Wine'ing Momma

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Natural Hair Care: Show and Tell- Fierce Friday!

September 14, 2012 by Alisha 4 Comments

Curly Nikki | Natural Hair Styles and Natural Hair Care: Show and Tell- Fierce Friday!: Hola chicas! It’s that time again! The images today are of CN readers at their flyyest…at work, on the town, and with the family.

Hey to all my great followers! I was so excited to learn that I was featured today on Curly Nikki’s Show and Tell – Fierce Friday! This site was such an inspiration for me when I decided to Big Chop (BC). There are so many great ladies to help you on your journey. And for the pros it’s also a great place to share your tips and suggestions to help out all the newbies.

Be sure to check out today’s other fabulous ladies as well.

Don’t forget to share my great giveaway going on now with your friends and family.

*Smooches* Alisha

Giveaway Time! (CLOSED)

September 9, 2012 by Alisha 17 Comments

Create your own banner at mybannermaker.com!

I have an exciting thank you giveaway for all of my followers! I am pleased to offer 2 great products to one of my lucky followers. One lucky winner will receive a full size bottle of WEN® Cleansing Conditioner (Sweet Almond Mint) and 1 pair of Afro Girl Crocheted earrings from Daina of ColourCreationz. She has contacted me and is generously sponsoring part of this giveaway. Thank you again, Daina! Please check out her online Etsy store. She makes one of a kind crocheted earrings and can customize them to your liking.

The Cleansing Conditioner is a great 5-in-1 product. This one product will replace your shampoo, conditioner, detangler, deep conditioner and leave-in. And because it is sulfate-free, you won’t have to worry about the harsh effects that can come from regular shampoos.

I know all of my other natural curlfriends out there want to know what’s in this product, so please review the ingredients below:

Key Ingredients
Water (Aqua), Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Prunus Serotina (Wild Cherry) Bark Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Hydrolyzed Wheat, Protein, Panthenol, Butylene Glycol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Polysorbate 60, PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Amodimethicone, Citric Acid, Menthol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Fragrance (Parfum, Limonene).

Glycerin: provides moisturizing benefits to the hair. One of the best humectants and has natural moisturizing properties.
Chamomile Extract: designed to help add sheen and highlights. Used for its soothing, calming properties.
Cherry Bark: designed to bring out color, shine & softness in all shades of natural and color-treated hair. Formulated to help with the manageability of your hair.
Rosemary Extract: designed to condition, tone and strengthen hair. Is an invigorating toner and astringent.
Panthenol: helps to promote and restore resilience. A penetrating moisturizer that plumps the hair shaft to make it appear thicker. Designed to reduce split ends, smooth, strengthen and seal in moisture.
Sweet almond oil: designed to contribute conditioning and glide to hair, as well as a conditioned feel to the skin. Softens, soothes and is an excellent moisturizer for the hair.

REQUIREMENTS:

[Read more…]

Our natural hair journey

August 29, 2012 by Alisha 2 Comments

Wow how the time has flown since my Big Chop (BC)! This isn’t my first time down this road, but it is the first time that I decided to make a conscious effort to be a good role model now that I have 2 daughters.

Over the years, my oldest daughter always wanted to wear her hair straight just like mommy. I would give in and let her get it flat ironed so she could let it swing in the wind. Then a few years ago, I made the mistake of letting her get a “kiddie perm”. I know this was bad, but I figured this would make her hair easier to manage and it wouldn’t be such a hassle for our daily hair routine. Boy was I wrong. During the Summer she got her hair relaxed, she wanted to wear it in one ponytail most days. This caused a lot of damage around her hairline and also around her “kitchen” (lol). It got so bad at one point that I asked her if she cut her hair to try and get bangs. O_o

So that brings us to where we are today. I knew that I couldn’t very well tell my daughter that she needed to enjoy her curls if I kept on running to get mine relaxed and wear it bone straight. So last Fall I got some kinky twist and wore them for 3 months then went and got mine chopped. I ended up getting another mini BC this past February and haven’t even thought about getting it relaxed. Today everyone in the house is 100% natural and our hair is thriving. I took my oldest daughter for her BC this past spring break while we were on vacation in Orlando. I had been trying to build her up for the big day and told her she could get a bit of pink in the front so she would still feel girly. Her relaxed ends were limp, dry and damaged and the next step to getting her hair healthy was to cut that mess off. She loves her hair so much more now, but still has those days where she wishes it was longer and the same texture as her little sister. But I told her as long as she takes care of herself from the inside out her hair will thrive and be long in no time. [Read more…]

My Holy Grail

August 27, 2012 by Alisha 4 Comments

I get asked so many times “How did you get your hair so curly?” or “What do you use in your hair?”. I’ve been trying to work on making my own cards to list the products I use and how I apply them to get the looks that I want. Now I don’t claim to be the expert in natural hair, but there are a few things that I do that just about everyone can benefit from. Below is a list of the goodies that make Sybil, my hair, very happy!

Since my hair has gotten longer I’ve been wearing more flat twist as my protective style. This helps cut down on all the wear and tear that comes along with manipulating the hair daily. Once a month I will do a clarifying wash with my Terressentials Hair Wash. Since becoming natural, I’ve stopped using shampoos that contain sulfates since they will dry out the hair a lot. Once a week I will do a deep conditioning (DC) with one of my heavier conditioners such as Hair Rules Ultra Rich Conditioner. The slip is amazing and my hair feels so moisturized. Once I rinse this out I use Giovanni Direct Leave-in Conditioner. A little goes a long way, which I learned the hard way the first time…LOL. I follow this with Vatika Coconut Oil and then apply a good amount of natty moist throughout my hair. It sounds like a lot, but just doing this has made all the difference in how well my hair stays moisturized. During the rest of the month I will co-wash about 3-5 times a week with a cheap conditioner such as VO5. Co-washes come in handy on those days when I want to do a wash-n-go or when I want to try something new.

When I want to do flat twist, I complete the steps above after I wash and then section my hair and apply a small amount of Dax Olive Cream (I received this in a goody bag last May and absolutely love it for 2-strand twist and flat twist). Next a small amount of gel is applied and then I flat twist each section. I try to keep the twist in for up to 5 days. Like I mentioned before, less manipulation of the hair helps reduce breakage. [Read more…]