The President, Fair Trade, and the Growth Initiative

Today the Prezzy prez, that is Obama, touched down today in Long Beach right outside my office. Folks were lined up all along the streets and in the tunnels. Our parking lot was full of cars that didn't belong to any of the employees that worked in the business park. Folks in the building were excited and giddy. From our office we had a birds-eye view through the windows. The new Air Force One is a very pretty plane. Very sleek and colorful. He landed, jumped on Marine One and was escorted by 3 other helicopters to Costa Mesa. Just a little excitement for the day.

Now back to me. Today is Day 4 of my personal Protective Style Challenge. On Saturday I braided my hair into a gazillion little box braids that I plan to keep up for 3 weeks to a month - repeat. Every night I will moisturize them with my rosewater mixture and baggy the ends. By following this method I hope to be better able to retain my ends and see increased length. At the end of this month after I rebraid I will show progress picks. My goal by the end of this year is full armpit length or just below. I'm being hindered by occasional scalp flair ups in the back area where I had alopecia, which leads me to my next topic.

I wanted to show you my recent haul. I love it when I get boxes in the mail. A couple of weeks ago I infused Castor oil with fresh rosemary and sage leaves. I wanted to see if I could get better effects with a fresh infusion vs. an essential oil mixture. So far so good. I'm loving the Castor oil mixture so I bought a few other treats to try. In a later post I will explain what each of these herbs are and their uses. I may even post a video.


From Mountain Rose Herbs I got the following organic fresh dried herbs: Lemon Balm, Chamomile Flowers, Peppermint Leaf, Rose hips, Nettle Leaf, Horsetail, Burdock Root, and Dandelion leaf. I plan to try some new oil infusions and make tea. I also ordered some fresh unrefined cocoa butter. Many of these items are Fair trade.


During this challenge I also plan to start hennaing my hair more often. One place I've used before and gotten great results is Mehandi. This time I'm not really going for color (my hair is darker than it has every been and I love it) but strength and conditioning. I bought two packs of the red label for African Hair. Mehandi has excellent henna that is finely sifted, smooth in texture and deposits great color. Also the prices are very reasonable. 200g cost me $14 with shipping.

Lastly, I picked up some yarn. I loved the Cycling Aran so much that I decided to make one for myself. My LYS Compatto Yarn Salon was having a sale and I got a spiffy deal on some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I plan to start working on this soon but it may have to wait until school is out.


Be sure to check me out on YouTube to see what else I'm doing.



Kamika Au natural

Hair it is

I do remember before telling you that this blog is about K&C and natural hair care. I've been slacking concering the hair part. I also distinctly remember saying that I would tell you all about my henna experiment. Well SHAZZAM! Hair it is.

In early March of this year I put a henna treatment on my hair. Henna has been proven to strengthen your hair, give it more shine and body and on occasion relax the curl of natural hair. All of this in addition to adding color deposits. I'm quite happy with my nappy hair but I am always looking for ways to become a red head.

On the recommendation of a nappy friend, I opted to go with all natural "body art quality" henna rather than synthetic store bought brands. I read up on it and bought samples from Hennaforhair.com. The samples are about 1g of henna so I bought 2g just in case I needed more for my hair texture. Once received I mixed the sample with red zinger tea, lemon juice, and paprika and let it sit for about 4 hours to oxidize (sorry I don't recall the exaxt measurements of the mix-ins as this was only a sample). I then took hair that I had harvested from my combs and brushes and covered completely in the mix. I placed the hair in a plastic sandwich bag and let the hair sit overnight on top of my stove. The next day I opened the bag and rinsed the hair completely. I then let it dry. Below are pics of the sample process.

Harvested Hair

Hair w/Henna in a baggie

Hennaed hair

After the sample went as planned, I ordered 200g of Jamila Henna from the summer of 2006 crop (I guess henna crops are like fine wine grape crops) from Mehndi Skin Art. The henna came in 100g boxes of which I decided to use only 1 for my just below the collar bone hair. Just as above I created a mixture but this time I used 1 Red Zinger tea (infused with 3 bags instead of 2 to make the red deeper), approx 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp paprika, and approx 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar.

I let the mixture cure overnight and I applied it in the am. I let it sit on my head for about 8 hours wrapped in saran wrap and a plastic cap. I then rinsed it completely out and no-poo'd (washed hair with conditioner instead of shampoo). Here are the results of the treatment.
My hair is shinier and has more depth. The color is really vibrant and rich but not bright because my hair is black and henna doesn't dye the hair but deposit color into the shaft. I have much less shedding now, my curl is slightly looser and my hair looks fuller. I plan to do this treament every 6-8 weeks for the health benefits and to deposit more color. I believe that overtime the color will become brighter.

If you are interested in learning more about henna, please visit the links above. Here's a great book (free online) with more info. If you would like to see my complete album, with step-by step instructions on how to apply henna, please feel free to drop me a note at kamikak at msn dot com.

Kamika