Tots R Us: Claire is a Curly Girl!

My daughter Claire was born with a head full of gorgeous dark curls, and she has been a natural curly girl since birth – not a drop of shampoo on this child’s head!  

Claire is now 2 years old, and it has always been really important to me to care for her curls, keep them natural, and teach her to love them from an early age.  

Rocktober Challenge: Sample Meal Plan 1

Breakfast: 1 cup Oatmeal (made with 250 ml low fat milk) and 1 banana

Snack: 1 carrot and 1 local cucumber cut into sticks with 1 tablespoon hummus

Lunch: Roast Turkey Salad Sandwich - 50g roast turkey, 1 slice cheese, 2 slices wholegrain bread, 1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard for spread, 1 tomato, Dark green leafy veg

Snack: 30g almonds, 1 apple

Dinner: 4 tablespoons brown rice, 1 fillet grilled fish (skin off), 1 portion steamed broccoli

Snack: 200g natural yoghurt


Portions:
Grain: 6 portions (oatmeal, bread, rice)
Dairy: 3 portions (milk, cheese, yoghurt)
Fruit: 3 portions (banana, tomato, apple)
Veg: 4 portions (carrot, cucumber, leafy veg, broccoli)
Meat/legumes/nuts & seeds: 4 portions (hummus, turkey, almonds, fish)

For more information on portion sizes and recommended daily intake, click here.

The Myth of Healthy Food: Understanding Portion Sizes

FAIL!

Many people believe that because some foods are healthy, they can eat them in unlimited quantities. We all know the usual suspects, the real baddies.  Fat, salt, sugar, carbohydrates. Avoid these and you're laughing all the way to the skinny jeans section. Right? Well, it's not quite so simple.

Finger Detangling Challenge

The finger detangling challenge enters its fourth week.  Woop Woop!

Doesn't seem like much but honestly, I almost crumbled on Day 1; it just didn't feel like my hair was ..smooth.  Again with that word.  I admit, I love the way my hair felt after working through it with my assorted combs and brushes.  

If you are squeamish about using a comb, look away now.

From left to right: Wide Tooth Comb, Denman D31 Detangling Brush, Denman D3 Styling Brush

The Easiest Way to Trim your Own Hair at Home

I trimmed my hair myself! *screams!*

This may not seem like a big deal to some of you but those who know me know I'm a length chaser. Yup, I said it. I feel like I'm supposed to be embarrassed about admitting that. Like it means that I've bought into some Eurocentric brainwashing that detracts from the black-power-soul-sista-love thy roots thing that returning to natural hair seems to bring out in many. 

But I'm not embarrassed. Sorry, I'm not sorry. Every time I see a picture of someone with a big a** Afro, my heart skips a beat. I want epic hair. A friend of mine is constantly trying to get me to question the motive behind this. I dug deep but all I could come up with was 'I just want to see if my hair can grow really long'. Thatisall. I am not an onion. There are no layers.

Five Simple Ways to Stay Focused during Rock-tober

It's early days in our Rocktober challenge.  In order to stay on the straight and narrow, it is important to bear a few things in mind over the coming weeks.  Things that will make it easier for us to stay on track and stay focused.

Kinks R Us. Wambui is Ab Fab!

Hi! I’m a Kink and my hair story goes back…way back… to the days of hot combs burning your ears, to sitting with your face smooshed in between a lady’s thighs whilst sitting on an old wooden Coca-Cola crate and only paying 5 bob for the afternoons nasal troubles. When going to Kenyatta Market and spending your whole day getting braids for the holidays was the norm. Eating super oily fries and tip toeing over pee and *ish when you used the public toilets. My hair was so much and so dense that once it took from 7 am-10 pm to get my hair done.

In those days, my hair grew all the way down my back but it was more of a burden than the joy it is now.