Natural Hair Checklist

So over the summer I have discovered oodles of things that I want to try on my natural hair. I can see some growth and now I can start to shy away from the simple wash and go TWA. I also havent tried too much because of Abercrombie's "Look Policy", the wash and goo has been my staple style. So this is my list of things I would like to try and some things that I need to get.

1.) Finger/Gel Coils
I saw this on YouTube today and seriously want to try it. I'll have to wait till I'm done at Abercrombie though, I think they look too much like dreds. So I'll need to invest in:
*lock and twist gel
*an array of combs
*clips (butterfly, duck bill etc)

2.) I cannot wait for the day my hair will be long enough to do a flat twist-out

3.) Henna treatment
I hear henna makes an excellent conditioner and it will soften up curls in a jiffy, even if I'm not aiming for any color. I kind of wanted to try a red, but I think I'll ask Miss. Nikki (my stylist!!) for a rinse. And considering how often I co-wash. It'll be no problem if I don't happen to like the color.

The Big Cheese

I wanted to get this down while it was still rather fresh in my mind. So I just finished the book "who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, M.D. Since I have a hefty summer reading list and a lot of soul searchin to do, I figure it would be a good idea to write and reflect. I need to figure out which of the 4 characters I feel that I am, and which character I would like to be. Plus, what I do now that associates me with that character and what I would like to become. In a sense, that could be my New Cheese. Then I must figure out what I want my New Cheese to look like overall for my life.
The character that i feel most like is difficult because when i look at the things that have changed like the parentals, school, the ppl around me; I didn't have much to say of offer to any kind of conversation. I was fully capable of formulating some kind of opinion (I'm doing that right now). As for school i saw no reason to change because i figured that perhaps I was already suited for college. As for meeting the change for the people around me, my inability to change left me alone, confuse, distant, upset, and just about every other horrible feeling. I guess in my inactivity I backslid into indescribable actions.
I feel that i could be sniff but with Hem tendencies or behaviors. I seem to be able to 'sniff' out change on the horizon, I sense that things aren't going to be the same. But I choose to stay in my comfort zone of inactivity. This is a rather Evil comfort zone and offers no such comfort to me whatsoever. The fact that I can sense change and really process how my life can be different gives me a real sense of hope right now that I can in fact adapt to change and enven move my own cheese.
I think that that, moving my own Cheese is what i picture most for my life. I desire to be able to work my situation and not have it work me. So now that I have learned that I need to work harder at changing by the time I get further on into my life, when it really matters, when i have a career and I command my own life, I can put myself ahead of the curve that I 'sniff' out, plan for the change and make it bfore it gets to me.

Two quotes that I really like were: IMAGINING MYSELF ENJOYING NEW CHEESE EVEN BEFORE I FIND IT, LEADS ME TO IT
and...WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WEREN'T AFRAID? The first is especially important to me because at the moment I feel that I have nothing to aim for. But I want to try even harder to paint my picture of New Cheese and imagine a day in the life of Ariel Jones.

My Own Blog Feature

So I submitted a little reveiw thing to be featured on OnyxRose's blog. I thought may be I should just post it up on mine too. Here goes:


Name and where are you from?
Hello!! My name is Ariel Jones. I am from a small town in Cecil County, MD. Not the most interesting place but it's home

Random fun fact about yourself?
I Love Marching Band: particularly Color guard. Flag/rifle line is my love even though I won't be returning to it next semester.

What inspired you to go natural?
Originally I was tired of the hassle of getting relaxers. When I went to away to college, I had no idea where to go and I also had no money. So July marked my last perm ever! I met my mentor through color guard and always thought she had a relaxer and she swore she was completely natural: meeting her was my mom's reason to make me stop. Eventually, throughout my transition I researched the chemical damage done by relaxers and the absolute beauty of natural curls and kinks, and fully embraced the oncoming change.
My big sister went natural a while before I did and she has been the biggest form of support by giving me blogs, advice, and encouragement! Love Ya Jazz!!

How long did you transition/Describe your transitioning experience.
I transitioned for 10 months; I count from July, that’s the month of my last relaxer. Since I went into this with NO help or research, it’s a wonder I kept up with it. I treated my hair the same exact way if I had a perm: HEAT. Around December I had enough growth to hold in some braids, I kept getting them until I left school in May. The braids helped keep my hands and heat away from the delicate new growth. I BC’d May 28, 2010!

What do you love about your natural hair?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my curl pattern!! I thank God for my curls. While transitioning the little curlies at the base of my neck gave me a peep at what was to be around my whole head; that kept me encouraged. I hear from many people that after BC’ing their curl pattern hides for a while. My curls popped the moment my stylist put water thru my new TWA. That’s when I knew this was “IT”.

What's one natural hair myth you wish would die?
I honestly haven’t personally had to square up with one of these myths. Of all the ones I have seen, my hair doesn’t match any of them, especially the myth that natural hair isn’t manageable. Of course I can really only speak for myself but I work diligently on keeping up my hair and I have found products and a routine that my hair responds very well to. Ohh and black hair CAN (properly) be washed frequently. It is not dirty, I co-wash my hair just about 6x a week and its healthy and growing.

Has your natural hair changed how you view yourself?
This natural hair journey I would say is helping me discover what Ariel looks like. This may sound strange but for someone who has constantly struggled with her identity and confidence, unveiling my natural curls and being hugely satisfied is an enormous breakthrough. I go to the mirror, see myself smile and say, “Yes, this is what I’ve been waiting to see.”


Name your top three hair products and what you like about them.
1.)Vegetable Glycerin: I do a 1:1 ratio of glycerin and water with some peppermint essential oil. Its summertime and throughout the day my hair would feel like a steel wool. I even use it before bed and I wake up with soft hair! LOVE IT!
2.)Bed Head Moisture Manic Conditioner: I use this to co-wash and DC with honey. It smells really great; it doesn’t contain –cones, PEG, PPG, sulfates etc, and leaves my hair feeling soft.
3.)Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioner: I’ve had this product for months, and even used it on my transitioning hair. It smells very nice and my hair instantly gets soft and super manageable. With a little water, curls come out to play.

What advice do you have for those thinking about transitioning?
Do Research and ask around!! I can’t stress that enough. I even got to the point I would stop random people shopping if I really liked their hair. You will need to find new products and methods to help you with this experience you cannot treat natural hair as you do relaxed hair; they’re chemically two different things. Doing research, I found was super easy. Natural sistas are NOT hard to find. They’re proud and love giving information. #naturalhair on twitter was my first group, then youtube, then blogging helped. Once you find something that works, write it down to avoid product junkyism. Then you will be on your way to sharing your own discoveries.

Where can people find you online?
Well you can follow me on twitter:
I also have a budding flirtation with blogging. I don’t really have a solid grip on how to use it yet:

New Book

I've decided to put down The Fountainhead for something that could actually help me help myself this summer. It's called The Half Empty Heart: A Supportive Guide to Breaking Free from Chronic Discontent by Dr. Alan Downs. Am I saying that I am chronically discontent? Perhaps. I don't want to be self-diagnosing myself but just about everything that he was talking about pertained to myself; reading this must be a good idea.
I've even already learned one new thing about myself. I have a high emotional threshold. This means that it takes a lot more/more stressful situations to me react. I've always wondered about this. Things that would make my sister or my parents fly off the handle, I would stare at with a blank face. Even while driving, if someone cuts in front of me, I'm even slow to get angry, i just pump the breaks and let them cut. I haven't read far enough into the book to figure out why this happens, but what Downs described was so incredibly accurate.
I'm excited to finish, I don't finish a lot of things.

Anywhoo, it is day 7 of my natural hair... one week anniversary of the Big Chop

Summer Time

Okay, this summer is off to a nice and slow start. But the most exciting and life changing thing was my Big Chop. I love these coils! But it has come time for me to make some goals up.
1.) Get a job: I'll know by tmrw whether I will be working at Abercrombie or Applebees.
2.) Save at the very least $150
3.) Read!
-Fountainhead, The Old Man and the Sea, the Half Empty Heart....
4.) Work on my optimism
5.) Learn some more about myself

That's the general make up of the summer.

oh yeahh its day 4 of the natural hair!!

Im Natural Baby!!!

First of all, i wish that I had kept better track of decision to stop getting relaxers and to go natural. But i am fairly certain that i have not had a perm in over 7 months. I believe that the month of july was my last relaxer... so that would actually make it 8 months. But i must always remember the day May 28, 2010. This was the day that i became 100% natural; there isn't a centimeter of perm on my head.
Miss Nikki, my stylist, asked what made me go natural. I really have no answer. First it started with the fact that i did not feel like doing all that stuff to my hair anymore; that's what made me get braids. Then i really am quite obsessed with curly hair, and i knew that my hair is super curly. So I guess my decision to go natural was a little decision that turned into something quite life changing.
My hair is super short, but im wrapping my head around it more and more; i can't stop looking at myself in any kind of reflected surface.
This is pic number 1. Day 1 of my big chop!

Fear

whenever I happen to get more than 10 mins of sitting with my own thoughts to entertain me, my mind tends to end at the same pathetic thought. I may just journal this, so that I can get a chance to deeply explain this to myself; so out of mistrust (sorry) I will be vauge; if that is possible.

This thought that happens to creep up in my mind when I give myself the time just makes me feel lonely beyond every meaning/ connotation/ denotation of the word. Depending on my state of mind I may end with the statement that I may have to be satisfied that I am going to be alone. The problem is that 99.9% of the time, I choose to be alone. I choose to walk past people I know without so much as a "hello".

Then I have to think, "why? Why do you do this to yourself?" I have summed it up to one thing: Fear. I am afraid of just about everything. Afraid of myself and my own abilities, afraid of other people and their ability to hurt me, afraid of mere untangible thoughts: other's thoughts of me, and how I perceive myself. I'm scared.

I have no idea how this happened. How I became the kind of person who would be sad at the fact that she sits alone, but pleased that she saved herself the heartache of meeting people that would walk out of her life.

That leads me to my own self-diagnosis that convinces me to self-perscribed loneliness. Relationships are not permanent, and that is what I seek. I want permanence in my life. Marriages don't last, so love is not permanent at all, friends break promises, stab you in the back, and they leave; friendship is not stable. I have never been exposed to relationships that work. So how do I avoid from getting my heart broken, my back stabbed, or suddenly left alone. What I have done is not put up with other humans beings for the most part. I don't speak, just keep a smile on my face and my head up so that I can still put on an air of significance, even though that's not how I feel at all.

There are a few things that I cannot do on my own, hinting at the opposite sex. when it comes that.... I'm in even bigger trouble because I do everything without forming a relationship so that I dont have to think about it. My goodness, my logic is absolutely idiculous.

Primero

I've never tried to blog before, unless if u count Xanga as a real blog when that sensatioin swept over middle schoolers that usually dont have anything of much significance to say anyways.
I am generally used to writing in my journal, but for some reason this feels very different because I feel like im talking to someone rather then recording my thoughts for myself, so im not quite sure how long this is going to last; I don't reall like talking to people so that's my number one hang-up/personal struggle; deplorable, I know.
Ahh Im going to stop here for now.