R&S: No pins no problem, the loc pompadour!

One thing that I am not a fan of making are hair pins and hair ornaments. Why? I simply hate using them. It's normal for me to lose bobby pins and hair ties in my hair for weeks, they are painful, and because of my crown they never seem to be big enough. And by the way, have you always noticed that the pack of bobby pins slowly disappears until there are none left...seriously, where do all of them go? I just got tired and annoyed, so I could never think of inflicting my misery on someone else! To save my self the heartache (and some money) I resolved to do away with them a long time ago....but then I had to start looking for different pin-free ways to style my hair. After trying head ties, hair nets, and string of all sorts I had almost given up, but I found that my own locs were the solution! Either using the spine of foam curlers, pipe cleaners or bantu knots/chiney bumps, curling my locs has been amazing in helping me cut the middle person (i.e pins) out of the styling picture. The curls are able to intertwine and hold together really well to make my favourite hairstyle, the Pompadour! This R&S pin-free hairstyle takes about five minutes to do, looks amazing and requires no tools or money. I leave it to loc and circumstance because it looks different every time I do it. I just play around with it until I get the desired look. I started making this hair style about six years ago and ever since it has become my go to style. Peep the pics below to see the pomp over the years in action!

 Get inspired by your frustrations and exercise a little creativity! You'll see how easy it is to turn your problems into solutions you can definitely take to the bank. 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

By The Way: Would you like to know how to curl your locs? Drop me a line and I can write up a step by step how to post!

R&S: Moisturizing Face Mask!

 I remember when I was a child my mom would always have some type of face mask on, and I was always afraid to go near her because she used to get a kick out of scaring me. She'd hide then jump out with her eyes opened really wide making some kinda noise...I guess you have to find the simple pleasures in parenting at your children's emotional expense? While quite traumatic at the time, to my benefit it had no lasting negative effects. Recently after reflecting on that period of my childhood I decided to bring back the face mask at a fraction of the cost and with all natural goodness! This weeks recycle and save (r&s) project is the.. 

Turmeric and Henna Moisturizing Face Mask!

I came about this beautiful mask new years eve of 2009, a friend of mine was over and had brought a container full of turmeric and she said that she uses it mixed with some water on her skin to get this beautiful glow. So I decided to building on that with a few extra ingredients I happened to have sitting around the house. Where to get the ingredients? Firstly, I don't even deal with the health food store, they are too over priced for no reason. Check any food store and you'll find everything you need. As the for the green henna I buy it at the Somali market, but if you aren't lucky enough to have access to one, any Indian food stuffs place will for sure have some. Either way, look around its a great way to get to know your neighbourhood!
DISCLAIMER: If you have lighter skin or are white the turmeric and henna will stain your skin a visible reddish yellow...do this at your own risk!

Ingredients:
1 tbs Turmeric

1 tbs Curry Powder
1 tbs Green Henna
2 tsp Almond Oil
1 tsp Glycerin
1 tbs Lemon Juice

Instructions:

1. First you want to prep your face by putting some lemon juice on a cotton pad to clean off your face. Lemon juice acts like an astringent or toner, and cleans the dirt and oils off your skin. Here is what mine looked interesting after a wipe down...

Cotton pad after cleaning my face

NOTE: Lemon juice is also used as a natural bleaching agent so avoid using it too often! If you have sensitive skin add a bit of water on the cotton pad to lessen the sting.

2. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until it reaches a consistency like the picture above. You can add water if it is still too thick.

3. Apply on your face and keep it on until it starts to dry and crack (about 1 hour or so)

4. Wash mask off with soap & water

NOTE: if it is a bit hard to wash off I like to get some brown sugar and GENTLY rub in circular motions to exfoliate the rest of it off

Your skin will be feeling soft, supple and have a healthy glow to it! I use this once a week along with the brown sugar and honey body scrub I shared with y'all earlier to keep my skin game on point. Because of the glycerin and almond oil in the mix you don't even have to moisturize your face afterwards. Your kitchen cupboard and fridge provide some wonderful beauty secrets if you're willing to check em out, giving dual purpose to so many readily available and cheap goods! I haven't bought products in years simply because I don't really have to, in recycling you save some dollars in new ways! Now I have a way to scare my own children while keeping a full wallet and looking good in the process!

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: Genie Locs: The Story of A Queens Crown

I have had my locs - which I call my crown- for roughly eleven (11) years now I used to dye my crown different colours, do wild hair styles, shave some off, reattach em you name it and over the past decade I have had some crazy conversation that often leave me wondering (and praying) for the fate of the human race.

"You know when the rapture comes you won't ascend to heaven with those things on your head..."

"We have to look like respectable and professional black women, that style doesn't say that"

"Oh my gosh I could never get locs it is such a huge commitment!"
"You're just rocking em for fashion...rent-a-dread"
"You are so exotic"

I would like to say that never have I invited these conversations, and they happen in everyday life, on the bus, street, work, parties you name it...and sadly I end up walking right into them. Outright undeserved criticism, perverse notions of my assumed 'otherness' and other peoples insecurities...I promise you these conversations got tired a long time ago, but at last as with many things in life you win some and you inevitably lose some. It happens. I can assure you that no one can ever tell me I don't look hella sexy! My crown asserts my presence in a room without me even having to say a thing, I enter and leave rooms feeling like a queen in my own right, and I can not be dethroned unless I lay my crown to rest. 

So how does all of this = a recycle and save project? Well, I cut my locs shoulder length about a year ago, and started missing the length I used to have. I tried adding braids multiple times, mistake. It was so heavy my neck hurt...plus my head looked so big! Not cute. Anyway,  I met up with a friend of mine who I had not seen in a while she had these beautiful long locs, and I was shocked cause the last time I saw her she didn't have em. she simply told me "Girl, its just yarn!"

Yarn is a simple way to add length to existing locs, or can be added to non-loc'd hair as a substitute for the synthetic hair bought at the hair store. I remember when I started loc'ing I hated it, they just looked nerdy to me poking out all over the place. So for anyone looking to avoid the awkward stage of locs this is the perfect style! Most importantly its a pocket friendly lengthening en devour! It took about three days on and off to complete (with some help of course), looks %100 like my kinky hair, its light weight and super fly. By recycling some black yarn I had lying around the house from various projects and some free time, I got to work and the final outcome was sexier than I could have imagined.

 

Genie Locs - half up, half down

Genie Locs - Up do

Materials:
1. Yarn Needle
2. Worsted Yarn (that matches your hair colour)
3. Scissors
Where do I get em?: If you don't have any of these materials you can most def find them at any store similar to Wal-Mart

Instructions:
1. Insert and pull the yarn though the eye of the needle
2. Pull through eye of needle until desired additional length of loc
3. Use scissors to cut yarn
4. Thread through the tip of loc (with about 1 cm from the tip to work with) until both ends of the yarn starnd are even
5. Use scissors to cut yarn again (to remove the needle)
(You should now have the yarn threaded through your loc and have two pieces of yarn on opposite sides of it)
6. Fold one of the two pieces in half and hold (this is where you decided the thickness to match your loc)
7. Use the opposite (unfolded) yarn to begin braiding (making sure to keep the other piece folded)
8. Braid part way down, then start to twist all the way to the bottom
9. Tie in a knot & cut

Thats it! Now you have another use for yarn!

Tips:
1.The more times you fold the yarn in half, the thicker the loc will be. (to match the size of my individual locs I folded the piece in half twice)
2. You can choose to burn the end to make sure it doesn't unravel, but it doesn't look too good, or real...I tried -_-
3. If you run out of yarn to braid/twist with DON'T WORRY just cut some more and continue
4. Braiding and twisting give slightly different looks. Twisting looking more loc like and braiding less loc like (not visible from far, but more so up close)

 Who says you can't look cute just cause you're broke?

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Have any questions? Something not clear? Just ask!

R&S: Brown Sugar & Honey Skin Care!

One thing that I have to state is that having no money really forces you to be innovative in the ways you approach different aspects of your life, for example: I normally drive to school, BUT since parking is really expensive I park at a friends house and walk or Rollerblade 3km to and from school everyday. You have to look at the positive side here, I am forced to do exercise I would otherwise never do. Health benefits! So I started to think..."humm, how else can I apply this?" I came to the conclusion that whether you are refurbishing some old jewelry or reworking some old clothes recycling and saving can really be a beneficial holistic approach to bettering yourself how ever you feel fit doing so.

Now to the point! It is still winter...and my skin has been getting real dry which is terribly unflattering....and far from cute! So how did I deal with this? Well first I hit up the dollar store! Any dollar store can EASILY be your best friend if you give it a chance, or any bargain or family discount store to be honest. You can find everything at a fraction of the price! All I needed was two all natural ingredients to make...

The Brown Sugar and Honey Exfoliating Scrub!

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of Honey

Instructions:

1. Measure out and mix the brown sugar & honey together in a small bowl
2. You want a thick and hard consistency (NOT liquid)

3. Hit the shower
4. Wet skin
5. Exfoliate
6. Rinse

What's great about brown sugar is that it has larger granules than white sugar so it makes a great exfoliant! Additionally I spend under $4. Plus I feel real sexy when I say "Yeah I just rubbed myself down with brown sugar and honey" Hehe. Personally I only use oils as a moisturiser, specifically a mix of; olive, Castor, almond, & grapeseed oils with glycerin. But whatever moisturiser you use stick with it if it works for you, but after the scrub I promise your skin will be feeling and looking as luscious as butter! I do it once every week or two cause like on your face, you don't want to over exfoliate. Summer is almost here and I can't be rocking ashy cobble stone skin when that time comes!

FYI: If you choose to use this mix on your face be careful and rub gently!

Smiles:)

Tuly Maimouna