Fitness Friday: Brush your teeth!

Hahahahaha this is so true!!! This used to be me I would be like I need to brush my teeth but if I do I can’t eat that piece of chocolate cake before bedtime, then I would eat the cake and minutes later remember the ice cream in the fridge hahaha it was a never ending cycle and I literally had to force myself to brush my teeth and go to bed without eating any extras! These days I actually brush so that I am not tempted to eat anything else before I go to bed and risk piling up the calories and that is progress!!!

Mixtress!

How many of you read that title wrong? I did several times hahaha! Anyway it had been a very loooooooooong minute since I made any homemade deep conditioning concoctions so I figured it was time for one. This was a spur of the moment decision and all I had in the kitchen that could go into my hair were eggs and one banana and that is what I used; one egg for protein, the banana for moisture. I blended the mixture for a smoother consistency, it turned out a bit runny and as I was out of bananas I used up what was left of one of my almost finished store bought deep conditioners to thicken it up, added a few drops of olive and eucalyptus oils and mixed it all up together. I transferred the mixture into an applicator bottle for an easier application; I am really loving my use of applicator bottles for my homemade mixes. Application done I wrapped some cling film/wrap around my hair and then tied a scarf over it and left it on for about 45 minutes.

While my hair was deep conditioning I did 20 squats and made an egg mask from leftover egg in the shell that I had left for this specific purpose. About fifteen minutes into deep conditioning I applied the egg white to my face and left it on for about 30 minutes until it was nice and tight and then proceeded to rinse my face. Face rinsed it was time to rinse off the eggybanana concoction; to avoid the egg cooking in my hair I did the first rinse with cold water and when fully rinsed out I shampooed, rinsed, detangled with conditioner and then t-shirt dried till damp. I applied my leave ins, moisturized, sealed left it to air dry completely and was done. 

Frugal Friday!

These are ink refill bottles for a printer...

Red and blue ink

They are also my oil applicator bottles:)

Black has Castor oil, Blue has Amla oil and Yellow has Olive oil

This is a repost from my archives see the original article published March 2013 here

Henna Wash Day!

I had a henna wash day with a twist when it came to application. I mixed my henna with cold black tea and a teaspoon of white vinegar to aid in dye release then transferred the contents into my applicator bottle and let it sit overnight for the dye to release. Yes you read right I used an applicator bottle to apply my henna and I am beating myself up for not having done it sooner. This was the least messy henna application I have ever had! Win! If you have ever had body art henna applied then you know the manufactured henna paste comes in a tube with a nozzle like tip for application and the homemade mixes are usually transferred into a cone usually plastic or some type of hard paper cone. I used this same theory for my henna hair application and it worked like a charm.

I snipped off the narrow tip to make a wider tip since my henna mix was slightly thick

Anyway application done I let the henna sit for two hours one of which I used to work out and then proceeded to rinse, I love working out while deep conditioning the body heat really does help the conditioner do it’s magic. I rinsed the henna off for what seemed like eons then shampooed twice to get rid of any henna residue left over. As much as henna strengthens my hair it also leaves it dry and feeling like straw, so I applied my ORS replenishing conditioner to bring back the softness and let it sit for about five minutes under a shower cap as I got down on my knees to scrub the bathroom; henna leaves my bathroom looking like a crime scene I tell ya! Bathroom clean I proceeded to rinse off the conditioner which also acted as a detangling conditioner. Towel tried for a few minutes until damp then blow dried on cool, oiled scalp with my castor oil mix, moisturized, sealed and I was done. 

Extra! Extra!

Read all about it!

The title of this post got me singing along to Immature! I was head over heels in love with boy bands as a teenager they don’t make them like they used to anymore. Anyway every now and then I come across hair related articles in the news that catch my attention so I will be sharing those with you as I find them. Happy reading!

Long, black and lucrative: Chinese county exports human hair to Africa

(AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE)

Long, black and lucrative: sacks bulging with human hair spill onto the streets of a rural county whose farmers have helped make China the world’s biggest exporter of products made from the material. As dawn broke over the morning market in Taihe, vendors bringing hairy wares from across China haggled with dozens of buyers, and tempers frayed. “We have to bargain for hair,” said buyer Liu Yanwen, 35, who sported a buzzcut and arrived at the market at 5.30 am in search of deals. “We have a factory where we’ll turn it into products for export overseas,” he added, clutching a head’s worth of straight, thick black locks. Click here to readmore….

In Africa, hair care becomes a multi-billion dollar industry

(REUTERS) - With all the skill of a master weaver at a loom, Esther Ogble stands under a parasol in the sprawling Wuse market in Nigeria's capital and spins synthetic fibre into women's hair.

Nearby, three customers - one in a hijab - wait for a turn to spend several hours and $40 (£23.7) to have their hair done, a hefty sum in a country where many live on less than $2 a day. Click here to read more………

And just because I can here is Immature with extra extra!!!

A Nostalgic Reader...

I read a lot. A whole lot. My reading has gone down slightly over the years as the pressures of adult life take its toll on me but I still manage to read whenever I can. There was a time I went everywhere with a book in my bag to read on the train or bus, in waiting rooms, during my lunch break, at the park anywhere. Basically if I had some free time I read to keep myself busy. Going by the fact that I was never an outdoorsy child I think I was born with a love for reading I was that child who would rather stay indoors and read a good storybook than go out and jump rope. I read books by African writers, I read Ladybird books Cinderella, The Princess and the Pea etc. I was big on comics as a pre teen name any TinTin comic and I have probably read it, Archie and Sabrina, Asterix and Obelisk I read them all.

 

image source

I grew up in the beautiful multicultural seaside city of Mombasa and my childhood besties mother had this collection of Russian children’s story books translated into English boy oh boy I practically lived in their house it’s a good thing we were next door neighbours I went to Russia and back through those books thank you Aunty Jen! I spent hours at the national library and there was this book exchange guy right outside it where you could exchange two old books for a brand new one I was one of his best customers. British children’s writer Enid Blyton she of the “Famous Five” series among others is one of my favourite authors of all time, Barbara Kimenye she of the “Moses” series if you grew up in East Africa is another all time favourite. I had this encyclopedia that I read cover to cover several times over! I read the kids pull out in the Sunday papers religiously.

image source Famous Five                     image source Moses

I was that child that would read a book under the covers with a torch (flashlight) way past my bedtime so as not to get into trouble. I was that teenager that could wake up at 5am on weekends to finish a Nancy Drew book but found it next to impossible to wake up at 6.30am to get ready for school during the week. I was introduced to books by esteemed African writers like Chinua Achebe in high school and this opened my eyes to the cultures of those writers I “lived” in a Nigerian Igbo village through thanks to “The Concubine” by Elechi Amadi.  I was that young adult who would get off the tube (subway) a stop early just to hang out at the O2 Centre Waterstones bookshop and read, read and read some more.  The O2 Centre Finchley Rd being a stop away from home was also my friends and I entertainment center so each time we had a movie or dinner date I would get there an hour early and browse the rows and rows of books at Waterstones thank God for the seating areas they provided. I used to work on Oxford St, London for many years and one of my alternative bus stops was right outside a…yep you guessed it…book store I can’t count the number of buses I missed because I decided to pop in for just five minutes and ended up spending almost an hour. I was the same girl that missed her tube and bus stop several times because she was reading a book.

 

Nancy Drew image source                                The concubine image source

I had Maya Angelou’s entire autobiography collection that got lost in storage and then got replaced by my dear dear friend words cannot express how grateful I am to her for replacing this collection. I never even asked I just happened to mention that I had lost my collection and she was like oh I will send you a new set I thought she was joking only to receive a package with my replaced collection may God bless her mightily!  Speaking of Maya I learned how to make corn bread thanks to her recipe book “Hallelujah: The Welcome Table”.

 

image source

I am that girl who browses through book stores at airports instead of perfume counters. I was that girl who while working as an international development worker in a village community somewhere in Sierra Leone, with no entertainment spots did nothing but read in her spare time. Yes that is me the reader. I read anything and everything I don’t discriminate if it’s interesting you will be sure to find it in my hands biographies, autobiographies, political writings, business and financial stuff, romance novels, thrillers, historical stuff name it I will read it.  I still prefer physical paperback or hardcover books to e-readers and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. I have this thing that I do with books that I buy I always write my name, the date and city in which I bought it on the first page. I had a good collection of books that got lost while moving and some damaged in storage it pains me to this day. One day I will rebuild my entire collection I have started already. This is me the reader always have always will.

 

My life in books: these are just some of the books that have passed through my hands, eyes and stayed on my mind from childhood  up until now...all images are from Amazon

Wow writing this post brought back so many beautiful memories, memories that I will cherish forever. Have a lovely day/night/morning wherever you are whatever you are doing ladies and remember to pick up a book today and come read with me. XOXO