So I have quickly realized this summer that a solid nighttime routine is crucial to make your hair last throughout the week. Ever since I started doing the pineapple method, my hair lasts much longer, and it reduces shrinkage. It’s seriously the most simple and efficient way out there. It is much easier if your hair is a medium length, but there are videos on youtube of ladies doing the pineapple with short hair.
Also, I am doing a juice cleanse this week before school starts to center myself before the stress comes. I just wanted to fill you guys in on that, but I’m going to do a post today and talk about that in more detail. Let me know what your nighttime routine is and how it works for you.
LIVE A ZEN LIFE
Hello friends. Sadly my summer is coming to an end and I thought I would show you some of the products I have loved. Even though this is a July favorites I have been using all of these products religiously throughout the entire summer. I have had such a great summer with family and friends hanging by the pool going on adventures and just enjoying the moment. I know this school year is going to be amazing but a lot of work and diligence at the same time. There are so many exciting things coming for my YouTube and blog I cant wait to clue you guys in on those things. Another super exciting thing that is coming up is my BIRTHDAY!!!! On September 29th. My 21st to be exact I am very excited as you can imagine. Anywho all of my favorites all have a theme of moisture for the most part. Skin by Ann Webb Face and Body Cream is my new favorite face moisturizer. What I love about it is that even though it is very thick it just melts into my skin. It leave no greasy of clogged feeling which is always great! My new favorite fragrance is the Zara chocolate scent. I have had this really awesome idea to take my favorite perfumes and recreate the scents with natural oils and fragrances. Let me know what you guys think of that and if you have any tips to help me accomplish this project of if you think it’s a good idea! Anywho those were just a couple of the things I’ve loved this summer and there are a lot of other cool things that I talk about in the video. I hope you guys have had an amazing summer and that you finish it off with a bang.
LIVE A ZEN LIFE
Hola friends hope your summer has been hot and fun! So I am really excited about uploading on my YouTube channel twice a week and I hope you guys have been enjoying the consistency. I do need to be a lot more consistent on the blog but I’m getting there. Anywho I finally filmed my favorite products for my natural curly hair and now I have the curly hair routine to go with it. The last time I did a curly hair routine my hair was so much shorter, I’m pretty sure it was like 6 months ago! This routine I really like and I love the way my hair turns out. The main contributors to achieve the big fluffyness are the light hold gel (Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel) and the pineapple method for nighttime. Honestly the pineapple method has completely changed my hair’s life. My routine is really pretty simple though I only use three products and up until a few weeks ago I was only using two (the leave in conditioner and gel). I really like incorporating the Aloe Vera juice as a sealant because it provides extra moisture, lots of shine, and it does a good job of sealing which is the purpose of a sealant lol. In the winter I might switch over to a light oil like argan or grapeseed but I’m really loving aloe vera juice for my hair. Really aloe vera anything my hair loves I must find more products with aloe it’s a miracle plant. I have a lot of new hair videos that I think you guys will enjoy and a lot of cool food and mind-body type videos coming so be excited cause I’m excited! Talk to you guys later!
LIVE A ZEN LIFE
Hey guys! I hope your summer is treating you well. As always I’ve been slacking ini here and I am sorry. I am really excited being I am going to share a bit of what I’ve been doing to stay in shape. Since I am so obsessed with tumblr fitsipation it really inspired me to start running, I had been trying to really get into running for a while now but never really stuck with it. Since moving in to my new apartment I’ve just had such a lust for life (the in-house gym doesn’t hurt lol) I started going down to the gym running on the treadmill lifting weights the whole shebang! Now I’m running every other day and doing come type of cardio or yoga on the off days. When I run I use the app runkeeper (it’s available on android and apple devices) it is really great, and one of the main reasons I look forward to my run days this app tracks pretty much anything you could possibly want it to track. Another really cool thing that I didn’t mention in the video is that if you have a polar workout watch you can sync the two devices. Of course running is not the only thing I do, I love yoga kundalini is my yoga of choice here is a little information about it http://www.goldenheartyoga.com/dc/yoga_styles.html?current=two&sub=b. I love all styles of yoga its so relaxing with a physical aspect. I am still a beginner in the fitness world but I am enjoying it so much. Even though I played sports in high school it’s been a good 3 going on 4 years since then and I have admitted to myself that all of that physicality has faded away lol. I can’t wait to update you guys when I have reached my goal of 5k you will definitely be hearing about that.
If you’ve been working out or getting in shape this summer let me know. What’s your favorite workout app or technology? Until next time
Hey there!
Hope everyone is doing awesome, so I am really excited to be doing this post because it’s all about the book club I just launched on my YouTube channel! As I am writing this I got the idea that I might incorporate the blog into the book club a little more than I thought I was going to. Would you guys would be interested in doing only a slightly more in depth talk on here about the books or would you like me to greatly expound on the chapters here? Please let me know! So I know some of you are wondering what exactly am I talking about and I am just about to tell you. For a long time now I have been thinking of ways to make my channel and blog more of a place for me to document my life and things I am interested in. At the beginning of my YouTube life my channel quickly became a natural hair channel which is fine but that’s not all I am. So I decided on top of my ZIYs, vegetarian video, and more to come I would add a book club. Yes a book club! There is something about a book club that always intrigued me, but I was never a part of one. I figured I would bring the age-old concept to the digital world so there you have it; a virtual interactive book club. Now I’m sure I’m not the first person in the world to think of this but I think it’s a great idea. I decided to choose 3 books from three different genres to give everyone an option. The beauty of it is that you can read as many or as few of the books as you want and tune in for the updates. My favorite part of this is that I am making this very interactive by having you guys use #ZENBOOKCLUB whenever you post a question, a comment, a discussion topic, or whatever to twitter, intagram, tumblr (or wherever I am) so that I can compile them and use them in the next update video! I will be updating one video per book each week. To make it simple so that everyone is on the same page (pun intented lol) for whatever book you read you take the number of chapters and divide that by 4 (that will be the number of chapters to keep up with each week) since the session will last a 4 week period. The three books, Parable of the Sower, MWF Seeking BFF, Unthink and their descriptions are discussed in my video. I really hope you join me for the book club, if you are not interested in these there will be many more sessions to come and I’m always taking suggestions for new books and authors. Give me lots of feedback please
LIVE A ZEN LIFE.
Hi guys, I have been MIA on here for a while so I apologize I am finally settled in my apartment and summer school. I hope your spring has been great and you are charged up and ready for summer and my new uploading schedule if you don’t know already I am going to be uploading a new video 2 times a week, which means 2 blog posts a week and sometimes even more!!! So I am currently in summer school taking swimming, which is probably about the easiest class you can take in the summer time lol, but it must be done. I am actually having my cable and furniture set up right now which I think is kind of funny. So because summer is creeping up on us and I have been swimming in chlorine 4 times a week for the last two weeks I think it only makes since to give you guys my tips on how to care for your hair while swimming. My tips are pretty simple and can be modified to your specific hair needs.
1. Always rinse your hair before entering the pool or the ocean.
It is really important to have your hair already saturated with regular water before entering the chlorine or salt water because it allows your hair to be soaked with non-damaging water and allow for less water to penetrate your hair.
2. Apply a moisturizing conditioner and a sealant after saturating your hair with water.
When in chlorine or salt water you want to keep as much moister in your hair because they are very drying to the hair. The conditioner allows your hair to stay soft and the sealant keeps it from rinsing out in the pool. For this reason it would be even more helpful to use a silicone sealant because it is not water-soluble. If you are CG try a non-silicone serum.
3. Keep your strands together
Basically its important to keep your hair up in a bun or a braid something where your ends are tucked away and your hair wont get tangled. Because salt water and chlorine are so drying they can easily tangle your hair and you will have a nightmare when detangling. I know you want to look sexy by the pool but its possible to be sexy with your hair back.
4. After you out of the pool wash your hair as soon as possible!
This is important because the longer the chlorine sits in your hair the more damage it does, especially in the sun. One important thing is that chlorine does not rinse out. Which means that a shampoo must be used whether it’s sulfate or no sulfate a cleanser with cleaning agents able to get out chlorine. But I’m going to tell you right now a regular conditioner wash will not work.
5. If you have the time Deep Condition.
Like I explained before chlorine and salt water are drying to the hair so anything to restore a good moisture balance is important.
So that’s it those are all of my tips on how to keep your hair healthy in the pools. Part of having healthy hair is being able to have the ability to be free with your hair. Don’t be afraid of the chlorine and ocean just know how to take care of your hair! Hope this helps you guys out and I’ll talk to you soon.
LIVE A ZEN LIFE
Hey Zen lifers!
I hope everyone is doing awesome! So I am so happy to say that I am officially done with my Jr year of college, on top of that my grades came out great! So I know a lot of you have been dying for me to make a hair video lately. I have been showing you guys some of the other aspects of my life that I am really interested and they will continue to appear on the blog and my YouTube channel. Don’t fret guys I still have hair videos coming your way. So Tuesday I had my hair straightened at a salon called Natural Motion here in D.C. I received really great service and my hair was/is so shiny and flowing so it was definitely worth the money. It cost $55, which is really good because I also got a conditioning treatment. I must say that it was really nice having another person wash and detangle my mane lol. So it’s been almost a week now and I am missing my curly hair a little but I am definitely going to try and stick it out just another week. I totally understand people who go back to relaxed after transitioning to natural because it is so easy, but it gets boring really fast (at least it does for me). So I will say I have found a few split ends and I just snipped them off, it is pretty convenient being able to see single strand knots and split ends easier while straight. I am very pleased with the length it’s boob length in the front and bra strap length in the back (btw I hate the names for determining hair length they are silly to me)! It has been a year and six months since I did the big chop and a lot of people wonder how I grew my hair from about 4 inches to the length it is now in a little over a year. All I can say is that I stayed away from heat, I kept a semi flexible regimen, and I was serious about deep conditioning my hair. That is really it; I didn’t protective style, I didn’t take any crazy vitamin or potions, I eat clean and do the basics of hair care that’s it! I always say do what is best for you, so many people will say that wash and goes are not good for your hair growth or you can’t use certain products. This is your life and your hair journey and you should try whatever you want to do what is best for you. I hope everyone out there Listens to your heart and your body and your hair, I wholeheartedly believe that your body is smarter than we think and that we should listen to it all of the time instead of masking its signals. With that said
LIVE A ZEN LIFE!
Heyyyyy everyone what’s the dealio! I am so excited to be back on the blog life has been quite hectic. This upcoming week is the last week of university, I have 10pg papers I have Quizzes, exams… THE WORKS! So if you can imagine I haven’t had the most time for blogging and vlogging but you better believe the day I am done with all things school related we are kicking things into high gear. (I am doing summer school classes, but not a full course load only a few classes) So be excited because I’m excited and we have lots to come. This weeks video I did a ZIY, there are going to be lots of ZIY’s this summer I have so many ideas. I studded out some denim shorts that I got and let me tell you studding is probably the easiest thing in the world. They look super cute and the whole thing was really inexpensive. I believe I spent $35 on the shorts and $3 on the studs + shipping, not bad huh? So if you don’t want to spend $80 on studded jeans then just make them yourself! I know I said last time that I would be blogging more frequently but I didn’t expect my work to pile up so fast I even missed yoga today that’s how busy I am (It’s serious lol). Anywho I’m back now
LIVE A ZEN LIFE
Hey Guys, It;s been a while I know I know but school is seriously so crazy right now that would take up its own post! I cannot tell you how excited that spring is finally here officially, even though it;s still pretty chilly here in dc at lease the sun is out! Let me tell you this winter was doozy for my hair and my skin, most of you guys know that i have dry skin and it’s crazy dry in the winter but this year it was intense. Bacially if it weren’t for coconut oil and the the dream cream from lush (http://bit.ly/WqQJMU) I probably would’ve needed a skin transfusion lol. As for my hair the cold was just as brutal to it if not more. It really didnt help that my hair is just getting so much longer and everytime i get in a groove i am faced with more hair to deal with. Don’t get me wrong have growing thick hair is great but at the same time the hassle of the century! If i didn’t have the As I am coconut cowash I dont know how my hair would’ve held up. That is the lifesaver of the century! As per usual being the product junkie I am there are more products that kept me alive this winter but that’s what the video is for ;). Anywho guys I think I am going to start updating this a little more frequently… we’ll see. until then
Live a zen life.
Hey guys! I hope this week is going well for you so far. So I would say that winter is coming to a close but it is hardcore snowing outside of my window right now. I am quite glad that my university cancelled classes today but at the same time I am so ready for springtime. I am all about sundresses and skirts this spring. Don’t get me wrong though no spring/summer can go by without a plethora of high waisted shorts, my fave! Anywho today’s video I am just showing you guys the application of the ZIY deep conditioner that I made last week and froze. It had a really nice consistency but I did have a few chunky pieces that could be avoided if you strained the mixture. I am going to try in my next ZIY video to strain the mixture and see if it creates a better result, I also advise blending your mixture. My hair turned out really nice and moisturized, this winter has been brutal to my hair even though I deep condition everyday the harsh cold was stronger lol. I am definitely going to do a super duper-conditioning day before it gets too warm to prepare my hair for an equally harsh summer. Random thought but I also learned that hard water is really detrimental for curly hair and can keep it from being moisturized! Crazy right and DC is in the top 10 cities in the US for hard water. Needless to say I will be getting a showerhead filter soon. So I hope you enjoy the video and let me know if you try it out! If it’s snowing where you are stay warm.
Zen HairLife 