Food, Hair, and School Update- Mobile Style

HEYYYYY! I've been kinda busy lately. I've been itching to blog about food because I've been trying out some really cool recipes. But I don't have time. Unless you want photos from my camera phone and I post recipes with them? Let me know if you want the recipes or a link to where the recipe can be found and I'll be more than happy to share!

Anyway, I just wanted to share that I am currently FIFTY FIVE credits away from graduation!!!!!! I am not sure how long it will take me, but I am happy to have a concrete number. As far as my classes now, I have a test tonight, and a midterm next week. Why the hell am I here? Because I am sharing an update with you all(procrastinating). You've been very kind and supportive of my journey. I try not to talk about it too much, because talking about any one subject all the time gets tiresome....though I don't know when to shut up about food.

My hair? So far no breakage. I started doing twist outs,  then I put mini(and mean mini) pineapples in at night as they were quicker than twisting and  it stretched my hair way better. Then I just got really busy and I do wash and gos every.single.day. lol. I am def going to need a trim soon!

                                 Ordered this from target! LOVE THEM!

Next Day after using the Keratin Deep Condition

I wash and go every damn day. So shiny and crazy!

OK can't post a blog without photos!

Food from my mobile. I cook breakfast almost everyday. I also prepare dinner earlier in the day so my husband can finish it when he comes home. That way he and the kids have fresh homemade dinners every day. My husband is also eating less carbs so we're trying a variety of new dishes with less carbs.
                                 Avocado Egg Cups

                                 
                                 Mini Frittata

                                 Avocado Egg Cups with Chorizo

                                 Avocado Egg Cups with Chorizo and Homemade Salsa

Cowboy Breakfast for my man, Bison Steaks and Eggs

                                  My little man helping make Almond Flour pancakes

                                 My son's favorite burger- Beef and mushroom burgers

I've made some great waffles but I have to say, Yeast Waffles are the BEST!!!

                                 Yeast pancakes!! Just in case you don't have a waffle iron

                                 Gluten Free Coconut-Blueberry Waffles

                                 Bacon, Egg, Toast cups

                                 Egg, Bacon, (McMom)Muffin

Gluten Free Almond Pancakes! Great but a bit eggy tasting but the family loved them. Will def experiment with this

I just want to thank you all for the support. I rarely lookk at blog stats, and being a wishy washy blogger I always expect to see maybe 10 views maybe even 25 at the most on my post, but it seems like you still kinda care. Thank you! I will try to keep up with any blog. Y'all know you will see at least 10 in a night. 

Black Hair Salons in Germany Rant

Sunday morning, as I turned the shower knobs, I said a short prayer. "Lord, please let my curls return. Please let my curls return, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let my curls return."

Why in the world would I say this? Let's rewind back a couple of months.

As much as I love my natural hair, I wanted a big of change. The easiest, dramatic change I knew of besides braids or weaves was coloring. But I wasn't sure if it was good idea as adding color to hair can be quite drying and I struggle with dry natural hair all the time. So I waited it out. Finally after drooling at you tubers with colored hair, and reading about one of my hair crushes dyed her own TWA (teeny weeny afro) I decided to make an appointment this past Monday for not only a color, but also a straightening. As I watched numerous times on YouTube, I thought a deep conditioning, blow out and then flat iron was a standard even in professional salons. So I wasn't that worried, just anxious to see how much my natural hair has grown.

So I make my appointment for 12:30 pm, Saturday.

All week, not only was a worried about imminent damage to my hair, but I was also worried about whether or not I will be able to pay for classes (a whole other story). So the thought of having some alone time at the salon was not so bad.

About 12:10 I call the salon telling "one" of the stylists that I was on my way. She said something I really hope she wouldn't but was definitely in the back of my mind, "Oh take your time, I am running late anyway!"

Shit!

This has been my experience at each and every salon I've ever been to get my hair done here in Germany. I either have to wait an hour to 2 hours to get my hair done, or I while I am getting my hair done, I have to wait in the sink, long after the dryer has stopped while the hairdresser tends to another customer. I have no problem with them doing maybe 1 girl while I wait but 2 or more is ridiculous. I know there are not a lot of black salons in Germany, we don't have much of choice when we want our hair to have a professional touch, but dammit have some time management skills. Call the client in advance to work a different appointment time and most of all, don't do an half assed job on my hair as a result.

I drove off to my appointment at 12:20 and got there at 12:35 thinking/foolishly optimistically hoping that the delay can't be that long. NO. She was alone with 2 clients while I sat and waited. Then after she was finished with the other women, she left for about an half-hour. THEN sat and ate some bread. So I waited 2 and a half hours to get my hair done. Why? Because I wasn't really do much that day and I really wanted the colornd wasn't confident that I'd do a good job on my hair myself.

So finally she starts and nicely offered water and gets started. She's very nice and offered products for dry hair like mine annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd some other clients come in. A ONE woman salon (which I didn't know!). She rushes through, and then had me sit under a steamer while my hair was deep conditioning. Fine. But then she rinses, the client's mother wants a hair cut. So I get stuck under the hair dryer and my hair goes from soft to hair as hard as cement. I am worried. And I get more worried when she busts out the hot comb. I never had my hair hot combed and googled the effects. It's no more worse than a flat iron, and she's a professional she knows what she's doing.....right? She's going through my hard hair and raking the hot comb though. It feels crunchy and it's saying to me, "Soommmmerrrrr whyyyyyyyyyy!" Then I guess the crown of my head is coarser so now she busts out the hair dryer on full blast and brush. Here comes the tears. Not because it hurt, but because I was sitting there watching my hair get murdered. I was just in utter shock. I feel hair being pulled from my head.  She asked when I got my last trim; I say last month! After coloring my hair and putting me under a hot dryer, of course my fine strands are sensitive to that. My goodness. So after she finally finishes, with the hot comb and the blow dryer on dry hair, she moves on the the flat iron. I thought I'd never see my curls again. I apologized to my hair so many times.

I did get my eyebrows done at a reduced rate and a coupon for the next time. Uh, right.

I went home and the kids, my husband, and my friend loved my stiff but straight hair. But since I was soooooo late. I was at the salon for 6 hours!!!!!!! I had to rush home, get an outfit for the night, get gas, and food. I was tired, and worried about my long lost curls. I went out that night, and luckily no smoking is allowed where we went to, so I didn't have the smoky stink in my hair. But I wanted to wash my hair so bad and I did.

I let the water drench my hair and hoped the curls would come back. SLOWLY they did. I nearly cried! I put 5 types of conditioner in my hair (yes i have that much!) because my hair felt soooooooooooooooo dry. I never had my hair feel that dry ever. I think it was mostly from the heat styling. After I finally rinsed out all of the conditioner and de-tangled, I added more conditioner in my hair and  left it in. I sort of styled and went on with my day. As my hair dried, I noticed a patch that wasn't quite curling up. HEAT DAMAGE. :-(((((( It's wavier than straight, but definitely damaged. I immediately went to the commissary (I think the commissary's hair products are better than px's) and picked up the whole line of NEXXUS's shampoo, conditioners, leave-ins, and frizz spray for color treated/damaged hair. It cost me a pretty penny, but I was desperate.

I was sleep-deprived and even more pissed at the stylist. All she had to do was manage time better and this wouldn't have happened. She could have called and asked that I come in a couple hours later. Rushing through and messing my hair isn't worth losing a potential long time customer. My husband and I agreed that I'd get my hair trimmed and deep conditioned at the salon up the street from me. I did some research and read going to a salon that doesn't specialize in black hair is fine as well. They don't have to style (I am sure there are stylist who can) I just want monthly trims and a goooooood deep conditioning. I did my research with the salon I went to and everyone seemed to like it. I thought there would be more than one stylist there. But I was not happy. I wanted to make a bitchier rant last night, but I was very tired and I was probably crankier, too.

I love my hair color, though and the heat damage is easy to mask. I just don't think I will be going to the same salon again.

Here is me before going to the salon:

Here is after--frizzy from literally running around afterward

went out for drinks with a friend, but you can see the length. After chopping my hair nearly bald 9 months ago, it's grown a lot. It's flipped yes I look like the mom from the Brady bunch, but my hair grew pretty fast although she cut at least an inch off!

All washed out the morning after! you can't see the heat damage here, but there's a small patch on the right side :-(

What would you have done. Anyone else have bad salon experiences! Please share! Thanks for reading this rant.

Going back to School Blues!

Hello all! I am sorry I haven't updated you all on my family's hair journeys. Things have been busy around here. Plus, my children love to use the computers or any electronic device, and I don't get much time on the computer or my mobile anyway. I have to snatch away a device for a few mins to update my FB ;) I have neglected pinterest and even instagram! Anyway, right now I have the computer to myself since I  have to pay lovely, lovely bills. Blegh.

So,  wanted to share with you all that I will be going back to school after an 8 year.....er break. After not focusing on my classes the last semester I was in school, I left. I didn't have to, but I did it because I thought it'd make my father the happiest if I joined the AF anyway.

 The benefit of joining the air force was that I'd get financial help if I decided to go to school. After my time was up in the Air Force, I was pregnant and married with a 1 year old. The thought of going back to school scared me to death. After my daughter was a bit older and sleeping 13 hours a day ( NOT A TYPO!) and my husband was back from his deployment, I was ready to get back into school. Theeeeeeeeeeeeeen. I got pregnant....we sort of planned to have another one but a year later when I was back into the school routine and couldn't quit lol. But we got pregnant earlier than expected, then I got too scared.

 We moved to a new city, and my son was a bit a of a handful so I let fear takeover me again. When we moved, I talked to the education adviser a few times, but never followed through. Then I started to doing this blog and realized how much work was putting into it (when I posting regularly) and realized I could put this energy and then some towards school. I was hesitant at first, but after talking to mom a few times about my educational plans, I believed the time was now. I finally sent off my forms to the VA and after a nearly 2 month wait, I got the certificate!! I went to the education office applied for school and tonight I am registering for classes. I was really excited, but now I am terrified. The first two weeks of school, my husband will not be home. I have a class I take in person and another one online (easing my way back) So I have to juggle school, children, keeping a nice-ish, eh who I am kidding, keeping the home from burning down, taking my son to school, my daughter and son to gymnastics/ballet my word.

Anyone else return to school after a long hiatus? How did you deal? What kind of online courses did you take? Any recommendations on how to juggle everything. I am a nervous wreck.



If you do not follow my FB page, I shared some photos from a photoshoot I did with some friends and a fabulous photographer and owner of the wonderful blog www.palatepassport.com. PLEASE go there. You won't want to leave. Everything from food to travel to photography...all beautiful.

The Curly Girls and Guys! Part 1

I cut my hair last October in order to wear my natural curls. Some of you are thinking, "Sommer, why would you cut your hair off to do that?" Well, some women are able to transition (grow their hair out with relaxed ends which they cut off after their natural hair grew to the length they wanted) for however long they wanted, but me, I was quite terrible with hair...and well, lazy, so I just cut my hair off.  My hair was super short almost bald. My hair has grown nicely over 9 months with a lot of trial and error hair care. But along the way I learned A LOT and I am still learning. I think my children's hair, especially my daughter's, has benefited from my research. In fact, we are embarking on The Curly Girl Method. I found out about this via youtube from a Vlogger named MahoganyCurls. I am trying hard not to play constantly in my hair and just let it go and I think this will be very beneficial for me since I suck at most of the natural hairstyles. Maybe when my curls grow I can try some new styles, but for now, I just condition wash, do hot oil treatments, seal (use a leave-in conditioner and then seal with an oil) and recently, fell in love with eco-styler gel to define my curls. I also use sulfate-free shampoo after I get home from the pool....I usually do an hot oil treatment first, then shampoo, and deep condition.


My dry hair pulled back with an ouchless band by Goody. Yesterday I did an hot oil treatment, washed it with a sulfate free shampoo, deep conditioned leaving the cap on overnight, I then rinsed added a leave-in and and defined my curls using Eco-Styler Clear gel. It's grown in 9 months, but looks super short because my curls, like most kinky curls, are prone to massive shrinkage....which is neat and frustrating at times.





My husband got this shot of me outside my daughter's room monitoring her as she cleaned lol. Oily forehead is coconut oil I added some to my hair when I was making the grocery list lol.





OK back to the Curly Girl Method. The method is shampoo-free, flat-iron, most heat (except for occasional  use of diffuser (to prevent frizz and damage) to dry when in a hurry. Here is a complete overview of this method I found to be helpful without purchasing the book- yet. This method is great for all curly/wavy hair types. Will show this as I am incorporating this method with my family of curlies. My husband has straight/wavy hair, but it gets very dry so I think this will help him immensely.


Today I gave this a try with my whole family. Check out the photos below. If you have any questions, or suggestions, please feel free to comment below or on FB/twitter and I will be more than happy to answer or thank your for for your help!


Here we go!


I started by washing my daughter's (as well as my sons and husband's) hair with a sulfate-free shampoo as we went swimming the previous day and I wanted all the gunk out. From now on, will use conditioner only.



Found this (the last one) on sale at the PX! Was so happy



Next I conditioned and also detangled starting at the ends on up. I used Organix conditioner with argon oil. I love that conditioner because her tangles literally melted away. I am always ok with that. And it's silicone free.






De-tangling



My son's





Next I rinsed and added some leave-in conditioner to all their hair.



My son combing it through lol



Then my daughter shaking her hair to help air-dry. You can also scrunch which we did. A microfiber towel or t-shirt is recommended, but a regular ol towel is OK for now.




To their semi-wet curls, I added regular clear eco-styler gel. Just a small amount is good!



My eldest



My husband's






My daughter's hair semi-dry



Her hair fully dry!
Less frizzy for sure. I can't wait to see all their hair change over-time!



Will update with day 2 or 3 hair if it makes it to then!!!


Thank your for reading!!! Anyone else doing this? Any product recommendations? I loved seeing the before and afters on NaturallyCurly.com! Check them out here