My Top 5 Hair Products

Hey everyone!
So I thought I'd show everyone my top 5 hair products that I use on a daily basis and give you an idea as to why they're so amazing. I love a photo opportunity as much as the next person so my beautiful friend Amy got some great shots for me to use. Be sure to check out her fashion blog too and stay tuned as I'll be featuring in the next couple of weeks!

Her blog is: www.xhijackmycloset.com

Anyway, on to my top 5!

NUMBER 5

This is one of my new additions to my hair collection however its rightly made its way onto my top 5! This is called the Brazil Keratin Straight Remedy Shampoo by Kinky Curly Straight. I bought this shampoo for £1 (I'm a bargain hunter), but you can also find it in your local black hair shop. I love this product as it re-installed the moisture back into my hair as I washed it and left it feeling as soft, thick and healthy as ever. This is definitely a product I'll purchase again!

NUMBER 4

Now at number 4 we have my Growth Oil Remedy by Kids Organic. This can be found in your local black hair shop and I bought it for £2.99. Originally when you buy this product it doesn't come with a spray top, you have to pour the oil out and apply it to your hair. This product contains all of the natural oils that your hair craves like castor oil, coconut oil, olive oil... the list goes on! For ease of application, I took a spray nozzle of another bottle and placed it inside this one. The oil is too thick by itself so I added water to make it thinner and always shake well before use. This is definitely a must buy if you're looking for a product to lock in your hair's natural moisture!

NUMBER 3

This is the Mega Long Extreme Reconstructor by Doo Gro. As I have with all of my other products, I found this again in my local black hair shop for £3.45. I've been on the hunt for a deep conditioner that ACTUALLY deep conditions because, with my hair, it was hard to find a product that was able to penetrate deep enough to give me enough moisture. This however does wonders to my hair and leaves it feeling soft and very easy to manage. I usually leave it on for 20mins under a steamer (however not essential) before washing out. If you haven't already found the perfect deep conditioner for you, definitely give this a try!

NUMBER 2

My number 2 is my edge control! You may have read in previous posts of mine that it's hard for me to find an edge control which is able to hold down my edges. Don't be deceived however, even though at number 2, Olive Oil Edge Control by ORS is not that product. When first applied to my hair it slicks it down very well however it is unable to hold it for longer than 5mins. This is why when used, I must use it alongside another product with a better hold. Apart from that I love everything else about the product from its ease of application right down to its smell. I bought this for £2.45 and is definitely something you should consider if you haven't already got yourself an edge control!

NUMBER 1

My number 1 bestest most superb product goes to Gorilla Snot by Moco de Gorilla. This edge control is amazing! I bought it for £6.45 on Amazon however you can shop around and find it a lot cheaper online. This gel will slick down your baby hairs regardless of the weather. I tried this gel on the hottest day of the year and STILL it wasn't to be faltered! The gel comes out like yellow snot but is very easy to apply and doesn't flake. For the best look I use bother my edge control and gorilla snot to get a more gelled down look. This is definitely something you should look into buying as it is such a wonderful product that you don't mind using and buying again!

And there you have it. There are my top 5 hair products that I use on a virtually daily basis and couldn't live without! I hope this has been helpful, if you have any other products you want me to try and review then feel free to contact me via askFM or email and I'll try my best to get it down ASAP. Thank you everyone x

Hair Journey - Judith Ajayi

Big chop! Big Chop! Big chop! 

Spending most of my free time on YouTube meant that was all I was hearing and seeing for quite some time. I had been contemplating cutting all my relaxed locs off (or rather straggly ends) and start anew. Mainly due to years worth of chemical damage and curiosity-coming from someone who had been chemically relaxing their hair since the age of 4, I Definitely wanted to know what lay under all that perm ! I'm guessing if you're reading this you're probably thinking of doing the same thing or you have already taken this bold step! So in order to help you maybe I can share a few things I've learnt along the way!

I have been natural for about four months now and I have learnt so much about not just being natural but having HEALTHY hair. Most of us struggle with keeping our hair healthy and staying away from the Perm has forced me to pay attention to my hair and what it needs. 

Firstly After your big chop, you will probably be thinking "where exactly do I fit on this texture chart?". Well I know that was what I was thinking, was I a 4C or a 4B? Personally I do believe the hair on your head just cannot be categorized into sections only because I feel there must be people (like me) who have multiple textures on their head. For example whilst I'm A 4C in the nape and around the front of my head, the middle of my head sports 4B curls. That puts me in neither category and to be honest only confused me further. Forget about the hair type you are, I feel as though this is a big distraction to embracing a healthy hair journey. Remember it's not about the way your hair curls but rather just how healthy it is! 

One thing you will notice right after your Big Chop is how dry your hair gets ! If you're thinking how dry could it possibly get, I am warning you keep your coconut oil at bay because the dryness is out of this world! Think about incorporating loads of moisture into your routine, for example I try and co wash (washing your hair with conditioner) once a week as well as an intense deep conditioning session after my weekly washday. This really keeps your hair soft and minimizes the shedding! 

Although be warned! Our hair loves a  balance of both protein and moisture, so sometimes too much co washing could cause issues as well as deep conditioning too often too. Have patience. Getting into a routine will take time and as Long as you pay attention to your hair you'll pick things up super quick ! 

Next on your list may be what products you may want to include in your routine. Avoid being that natural hair girl that becomes a junkie and runs out buying every product. Some products work for some textures and others don't. It's all about trial and error!

Here are my staple products that I personally use of a daily basis: 

Cantu (Sulfur Free) Shampoo

Cantu Cream Conditioner

Cantu Deep Conditioning Hair Lotion

Jamaican Black Castor Oil

Coconut Oil

Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Conditioner 

Virgin Olive Oil 

I'm still developing a routine and sometimes new things may be added whilst other things may be taken out. 

Importantly, being on this journey to having healthy hair meant me taking my vitamins, supplements and drinking my daily dose of water. Having a healthy body means putting things in that promotes a great output, same goes for our hair. Just drinking your recommended allowance of water mean flushing those toxins out from your body and keeps your hair hydrates from the inside out, Promoting strong and healthy hair!

This may be a short blog post but only being natural for a short amount of time I do admit there is still so much I have to learn and take on board but like I mentioned it's all a learning process. Hopefully upwards from here on out!

Happy healthy hair!

 Youtube Channel: Kike AJ

Self Love vs Self Loath

The majority of us are thankful enough to have grown up in loving homes. From a young age everyone from your parents, teachers and even to family friends were gushing over us, telling us how 'cute' and 'pretty' we were. This enabled us to transform these compliments into our own personal notions of self love. There wasn't anyone around to dispute this fact so you were able to look in the mirror and love everything that you saw and didn't have a care in the world. Then the transition from childhood to adolescence began. People wouldn't heistate to point out every little flaw that you had. The media portrayed the image that if you weren't skinny and white, you weren't beautiful. This aided the creation of the line that every black girl has heard in their life, 'you're pretty for a black girl'. Although unaware, black people, girls especially, were fed with the worlds ideal perception of beauty of which they didn't match the criteria.

This unfortunately caused many girls to alter their image in order to become society's norm. Whether this meant constant straightening of their hair to bleaching their skin, many did whatever they could in an attempt to fit in. It is time for young black girls to embrace their natural beauty. Love your dark skin and the coily texture of your hair because that is what makes us unique. Love yourself before you try and look to the love of others because sometimes it won't always be there. It's time for us to celebrate our natural melanin and uphold the culture that makes us unique. 

Divinus Ater - Very First Milestone!

Bonjour tout le monde!

I'm over the moon to say that Divinus Ater has finally reached 5000 views!

*tremendously loud round of applause*

After being created mid April, just over three months ago, I'm so proud to see just how far Divinus Ater has come. It's the support from new readers as well as loyal frequenters who have made this achievement possible so really the round of applause is for you!

Here are some new things you can look forward to in the very near future on Divinus Ater:

• YouTube Channel? Various hair tips, reviews and protective hairstyle tutorials as well as whatever else may rock your boat

• T-Shirts! I'm tooooooo excited to finally see the logo that I slaved over (yes I made the logo myself) rolled out on t-shirts. Stay tuned as there will be more information on how you can be in with the chance of getting one!

• Photoshoot (hoorah!) I'm looking to organise a photoshoot with my fellow naturalistas very soon to promote Divinus Ater so again, stay tuned to hear about more information on how you can get involved with that, all naturalistas are welcome!

Again that's a thank you to everyone who's helped in Divinus Ater's success and here's to much more!

Hair Journey - Mother of Curls

MOTHER OF CURLS: MY NATURAL HAIR JOURNEY

Hi, my name is Tyra Chuck, and just about all of my life, I have been told at some point or another, that I have 'good hair.' To the black community this typically meant that you had 'nice hair for a black girl.' Those two phrases went hand in hand. I mean, they were right wasn't they? I fit all the characteristics...the qualifying traits. I was mixed (Jamaican & Chinese) & had long hair. Growing up people, especially in school, made it seem preposterous, impossible even that there was no way you could be black, have long healthy hair & not have a relaxer! Wrong!

My 'Pre Relaxer Childhood'

Up until the age of 12, I lived a relaxer free childhood. My hair was thick, unruly & big... I’m talking Dianna Ross/ Mel B Scary Spice big. From looking at pictures, I observed my hair started off quite curly, but got thicker and more afro textured as I got older.
Like younger naturals, I dreaded wash day and my mum combing out my hair. I normally had to have my hair in plaits or cornrows, just to keep it neat and avoid my mum having to redo it so frequently. Back then there wasn't a lot of natural hair products that we have today, so rocking my hair in my 'natural state' out, wasn't even an option.
My mum was a working mum, so after some years she didn't have time nor effort to do my hair. That's when she gave me the choice to either get my hair pressed or relax it... 


My Relaxed Days

I chose relaxer. At the age of 12, I chose relaxer. Of course I didn't have the knowledge of what it did, but at the time it sounded promising. I was sick and tired of braids.
Straight hair all the time &no more painful wash days. Who wouldn't say yes! My mum's friend & hairdresser, who had been doing her hair and occasionally mine too, since my mum was pregnant with me, gave me my very first relaxer.

She used two boxes of no-lye texturiser from what I could remember. Yup, that's how much hair I had! My first relaxer experience was good, if I'm going to be honest. Apart from the almost tingling/burning sensation on my scalp and long hours in the chair, it was fine. She washed it, deep conditioned it, blow-dried it, trimmed it, and straightened it, the whole works! The change took some getting used to, but I got a lot of compliments. I got my hair relaxed every 2+ months up until the age of around 16. 

At first, I didn't have much knowledge on maintaining and caring for my relaxed hair-other than tying it at night and moisturising my ends. Within that same year, I thankfully discovered YouTube. People were actually posting videos on how they took care & styled their hair. It wasn't until I discovered Ulovemegz  (a beautifully relaxed & healthy youtuber) that I really started taking care of my relaxed hair. She was literally my relaxed hair goals.

From her I learnt about growing relaxed hair, deep conditioning it, stretching your relaxers and so much more. I could then maintain my hair easier in-between touch ups & experiment with different hairstyles. At one point I even had a full fringe.
The Good, Bad & The Ugly- Transitioning

One thing I didn't like about my relaxed hair, was the regrowth. It felt uncomfortable. It looked weird, and a part of me would always wonder how the little curls at the root, would look on my whole head.

Having relaxed hair, I discovered how fast my hair actually grew. And let me tell you... it was quick. There was a few other downsides too:
1. New Growth
2. The expense
3. The whole relaxer process/upkeep
4. How my hair looked wet

5. Breakage (which didn't occur so much until the end)

My last relaxer was around July 2013 (Prom). After that I was to say enough is enough, and call it quits with my bra strapped relaxed hair. That same year, in September I rocked a u-part wig while transitioning (see pic on right).

I found out what 'transitioning' was (growing out your relaxer) from my research on stretching out your relaxer, on YouTube. I looked at other people's 'Hair Journey' & 'Transitioning from Relaxed to Natural' videos for tips, advice, motivation and inspiration.


Back to Basics- 'My Natural Hair'

Going back natural was not easy. It was frustrating, unexpected and surprising all at the same time. The hard part was finding a style to which I used minimal heat. At first I tried a lot of braid outs and twist outs on my transitioning hair, but I just didn't feel comfortable. I hated having to deal with the two battling textures. Instead, I decided to opt for a easier protective style that required less maintenance- weave, wigs & box braids. I did this until I got to a comfortable length to do a 'mini big chop' around Feb/March 2014.

YouTube in general, but mostly the above YouTubers have been really helpful while on both my transitioning & natural hair journey now. Check them out!

Braids Braids Braids

Bonjour tout le monde!

I've had my hair out doing a variety of hairstyles on my natural hair for about two months now so I thought it was about time that I did a protective hairstyle.

Braids is always my number one go to hairstyle as many of you may know. I'm quite adventurous with my colours in my hair however I've never had any other colour in my hair other than black so I thought this is my chance! I do my hair myself as I've always thought to myself 'if someone else is able to do my hair, why can't I do it myself?'

So I've been doing it myself for a g e s now. It takes me a bit longer than it would someone else doing it for me, around 6 to 7 hours, but to me its worth it. (I'm interested in starting up a YouTube channel so if you guys want me to do a tutorial, feel free to drop me an email)

A n y w a y, long story short I have purple braids now! I don't know whether I'm loving them yet but I'll still rock them this summer! Here are my braids:

This is the only decent picture I have of my braids but stay updated as I'm sure there will be many more to come!

Washing Routine

Washing is the most stressful part for me having 4C hair. My hair shrinks to about 40% of its entire length meaning I'm unable to do 'wash and go' hairstyles like many other hair types. It used to take me two whole days to wash my hair and return it to its entirety (madness I know) but now I'm slowly learning how to stretch out my hair more and more.

Typically I either use the Ghana hair threading method (blog post tutorial on this soon to come) or I just plait my hair into plaits or twists. I've found that using DoGro's Leave in Conditioner leaves my hair soft and easy to manage unlike many other brands which dry out my hair immensely. I read on another natural hair blog that the best method for hair retention is to ditch the comb! Sounds like a ludicrous idea but I did it! I used my fingers to seperate the vast majority of the knots and tangles making it a lot easier to manage. The second piece of advice I read was to use an old t-shirt to dry your hair instead of a towel. Towels are too abrasive and end up ripping out your hair instead of drying it. These two methods both helped me to produce  knot-free hair. 

My shrinkage is immense I know! It's very hard to return my hair back to its normal length after having washed my hair so I usually just plait my hair into big plaits or twists to stretch it back out. 

And there you have it! Feel free to send me any emails or ask questions on AskFM, promise to answer all! 

Also what do you think of the new logo, pretty cool huh? I actually designed it on photoshop myself, it's crazy what you can making after only having watch a 40min tutorial on YouTube! Divinus Ater now having a logo means the future prospects have opened up for us to stay posted!