Modern DIY: Sugar and Oil Exfoliate

This week I tried a DIY exfoliate using sugar and oil. I was actually supposed to use olive oil but I had none left so used normal cooking oil this time.

The purpose of this was to scrub off the dead skin from my hands and feet. I left it on for about 15 minutes before washing my hands and feet.

My hands and feet had been feeling rather dry and "rough" but afterwards my hands in particularly, we super soft. I was really amazed, I even asked my siblings to feel my hands!

Black History Month

So, Black History Month is fast approaching (starting on Saturday) and I have decided to dedicate some posts on my blog to share my personal experiences and thoughts about being black during the month of October, what I think about certain initiatives and movements that are current which has helped to promote black people in society and created opportunities that before we did not have.

You know those thoughts and opinions that you’ve always wanted to share but the timing wasn’t right, the platform was inappropriate or you lacked understanding on the topic so decided to educate yourself on it first? Well now I see I’m ready to voice my opinions so I’ll be sharing those kinds of things too!

It’ll be a mixture of written blog posts and video blogs.

Stay tuned J

My first attempt doing a Bantu Knot Out

Last night was my first attempt to curl my hair with Bantu knots. I know of few people who curl their hair this way and it comes out beautiful. 

I want to go as long as possible without straightening my hair (so far I am on day 3) and thought this could be a way of keeping my hair curly and presentable without having to apply heat to it.

I followed a YouTube tutorial I found after searching through a few and voila, below is the final result. 

Some parts were a bit frizzy because I didn't use a product that controls frizz which was recommended so I'll ensure to buy one when I can, but despite that, I really liked the volume the style gave my hair and I will definitely be doing this more often. 

Embracing my hair

So, Sunday night I washed and conditioned my hair with the plan of straightening it in the morning. Morning came and I looked in the mirror and decided that I would leave it out natural. I combed it out into a little afro (or at least tried to lol) and didn't think anything of it. In fact I thought it looked cute. However, the moment I set off on my journey to work, I started a feel a little vulnerable and insecure.

I don't even know where it came from but all of a sudden when I caught the bus and saw people looking at me, thoughts like how ridiculous I looked; I shouldn't be sporting my afro hair like this because it's ugly; it's not 'normal'; it's not nice and sleek like when it's straight and so many other thoughts bombarded my mind. However, not one to feel sorry for myself (finally overcame this annoying trait haha), I became ruthless towards the thoughts and eliminated them quickly.

I liked the way my hair looked. I did not see a problem with it (and neither did my mom because if she did she would have told me straight away - momma doesn't sugar coat things lol). Yes it may not be everyone's cup of tea but I don't care. I was not about to go back home and straighten my hair so I didn't look the odd one out and neither was I about to walk around feeling insecure all day.

Constantly straightening my hair only damages it because of the heat. So I want to keep it out natural (ish) for a least two days in the week before I straighten it. The less I strengthen it, the better.

  This experience actually inspired me to have my hair out natural more often. Kind of like a statement of embracing my afro hair and not being ashamed of it. Letting young girls know that they don't have to have long straight hair to be beautiful and cute.

  I wash and treat my hair on Sunday evenings and until I put them back in braids, which will be soon (the weather is getting colder so it needs protecting) , I'll be leaving it out and doing different styles at least twice a week (I'll try and stretch to thrice.

As strange as it may sound it's quite liberating.

Using Mayonnaise for beauty treatment

Mayonnaise! Oh how I love my mayo. I know it's quite fattening but I do like to use it when making tuna sandwiches or when eating fries! When a fiend of mine sent me a list of beauty treatments using mayo, I raised my eyebrows while reading her message lol! Straightaway I thought about food because that's what I always associate mayonnaise with.

A few weeks later, I decided to do a few DIY beauty treatments using Mayonnaise. I searched online and found out the benefits of using mayo for my hands, nails, feet and face. 

My feet: As the back of my feet has been feeling quite dry recently, I used the mayonnaise to exfoliate whatever dead skin may be on my feet. I simply put mayonnaise all over both feet, slipped on some cotton socks, and tied two plastic bag over both of my feet to prevent the product from seeping out and get all over the floor (hence why my feet is covered in plastic bags in the picture).

My face:  I applied the mayonnaise on my face as a facial mask and let it set for 20 minutes before washing it with warm water. I did this to remove any dead skin cells.

My hand / nails: I slathered mayonnaise all over my hands and massaged them. Not only is this good to soften dry cuticles but it also helps to strengthen our nails. 

After the treatments I noticed how softer my skin felt. It's definitely a cheap and cheerful way to take better care of our skin without having to spend lots of money. As DIY homemade treatments are the trend nowadays. It's worth a try :)