Last week, my friend let me know that Oprah was on the look out for women who had given up their addiction to the creamy crack so that she can feature them on her show.  Unfortunately, by the time that I went to check out the open call it had already been taken down.  Well now I know why – Wednesday’s (sept 30th) epi of Oprah is all about HAIR.  I’m sure Oprah will take this opp to discuss her thoughts on hair and will once again clear up the rumours that she is not rocking a weave and is all natural.  Watch the promo here.

Show description:

Girl Talk About “Good” Hair with Chris Rock

Perms, extensions, highlights…secrets exposed! Then, why Beyonce’s sister Solange chopped it all off. Plus, Oprah’s own hair history unraveled! Emmy-winning comedian Chris Rock talks to Oprah about his new documentary, Good Hair. Plus, Beyoncé’s little sister, singer Solange Knowles.

**Just a quick side note – Oprah was in town (Toronto) to promote her movie Precious which she executive produced.  If you haven’t seen it – all I can say is - Powerful!  Kudos to all the cast, especially Monique.  I hear Oscar nom and dare I say it…a win.

Interesting post about weave from Joy Bryant on the Essence Blog.

Ouch! My tailbone really hurts when I sit on hard surfaces or slouched down in a chair for too long. That’s what I get from busting my butt from too much snowboarding. It makes it really hard to sit in a salon chair for hours on end getting my weave hooked up.

But oh, how we suffer for beauty…I must bring a pillow next time.

As the threads of the grown-out tracks were being snipped, I broke out my laptop and began my ritualistic daily web search. I go from news of the day to articles/blogs about the news of the day, ending up on entertainment/gossip/fashion stuff. 
But that day, something caught my attention and trumped all of the glowing reviews of President Obama’s health care speech:

It was Tyra’s hair.

National Real Hair Day? I missed that one…In fact, on National Real Hair Day, I was calling Extensions Plus in L.A. to make sure they had enough of the 20” “relaxed roots” texture hair that I love oh so much (and that keeps selling out like crazy!), and making an appointment to get my hair, I mean, my weave, hooked up.

So Tyra, while I didn’t take part in your observance, I just want to say: “WOW!” You are such a brave woman for breaking the chains that bound you since your teenage years! What courage that took, for you to expose yourself to millions of people! Such fearlessness! 

Oh, how I wish I had the guts to do that. I guess I’m much too much of an insecure, self-loathing Negro for all that self-acceptance foolishness.
I’m glad we got down to solving the mystery of what’s under your lace-front, though. I mean seriously, it was “THE” question that has perplexed the world over. And now we see that there’s a beautiful head of hair underneath it all, hair that was surprisingly relaxed and ready for the world. Whodathunkit?! If I had the same length and fullness of hair that you have, I might take my weave out too.

Ha!!!! I’m just playing! Even if I DID have your “real” hair, I’d still be wearing a few tracks or clip-ons up in there.

Why?

Because I’m straight weave fo life, kid!!!

Ima ride ride wit this weave, die die with this weave!!

Let me break it down for you:
See, I loooooove taking new hair out of the bag, combing through it with my fingers, holding it up with my two hands, and burying my face in it. Mmmm, mmmm, mmm! Nothing like a new batch of zig-zag curly to get your self esteem out of the dumps!

The feeling of getting my hair, I mean, my weave done over. I feel human again. I feel sexy. I feel powerful. It makes me feel…it makes me feel…it makes feel like a natural woman!!! 

I can be whatever, whoever I want to be with the stroke of a sewing needle…

With long brown tresses and a tan, I’m Pocahontas, ’cause I got Indian in my family. With easy waves, I AM bohemian rhapsody goddess personified. And now that I got blond highlights! What!? I know I look like Beyonce! You can’t tell me nothing! Uh oh, uh oh…

And then I looked up from my computer, and caught a glimpse in the mirror of my head minus the long weavy locks. I looked crazy! Awww hell naw! I looked over at the new batch of hair sitting off to the side waiting to join forces with me. Damnit, I’m trapped, I thought to myself. I can’t let it go. I am powerless over it. Just when I think I’m done, it pulls me back in!

Now I guess I can get help for my self-loathing addiction.
I can learn to accept myself in my entirety. I can emancipate myself from that which keeps me locked-up. I can embrace the natural state of things.

Yup, I can do all of that…

But don’t hold your breath!

Hi, my name is Joy, and I’m a weave-a-holic.

The weather has offically started to change here in Toronto and that means I’m starting to change up my hair routine .  For the last couple of weeks I have been flat ironing (gasp) I know, the heat is not good, but I do use a Kerastase Heat Prtoectant when ironing.   I do plan on perfecting my roller set.  I had tried a couple of times on some cool days this summer and I practically ended up in tears.  I am committed though and know that I need to perfect the set and try to get that Dominican Hair experience in the comfort of my own home.  If you haven’t had a dominican lady set and blow out you hair – you are definitely missing something.

Anyhow, this list is so long over due-  here’s a list of  possible Dominican hair spots in Canada – hopefully they are still in business and all in fact do wash, set and blow out.  Probably best to call first…

Toronto

Martha Beauty Centre
2708 Jane Street (entre Sheppard & Finch)
Toronto, Ontario
Tel. 416- 746- 3127

Angela’s (Estilista Dominicana)
384 Kerr street, Oakville,Ontario 
(905)-844-1482.

Montreal (call first to make sure they are in fact Dominican)

Coiffure Carolina 
127 Rue Jean-Talon Ouest, Montréal, QC H2R 2W9 
(514) 274-4545

Coiffure Estrella on 6450 Rue St.-Laurent

Salon ALINA – Coiffure Unisex – 7 dias sobre 7
1667 Beaubien Este, esq. Papineau – Montreal – Qué.
TEL: (514) 729-0396

Coiffure ALDO – Unisex
7233 rue St-Hubert – Montreal – Qué. – TEL: (514) 277-2029
Claudio , estilista Argentino

Coiffure ANGELA – Créole – Latino – Africaine
1961 Everett esq. Chabot – Montreal – CON CITA POR FAVOR
Técnica Dominicana – TEL: (514) 723-6430

BEAUTÉ LATINE – Coiffure
1770 Beaubien Este, esq. Papineau – Metro FABRE – Montreal – Qué. – H2G 1L5
TEL: (514) 723-0003

COIFFERIE M.C. – Salón de coiffure Unisexe
208 St-Zotique Este, entre Gaspe y Alma – Montreal – Qué.
MILAGROS Y CLARIBEL – TEL: (514) 272-6090

ELLEANA’S – Salón de Coiffure
420 Bélanger Este, (entre St-Denis y St-Valier) – Montreal – Qué.
TEL: (514) 273-8542

ELIGE – Salon de Coiffure
6977 St-Denis esq. Bélanger – Montreal – Qué.
TEL: (514) 723-9877

Coiffure FIORDELIZ
1300, Rue Bélanger, Montreal (Quebec) H2G 1A1
Fiordeliza Plascencia Sánchez (proprietaria) – TEL : (514) 274-0030

INSPIRATION Coiffure – Peinado – Corte – Permanente
9801 A St-Laurent esq. Sauvé – Montreal – Quebec
Omaira y Mercedes – TEL: (514) 389-4545

ISPA – Centro de Belleza Unisex
1290 Jean-Talon Este – Montreal – Quebec
TEL: (514) 277-4772

KARLOTTA – Coiffure UNISEXE
7086 – A boul. St-Laurenr, Metro de Castelneau – Montreal – Quebec
TEL: (514) 279-0999

LARA – Coiffure – Centre de Beauté
430 St-Zotique, Metro Beaubien – Montreal – Quebec
NELSON – TEL: (514) 273-0444

MAKAVELLY – Haute Coiffure
43 Beaubien Este – Montreal – Qué.
TEL: (514) 276-1416 – Con o sin cita

MARLÈNE P. J. M. – Salon de Coiffure
390 de Castelneau esq. St – Denis – Montreal – Qué.
Tratamiento contra la caida del cabello – TEL: (514) 270-5400

MAYRA – Salón de Coiffure – Elle et Lui
43 Beaubien Este – Montreal – Qué.
TEL: (514) 276-1416

As some of you might know, Ive become totally addicted to the hair community on YouTube.  There are so many ladies out there who are doing it for themselves and are mastering their own hair.  I love it! One of the ladies on YouTube by the name of Ateyya – she has quite the following has shared her wonderful experience using Aphogee hair products.  I was a little unsure if this was a product line that i wanted to pick up and try, but after much research I decided – why not..

I went to the beauty supply (Keele and Sheppard) store and picked up a medium size bottle of Aphogee Two Minute Keratin Treatment.  I used that for a couple of weeks and in general I had no complaints.  So I decided to take it one step further and try a stronger treatment – Aphogee 2 Step Protein Treatment.  Now I was hesitant to use the product because its says for professional use and while I was doing research a lot of people cautioned against using it unless you were absolutely sure you knew how to use it.

The key thing is, I did my research.  So, one Saturday afternooon I decided to wash my hair using regular shampoo then I appled the 2 step with a spray bottle.  I sat under the dryer and my hair got HARD.  Really hard – it was like I had helmet head.  After I washed it out, followed up with the Aphogee Balancing Conditioner.  I then added created my own deep treatment (no proteins) and left that on over night to ensure that my hair would be well moisturized when I washed it out.

I must say, I will be using the Aphogee 2 Step Treatment again.  The stuff stinks but I think it really works.  Ever since using the product, I feel like my hair is stronger – has more elasticity and I don’t feel like it sheds as much.  Now, the treatment is really suggested for people who have damaged and breaking hair – I had neither – but I do think that my hair benefitted.  It says to do the treatment every 6 six weeks, but i think I will do it once every 3 months.

My advice to anyone who is thinking of trying it – please do you research.  Read the ingrendients, understand what you are putting in your hiar.  Consult a professional.  And good luck!

….Didn’t really love it!

I’m the type of person who will see something and thing it seems like a really neat product and then will be obsessive and want it.  Well that is what I was like when I realized I wanted to try the InStyler.  I had seen the infomercial a million times and was curious what it would be like on my hair.  What impressed me most about the tool is that it seemed to be easy to use and that it would create a lot of volume.

Well, my friend Rhonda decided to pick one up at the As Seen on TV store close by my condo.  She tried and was loving it.  She felt like she no long needed to go to the hair salon for a wash and blow and that the InStyler had saved her a bunch of money.  So before I decided to invest and buy one myself – I decided to borrow hers and see how great this thing really is.

I washed, applied product, blow dried, then sectioned my hair into five and gave the Instyler a whirl.  Here are my thoughts:

PROS

• easy to use
• light weight
• got my hair straight at the roots (big bonus)
• brush didn’t pull or damage my hair
• was able to finish my hair much quicker then using regular flat iron

CONS

• even though it was light weight it didn’t feel very sturdy – like it could break easy
• barrel was not ceramic – not sure what the long term effects would be
• barrel didn’t heat up as much as my hair needed
• didn’t seal my cuticle – my ends were still kind of puffy
• the brush didn’t seem to do much for my hair in terms of smoothing

Overall, I would give this product a 7 out of 10.  I definitely see it working for other textures – but I just found it worked okay for mine.  When I’m wearing my hair straight, I’m used to that silky smooth finish and I didnt think that the InStyler was able to deliver.  If they were to reformat the product I might consider demo’ing it again – but it probably wouldn’t be something I would invest and add to my aresenal of tools.  I’m glad that I borrowed it first!

Just wanted to apologize for being MIA for the last couple of weeks.  Been very busy – getting back in the swing of things at my TV job, studying for a Commerical Real Estate exam and selling houses.  But I did want to say, I’m still doing tons of stuff with my hair and am axious to share my thoughts and results on the various products and techniques I’ve tried.  Please keep posted.  As always, please check out my video blogs on YouTube – remember to subscribe and rate

Ok, so I was coming home from my Commerical RE course today and passed by Aveda’s warehouse sale and couldn’t resist going in.  Afterall, it did say upto 75% off.  Normally, I don’t really believe those types of “sales” – espcially in Toronto – they never really are 75% off – but this one was.  If you are interested in checking out – they happen every Wednesdays on Lesmill Road (Leslie and 401 area).  Anyhow, I picked up a few goodies – Sap Moss ($8), which is a pre-poo treatment healing treatment for dry hair.  I also picked up Hang Straight ($7)-  a straightening lotion with marshmallow root.  And I picked up two packs of Grip Cips from FHI Heat.  I’ve been looking every where for them – 2/$5 (normally 2/$13).  I’m very excited about trying out my new goodies – I will add them to my long list of products to review.

This video might be disturbing to Curlista readers -- please view at your own risk.  Comments and discussions welcomed.

The Lucky Ladies of ATL will get to hit up the Bronner Bros shows this weekend.  Jam packed with tons of goodies and events – I wish I was in town to enjoy.  Check out the details below….

I have to say, over the last several months I’ve become quite addicted to the YouTube.  When I started to re-embrace my hair and caring for my hair myself I was immediately inspired by the ladies on YouTube and hair boards like Naturally Curly and Long Hair Care Forum and blogs.  There is such a wealth of knowledge out there for anyone who is looking for hair advice, product reviews and styling help.  So, I’ve decided to start linking some of my fave YouTubers and perhaps their techniques will inspire you on your own journey.  So, if you are currently transition and are contemplating the BC -- check out Brosia.  She has a ton of videos for the relaxed hair, but she transitioned and recently did the BC -- check her out in all of her natural glory.