Natural Hair Apparel

Even though it's only March, it's starting to warm up here in Mississippi . That means more casual outings, which means a need for more casual clothes. As I do more reading and searching the web for natural hair information, I often come across sites with cute tees, totes, etc. celebrating natural beauty. I wanted to share some of them with y'all just in case you wanted to buy me a birthday gift.

I love this Retro Chic T-shirt over at RegionUSA.com. Only thing I wonder about is how long the image would last. I've had bad luck with tees that had that kinda foil-like detailing on it. One or two washes and it was over! But of course this could be a lot better quality than what I had. I hope so, cuz I really want this shirt!

 

CafePress has tons of cute natural hair tees. I love this Kinky tee and how the word was used as an anagram. The word nerd in me is pleased!

 

This super cute "No exception" shirt is also from Cafe Press. I feel like I should wear this to church for all those older folks who say I look soooo much better with straight hair!

Through Twitter, I discovered YoungBlackNappy. They have a variety of tees, and I'm gonna get my hands on the "Naturally Sweet" and "Pick Pocket" shirts. I love "A mother's love" too. That may be next on the list.

Back to CafePress. I found this I *heart* locs gym bag. It's a simple little design but I fell in love with it!  I am a sucker for a fine man with locs. I can't get it tho. The BF just had to cut his locs recently and he's still a little touchy about it! LOL Maybe I can get it when he's not so sensitive...

 

Soapbox Theory is one of the few sites I've seen that had apparel for men and women, and surprisingly my favorite design is one that is for men! The BP (Black Power) Stance design is awesome. Would be great to have a curvy female figure for a women's shirt!

Goddess Zuri has several lines of t-shirts, many of which have a natural theme like this I'm a Natural tee from  the beau-tees line. I love the creativity behind one line especially, the Sorori-tees. They have a natural spin for all four of the NPHC sororities, and one for non-Greeks as well! Only one complaint: it looks like they ran out of ideas by the time they got to my beloved Zeta. -_- I like the design on the Delta tees much better.

Zazzle, like CafePress, has plenty of natural-themed shirts, bags, pins, etc. This Afros are Love tee is among my favorites. In fact, I really like most of the designs under Bushy Baby! Apparel. I haven't found out for sure, but from the design I want to say its the same person who did the "regret" pic that I love. Anyone know for sure?

I know I'm missing some great ones. And I've seen some in the past that I cannot find online. That gives me the sads. LOL Tell me what I've missed! Surely my readers know of some great pro-natural apparel that they're keeping secret :) You can tell me, I promise not to show up in the same place as you with the same shirt!

By the way, one of my projects that I'm working on (besides a new website and book) is a line of natural tees. It's still a little ways off, but I wanted to give y'all a heads up!

AfriqueLaChic Giveaway Winner!

Well, the contest has come to a close, and what an overwhelming amount of responses! I was inundated with entries. How could I pick a winner from all ONE entries?  /sarcasm

Lesson learned here: don't try to do a giveaway until you have enough followers to do so. -_- lol

At any rate, there was a winner, which is all that matters! And the winner is.... *drum roll*

L. Michelle of My Hair...Is Me fame!

For the winter, she will be alternating between twists and twist outs.

 

I've already expressed my utter jealousy of her twist out, as mine never comes out that defined.

If anyone can rock Afrique La Chic properly, I know my beautiful Soror can! Congrats!

The AfriqueLaChic Giveaway!!

Thanks to Twitter, I've found a lot of great people. When using the #naturalhair hashtag, you not only see others who are embracing their hair, but you will also discover a ton of artistic folks who do their thing when it comes to jewelry and accessories.

One such person happens to be Afua Kumasi (@afuakumasi). I discovered her early in my transition and fell in love with her work. You've no doubt seen some of her earrings on this blog, but if not, let me show them (and some other goodies) to you:

 

 

 

Beautiful, right? Well she has so graciously offered to give away an item from  her boutique, AfriqueLaChic. This gorgeous, hand made natural hair tie is made with super thick elastic, which means it's great for both locs and thick loose hair.

 

 

So here's how to win:

FOLLOW this blog and submit a photo of your favorite protective style for "Cool Weather Cuties" (a pictorial series I'm going to do during the fall/winter featuring naturals & permies). The pic can be of you rocking a protective style or an image of someone else. Send all submissions to toridblogs@gmail.com & type “AfriqueLaChic Giveaway” in the Subject line. Submissions for the contest will be accepted until 11:59 PM Sunday, October 17.

Want to increase your chances? Here are some additional steps you can take AFTER you send your submission:
1. tweet "I entered @kinxnquirx's AfriqueLaChic Giveaway! http://thegoodhairdiaries.blogspot.com"
2. Blog about this giveaway and link back to this page – Leave a comment or email me or tweet me your post’s permalink
3. Refer a friend to TGHD –When your friend FOLLOWS leave a comment with their name.

A first place winner will be chosen at random and notified by email by October 20.
There will also be a 2nd place winner, also notified by October 20, who will receive a jewelry grab bag (note: jewelry will not be AfriqueLaChic).
So what are you waiting for? Get those pix to me & spread the word!

A Few of My Favorite Things (and some new products)

I'm feeling kinda Oprah-ish today (okay, not really, but it sounded good) so I want to share some of my favorite things with y'all. The inspiration for this post was my impromptu trip to Target on Sunday. Of course I wandered over to the health & beauty section and ended up finding something I've been looking for for a while (and got some new finds... more on that later). So I got to thinking about how much I love certain products/items for my hair & decided to let you in on them.

I love these Goody bobby slides. They hold more hair than a regular bobby pin, and don't pull my hair out when I remove them. I bought some years ago but somehow managed to lose most of them. Now they are available in the color collection: blond (not pictured since they were out), brunette, & black. I am happy that I got my hands on these again, although I would have loved to find some straight up silver slides. My one complaint: Goody didn't use paint that would stand up to hair & hair products! After wearing one for half a day yesterday, the paint is already peeling. I experienced this before, though, so I knew what I was getting myself into. At least this time around the paint is black instead of light pink like last time... :-/ Anyway, a set of six will cost you about $3.49 at Target.

What are these, you ask? Cloth belts, the kind that come with tops from places like New York & Company. Now if you didn't know, these belts are the big girl's natural enemy. Here I am trying to find ways to minimize my tummy, and this belt comes along drawing attention to it! Hmph! These belts from old tops almost took a trip to the dump, but I realized they could serve another purpose: headbands. Yup, I use these babies as cute little headbands, especially when wearing a puff. It's a simple little way to add a bit of color, and I don't have to pay for new headbands, so yay! Ghetto? I guess. Cheap? You bet!

Although I'm just seriously getting into eyeshadow, I tend to get a ton of compliments when I use these eyeshadow palettes. As much as I love MAC eye shadows, $14 a pot is a bit pricey for me. Plus I have to sit there and figure out what colors to pair and I really suck at that. But for $4-$6 (depending on where I'm shopping) I can get Maybelline's Expert Wear Eyeshadow Quads or Rimmel's Colour Rush Trio Eyeshadow. (IDK why Rimmel's site only shows eight shades. The one in my hand is Dark Angel.) They have great pigmentation and last all day. Plus the Maybelline shadows have a little diagram on the back for slow folks like me who don't know where to apply what... LOL

I got this super wide-tooth comb in a pack of like six combs for $2 at Big Lots years & years ago. Never had much use for it until I went natural. Unfortunately, I forgot about this comb until after I bought another comb, but hands down, this one is my fav! It gets rid of tangles like it's nothing. Unfortunately, I have no idea what brand it is, where you can find it, anything. Sorry.

 

This photo combines old and new. On the left is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Gunmetal. The right is Milani in Wild Violet. I picked it up at Target on Sunday (for $.99!) because I needed a purple polish. It wasn't quite the shade I was looking for, but it was cute so I figured what the heck. I got it on & loved it! Since I'm really feeling purple and gray/silver right now, I had to do both. The result:

I love it! In person, the purple is more of a metallic plum color :)

The only things I planned to buy were the bobby slides, but then I thought about the fact that I was out of leave-in conditioner, so I wandered up & down the isles looking for something new to try. I came across Shea Moisture Organic Coconut & Hibiscus Curl & Style Milk. I'd never heard of the Shea Moisture brand, but at $8.99, why not? My aunt told me that my cousin had been using Carol's Daughter Hair Milk and that she liked it, so I figured I'd try this. (Yes, I know it's not the same thing, but milk is milk is milk, right? IDK) So I've been using it since Sunday and I am in love! I usually mist my hair with the water/coconut oil mix, then apply the hair milk. It has my hair feeling sooo soft! It doesn't dry out & get all stiff/crunchy feeling, but it's not oily. It gives my curls some nice definition, even in the spots that appear to be type 4b/c. Plus I get a nice natural looking shin and it smells great. Now I want to give some of their other products a try! And I will, once I run out of my current products. I'm trying to avoid becoming a product junkie! According to the Shea Moisture website, their hair care collection is only available through Target.

I also picked up the Twisted Sista Curl Activator by Urban Therapy. I realize now that I really could've done without this, seeing as how the hair milk says CURL & Style Milk right on the label... But whatever, I have it now. I must say, I could've done without this one. It doesn't do much as far as defining curls, and I find that my hair is a little stiffer than I'd like. Not a terrible product, but I don't think it's right for me. It was only $4.99 at Target, so I don't feel like it's too big of a loss.

So there you have it, a few of my favorite (hair) things... plus one not so favorite thing! Feel free to share yours!