This year was the year of the selfie for me, I noticed that folks actually wanted to know more about my skincare and haircare routine and also wanted to see more of my face and hair. I actually put some thought energy behind the the selfie culture and self image and shared regular "chronic selfie disorder" posts. Since selfies were such a big part of Sisterlocked this past year, I decided to share my top selfies of 2015 based on comments, likes, and re-shares.
I learned a great deal about my own ideas of beauty and how little of myself and my life these photos actually capture.
This year was the year of the selfie for me, I noticed that folks actually wanted to know more about my skincare and haircare routine and also wanted to see more of my face and hair. I actually put some thought energy behind the the selfie culture and self image and shared regular "chronic selfie disorder" posts. Since selfies were such a big part of Sisterlocked this past year, I decided to share my top selfies of 2015 based on comments, likes, and re-shares.
I learned a great deal about my own ideas of beauty and how little of myself and my life these photos actually capture.
Everyone in my household has been continuously sick for the past 2 months. My father recently reminded me to always keep our honey and onion (I occasionally add garlic, ginger, and lemon) cold/flu remedy on hand. This home remedy is miraculous!
Ingredients
Half an onion (chopped coarsely)
1 cup or more of Honey
Optional
Tablespoon or more of coarsely chopped Ginger
Half lemon
Tablespoon or more of Garlic (chopped coarsely)
It's simple, place honey and onion (and optional ingredients) in a glass container and let it marinate on the counter for an hour and then refrigerate.
One batch lasts a few months refrigerated. Try to use raw honey, though any honey will do. Children older than 12 months can have a teaspoon but older kids and adults can pretty much chug the stuff.
and Their Benefits
Honey
Honey contains dietary antioxidants, carbohydrates, sugars, acids, proteins and minerals, according to the National Honey Board, or NHB. Honey may also fight bacterial infections thanks to its antimicrobial properties. Although all honey can fight bacteria, you'll get more antioxidants from buckwheat honey than the more common clover honey. Although most colds and flus are caused by viruses, honey may help banish those pesky few respiratory infections caused by harmful bacteria.
Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-fungal.
Reduce cough and throat irritation. Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep.
Honey contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The type of vitamins and minerals and their quantity depends on the type of flowers used for apiculture. Commonly, honey contains Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron. It's simple, honey and onion in a glass container and let it marinate on the counter for an hour and then refrigerate. One patch lasts a few months refrigerated. I also add garlic and ginger for additional medicinal kick. Try to use raw honey though any honey will do. This can be used as a preventive measure or used while sick. Kid's older than 12 months can have a teaspoon but older kids and adults can pretty much chug the stuff.
Probiotic: Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria.
Antioxidants: The nutraceuticals in honey are very effective for the removal of free radicals from the body thus improving our body immunity.
Honey Warning for Babies
Honey should never be given to babies less than 1 year old, according to the National Honey Board. Babies, they warn, haven’t developed a tolerance for a particular strain of bacteria called “Clostridium botulinum” found readily in nature and in some varieties of honey. As a baby’s “intestinal microflora” develop, she gains the ability to tolerate the toxin this particular bacteria produces as it’s digested.
Onion
The idea that onions may ward off disease through their potent therapeutic properties extends back thousands of years.
High in sulfuric compounds such as thiosulfinates, sulfoxides, and other odorous cysteine sulfoxides. The thiosulfinates in onions are responsible for their potent properties and have even been shown to kill off salmonella and E. coli. Sulfuric compounds also play a role in cancer and heart disease prevention, and therefore act as a great immune-boosting food for general disease prevention.
Onions are also extremely high in the antioxidant quercetin. Quercetin helps the body fight free-radicals, and boosts the immune response. A study from the British Journal of Nutrition showed that individuals who ate foods high in quercetin (onion soup was used in the study), had better immune responses and less likelihood for cardiovascular disease.
Optional Add-ins
Ginger: Ginger improves the absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients in the body it also clears the ‘microcirculatory channels’ of the body, including the clearing your sinuses that can flare up seasonally or during colder months.
Garlic: For colds and flus, it also provides decongestant and expectorant effects. While none of garlic’s components have been isolated by science as the sole explanation for garlic’s flu-busting effects, vitamin C, a slew of enzymes, and minerals such as sulphur and selenium, definitely play a role.
Lemon: Loaded with vitamin C, lemon (or lime) juice is reported to decrease the strength of the cold and flu virus in the body and reduce phlegm.
Everyone in my household has been continuously sick for the past 2 months. My father recently reminded me to always keep our honey and onion (I occasionally add garlic, ginger, and lemon) cold/flu remedy on hand. This home remedy is miraculous!
Ingredients
Half an onion (chopped coarsely)
1 cup or more of Honey
Optional
Tablespoon or more of coarsely chopped Ginger
Half lemon
Tablespoon or more of Garlic (chopped coarsely)
It's simple, place honey and onion (and optional ingredients) in a glass container and let it marinate on the counter for an hour and then refrigerate.
One batch lasts a few months refrigerated. Try to use raw honey, though any honey will do. Children older than 12 months can have a teaspoon but older kids and adults can pretty much chug the stuff.
and Their Benefits
Honey
Honey contains dietary antioxidants, carbohydrates, sugars, acids, proteins and minerals, according to the National Honey Board, or NHB. Honey may also fight bacterial infections thanks to its antimicrobial properties. Although all honey can fight bacteria, you'll get more antioxidants from buckwheat honey than the more common clover honey. Although most colds and flus are caused by viruses, honey may help banish those pesky few respiratory infections caused by harmful bacteria.
Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-fungal.
Reduce cough and throat irritation. Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep.
Honey contains a variety of vitamins and minerals. The type of vitamins and minerals and their quantity depends on the type of flowers used for apiculture. Commonly, honey contains Vitamin C, Calcium and Iron. It's simple, honey and onion in a glass container and let it marinate on the counter for an hour and then refrigerate. One patch lasts a few months refrigerated. I also add garlic and ginger for additional medicinal kick. Try to use raw honey though any honey will do. This can be used as a preventive measure or used while sick. Kid's older than 12 months can have a teaspoon but older kids and adults can pretty much chug the stuff.
Probiotic: Some varieties of honey possess large amounts of friendly bacteria. This includes up to 6 species of lactobacilli and 4 species of bifidobacteria.
Antioxidants: The nutraceuticals in honey are very effective for the removal of free radicals from the body thus improving our body immunity.
Honey Warning for Babies
Honey should never be given to babies less than 1 year old, according to the National Honey Board. Babies, they warn, haven’t developed a tolerance for a particular strain of bacteria called “Clostridium botulinum” found readily in nature and in some varieties of honey. As a baby’s “intestinal microflora” develop, she gains the ability to tolerate the toxin this particular bacteria produces as it’s digested.
Onion
The idea that onions may ward off disease through their potent therapeutic properties extends back thousands of years.
High in sulfuric compounds such as thiosulfinates, sulfoxides, and other odorous cysteine sulfoxides. The thiosulfinates in onions are responsible for their potent properties and have even been shown to kill off salmonella and E. coli. Sulfuric compounds also play a role in cancer and heart disease prevention, and therefore act as a great immune-boosting food for general disease prevention.
Onions are also extremely high in the antioxidant quercetin. Quercetin helps the body fight free-radicals, and boosts the immune response. A study from the British Journal of Nutrition showed that individuals who ate foods high in quercetin (onion soup was used in the study), had better immune responses and less likelihood for cardiovascular disease.
Optional Add-ins
Ginger: Ginger improves the absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients in the body it also clears the ‘microcirculatory channels’ of the body, including the clearing your sinuses that can flare up seasonally or during colder months.
Garlic: For colds and flus, it also provides decongestant and expectorant effects. While none of garlic’s components have been isolated by science as the sole explanation for garlic’s flu-busting effects, vitamin C, a slew of enzymes, and minerals such as sulphur and selenium, definitely play a role.
Lemon: Loaded with vitamin C, lemon (or lime) juice is reported to decrease the strength of the cold and flu virus in the body and reduce phlegm.
Gifts have been opened, culinary cravings indulged, and carols sung. As we near the end of the Christmas day, I hope you take the time to experience something more than the material. Take a moment to exhale. To embrace a loved one. To forgive. To laugh out loud. To simply experience joy and truly be merry.
Gifts have been opened, culinary cravings indulged, and carols sung. As we near the end of the Christmas day, I hope you take the time to experience something more than the material. Take a moment to exhale. To embrace a loved one. To forgive. To laugh out loud. To simply experience joy and truly be merry.
I use to have this horrible and random worry around my pre-teen to teen years that no charming and fetching man would want me because of my hair. Random. Ridiculous. Absurd!
Is it really that absurd though? There "was" this horrible politics of hair that existed before the mainstreaming of "desirable" black women with kinky hair. It use to be, that you couldn't be a single and ready to mingle "obviously black woman" (i.e. non-biracial by visual standards) and have hair that was not straightened or relaxed.
Don't shot the messenger. These were the dark ages of my childhood in the late 90's and early 2000's.
The fetishizing of mixed chicks was (and is) this thing that made boring old regular black chicks like myself question our beauty. It of bred animosity amongst women who should be supporting each other against each other. It also created a fictitious hierarchy of beauty.
I had a roommate in college a few years ago that actually stated to me that she never though dark skinned female could be beautiful until she came to college. That breaks my heart. This wasn't 50 years ago, this was a little over 5 years ago!
This guy once said within earshot of me, that a chick could look like Gollum (see photo of the Lord of the Rings character above) and be finer than a dark skin girl if she had long hair and/or light skin. (FATHER GOD!)
Obviously, slavery was an atrocity in more ways than one because generations later, all of the diverse beauty within the entire african diaspora is still not equally accepted and celebrated!
As a girl, I never worried I was too dark. My paternal grandmother was so fair, she could "pass for white" and she rejected my father because he was dark. My father's already difficult childhood was made unimaginably harder after his father died because his mother rejected him due to skin tone. I heard these stories and it built a fortitude within me that prevented me from establishing a preference for or an internal complex related to how light or dark I or people around me were.
However, this fortitude didn't apply to my hair (mostly because of my mother's comments). My hair was never straight and/or long enough to give me the confidence I needed to believe I was desirable enough or that a man would ever prefer me over another.
In enters weave and relaxer dependence for a few years here or there. But, I never felt confident or secure. I feel silly just typing this, but it was my truth for a short period during high-school.
Really early on in my relationship with my husband (pictured above), I cut of all my hair. Rocked a short fro or a long fro. Played with natural hair style and revisiting relaxers with short straight styles. He loved me though all of this and was even proposed to me, the length or texture of my hair wasn' t what he feel in love with or was attracted to.
I never gave much thought to my lack of hair confidence until a friend who was going natural mentioned she had to rock braids and weaves until he hair was long enough for a properly laid twist-out because she's still single. WORD!? This chick is one of the most beautiful women in my circle. Her skin is like butter. She is funny, educated, kind and has a successful career most women AND men would kill for while in their 20's. But yet and still, she believes she can't land a serious and long-term commitment with an eligible and desirable man with a close cropped natural afro. There is something wrong with the world! Is the politics of hair is still that major of an issue today?
If your wondering, I love my hair now. I actually feel like it adds to my personal sexy.
I use to have this horrible and random worry around my pre-teen to teen years that no charming and fetching man would want me because of my hair. Random. Ridiculous. Absurd!
Is it really that absurd though? There "was" this horrible politics of hair that existed before the mainstreaming of "desirable" black women with kinky hair. It use to be, that you couldn't be a single and ready to mingle "obviously black woman" (i.e. non-biracial by visual standards) and have hair that was not straightened or relaxed.
Don't shot the messenger. These were the dark ages of my childhood in the late 90's and early 2000's.
The fetishizing of mixed chicks was (and is) this thing that made boring old regular black chicks like myself question our beauty. It of bred animosity amongst women who should be supporting each other against each other. It also created a fictitious hierarchy of beauty.
I had a roommate in college a few years ago that actually stated to me that she never though dark skinned female could be beautiful until she came to college. That breaks my heart. This wasn't 50 years ago, this was a little over 5 years ago!
This guy once said within earshot of me, that a chick could look like Gollum (see photo of the Lord of the Rings character above) and be finer than a dark skin girl if she had long hair and/or light skin. (FATHER GOD!)
Obviously, slavery was an atrocity in more ways than one because generations later, all of the diverse beauty within the entire african diaspora is still not equally accepted and celebrated!
As a girl, I never worried I was too dark. My paternal grandmother was so fair, she could "pass for white" and she rejected my father because he was dark. My father's already difficult childhood was made unimaginably harder after his father died because his mother rejected him due to skin tone. I heard these stories and it built a fortitude within me that prevented me from establishing a preference for or an internal complex related to how light or dark I or people around me were.
However, this fortitude didn't apply to my hair (mostly because of my mother's comments). My hair was never straight and/or long enough to give me the confidence I needed to believe I was desirable enough or that a man would ever prefer me over another.
In enters weave and relaxer dependence for a few years here or there. But, I never felt confident or secure. I feel silly just typing this, but it was my truth for a short period during high-school.
Really early on in my relationship with my husband (pictured above), I cut of all my hair. Rocked a short fro or a long fro. Played with natural hair style and revisiting relaxers with short straight styles. He loved me though all of this and was even proposed to me, the length or texture of my hair wasn' t what he feel in love with or was attracted to.
I never gave much thought to my lack of hair confidence until a friend who was going natural mentioned she had to rock braids and weaves until he hair was long enough for a properly laid twist-out because she's still single. WORD!? This chick is one of the most beautiful women in my circle. Her skin is like butter. She is funny, educated, kind and has a successful career most women AND men would kill for while in their 20's. But yet and still, she believes she can't land a serious and long-term commitment with an eligible and desirable man with a close cropped natural afro. There is something wrong with the world! Is the politics of hair is still that major of an issue today?
If your wondering, I love my hair now. I actually feel like it adds to my personal sexy.
I've had my own battles with hair loss in the past. I installed my sisterlocks immediately after having my first kid and before the onset of postpartum hair loss. The professional caring for my hair at the time did not advise me through this very difficult season and it took me a long time to figure out what was happening and why.
Postpartum Hair Loss
Since then, and with a great deal of personal research, I learned that my initial hair loss culprit was a mix of hormones and traction alopecia and eventually breakage due to weak spots formed during my hormonal loss periods.
The first step at preventing or stopping excessive and abnormal hair loss is identifying the culprit. Below you will find the more applicable forms of hair loss, please note this will not encompass when medical/environmental trigger but are the more common forms.
Types of Hair Loss and Ways to Remedy or Prevent
Hair Breakage
Hair loss that occurs along the hair shaft and not the root. This can be cause by dryness, friction, hair styles, excessive handling, or using the wrong styling tools.
You can prevent and remedy breakage by self-assessing your routine and discontinue or change your hair care routine. Consider doing a protein treatment, changing the way you moisturize, and your hairstyle of choice.
Temporary hair loss may occur weeks or even months after an episode of stress like childbirth, fever, severe illness, stress or sudden weight loss, which decreases gradually in a few months. This type of hair loss is called telogen effluvium (TE). This happens due to changes in the growth cycle of hair, when a large number of hair go into the resting phase (telogen) at the same time. I myself have experienced postpartum hair loss on two occasions.
The treatment for effluvium will vary by trigger
When TE trigger is short-term due to something like surgery, the best response is to patiently wait for the follicles to recover on their own.
For ongoing TE issues, isolate the cause and remove it. For instance, if stress is the problem, stress reduction is the best treatment and prevention. If a dietary deficiency appears on a blood test, try supplements and a change in diet. If it is a deficiency in thyroid hormones, this can be treated with hormone supplements.
If a specific cause can not be determined, there are some professional treatment options. Most dermatologists prescribe minoxidil, a direct hair growth stimulator. This can work well for some, but if the underlying cause is still present, then minoxidil must be continued to block redevelopment of TE. The best medicine is figuring out the cause and addressing it directly.
Androgenic Alopecia
Sometimes called male pattern baldness, this may happen to women as well. If there is general thinning of the hair over the entire scalp, extensive hair loss at the crown with the hairline at the front intact, this may be female pattern baldness. As hair thinning occurs, the scalp becomes progressively more visible. The hair loss rarely progresses to total or near total baldness. Thinning may start in your 20s but may not become noticeable until your 40s or later because the pace is gradual.
The most common treatment for male or female pattern baldness is minoxidil.
Traction Alopecia
Traction Alopecia is hair loss due to pressure and pulling on the hair because of particular hairstyles causing small, localized areas of hair loss. I have a bald spot that has never grown back due to a bad set of cornrows in college.
You can prevent this by avoiding very tight longterm hair styles and treating areas immediately with a growth oil like rosemary or some other healing hair oil with massage to try and stimulate the area.
Overprocessing and Cuticle Stripping
The most common cause of physical hair damage is overprocessing. Perming, straightening, bleaching, and dyeing the hair all involve harsh chemicals that can significantly affect the integrity of hair fiber. Using these cosmetic approaches too frequently or inappropriately can lead to irreversible damage to the hair fiber. The more hair fiber is damaged by these processes the weaker it will be and the more likely it will break off. Severe chemical processing can so significantly damage to the hair fiber that the fiber at the root is severely weakened it causes the hair to break off at the skin surface. This result is a diffuse "alopecia".
Damage due to overprocessing is difficult to treat. The best approach may be to cut off as much damaged hair as possible, avoid further chemical processing, be gentle with your hair and wait for new, undamaged hair to grow in. There are cosmetic treatments to help "glue" damaged hair proteins back together, they only work for a short time and have to be reapplied regularly and end result is never as good as the original and undamaged hair.
Infections
There are a number of infections that could cause hair loss, here are some common ones:
Fungal infections like ring worm (tinea capitis), which can occur anywhere on the body and cause temporary hair loss and is usuallty treated with an antibiotic
Folliculitis or a focal inflammation of hair follicles that looks like acne with little rings of inflammation surrounding the opening of a hair follicle. This can be caused by oils and greases applied to the skin that clog up the hair follicles, but folliculitis is usually due to a bacterial infection. It can be treated by antibiotics or a change in products.
Seborrheic dermatitis is a skin condition, but it can also involve temporary hair loss if the dermatitis is located on the scalp or other haired skin areas. The dermatitis looks scaly and at times oily, inflamed skin that can be itchy or even painful to touch. The most common treatments are anti-dandruff shampoos.
Shedding
Everyone sheds hair and you may see more hair shed at certain times of the year. Studies show that humans, at least in Northern Europe away from the equator, shed more hair in the fall and to a lesser extent in the spring.
This temporary increase in the number of telogen hair follicles and shed hair is probably due to changes in hormones in response to changes in daylight exposure. Studies in mink and other mammals show that daylight exposure significantly alters prolactin levels and that prolactin has a significant effect on molting. As with mink and other mammals, humans probably have much the same molting response. So hair loss can be temporary and seasonal without cause for worry.
There are many hair loss trigger, but the first steps of treatment and prevention is to analyze our lives, health and physical treatment of our hair.
I've had my own battles with hair loss in the past. I installed my sisterlocks immediately after having my first kid and before the onset of postpartum hair loss. The professional caring for my hair at the time did not advise me through this very difficult season and it took me a long time to figure out what was happening and why.
Postpartum Hair Loss
Since then, and with a great deal of personal research, I learned that my initial hair loss culprit was a mix of hormones and traction alopecia and eventually breakage due to weak spots formed during my hormonal loss periods.
The first step at preventing or stopping excessive and abnormal hair loss is identifying the culprit. Below you will find the more applicable forms of hair loss, please note this will not encompass when medical/environmental trigger but are the more common forms.
Types of Hair Loss and Ways to Remedy or Prevent
Hair Breakage
Hair loss that occurs along the hair shaft and not the root. This can be cause by dryness, friction, hair styles, excessive handling, or using the wrong styling tools.
You can prevent and remedy breakage by self-assessing your routine and discontinue or change your hair care routine. Consider doing a protein treatment, changing the way you moisturize, and your hairstyle of choice.
Temporary hair loss may occur weeks or even months after an episode of stress like childbirth, fever, severe illness, stress or sudden weight loss, which decreases gradually in a few months. This type of hair loss is called telogen effluvium (TE). This happens due to changes in the growth cycle of hair, when a large number of hair go into the resting phase (telogen) at the same time. I myself have experienced postpartum hair loss on two occasions.
The treatment for effluvium will vary by trigger
When TE trigger is short-term due to something like surgery, the best response is to patiently wait for the follicles to recover on their own.
For ongoing TE issues, isolate the cause and remove it. For instance, if stress is the problem, stress reduction is the best treatment and prevention. If a dietary deficiency appears on a blood test, try supplements and a change in diet. If it is a deficiency in thyroid hormones, this can be treated with hormone supplements.
If a specific cause can not be determined, there are some professional treatment options. Most dermatologists prescribe minoxidil, a direct hair growth stimulator. This can work well for some, but if the underlying cause is still present, then minoxidil must be continued to block redevelopment of TE. The best medicine is figuring out the cause and addressing it directly.
Androgenic Alopecia
Sometimes called male pattern baldness, this may happen to women as well. If there is general thinning of the hair over the entire scalp, extensive hair loss at the crown with the hairline at the front intact, this may be female pattern baldness. As hair thinning occurs, the scalp becomes progressively more visible. The hair loss rarely progresses to total or near total baldness. Thinning may start in your 20s but may not become noticeable until your 40s or later because the pace is gradual.
The most common treatment for male or female pattern baldness is minoxidil.
Traction Alopecia
Traction Alopecia is hair loss due to pressure and pulling on the hair because of particular hairstyles causing small, localized areas of hair loss. I have a bald spot that has never grown back due to a bad set of cornrows in college.
You can prevent this by avoiding very tight longterm hair styles and treating areas immediately with a growth oil like rosemary or some other healing hair oil with massage to try and stimulate the area.
Overprocessing and Cuticle Stripping
The most common cause of physical hair damage is overprocessing. Perming, straightening, bleaching, and dyeing the hair all involve harsh chemicals that can significantly affect the integrity of hair fiber. Using these cosmetic approaches too frequently or inappropriately can lead to irreversible damage to the hair fiber. The more hair fiber is damaged by these processes the weaker it will be and the more likely it will break off. Severe chemical processing can so significantly damage to the hair fiber that the fiber at the root is severely weakened it causes the hair to break off at the skin surface. This result is a diffuse "alopecia".
Damage due to overprocessing is difficult to treat. The best approach may be to cut off as much damaged hair as possible, avoid further chemical processing, be gentle with your hair and wait for new, undamaged hair to grow in. There are cosmetic treatments to help "glue" damaged hair proteins back together, they only work for a short time and have to be reapplied regularly and end result is never as good as the original and undamaged hair.
Infections
There are a number of infections that could cause hair loss, here are some common ones:
Fungal infections like ring worm (tinea capitis), which can occur anywhere on the body and cause temporary hair loss and is usuallty treated with an antibiotic
Folliculitis or a focal inflammation of hair follicles that looks like acne with little rings of inflammation surrounding the opening of a hair follicle. This can be caused by oils and greases applied to the skin that clog up the hair follicles, but folliculitis is usually due to a bacterial infection. It can be treated by antibiotics or a change in products.
Seborrheic dermatitis is a skin condition, but it can also involve temporary hair loss if the dermatitis is located on the scalp or other haired skin areas. The dermatitis looks scaly and at times oily, inflamed skin that can be itchy or even painful to touch. The most common treatments are anti-dandruff shampoos.
Shedding
Everyone sheds hair and you may see more hair shed at certain times of the year. Studies show that humans, at least in Northern Europe away from the equator, shed more hair in the fall and to a lesser extent in the spring.
This temporary increase in the number of telogen hair follicles and shed hair is probably due to changes in hormones in response to changes in daylight exposure. Studies in mink and other mammals show that daylight exposure significantly alters prolactin levels and that prolactin has a significant effect on molting. As with mink and other mammals, humans probably have much the same molting response. So hair loss can be temporary and seasonal without cause for worry.
There are many hair loss trigger, but the first steps of treatment and prevention is to analyze our lives, health and physical treatment of our hair.
