopefully lol). So here it goes!




This is one of my closest friends, James. I went over his house for an awesome Adventure Time themed monopoly night fully equipped with Dominos pizza! His boyfriend was there but hiding lol it was so much fun. Although, as you can see from the second picture, he suffered defeat as I owned literally everything except for BMO (electric company.) He refused to give that up! All those properties you see there?? Yup, mines too. Haha.



A few days later, we met up again for lunch.





We went to this cute little restraunt in Inwood called Garden Café. We shared pita bread & hummus with black olives on the side as a starter and he ordered a turkey burger and my order was a garden burger. Complete with fries & ketchup. So good! Everything tasted so fresh and the waiters were really nice. He washed it down with sparkling lemonade and I got an orange mimosa.




Towards the end of my week, my aunt and I got breakfast at a diner in Forest Hills. I totally forgot the name but it was a nice and quiet place to enjoy a meal. She had coffee and I ordered a hot chocolate. Soon after, our meals came and I got a spinach omelette with toast and curly fries and she got blueberry pancakes. We shared the curly fries & toast. It was so nice! Unlike so many of the people I know, breakfast is actually my favorite meal. If I don't have to miss it, I won't!


Lastly, I have been routinely trimming off the damaged parts of my hair (the pieces that don't curl properly) every month and a half. This time I decided to cut a bit more off but I must say that my hair is improving so much and I am really happy with the way things are coming along. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. I'll be posting a healthy hair update! Until then.. Hope you all had a great week!


Love & Rockets,
Melissa. 
x