Glam Natural Life

The year 2012 was good to me. I fell in love with myself again. I embraced my naturalness and my womanhood. I learned a lot about myself and strived harder for improvement. I retained the few friends I have and I love and appreciate them dearly. I honestly believe I am a better person than I was in 2011.  This year I fell in love with someone who is the most supportive, motivating and loving person I could have. Having this great support system have made my improvements much greater. In Sept 2012, I created the Glam Natural Life blog where I have the platform to share my experiences as it relates to natural hair care, skin care and natural living. I am grateful for all those who have visited and read my blog. It has grown faster than I expected and while I am proud of myself, I can't take all the credit. You the readers have helped it to grow by reading and commenting and inspiring me to more effort into it. For that, I thank you.  It has been a good year an...

So I decided to give my hair some needed loving. I wanted to deep condition my hair but did not want to go out and buy a deep conditioner. So what do you do? You MAKE your own. Lol! I haven't washed my hair in 2 weeks and have been using Gels and products with mineral oil so I needed a good hair and scalp cleaning. I shampooed with Shea Moisture Smooth and Repair shampoo and got my scalp clean and ready for conditioning. I poured a generous amount of Tresseme Naturals Conditioner in a bowl. Then I added a generous amount of honey , about 2 tablespoon of Jamaican Black Castor oil and 2 drops of Tea Tree oil. I mixed it all up and applied it to my hair in sections and made sure the entire shaft was coated. Massaging the mixture into my scalp felt so good. The tingling sensation from the Tea Tree Oil left my scalp feeling heavenly. I put a cap on and took a nap for an hour. When I rinsed my hair, it felt so soft. The honey gave the conditioner a moisturizing boost. I...

It's been a sad couple of days since the senseless killing of those kids and teachers in Newtown Connecticut. Just want to remind you to have them and their families in your prayers - whatever your religion might be.  Those children could have been doctors, lawyers and even president of the United States and great husbands, wives and parents. They will not be seeing those days. We try to make sense of what happened but impossible to think why someone would do such a thing to innocent children. Can you imagine sending your kids to school only to never to see them again? I know that nobody want to think about that. Go home and hug your babies. This world is crazy!

Here are a few natural hair and skin care remedies I love to use! Enjoy! http://www.glamnaturallife.com/p/kitchen-korner.html

Today a group of friends and I were discussing experiences while dating men; now that I am natural. I figured I would share it with you guys. It would be nice if I could say that it is uncommon for a guy to dismiss, cease communication or not go on a second date with a girl because she has natural (Nappy) hair. The hair she was born with – that is. But I cannot. It is more common than people think. I am fortunate to now be with a man who is very accepting of who I am and my ‘nappiness’ and encourages my natural journey. However the road there was a very bumpy one. This is a very REAL issue within the black community. We are still not at the point of accepting our ‘blackness’ and loving black women like they are. We are so far away from that point that it is very hard to picture it.  So here is the story: One day out of curiosity I asked a guy I went out with if he could tell me why we never went on a second date and I expressed that he can be very candid. He said ‘ok...

Tackling Eczema Naturally Eczema is not a rare skin disorder. Many of us suffer from it. Some experience mild eczema that look like very dry skin that a few applications of Cortizone 10 can fix. Then you have those that experience scaly skin with big flakes, patches, blisters and skin so dry it itches/burns. I am one of those people. Having to deal with eczema can be a hassle. I am always trying to hide the rashes with more covering clothing and makeup to hide the patches on my face (which eventually makes it worse). The most annoying thing, is when you have to explain to colleagues and coworkers that its not contagious (even though some patches are round like Ring Worm). Doctors prescribe topical steroids but they don't always work or work for a while then you get another prescription. Name it I have been prescribed it. All this by the way is not free. Lol! I decided to go on Natural Eczema Treatment experiment. I mean, what can I lose? Haven't I tried everyth...

Saw this cool chart and thought I would share it with you lovelies! Hope you like! NaturallyCurly

It's often said that to go natural is too expensive. You have to buy this product and  that product and so on and so on. But is it really expensive to rock the hair your born with? Do you REALLY need all those products? Lets talk about this! It's sad to say that going natural have only been 'cool' for the last few years. But it is true. When we were little girls the vast amount of information available to us now was not there then. Even if you don't admit it, we bought hair products that had a pretty permed hair girl on the front or stuff you saw your mom or sister used. NONE of us looked at the ingredients. And why would we? We did not understand anything but what the marketers said it will or won't do for our hair.   We trusted the hair dressers - who are mostly not highly educated - with the hair chemicals and products more than ourselves - who actually hold degrees. Whatever they said was law. But most of us who had perms have experienced h...

While I love and appreciate my hair’s vibe in it shrunken state, I also like to play with my ‘real’ length. If you are a woman with natural curly/kinky hair, then you know shrinkage is a part of life. However we can combat shrinkage in many ways (twist-outs, braid-outs, blow-outs, etc). My go to combat method is braid outs. I love the fact that as the days go on the style looks bigger and better. I braid my hair at night because if I go to bed. Without doing something I wake up with a shrunken fro. If I am going for that look then its fine. The picture on the left is the first day of the braid-out and the second picture is the second day. I prefer the second day because it looked fuller and shows more length. My Braid-Out Routine How I did it: After hair is cleaned I section my hair (2 in the front, one in the middle, and 2 to the back). I make sure to part the front of my hair how I the hair to fall. To each section I spray my spritz. See My Winter Hair Care post f...

Darker Than Brown: Washing Natural Hair In Sections

The winter is HERE!  I hate the winter months. Sorry, I am Jamaican. Lol! It needs to be over 70 degrees everyday for me to love the weather. But hey you can’t change it so you ADAPT! The winter weather can be very mean and vicious to your hair; whether you’re natural, relaxed or texturized. The air is dry and for most of us it makes your hair dry. The scarves and hats that we HAVE TO WEAR so as to not get sick, can damage our hair. They can pull on our strands and cause friction. So we have to find ways to work around them by wearing our hair up if we can and by lining the hats with satin or just wearing a satin scarf under the hat. In these coming months, the weather will get worse/colder, so now is the perfect time to change my current regimen and the styles I normally wear. Moisture has to be on the DOUBLE this winter. Below is what my winter regimen will be. (I might alter it depending on how my hair response when it gets much colder) Disclaimer: I am by no mean...

Hey Loves! A few days ago I was very down on myself and needed some encouragement. My boyfriend sent me the following words to uplift my spirits and it did.  I feel like it will help some one too so please read below. Me: God can I ask you a question? God: Sure Me: Promise u won't get mad God: I promise Me: Why did u let so much stuff happen to me today? God: What do u mean? Me: Well, I woke up late, God: Yes Me: My car took forever to start, God: Okay Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait, God:Huummmm... Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call..... God: All right Me: And to top it all off, when I got home ~I just wanted to soak my feet in my new foot massage & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did you do that? God: Let me see, the Death Angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that. Me...

7 Myths About Black Women & Their Natural Black Hair. There a few things that are easily said or thought of regarding black women and their natural black hair. I am here to detest 7 of them. So here we go.... 1. Natura l hair is "hard to manage". This is not true. The problem is that we weren't raised to care for our natural hair and detangling and combing our natural hair with 'ease' was only a dream. This is because we didn't know exactly how to care for natural black hair. I am sure most of us remember sitting and breaking one comb after another as our Moms or sister(s) try to comb our natural hair. We had never heard of a natural hair regimen .

Hair Regimen Hey Loves! Lets talk hair. Having a good hair regimen and "sticking to it" is very important for the health of your hair. Regardless if your hair is natural or chemically treated; every one needs one. It should be noted that everybody's hair is different and so what might work for one person might not work for the other in the same way. With that said, I encourage you to try different techniques and products. This is my regimen (what Shelly does) so it might work for you or not. Ok ok ok let's get to it. lol! There is 4 parts to my regimen: Prepoo-Cleanse - Condition-Moisturize-Style Prepoo: I mix coconut oil, Ojon oil, honey, few drops of tea tree oil in a small bowl or cup and place in microwave for 10 - 15 seconds. Divide hair into 4 sections and apply  mixture to each section root to tip ensuring ever strand is getting some of this goodness. Lol! Massage for a few minutes and move on to the next section. Put on plastic cap and ...

My Natural Hair Story! Shelly Ann Cameron   Why did I go natural? I had been getting my hair relaxed/permed since I was 8yrs old. As long as I can remember, I have never had bouncing hair that I was madly in love with without the aid of weaves/extensions. My naked permed hair was so damaged you could see right through it and 'limp' was the best word to describe it. I did what I was told with no great results. Washed every two weeks, deep condition, wrap at night and made sure to not touch up frequently. However 'limp' was still the nickname until I got a good Remi installation. Then I was the Bomb.com (if u know what I mean. lol!) My best friend went natural 2 yrs before I did. I still remember her trying to persuade me to chop my 'limpness' off and go natural. I gave every excuse you can think of as to why I cant do it: "my hair not soft like yours so it wont be able to comb", "natural hair is not for me" ...