Hair inspiration: Spotlight- Nneka

Wow, this is actually ironic but I happen to be listening to Nneka right this very moment [Victim of Truth] on my iPod shuffle. For those of you who don't know her, she's a Nigerian hip-hop/soul singer. Her other albums include 'No Longer at ease' and 'Soul is heavy'. If you're into the 'conscious' type of music you'll like her. Truly gifted and sings with a true and sincere heart.

Well since this isn't an artist review (even though I've kinnda done that), let us focus on her hair shall we  ;). She's pretty low maintenance (my kinnda style) but keeps it looking nice nonetheless.

Hold on, be strong, go on, see we won't divide, see we multiply

Let us make a change, why can't we turn the page.........

Yeh we are created in a beautiful way

Wake up Africa, wake up and stop blaming

Wake up world, wake up and stop sleeping

You pick me up but you put me in........

See everything changes......

All of these material things shouldn't want to make me miss longing for spiritual growth and food

Do you hide behind your holiness and make other people confess sin......

He's a player not yet ready to behave mature

A man who makes a child still not ready to see his future

It's about loving love, showing love, doing love, living love, staying in love

Soldiers, rise up, stand up, get up

Gave me your hand, reached out for you, this don't make me dependent on you

You make me strong

Oh God of mercy, I appreciate thee......

If I didn't ask, would you give me what I gave to you

Can you see the pain you're causing

Can you see my heart is beating

God no go give you anything you no go fit deal with

The thing way no fit kill you in go make you strong

Ok so I couldn't help it... Had to put the first line of the chorus of each of her songs on the 'Victim of truth' album as the caption in most the pictures. If you are intrigued and wanna know more, you can download her album on iTunes. She's a really talented singer and you know, I gotta rep my people ;)

Anyways stay blessed.
One LOVE.

Miss Jay :)

Olympic Fever!!!

Ah yes, the Olympics have come and gone and boy, I must say I miss it already. What am I going to watch on T.V now? I guess I'll be putting away the box till 2016 (or who knows, maybe I'll be in the box...lol). It was such a thrilling moment and I enjoyed every second of it. The atmosphere in London was electric. I've never seen London so jam-packed but even better was the cheerful demeanor of the volunteers. I really hope that the olympic fever will relinquish the 'stiff upper lip' behavior for good (I know, a little ambitious, innit).

This was actually the first Olympics that I followed. The opening ceremony was real nice but I thought the closing was wayyy better. Kept oohing and aahhhing and dancing like a crazy person. The Spice girls moment took me back many years and at the end of it all, I can't explain it but I felt proud to be 'british' or to have some links to Great Britain to be more precise.

I followed the track events very closely and for those on my bbm, I'm sure y'all got tired of seeing my updates...yes I became the unpaid commentator. 

I haven't been this pumped in a while about something and I think it's because athletics was one of my first loves..and watching this was in some way living out a dream (although indirectly). 

You see, growing up I wanted to be a professional sprinter and Marion Jones was someone I looked up to a lot back then. However, life happened and I'm in a totally different field today. I gave up that dream for reasons I cannot justify and kept thinking to myself 'if only'. 

Why didn't anybody teach us about sprinting, the stages involved- the drive phase, stride phase, lift phase etc? 

We didn't even get to see a gym. Fair enough pylometrics probably wasn't big at that time, but at least they could have taught us strength training and how to exercise the core/different muscle groups needed for sprinting.

We were never timed individually (only collectively) or encouraged to have 'time' goals.

As for diet, we literally ate any and everything we wanted; no advice was ever given in any shape or form. The closest we came to nutrition was taking 'glucose-d' powder before and after each race 'shikena''

If you were a top sprinter and started slowing down in your races, all the attention shifted to the new top athlete and you were forgotten, left in the dust. Nobody ever sat with you to revise your technique or see if you had any 'medical or mechanical problems that was hindering your progress.

But it's not all gloom.....Thanks to Bolt, that thought has changed to 'why not' ..after all I'm young and I still have a functional engine. Infact, if not for my mini obsession with him, I wouldn't have known of any of the things I lamented about above. I've been eating, breathing and sleeping 'sprinting et al' in the past couple days...you know like how it is when you first go natural and you're gorging in all of the information thats out there. Things have gotten to the point where i've thought of molding my career to fit/incorporate the world of track...maybe this is just a phase..who knows? All i know is that i'm pretty excited about this.

It funny how I feel so connected to so many things all at once. After Bolt won the 100m final, I felt compelled to get a jamaican t-shirt, bracelet, just something to express my pride, love, happiness...whatever the emotion was. 

In true OCD fashion, I've probably watched all his interviews and races that I can find on youtube. I really admire his talent and love his laid back attitude even though he can come across as arrogant. He's got so much charisma and personality that you (or she I say I) just gotta love him nonetheless. 

Blake on the other hand is also super talented and together, they motivate me. His (Blake's) accent is real thick and being someone who is somewhat fascinated by accents I'm really loving on the Jamaican accent right now.

Ok can we go back to hair now? Enough of this teeny bopper 'celebrity crush-ing'.

Well on that front let me just say that my 'essential' aspect of my goals a la my last post seems to be way ON track.

May be getting my hair in 'Solange' braids this weekend. Think I need a bit of a break from the styling.

Ok, enough of all the ranting. Gotta go.

xoxo
Miss Jay

I'm FINE thanks :)

On this occasion when I straightened my hair, in as much as I was excited that I had retained length, I couldn't help but notice how stringy or should I say fine it was. I immediately started thinking of what I could do to make it thick. If you read my old post here, you would see that one of the main problems I had with my relaxed hair was how thin it was when straightened. What's even more surprising is that the diameter when I put it into a ponytail is pretty much the same if not only slightly thicker than what it was when I was relaxed and so I'm left thinking...what's the point?

It wasn't until I read through a couple blogs that I realized that this wasn't a peculiar problem. A few naturals experience having an almost feathery texture to their hair when straightened and it really feels weird, as though my hair isn't meant to be straightened. On the plus side, I find my hair is easy enough to comb and style especially when wet, and doubt I'd have the same ease if the strands were thicker. The thing I learnt was that if you have genetically fine hair, it doesn't matter if you're natural or relaxed, it would always be fine.

So even though this may be a normal variant,  I thought I'd do a little experiment :D
From now till when next I get my hair straightened, and that's probably going to be next year (yikes!!!), I'm gonna try a few things.

ESSENTIALS: I am going to start taking my hair vitamins daily and drinking at least 2 litres of water a day. At the moment, I probably drink between 500mls - 1 litre daily, which is really bad..... At work, I'm always on my feet and often  forget to rehydrate.

Holland & Barrett

2 Litres

According to the Mayo Clinic,  The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day. So let's just say I have a long way to go, but with determination and perseverance I'll get there.

ELECTIVES: I'm also going to try and keep up with eating at least 3 portions of fruits OR vegetables a day and exercise at least 3 times a week (p.s. my exercising will include salsa/zumba sha...lol). 

To be real honest I'm probably lazier when it comes to these 'elective' tasks cos I'd rather sit down and read blogs whilst munching on something savory (and FILLING) than snacking on some apples. I'm fortunate about my weight but for the sake of my hair (and health) I will try.




I find that by breaking one's goals into what HAS to be done and what MAY be done, you end up feeling less pressured, hence my dividing into the ESSENTIALS and ELECTIVES.
I know common sense would probably say that the electives are more important but I'ma go by what's more realistic for me.

coming up next.... 'Olympic Fever!!!!!!'
See you on the other side.

xoxo
Miss Jay

Gabby Douglas

If this doesn't bring tears to your eyes then I don't know what will. I stumbled upon her olympic performance yesterday while trying to while away time and was both in shock and tears by what I saw. Hearing her story was even more awe inspiring. She is a testament that hard work pays off and dreams do come true. She is such an inspiration to the world at large.

Hair inspiration: Spotlight- Shingai Shoniwa

Lets take it back to Afrca shall we? For those who don't know Shingai, she is the lead singer of the UK band, the Noisettes. She is of Zimbabwean heritage and sure knows how to rock her fro.

looking stunning as usual

liking the curly hair....

....but loving the coily hair even more

looking absolutely FAB in mint

and she's got some crazy cool hair accessories to go with it.

I don't know how she did this style but it sure looks pretty CREATIVE!!

if that was creative then I don't know what to call this.

effortlessly chic

say it sista...lol

I really love the 'heart' style

that's what I call a decent looking fro

nuff said.

Shingai has got to be one of the most creative artists I know when it comes to rocking her fro. She has her signature look all right, but isn't afraid to try something new.
She's a really talented 'no-fronting' musician and I love the subtle ways she sometimes incorporates an african theme into her fashion.

Nwys that's all for now. Guess who's next?

xoxo
Miss Jay