Welcome to The NHB.com. Hope you love the site. Feel free to browse and interact too. I don’t know it all but I’ll definitely share all I know XD

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1)When & why did you decide to go natural?

I started transitioning from April 2009 but it was not intentional, I just couldn’t be bothered with re-touching my hair plus my re-growth was not too bad. I did my big chop Feb 10 so have been fully natural for 7 months now. Main reason for going natural was boredm of permed hair I just needed a change.

2) What were people’s reactions to your decision?

At first nearly everyone around me was like NOOOOO! Your hairs long, why would you do that?! However, there were a few supporters

3) Have you got any hairspiration(s)? If so, who?

Would have to say Cindy in my biggest hairspiration, mainly down to the confidence exhibits with her natural hair, even when she had her BC.

4) What’s your favourite hairstyle atm?

Favourite hairstyle right now has to be the tuck and roll, well that’s what I call it I’m not too sure what it’s actually called.

5) What is / are your favourite hair product(s)?

Currently, my favourite hair product is pure coconut oil. It leaves my hair really soft and shiny and has reduced my shrinkage

6) Do you have a certain length of hair you’re aspiring to reach? If so, what is it?

Right now I’m not really to fussed about length, I just want to see what happens as the years go on.

7) What advice would you give to those who are scared to go natural or those who already are but never leave their natural hair out?

For those people who are scared about going natural I would say, first examine the reasons why your scared in the first place. Because im sure most of the reasons will be based on insecurities which need to be dealt with regardless if you decide to go natural or not. And for those people who are natural but never leave their hair out, I would just say love what you have first, embrace your natural hair just as you embrace your weave. Also find about different natural hairstyles, i know sometimes it hard to find people who have the same length as you, but youtube has a range.

8 ) Have you learnt anything from your experience so far? If so, what?

Going natural has taught me a lot, especially about my negative self image. I always had the view that natural hair wasn’t good enough and with it you could never go far in life. Looking back on that statement now, I realise how deluded i was. Kinky hair is the hair God gave me, and when he made me He examined me and saw that it was good, so who i’m i to say something is ugly when God said it’s beautiful. Now I feel much more confident within myself, and not so concerned with trying to gain the approval and acceptance of man. I AM FREE!

Thanks Elizabeth for your kind words and advice! Lots of love here from The NHB <3

Anyway back to my review! I tried the curformers with mixed feelings: 60% dubious & 40% hopeful that it would work like all the reviews have said.

My thoughts…

SIMPLY CURLTASTIC!

I’ve never had ringlets before and certainly never thought I’d see the day my natural hair went in ringlets without using a tong!

These are amazing. They produce great curls with hold too. Please note I used pure Shea butter and coconut oil on freshly co-washed hair. I was surprised The curls were so firm and bouncy after just about 4 hrs.

The downside is this hairstyle is not likely to last more than a day. Although perhaps if I used gel…hmmmm.
Nevertheless, still a good option for any special occasion.

I was quite the happy bunny in the mornign when I took them out (smug too!). BUT….I didn’t know what to do with the curls….so I combed them out Sorry guys, I’m ashamed at my own lack of creativity at such an opprotune time too *covers head*.

Here are some pics of the curls and the aftermath (not great angles sorry! Perhaps I’ll get a good shot next time!)

PS. I will also be using this post to promote the following:

Pure Shea Butter: Paks, £5.99. This one is amazing! Very soft so there’s no need to melt it when you need to use it (that was an annoying issue with the previous one I had). And it prbably goes without saying but loook at the massive amount you get for such a cheap price!!!! Go and get yours ASAP (if you haven’t already).

Detangling comb: Sally’s, ~£2. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC on my hair. It doesn’t rip / tear your hair (notice the rounded edges and the wide tooth). A MUST HAVE for every natural out there!

That’s all for today folks! Hope you’ve enjoyed.

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<3

I thought I’d share the events that took place (or more precisely thought processes!) when deciding what hairstyle I’d do for my birthday.

So for my 21st bday I had a nice little up do planned which I stumbled across on YouTube (video to be posted soon!) but then I change my mind and thought hmmm maybe I’ll just do an afropuff. My friends and I admittedly thought this was BORING! So I changed my mind again…and then I saw another hairstyle (by MsVaughnTV – YouTube) I wanted to do:

… But then I changed my mind back to the original hairstyle.

So the Saturday night before ‘D-day’, my friend and I started the prep. Long story short, it all went horribly wrong :’( My hair just wasn’t doing what I wanted it to.

So I restyled….
… Then restyled again

[1:40am or around so]

I was about to burst into tears (a slight exaggeration, it was more of a hissy fit tbh) and a thought came to me [lightbulb moment!]:

If you’re not succeeding with all these hair styles (and I couldn’t persist as I had church in a few hours – I needed to do something sensible with my hair!), why not just do what you do best – keep it simple. So I did! Stuck with my afropuff and learnt a lesson:

Don’t be afraid to keep it simple – sometimes it screams louder than extravagance

Encouragement to you ladies: if you’re looking for a hairstyle for a special event, there are loads around and YouTube offers a great range but sometimes, what you may find is the simple, everyday hairstyle may just do the trick

Oh and some pics

Feel free to share your own experiences too!! Don’t forget to

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<3

So after IBCd I decided I’d get my friend to straighten my hair for church the next day. By then I had no clue about how to maintain natural hair, I simply thought I’d be straightening it out every week or so. Anyway, so she straightened my hair out that Saturday night. I took care to wrap it as I usually would with my relaxed hair.

Sunday morning I woke up and took out my hair, ready to style it. What did I find? A hot mess! My hair had reverted back to an afro, except my roots forgot to let my tips know so my tips were still straight! LOL. I think back and I can’t help laughing. Honestly, I looked like I’d been electrocuted!!! I did my best to style it out but …er well… It probably wasnt the most successful of attempts. My first lesson in my natural hair journey.

Of course I couldn’t reminisce without leaving you all with a visual aid. Take a look lol

Have any of you experienced this? Do post any funny stories you have of your experiences and don’t forget…

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XD

Here’s the deal ladies:

Your natural hair is God given and it is beautiful! What you (or we I guess) need to do is learn to appreciate it and how to take care of it. Find styles that suit you – but you’ll never know until you try

What are your thoughts and views guys

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]]> http://thenhb.com/2011/08/07/i-dont-think-natural-hair-suits-me/feed/ 1 http://thenhb.com/2011/07/30/do-you-find-that-after-you-take-out-your-protective-hairstyle-you-get-dry-breakage-because-i-do-so-now-im-a-bit-hesitant-in-doing-braids-again/ http://thenhb.com/2011/07/30/do-you-find-that-after-you-take-out-your-protective-hairstyle-you-get-dry-breakage-because-i-do-so-now-im-a-bit-hesitant-in-doing-braids-again/#comments Sat, 30 Jul 2011 21:39:28 +0000 The NHB http://thenaturalhairblog.wordpress.com/?p=494 Hmmm interesting question! Personally, I don’t experience any dry breakage. You do have to differentiate however between breakage and shedding. When you leave your hair in for a long time and take it out, you definitely will see quite a bit of hair come out because we shed hair everyday. However, if your hair is actually breaking, such that you may have clumps and patches of hair missing in different parts then it may be that you’ve left the hair in (especially in the case of braids etc.) too long or perhaps it was too tight.

It is very important you ensure that whoever is doing your hair, knows how to handle your hair and that they don’t just blow dry it to oblivion when trying to braid it etc! Also I would recommend that you wash and condition your hair before you put it in a protective hairstyle. Do oil your scalp on a weekly basis whilst in a protective hairstyle and don’t leave the hair in too long  i.e. 2 months should be the maximum in my opinion.

I sincerely hope this helps. Ladies reading this, if you have a similar experience or advice, please let us know! Remember this forum is to help us all so as usual don’t forget to…

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]]> http://thenhb.com/2011/07/30/do-you-find-that-after-you-take-out-your-protective-hairstyle-you-get-dry-breakage-because-i-do-so-now-im-a-bit-hesitant-in-doing-braids-again/feed/ 1 http://thenhb.com/2011/07/24/protective-hairstyle-4/ http://thenhb.com/2011/07/24/protective-hairstyle-4/#comments Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:25:27 +0000 The NHB https://thenaturalhairblog.wordpress.com/?p=475 My latest protective hairstyle:

*****Chunky Cainrows XD ******

PS. Details of hairdresser available on request!

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Insecurity issue No 2: My Hair

So I’ve just taken out my hair from my lace wig and left it natural. I started 9 months ago on this journey because the relaxer was killing my hair so I decided to go natural. I cut off all the relaxed hair about 3 months ago and continued using my lace wig. I was quite shocked when I took it out to find my hair had actually come a long way. So I decided to keep the lace wig to the side and leave out my natural hair – which I thought was beautiful not because my hair was perfect but simply because I didn’t even know what my natural hair looked like any more and I just liked the fact that this is actually my hair unprocessed, raw: natural. I also think it’s really nice and fluffy

So what then is my point? My point is this: I left home confident and happy even though I knew people would be surprised. I went out, went to church etc. Yet the longer I remained outside, it became very clear that not only were people surprised – it was not a very pleasant surprise for them. My deep found joy (which I guess was not so deep as it was soon overcome with immense conscientiousness and insecurity) was soon destroyed with looks, laughs and comments such as ‘why did you take off your lovely hair’ ‘you need to relax your hair…(I’m growing it out natural) … Oh (with a bewildered and somewhat disappointed look)’ and even the dreaded ‘I get the look you were trying to go for’ ouch that one hurt!

You know its silly because I really really really shouldn’t care what others think as long as I’m happy. My happiness certainly should not be dependent on the reactions of others. Nevertheless, I returned home a dejected girl.

Oh of course I did get a few (err very few) ‘oh wow your hair looks nice’ but that was certainly drowned by the uproars of discord which eventually swallowed me. The day I started blissfully very soon became overshadowed with this deep hurt. I was … Am hurt. Of course I then went back to ‘oh now boys won’t like me or think I’m attractive’. Stupid, ungodly and immature as it is – unfortunately it went through my mind.

It’s as if I was no longer socially acceptable because of the simple fact of my hair. Disappointing…and disappointed.

The thought arises to me then: why?

I’ve never been one for extensions etc. (although there was a stage in early secondary school where I had to have braids – which I must add when people see it today think I had dreadlocks LOL) but when I decided to grow my hair natural I knew I’d have to.

It was like I took on a whole new personality…character. This girl was mature, confident…and had “good” hair. Now that’s all done away with what’s left is the insecure, young girl who doesn’t have good hair. But wait! I’m still me!! Nothing has changed I’m still me: laughing, crying, smiling – I just have my hair natural…and short. That’s all.

So what’s the big deal? It’s this: society has conformed us to an image that is not necessarily accurate. It seems as though if you don’t have long flowing hair or if your short hair is not relaxed then …err ewwww. Most afro-Caribbean girls have afro-kinky hair. Yet most Afro-Caribbean girls either have some form of extensions or relax their hair. It’s not bad, its not a sin. A lot of us do so that our hair is manageable (as we have been raised to believe). However unfortunately, most of us including the latter category have taken on another persona. So its like there is no me without this hair. Now that is a problem. It’s best exemplified when in between times of getting our hair done, we dread, we fret, we hide our hair the best way possible in shame because its in a state, we think, is unacceptable.

My question is this: without the processed hair or extensions, make up, earrings: who are you?

I’d made up my mind when God showed me I was insecure to beautify the inside of me as well as my outward form in its natural state – without make up, earrings etc. I want to perfect my natural beauty so that in the off chance all is stripped away it will be a ‘wow’ and not ‘oh my goodness…what happened’ That which is external fades away, but the inner beauty only stands to increase with time. I don’t want to be bound to those things (adornment) whereby I feel that I have no identity without them.

Then what do I do? Relax my hair again (which I hate to do) or hide under my extensions? Of course not! I’m gonna battle this out – Daddy didn’t raise no quitter! I refuse to conform to the superficial mindsets and precepts of this society.

So then with tears welling up but held back I close: The Lord has many things to teach me about me and I have yet to learn them. I’ve got a lot of growing up to do.  - I’m certainly not as strong as I would have liked to think.

I just pray God will break me and as the clay in the potters hands, mould me. That He will give me humility in its fullness to learn. For you (the reader) may God reveal all the beauty that has been placed in you. Anything holding you bound, may you be released from it and set free in the knowledge of the truth about God and yourself. Amen.

**THE END**

I’m happy to say of course, just over one year later, I’m definely no longer insecure about my natural hair – I love it! I take care of it accordingly now and take immense pride in my luscious kinks and curls You should too

What are your views and opinions about this post?

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