Link of the Day - The Simmons meet Obama and Family

"The Simmons girls-Ming,11, and Aoki,8,- pose with president Barack Obama during the White House Easter Egg Roll event on Monday(April 25th). Mom Kimora Lee Simmons writes:

“This year’s Egg Roll was the largest ever with 30,000 attendees. Thousands of families gathered to celebrate and welcome Spring to Washington. While spending time with the lovely and gracious first family, we learned so much about the history and legacy of the White House. From the inspiring collection of African American art to the centuries old reminders of our nation’s history, our private tour was unforgettable for Me, Djimon, Russell, Ming, Aoki and Kenzo. I’ll never forget the girls peeking through the door to the West Wing or when they met the very gracious President Obama. And Kenzo’s very important meeting with Elmo was a success too!! Who could have asked for a better Easter and Birthday for Djimon? Thanks again to the lovely First Lady, the people of Washington D.C. and all the friends we met during our trip! We’re forever grateful to you for an amazing weekend. See you again soon!"

 Sources:  Black Celebrity Kids, Kimora Lee Simmons

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My Earrings from PURPOSE

Loving my new earrings from the PURPOSE jewelry line!  All of the jewelry from the PURPOSE jewelry line is handmade. They take ordinary objects and transforms them into unique pieces that are one of a kind. To see the earrings, check out the Raft Earrings and the Splint Earrings.  Stay tuned for an interview coming up next week from one of the designers from the jewelry line.

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Reader Question - From Thin Loc's... to Free Form

Question from Christy, Naturally Beautiful Hair Blog Reader:

"I've had my locs for 7 years and 8 months. They are the size of a pencil or smaller, and although they don't feel heavy, some of them have thinned at the roots. I presume it is from over twisting (in the past three years or so I've moved to twisting every 5 to 6 weeks which still seems to be a stress on my locs) when it is dry, or the small size of them in the first place. At any rate, to solve this I'm thinking of moving to free forming" in the hopes of slowing down the thinning of my hair, by not constantly re-twisting my roots. "I thought about cutting them but at this point, but I am not ready to let go of my length. If free forming doesn't help to strengthen and thicken my roots then I'll think about cutting them, to see if that helps with thinning. Also, I don't know if  I'll totally committ to free form for the duration of my loc journey. That being said, for those of you who free form,  are there any tips/advice/stories/products you use? Anything you can share with me, to help me start my free forming journey."  Please email "any comments, suggestions, advice to cskipperl@yahoo.com."  - Christy

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Real Bride: Elegant Braid Hair Style

Submitted by Eva
We love, love, LOVE featuring real brides. Share your bridal style with us!

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Stylish Mohawk

Sources: Cassie's Look, Braided & Curly Mohawk, Afro Mohawk, Twisted Mohawk, Cornrow Mohawk

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Lola Faturoti's Look Book

Lola Faturoti Autumn / Winter 2011 Look Book Fashion Peaks. 

- Source: HighSnobette

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Beads and Loc's

 Great use of hair accessories from Latrenia Byrant. 

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Link of the Day! Cornrowed Braid-out Faux Hawk

Gorgeous kid style from Beads, Braids & Beyond. A cute style that can be worn in several different ways - Full Cornrolls, Braided Updo, and Faux Hawk.  Very cute styles... :-).

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Dolls of Today

The progress of how dolls are actually starting to look like the diverse women of today is amazing.  We no longer have to go to the store and buy dolls that have features and hair that look nothing like us. We can now buy dolls for our young girls that actually represent us in our hair, features and cultural flavor.  I love that this is happening during our life time, and I hope to see more growth and progress.

See see more ethnically rich dolls, check Naturally Beautiful Hair album on Facebook.

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Pooka Pure and Simple

I would like to highlight a wonderful bath and body line called Pooka.  The company was founded and created by Dawn Fitch. It is now run and operated by Dawn and 3 of her closest friends.  I was impress by the Pooka products, not only because of the great way the items where packed when I opened the box, but also because the of the great smells and textures.

Fresh Sugah Whipped Cream  - I tried the Fresh Sugah Whipped Cream, which is a body moisturizer.  I have very delicate skin and usually can not wear any products that have perfumes in them. But the whipped cream moisturizer smelled so good, felt good and my skin loved it. 




Shea Hair Cream
The other product that I tried was the Shea Hair Cream. Another great product. Works well with my scalp and loc's.  I used it after my last shampoo, and my scalp and roots look and feel great.

To learn more about the women that run Pooka, see their blog - The Pookalitas. And learn about their Products & Charity work: Pooka Pure and Simple.

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Gianmarco Lorenzi Double Platform Pumps

Wow!

 - Source: What Women Want

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Stylish Blogger Award!

Thank you Roots Of Blackness, Chasing Metamorphosis  and Nappy Headed Black Girl - for naming our Blog one of the top Stylish Blogger!!!

To Spread the love, I would like to share this award with some fabulous blogs that I follow daily:

Franchesca.net
I Love My Loc's
Le Coil
Beads, Braids & Beyond
Chasing Metamorphosis
Baby Makin(g) Machine
Goapele
Runway Wonderland
Wahidah Fowler
i Rock Loc's

& sooo many more!

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Featured Reader - Helena!

Meet Natural Beauty - Helena! Thank you Helena for submitting your story about your natural hair journey.

Q: What is your hair story?  What kind of hair styles have you rocked, before embracing your natural hair?
A: Being a little girl I enjoyed my hair as it was, didn't think a lot about it and my parents have always taught my about natural beauty.
But growing older and watching music videos with Beyoncé, I saw her hair and was like, I want hair like her. I thought that it would be possible with a relaxer. But of course not. I tried a relaxer, but it didn't work at all. Only my hair ends got straight. And only a year after that, I cut my ends of and went all natural again. But now I'm happy it didn't work because i love my naturally curly hair and I'm proud of it.

Q: When and why did you decide to start wearing your hair naturally?
A: In the Christmas/January 2009-2010. I cut my straight ends off, and it was at the length was of a twa. And I loved it. I love my curls, and I am proud to wear it natural.

Q: Did you have any big fears about going back to your natural texture?
A: Not really. My hair was really dry and frizzy, with the straights ends. And I had read a lot about natural hair, so i was very excited for me to go 100% natural and rock my natural hair.

Q: What are three products you can't live without for nurturing/styling your hair?
A: My favorite is coconut oil. It's amazing for shine and makes my hair super soft, and it's great to prevent hair from frizzing. I also loves Aubrey Organics B5 Designer Gel - it's great for braid-outs, styling and it really moisturizes your hair. Also Aubrey Organics Natural Island Conditioner is really good.

Q: What would you say to someone who's thinking about embracing their natural hair, but scared about being rejected in various parts of their lives?
A: I thinks that natural hair exudes confidence, pride and beauty.. whatever what style you are rockin! It's for you. You are beautiful. Don't think so much about what people may say.
Accept and love your self and your natural hair, and others will to as they see your natural beauty shine.

Q: How can we keep up with you and your journey i.e. blog, twitter, facebook, fotki, tumblr, personal or professional website?
A: Yes i have a blog, naturalhairisbeautifull.blogspot.com.

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Skin Care Tips - from Esthetician Juliette Samuel

Black Skin Care Tip: Shea Butter, The Natural Ingredient for African American Skin Care 

By Juliette Samuel
Publisher & Esthetician For Nyraju Skin Care

While dark skin may have its advantages, it can be prone to its challenges.  An example of this is dry skin. Yes, African American people get dry skin. Melanin is a great protector of African American Skin and dark skin in general, but dryness is a condition that brings a different set of issues to be addressed. For most African Americans shea butter is among the top natural treatments that can be used on dry and sensitive skin.  It is packed full of vitamins and nutrients that give protection to the layers of your skin.  Shea butter has the ability to refresh and bring it back to the original suppleness and texture that it’s accustomed to.

Good news for you is that shea butter will have your beautiful black skin responding to it quick, fast and in a hurry.  This enables your skin to retain moisture and have greater elasticity immediately after its application. Shea butter, used on black skin, makes it easier to repair the damage sustained by your skin, such as flaking and itchiness that’s caused by excessive dryness. In addition to making your skin feel better, shea butter has the ability to even out your skin tone.  Your skin is the largest organ of your body and if you’ve ever experienced dryness, you know that there is a tendency for white spots to develop.  The application of shea butter to black skin can reduce the dryness, spots as well as get rid of the streaking that takes place when you scratch dry skin.

In order to take full advantage of the benefits offered by this natural beauty product, make sure that when you shower or bathe, your water temperature is lukewarm.  Extreme temperatures in water, particularly hot water, will strip the natural oils from your skin.  If your challenge is extremely dry skin, do not soak in water for more than 10 minutes.

Your body cleanser should be made from natural products such as vegetable soaps or soaps made from vegetable oils, like olive oil.  Even better, use cleansers that contain shea butter.  Your skin will benefit from the gentle cleansing action and provide it with the moisturizing properties of shea butter.  Hopefully you've enjoyed the black skin care tips in this article but here is one last tip: apply the shea butter while your skin is still damp in order to ensure that the moisture is sealed in.  Do not rub your skin with a towel, instead blot it dry or use your wash cloth to remove the excess water.  This is much more considerate of your body’s fragile protective layer.

Guest Writer:  Juliette Samuel
Authors Bio:  Meet Juliette

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Link of the Day - Style Inspiration

Picture of Franchesca. Loving her hair and her overall style!

Source - Franchesca.net

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Cinnamon Bun

That might not be the actual name for this hairstyle, but that's what it looks like to us - and we love it!

Hairstyle, earrings, and photo by MadebyAG.com

Cross-posted to African-American Brides: The Blog

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Fixed the Image!

I have been talking about this since last year. The original image that I had on the bottom of the Naturally Beautiful Hair Website welcome page, only featured women with loc's. For some odd reason, it did not click with me, for awhile - that this image did not reflect our large community of natural hair styles. I just recently updated the image on the website (see new and old image below). But it is still not feeling very diverse to me. I would like to add some images of our men, as well as coils and braid photos. It is a work in progress.

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