Afro Hair and beauty Live

As some of you may know. The annual Afro hair and beauty show will be taking place this May in London. It's an event that showcases great hair and beauty products. I've attended one before, in fact modeled for it! It was a lot of fun and as I can't attend this year (Munich bound)...i thought it would be great if a reader could.  This isn't a giveaway as such... i have 2 free tickets and would love if two lovely people could go and give me feedback as to how it went. A few pics would be great too..almost like representing LYT :)

The show takes place on May 29th. More info can be found on the site.

All you have to do is drop me an email saying you'd like a ticket. Again there's 2 up for grabs and only one per person. The first 2 emails will be the ones that receive the tickets.

eaudefiona@loveyourtresses.com

x edF

My Kitchen: Carrot and Potato soup

Happy new week! Can you believe its February already? Crazy crazy crazy!

Month of love and that! What are you doing for Valentines day? 

So... today, got back from work and decided it was time for a food blog and what better than cream of carrot soup. not exactly everyones fave..but i do believe i jazzed it up and made it a hit. P.s it was my first time and i really do have to spud myself because it was...
 A-mazing! 
*big smile*

I took the recipe from www.cooks.com - it had no ratings and was very simple but i went for it anyway. p.s it really was a freestyle so bare with my quantity definitions! 

Ingredients:
     2 carrots, peeled and then grated
     2 chicken stock cubes

2 big tablespoons of butter

1 onion finely chopped

1 dash of thyme seasoning

1 sprinkle of chives 

Salt

A few dashes of pepper

Fresh Parsley

1 potato thinly sliced

A dash of cinnamon

A splash of single cream

Method:

*Melt butter in pan then add sliced onions. Cook onions in butter until soft, then add grated carrot and sliced potato. Stir. Add stock cubes, chives, salt, pepper, parsley and cinnamon. Stir. Add mug and a half of water. Cover pot and allow broth to cook up until carrots and potatoes are soft.

*When carrots and potatoes are soft remove from broth and pour into processor or blender. 

*Once blended return to stove and allow to heat for 1 minutes on lowest heat.

*Finally serve and add cream as desired.

*You can also add pre-cooked chicken strips or beef strips to spice it up!

P.s- its not your typically Jamie Oliver ingredient list or method but it does work!

x edF

Love From Marrakech x

I made a 1 man trip to Marrakech last week! Beautiful country..especially for an architecture fan like myself... here are a few pics...  x

Ma chambre

House boy!

secret stairway...who dares...

Riad lobby

S

Saadian Tombs 

Bahia palace

New Medina

New Medina

Shopping for the brave
The one and only souks!

x edF

Diary of a fake German

Growing up in an afro/british household ...emphasis on afro! There were 3 major rules ... excel in school, respect your parents and be a great Christian. Of course under this umbrella came a million and one other responsibilties..cook, clean, and again cook clean. 

One thing that was never really emphasised growing up was exploring the world. To an extent this was a bonus my father emphasized would follow if i were to excel in school, but besides that the idea of taking a gap year to explore the jungle of Timbuktu! Twas  unheard of!

Nevertheless this idea never appealed to me anyway. In fact the morals my parents were adamant to transfer became those which i learned to cherish and actually embrace as if i had created them myself.

Now i find myself in Munich working for a year... and what better than it be part of my degree! Muhahaha daddy...looks like i found a plan somehow! With weekends all to myself i choose to explore what i can... here's what i got up to last week!

Munich 2011 Supermodel Contest

Did the right girl win?

Me n my Zushka x

next beauty step: oil control eurgh!

x edF

Tumblr

We now have a tumblr account guys... as much as i love reading about hair, i'm also a sucker for just admiring beautiful pictures of hair, so here it is... our very own 'Love Your Tresses' hair portal...

http://loveyourtresses.tumblr.com/

x edF

LYT Give---away Winner!

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Hey peeps...

 feels like i blogged the other day but reality check that was last week hmmm..don't know what happened there!

 

The LYT Giveaway ended yesterday... i guess no one is really like me when it comes to freebies but hey!

 I received some great entries via email... and one especially made me take a deep breath and smile.

 

Just for re-cap here's the question that was asked:

'What does your hair say about who you are?' 

Here is the winners response:

'Hair... a four letter word. Nothing amazing like melancholy... in fact its monosyllabic. Its not vibrant its not fruity...its just hair. But in the depth of its simplicity it tells my one and only story... it finishes the person i am ... it completes me. You see just like the word i too am simple. I breathe, i work, i laugh, i cry... i grow... but simple simply isn't simple. Its derived from a special place... was carefully thought about and made perfectly for its purpose, just like my hair.

No I am not my hair...but my hair makes me... each strand = my being, and thats what my hair says about who i am... it says i am Me.'

 

Natalie thank you for such an in depth and thought about response. I hope you continue to cherish your hair and it cherish you :)  

x edF

Greenhouse effect Regime-Real Queens

Word on the street is the new way forward is via the Real Queens regime a.k.a Greenhouse effect.

Before you watch the video, I think this is a fantastic method to try and include in your regime. I've just started to incorporate it and can happily say my hair is super soft...like for real for real!

Real Queens Regime

Here's a breakdown of the 'Greenhouse effect' as stated on the 'Real Queens Regime' site

'GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

• On damp or dry hair apply a generous amount of JBCO or EVOO throughout your hair (or how ever much you can tolerate) making sure to coat the ends in the oil to create a protective barrier against pollution, fabrics, dryness ect.
• This regimen works well with various protective hairstyles such as bantu knot outs and braid outs, so once you’ve oiled your hair you can prep it accordingly depending on how you plan to style it the next day.
• Place shower cap or plastic bag over your hair to lock in the moisture from your scalps natural oils and heat from your head. This creates a green house, steam effect during your sleep which is the best time for your hair growth in this case.
• Place a head tie/scarf over your head & shower cap making sure that it’s nice and snug; for best results also wear a winter hat over your scarf to help produce more heat.
  In the morning you may find that your hair is a bit damp from the moisture the steam effect created.
• You can either blow dry it on cool setting, let it air dry a bit (about 15 mins) before styling, or go ahead and style it while it’s still damp and let it dry as the day progresses.

* if you don't really care for the JBCO smell, you should definitely try the Shea Oil with Mango & Papaya it will make your hair smell amazing or you can simply use EVOO from your local grocery store, it's much cheaper!'

WHAT'S THE POINT, WHAT DOES IT DO?
The whole point of the entire Real Queens Regimen is to eliminate the process of using hair products that contain chemicals and start using the natural things that God created to help grow your hair…as you can see from my progress pictures, the green house effect helps to promote hair growth by creating a natural warm steamy environment that enables the natural oils from your scalp to come out and help your hair grow...it's also great for dryness because of all the moisture produced   ISN'T THE GREEN HOUSE EFFECT JUST BAGGYING?
Baggying involves using a moisturizer (which contains chemicals) and a plastic cap to help retain moisture and hydrate your hair. The green house effect is mainly to help promote hair growth in a natural way as well as restore moisture.
CAN I USE A BONNET INSTEAD OF A HEAD WRAP/SCARF?
The whole point of tying your head after putting on the plastic cap is to trap the heat that your head produces to create that "green house effect". I don't sweat very easily so I find that for me I get the best results when I tie my head with my scarf then I put on my warm hat, but you can do whatever works for you. someone mentioned that they use their satin bonnet then they put their beanie (hat) over it, and that worked for them. The main goal is to get your head to sweat a little, and you'll know if you did it right if you wake up in the morning and take the plastic cap off and see little drops of water in it and your hair is a little damp   DO YOU HAVE TO WASH THE OIL OUT?
no, you don't...the point is to not wash out the oil. It's not like a hot oil treatment where it needs to be rinsed out. simply style your hair as usual and repeat the green house effect as often as possible.   DO YOU HAVE TO REAPLY THE OIL EVERY TIME?
It depends, some peoples hair absorbs oil more then others. I find that sometimes (when i do the regimen every night) my hair still has a good amount of oil in it from the previous night so i don't need to reaply and i just skip the oil and put the shower cap on and tie my head.   DO YOU PUT ANYTHING ON YOUR SCALP?
No. The green house effect causes your scalps natural oils to come out so you want these natural oils that God created to do the job. There's no need to oil your scalp directly just put the evoo on your hair   DO YOU STILL MOISTURIZE AND SEAL?
because i only use natural products in my hair I moisturize with water and seal with evoo   CONCERNED WITH MY HAIR BEING DAMP IN THE MORNING...
your hair won't be WET just a little damp because of the moisture...when you apply a moisturizer in your hair the key ingredient is water so your hair feels a little moist...same concept...your hair will feel moist. I use water when doing the green house effect because i prefer it that way so my hair usually air dries in 15 minutes. you don't have to use water though that way your hair won't be as damp when you take the cap off.

article source: http://realqueens.ning.com/group/haircareskincare/forum/topics/real-queens-regimengreenhouse

let me know what you think...will you be trying this?

Regimen Building

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It's still the start of the year and i know many of you want to create really good hair regimens that you can stick to. I have a previous post on regimes for newbies but its a bit premature so here's the new one :)

First things first i present my idea of a basic regimen...

1. Pre poo (a.k.a treatment pre shampooing)

2. Shampoo or co/wash (alternate...try to shampoo when hair has build up, otherwise co wash)

3. Deep condition (always)

Dry hair with cloth

4. Leave-in conditioner

5. Heat protectant ( if about to blowdry or rollerset) then finally...

5. Scalp nourishment (e.g Castor oil)

6. M n S (moisturize and seal)

However... in the i want thick or long hair quick world...much more commitment is required. So in addition to your basic hair regime here are a few things that i believe enhance your hair journey if done properly and consistently. I present the 'promoters'!

*Baggying

*Scalp massages

*Green House effect method- NEW!-next blog post

*Castor oil challenge mix

*Ayurvedic deep condition/ Hot oil treatment

I'm sure your wondering how in the world it's really realistic to apply all of these to your regime... hair care shouldn't be strenuous right.?!..

Personally it depends on commitment. Looking after my hair makes me happy therefore i see it more as a step rather than hindrance. I never beat myself up or forcefully apply each of the so called 'promoters'. The easiest way to approach a basic regime as well as add the 'promoters' is to create a fixed plan...lol regime i guess!

Here's some insight into how your girl does it...

(i've broken it down into 4 weeks because my 2011 hair regime as you know, is broken down into 4 weeks)...but as i was saying...

Week 1

* During week 1 of my hair regime i make sure i baggy my hair at least twice in that week. 

* 2/3 times in the week i apply the 'Castor oil challenge mix' and massage it into my scalp. 

- Therefore i have already done 3 things on the 'promoter' list in that week, as well as following my basic regime!

Week 2

* 2/3 times in the week i apply the 'Castor oil challenge mix' and massage it into my scalp. 

* On my wash day I do an 'Ayurvedic deep condition' which i would say is also a hot oil treatment (due to the mix i create!) 

* Use Greenhouse effect method every other day, otherwise M 'n' S.

- Therefore again i have already done 3 things on the 'promoter' list as well as my basic regime!

Week 3 is the same as week 1 and week 4 the same as week 2

x edF