Friday, May 20, 2011

Tat Tat Tatted Up

The Phoenix is a mythical bird with a ridiculously long life-cycle in which, close to the end it builds itself a nest of frankincense and myrrh, cinnamon, and other deliciously tantalizing olfactory stimulating agents that ultimately catches afire, both nest and bird, burning fiercely and reduced to ashes. From the ashes, a new phoenix arises, reborn to complete the cycle again. All accounts indicate that the bird had a most beautiful song. The mythology alludes to immortality as the phoenix arises anew, and in some accounts, the beautiful songbird is able to change into people.

Originating stories came from Egypt, Greece, Arabian countries, and as far east as China and even Japan, each origin encapsulating an appropriate variation of the bird. In Egypt, Phoenix represented a majestic being over time, and order, and creation. It was reported that the golden red bird would travel from Arabia to a sanctuary in Egypt. It would travel every 500 years in a rite of renewal and resurrection. The alluring bird would sing songs that would make even the gods stop. It was graceful, beautiful, magical, majestic, representing power and prosperity, and virtue. In China, only an Empress could be adorned with the bird.

Not knowing anything too deeply about the phoenix, in my craving for a new tattoo, I came across a picture of a phoenix.

It stuck with me. The thought of me always coming from some type of failure, some type of loss, from the ashes of being burned, on top, anew, unscathed and just as beautiful as ever, stuck with me.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO... When I saw that Miya Bailey was coming to Houston, I couldn't miss my chance to get him to put himself in me. Seriously. What better person than to embody myself in art form? I scraped together some fundage, and ran straight to him. In typical fashion, relatively reserved, and slightly shy, I sat in the appointment, slightly artist struck... then, he asked, "So what can I do for you today?" I said, "I want a phoenix." It was really quite simple, my desire. All I required is that it was him, that he put his spin on it, that the piece had him creatively all in it.

With the position I'm in right now in life, and my song's cry arising, this piece couldn't be more appropriate for this exact moment in my life.

We sat and shot the shit for a few, as he was filling color tubes with hues of greens, and yellow, and pinks (my favorite), and various shades of blues, and then it was down to business of creating art. He stepped in from the Houston evening, looked at me so pleasantly pleased, said, "I have something perfect for you," told me to stand, took out his markers, and began creating distinctly indistinct lines on my arm. Occasionally stepping back to admire the look and gage his next move, he marked and outlined and smiled and repeated until finally she was created. As I looked down my arm, all I saw were black and red lines and swirls and smudges and stuff. He saw: hell, I don't know what he saw, but eventually, he took out his needle, and began the process of creation.

Over the next few hours, somewhat painlessly, she arose.
















Everything is not for everybody. But, this, this right here. This right here tattoo is for me. Still feels like I'm dreaming. 



thank you Miya Bailey, sir! *big smile*

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Color and natural curls

Color is hot this season. It's Spring, time to turn over a new leaf, get a new look, revamp the self from the wintry paltry blues. I see my naturals are flocking to color in Spring '11! My Twitter TL and my Facebook updates are going wild for curly girls doing something colorfully wonderful to their curls. G'won girls, do ya thang! But, with our hair, we have to protect it because of the horror stories! Some folks just don't wanna BC their hair as a result of color damage. Also, I personally feel guilty applying color to my curls, because I really do stand on the chem free stance of my hair. From http://www.natural-living-for-women.com/, she states that honestly coloring agents are relatively hard to find with all natural ingredients, but I am on the Google mission to find something.
"Many hair color products use the word natural and I find this can be confusing. You may see the word natural on the label but it may only refer to the results not the ingredients. If they say natural looking results then that makes sense. Contains natural ingredients no matter how little makes sense too but very few hair dyes are all natural. When I refer to a hair color as natural in most instances I am using it rather loosely. While some natural ingredients are used and the choice of chemicals used is safer than many of the brands currently available it is hardly a completely safe, natural product. There are a few exceptions to this though."


We know henna, and there are plenty giveaways of henna. Henna is a nontoxic plant based product that is used to condition the hair, but is also used to color skin and hair. The finished hair color from henna falls within a range of brown to strawberry blonde hues. Natural henna is typically stains a red to brown color, and the "black henna" or "neutral henna" aren't even henna products per say as they usually don't contain henna itself, but in fact other stuff.
"Black henna" may contain p-phenylenediamine (PPD), which can stain skin black quickly, but can cause severe allergic reactions and permanent scarring. The FDA specifically forbids PPD to be used for that purpose."
In my attempt to find natural products other than henna that will dye your hair, I did come across a few. NONE OF THESE HAVE I TRIED, BUT IN THE EVENT THAT I DO, I WILL BE SURE TO POST A PRODUCT REVIEW.


EcoColors Haircolor Golden Blonde Warm
Water, dihydroxyethyl soyamine dioleate, aqueous ammonia, denatured alcohol, oleic acid, linseed oil, castor oil, lecithin, lanolin, silk, ascorbyl palmitate vitamin C, rosemary oil, vitamin E, love, grapefruit seed extract, Organic Lavender flower essences.
May contain one or more of the following: aminophenol sulfate; aminophenol, methyl-resorcinol; napthol, 3-methyl-1-phenyl-5-pyrazolone; toluenediamine sulfate; ppd; 2 hydroxyethyl amino2-ethylphenol.
Developer: Water, buffered food grade hydrogen peroxide, jojoba oil, oleic acid, castor oil, linseed oil, organic lemon grass essential oil, acrylic copolymer.

Tints of Nature
Irish seaweed (known for its conditioning properties) Wheat amino acids (known for their ability to add strength and body) Oleic acid (emollient moisturizer) Lauramide DEA (Vegetable fat to protect and thicken) Bixa orellana-annatto (natural food colourants) Red beet (Natural beetroot colour).



Herbatint
Ingredients
Water, Nonoxynol-6, Nonoxynol-4, Ethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, EDTA, Sodium Metabisulfite, Walnut Extract, Rhubarb Extract, Cinchona Extract, P-phenylenediamine, Resorcinol, O0aminophenol, M-aminophenol. Water, Glycol, Hydrogen Peroxide, Etidronic Acid, EDTA. Does not contain Ammonia.



If using chemical based color on your hair, try a color patch first to make sure the color does not break your hair out. My girlfriend suggested she do the back of her hair because it's the strongest, and she can always cover it up if it breaks off. Color is one the hardest things on the hair, so be sure to seek professional help if you need to, and protect your hair before and after your color treatment.

For protecting your hair, after any type of colored treatment try vegetable glycerin, olive oil, honey, rose water, and if desired or needed seal with shea butter.

Beware, your curl pattern may change in the form of being more defined and more coily, as in the case of mine after color treating your hair.

Saw these, gotta have em!!



Cost 16.00 USD
Shipping 10 USD (P&P) + 0.50 USD per an additional earring

Cost 10.00 GBP
Shipping 3.00 GBP  (P&P)

Payment via paypal
orders@hairwegrownatural.com

Spreading the good news!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Monday, May 16, 2011

Movie List, Grocery Style

One of my most favorite things to do is sit in front of the TV and watch movies. A good psycho thriller, suspense movie is welcome along side a comedy with a little romance spit in it. These are movies that I need to have in my life, ASAP.


 





















Event Horizon
Primal Fear
Eve's Bayou, new copy
Baby Boy
Love and Basketball
Gweneth and Michael Douglas- he tries to kill her
Grosse Point Blank
Only You (Marisa Tomei, Robert Downy Jr. and Billy Zane)


Zoolander

My Cousin Vinny
Clueless
Devil in a blue dress
Event horizon
Good fellas
Antoine Fisher
Robin hood men in tights
--that movie w/ johnny depp about the mobster
Pirates of the caribbean
Primal fear
Casino
Oceans 11-13
Hulk
Superhero movies: Hulk, Iron Man 2, Superman (new 1), Superman 2,
Original batman
Baby boy
The wood