New Buys

Hey all,
I bought some new hair items so I just thought I'd come through and share.

First item, Diane boar bristle brush ($7.39)

It's kind of hard right now, but with more use the bristles should soften up more. I'll only use this brush to smooth my edges when I'm feeling like looking a little more sleek and polished.


Second item, Annie rubber cushion brush (Denman alternative-only $1.59 at my local BSS, Beauty 4 U)

This is the cheapest denman alternative I've ever seen or heard of. I believe the Conair and Goody versions are around $5 so this buy was basically a steal. It detangles my hair very well when damp or completely wet. It's a lot quicker than using a wide tooth comb, however, I'm afraid of breakage so I both modified it and I wont be getting rid of my wide tooth comb any time soon.

Here's a youtube video that shows how to modify a denman (or denman alternative):



from jazzybee445 on youtube.

PRODUCT JUNKY-ISM

Sorry I've been M.I.A everyone, I had finals and other things I needed to attend to but I'm back to talk about something that not only I, but alot of other women trying to take care of their hair, experience...

My name is Ms. Larutan and I'm a product junky...

A product junky (PJ) is someone who just can't seem to keep their hands off of hair products. I've tried so many things and whenever I hear about something new I can't wait to "experiment". For me it started around the time when I started taking better care of my relaxed hair. My PJism spun into overdrive when I decided to go natural. I was going all over the internet seeing all these reviews for this product and that product. Before I knew it I was buying products for my natural hair before I had even big chopped. It was outrageous lol. Eventually I lowered my purchases down but every once in a while I still buy something new. I LOVE buying hair associated things. I get happy in the beauty supply store or in a common hair aisle. Whenever I walk into anywhere that has hair products/accessories, even the average grocery store, I feel like I have to go look.

Sure, I find alot of good things that I end up loving and buying more of. And sometimes these product buying urges turn into my staple products. However, sometimes... they don't.

The thing about being a PJ is that not all products are going to work the way you fantasize they will. That review that you heard from that one random youtube girl that one day a few weeks ago?.....she doesn't have your hair. Some product purchases aren't going to melt away your tangles. The truth is that you've probably got something underneath your sink that'll do that already! lol.

So to all my fellow PJs, we've got to do better lol. I think I'm one of the worst PJs because I've just recently started tweaking the products that didn't work for me... a lot of the time I had just ended up pushing them to the back of my sink. But that's going to change. I'm going to try really hard to at least use up three-fourths of everything that I don't like in addition to using up everything that I do before I go out and try to find something that could possibly work better.

And to anyone who has just gone natural, TRY not to become a PJ. I've found that a lot of products seem to work better with every use so give it a little bit of time before you move on to the next thing. And also, don't jump on every hair product bandwagon. Basically just spend wisely. You (and your wallet) will thank me for it. =]

That's all for now

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

I WON!

I'm so excited! =D. I won the GO NATURAL PHOTO CONTEST on Blackhairmedia.com. Go check me out! To see all the photo entries click HERE. (I entered two photos, both located on page 15.)

Thank You to Blackhairmedia.com for providing a space for natural women to be featured and feel beautiful in a larger way.

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

You all will be familiar with my winning photo. Looks at top of blog at banner lol. I took that picture 2 months after I BCed and it's still one of my favorites <3 =]

Contemplating going natural?

"I want to go natural but I don't think it'll look right on me "

I've heard this so many times now and I always say the same thing: "Natural looks good on everyone that's why it's called natural =)." Something that would be there naturally has got to look right on you lol. That's like if I was to say that "I don't think my fingernails look right on me" lol. Now I'm not a "go natural" pusher but when I hear this statement it makes me think you're already on the edge of the decision so I might as well share some information. At this point, I think all you have to do is do some research on the dangers of relaxing (I had many encounters with chemical burns) and maybe browse a few natural hair blogs or forums. The inspiration and drive would surely set in. For me it didn't end up being about looking right to others, but looking right to myself. And I must admit that I feel like this was how I was meant to be.

 If you sit down and really do the research, I've found most end up either transitioning or big chopping before they know it. Plus, deciding to go natural doesn't always have to be some jump off a cliff experience. I've known a few people who have gone back and forth on their decision but just kept a relaxer off of their hair long enough to truely decide. That way you'll have months of growth if you decide to get rid of the relaxed ends or you'll have months of growth that you'll end up relaxing. No biggy. Natural or relaxed, we're all beautiful =].

But here's some inspiration nonetheless:

            

Gotta love that barbie! Lol.

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

RandomThought:FOREVER 21

Everyone loves Forever 21. If you're a girl/woman 14-25 years old, chances are you've bought at least one item from this popular store. Even men can get in on the action with 21Men and Heritage 1981.Where I'm from, it's the number one place to shop for older girls/young women. Why? Nice stuff for great prices ($9.99 skinny jeans are hard to pass up!). I mean of course you might be looking at thinner/less quality material and sometimes you might be thinking that the skills of the manufacturing department are just plain lacking... but cheap is music to anyone's ears!

But for you $$$ saving fashionistas (like I'd like to consider myself to be =]), Forever 21 is not ALWAYS the best place. For example, if you've got something special to attend you probably shouldn't show up in Forever 21 attire. Best reason: I can almost guarantee that not 1, but 2 or more other people will have what you have on lol.

Less Than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

Product-Hate

The title is a little harsh for this post but it gets the main point across. After going natural one of the biggest struggles some ladies have is finding the right products. I went through a pretty good amount of products before I finally found what works for me, and I'll most likely continue to try new products as they become available. This, however, is a post about what did not work for me and why.

Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In

Ingredients:
Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Glycine Soja Oil (Soybean), Propylene Glycol, Polyquaternium 37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG 1 Trideceth 6, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Stearalkonium Chloride, Trimethylsilylamodimethicone, Panthenol, PPG 1 PEG 9 Lauryl Glycol Ether, Lanolin Oil, Cinnamidopropyltrimonium Chloride, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Acrylamidopropyltrimonium Chloride/Acrylamide Copolymer, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Benzophenone 3, BHA, BHT, Zea Mays Oil (Corn), Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, DMDM Hydantoin, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance

I've heard some people rave about this product but quite honestly my hair did not care much for it AT ALL. It did nothing but make my hair hard (there's a pretty substantial amount of protein in this product) and dry/frizzy looking. It also made me feel like I put a waxy coating on my hair. Gross.

Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Leave-in

Ingredients:
Aqua (Water) , Cetearyl Alcohol , Amodimethicone , Cetyl Esters , Behentrimonium Chloride , Parfum (Fragrance) , Methylparaben , Persea Gratissima Oil (Avocado Oil) , Trideceth-12 , Citric Acid , Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil (Apricot Kernel Oil) , Cetrimonium Chloride , Chlorhexidine Dihydrochloride , Linalool , Butylphenyl Methylpropional , Citronellol

The first thing I didn't like about this product was that it has a slightly sticky feel to it. I hate weird textures on my hands, so I didn't care that much for it immediately. After using this product 10 or so times I came to the conclusion that it really didn't do much of anything to my hair. It didn't really moisturize but it didn't overly dry out my hair either. It basically just sat on my hair taking up space on my strands. Needless to say I forgot about it and it got pushed to the back of the cabinet under the sink.

Curls: Goddess Curls

Ingredients:
water, sorbitol, polyacrylate-14, polyquaternium-7, polysorbate 20, fruit certified organic mangifera indica (mango) seed butter, plumeria alba flower extract, biosaccharide gum-1, carbomer, certified organic butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), aloe barbadensis leaf juice, aminomethyl propanol, tetrasodium EDTA, phenoxyethanol, DMDM hydantoin

This product also didn't do anything for my hair. I believe it is predominately advertised to be a curl definer but I think my hair is too coarse for this liquid textured definer to do much of anything. Since it's not something that I would consider using for moisture, I just completely stopped using it.

***I was looking on the Curls website and it looks like they have a Goddess Curls Glaze Organic gel in addition to the one I reviewed above. On the website it states : Ideal for THICK curly hair, so perhaps the Glaze will have a thicker texture. It might be worth checking out.***

Neutrogena Triple Moisture Shampoo

Ingredients:
Water; Sodium Trideceth Sulfate; Sodium Lauroamphoacetate; Sodium Chloride; Cocamide MEA; Meadowfoam (Limnanthes Alba) Seed Oil; Olive (Olea Europaea) Fruit Oil; Panthenyl Ethyl Ether; Sodium Benzotriazolyl Butylphenol Sulfonate; Polyquaternium-7; Amodimethicone; Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride; Castor Isostearate Succinate; Dimethiconol; Sweet Almond (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis) Oil; Phenoxyethanol; Methylparaben; Propylparaben; Cetyl Alcohol; Guar (Cyamopsis Tetragonoloba) Gum; Citric Acid; TEA Dodecylbenzenesulfonate; Fragrance

I may be biased in saying that I didn't like this shampoo because I tried it a WHILE ago and I don't really like ANY shampoos (I have finally decided on Mill Creek Botanical Biotin Shampoo, click here to see review). However, as I recall this shampoo left my hair far to stripped and dry for it not to contain SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate). I couldn't wait to get the deep conditioner in my hair after applying this.


I hope this review helped some of you! =] But remember, just because these products didn't work for me that doesn't mean they wont work for you! It's trial and error with products for every different head of hair.

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

New Protective Style

As you all know I'm protective styling for the winter and for hair growth. Well I took my senegalese twists out a few days before Thanksgiving (as I said in another post). So, sense I'm trying to get my grow on (I promise I wont make a corny joke ever again lol ) I'm back into another protective style. So I thought I'd share it.

I intentionally decided on a natural type of style.

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan



Thrifty!!

So, I went shopping at my FAV Thrift Store when I went home for Thanksgiving Break (The food was delicious by the way and I definitely needed the break from college with some family/friend quality time). So I have some more pictures of my finds for this Thrify edition!

You might say I had a little Brown Shoe Lust lol.

Lace-up Ankle Boots 

$6.50

  

 

I really like these Boots. I specifically like that they have a little variety. You can either wear them with or without a cuff (shown in first picture). Great Find. Can't beat it for $6.50.

______________________________________________________

Classic Designed Loafers

$5.50

I also really like these shoes. I love the design shown in the second picture. They have a very classic feel to them and I actually must admit I didn't know they made women's shoes like this. Great find.

 

What I'm hoping to run into on my next thrift store visit: Oxfords.

Less than Three <3

Ms. Larutan



Hair style!!

This was my hair yesterday. Feel free to duplicate it. It was super easy. I thought I was having a bad hair day but it turned out way better than expected.

 - Here you can see the bang in the front.

-this picture shows the small puff at my crown and the hair pinned towards the middle at my nape

How to:

I did 6 large twists in the nape section of my hair and smaller twists everywhere else with a mixture of Herbal Essences long term relationship leave in/shea butter/and jojoba oil. The next morning I took out all the twists and pulled the front section forward, bobby-pinning it down into a bang. Then I took the middle section and pulled it into a high puff using  pink Eco Styler gel and a boar bristle brush. The back I kept switching from having it all out, pinned to the side, or pinned in the middle. I chose the middle but part of me wishes I had chosen the side lol.

Do you like this style?

Less than three

Ms. Larutan

Marble/Zebra nails?

Originally I was going for a marble type look.. but it became more of a blue and red zebra type thing lol. I ended up liking it this way =]. What do you think?

I used pure ICE nail polish. I don't actually remember where I got these colors but I do remember they didn't cost very much for nail polish. The red shines better than the blue does but both colors are nice hues. Good buys for the price.

Less the three 

<3

Ms. Larutan

Product Review!!

So, I recently took my senegalese twists out. I tried some new products and I have some reviews!! =]

Mill Creek Botanical Biotin Shampoo

-I got this shampoo at The Vitamin Shoppe for around $7.  Its' pH balanced, paraben free, no artificial coloring, and it does not contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. 

Ingredients:

Deionized water, biotin, hydrolyzed keratin, peppermint oil, hydrolyzed elastin, niacin, folic acid, panthenol (provitamin B5), organic aloe vera gel, organic essential oil, jojoba oil, inositol, barley extract, sodium myreth sulfate, cocamydropopyl betaine (coconut oil), octyl dymethyl PABA, steryne/acrylates copolymer, citric acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, botanical fragrance.

I liked this product. I don't really like shampoo in general because I haven't found one that doesn't at least strip my hair a little. This one was one of the better shampoos that I have tried. I liked the lather and the tingle it left on my scalp. I would give this product 3.8 out of 5 stars. 

Aubrey Organics Honey Suckle Rose Conditioner

- I got this Conditioner from The Vitamin Shoppe for around $9. It's not too thin and not too thick, its' just about the right consistency of product. I would suggest using this as a deep conditioner to make it last because of the price and the consistency of the product.

Ingredients:
Coconut fatty acid cream base, organic aloe vera, organic shea butter, wheat germ oil, organic jojoba oil, organic Rosa Mosqueta Rose Hip Seed Oil; extracts of fennel, hops, balm Mint, misltletoe, camomile, yarrow, chrysanthenum, angelica, forsythia and magnolia; honeysuckle oil, carrot oil, Aubrey's Preservstive (citrus seed extract, vitamins A, C and E).

I LOVED this product. It gave me incredible slip and made my hair feel like silk. This is after JUST taking out my twists. That has been basically impossible for my 4a/b hair. Detangling in my shower was a breeze with this conditioner. Also, this is the only conditioner that I've ever used that has been able to semi-define my coils by it self. I usually have to use other products besides conditioner to have any definition. My hair was very moisturized after deep conditioning with it, including my ends, which has been a problem for me. I give this product 5 out of 5 stars and it is now a staple for me. I suggest that everyone try this product.

Some other products I used:

Jojoba Oil: 4.2 out of 5 stars

Herbal Essences Long term Relationship leave in (cream): 3.8 out of 5 (worked better when I mixed it with Aussie)

*****Aussie Hair Insurance leave in (spray): I did a premature review on this product in Oct. This product is now rated 5 out of 5 stars. Which I normally will not give for products that are not all natural.

*****Raw Shea Butter: 5 out of 5 stars, used for moisturizing, sealing, and stretching my locks. Love this product as well.

Free Natural hair Calenders!!

I came across this thread in the natural hair care section of blackhairmedia.com about these great natural hair calenders! It seems as though http://www.naturalhaircalendars.com/FREE_Monthly_Hair_Calendars.html makes FREE calenders for every month with natural hair care tips on them and they're pretty cute!

The November Calender:

 I always forget the date and what day of the week it is! So if you're like me and count on having a calender, computer, or cell phone near, these calenders might be a cool option for you too. I'm about to print one now!

I'm unsure as to why on the website it says "Coming Soon" though. The November calender is located right on the same page and it says you can get the previous months' calenders as well lol.

**** I'm not affiliated with that website in any way. Promise =]

Less than Three

Ms. Larutan

Ms. Larutan's photo(s) of the Day

Another reoccurring feature idea!

So I love photography. I love finding the right angles, thinking of original photo ideas, recognizing what colors compliment each other best, and all that other photography jazz =]. If I wasn't a broke college student and could buy a professional camera I'd do it in a heartbeat (sigh).... but since I can't lol, editing has become my way to spruce up pictures.

Photo's of the Day:

Some of my photography/editing skills and guess what? I didn't even have to pay the model!!... that's my boyfriend in the pictures ;) lol.

Less than Three

Ms. Larutan

Protective Styling

If you've been reading along you already know I'm protective styling for the winter. I've been sitting/standing/living in these senegalese twists for some time now but they WILL be coming out November  23, 2010 (incredibly excited about that!). I'm still undecided about what my next protective style will be but that's besides the point of this post....


I want to talk about...


The Joys and Frustrations of Protective Styling

A good hair care regimen is likely to include some kind of protective styling (PSing). Whether it be adding hair with extension braids/twists/weaves or wigs, or just keeping your own hair twisted or bunned up. It's important to protect your ends if you are trying to grow your hair or keep your hair healthy in general and that is exactly what PSing is for.

The Joys
Psing can be great. You get to put your hair away and focus on other things while your hair can relax and grow. Of course you still have to make sure you're moisturizing and giving your hair what it needs, but styling no longer has to be a worry for the time being. You don't have to worry as much about if the bad weather is going to suck the life out of your locks or if your clothes are going to proceed to rip and break off your ends. And lastly, my favorite part of PSing, is the reveal. After taking care of your hair and leaving it alone to flourish, you get to shock yourself with beautiful growth or health after the PSing process has come to an end.


The Frustrations
PSing can be a son of a....gun. Putting it simply. If you're like me, protective styling can get very redundant. I get bored out of my mind while protective styling and I begin to miss my hair in no time. When I protective style I try to pick things that I can somewhat change. I wanted long senegalese twists so I could put them up, pin them into styles, and do different things with them. Another problem is that while PSing in styles that require extensions such as braids/twists/or weave (not so much wigs) some feel like they can't effectively treat their hair right. This could be a big problem and could lead to a dreaded SETBACK. A common issue with PSing in extension styles (including wigs) is damage to the hairline. One must be very careful about this. These styles should never be done too tightly and you must make sure to keep your hair cared for underneath them (moisturizing, etc).


Even with the frustrations stated, I believe that protective styling is still far more good than bad. If you don't want to risk damage by PSing in extension styles (wigs seem to have less risk but many are uncomfortable wearing them), you can always bun/braid/ or twist your own hair.

That's all for now.

Less Than Three <3

Ms. Larutan

Thrifty!!

Who loves going to thrift shops???           *Raises hand eagerly!*

I pride myself on my thriftness lol. I love Love LOVE a nicely organized, kept up thrift store. I'm talking about getting primarily one of a kind treasures that can easily become favorite items in your closet. You can find so many different kind of items....from retro, to chic, to modern....and the best thing of all is you wont have to work so hard to buy a new arm and leg because you've sold them on expensive goods. And as if that's not good enough incentive to become thrift savvy, you've never had a true shopping experience until you've had it at a thrift store. There's certain rules to thrift shopping: you can't just go at any time and you can't go thinking you're going to be in and out quickly. You've got to be in the mood for the hunt. Nothing just POPS out at you. All the good stuff is hidden behind or underneath the "it's alright, blouse" or the "I kind of like them, shoes". So when you finally reveal that great find that's been waiting there just for you, there's nothing more satisfying and exciting!

Ok...I might be exagerating a little, lol, but you understand what I'm getting at. There's no great find like one found at a thrift store. =]


So I'll be debuting some of my frequent Thrift Store finds as a reoccuring feature on here as well.

Thrifty Debut # 1:

Appropriately Named:
"A Cool @$$ Sweatah"

I've got to admit... this sweater is only one of many sweaters I've purchased from my favorite thrift store and it's not even my favorite one of the bunch but because it was the last one I purchased and it gave me the idea for the post, I felt it should be honored as the first item shown. I may have to come back to show some of my older cool sweaters... not to mention alot of other items I've rescued too. =]

Less than Three!

Ms Larutan

Hair-DO or Hair-DONT

I'm gonna start a reoccuring feature on my blog entitled: Hair-DO or Hair-DON'T


What the feature will consist of: Whenever I find a style that I want to mimic I'll put the inspiration up here and try to recreate it...probably with a little alteration to it. I'll also put up a picture or video of my verion of the recreated style. If  I like the style I'll proclaim it a hair-DO, if it's a complete failure or I don't think I'll be doing the style very often it'll be proclaimed a Hair-DON'T. I'll also say what I liked or disliked about the style as well.


So..without further adieu!!!

Janelle Monae Inspired Hair-------DO!

Inspiration:

Style Recreated/ Altered:

How I wore it out later that night:

Verdict: I loved this style! I wore it on halloween to go with my 1920's Flapper Theme but it could easily be worn out at other outings. It was very edgy/funky and complimented my headshape.
How-To: It was not hard to do at all. I french braided the back upwards and pinned it down. Then I preceeded to pull all the loose braids forwards and twist them backwards into a bun shape. I then pinned the bun shape down in the middle. Sounds harder typed out than it actually was.
Downfall: I guess the hairstyles' only downfall would be that it isn't very conservative friendly, not really a go to church.... or run for presidency type of hairstyle lol.
The Obvious Alteration: I had to do it with my senegalese twists cause I'm still protective styling right now but it is definitely something I'd try out with my natural hair as well.

Hope you liked my first hair-DO or hair-DON'T post!

Less than Three

Ms. Larutan

Importance of Moisture

            DRY                               MOISTURIZED

I know..I know...

If you've researched hair care techniques you've heard this a million times before, "make sure you moisturize". It's probably going in one ear and out the other by now and I don't blame you. However, because it's so important I felt like I had to say it one more time.

Moisturizing and sealing are the number one best thing you can do for curly, coily, and kinky hair textures. No one could ever scientifically back up saying that their hair does better when its dry and brittle. Hair breaks and becomes unhealthy when its dehydrated so moisture is key. However, just adding moisure is not enough for curly/coily/kinky textures. This is because the natural oil produced in our scalps (sebum) cannot effectively coat/and lock in moisture as well as straighter textures. It is harder for sebum to flow down the swerves and angles of our hair strands. This is why we must seal in the moisture manually with other oils (some frequently used oils are Olive oil, Coconut oil, Jojoba oil, and Castor oil). Because there is less sebum being distributed naturally on the hair strands the further we get from our scalps, we have to pay close attention to the ends of our hair when both moisturizing and sealing.

Benefits to Moisturizing and Sealing:
1. Health: moisturizing and sealing keeps your hair healthy. Dry and brittle hair is damaged hair. The hair strand splits and breaks if not properly cared for.
2. Hair growth: Moisturizing and sealing protects your ends. The less likely your ends break, the more likely your hair will retain growth.
3. Shine: Because curly/coily/kinky textures don't reflect light as easily the extra oil helps to give our hair more sheen/shine and appear even healthier.

4.Curl Pattern: If you're natural or texturized and are interested in having curl definition, moisture is essential. Generally, the more moisturized your hair is the more defined your curls/waves/coils/and crimps will be.

Sorry for the haircare repeat. Hope it helped anyway.

~less than. three ~

<3

Ms. Larutan

Are having natural hair inspirations bad?

When motivational becomes harmful.


The Motivation:
I've seen some ladies who look at others' hair and just strive harder to achieve whatever it is that they are admiring, whether it be a style, length, thickness, etc. A lot of the time these natural inspirations really do help to remind us naturals to keep up with our hair care, assure us that our hard work is not in vain, and remind us that our hair can reach great lengths and health. However, there's a flip side to this as well. Looking at too many pictures of wonderful gorgeous hair and comparing yours to theirs could be harmful.


Part of the problem:


My own experience: When I was merely transitioning to natural hair, I was searching through all sorts of fotkis, blogs, and hair inspiration threads on forums all over the internet. The pictures definitely gave me more will to achieve what I wanted. 


However, after I BCed and my true curl pattern presented itself, I began to notice something. My 4a/4b hair was nothing like MOST of the pictures I frequently ran into while searching for large, lovely, professional images of natural hair. I mean of course there were some ladies with my texture but the majority were not. My hair did not look and could not do some of the things in the images that had been readily available to me. I became aware of this and was perfectly fine with it after certain style failures lol. However, many ladies might not be able to be "fine" with this fact and so they end up going back to the box... box of relaxer that is. 


This is a sad occurrence. No woman should have to feel like her hair is too coarse or even too silky for that matter. There shouldn't be any preferences in photos or images in the media but of course me writing this wont change anything any faster. Although the media does seem to be getting better at presenting all types of textures, I can't watch TV without seeing a natural in a commercial lol, there still seems to be an unequal presentation of curl patterns. Those with 3c and below types are shown far more often than those with 4 textures. This is why I believe any person planning on going natural should really learn to love their hair before they chop so they wont be deterred by what ever coils/curls/ or kinks that show themselves later.


The Answer to the Question:
So basically the answer to the question: "Are having natural hair inspirations bad?" is yes and no. It is yes if you're inspiring to have the exact hair of another person because every head of hair is different just like every person is different and you will probably end up disappointed. However, the answer is no if you're only using them for outside motivation and to remind yourself that natural hair is beautiful in all its different varieties.


I , while I have no problem with looser textures what-so-ever, find myself having inspirations of those with hair types similar to my own. It's just better motivation for me to see hair similar to mine being long, luxurious, and healthy.


I'll leave off by showing my ultimate hair inspiration at the moment, Mahogony Boisseau. Beautiful girl with beautiful natural hair:

That's all for now

Ms. Larutan

Happy Hallo-weekend!!

It's the weekend of Halloween. So I just wanted to make sure I posted something about it since I might be busy on Halloween. Original costume ideas are so hard to come up with at this point. I tried... I'm planning on being a 1920's flapper although my costume might turn into something else along the way lol. My friend wanted me to help her come up with something but my brain could not think of anything that wasn't "cliche" besides a geisha which requires a lot more than I thought it would lol. The most creative and cheap costume that I've heard that someone else is planning to dress up as is the old spice guy (Isaiah Mustafa).

Be safe this weekend, remember crazy people start feeling in their element when they get to hide their faces behind masks =]

Happy Halloween

Vampires, so classic.

Ms. Larutan

ARE SCARVES OUT???

I remember a few years back scarves were all the craze, especially the big thick ones with the frayed ends. They even made their way into the closets of celebs such as Lil' Wayne and Kanye West. Others began wearing them inside the house, outside the house and somehow they even managed to become year-round accessories. Well walking around campus, it's getting a little bit chilly over here on the east coast, I noticed something: NO SCARVES! And then I realized something else, I don't wear them anymore either, well at least not the big bulky ones. I still would wear the skinny/thin ones... you know the kind that would do absolutely nothing for a cold neck in the winter-time lol. Fashion trends are so funny and semi-unpredictable. As of this moment I could not even picture myself buying anything other than skinny jeans on a regular basis....but lo and behold that time is probably around the corner (eek!!)

You can't tell me these new age versions of 1980's MC Hammer pants, aren't completely trendy once again (I might also add: I'm loving that outfit second to the left)

But anyways back to the topic at hand. I'm officially proclaiming an item OUT of style. I'm gonna be giving side-eyes from now on to anyone rocking these showing any signs of cockiness lol.

OUT:

 

IN:

Ms. Larutan

Length Check!

I did a length check a few days ago


I was taking out some of my twists and redoing them so here's the comparison from July to Oct...

I'm pretty sure I get the average growth rate of .5 inches a month.

I'm happy with my progress.

=]

That's all for now!

Ms. Larutan

My First Post/Product Review!

Hey everyone! This is my first post on my brand new blog. I just felt like making a blog one day and this was the outcome. I'm probably gonna be talking about any and everything I want to. Feel free to come check out what interests me.

^Ok so now that I got that out of the way lol, I can actually start talking about something that I want to: my hair! =]. So, I'm  natural. As of June 2010 I've been strutting around w/ my 4a/b curls after a whooping 10 month transition! As a new natural, hair stuff (products,techniques, etc.) are one of the things that I'm frequently thinking about and so that'll reflect some of the content of this blog.  

PRODUCT REVIEW!!!!

This ladies and gentlemen is AUSSIE HAIR INSURANCE LEAVE-IN CONDITIONER. I recently just started using it while I'm protective styling in twist extensions and I must say I've been itching to get these twists out every since. 

I need to get to my hair and see if the soft/moisturized/defined locks that I think I'm feeling is real. I think I love this stuff but I'll be able to tell better in 3 more weeks when I finally get to see my hair again.

But if you were thinking of buying this stuff I'd say go for it! It's definitely helping to keep my hair moisturized while PSing.

I think I'll give this...4 out of 5 stars. It's only lacking that one star cause I can't see under these twists...(sighh)...

Ms. Larutan