So You Want To Get Your Little Workout On.....

....but have no clue to do with your hair.



Happy Tuesday lovelies! I hope all of you have had a very productive day. Me? I'm currently laid out on my couch...kinda sore. I went to this Cardio Strength class and let me tell you-that instructor plays NO games! I almost died y'all. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest and I was feeling like I was not gonna make it! Lawd. I will never fall off the working out wagon again (SN: I haven't worked out since July. Not consistently anyway. I wound up putting on a few pounds and THEY MUST GO!)!

I got through it though and it was definitely a good workout for me. I hope to have a good workout tomorrow when I go to CRUNK. Anyway, all that working out got me thinking about hair (of course!). How many women do you know (especially women of color) echo the sentiment that they would work out but they don't want to mess up their hair? Now as a disclaimer, I have to say that your hairstyle should NEVER EVER EVER.....EVER trump your health. I'd rather have good health and jacked up hair than to have poor health but have the flyest hair ever. That's just me. However, I do understand you want to look good when you leave the house and when your hair is not on point, you don't feel on point. Trust me, I totally understand.

Why can't we have both though? Why can't we have awesome hair and a banging body to match? When I'm working out, my hair is the least of my concerns because I follow a few steps (which are super easy..I promise) which makes my hair the least of my worries.


So let's start with what I do during the workout:

-Keep your hair up and away. Yes. It's that simple. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the gym and see ladies with their hair all out. Just flowing. I can't help but chuckle when I see this. You aren't coming to the gym to look fresh to death. You're trying to workout. And with working out comes sweat and increased body heat. Therefore, you should dress accordingly. Usually when I work out, I put my hair in a high bun. That way my hair isn't on my back making me hotter, getting bathed in sweat, or getting in my face. Also, since I sweat primarily along my hairline, I will put a headband on for good measure (just to keep the sweat from running down my face). You don't have to do it that way though. Some of you many have straightened hair that you want to keep straight for awhile. For that, you can wrap your hair pre-workout. Others may want to put their hair in a french braid or two. Whatever works for y'all. I've just found that keeping your hair up and off your face it the easiest way to keep your hair together during a workout.


See? That wasn't so bad. However, I know most of you guys are worried about what you do after a workout. No one has the kind of time to go through their entire regimen every.single.day following a work out. I know I don't. However,the possibility of having to do that keeps a lot of women from working out because it is just that time consuming. I've found that this part really takes some planning so that it is not so overwhelming. First there are some things you have to consider:

-How often are you working out?
-What is your workout schedule?
-How do you sweat?

I think these things are crucial in planning for post workout hair styles. Let me explain. Take me for example. I'm going to be working out 5 days a week and those 3/5 of those classes are cardio. In a good cardio class, I sweat a lot, especially in the center of my hair. So, for me, that means I will have to co-wash (conditioner wash) 3 times a week (b/c I'm not sitting around w/ sweaty hair. Gross.). The other 2 days are low intensity so I will have little, if any, sweat in my hair so I can take it easy on those days. I just keep my hair as is, let my hair dry along my hairline (if I even wind up sweating), and keep it moving. So I say all that to say, it's a lot easier to plan for 3 days out of the week than to feel like you have to do your hair every time you work out(I hope that makes sense).

Once you have that all figured out, it's time to figure out what to do for your hair. Following a really good workout, I will co-wash my hair with HE Hello Hydration. The co-wash is just to get rid of the sweat that is in my hair. I only apply it to my hair (and not my scalp. Shampoo is made for your scalp, conditioner is not. Plus you don't want to get yucky buildup on your scalp). Following that, I will then put a leave in on my hair and let my hair air dry. From here it can go a variety of ways.

I can:
-prep my hair for a phony pony (put hair into high bun, slick edges down with gel, and tie with scarf. I can put the phony pony on when I get dressed in the morning)
-plait my hair for my half wig
-put hair into a bun (high bun, low bun, chignon, etc.)
-plait hair for braidout (may require sitting under a dryer for a bit so it can be dry in the morning)

...the list goes on and it is only limited by your imagination. When my hair was in a short cut, however, I did wash my hair (shampoo+DC) after every cardio workout, wet wrapped it, and sat under the dryer. I would then bump the ends in the morning. I didn't mind that so much because it really didn't take a lot of time. Point is, have a style in mind that you want to do. In my experience, the quick and easier styles work best. I mean, you could want to flat iron your hair after every co-wash but if your flat ironing process takes forever and a day, it may begin to seem like a burden. I'm just sayin.


So the point of this long post is this: Working out doesn't have to equal a lifetime of walking around looking like Buckwheat's sister. With some careful planning, you CAN have a banging body and equally awesome hair!

Wash Day 1/14/12 and Other Random Things

Happy Saturday lovelies!!

So after 2 weeks of being lazy, I finally washed my hair last night. Wooooo! Yay!! Wash day was nothing fancy. I washed with Shea Moisture Moisture Retention Shampoo and DCed with ORS Replenishing Conditioner overnight. Today, I decided to go on ahead and get a blowout so I can wear my hair out just a little bit during the week. Sigh. Let me tell you that was a FAIL!!! Turns out the stylist was able to straighten my hair...but used too much serum in my hair! My hair feels just....greasy. Ugh. Gross. However, at least now I can easily do a search and destroy...and bunning this week shouldn't be much of an issue. In retrospect, I should have listened to my gut and just wore a wig for the week. Oh well. You live and you learn.


Lately, I have been doing some thinking about my hair. No, I'm not going to cut it or anything like that. I've just been musing about some things. As you guys know, I protective style like a BAWSE (that's BOSS for those sitting there confused lol)! I can go without manipulating my hair too much and be ok with that for months on end. However, I think it takes away from enjoying my hair..especially now that it's the longest it has ever been. Talking to my mom today, I found out that she alternates her protective styling. She'll half wig it up 4 days out of a 5 day work week. On that last day, she'll style her own hair. Well that sounded like a pretty good idea to me! From this point on, I intend on doing something similar. I think my hair would suffer no harm if I half wigged it up one week, then wore my own hair in a protective style/low manipulation style the next week. That way I get to enjoy my hair and actually learn my hair. What's the point of having a whole lot of hair if you don't know how to deal with it right? For 2012, I definitely want to enjoy my own hair more.


Also, maybe one of my lovely readers can tell me, Once you're full BSL, where does freaking MBL begin? I think I'm pretty much there because WL is a stone's throw away. It's driving me crazy!!!


Anyway, those are my hair musings for today. What are you guys doing to your hair this weekend?

My January Half Wig: FreeTress Monaco Girl

Happy Tuesday lovelies!!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful day, although some of you had to go back to work today. I'm on the last days of my vacay and I'm trying to make the most of it. I figure since I have all this free time on my hands, I should make the most of it and do some blog posting.

After I relaxed my hair in December, I wore my own hair (either out or in a bun) for 2 weeks. Now, I'm ready to wear my hair in wigs again until I feel like wearing my hair out again (whenever that may be). So I swung by a BSS by my house (which carries Outre half wigs---which may or may not be a good thing for me know) and picked up some wigs to wear. The first one I decided to wear was FreeTress Monaco Girl

As always, I purchased her in 1B and I paid ~$22 for her. Although I was able to pick Monaco Girl up at my BSS, she can be ordered from websites such as blackhairspray.com. I have to say that every FreeTress wig I have purchased thus far have been pretty consistent in terms of their general make up. This wig has 2 combs (one in the front and one in the back) and the hair is very soft to be synthetic. My only gripe is that Monaco Girl tangles easily and you have to be careful with the finger combing. I'm not sure how well this wig will hold up throughout the month or if I'll have to switch out wigs around mid-month. Only time will tell.


However, I like the style of Monaco Girl. It's pretty similar to Outre Zahra except that it is fuller and has more curls. It's also pretty easy to blend. I just curl my leave out and take the blending process from there. You really don't need to leave a lot of hair out. In terms of length, this wig falls at the BSL-ish range.

Anyway, check Monaco Girl out!

First Impressions: Qhemet Biologics Moringa Tree Conditioning Ghee

I'm back with the first product review of 2012!!! Whooooooo! :throws confetti:


As you guys know, I have been home in VA for well over a week now. One thing I wanted to do while I'm home was hit up Freestyle Beauty Supply (6198F Little River Turnpike, Alexandria, VA 22312<----awesome beauty supply store! When I say that they have everything...they have EVERYTHING!!If you want a Pibbs dryer, a Denman brush...whatever you want they have.) to pick up some products from Qhemet Biologics. Since the AOHC was such a bit hit with my hair (see review here) I wanted to figure out if I could achieve similar success with other products in the line. I am happy to report that the 2 products I am about to review in the next 2 posts were definite HITS for my hair.


Let's begin at the....beginning, shall we?

Moringa Tree Conditioning Ghee


I purchased this product at Freestyle Beauty in VA. However, you can also purchase this from the Qhemet Biologics website (www.qhemetbiologics.com). I know that they are gearing up for a sale soon so that may definitely be the time to check it out!

Price: ~$20+tax for 5oz (on Qhemet Biologics website: $5.50 for 2oz and $14.00 for 5oz)

Ingredients: Contains organic, virgin Coconut Oil for lubricity, slip and emollience. Pure Moringa Oil for its smoothing and softening properties. Extracts of Oatstraw and Burdock for their scalp conditioning and soothing properties. Amla, Brahmi and Nettle for their hair conditioning, strengthening and growth properties and MSM for follicular health and nourishment.

Their Claims (as per the website): "Our creamy, versatile conditioner nourishes, softens and detangles thick, dry hair."


I gotta admit..I was a little skeptical of this product initially. The product is touted as a multipurpose conditioner. It's a DC, leave in detangler, and styling aid all in one! However, the consistency of the product is so thin (consistency wise, it reminds me of Carol's Daughter Hair Milk) and I wasn't sure if it would really do a good job of DCing my hair. In fact, I was so sure it would be a DC fail, I had a pack of ORS Replenishing Conditioner nearby just in case I had to do a follow up! There was just no way something that thin would get my hair the moisture it needs. I applied the ghee to my hair, combed it through, and DCed under my heat cap for an hour (although the directions say to DC without heat for 20min, I just didn't feel like it would cut it for me. I decided to just go with my normal DC routine). When I washed the conditioner out, my hair was soft like BUTTAH!!! It didn't feel dry at all!! My only gripe with the product is that I wish it left my hair with a tad bit more slip...but that just may be me being picky. Either way, I would say that this is a decent DC.

As a leave in detangler, I think this product does exactly what it says it will do. However, I think I prefer KC Knot Today over this just because it has a thicker consistency and a little goes a long way. I have a lot of hair and if I have to run through a bottle in the first 2 uses, it becomes not worth it in my book. I think for ladies who have finer hair and need something lighter as a leave in, this may be a good option for you guys.

I have yet to try it as a styling aid but when I do, you guys will be the first to know! I am looking forward to doing a braidout with it sometime this summer!

I also wanted to point out for those who are sensitive to scents, this product has a medicinal sort of smell. It isn't bad...it's just medicine-y. It didn't bother me but it may bother those who don't deal well with scents.

The Bottom Line: Qhemet Biologics Moringa Tree Conditioner makes for a good DC and a good leave in. All in all, it's a pretty solid product. I also love how this product comes in a pump style bottle for easy distribution. I'm not a fan of the consistency ( a little to watery for my liking) or the scent (it's not bad....just medicinal smelling) but I have no issues with this product in action!