Twenty Fifteen

“Renewal requires opening yourself up to new ways of thinking and feeling”― Deborah Day, BE HAPPY NOW!

Two Thousand and Fourteen was a really great year. I have no queries or regrets about it and I can say that i really enjoyed the experiences it offered. However, 2014 is over and it's 2015. It's time to start fresh, take out a new paper, and get ready for the unknown road ahead. I hope that this year is a year that brings great things for my readers, and i hope this year sees lots of new growth with this Blog. It's been a journey and I'm ready to see what 2015 has to offer. This isn't really a long ramble... so this is all i really have to say.

Progress Report: 7 Months of Fro

It's been 7 awesome months since i made the decision to go natural... I decided to transition instead of doing a big chop for fear of looking like a boy. I had originally intended to transition for a year.... but after 6 months of transitioning i got fed up of battling two textures. So, i did what any normal person would do... i went into my bathroom with my blue handle scissors and cut off my hair. After slowly cutting off the tiny straggles of relaxed ends that i had left, i was fully natural. On May 4th, the day of my not so big chop, i had 2 1/2 inches of hair on my head. Now... 7 months later i have 7 inches of hair which stretches a little past my nose. It took quite a lot of patience to get this far.  

I can totally agree with the various hair bloggers when they say that your hair changes after the big chop. The day of my chop, my hair was extremely hard and was in dire need of moisture... it also didn't help that i went out to a fair in the hot sun and had nothing else but water to keep it going. Also.. my hair seemed to grow in one consistent pattern that i identified as 4C. however, with length came a bunch of new things. The front and back of my hair is notably 4a in it's composition and whenever my hair gets wet it droops down in my face and down my neck. The sides are mostly 4c and poofs out now... before my entire fro would just shrink. The Front of my hair is a lot softer and i have a large section at the middle and sides of my head where straight hairs grow with my fro. Lots of people thought i still had permed ends until the looked at the whole strand and realized it grew straight from my scalp.

I've been experimenting with ways to style my hair daily as a twist out everyday doesn't really work anymore. I've gotten products to help with my hair and honestly my hair now holds moisture for days on end. I use a lot of oils which keeps my hair nice and shiny. My hair is also extremely thick.. but i love it that way. A few weeks ago i did my first flat iron on my hair.. and i failed miserably. I had prepped my hair with moisture and heat protectant, but my flat iron to 350 degrees and my hair never did fall flat. It just stretched out further to show how much length i had retained but it wasn't the straightened look i had expected. I liked what had happened tho because i got to rock giant puffs for a while... i don't have any of those pictures in this post though.. maybe another time ^_^ I've even experimented with marley hair and created some cool styles which gave my hair more volume. After 7 months i can say that i am satisfied with my hair and how it's growing so far.

NB: If you haven't noticed, you can see a reduction in pimples on my face. That's because i decided to reduce my soda and juice intake and now drink mostly water. I've seen a difference in my hair health and my skin and i think i'll keep doing this.

Hair Care: Deep Conditioning

Conditioning is a very important part of my Natural Hair regimen. I have leant since cutting off my hair that shampoo is the devil and will make your hair feel like the Sahara Desert. Conditioner helps your hair maintain moisture and also helps to remove product build-up without completely stripping your hair and scalp of moisture. After a CoWash or a Deep Condition session, your hair is curly, healthy, and vibrant. I've not tried out much deep Conditioners.... in reality i've used two brands (As I Am & DooGro), and so far i've fallen deeply in love with the 'As I Am Deep Conditioner'. My hair is softer, during conditioning my curls are more defined, and at the end my hair is easier to style and smells great all week. Your deep conditioner does not have to be costly but you should research ones that work best with your hair type to avoid disasters. In addition to conditioning your hair, you should always drink a lot of water which helps to lubirate the scalp and skin

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It has been 6 months since i big chopped and my hair is already past my ears and on the tip of my nose. I've been taking care of my hair pretty well in my opinion, and i love that my hair is healthy and I'm not forcing my hair to conform and do what it wasn't meant to do. Deep Conditioning is important to make your hair malleable and flexible for styling as well as detangling. If you've recently started your healthy hair journey... Happy trails to you ♥

Out and About: Birthday Brunch

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Wednesday was my Mom's Birthday and being the wonderful daughter that I am, I decided it was best to take her to town and grab a bite to eat. She donned her best outfit, put on some make-up and we headed into town to do some exploring and have a bit of good ole birthday fun. We went to C&C wine house to get some delicious Chicken Alfredo Pasta, then restaurant hopped to Big Banana for some coconut crushes and butter rum cake. We ate till we were fat, but of course i always have time to snap a few pictures of the food before scarfing it down.

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We did also do a little eye shopping in town too! We walked into this store called Island Gourmet Boutique and look at the wonderful goodies they had there. We looked at the Locally made Jams and cooking supplies and took in the tasteful decor that adorned the cozy little shop.

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I was so happy to pose with their potted Aloe, which i thought was beautiful, and spazzed over the Cotton and Cane decorative elements that they used in the store. I really loved the vintage feel that the store had and wished i had photographed their calabash lights for this short post.

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We made our way to another store on Heritage Quay which had lovely local soaps on display. They had the most amazing fragrance and only cost $8.00XCD which was a pretty good deal to me. The packaging was also quite lovely and was what attracted me to the soaps in the first place.

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All in all i can say that we had a good day and i'm sure my mom enjoyed her birthday outing.

Relationships

“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

Relationships are an important part in the lives of people everywhere. Interaction with family,friends, and even significant others help to shape people into who they are. Romantic Relationships especially are a very big deal. It seems as if lack of a boyfriend means that you aren't doing something right or that something is wrong with you. Being surrounded by a flurry of couples on a daily basis can do a lot to a person's self esteem. However, i'm not in a rush to get myself a boyfriend and it's taken  me quite a while to be comfortable with that idea. I used to think that i wasn't pretty because i didn't have a boyfriend, and i racked my brain questioning myself as to what was wrong with me. I used to pick out my flaws and say maybe this is why i'm not good enough or whatever... But then one day i said... who is going to love me if i don't love myself. Like the quote at the beginning of this post says, the most powerful relationship i will have is the one i forge with myself. Having a boyfriend isn't going to make me love myself or make me look any different. Learning to love myself, be at one with myself, and accept it is all apart of being happy with myself.

However, even though i have reached this understanding, lots of people elsewhere haven't. Some women still feel the need to let a man define them. " A busy, vibrant, goal-oriented woman is so much more attractive than a woman who waits around for a man to validate her existence"(Mandy Hale). We should teach girls that there is more to aspire to in life than to be at the side of a man. We should instill in our girls the values which consist of hard work and making a good name for yourself instead of going to guy after guy to be happy. I'm not saying that boyfriends are bad, but our approach towards the concept should definitely be changed. Having a man isn't everything, sometimes when you evaluate things you would have been better off single. You should be fully comfortable with yourself before you go around asking other people to add their luggage and issues to yours. Relationships require balance and you should only get into one if you have the right reasons. I'm going to wait until i find the right person before i have a relationship. You have to love yourself before you can think of loving anyone else. And the fact of the matter is, having a boyfriend right now wouldn't make an explosive difference in my life.  If there is a guy who can accept my quirks and flaws i'll be happy to give him a chance.

“Hope for love, pray for love, wish for love, dream for love…but don’t put your life on hold waiting for love.” ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“Single is no longer a lack of options – but a choice. A choice to refuse to let your life be defined by your relationship status but to live every day Happily and let your Ever After work itself out.” ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

“Being brave enough to be alone frees you up to invite people into your life because you want them and not because you need them.” ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass

The Question of Culture & Identity

 

The question "who am i?" has come up many times in the lives of many individuals. Being a black person, especially, comes with a lot of questions as to your cultural identity. If you ask a non-African black person if they consider themselves an African, more likely than not, the answer will be no. Lots of historians have created this ideal of Africa as the homeland of Blackness and that all black persons are in essence Africans. However, I would not go around calling myself an African or proclaiming the continent my home. Of course i recognize my African background, but i am not African. I was not born there, I cannot speak the language, and I cannot identify with many aspects of African culture. I am simply i person of  African descent who also happens to be a mixture of other ethnic groups as well. I have a bit of Indian, some Portuguese, some African, and a bunch of other mix ups which is to be expected as a person coming from the Caribbean. Being black goes beyond Africa and Africa is not home to solely black individuals. In saying that i am not African, i am not denying my forefathers and i am not denying the slave background which resonates with being a native of the Caribbean. I am simply saying that there is more to me than Africa and defining myself as a person, i have to consider all the other aspects and elements that make me unique. I am a unique blend of various cultures and peoples packaged into an individual known as Annetta. I no longer identify myself as an Antiguan, because my identity is broader than that. I am a Caribbean girl, which encompasses all the unique elements that are found in the Caribbean and relate the unique elements that are found in me. Gaining an understanding of  Africa is  great, because that is where it all started... but that is just it, Africa is only the start. Many other things came in along the road and we shouldn't let generalizations define us. Why are people African Americans or Afro-Caribbean and not European- Americans. It is simply to remind us of our negative past, but we need to look beyond our past and stop using it to identify our selves. We must chose a path of progression or else we become nothing else but our history and we should not let this happen as a person is more than just their past.