Are your ends feeling a bit dry—and even after you deep condition, moisturize, and seal they still don’t seem to be as soft and luxurious as you would have liked them to be? I know, I’ve been there too and I’ve got a few quick tips and tricks that I think might work for you as they have worked for me.

I’m about to deep condition.

I. After you apply your deep conditioner add your favorite oil to your hair cover with a plastic cap let sit and then rinse.

II. While you are deep conditioning tuck the ends of your hair into the base (root) of your twist to obtain more moisture to the ends of the hair.

I’ve deep conditioned but my ends are still dry.

III. After I rinse my deep conditioner out with warm water I spritz my hair with just a little more oil and reapply my plastic cap and let it sit— this creates a “greenhouse” effect and distributes moisture throughout the entire shaft of the hair. This method also works to control unruly ends between trims.

Have you tried any of these methods— or do you have a few tips or tricks of your own to combat dry unruly ends? Share them with me in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter. I hope this helps

be you. be beautiful ♥

Hi! (looks around) uh, er, yeah! I’m here *dust chairs off* ahem! I know, before you all go yelling at me and getting your expletive’s out as far as demanding to know where I’ve been let me start by saying all detailed information that is open for sharing will be posted in some form or fashion at a later date when time permits. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way— Hi, I’ve really missed you guys and I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that contacted me personally and were concerned about my whereabouts I really appreciate the love. While I’ve been away a lot has transpired— a lot of great and a few not so great but all and all I am here and thankful— (pulls out notes) I took a break for blogging, tweeting and pretty much anything that had to do with social networking and natural hair as a whole—for me it had gotten to be quite overwhelming and I wasn’t able to keep up with myself or the “demand” of blogging or active social networking and so I simply stopped.

I didn’t share that I was stopping even though I had know for quite some time that it would happen— initially I thought I would just take a break for a few days, then perhaps a week or two and then I kind of just fell in and ended up spending what seemed like an eternity ( about 3 months) but the break was very good for me and therapeutic. I was able to clear my head for once and really focus on things that are most important to me like school, and getting my health and fitness in check— I was also able to just breathe and not feel overwhelmed or concern myself with the woe’s of the “natural hair world” for awhile. Now even though I did stop tweeting from my “natural hair” account I did tweet from another account that is usually used for random tweeting and for networking for my music whenever I wanted to pop in there, but again as far as the (lnaturalchica) account and anything connected to it I didn’t tweet, nor check it at anytime and it felt great!

Other than that, I am great back temporarily meaning I probably won’t tweet or blog as aggressively as I have done in the past but I will make my presence known and keep you guys in the loop when things pop up. Oh! Before I forget I just had my friend set up my Google+ account and kind of explain to me what it is and how to use it (somewhat) and so if you are on there follow me I try to be more active with that and share pictures, videos, blog post etc from there when I can’t physically sit and post little tidbits and such. I know I’m rambling and so I’ll let you guys go but if you have any questions post a comment or tweet me and I’ll answer what I can and if I can’t I’ll let you know.

PS: shout out to everyone that still follows me and still support me even in absence, I really appreciate you all so much and I’m glad you are still here! Also hair pictures and updates coming :)!

love you guys,

be you. be beautiful ♥

Over the course of this journey I have been sharing with you all little tidbits and tips that have helped me thus far— and yes that’s fine and all ,but I think I should go a little deeper and so here it is. I have been struggling ever since I started to ‘focus’ on my weight— before when I loss the weight it was simply I lost it and that was that,but now it’s like “whoa let me keep up with it now that I’ve noticed I loss weight”. And for me that is not realistic. I’m not a calorie counter, nor do I like to ‘workout’ or feel guilty when I eat something worth indulging in. I just don’t like the feeling of deprivation not even in the least bit. But I do make smart or conscious choices that I believe keep me consistent with my weight so that even if it’s not going down I at least don’t gain because then that would be an even bigger problem.

As of late though temptation has been a bi** and I haven’t been doing the best for myself even when I know I should and can I still make up some kind of excuse self consciously not to do what I know needs to be done. For example this workout a friend of mine was nice enough to make me a copy of the dvd’s she had and send them to me so that I could use them at home the first day I got them I was excited saw the first DVD and immediately thought “I can’t do this” and there is where I went wrong. I can do any and everything I desire within my heart to do if and when I put forth my best efforts, but the issue was this I kept telling myself “I don’t want to”, “I’m not going to”, “I can’t do this” and those were the exact phrases that stuck in my head and seemingly led to this lazy unmotivated self that I have become.

I should be thankful that I haven’t toppled over yet from all this mental weight on my shoulders. As my love always say’s “People make time for what they want” and that’s very true if you don’t really want something you aren’t going to take time apart from your other activities mom, work, school, husband, wife to do something that you don’t want to because often working out, taking care of yourself, eating well doesn’t rank high enough in your list of priorities. Well, it’s time for that to stop you have to push and I’m going to tell and show you ways that you can push yourself to the top of your priority list and still have time for everything else.

I. Create a “ME LIST”.

I’ve been watching The Revolution basically everyday since it started and the most recent episodes have been about 5 month weight loss journey’s and at the beginning of these weight loss journey’s they ask each individual that is participating usually 1 every week to create a “me list” it’s simply a list of about 3 things that you want to change or accomplish throughout your personal journey and every couple months you check off one of those me list items that you’ve written down.

II. Get Organized

There is nothing more discouraging when you are trying to make efforts to get up and workout than being unorganized. It frustrates you and makes it that much more difficult for you to stay consistent and motivated. GET ORGANIZED!

III. Schedule

A schedule is so important because it gives you a sense of  accountability. Knowing that you have something schedule to do at a certain times makes you more likely to get up and get it done.

IV. Eliminate Your Excuses

This is a big one we all have those reason why we can’t or don’t but it’s time to replace those with I can and I will. I know for me staying self motivated is hard especially when it comes to doing things I’m not a custom to doing everyday. I literally have to push and struggle because I personally need someone who is physically there telling me ‘get up’ ‘do this’ etc and reminding me constantly almost like a nag. That’s why I am starting to do whatever I can to make sure that I don’t have those same excuse continuing on in this journey.

I. I leave my workout clothes next to my bed so that when I roll out of bed that’s the first thing I put on.

II. I keep my workout DVD’s set. Pending where I am going to work out I make sure that my television or laptop has my DVD for that day set to the exact point I am going to start my workout. I also make sure that once I turn my television or computer on it automatically goes to those workouts.

III. I pre-make or plan my meals, this takes away from the worry of if I’m eating ‘good’ or not it also saves time. 

IV. I thank myself! I know this sounds silly but I thank myself after I push forth in a workout I thank myself for going there, I allow myself to be grateful for where I’m at and hopeful for what is to come. But I don’t beat myself up if I haven’t accomplished something I just work on pushing harder and becoming better with the next workout.

v. APPRECIATE, ACKNOWLEDGE, and ALLOW.

I. Appreciate who you are now.

II. Acknowledge where you were, who you were and where you want to be.

III. Allow yourself the freedom to make mistakes, change and become an even better healthier you. You are so worth the effort.

I hope you all were able to receive this as it was intended and I do hope that you stay encouraged on your own personal journey’s.