Don't be afraid.

A lot of the time we are afraid.

We call it caution, or realism or experience. All of these are just different iterations of fear. I'll give two examples. First: I have been very afraid of being labeled something I am not. I always get defensive about who I am and what I stand for. " I am not an air-head. I am a feminist. I am not a whore. I am a creative. I am black. I am not a hypocrite. I am not fickle. etc" All of those things being labels that don't have power over my actual existence. What people call me behind my back or to my face be it good or bad can't actually influence my reality if I don't allow it to. How grand would it be to just be? And allow my life/actions to write labels for me? People will talk regardless. But if I don't write labels for myself I'll have no self imposed borders to try stay within.

Second example: I have always been afraid of change. I have worst  case scenarios playing in my head long before the change even begins. Particularly when it comes to love. I find that saying to yourself "what if it doesn't work?" or "what if I become a character one of those horror stories?" doesn't enrich ones life at all. We need to stop pre-feeling and just live in the moment. Que sera sera. I truely believe we really aren't in control! I'm not saying go blindly (and make stupid decisions), I'm saying go boldly. I mean think "what if it works?". Missing happiness because it might go away one day is about the most foolish thing one could ever do.

A thought dawned on me that liberated a little bit, perhaps because of all the Deepak Chopra tweets I read. I wrote a tweet without fully understanding it but once I read it again, I experienced a moment of freedom (and maybe I'm philosophising nothing at all, forgive me if I am). I just thought I would share it with you. See thought below.

Later.

Remember, Go Boldly :)

Amla Launch

Hello darlings!

I have been an increasingly atrocious host. Forgive me. Life gets you away from these blogger pages at times. Anyhow, apologies aside, I have some nooooz! :)

A little while ago, I was fortunate enough to be a part of launching a new brand of hair care for our African strands. At the beautiful anglo saxon setting of The Munro Boutique Hotel in Houghton, the secret was let out. Softsheen Carson has brought us all the age old benefits of Amla Oil (a well trusted ingredient of hair  care that Indian women all over the world have known and loved for years) through their Dark n Lovely Amla Legend Legacy. Cue the trumpets!

Now, I'm not the evangelist of relaxer treatments (in fact for the past few years I was staying far from relaxers) but this is honestly the first brand of straight hair care that has worked for my hair. I purposely delayed this blog post because I wanted to try the products first before blindly blogging about how amazing they promise to be. This is my real, unpaid account of how well the products work. (I have therefor only included the products I have tried and liked.)

1. The relaxer creme: I have really course/dense hair and as a result I often had to use strong relaxers that ended up burning me and leaving my scalp dry and itchy. The difference here is that this creme has the strength of a strong relaxer (think Ladine) but is also equipped to moisturise and mildly straighten the hair without starting a bon-fire on my head! *Amen!*

2. The Billion Hair Potion: This stuff is honestly like green-tea for hair...this is my favourite product in the range. I style my hair daily so heat could have damaged it by now. This product has protected my hair from breaking or falling without me having to go for countless expensive salon treatments. I love it! It's deeply moistrurising and it doesn't create a greasy look (which I hate on relaxed hair). Yay!

3. The 1000 oils Night Wrap: I have never really used a night wrap. It's like our own version of what some coloured ladies call a Swirl Kousie (pardon the spelling if it's wrong). You apply the product at night and put your doek over it. It the morning, I kid you not, your hair will be smoother and less tangled! Like I said, I have VERY course hair so this is like my weekly miracle. I have been getting a lot of questions about how I maintain the short look and this product has a lot to do with it. It can get expensive maintaining a short look at home but with the help of this combo of products I have been doing quite well. It's awesome because I can hold out on relaxing it again.

Having said all that, I haven't even scrapped the surface of the source of my excitement about the launch event! I was lucky enough to have my hair cut by none other than Hollywood celebrity hair stylist and personal hair stylist to Michelle Obama, Johnny Wright!!!!! Star dust everywhere! He was amazing and he did a great job of making me comfy with cutting all my hair down to this short length but I can safely say I have NO regrets!

Ok that was a mouthful. Pics below!! If you have a comment or a hair care secret of your own, feel free to share below.

In the words of the one and only Tiger: Tata for now :)

The Product

The Process

Just Cut

So much make-up yohhhh...

Location

View from the Munro Boutique Hotel

All done :)

Hair Models

Thula Sindi Number

Loot, Johnny, Me :)

:)