Cultured in Media

Yes, again the infamous "NO HEAT CHALLENGE."  I am determined to stick this one out for the ENTIRE summer. I have many ideas that I want to do with my hair but yet, scared of the no heat. I love looking at the length of my hair when it is flat ironed, but I know for health (of my hair) reasons, I must stay away. I swear when my hair is in its straightened state and it is just flowing in the wind, I feel every bit like this gif. Yesss hunni. Well this challenge will focus on being creative with my hair, finding ways to manage it without the flat iron, and getting my curls back. To begin with, my hair is not that curly, it is wavy. My natural hair never curled into those beautiful ringlets but more like waves. I know I will gain thickness and length, but how long will I last with no heat? Stay tuned every week for my hairstyle of the week. Tomorrow is the day that I premier my first of the challenge. Wait for the style that I have for you to see. Hint: I got it fro...

I love browsing instagram pages. I search everything from fitness to my neighborhood. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I look up hair care as well. While browsing, I came across an instagram page with some of the most prettiest hair I have seen in a while. Enjoy!!

I was stunned when I came across a picture on Instagram of Love and Hip Hop Star Mimi Faust. It was a picture of the starlet's hair. Initially, I always thought Mimi's hair was most likely thin, brittle, and relaxed due to the way the extensions or wigs look on her so imagine my surprise when she revealed her long, naturally-curly mane for the world to see. I did some digging into how she kept her curls intact and her hair healthy while undergoing the strenous hair practices she is subjected to almost every time she steps out of the house. I found from an interview back in 2012 with Longingforlengh.com, that Mimi has been natural since the age of 19. She washes her hair once a week and normally styles her hair herself with the use of limited heat. Interesting because I always see her hair in straight styles on television or on her pictures. Mimi is currently using Keracare shampoo and conditioner but likes to rotate her products and change it up every few months.  For ...

With all of the "grow your hair faster with this..." products that are out on the market, it is hard to decide on just one product that works for you. Of course there is always "trial and error" to assist you in finding the secret "growth aid" for your hair, but haven't you noticed most of the products contain the one ingredient needed to promote hair growth? Biotin Biotin or Vitamin H is needed for cell growth. Although there is no scientific PROOF that Biotin aids in faster hair growth, there is no denying that fact that it is indeed a growth aid for skin reproduction and nails. Believe it or not, nails and hair are made from the same protein (learned that in Biology class, hehe), so if Biotin increases cell growth in nails and skin, they as a bonus, hair growth accelerates as well.  Take a look at the current hair growth aids that are popular today (i.e: Hairfinity, Hair, Skin & Nails), most likely, they contain Biotin as the active ingr...

I know as a woman, one of the most important aspect in our lives revolves around our hair. I mean, I do so much with my hair that I am sure it would ask me to leave it alone indefinitely if the strands could speak. I mean I twirl it, flip it, twist it, braid it, un-braid it, straighten it, wash it out then restraighten, cowash, oil rinse, bun it, don't like the bun so un-bun it, I mean, the struggle is real to keep my hands out of this mane of mine.  Well I discovered that if I leave these strands alone, they will do what they are supposed to to regardless, which is grow in healthy. As you recall, back in early fall, I cut my hair to neck length. It took only a few months for it to grow back to the originally length and just think right now I am, I am scraping my bra once again. I mean I literally did NOTHING with my hair besides for wash once a week, possibly every two weeks depending on my mood, deep conditioned regularly, limited heat use to once a month, and wore my hair eit...

I say this all of the time but this time is the biggest promise of promises. Blogging takes a lot out of you rather you believe it or not. It takes a lot out of you even if it is your passion. Considering I am in college, I work a full-time job, I blog for social media sites, AND I write books, it seems all I do is write. One thing I noticed is that at a time when I was blogging about my hair practices, my hair was also on track and growing to new lengths. Now that I am at a stunted length, I decided to come back. Soooo here I am. @IAmIjanei

For the first time in my life I did a roller-set on my hair. The results were fantastic, better than I expected. When I say everyone loved them, I mean everyone including the post man. You all know how I change my hair like the the weather, so it was a last minute decision to actually use the rollers that I had in the stash for the past year. Well actually, I was browsing pictures of roller-sets and came across a few that I liked. (Peep the images I liked below) To prep for my decision to roller-set, I washed and conditioned with regular shampoo and conditioner from White Rain. Correction, I used White Rain Shampoo and then used a Dr. Miracle Deep Conditioning packet. After rinsing hair, I let it air dry. Surprise. That was my own little idea. Okay, I'm telling lies. It was an "accidental" air-dry due to the fact I was indecisive about what to do to my hair.  Now after air-drying to 90%, I sectioned off and put mousse all through my hair and started rollin...

Since I randomly chopped off my hair. Already I see the growth coming back. Maybe by summer I will finally reach waist length. Just thought I would give you a look at my progress after two months. I also noticed that I slimmed down, so Kudos to me =)

Sigh! How many times do you see me say "Day 1?" Okay, yea, a lot right? Well this time I am sticking to it. I promise. I want for next summer to be the summer I let all my hair down to my waist and swing it back and forth. Tonight I am doing an oil rinse combined with two eggs for protein. Right now my hair is lacking shine as you can see below, and also these strands are so dry that it seems as if every drop of oil I put on my scalp is sucked up upon impact. So what I did is whipped up two eggs, put more than enough coconut oil into the whipped egg.  I parted my hair into two sections. And started applying from the back first, since that is the area that mostly rubs against my clothing. Make sure you are wearing a shirt that you do not wear outside as the oil may drip or slide down the neck, face area. After applying to the whole head, I waited for approximately 45 minutes with bantu buns.  I washed out in the shower, shampooed, then used regul...

Angela Simmons, celebrity socialite, is known to rock some nice extensions, but did you know how truly beautiful her real hair is. I'm talking about the real natural hair that almost reaches her hips? Well in case you did not know, she gladly shows off her beautiful strands on Instagram.  And just a side note....I do not believe she took hairfinity all this time. 

I know I'm always talking about natural hair this, or real hair that, so now we have a "Weaved Out Wednesday" known as W.O.W. for all the girls who love good extensions. I remember the days I used to wear weaves or extensions for weeks at a time. Nothing wrong with them as long as you are taking care of your hair while in your install. My sew-in choice of the week is the layered weave. Ohh I just love it. Take a look at the pictures below to see what I am talking about. You would want it too. It just has a realistic flow about it. Now I just have to figure out the braid pattern.

So now we are through with "Messy Mondays," we are entering into Twisted Tuesday. I love seeing women on TV with twist-outs, braid-outs, or their natural coils to be viewed by millions. On Tuesday nights, after work, I normally watch The Haves and the Have Nots but since that is no longer on until 2015, I began watching If Loving You is Wrong... Let me tell you, if you are not watching, you are definitely missing out. Drama Galore.  Now for twisted Tuesdays, I want to announce a coily sister, who stars in If Loving You is Wrong... Meet April Parker-Jones, a natural hair beauty. Take a look at her beautiful coils. April Parker-Jones is our Twisted Tuesday Feature.  If Loving You is Wrong comes on OWN on Tuesday nights at 9pm ET

I started the week off with a fresh wash and deep conditioning treatment and boy does my hair feel great. Earlier today (Monday), I did not do anything with my hair at all. Okay, well I prepped my hair for a braid out tomorrow. I plan to have my braid-out turn out something like the image below. I want a nice, chunky braid-out like so. So in order to achieve this look, I decided to use Elasta QP Olive Oil and Mango Curling Butter . I also oiled my scalp with a homemade oil mix, and boy did it satisfy my scalp.  To begin, I brushed out my hair, separated into a top half and a bottom half to prepare to do a braid-out. Next I parted my hair and started plaiting my hair, not braiding. I put in several plaints and this is my result. Hopefully tomorrow my result turns out beautifully chunky. I will return later with results. Also look out for "Twisted Tuesdays" post today.  ETA: Pics My results, ignore the close up shot, but hey, it is the best ...