Being Realistic...

So, I have been dreading--absolutely DREADING--taking down these mini twists. The task seems so daunting--and it is. My sister and mother kept saying "I feel sorry for you" and "That's going to take forever" as I was attempting to take down my hair.

In my mind, I was going to dedicate a night to taking down my hair. However, I started the take down process on Monday night, continued Tuesday night, and I still have some more twists to take out. I wasn't realistic when I was putting in the twists. For some reason, I felt that it would take 8-9 hours and I would be done. However, it took 16 hours.

So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to be realistic when setting hair goals. No, its not going to take one night to get these mini twists out of this head. And I may not get them all out tonight. But, I do know that I am going to work diligently to get them out. I am so looking forward to washing my hair, doing an oil rinse, deep conditioning it, etc.

Have you ever set hair goals and had to be realistic that it just wasn't going to happen?

Even on those staple products...CHECK THE INGREDIENTS!

WHY!!!!

So, imagine my horror when I was on CurlyNikki in the comments section and I saw that someone posted that Herbal Essence has changed their look and their ingredients in their conditioners (I'm not really sure about the shampoos but, I don't use their shampoos).

She said the new conditioners have a new look and new ingredients. They have less plant extracts, more cones, and sodium hydroxide (sodium hydroxide is used in relaxers). So, I went to Herbal Essence's website and I did notice the new look of the conditioners but, could not find the ingredients posted anywhere. So, today I will be checking out my local drugstore to find the ingredients on those new bottles. The new bottles have a flower on them.

Herbal Essence conditioners were some of my favorite conditioners. I own the Totally Twisted, Hello Hydration, and Dangerously Straight. I even did rave reviews on these conditioners. However, I will not continue to purchase these products if it is true that the ingredients have changed.

This just goes to show me that even when you have your staple products, you should always check the ingredients. I am guilty of just restocking the products and not even checking the ingredients once I consider a product a staple. Lesson learned.

This is the new bottle for the HE Hello Hydration conditioner. At least, I know to stay away from bottles that look like this.

I am so over the IGNORANCE!!!

Solange rocking her beautiful short natural.

Sandra Rose, the blogger.

Ok, I must rant!

I was on Black Girl Long Hair today and was reading the first post. This post was giving details about Sandra Rose attacking Solange's short natural and "complimenting" her on her new afro wig. Go here to view this article. The SAD thing is that Sandra Rose felt as if she was giving Solange a "compliment" by making the comment "Work it girl! That short nappy look was not working for you, baby." Really though...

I personally do not take offense to the word nappy when used in a positive light. Such as "Nappily Ever After" or the "Nappy Chronicles" (a youtuber). Yet, when people take that word to use it negatively, I take offense.

In this article, Black Girl Long Hair made a GREAT point on how just a few months ago Sandra Rose was encouraging everyone to accept their beautiful brown skin. She was defending herself against a comment Chris Brown made over her being "black and ugly". Mind you, I take extreme offense to Chris Brown's comments also and agree. Yet, its ironic that Sandra Rose wants us to accept our natural skin color but, to reject our natural hair texture. People look down on others who use bleach on their skin but, they think its absolutely normal to put in weaves/relaxers/wigs to hide the natural texture of the hair. This is just ignorant! Mind you, I am not attacking anyone for wearing a weave/relaxer/wig however; it is imperative that we understand that our natural beauty should NOT be rejected.

Another thing I am so sick of is people who are obsessed with length. What is the difference between Solange rocking a short natural and a longer natural. Nothing, in my opinion. The wig was a natural textured wig and had essentially the same coil pattern as her hair. So technically it was still "nappy". Sandra Rose just showed me that she is a very ignorant person who still rejects the natural beauty of the black woman.

How can we expect others to accept us when we can't even accept ourselves???