My thoughts on HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

Hello my people, how have you been, great I guess? I know I have been MIA and I am so sorry about that. Like I said in my previous post, a lot has been happening and that's life, really. I have so many posts that I want to do, I will do them once things slow down. I just came here to quickly write on one of the books I read lately. I have read so many books in the last few weeks and I wish I could write my thoughts on all of them but you know, man na man. Anyway, here are some of my thoughts, what do you think?

What is the title of the book?

HALF OF A YELLOW SUN

Who is the author of the book?

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

Did you love the book?

I loved the book and I still love it. I read it twice, may I mention that this is the only novel I have ever read two times, from start to finish. The book is amazing and it is EPIC!! No wonder it has been made into a movie and I cannot wait to see it!

Chimamanda is a gifted and exceptionally talented writer. I’m very sure that this has been said like a gazillion times but if I have to say it every time I make a post on her, then I will. I don’t even know how she was able to capture the events set two decades before she was born (How sure I'm I, right? Hahaha). I was riveted by every single page and line of this book, it is simply amazing.

What is the story about?

It is about the story of love, loyalty and survival during the Nigerian Civil War also known as the Biafra War which lasted for a period of about three years (1967-1970).

Who were the main characters?

The main characters (in my opinion) of the story were Olanna and Ugwu.

What is their story, did they have adventures?

Olanna had just come home from acquiring a master’s degree in Britain and decides to move to Nsukka, against her parents’ whish of course, to work as a lecturer. The lecturing job was just an excuse to live with her lover, Odenigbo whom she met in University of Ibadan. In terms of character, some words that come to mind when I think of Olanna are exceptionally beautiful, kindhearted, soft spoken, gentle, slim, light brown (skin color), intelligent, loving and insecure.

Ugwu is an Nsukka boy, Nwa Nsukka, who was sent to serve his master Odenigbo, in the University campus. This servant-master relationship gradually turns into something deeper, more like father-son relationship. Some words that come to mind when I think of this character Ugwu, are loyal, hardworking, kind, humble, ingenious, smart, dependable and intelligent.

Who was your favorite character in the story?

My favorite characters in the story were Ugwu and Kainene.

Ugwu, just because he is Ugwu. I just loved the guy, his character is indelible. I just love him.

I love Kainene because she has sharp edges, in the right places, if you know what I mean. With her, I sensed the assurance that the people around her had, a feeling that with Kainene, everything will always be alright and sorted.

What was your favorite part of the book?

Hmmm I have so many, lemme see, eeeehhh I guess it would be the chapter that revealed that Ugwu had not died in the battle field.

 I can clearly remember what happened the day I was reading that part of the book. I was in the room and my husband was working on his laptop in the sitting room, immediately I read a few lines about Ugwu and some sort of excruciating pain on his right buttocks, I ran to my husband, literally screaming at the top of my lungs “UGWU IS NOT DEAD, UGWU DID NOT DIE” I was elated, lol!!

If you could change the book, what would it be? 

Of course Kainene would never have gone to Afia Attack, simple.

Would you recommend this book to anybody?

Of course, I’ve recommended it to a lot of my friends, even though most of them had read it before me. But yeah, I’d recommend it to anyone who cared.

What type of person will like this book? 

Anybody interested in Nigerian history convolved with some love stories will definitely love this book.

What book are you going to read next? 

THERE WAS A COUNTRY by Chinua Achebe, I love that man, lol.

ONCE UPON A SUNDAY

HAIR STYLE!!!

Hey guys, so sorry I've been away, a lot has been happening. I just wanted to do a quick post on a style that I do a lot these days. Please indicate in the comment box if you'd like a tutorial on this in future. Style inspiration is http://naturalme4c.weebly.com/. The style looks like a simple Afro Puff in front but on the sides,it looks like a Fro Hawk.

Cheers

HOW TO GROW AND PROTECT YOUR EDGES (HAIR LINE): 5 EASY STEPS

Just take about three days and observe the hair line of any woman you see on the streets of any city you live in, my guess is that eight out of ten of them have damaged hair line. Now do the same for men, you'll find that the men who have damaged hair line are just going bald, lol. The obvious reason is that most women tend to put their hair in styles that put stress on the hair line thereby causing it to recede. I had this problem and I am still nursing my edges back to health. Here are five easy steps that you can follow to bring those edges back!

Step 1 Get The Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO):

A lot of people feel that any castor oil will do but I highly recommend this brand of castor oil, I find it to be very effective. Apply this nightly on your edges, lightly massaging the problem areas in circular motion.

Step 2 Cover your hair with a satin scarf every night: 

Do this after applying the JBCO. For me, I tie my edges with a scarf after applying the JBCO and then I finally cover my entire head with a satin bonnet. Some people would add the use of a silk/satin pillowcase case.

Step 3 Avoid styles that put tension in that area: 

If you do step 1 and 2 and still continue to do styles that are too tight on your hair line, you will not see any significant change on your hair line. The tension on the scalp can damage the hair follicles in that area, preventing it from allowing hair to grow properly. So caution your braider or stylist to take it easy on those areas.

Step 4 Leave the edges alone:

Sometimes, you may need to let the hairs in that area be, just leave it alone. Don't braid it, don't weave it, don't brush it, just let it be. You may even need to take a break from applying the castor oil because too much attention might just be what it is, TOO MUCH ATTENTION. This might sound crazy but I think it is true, I am speaking from experience.

Step 5 Just give it time, it will grow back:

When I started taking care of my edges, I expected to see changes immediately, but I was disappointed when I did not notice any change in a month. I now decided to read a couple of articles and then I realized that it could take up to A WHOLE YEAR to recover damaged edges. It takes time, so just be patient and give it time. As long as you are doing what you need to do, you will gradually see changes.

So that's all folks, as always, put your reactions in the comment box below. Cheers!

HOW TO CREATE A SIMPLE REGIMEN FOR YOUR NATURAL HAIR

Trial and Error

From my own personal experience, I believe this is very important if you want to develop a healthy hair regimen that would be beneficial to your own type of hair. You might watch a ton of youtube videos and research all sorts of blogs, just to find that the products you have seen others use on these platforms do not work for you. You will need to invest time and money in finding out what works for your own hair considering your budget, schedule and availability. You may need to buy and try a lot of products (samples if possible) before you discover the ones that work for your hair. Additionally you need to consider how much time you are willing to spend on your hair. For me, I started out with washing and deep conditioning weekly during my transitioning period, this turned out to be tiring and cumbersome. Then when I big chopped I co washed every two days and styled every night, this I also found to be time consuming. Right now, I style once a week, deep condition bi weekly and co wash every alternate week. Its obvious my regimen has evolved over time and I am sure to make more changes as I go along. As for products, I have used all sorts, but this does not have to be you. You can start on a very conservative note, just buying the basics and then progress to bigger things. The main aim, if you have kinky hair, is to find products that are moisture rich and that help to soften your hair.

Determine how often your hair needs to be washed

Be it co washing or shampoo washing, you need to find out how long it takes for your hair to start feeling groggy or itchy. For me, if my hair is in a protective style like a flat twist-updo or mini twist, it takes about six days for my hair to start feeling dirty. Then I know it is time for a wash. If it is not in a protective style, I might need to do a co wash at least every three days. So because I work and live in a busy city like Lagos, I find it much better to put my hair in a protective style on Sundays and wash my hair every Friday night. So I wear my hair out only on weekends. I co wash every two weeks and shampoo wash every alternate week. This means that if I co washed this weekend, I would shampoo wash the next.

Determine how often you need to do a deep treatment or deep conditioning

This could go from doing it weekly, to bi weekly or even monthly. Whatever you decide, it should be based on what your hair needs. For me, I started out doing this once a week during the time I was transitioning, to once a month when I big chopped. However, as my hair grew longer, I noticed it was getting dryer and dryer, I also noticed that I had a lot of split ends and mid shaft breakage, so I decided to deep condition more frequently. Right now, I deep condition every two weeks.

Find out how often you need to moisturize your hair 

Natural hair and moisture are BFFs and I mean it when I say it. Whether you are using the LOC method (Liquid-Oil-Cream) or LCO method (Liquid-Cream-Oil), you must keep your hair nice and moist to prevent breakage. For me, I moisturize every day, if my hair is not in a protective style and I use the LOC method. If my hair is in a protective style, I may not need to moisturize everyday, I just spritz my hair lightly with water or my daily spritz. My daily spritz is essentially a home made concoction of  50% water, 30% leave in conditioner and 20% oil, in a spray bottle. For some of us who work in strongly air conditioned offices, you might need to keep that spray bottle handy because the cool hair dries out the hair causing it to need light spritzes once in a while.

Discover the products that work for you

This is very important, like I said before, you need to find out what works for your hair. By this I mean, what makes your hair soft and keeps it moisturized for as long as possible. For all the steps that I have mentioned above, you need products that would help you achieve them. You need a good shampoo (sulphate or non sulphate ), a rince out conditioner, a leave in conditioner, a good deep conditioner, a styling conditioner/butter, light carrier oils, and at least one essential oil.

So peeps, I may not be a natural hair guru, but these a couple of things I know about developing a simple hair regimen for your self. Below I have listed my current regimen and the products I use

Acharacha's Current Regimen

1. Conditioner wash (Co Wash) every two weeks - Tresemme Natural Nourishing Moisture Conditioner

2. Shampoo Wash every two weeks (alternate with co washing) - Shea Moisture Yucca and Boa Boab                                                                                                           thickening shampoo

3. Protective Style once a week - Dark and Lovely Au Naturale Coil Moisturizing Souffle

4. Deep Condition every two weeks - Organic Root Simulator Hair Mayonaise

5. Moisturize weekly - Natural Nigerian Leave in Conditioner, Sweet Almond Oil or Coconut Oil

6. Hot oil treatment every two weeks - Mixture of Sweet Almond Oil, coconut oil, peppermint oil and tea                                                                 tree oil

KINKSPIRAION: MEET GRACE, SHE DID HER BIG CHOP, YAAY!!

Hello people! I have decided to start featuring new naturals in the city on this blog. I believe this will serve as an inspiration to those who are still thinking about going natural. I am really excited to be featuring someone that I inspired to go natural and who is enjoying her natural hair journey so far. For this feature, I asked her the very same tag questions I used on my big chop post and here are her answers:

How long did you transition for?  

For about 3 to 4months

Why did you decide to do the big chop?  

I just wanted to feel and look at my natural "unrelaxed" hair (new growth). Before I did the big chopped, I would always go through pictures of other natural sisters, then wet my own hair just to see how long my undergrowth was. However, I finally ran out of patience and big chopped on the 9th of August, 2013.

What products did you use?  

I use the Dudu Osun soap as my shampoo (as advised by Acharacha), coconut oil and Shea butter. I also did the the lemon tea hair rinse and I intend to try out other natural products as I am on my way to becoming a natural miXtress.

 

 

What was your initial reaction to your new do?  

First I was proud of myself, then when I took my first photo, I saw that looked like my brother, at that point I just said to myself "...you need make up and big earrings, lol".

What were other people’s reaction, spouse, office, family and friends?  

Mixed reactions, everyone had an opinion. I even made the mistake of asking and got some negative ones that almost made me buy a wig, thank God I realized on time that it was about me and not other people. My colleagues like it, my mum and all my sisters are naturals so the only big deal for them was that I should have waited a little before doing my big chop. My friends like it, in all I have gotten more positive reactions than the negative ones.


So that's all people, cheers!

SAVE THE DATE: DOMINION CITY WOMEN CONVENTION

Just thought I should come here and announce this program. This is literally the best program in Dominion City, no kidding. I have never regretted going for DC women convention, it is always a blast!! You get practical, deep and mature teachings on everything imaginable that a woman needs to hear. I love,love this program, and I am sure this year's version of the Women Convention will not fall short of my expectation. So if you believe you need to be there for this program, please make plans to attend, you will not regret it!!