Divinus Ater Turns 1 - One Week Today!

Bonjour tout le monde!
I know that this is a late post but I promise I'll make it quick. 

Oh how time flies! I can't believe that it's was almost a year ago that I started up my natural black hair blog Divinus Ater! In that time it's come such a long way with over 25,000+ views and many loyal naturalistas on their own hair journeys with me. I've come so far and still have so much further to go and I am extremely thankful to all of my naturalistas all over the globe who read my blog, I do notice you all! 

Next week Thursday I'll be announcing some exciting things so make sure you stay tuned so you don't miss out! Be sure to subscribe to email alerts to get new posts delivered straight to your inbox and follow @divinusater on Instagram to not miss out!

Can't wait until next Thursday and hopefully neither can you!

Au revoir x

My Growth Challenge/#12WeekMourChallenge

Bonjour tout le monde!
So I've decided that I'm going to do a growth challenge! I'm doing this not only to grow my hair back to the length it used to be (If I take care and retain length that should be by the end of this year/beginning of next year), but to also show to everyone that your hair DOES grow and you can achieve growth if you put your mind to it! So I'll start by, in this post, showing you the current length of my hair and then each month I'll take a picture to enable you to see any growth or progress that's been made!

If you currently feel unsatisfied with your current hair length or have cut your hair like me because of chemical or heat damage then I'd strongly urge you to take up this challenge with me! I know everyone has busy day-to-day routines so I'll be sure to throw in a few quick tips that you can use when you're on the go! I'm going to be doing my growth challenge until the end of this year so lets see how much progress we can make!

There are some amazing, all natural cremes by the name of MourMour Cremes that I absolutely love. My current favourite is the MourMour Mint as I find that it really moisturises by hair and encourages hair growth. The company MourMour are holding a #12WeekMourChallenge whereby you use their products over a twelve week period and see the hair growth you have. So far the results I've seen have been incredible! This challenge begins at the end of April after their re-launch so be sure to stay tuned for that as I'll be joining in with that and grab some products for yourself!

I have an amazing hair length t-shirt from MourMour which I'll be using at present to measure my hair length with.

I hope some of my fellow naturalistas join me with this challenge!
If you are joining but are unsure on where to start or need some words of encouragement or advice, please send me a message either by filling out the contact form to the right of the web page or dropping me an email at:

inquiries.divinusater@yahoo.co.uk

Au revoir x

Hair Journey - Malika

Hey guys! First of all, unlike all of the hair features so far on this blog, my hair is actually relaxed. However, I am still on a healthy hair journey and a journey to grow my hair. I currently relax my hair every 4 months which works out as three times a year. My hair journey actually only really started this January, after I had taken my hair out of weave after two months. The detangling process was so bad as my hair was extremely knotted, but my mum helped me with it and we tackled it. We did a black seed hot oil treatment on my hair after washing it which also really revived the healthiness of my hair. It was then that I realized that my hair was actually healthy and that I had retained length, thus motivating me to start my journey. My sister started her own hair journey several years ago and although she always advised me on how to take care of my hair, I cared more about how it appeared than its health. Her hair is now past BSL (bra-strap length) and she is still going on! Apart from the time that I had weave, I protective style my hair in buns, braids or twists. I rarely ever use heat on my hair and after washing I always air dry my hair.

This is post 4 months relaxer, and I got a protein treatment at the salon following a trim and straighten. My hair has grown rather remarkably since then and is very healthy.

- Protective styling space buns.

- Bantu twist out 

- Protective styling weave 

- Protective styling braids

Currently this is what my hair regimen entails:

- Moisturize and seal daily using the LOC method. I wrap a silk scarf around my hair before sleeping to make sure that all the moisture in my hair is sealed, and I’d recommend this to everyone. Moisture is key for black Afro-Caribbean hair and is simply the base to most hair regimens.

- I co-wash my hair every other Sunday (at the moment I’m using Aussie’s 3 minute miracle), followed by a protein treatment and a deep condition.

- Protein treatments (I use Aphogee 2 minute reconstructor) are essential as our hair is made up of mainly keratin. On the Sundays that I don’t co-wash, I shampoo with a sulfate-free shampoo and do a black tea rinse which is also followed by a deep-condition. I find deep conditioning my hair most effective and moisturizing when I use heat, so I deffo recommend this to those who struggle with dryer hair. Another tip to make a deep conditioner effective/moisturizing is to add a humectant/oil to it. I use honey or coconut oil, but you can also use jojoba oil, glycerin oil etc.

- Once a month I shampoo with a clarifying shampoo which gets rid of product build up without stripping the hair of essential oils and moisture. This is definitely key as we tend to underestimate how much product our scalp soaks up in even just one week, which can block the scalp and not allow for moisture to penetrate through.

Hair products: left to right -> Tresemmé deep cleansing shampoo. (I use this to clarify). Underneath it - Mega Growth Daily Leave-in Strengthener (I use to this to moisturise). Aussie Repair Miracle Shampoo (moisturising shampoo, I also use Creme of Nature Argan Oil Sulfate Free Shampoo). Cantu Shea Butter thermal shield heat protectant. Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer (I use this to moisturise and add protein). ORS Olive Oil Repleneshing Conditioner (I use this to deep condition. It works wonders!). Aphogee 2 Min Reconstructor (I use this do my protein treatments). 

Front row: Creme of Nature Argan Oil Perfect Edges (I use this to lay my edges. Works quite well, especially on my relaxed hair). Coconut oil - (I use this after moisturising as a sealant. I also use JBCO and almond oil). Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Shine Deep Treatment (I use this as to co-wash and also sometimes prior to deep conditioning). 

Last month, I tried the inversion method for the very first time which I found very effective as I saw progress in my length. For those of you who don’t know what the inversion method is, here is  a really good link explaining it all:

https://hairdiary.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/the-inversion-method-for-hair-grow-an-inch-of-hair-in-7-days/

When I do use heat, which is fairly rare, I use a thermal shield / heat protectant before hand.

So that is pretty much the basics of my hair care regimen. So far, everything seems to be working pretty well. If anyone has any questions please send them through to Kia and I’ll be pleased to reply.

Thanks guys, take care!

Black Hair Magazine - My Appearance!

Bonjour tout le monde!
I wanted to start by telling you all a little story. So I was going to my local Tesco's store with my brother to pick up some shopping and decided to have a little browse around the magazine aisle. I've always loved Black Hair and Beauty magazines so I decided to give that a little glance. If you'll all remember from one of my previous posts, I took part in the Creme de la Bride photoshoot. On the front of the Black Hair magazine was one of the beautiful ladies who were at the shoot on the same day as I was. I decided to give the magazine a little flick through and look at the different hairstyle inspirations. I stumbled across the bridal looks section and happened to see my face on there! Yes, I made it into a magazine! My mouth dropped as I couldn't believe that it was me but there I am. I'm in the March/April 2016 issue of Black Hair for anyone who decides to flick through and find me themselves. Here's a few pictures of me:

I had such an amazing time at the shoot thanks to Dionne Smith and can't wait to have an opportunity like that again! Hopefully that was the first of many shoots for me to come. This was just a little post as I'm so happy to see myself in a black magazine, what an amazing achievement! 

If you'd like to see more pictures, check out both of my Instagrams:

@ikeeyah

@DivinusAter

Otherwise, until the next time.

Au revoir x

London Living No Lye Tour - I'm Attending!

Bonjour tout le monde!
Just a quick one from me but I'm excited to say that I'm going to be attending the London Living No Lye Tour on the 17th April! For those of you who don't know, this event is held by Team Natural who are extremely popular with our American naturalistas. I've been following them for some time now on Instagram always yearning to go to one of their events however they've always been based in America. Now I'm overjoyed that they're coming to London, Canary Wharf! If you're like me, can't contain your excitement and want to go too then click here to purchase your own tickets. 

General admission (early bird) is on the 3rd April and VIP admission (only 50 places mind you) is on the 17th April. I've gotten myself a VIP ticket so if there are any of my fellow London naturalistas going on the same day, let me know!

Hope to see some of you guys there!

Au revoir x

Caring for Heat Damaged Hair

Bonjour tout le monde!

I know is been over two weeks since my last post but I've had mock exam week so please forgive me. I thought in this post if give an insight into caring for heat damaged hair. Heat damage seems to be a taboo in the natural hair community as no-one really wants to talk about it. All you hear with regards to heat is 'make sure you only use heat occasionally on your hair' and that's about it. When in reality, the vast majority of the naturalistas have heat damage, some very obvious to see, however try to hide it from their fellow naturalistas. Now near enough everyone has experienced some kind of damage to their hair and isn't something to be ashamed of. However many of our natural hair idols try to style out their damage by altering what they deem to be their hair type. So subtlety they've gone from telling you that their hair type was 4C to it now being 4A. This is because with heat damage, they are unable to recover the tight curl pattern that they once had giving them looser, straighter curls causing them to instead hide their damage by changing what they claim to be their hair type. 

I think that by being a natural hair blogger, you should convey each and every trouble you've faced with your hair and be completely open with your fellow naturalistas. As some of you will know from a few of my prior posts, I do have heat damage. I cut my hair rather short to get rid of about 80% of the damage however some parts, namely the front of my hair, has seen more damage than others. It's been an interesting transition having to learn how to care for my hair when it consists of two different textures. Overall my hair is a lot drier and requires a lot more moisture than before. Also the straighter parts of my hair are a lot weaker than the normal texture of my hair as I'm sure you can imagine. So below I'm going to give you my new hair regime on how I now take care of my hair:

First of all, I've had to incorporate a lot more moisture into my regime. To wash my hair, I use the Coconut Water Shampoo and Conditioner (a review of these products can be found here) and deep condition. I used to always co-wash my hair (washing my hair with conditioner) however these products give my hair so much moisture that I shampoo and condition. I tend to wet my hair first, shampoo twice and then condition once. I shampoo twice as on a day to day basis, I use a lot of products in my hair and there can be a lot of product build-up so I make sure that my hair is completely clean before conditioning. I only condition once as I know my hair is going to receive a deep condition. Here's a picture of my hair after having been washed:

These pictures make it very clear of the two different textures I'm working with right now. You'll see that the front of my hair is a lot straighter and the back of my hair seems to resemble my natural texture. The majority of the damaged ends have been removed however some still remain. I was using 'Doo Gro's Mega Long Extreme Reconstructor' as my deep conditioner however now I use a child's deep conditioner.

I bought this from the kid's section of my local natural black hair shop. I prefer to use products for kids as they're less harsh and tend to contain less chemicals and more natural products. This is a deep conditioner that doesn't need to be washed out and so I put it on my hair and put a plastic cap on. Luckily I have a full steamer at home that I use when deep conditioning however you can just wear a plastic cap as it does the same job. 

I stayed under the steamer for 20-30mins and then just towel dried my hair. Here's a picture of my hair after:

I have been avoiding using heat but will start to blow dry my hair again once my hair has grown out more and I can get rid of the damaged ends. The shrinkage looks like my hair is really short but it's actually long enough to do my go-to hairstyle with ease. I hope this was a little insight for you guys and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me! 

Au revoir x

Protective Hairstyle - Cornrows

Bonjour tout le monde! 

As most of you may know, I cut my hair very short at the beginning of January due to heat damage. Now it was hard at first as I'm sure you can all imagine cutting off your beloved hair is. My hair was so short that it was very difficult to even do two French braids on my hair like I use to be able to do. I was unsure of how I was going to wear my hair when it was natural due to how short it was but I had to keep reminding myself that HAIR DOES GROW BACK! I couldn't even dream of plaiting my hair into cornrows because the strands were too short for me to grab a hold of. However after just about two months, my hair has grown tremendously! I've left my hair in a variety of protective hairstyles to allow it to grow whilst ensuring my hair was still moisturised. I am now very capable of doing cornrows in my hair with ease; take a look:

I wanted to show you all as a prime example that hair does grow back! If your hair is damaged whether it is because of split ends, heat or chemical damage, don't be afraid to take a pair of scissors and chop your hair! The front of my hair is still shorter in comparison to the rest of my hair as that's where the majority of the damage is but it's still growing healthily. If you need any tips or any words of encouragement to take the plunge and do the big chop then please DO message me, I love hearing from my fellow naturalistas! 

Email: inquiries.divinusater@yahoo.co.uk

AskFM: www.ask.fm/DivinusAter

Until the next time! X