New Years Reziiii

Usually, I never make a New Years Resolution. I mean I always think about it…the things that I want to add or change in my life, but like most people, I don’t ever write it down and most importantly, I never follow through. Like, usually, I don’t even start lol. I just say it and then forget about it.

This year is going to be different (I’m speaking that into existence). I want to make these resolutions and really stick to them throughout the year. I am at the point in life where I’m trying to teach myself discipline. This is my year to form habits that I want to last throughout my life…so new year, new me, right? lol

Here’s my list:

Start working out on a regular basis

I always tend to work out in spurts, some months I work out a lot, others…not at all. I used to be an athlete, so I was used to working out, but when I stopped playing sports, my work-out regime went down the drain. I’m not looking to lose weight, I would just like to build my strength and relieve some stress! Any personal trainers in Denton (DFW), holla atcha gurl!

Become more health conscious of my food intake

Simply, I need to be less of a pig. Eating “junk food” isn’t really an issue for me. I typically don’t eat a lot of fast food. I HATE McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King, the list goes on. Fast food is a habit that I got out of last year. So this year I just want to eat healthier and in appropriate portion sizes. I don’t want to be a health nut, just more conscious of what I’m eating and cook more!

Get back into my Scripture

As a child, I grew up in the church. My Dad was a Deacon at our church, so I grew up attending every church service there was. I was always in church, until I moved away to college. I began visiting church less and less. Primarily, because I couldn’t find a church that I liked in my area. After a while I just got lazy, to be honest, and eventually, I stopped going altogether. I still pray and read my scripture occasionally, but I want to really get back into my word and grow spiritually.

Save Money!

Lawddddd, I need to save money and stick to it! I know Bank of America is tired of issuing me fees for exceeding my savings to checking transfer limit. I want to begin really budgeting myself so that I can save. I also want to get out of only saving for a certain thing and just save in general.

Stop Procrastination

Point Blank. Period. The End.

What are your New Years Resolutions? I want to hear them!

Twist Out for Baldies! (TWA)

When I did my first big chop -which wasn’t really a BIG chop since I kept some of my relaxed hair on top (I was a cheater)- I had an endless amount of ideas about what to do with my hair. I used perm rods, did braid-outs and twist-outs, any and everything, but once I did my second big chop I had no clue of how to tame my baldness, ha!

For the longest time I just wore my hair as a TWA, partly because I was too lazy to do anything to it, but mostly because I couldn’t find any hair ideas that wouldn’t make me look like a bald head 304 (see definition below.), struggling to do something with her hair lol.

courtesy of Urban Dictionary – those names tho lmaoooo!

Now that the semester has ended (THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS BLESSING!) and I’m a little less bald than before, I have no excuse not to try new things with my hair. After all, isn’t that the fun part about being natural?

Twist-Out Process

The first style I decided to go for was a twist out…so last Monday, after my wash day regimen, I began my twist out and boyyyyy did it take forever! I used my spray bottle mixture, which consists of water, conditioner, and glycerin, and used castor oil to seal in the moisture. It took me about 4 hours to do my whole head (while watching Blue Bloods). I decided to wear my hair in the twists (my family calls them doo-doo locks lol) for the week until I came home to Austin as a protective style.

I took out the twists out last Saturday morning and I LOVED the results! The only thing that I will do differently on my next twist out is probably add my perm rods to the ends since the ends of my twists were a little straight, but other than that I feel good about my results.

After about two days, some of the twists (or whatever you wanna call em) began to get EXTREMELY frizzy and lost alllllll their definition so instead of just washing them out, I pinned up the sides and sported a frohawk (which I’m still rockin’ as I type this). I’ll probably wash them out tonight because I need my hair to be flawless for my brother’s engagement party on Saturday *squealing in excitement.* But I loved my hair while it lasted and I’m looking forward to the next twist out!

  

So to my fellow TWA Baldies, don’t be intimidated by hair styles because you’re afraid it won’t come out the same on your short hair! #ShortHairDontCare #BaldiesUnite

Pure and Utter Hair….Confusion

First off, let me start by apologizing for my blog invisibility. As you know, I am a full-time student and I’ve been glued to my books due to the devastating thing that we call midterms *insert crying emoji.* Thank God that’s over!

Now that you all have forgiven me, I wanna talk about this stuff on the top of my head called hair. Since beginning my natural hair journey, I have been extremely positive and optimistic, but lately that has been decreasing.

I think one of the hardest things about going natural is the fact that you’re completely starting over. Everything you thought you knew about your hair is no more. You have to figure what kind of hair you have, change your hair routine, and most importantly you have to figure out what your hair likes…which is what I’m struggling with.

About three weeks ago, I began to feel my hair getting dry and rough. I naturally have thick coarse hair, but this was on a whole ‘nother level. It felt like no matter what I put in my hair, it just wasn’t maintaining any moisture so I started doing research on why this was the case. During my research, I ran across the term of protein sensitivity. For those of you that have never heard about protein sensitivity, it is when hair overacts to protein in the hair. This makes the hair feel brittle and dry and more prone to breakage. People that are said to have protein sensitive hair either have enough protein or high levels or protein.

Being the hypochondriac that I am (self diagnosed of course lol), I immediately felt like that was what was wrong with me. So immediately, I started to change the products I was putting in my hair. I still used products with protein, but I definitely cut back on using a lot of different products. Once I stopped my product junkie ways, I began to feel my hair getting better.

There are some people out there that believe protein sensitivity is a myth, but I’m not sure. I DO agree that all hair may not like a lot of protein, but I’m not sure if I believe it’s a permanent thing or that it means that you can’t add any protein to your hair. I think sometimes it is simply mixing too many products that causes “protein sensitivity.” During the month of November, I am going to begin using protein free products just to see how the state of my hair changes*

I am now getting out of my product junkie phase and beginning to find out what MY hair likes. Just remember, your hair will not be the same as mine, or your cousins, or any other naturalista lol. Figure out what works for YOU!

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Do you believe in protein sensitivity? Are you struggling to find out what your hair likes? Let’s talk about it!! Comment below!

Natural Hair Challenge!

Let me start off by saying how excitedddddd I am to be starting this challenge! A few weeks ago, I told ya’ll about my plans to begin this hair challenge in my post, Girl I Ain’t Tryna Be Bald Forever and the challenge has begun!

Sooooo, it’s time to do my first length check! Here are a few pictures of my hair that I took on the first of this month.

Front: 7cm  Back:  6cm  Top Middle: 10cm  Left Side: 7.5cm  Right Side: 7cm

I hope ya’ll are joining me on this challenge! If you are, pleaseee post you’re length check results below! I’m excitedddddd!! Let’s GRO! 🙂

(Rules for the challenge will be the featured image of this post, or feel free to refer back to my previous post!

True Life: I’m Addicted to Nail Polish

Everyone that knows me, knows that I have a serious addiction…..to nail polish. I was never really big on nail polish until I got to college. Before that, I used to get acrylic sets, so I never really purchased my own nail polish. But during my freshman year, I made the decision to stop getting acrylics and start growing my own nails, which meant I needed to buy more polish.

When most people start a new “trend,” they want to buy every single product on the market for that trend, and baby, I was no exception. So I bought, and bought, and bought more nail polish like a typical product junkie. I am just now at the point where I don’t feel the need to purchase every new nail polish, but if there is a color that speaks to me, I will get it!

Right now, I am storing my large (100+) polish collection in my Caboodles Ultimate Organizer. I purchased this case about two years back from Ulta ($45), which is still available if you’d like to buy it. Unfortunately, I have outgrown this case and cannot fit all my nail supplies inside, so I am now looking for alternative storage.

Below, I will post a few pictures (Please excuse the poor image quality) of my polish collection and storage. All of my nail polish isn’t pictured because they couldn’t fit into the set up of my picture (haha), so there about 35 polishes that are missing. You’ll see a tiny plastic bag in my box as well. It contains mini OPI polishes that I’ve received as gifts so I don’t lose them or over look them.

If you have any DIY projects or ideas of what I could use to store all of my fantastic polishes, I would LOVE hear them! Comment below with your tips and tricks! ALSO, if there is a polish that you would suggest for me, let me hear it! Help an addict out!

Life is Like a Palette of Chocolates

When I first started wearing make-up, eye shadow was what I fell in love with first, that was what I spent the most money on so in November I told myself that I would stop buying eye shadow, unless it was a color that I didn’t have anything similar to.

So back in May, I allowed myself to go to ULTA and check out some shadow palettes. Of course my immediate pickup was the Naked 3 palette since I was on an eye shadow fast when it released, and the second palette I picked up was the Chocolate Bar Palette by Too Faced ($50).

When I saw the palette, I immediately fell in love (I’m a sucker for cute packaging). Once I opened it, I saw the heavens open! I am a neutral fanatic and this palette is that and so much more so I had to have it. I I didn’t use it until a couple weeks ago and I fell in love all over again, so I thought I’d let ya’ll meet my new Bae.

So many people rant and rave about the Naked palettes, but this is my new favorite! AND IT EVEN SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE! I used this palette to create the look that you see below. I used the shades Salted Caramel, Cherry Cordial mixed with Black Truffle Forest, and Triple Fudge in the corner and crease to achieve my casual, but sexy school daze smokey eye!

I fell in love with this look and this palette. The colors blend so easily together without fading or coming off. All in all, I would definitely recommend this product and I would definitely purchase it again. If you don’t have this palette, you should definitely get it QUICK!

Girl, I Ain’t Tryna Be Bald Forever!

This post is about exactly what the title says, I am NOT tryna be bald forever! As I told ya’ll in my previous post, I never really wanted to BC- big chop- in the first place, but due to the condition of my hair I kinda had no choice. Don’t get me wrong, I am in love with my hair right now…..but I’m tryna get some longgg hurr honey boo boo child *ghetto girl voice*

Soooo in order to reach my hair goal of growing my hair 4 inches by the end of the year, I have been doing my own hair challenge! Yes, I know that is a hefty goal (African Americans are said to average 4in. of hair growth per YEAR), but hopefully this challenge will help will get me there! I have been doing this HC since August and I planned on ending on October 31 buttttt I ended up breaking my own rule and doing my 2nd BC at the end of August. Since I don’t want my results to be skeweddddd (I just like to drag that word out lol) I am going to stop my current challenge and restart on October 1st so hopefully you guys will join me!! I plan on ending this challenge at the very end of the year, December 31st.

For those of you who would like to join me, get readyyy, I will be posting on October 1st with details on my hair before I start the challenge. In reply to that post, drop me your details as well; including your hair goal, length check, photos, and your favorite products or any hair growth “encouragements” you plan on using.

Don’t leave me hanging! Do this with me, I know I ain’t the only one with hair goals boo!

XOXO

Naturalista….or nah?

If you would’ve talked to me about natural hair four months ago, I would’ve told you “It’s great! I love it on other people, but I luhh my creamy crack.” About a month later, I made the decision to go natural! (I know, I’m a total hypocrite). I figured I’d begin my journey as a naturalista with the transitioning phase since it had already been a couple of months since my last relaxer (in March), but as I began to transition, I realized how poor of a condition that my hair was in. My hair was extremely damaged. It was so thin and broken off.

For a while I tried to deal with my to’ up hair by wearing pinned up twist and braid outs, but after a while I just got fed up with trying to make it work. So after about a month of transitioning, I said f*ck it and I decided to do my first big chop! I was scared to cut ALL my hair off, so I decided on a tapered cut that allowed me to keep some length on the top.

I absolutely loved this haircut! I didn’t have the hassle of dealing with a full head of hair with two different textures. I could enjoy transitioning without the mess that can with damaged hair. I continued using perm rods on the top of my cut in addition to twist and braid outs.But after a while, this began to stress me out too! Now that I think about it, maybe it was me and not the haircuts….nahhh, it was the cuts. But I got annoyed with the top of my hair because since it was straight, it was hard for me to just pick up and go…sooo I big chopped again! I went into my bathroom and began cutting. I ended up cutting about two inches off and that’s where I am now!

I’ll probably get my sides tapered again before I stopped cutting it and just start trimming it, but I am currently in love with my hair! I’m focused on keeping it healthy and moisturized! As my curl pattern is starting to come in, I’m just trying to get to know my hair. I’m trying out different products to see exactly what my hair likes and dislikes. As I continue my hair journey, I will be sharing with you and I hope you share yours with me! I really do wanna hear from you guys!

The Beginning.

Welcome my delightful bloggers and…..bleaders? I should probably just say blog readers instead of trying to be catchy…..Anywhoozles, I want to start off by asking you guys to bare with me. *Here comes the disclaimer.* This is my first time writing a blog, or writing anything that’s available for a large number of people to read for that matter so don’t expect a literary genius. English class was not my favorite. My grammar may not be correct all of the time and I might speak with a little slang and Ebonics, but in my book that’s okay….After all, I won’t be the one teaching your children or little siblings English at the local elementary school. Oh yeah, there may be some use of profanity, so please forgive my potty mouth in advance.

My name is Jaelin, yes its a boy’s name too. I’m just a regular, chocolate, Caribbean gyal- V.I. Massive- that is obsessed with all things in the beauty realm. Yes, I am that girl that spends over an hour on her makeup; the friend that takes forever to get ready; the one that has a specific manicurist at the nail salon and I love it! This blog is intended for all things woman. Hair, makeup, skincare, nails, little fashion, maybe even some sexuality stuff; who knows. This is a buy one, get everything kind of blog.

I hope ya’ll (yes, I’m from Texas; no, we don’t ride horses) join me on this journey through beauty and all the things that encompass it! Hopefully ya’ll don’t just sit and listen to me blab each post, lets get interactive! Part of me wanting to start this blog is wanting to hear your opinions, so let me hear it! Agree or disagree, I wanna know what you think, so don’t be shy! (cause I’m definitely not) Without further ado, welcome to the blog of a Juicy Complected Girl!