Category: Articles

Why Perms Are Afraid of Water

55bbba8913bb130476c921638a3be69aThis is part two in a three part series.

Read Part Three Here: Why Natural Hair is Dehydrated

Read Part One Here: Hair and the Nervous System

If you don’t know about the health deficiencies of the relaxer by now, then you just don’t know. Perms and relaxers have been a long time favorite of many women, but this beauty regimen comes at a high price – hair breakage, scalp irritation, stunted hair growth, and even permanent hair loss.*

The government name for the perm is Sodium Hydroxide, a dangerous chemical that eats away at any part of the body that it contacts, including hair. It is a powerful chemical known as lye and caustic soda and is found in many industrial solvents and cleaners, including flooring stripping products, brick cleaners, types of cement, and many others. It can also be found in certain household products, including:

• Drain cleaners
• Metal polishes
• Oven cleaners

The interesting thing about the drain cleaner is that the Sodium Hydroxide helps clear away the hair often found corked at the bottom of bathtubs and sinks. What does this have to do with the hair on our heads? While it’ll take quite some time to explain all of the information concerning the harmful effects of the perm, let us focus on the topic at hand, why are perms so afraid of water?

We’ve all been there. You just got your hair lyed, dyed, and laid to the side! What the beautician just did to your hair is nothing short of amazing. But you can’t get it wet. You can’t go swimming, and heaven help you when it rains!

Our hair is made up of layers. The outer layer protects the hair shaft. When the layer of protection is damaged with the use of chemical relaxers, this causes the ends of your hair to split. This damage can travel up the hair shaft and cause hair breakage, resulting in damaged uneven hair. Some say to trim the ends, but the truth is that perms and relaxers are quite jealous of the hair’s natural state so it promotes split ends. They dry the ends of your hair and wear down the protective layer.

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Relaxers in African American hair work by allowing the chemicals to break the protein bonds in the hair to change its shape and make course hair straight. But by breaking the bonds that give hair its strength, it is left weak and vulnerable (poor hair). So when water hits the already weakened hair bonds, they become like useless limp strings. It also weakens the hair follicle, making relaxed hair more susceptible to breakage.307988-61011-30The hair has a particular wave pattern that is held by two sets of physical side bonds and a set of chemical side bonds. The physical side bonds are not as strong but are more numerous, while the chemical side bonds are much stronger, but there are fewer. Because of this, someone with permed hair is recommended to wait a few days before shampooing or wetting the hair to allow the hair time to “normalize” and fully adjust to the new wave patterns.

Perms change the shape and texture of the hair through the use of strong chemicals. Your perm is afraid of water because it is as if it just had surgery and needs time to heal and adjust to the new pattern.

#Book #Review by Anna Kopp “Beyond the Colored Line” by Yecheilyah Ysrayl

Special Thank You to Anna Kopp for this wonderful Review. Beyond The Colored Line is Available now in Print, Amazon Kindle, B&N NOOK, Kobo, iTunes and Google Play.

View this Review on Goodreads

#Book #Review Stella Book 1: Between Slavery and Freedom by Lisa Tetting

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Stella is a story that resonates with me and challenged the sensibilities of people who judge others based on the color of their skin. It starts with Cynthia and her boyfriend Alex discussing the fact that Alex is not as invested in the relationship as she would like for him to be. Cynthia wants him to meet her beloved grandmother Stella, but he is not amendable. They instead go to an after-hours spot to get something to eat and meet up with a friend in the parking lot. It becomes apparent that both Alex and Cynthia strongly dislike black people.

Eventually, after some months Alex agrees to meet the grandma. We are introduced to a charming elderly lady in her 80s who loves her granddaughter, but dislikes the boyfriend. Stella overhears them talking negatively about blacks and decides they need a history lesson, more so for her granddaughter than the boyfriend. We find that Stella was named for her great grandmother who was a former slave. We hear the trials and tribulations that she endured during her life on the plantation, the heritage of her family and how it came to be they eventually became known as a Caucasian family.

Cynthia’s world is turned upside down with the knowledge that she is black and Alex abandons her as a result. The lesson in this is we are all tied together in some way and God did not intend for humans to be separated simply based on skin tone.

After the story is over, the author provides a history lesson for us about the existence of slavery in the North and the misinformation we are prone to believe. She also explains how slaves chose to change their names after being set free with some great examples to back it up. – Lisa W. Tetting, Author, Blogger

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Wanderlust
Books 1 and 2 of The Stella Trilogy are available now:
literarykornerpublishing.com

*Buy 1 Get 1 Free!*

*Buy Stella Book #2: Beyond The Colored Line in paperback and receive a FREE download of Between Slavery and Freedom*

Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse – Coincidence?

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  • Is it a coincidence that The Super Blood Moon takes place surrounding the number 9, the number of judgment? (9/27 and 2+7 is 9)
  • Is it a coincidence that this season of The Strain, where Zombie like Vampires suck your blood and turn you into them, ends on the night of the Super Blood Moon?
  • Is it a coincidence that the Pope leaves on the night of the Super Blood Moon?
  • Is it a coincidence that red and blood is symbolic of war?
  • Is it a coincidence that Luna is the root word of Lunatic?
  • Is it a coincidence that The Super Blood Moon hasn’t happened and will not happen in another 33 years?
  • Is it a coincidence that I’m writing this post with intentions of watching for The Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse Tonight?
  • Is it a coincidence that there are 9 bullet points to this post?
  • Is it a coincidence that truth is stranger than fiction?

Must Reads – Richard Wright’s Native Son

“As the car lurched over the snow he lifted his eyes and saw black people upon the snow-covered sidewalks. Those people had feelings of fear and shame like his….To Bigger and his kind white people were not really people; they were a sort of great natural force, like a stormy sky looming overhead, or like a deep swirling river stretching suddenly at one’s feet in the dark. As long as he and his black folks did not go beyond certain limits, there was no need to fear that white force. But whether they feared it or not, each and every day they lived with it.”

 

15622A classic, Richard Wright’s Native Son is a powerful story about a young black man who, in a state of panic, kills a white girl. When I first read this book, I was startled and certainly unprepared for what awaited each page. It was not the murder that shocked me, it was Wrights talented description of Biggers inner turmoil, not as a murderer but as a Black man in 1930s America and the fear and shame of that alone that coincided with his actions. Not in a justifying way, but in a way that painted the picture of what it looks like when fear manifested itself into the physical; when it rose from that invisible feeling, the beating heart and sweaty hands, and into the full image of its potential. Native Son in essence shows us the danger of that kind of fear and not just the danger, but what it looks like. The image of fear wrapped in black skin, smack down in the midst of white America.

Synopsis:

“Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been assault or petty larceny; by change, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930’s, Wright’s powerful novel is an unsparing reflection on the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America.” – Book Blurb

My Pros and Cons of Autumn

Cons:

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Yea yea yea, it’s officially Autumn, so what. Today marks my least favorite time of the year for the Western part of the world. For one, I don’t celebrate holidays, so this is the time where people look at me like I got 3 eyeballs, a long green nose, and a broomstick hid away somewhere. At this time of the year flowers and pretty plants wither, and everything loses its vibrant colors and instead becomes a collection of blacks and grays.

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The trees look creepy all naked like that, someone should find some leaves to cover them. This is basically the time of year where everything dies and the Earth is cold (and I utterly despise the cold).

 

 

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But…

Pros.

What I do like about the Autumn (or what I like to call the reading) months is the peace it brings to our homes on the inside. Since were pretty much buried in, this is the time to catch up on some much needed studying. It is the time to cook foods that warm your soul like Chili, Greens, and Macaroni and Cheese fresh out the oven. And it is the time where we must turn up the heat and snuggle under the covers next to our lovers.

file(3)Speaking of cuddling, this time of the year makes movie night a lot more exciting than the summer months. In the summer, no one wants to be in the house because it’s so very nice outside. Summer is the time to get out and about and smell the fresh air. Winter and Fall however, is the time to be homebodies. A time to relax with a cup of warm tea, hot chocolate or coffee. I mean sure, you have a cup of coffee every morning but none of them can compare to the feeling of having the steamy liquid to engulf your throat when it’s bitter cold outside.

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The Fall / Winter months are also a great time to read so I will be looking to put my Fall Reading List together. I think perhaps I’ll even challenge myself to get through a certain number of books this year. My only set back is that I don’t want it to cut down on my scripture reading time so I’ll have to stick to a nice balanced schedule. I mean you know, priority is everything.

Is this time of the year exciting to you? Is it not exciting? Why? I would love to hear your pros and cons!

Dear Indie Authors: Build Your Dream Team

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Before we all tuck in this weekend (don’t you just love Fridays?), I have to share what came into my inbox today.

Timothy Pike of “Dream, Play, Write” has presented what looks to be a great opportunity for Indie Authors. I couldn’t find a re-blog button so here’s an excerpt of the post below. For the entirety, please follow the link at the end of this post. Otherwise, have a great weekend people. Rest well.

“Traditional publishers have top-notch teams of editors, graphic designers, and marketers, all ready to descend upon your manuscript, turn it into a book, and sell it.

But for the self-publisher, where does one begin?

That’s where MyDreamBookTeam comes in. Need a great editor? She’s here. A fantastic book cover designer? He’s waiting. How about writing coaches? You’ll find them here too.

It’s all about hand-picking your own “Dream Team,” so that you stay in control of your own book, yet don’t feel intimidated or overwhelmed by having to do everything yourself.

I’ll be introducing some of these professionals in this mailing in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

And if you know someone who may be in need of these services, forward this e-mail along. There will be some great deals coming your way, and many opportunities to connect with publishing professionals who will exceed your expectations as you turn that Microsoft Word document into a shiny new book on the shelf.”

>>>Check It Out Here <<