I've Made Up My Mind

I don't know how to stay away... This space was my very first introduction to the blogging world and every time that I kept reminding myself of this, it became harder and harder to walk away from it for good. This space out of all the ones I have now holds a very special place inside of me. It's an extension of my spirit. I have decided to continue writing and let it evolve with me. I will more than likely not update it as much as I used to though. I contemplated bringing all my blogs into one space and I'm still not sold on that. I feel like that would be too much going on in one spot and I kinda like readers having an option to peel back different layers of me by going to my different spaces. But we'll see. I could always change my mind. For right now, I think it's best I keep things separate.

I might make this turn more into an e-zine of sorts and update it monthly or bi-weekly. Haven't decided what kind of schedule I want to put this on but my focus is going to shift. I will still talk about hair but I want to expand on talking about other things and do more accessories features, art features, cultural events features, holistic living and such.

I'm also contemplating changing the name. I'm no longer a girl; that little girl still lives inside of me but I am a woman now. I have evolved past being a GRL that can mac. The name change wouldn't happen right away but I'm brainstorming. I need this space to mature and evolve with me. I'm still me but I'm not the same woman that I was when I started this blog. I've grown up so much and am amazed at how much strength and wisdom I have attained over the years from when I started this blog. So stay tuned; this place is officially going under construction to be something even greater than it started out being. Thank you for all your love and support. It does not go unappreciated.

New material coming soon. :D

Stay naturally fly,

Milan

Magical Changes to Come in 2012

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Dear Kurlies,

I'm sensing that 2012 is going to be a magical year and I'm totally excited, claiming it and giving thanks for it already! I've also decided to do some reflecting on this blog and where I want to go with it. While I love (afro-texture) hair care, I will always be an all-things-creative enthusiast first and I'm now pondering over if it truly trumps my interest in hair.

I'm trying to figure out how I will keep this blog alive. I have my creative blog and my financial blog and my Tumblr. I've kinda taken more interest in them. As I get older I'm realizing that I'm so much more than my hair. I'm not obsessed with hair anymore really (definitely not like I used to be), my prominent interests are art, photography, cooking, and crafting of various sorts and now personal finance. 

I now know my natural hair texture isn't bad because it's not a "Spanish/Indian" wavy or loose curl texture. My hair and the beauty of afro-kinky hair isn't a big deal to me anymore; it's just a given ya know? Duh are hair is the most unique and is absolutely beautiful! While my journey to grow my hair very long (because it's pretty long when stretched now) continues, I really feel like I've reached a hair nirvana of sort. I'm very, very happy with my hair's overall well being and appearance and like to keep it simple with my regimen, what I use and how I style my hair; so now what???

So I'm going to take another small break, take stock of everything and brainstorm how to reinvent this here space or if I will walk away. I thank you all for your love and encouragement over the years. For those of you that this is your first visit to my site, please take a look around. I've had this blog for over 3 years now so there is tons of reading content to get acquainted with. 

Be blessed and stay naturally fly. Wishing you all a magical 2012. 

Koils & Kinks, 

Milan

Hey!

Hi kurlies. Updating from the phone to say Merry Christmas! The computer has been ill so I couldn't update. Thought I would go crazy without it but it actually was good for me to take a break from the worldwide web and some technology. When my computer is back from the shop, I'll be back to posting regularly. Wishing you all healthy and Happy Holidays!

Milan

Like my new wig? It really looks like my hair texture. I love it!

My Hair:: Sealing Ends

I did my big chop 3 years ago so needless to say, my ends are getting pretty old now. With my hair being longer and the ends getting older, I've started sealing them again to keep them from drying out and tangling so doggon much.

Every night before bed, after I've moisturized and plaited my hair, I apply Shea Moisture Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque to the ends to keep them soft and supple. It's working. My hair still knots some naturally because that's just what koily hair likes to do but it's nowhere near as much as before I started employing this method. Obviously, before I started this sealing business, I had to do some major search and destroy operations to cut as many as the knots out as possible and since doing so and sealing, very few have returned. I'm very pleased.

Music That Can Mac: Telepopmusik

Happy Friday lovelies! Telepopmusik has been in heavy rotation on my iPod. I call this group of awesome French producers, the dream team. They produce this futuristic and serene chill out music that is just magical. They have a host of guest vocal artists that are featured on their work including (but not limited to) Angela McCluskey, French rapper, Mau; Deborah Anderson and a few others. I absolutely adore Angela McCluskey's voice, she's an AMAZING vocalist. You really hear how awesome her voice is in Love's Almighty on the Angel Milk album. Some of my other favorite songs are Don't Look Back and the very popular, Just Breathe from their first album, Genetic World.

How Cool: Solid Conditioner

I thought the concept of LUSH's Jungle Solid Conditioner was too cool.You wet it in your hands to create a lather and distribute it throughout your hair. The site says that it smooths the hair strands and helps with detangling hair and in our world, any product that helps with detangling is a plus. Wonder how it would fare on kinky koily hair though.....

Mixtress Chronicles: My Latest Hair Mist

My latest hair mist mix, I am LOVING. The ingredients are listed below in the order their majority in the mix.

• Water - 90%
• Aloe vera gel (I've been using Trader Joe's brand) - 5%
• EVOO - 4.7%
• Honey (just a little) - 0.3%

As with any of my mists, I don't measure anything and just eyeball it. It's mostly water and every thing else in small quantity is added. I added the percentages after each ingredient to give you an idea; this is a rough estimate. Be careful to not get carried away with the honey. If you get too happy with it, the mix will leave your hair sticky; ya girl speaks from experience on this-it's not a nice feeling. A quick squirt is enough. Honey is potent, a little goes a long way.

2011 Natural Hair Holiday Shopping List

Image from MarthaStewart.com

AGCM 2011 Holiday Natural Hair Gift Guide

Hair Care Products

Shea Moisture Gift Sets - Can be found in Walgreens, Target, Duane Reed and Walmart
Bee Mine products - You all know how I love the Deja's Hair Milk!
Make your own shealoe cream for friends and family. It's great for your hair or body.
Karen's Body Beautiful Keep It Soft Survival Kit


Hair Styling Tools
Curlformers
Stawllers - for fun curly sets
Hercules Magic Star Rake Comb Set
Denman D31 Detangling Brush

Appliances

Conair Ceramic Ionic Hot Air Brush
Hot Tools Ionic Hot Rollers

Music That Can Mac:: New Designer Drug

Image from J*Davey

I'm a huuuuge J*Davey enthusiast. Their latest album, New Designer Drug, dropped last Tuesday and I absolutely love every song on it.Group members Jack and Brook are just so talented and creative. I get a lot of inspiration from their work and create a lot of art listening to their music. If you are new to them, please get acquainted with their hard to describe genre that seamlessly glides through electronica, hip-hop, soul, rock, etc. and purchase their album for $2.99 (click the "get your fix" button next to the Enter Site to add the album to your cart).

Washing My Hair Less and Liking It

April 2011

If you've read my hair regimen under the My Regimen tab at the top of the page, then you'll notice that I say in it that I wash my hair every 1-2 weeks. This cold season so far though, I'm finding myself washing my hair less frequently. It's more like every 2-3 weeks pass before I wash it.

Why this longer period in between washes? There are two reasons:

1) Sheer Laziness
The longer my hair gets, the less bothered I wanna be with it and the less time I want to spend on it. My hair has been growing like a weed and with the added length, it's just a lot more of everything to do and more time. I wear up-do's that take 10 mins or less to create most of the time now that are protective yet grown-n-sexy and I go on about my business. I find myself not messing with my hair much outside of keeping it moisturized and tangle free.

2) It's Just Not Necessary
in this stage of my hair, at least. I'm finding that my hair doesn't need to be washed frequently and because washing highly textured hair, rather it's with shampoo or conditioner, is somewhat of a "traumatic" experience to our hair. My koily hair is more fragile than straight, wavy and looser curl textures so washing it less is making it less subject to protein loss and accelerated weathering.