Last Day to Give A Lump of Coal for the Holidays. That's Right, Coal.

Are you still struggling to think of a great gift for someone on your list? How about a lump of coal? Okay, it isn't just any lump of coal. Each little box of coal makes life brighter better for 5 families in Haiti. Here's why:

The Adventure Project Holiday Stove Campaign from The Adventure Project on Vimeo.

A $100 donation brings 5 stoves to women in Haiti and a little gift wrapped box of coal with a booklet explaining the project to a special someone in your life. Each box of coal is tied to 5 specific stoves and updates will be sent when the stoves are built and again when they are sent.

A $20 donation will provide a stove for 1 family. If you chose that amount, you can send one of The Adventure Project's great e-cards to the person you chose to honor with your donation.

Today is the last day to order the box of coal for Christmas delivery, but you can be a serious last minute shopper with an e-card. Click here to chose to send a box of coal or to send an e-card.  If you'd just like to make a donation to provide a stove, or two, or three to a woman, or women, in Haiti, click here All donations to The Adventure Project are 100% tax deductible. 

Happy Holidays!

One Big Swirly Cornrow

I've discovered a whole new way of making a ton of extra work for myself. It was actually really easy. I simply took Little B for a good trim, did a wash and go the next morning, and didn't get around to detangling for about four days. How did this make extra work? The lack of detangling shortly after her cut meant that all bits of hair that were trimmed off and didn't fall to the floor or get washed out, got stuck in her curls. When I finally detangled, it took me three hours. Clever of me, wasn't it?

Since I knew we were in for a marathon detangling session before we even sat down, I also knew we wouldn't have the patience or energy for a fancy or time-consuming hair style. Before I even touched the comb to her head, I had to decide how to style. That's when I've remembered this curvy cornrow style we featured in a Saturday Spotlight in 2010. The cornrows in that style were small, but I thought the idea of continuous, curvy cornrows would lend itself well to larger cornrow style too. Larger cornrows meant we'd be finished faster and I wanted to see I could do her whole head in one cornrow without making a spiral pattern.

I started by dividing the hair into three horizontal sections. The part lines weren't great at this point, or at any point - as the photos would later reveal, because there were some major tangles in the way. I worked around the tangles when dividing the hair, making the sections wherever the hair would easily part. I detangled each of the the three sections in turn, putting each finished bit into a twist to keep it detangled and stretch the hair just a bit.

I cleaned up the part line between section one and section two, deciding to make it a wavy part for more a more interesting look, and began to braid. I added styling cream and cornrowed from the right side to the left.

When I reached the left side, I clipped the cornrow near the scalp to hold it (red circle). I also clipped the end of each braid section to keep the hair from puffing out and to keep these strands separate (white circles).

Next, I removed all the twists from section two and cleaned up the part line between section two and three. I added styling cream to section two to prepare it for braiding. I carefully removed the clips and gathered the braid sections in my hands. I turned my hands in the direction I wanted the cornrow to go and began braiding, incorporating the hair from section two. To make a cornrow curve, turn your hands in the direction you want the cornrow to go. Once the braid curved from section one to section two, I braided up and over her head. 

I repeated the pattern in the third section, but this time when I came to the end, I braided the rest of the hair to form a little braided tail. I took the tail and laid it down along the hairline. 

I used a bobby pin to secure the very end of the tail to the hair in section three. This created a little loop, so I used an extra bobby pin or two to secure the loop to her head. 

We decorated with a korker and she had an easy style that is still going strong. I'm spritzing it and changing the decoration daily. I did a tiny bit of cream leave-in in the middle of the week; I sort of patted it in. She got a few compliments on this one and we liked it too. 

How Much is Enough?

I took the girls to have their hair trimmed the other day. None of us have had trims in months because our stylist, and dear friend, just had two cute, sweet babies and we didn't want to put our hair in anyone else's hands. When she was ready to go back to work, we signed right up. Within the first few minutes of our appointment, she voiced the question I've been turning over in my mind lately. She wanted to know how long I was planning on letting the girls' hair get. She needed to know how much we were comfortable cutting, but it was also clear that both girls' hair reached a point where it was time to make a decision about length and manageability.

In the natural hair world, we place a lot of emphasis on growth, retaining length, and measuring success in terms of inches. We talk less about when to say enough. For some people, growing their hair or their daughter's hair as long as possible is the goal. And if that works, that's great. Little R, Little B, our wonderful stylist, and I are all in agreement - that isn't right for us. Little R told me when her hair is longer, it's in her way a lot of time. Little B told me she prefers her hair "short" too. The girls have made the connection between longer hair and the time it takes to care for it as well. Anything approaching a foot long means a lot of extra time detangling, especially for Little B.

So we cut it. It's not drastic, but it is a noticeable difference. We decided that Little R's hair is best at about shoulder length or slightly below, and that's after shrinkage. Little B's hair works well for us at about nine inches. In a wash and go, that length skinks up to between three or four inches. Those lengths allow me to style just about anything without worrying about how to incorporate a tremendous amount of hair. These lengths should also keep our washing and styling sessions to a few hours. The plan for now is to keep their length right about here, which we'll do with more frequent trims.

Little R before

Litte R after

Little B just after her trim. I wanted to show a before and after, but the nature of her curl pattern makes it challenging to show changes in length of only a couple inches without stretching pieces to their full length, against a tape measure. I'm not that organized. 

How about you, do you have a length limit for your hair or your daughter's? 

And She's Back, Maybe.

One of the first things I learned about motherhood, after I learned that you really don't have to check several time a night to make sure a healthy three year old is still breathing, is that kids change. They have behavioral phases and certain preferences, and the minute you become accustomed to said behaviors and preferences, they've moved on. Things have settled down a bit for us as the girls got older. They stopped changing at breakneck speed and adjustments have come at a kinder, gentler pace. That's why the other day, when Little R did a 180, it took me by surprise. Our conversation went something like this:

Little R: Why don't you ever style my hair anymore?
Me: What? Because you told me not to.
Little R: Huh? I didn't say that.
Me: Remember when you kept asking for loose hair, or just one pony tail? Remember? You said you didn't want styles anymore? Remember?
Little R: No.
Me: How about a few weeks ago when we tried a style and you asked if we had been working on it for an hour, and it had only been a couple of minutes? You got mad and then I got mad. Do you remember that?
Little R: (shakes her head like I'm having delusions) No. I like styles. I want my hair done.

I wrote about Little R's styling reluctance here back in January. I wrote about a brief respite from the styling ban here, and documented an attempt to get her used to styling again here in late summer. Despite the occasional reprieve and attempts to get back into it, she hasn't really wanted me to do anything with her hair for an entire year. I'm glad I have a record of it or I'd be questioning whether I imagined it all.

While I'm not in love with the blaming of mommy and selective memory loss, I really like that she's signaled that she's ready to try styling again. I relieved to know that preferences aren't set in stone at this age. It gives me hope that she may one day insist that she has always adored vegetables, but I just didn't serve enough, as she cheerfully munches away at a very large salad.

Good to Know: How to Say it

I order my guitar strings online. I'm embarrassed to say this, but its partly because the brand name isn't easy to pronounce. I've looked it up on the manufacture's web site, and practiced it. I think I have it, but I've realized that everyone says it differently and everyone else is just as sure of their version. I don't want to walk into the male-dominated guitar store, ask for my strings and sound like an idiot. Oh why do they always have to keep the stings behind the counter? It's totally stupid, I know, but I can't seem to put on my big girl underwear and get over it. I was thinking about that the other day when a friend asked me how to pronounce the name of a hair care product line. Some of the product line names are not easy and some of the ingredients are confusing too. In light of how embarrassing it is to mispronounce these things in front of people, I thought I'd offer a little guide on pronouncing some of the tougher natural hair product lines. I arrived at these pronunciations through a  combination of asking the companies directly, listening to them pronounce the names in videos, looking them up - and for some ingredients, listening to native speakers pronounce them.

Product lines
Alaffia: ah-LA-fee-ah
DevaCurl: diva curl
Oiudad: we-dad
Oyin: oh-yin
Qhemet: KIM-mit
Taliah Waajid: ta-lee-ah wah-heed

Ingredients
Baobab: bayo-bab (oil that comes from the African Baobab tree)
Cupuaçu: coopa-wah-sue  (butter from the topical rainforest Cupuaçu tree)
Jojoba: ho-HO-ba
Kukui: ku-kuwee (oil that comes from the Hawaiian KuKui nut tree)
Rhassoul: rah-sool (Moroccan clay, sometimes used for the hair)
Shea: shay
Ylang ylang: e-lang e-lang (an essential oil)

Anyone have another brand name or natural ingredient you'd like to see included, just add it in the comments and I'll do my best to figure out how to pronounce it. 

5 Minute Updo

I know many of you like quick and simple styles as much as I do, especially in this busier-than-usual season, so I thought I'd share this one. It's classic and maybe a little old-fashioned, and it will work on any age. There are no parts to made for this one, and it doesn't require any special know how or tools. The hair can be damp or totally dry. It's a style for longer hair, but it can be done with any curl pattern. Tightly coiled hair would need to be stretched first though. It would be perfect style to use between a braid or twist out and wash day. Here's how to do this 5 minute updo.

You'll need: a few regular bobby pins; a decorative barrette, clip, or bobby pin; and a little bit of product with hold. A spray bottle filled with tap water is optional. 

Begin with loose hair. The hair should be able to be separated into sections, but does not need to be fully detangled. Dry hair will produce a style that shows off the curl pattern a bit more and produces a fuller-looking style. Spritzing the hair with water will allow the style to be sleek and compact. In either case, add a bit of holding product to the hair. This can be a cream, a gel or a pomade. The following photos show the style on dry hair with styling cream. 

Starting on one side, make sure the hair is hanging down, or draw it down, toward the ear. Using just your fingers, take hold of a section of hair. Keep a loose grip here; this style doesn't have any part lines, so be sure the hair you aren't unintentionally creating one as you gather this section. Separate this section from the rest of the hair only up to the hairline.

At the base of the hairline, near the ear, begin to twist the section of hair. Twist the entire section in one direction, the full length of the hair, creating one large coil.

Working around the head, add additional sections by drawing them straight down and under the coil, and then up over on the outside. Marry the new section to the existing coil by twisting the newly added hair in the same direction as the coiled hair. Resist the urge to pull the hair too tightly across the scalp or twist it tightly in the coil. If it is pulled tightly, the curl pattern won't be visible and strange part lines may be created. As you add to the coil, try to keep it sitting low on the head and following the natural curve of the hairline. Position your hands in the direction you want to the coil to go. 

When you run out of hair to add, you should be on the opposite side of the head. Bring the tail of the coil to the front of the hairline. Secure it with a decorative barrette, clip or bobby pin. Leave a few curls loose at the very end.

Use bobby pins to tuck in any loose bits along the coil or to make sure it is as secure as possible. You're done! Now you have a very simple, sweet coil that took about about 5 minutes. 

This morning we did this style again on slightly damp hair and used a gel. 

The roll here is just a little smoother and more compact. It's fun to experiment and see how different conditions produce different results, even with the same style.

I took the last few curls and brought them around the korker so they were tucked in.

Happy quick styling!