Toronto Natural Hair and Beauty Show 2011

It's taken me a while to write about it, but the Toronto Natural Hair and Beauty Show was simply incredible.

JJ and K at the Toronto Natural Hair Show!

I have never seen so many beautiful hairstyles - and so many natural hair products - all in one place. I was too busy taking it all in to remember to take photos, but you can check out these slide shows from the Natural Hair Show website. 

I was literally like a kid in a candy store. I had a very modest budget and spent it very quickly, which was exciting (there's nothing like retail therapy!). But the best part by far was connecting with workshop facilitators and participants, as well as the many vendors. I could go on forever - so I'm going to try to concentrate on favourites:

FAVOURITE VENDORS

The product selection from the people at Honey Fig was amazing. I saw all kinds of products I'd only ever seen in the blogosphere (seriously, click on that link to see the incredible selection!). The staff were very knowledgeable and helpful. There is a retail store in Toronto, and Honey Fig will ship their great selection of products to Canada AND the US.  Did you click on that product link yet?

The people from The Natural Beauty Shop were so warm and approachable. They had great information about Hair Analysis and Building a Hair Regimen. They also provide a very unique service - In-Home Natural Hair Consultation Shows - where  they will do a hair analysis and personalize a hair regimen for each guest. A "Hair Party" is DEFINITELY on my to-do list!! 

Finally, the people from i HEART my hair were awesome. Their website is undergoing maintenance and is soon to relaunch, but you can check out the i Heart my hair facebook page here. They were selling these lovely T-shirts:

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=253748768003137&set=pu.103856122992403&type=1&theater

Sadly, I was out of money by the time I reached their booth ): but I hope to buy one of their shirts asap!

FAVOURITE LOCAL FIND

The couple from Eli's Body Shop were unbelievably nice. I spent a lot of time looking at and smelling their wonderful natural products. I got a very good ((off-list)) price on this Organic Shea Oil with Lemongrass. It smells amazing. So far I've used it on JJ's and Daddy D's hair, and am hoping to incorporate this oil (and it's delicious scent) into some of my upcoming homemade concoctions (stay tuned)!!

FAVOURITE NON-LOCAL FIND

Although I've read a lot about Taliah Waajid products I've never seen them in Canada. I asked the vendor at the Taliah Waajid booth what she would recommend for little brother K's multiple curl-pattern 'fro. She suggested the Taliah Waajid Protective Mist Bodifier. I wasn't sure, so she convinced me by trying some out right then and there. After a few sprays and a little rubbing, his curls looked refreshed and shiny. I picked up a bottle at a very good price. After checking out this review at Happy Girl Hair once I got home, I transferred the product to a better spray bottle and diluted it with 2 parts water to one part Bodifier. Especially diluted with water I feel this product is a great value and works wonders for K's hair (review with photos coming soon).

FAVOURITE SEMINAR

The day before the event I was reviewing the program. One of the many seminars that caught my eye was this one:

Natural Hair and Natures Waves: A business
Mariam Ibrahim and Donna Kakonge
Did you know hairstyling has always been a major way for black women to earn an income? Mariam Ibrahim who left her government job to start a natural hair business and Donna Kakonge who received funding from the University of Toronto to study natural hair at the doctoral level will share their story.

Participants will learn tips and techniques on how they can use natural hair to finance many of the dreams that they have or turn the art of working in the natural hair care field as a dream in itself. They will also learn the dos and donts of loc maintenance.

I could not believe my eyes! Donna Kakonge is my neighbour and friend! We have spoken many times about many things, and I have often admired her natural hair, BUT I had **no idea** she was facilitating a workshop at the Show AND studying natural hair at a doctoral level!! And she had no idea that I had a little natural hair blog!! It goes to show that sometimes we have resources and connections in our own backyards that we don't know about.

I ran over to her place to share my excitement, but she wasn't home, so I decided I would surprise her by attending her seminar. The kids' nap schedules did not cooperate, so I arrived slightly late for her seminar and snuck in at the back. By the time I got there, the discussion had turned to loc maintenance, which was great since I am a relative newbie at taking care of Daddy D's locs. People started talking more generally about natural hair and hair care, and much to my surprise, Donna saw me and shouted me out in front of the whole group, bigging up my cornrowing skills! Everyone turned to look at me and although I'm sure I blushed a little I was very proud of myself and how far I've come over the last couple years. I mean, I have gone from knowing nothing about natural hair care...to being shouted out by a facilitator at the Natural Hair Show!

FAVOURITE MOMENT

I loved sharing this experience with my family. Big brother took a pass, but Daddy D, JJ and K all came with me. We also ran into our friends Mama L and her gorgeous daughters O and Baby T. Daddy D generously offered to take O, JJ and K so that Mama L and I could ran around and look at products. I loved scanning the room and seeing them all holding hands, checking out the vendors. They got a lot of attention - one big natural with three little naturals in tow! 

O, Daddy D, JJ and K checkin things out

For those of you who haven't yet had the chance to go to a Natural Hair Show in your area, I highly recommend it. It's an incredible way to learn from and connect with others interested in natural hair. And there's so much to see (and BUY)! I can't wait for next year!!

Copycat "Style" - Inspired by CurlyGirlyB

I am super excited to be participating in this month's Hair Carnival!! This time around it's all about recreating each others' styles. I was paired up with Shelly, the author of Curly Girly B. Shelly is a mama who, like me, is trying to figure out how to best care for her daughter's curly hair. My all-time favourite post from her blog is this one, on hair care basics for curly hair. She covers a ton of important need-to-know info in one spot.

Side note: Shelly's taking a little break from adding new content to her blog, but do go check out Curly Girly B for some great info and to see more pics of B and her gorgeous curly hair!!

For the Hair Carnival, I recreated something that some might not consider a "style" per se; maybe more of a technique. But I was really inspired by a post where Shelly totally achieves beautiful, defined curls on little B. Here are her cute curls (copied with permission - thanks Shelley!)

Here's B: she is too cute!!!

I am always looking for ways to get curl definition - for both JJ's 4B(ish) hair and my own 3AB(ish) hair. 

When I saw that adorable photo of B, I was inspired to try her technique - she defines B's curls with a Denman brush.

One of the first tools I purchased on my hair journey was a Denman brush, since it seemed like the word Denman was mentioned in every other blog I read. But I never really got into using it. I found that I was finger detangling more than I was using a comb or brush. Because I am "curl-defintion challenged", my own hair spends a lot of time in a ponytail, and JJ's is usually in twists or braids, so neither one of use spends much time with loose hair.  

  

The A-Ha moment came when I read Shelly's next post, which has a link to a video demonstrating how to use a Denman brush to achieve curl definition. In all my blog-reading, I had never caught onto the fact that the angle of the brush would help to define curls. I'd just been using the Denman like I would any old brush.

I tried the Denman technique first on my own hair. Here is what happened:

My kinda frizzy, not very defined curls after a long day at work.

Freshly co-washed with Mixed Chicks Leave-In

Better definition with good Denman technique

As an experiment, I decided to only brush one side of my hair with the Denman brush. I left the other side to dry without brushing it (my hair had been thoroughly finger detangled in the shower). I took pictures of each side to compare as my hair was drying:

Dry hair:

No Denman

Yes Denman

Can YOU see the difference? It may be hard to see in photos, but I think the Denman side really was more defined. The curls clumped together more, and were generally less frizzy. Here is my Denman side the next day:

The next day - still quite defined!!

So what about JJ's 4B(ish) hair??

Well, I think there's potential, but the missing factor seems to be the clumping bit. Her tiny coils separate easily, and never seem to clump together well, even using the Denman brush. She has very "cotton candy" hair. When brushed, even with the Denman, even using the special technique, even using a variety of well-recommended products, I found it really hard to get her hair to clump together:

see the little defined curl?

Maybe I haven't yet found the right product.

Or MAYBE her hair - with its tiny coils and extreme shrinkage, can not do what I am trying to make it do? Which is okay, because I love what her hair CAN do - the versatility of her hair is my favourite thing about it.

yup, those are small coils!

just a reminder of the extreme shrinkage factor

Feel free to offer your thoughts on "curl definition" for JJ....... I'd love to hear from you!!

99 (give or take) freestyle twists

JJ's last style (cornrows and box braids) stayed in longer than expected due to other life events, so her hair has had a bit of a styling break. A good thing, but I was eager to take on something ambitious this weekend.

I started with clean hair, slightly stretched from a night in banded ponytails. The complete style evolved over a few hair sessions over the weekend. This is how I did it:

1.  Starting at the back, I gathered a small section of hair, spritzed with water and a little detangler, and finger detangled (her hair was thoroughly detangled before putting the banded ponytails in so this wasn't difficult). I made two-strand twists that were smaller than usual - about 1/2 cm in diameter (about 1/5 inch). I continued, 1 small section at a time until the back was done. There were about 75 total twists in the back. I used a lovely shea/aloe/coconut oil mix that I made using a recipe from Naturally Leslie (see this post.)

2. I thought about continuing with regular two strand twists for the front of her hair but:
a) I wanted her hair to be out of her face without needing barrettes or elastics, and
b) I'm a little artsy and felt like departing from straight parts.

So I did curved flat two-strand twists kind of all over the place with my main goal being to keep her hair out of her face.

Started the flat twists at the front, but took a
break by adding in a knotted ponytail 

Later continuing the flat twists in the front
(same PJs, different day)

Look! JJ's dressed!!
(but see PJs in background?)

All done!

In the end, I feel okay with it, but think that cornrows would have looked much neater and less fuzzy than the flat twists at the front. I may take them out and re-do with cornrows.

Later in the week -pigtails

The flat twists are getting pretty fuzzy (day 4).

Tools: water, detangler, comb, shea/aloe/coconut oil mix (see link, above)

Copy Cat Puffs

The phone keeps JJ entertained at hair time! 

This week's style was inspired (well, okay, copied) from this style at Keep Me Curly. The only real difference was that I did flat twists into puffs instead of cornrows.  It was great and lasted well for the week. I did turn the puffs into large braids towards the end of the week to avoid big tangles.

For the twists I used a shea/coconut oil mixture. When I took the twists out I was impressed with the texture of JJ's hair - it was still very soft and smooth and even shiny. The texture/curl pattern was great too - kind of a spiral-y, stretched curl so I left it as a twistout in two pigtails.

Down and/or Out

It's the weekend, Daddy D is home, the kids are napping, I have a big work project due soon and I am procrastinating - all of this helps to make my recent posting "binge" a reality.

I've been wanting to think out loud here about "down" hair. In JJ's case, "down" hair isn't really a reality, it's more "out" hair. Daddy D kept telling me that once she had some length her hair would hang down instead of out, but I'm not convinced.

Below is the most "down" JJ's hair as ever hung without the help of a twist-out or braid-out. Lots of shrinkage.

 Freshly washed, with shea butter and coconut oil....
oops some coconut grit visible in this pic.

She REALLY didn't like the way it looked, but was happier with a headband:

I absolutely **LOVE** her hair out like this. But....she doesn't really, which makes me feel very sad. She'll look in the mirror, and ask for braids or twists. I want her to love her natural, "out" hair. When I talked about this with the amazing staff at The Curl Ambassadors they counseled me to keep her hair "out" as much as possible so she gets more accustomed to seeing it this way. They also recommended I make sure she sees lots of hair like hers in our dolls, books, and community. This is something we've always tried to do, and I'll dedicate another post to this topic soon.

There is another, practical issue with "out" hair. As I've mentioned, on weekday mornings I'm on my own to get the 3 kids to their 2 different day programs so I can get myself to work. "Out" hair takes more time in the mornings than I have. I'm trying to compromise by styling with bigger puffs, or half-up half-down hair. Braid-outs or twist-out towards the end of a hairstyle are also working for us.

Along these lines I thought I'd try out rollers. Maybe give JJ's hair a looser curl pattern (that might not get as tangled...) so we could get through the week without braids and twists? I found these satin-lined rollers at a very good price at my local discount store.

Sitting with satin rollers

Slept overnight with the silk scarf
that came with the rollers!

In the morning, rollers out.

Curls separated, added a bow.

So neither one of us loved this look. I tried to save it by putting the loosely curled hair into four ponytails with an x-part (sorry, no picture). In the end I gave up, spritzed JJ's hair to bring back the "real" curl pattern, and went with a puffy fro-hawky ponytail.  Live and learn!

P.S. Some more procrastinating/surfing brought me to this post on elongating curls at Beads, Braids and Beyond. Seems like a missing link for JJ's hair coud be overnight conditioner for easier morning detangling?

P.P.S. More procrastinating: I just read this post on the Dangers of Afros and feel better about using 2-strand twists as the default hairstyle....

More Little Brother Hair

K's hair with Supercurl cream

K's hair never gets as much attention as JJ's. As I've said before, he's not too big on manipulation. I've been experimenting with different products for his hair. He has a different curl pattern than JJ - with tighter coils framing his face and looser curls at the top of his head.

His usual routine:

• Shampoo every week or two depending on circumstances, using a no-sulfate shampoo or a mix of warm water and baking soda. Then I leave conditioner in for as long as he's willing to sit in the bath, finger detangle, and rinse. Occasionally I go "all-out" and comb with a wide-tooth comb while the conditioner is in. "Style" clean hair with a leave-in product or shea/oil combo (coconut/almond/macadamia).
• In between shampoos, co-wash (with conditioner only) and finger detangle. 
• Daily routine (morning): spritz with water/jojaba oil/leave-in conditioner mix, finger detangle while applying coconut oil. In the evening K sometimes sleeps with a cap, especially because he likes to do what his big sister does. When I remember I apply some shea butter mixed with either coconut/almond/macadamia oil before bed.

Once in a while I'll use some fancier product on his hair. The other day I used some of JJ's Uncle Funky's Daughter Supercurl Miracle Moisture Cream. It looked and felt soft, and smelled amazing. Interestingly, it seemed to make his coils even tighter.  JJ asked him if he had a hair cut! I've been able to "revive" the Supercurl cream so far (three days) which makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth (I'm a bit thrifty, and this cream was not cheap)! Did I mention it smells nice? I'm not big on scented products in general but I do find this one pleasant.

The Trim

Freshly trimmed,
with Supercurl Cream

A couple of weeks ago JJ and I ventured over to The Curl Ambassadors for a trim. The stylist, Shanlea, had infinite patience for JJ's uncertainty about the experience. After realizing very quickly that sitting on a chair in the main part of the salon wasn't going to work for JJ, she took us to a quieter "back room" and brought out a bag full of toys including lots of curly-haired dolls. JJ settled into playing hairdresser with the dolls.

This is to show the texture
(I need a better camera!)

The Curl Ambassadors specialize in dry-cutting (trimming dry, as opposed to wet hair). After a trim, Shanlea washed and conditioned JJ's hair with Deva products for curly hair and then used the Supercurl cream by Uncle Funky's Daughter. Check out the fabulous videos for Uncle Funky's daughter products. We picked up a tub of the Supercurl cream, and use it for loose hair, and sometimes for twists. So far I'd say it's good, but it was quite pricey - about $40 (with tax) for 8 ounces. I use it quite sparingly because of the price. I usually use shea butter and almond oil for twists (see my post on The Usual Routine).

Shanlea gave JJ her own "curl map" with personalized instructions for curl care. She answered my million+ questions about JJ's hair and was very well-versed about products and their ingredients. It was a great experience all-around. Thanks Shanlea!

The Usual Routine

Our hair routine varies somewhat from week to week, but here is the "usual":

1) Take out whatever style was in (usually done the night before).

2)  Wash hair. Usually this is a "co-wash" (wash with conditioner only). If there is a lot of product buildup I'll do a baking soda rinse (baking soda dissolved in warm water). Every two weeks or so I use a no-sulfate shampoo. Currently, we're using a very affordable line called "live clean". I like the Apple Cider "clarifying" shampoo. I usually wash JJ's hair in two sections as it is very thick.

Usually I wash JJ's hair in two sections - back and front.

3) Condition. I usually apply conditioner and let it sit for a while while JJ plays in the bath. We like the live clean Argan Oil conditioner. Sometimes I mix a little jojoba oil into the conditioner and let it sit.

Sitting with conditioner.

Jojoba oil, and live clean shampoo & conditioner
 (sorry - focus problem)

4) Detangle. Usually I comb JJ's hair in the bath with a wide tooth comb. I comb it in smallish sections, starting at the ends.

5) Rinse.

Clean hair!

6) Apply product and style. Typically, I lean towards "protective styles", like two-strand twists. I try to style so that I can change it up during the week by adding/changing hair accessories. Usually I add some almond oil to a tub of organic shea butter and mix it around with my fingers until I get a smooth, creamy consistency. I then divide the hair into sections, add the shea/almond "cream", comb through, and twist, making sure to twist right to the ends. I have a bottle of water to spritz as JJ's hair dries quickly. Usually I'll wrap the ends of the twists around a barrette a few times and secure. This helps the ends curl up nicely instead of getting frizzy. It also helps "pull down" the twists for some length. I take the barrettes out once the hair is dry.

I start with the back as JJ's scalp is most sensitive there.
Note length of the combed out section. 

First twist.

Back row of twists, second section ready to go.
Barrettes added to stretch the twists and keep the ends neat.

Two rows done!

Three rows done, added some flat twists for variety
and to keep JJ's hair out of her face.

More flat twists and a flat twist to the side at the front.

Added some baubles - done!

From the top.

Twists can usually last the week easily. JJ does sleep with a satin cap at night. Sometimes towards the end of the week we do twist-out. If I can keep this momentum up, I'll post a pic!


Addendum: Katie's post on Happy Girl Hair called The Care and Feeding of Protective Twists reminded me that a daily spritz is a very good thing for twists (or any style for that matter). I've been trying to remember to spritz JJ's twists daily. I've been using a homemade mixture of live clean Argan oil smooth and shine cream, a little almond oil, and water. I just shook these together in a small spray bottle. So far, so good....