Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Friday, January 2, 2015
Happy New Year!
Shame on me! It's been so long that I have written in my blog that I couldn't remember how to sign in. What I finally realized is that I had signed in under the wrong email account. No worries! I'm good now and will be signing in more often. I have so much to share!
First, I am now The Digest Diva! Yes, you can check me out on www.thedigestdiva.com. This was a wonderful idea shared with me by Michael Damond of Cold Slap Consulting. I love reading magazines and glean so much information from them by reading the articles. While I love books (and have sometimes purchased books based on the articles read), I love magazines because I can get enough information from the articles to make me"dangerous" with knowledge in a relatively short period of time. It takes me weeks to read books but only a short period of time to read articles. So I get the information faster. I love that!
As the title of my blog post states, we are in a new year. 2015. Yesterday was the first of the year and today, my hubby celebrates 52 years of existence on this planet! Praise God! He's looking well, doing well and enjoying life! I love me some him!
My usual practice is to start something new on New Years Day, like a new fitness routine, meditation, etc. then I make resolutions around that. I haven't stuck with the resolutions so I didn't do them this year. I talked about making some changes when I turned 49 in September. I started some things but didn't stick with them so I'm going to continue to work on what I started instead of starting something new.
In that vein, I have started tracking my meals on FitnessPal again, an app that can be obtained on most smart phones. It had been quite a while since I had done that so I didn't realize that I was missing out on so much. Now, not only can you track your meals but you can do meal plans and glean other information on the FitnessPal website, blog and Facebook page. Go figure! And you can connect with friends who also do FitnessPal to keep up with their progress and to track your own. When did they add all of this stuff? Or had they already added it before and I just didn't take advantage of it? I don't know but I'm taking advantage of it now. It's a great way of keeping you on track with getting shape.
I'm also reading a book called Juice by the owners of the Pressed Juicery. What a great way to get in shape! It helps with adding vitamins and minerals in an easy manner because you can't eat as many fruits and vegetables in a sitting as you can when they are compressed into a juice. So, I'll be juicing more. My reward for doing this will be to upgrade to a masticating juicer instead of my current centrifugal one.
What's the difference, you ask? The masticating juicer is a slow one. Works better on juicing greens and other fruits and vegetables. As a result, you yield more juice from the produce, thus saving you more money over time. Since it's slower, it doesn't create heat to work so you preserve more enzymes, as well. The problem with them is that they typically cost more money, from $200 tot $500 for some of the top brands. The centrifugal ones will juice but the are not good with greens and the high speed creates a little heat ( not much), which will kill some enzymes. But they are more affordable, ranging from $50 - $300. I would love to have the former but I won't upgrade to one until I see that I'm more regularly using the latter. I am currently inconsistent with it, at best.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to go through all of my information to determine what to share first this weekend. Stay tuned!
First, I am now The Digest Diva! Yes, you can check me out on www.thedigestdiva.com. This was a wonderful idea shared with me by Michael Damond of Cold Slap Consulting. I love reading magazines and glean so much information from them by reading the articles. While I love books (and have sometimes purchased books based on the articles read), I love magazines because I can get enough information from the articles to make me"dangerous" with knowledge in a relatively short period of time. It takes me weeks to read books but only a short period of time to read articles. So I get the information faster. I love that!
As the title of my blog post states, we are in a new year. 2015. Yesterday was the first of the year and today, my hubby celebrates 52 years of existence on this planet! Praise God! He's looking well, doing well and enjoying life! I love me some him!
My usual practice is to start something new on New Years Day, like a new fitness routine, meditation, etc. then I make resolutions around that. I haven't stuck with the resolutions so I didn't do them this year. I talked about making some changes when I turned 49 in September. I started some things but didn't stick with them so I'm going to continue to work on what I started instead of starting something new.
In that vein, I have started tracking my meals on FitnessPal again, an app that can be obtained on most smart phones. It had been quite a while since I had done that so I didn't realize that I was missing out on so much. Now, not only can you track your meals but you can do meal plans and glean other information on the FitnessPal website, blog and Facebook page. Go figure! And you can connect with friends who also do FitnessPal to keep up with their progress and to track your own. When did they add all of this stuff? Or had they already added it before and I just didn't take advantage of it? I don't know but I'm taking advantage of it now. It's a great way of keeping you on track with getting shape.
I'm also reading a book called Juice by the owners of the Pressed Juicery. What a great way to get in shape! It helps with adding vitamins and minerals in an easy manner because you can't eat as many fruits and vegetables in a sitting as you can when they are compressed into a juice. So, I'll be juicing more. My reward for doing this will be to upgrade to a masticating juicer instead of my current centrifugal one.
What's the difference, you ask? The masticating juicer is a slow one. Works better on juicing greens and other fruits and vegetables. As a result, you yield more juice from the produce, thus saving you more money over time. Since it's slower, it doesn't create heat to work so you preserve more enzymes, as well. The problem with them is that they typically cost more money, from $200 tot $500 for some of the top brands. The centrifugal ones will juice but the are not good with greens and the high speed creates a little heat ( not much), which will kill some enzymes. But they are more affordable, ranging from $50 - $300. I would love to have the former but I won't upgrade to one until I see that I'm more regularly using the latter. I am currently inconsistent with it, at best.
Well, that's it for now. I'm going to go through all of my information to determine what to share first this weekend. Stay tuned!
Saturday, September 13, 2014
The Road to 50!
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me!
God has blessed me to see another year. 49 years old. Lot's of things to do and changes that need to be made so I'm going to blog them in what I'm call, The Road to 50. Exercise, other health issues, supplementing, finances, etc. All of these things will be addressed. I tried to get with the times to video my thoughts but it doesn't seem to want to post so I'll just post pictures for now until I get with the program. More to come!
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me!
Monday, May 5, 2014
So, what's been up?
I can only imagine what someone is wondering since it's taken me so long to write again. My hair has been a journey. One that I wouldn't change.
Where do I begin…
Well, when I last wrote, I had decided that I would not relax my hair any more. My last relaxer was March 23, 2012. I decided then that I would "transition" to natural hair but I didn't think that I could handle a big chop. I also decided that I wanted to wear my hair straight so I was going to be a "straight natural". I decided to get a keratin treatment from Steven Deer. It was cool. My hair would get as straight as a relaxer but, when it was wet, then it would get "curly" again. I thought that was going to be it for me! I would let it grow but I would keep it straight. Here are some of the pictures from that phase:
Where do I begin…
Well, when I last wrote, I had decided that I would not relax my hair any more. My last relaxer was March 23, 2012. I decided then that I would "transition" to natural hair but I didn't think that I could handle a big chop. I also decided that I wanted to wear my hair straight so I was going to be a "straight natural". I decided to get a keratin treatment from Steven Deer. It was cool. My hair would get as straight as a relaxer but, when it was wet, then it would get "curly" again. I thought that was going to be it for me! I would let it grow but I would keep it straight. Here are some of the pictures from that phase:
So I have to laugh at these pics because they look a little bit like Dutch boy shots! I don't recall when the top picture was taken but the bottom one was taken the summer of 2013. I was enjoying those styles but wanted the versatility of being natural. And Steven was a little high but very good. I suspect that the heat that he used was a little high but, if you're going for straight, then it may be okay. Hm, no. Too much heat is never okay.
Any who, I will show you some of the styles that I started doing on my own. Thank God for YouTube and Facebook. And for the natural hair chicks like MahoganyCurls, Naptural85, CharyJay, NaturallyGG, etc. I learned how to do a flat twist out and it worked! I got so many compliments on it!
These are the stages from the early attempts in 2013 to the "mastery" of the look in 2014. Since I was doing the look myself, I saved money by not going to the hair salon so much and also saved my locks by not getting another keratin treatment. But what I forgot was that I was still transitioning and the longer I went with two different textures (natural and relaxed/keratined), the more fragile my hair became. Notice the first twist outs vs the latest ones. Not much difference in length. Not as much as there should have been, at least. My hair was breaking off as fast as it was growing.
Oh, my salon issues. I stopped going to Steve because I was wearing more natural styles. I decided to find someone who would do natural hair in both straight and curly styles. Thus, Tasheara Neshell at Huetiful Salon in Chicago. She is the sweetest young lady and is very knowledgable about hair. Here are a couple of the looks that she gave me, both curly and straight.
My hair felt so soft. She didn't use a lot of heat. As you can see, it was hitting my shoulders.
But…
I found that I was missing something and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I was not going so often and it may have been because it was hard to book her. I shouldn't say it past tense because I'm not saying that I'm not going to go to Tasheara any more. She cares for the hair, has a beautiful spirit and her salon is not too far from home. But I decided to do something different.
My hair was talking to me and showing out by knotting! LOL! I kid you not, It was as if my hair was saying "You've had this perm/keratin on your ends long enough. The "real" stuff is ready to go wild!" I could shampoo my hair and have a lot in the drain. Then, lately, I had taken to keeping scissors with me because my ends looked like they had little balls on them. I knew it was time to let go. After all, don't we have to lose something to gain something at times?
I had been following a young lady named Aeleise Jana who owns Hair Love Art Salon. My friend/sister/soror Cheryl Buckingham first told me about her. Well, I saw a picture of someone who's hair looked like a bird's nest but, after Aeleise got to it, it was curly and beautiful. I kept on looking at other persons' hair that she did and it looked great. What really impressed me, though, was when she was talking about hair care. She mentioned how so many people overloaded their hair with products, which only created more problems for them. I decided then that I would go to see her to let her do what she needed to do and I would deal with it one way or another.
I went yesterday. May 4, 2014. I shared my hair journey with her. I thought that I had been transitioning for two years but it was probably more like one because of the keratin. She advised that some people experience permanent straightening from it. Of course. Something that straightens your hair with the amount of heat that's needed for it can't be that far off from a relaxer. Especially if you've been doing it for a while. She also told me that my hair was dehydrated. I need more conditioning hydration and I need to drink more water (Operation Hydration - inside and out). I was impressed with several things - 1) her incredible knowledge, 2) her warmth, 3) her timeliness, 4) her willingness not to have to sell everything. She referred me to Ulta for my hair care products (Deva Curl). She'll color my hair to cover the gray but won't give me the highlights that I like until she feels that my hair is in better condition. She told me to have my hair trimmed again to shape it in 90 days. I love her!
So, here it is…
No manipulation from a twist out. Natural from the products. Nothing heavy. I'm going to let the hair grow but without the heavy products. Can't wait to see what it will do!
My lessons learned with this journey:
1) If you're going natural, commit to going natural. No things to help in between like a keratin treatment.
2) I know it's hard to consider a big chop but just do it. Or don't wait as long as I did to get rid of the permed ends. It will save your hair from a lot of breakage and shedding.
3) Find someone who takes care of natural hair. They will know what products to use and how to cut and shape it in it's natural stage. At least, they should know how to do that.
4) Drink water - lots of it! Our hair, skin and bodies need it.
That's it for now! I hope to show you how it's growing out in a few months. I don't plan on waiting another year but it will take months to see some results so I have to be patient.
Thanks for sharing my journey with me! It's been fun!
Jill
Friday, October 26, 2012
Shame on me for the length of time that it's taken for me to blog again but everything is going well with my hair. I haven't had a relaxer in it since March 27, 2012 and I am still on the one and only keratin treatment that I've received from Steven Deer. I love it. My hair has gotten wet and I've just used a flat iron to straighten it. Still, I'm getting used to the texture.It doesn't lie straight like it did with the relaxer for so many years. It's got more body. It definitely looks healthier. So many people have commented on that. So I haven't included any new pictures because it doesn't really look like it's longer even though it is. WHen it draws up, it looks a shorter. But it's doing well and I'm loving it.
I suspect that it's about to act out now because I'm about to do a detox with nutritionist Danielle DeCelles. I'll be drinking lots of shakes/drinks for a week. Looking at the ingredients, it includes a lot of vitamins and minerals, many of which are known to be good for hair, skin and nails. It's on. Between that, exercising more and trying to get better sleep, we'll see the changes in my hair, skin and nails. My nails are already doing pretty well. I'll attribute that partially to the Vivascal that I've been taking, which is great for hair and nails. I've been drinking more water, too. 64 oz daily. Now, get rid of the harmful meat, sugar and glutens and I'll be in the mix! It won't be easy but it will be healthier and that's what I'm going for. So, more to come. I start the detox on October 29 as I come back from Pastor Robert Biekman's wedding to Pastor Kathryn Cook. The detoz lasts for a week but I will be changing my diet after that, too. I'm ready. Need to do something different to get different results! Can't wait to share them with you all!
I suspect that it's about to act out now because I'm about to do a detox with nutritionist Danielle DeCelles. I'll be drinking lots of shakes/drinks for a week. Looking at the ingredients, it includes a lot of vitamins and minerals, many of which are known to be good for hair, skin and nails. It's on. Between that, exercising more and trying to get better sleep, we'll see the changes in my hair, skin and nails. My nails are already doing pretty well. I'll attribute that partially to the Vivascal that I've been taking, which is great for hair and nails. I've been drinking more water, too. 64 oz daily. Now, get rid of the harmful meat, sugar and glutens and I'll be in the mix! It won't be easy but it will be healthier and that's what I'm going for. So, more to come. I start the detox on October 29 as I come back from Pastor Robert Biekman's wedding to Pastor Kathryn Cook. The detoz lasts for a week but I will be changing my diet after that, too. I'm ready. Need to do something different to get different results! Can't wait to share them with you all!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
But wait, there's more. I noticed some thinning in the hairline and temples and a little patch in the back of my hair. Well, I have never worn braids and haven't had a relaxer since March 23, 2012 so I don't know what was causing that. I went to the dermatologist and they did a blood test. I get the results on August 30. Now, I'm no doctor and we probably have too much information on the internet but the hair loss, plus nails separating from the nail bed, dark undereye circles and sparse eyebrows makes me wonder if I'm suffering from hypothyroidism. I will know soon. If so, then I'll be on some medication that will help with energy and other things. I mention it, though, because it will help with hair growth if what's causing it to be dry and challenged is resolved.
This made me really look at myself. My diet and other habits. I'm eating poorly, not getting enough rest, etc. I've got to make some changes. There were two things that I saw this weekend that made me finalize that call. One was checking out www.jenniferturner.com. Jennifer is the little sister of my friend and soror, Christal Turner. I remember when we took dance lessons together at Mayfair Academy in Chicago. Jennifer was Christal's little sister who used to crack me up because she wanted "canny" (candy). Well, little Jennifer went on to be an accomplished violinist and did extremely well in school, having gone to Penn for undergrad and Stanford for her MBA. So, she graduated and has done well in media but what I didn't know is that she's an accomplished fitness expert who has run marathons and triathlons. Look at her website. She looks stunning!
Then Mike and I hung out in Michigan City this weekend and I bought a couple of health magazines (magazines are my weakness). One of them showed a woman who looks years young because of changing her health and beauty habits. Some of what she was dealing with had to do with thyroid issues (droopy eyelids, sparse brows, dry skin). The woman who wrote the article, Kat James, broken down what was causing some of her other issues, i.e. facial puffiness, under eye circles, acne, rosacea, wrinkles and dark spots. Fascinating. Kat James has a website, www.informedbeauty.com, as well as a best selling book, The Truth About Beauty, which I have ordered, of course. Bottom line, I'm changing these eating habits. Between that, the wonderful skincare products that I'm using through Soul Purpose and the hair care that I'm getting from Steven Deer, I am making some wonderful changes in my life! Oh, and don't forget the exercise! I'm getting back into my yoga habit and went for a run/walk (okay, far more walking than running) today to get the blood circulating.
More to come but I see myself looking and feeling FIERCE over the next few months! Can't wait to share all of that with you!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Okay. I guess that you could say that I cheated a little bit. I got the keratin treatment. I was so opposed to it because of what I read about the fact that the aldehyde can become formaldehyde when it's heated but I ended up doing it for two reasons. 1), I would only get it every 2 - 5 months, 2) it's approved by the FDA so it's supposed to be somewhat safe (I guess it depends on how much you trust the FDA as to whether that means anything or not and 3) (I know, I only said a couple of things), my hair is so manageable! It feels so silky and it moves! I love it! When the perm grows out, I'll go between wearing it natural and wearing it straight. I have that option with a keratin treatment. So I'm excited.
So, now I'll share the names of the hairdressers that I visited and my thoughts about them. I'll also advise what my final decision has become regarding who will be doing my hair (I feel a little bit like LeBron James announcing where he was going to go when he went to Miami. No hour long television special for me, though.)
As you recall, my last perm was March 23, 2012. I decided to give new stylists a try around the time that we hosted the NATO summit in Chicago so I believe that it was in either April or May. Here is the run down of hairdressers that I have visited since then:
1) Laws Concept, Bronzeville: I forgot the stylist's name who I visited. It was relatively early in my transition and I decided to give them a try because they were listed as a salon that does natural hair in Yelp. She was pretty good. It took a long time to get my hair done because she was doing a couple of heads at once. I saw her working so I couldn't get mad at her but I had been blown dry and just had to sit there. My hair looked good but it didn't totally wow me. I wasn't impressed enough to go back but I wouldn't put her down, though. She's good. Nice salon, easy parking on the street.
2) 10 Shade Glam Salon, Beverly: I went to Alecia several times. My girlfriend Cheryl turned me on to them because Alecia did her twist out when she cut out her perm. I also liked that it was easy to make appointments online with them and I was impressed with the website. Alecia is sweet as can be. If I was wearing braids or was just doing a twist out, then I would go back. But I'm still wearing it straight for the time being and she didn't do a good job with the styling at all. In fact, I had to leave out of the salon and styled it in my car before heading home. Her conditioning was good and she's knowledgable about hair. I let her color my hair. It was a little too dark for me (I'm too old for black) but it covered the gray, which is what I wanted. The day that I figured would be my last was when she colored it and I needed a trim. It was clearly uneven on one side. Well, she blew my hair dry and was beginning to curl it. I reminded her of the trim and she picked up the shears, did a few little clips here or there and then curled it. The dead part on one side was still there! Now, the length was enough where I could pull it behind my ears but it looked bad and I paid the full amount for a cut. I can't recommend her if you want a straight style and a good cut but she'll rock your braids and twist outs. Nice salon but small. Parking was easy (on the street).
3) AJES, West Loop: I went to a guy there named Iyon. He was really personable and knowledgeable about hair. Really engaging. I went to him in the case of an emergency because Alecia had to cancel at the last minute because of an air conditioning problem in the salon. I appreciated the call. It would have been sweltering in there. Anyway, I called AJES and they were able to get me in the same day. Iyon washed it and put a little conditioner in there (I needed a deep conditioner but it was the first time that he saw my hair). He got it straight for me and looked at it and said that it needed to be evened out. So, have at it he did! He did a lot of chopping but I needed it to get the dead ends off (and to make up for the sloppy cut job that Alecia did). My hair was gorgeous when I was done! He knows how to cut and style. But, when I was done, I had to pay him $75 for the blow dry and $55 for the cut - a cool $130. Now, it looked good but I can't sustain paying that much. Even though I wouldn't get a cut every two weeks, I would need a deep conditioner. Don't know how much that would cost. And it's funny but someone pointed out that it was interesting that he was able to take me within 4 hours. Not much clientele. For someone who has been dong hair as long as he has been, he should have more. Hm. Maybe it was because it was a Wednesday. Who knows. Either way, he's good and I would recommend him if you can afford it. The salon is very pretty and parking was easy (on the street).
4) Canvas Salon, River North: I went to the owner, Steven Deer. I was referred to him by my girlfriend Jody. She's had a keratin for a couple of years, at least, and her hair is always laid. I was hesitant but finally decided to go because I needed someone who would care for it. He is open 7 days a week and took me on a Sunday. OMG! That was the bomb! It was amazingly easy to park in that area. He walked me through everything he was doing and even gave me a color (brown) to cover my gray. Now this is more natural looking to me. Because you have to wear your hair straight with the keratin for a couple of days, he blew it out and gave a little trim to clean it up. No charge. And I'm going back tomorrow morning for the follow up - wash and blow. I loved his customer service and the salon is very comfortable. He is moving from it because it's a basement salon so he's had floods in it but where he's moving is only around the corner and there's free street parking there. I was equally impressed when I saw someone in there with whom I've been acquainted for a while. I have always admired her hair and I come to find out that she has been going to Steven for years! I felt encouraged!
5) Toss Salon, South Loop: I would be remiss if I didn't include Toss because I have gone to Robert for 16 years. He does an incredible job with hair. Long, short, color - whatever! I know that my hair is going to be fly when I go to him! He knows how to cut and he cares for the hair. I could be wrong but, in my tenure of going to the salon, I haven't seen him do a lot of natural hair. He advised me, in fact, that he charges extra to do it because it takes longer to work it. And he doesn't do keratin treatments because he doesn't believe in them. He feels that you should just get a relaxer if you want your hair to be straight. If it's done right, you shouldn't have any problems. Well, I didn't go to hair school so I am not an expert on this but the little bit that I have been reading advised that a relaxer changes the structure of your hair permanently (thus, the need to either grow or cut it out) while the keratin doesn't change the texture but merely adds keratin to the hair. Now, I'm not naive. There's probably something else in there but I don"t know about it. And those who I have seen with it have experience great hair growth and healthy hair. So I think that it's worth a try. Anyway, the salon is awesome (you can buy cutes clothes and purses in there while you get your hair done). Parking is rough on the street but there's a lot around the corner and they do valet in the salon. So, it's good.
So, the moment for which you've all been waiting. Where will I be going? Drum roll please!
I have decided to take my hair to Canvas Salon in River North (soon to be called Steven Deer again). The hours are convenient, Steven knows how to do natural hair and it's easy to park around there. Now, I do have to travel a little further to get there but I can deal with it, especially if it's on a Sunday. I used to go to Ernest Collins on Oak Street and Mario Tricoci when it was on Ontario so I've dealt with the parking and all the other stuff that came with being in those areas. It's very hard to say good bye. Especially when you're someone who's loyal to a fault like me but I feel that this is best for me at this time in my life and transition.
I'll continue to show the growth each month but you'll see it with the keratin in it mostly now.
Ta ta for now!
So, now I'll share the names of the hairdressers that I visited and my thoughts about them. I'll also advise what my final decision has become regarding who will be doing my hair (I feel a little bit like LeBron James announcing where he was going to go when he went to Miami. No hour long television special for me, though.)
As you recall, my last perm was March 23, 2012. I decided to give new stylists a try around the time that we hosted the NATO summit in Chicago so I believe that it was in either April or May. Here is the run down of hairdressers that I have visited since then:
1) Laws Concept, Bronzeville: I forgot the stylist's name who I visited. It was relatively early in my transition and I decided to give them a try because they were listed as a salon that does natural hair in Yelp. She was pretty good. It took a long time to get my hair done because she was doing a couple of heads at once. I saw her working so I couldn't get mad at her but I had been blown dry and just had to sit there. My hair looked good but it didn't totally wow me. I wasn't impressed enough to go back but I wouldn't put her down, though. She's good. Nice salon, easy parking on the street.
2) 10 Shade Glam Salon, Beverly: I went to Alecia several times. My girlfriend Cheryl turned me on to them because Alecia did her twist out when she cut out her perm. I also liked that it was easy to make appointments online with them and I was impressed with the website. Alecia is sweet as can be. If I was wearing braids or was just doing a twist out, then I would go back. But I'm still wearing it straight for the time being and she didn't do a good job with the styling at all. In fact, I had to leave out of the salon and styled it in my car before heading home. Her conditioning was good and she's knowledgable about hair. I let her color my hair. It was a little too dark for me (I'm too old for black) but it covered the gray, which is what I wanted. The day that I figured would be my last was when she colored it and I needed a trim. It was clearly uneven on one side. Well, she blew my hair dry and was beginning to curl it. I reminded her of the trim and she picked up the shears, did a few little clips here or there and then curled it. The dead part on one side was still there! Now, the length was enough where I could pull it behind my ears but it looked bad and I paid the full amount for a cut. I can't recommend her if you want a straight style and a good cut but she'll rock your braids and twist outs. Nice salon but small. Parking was easy (on the street).
3) AJES, West Loop: I went to a guy there named Iyon. He was really personable and knowledgeable about hair. Really engaging. I went to him in the case of an emergency because Alecia had to cancel at the last minute because of an air conditioning problem in the salon. I appreciated the call. It would have been sweltering in there. Anyway, I called AJES and they were able to get me in the same day. Iyon washed it and put a little conditioner in there (I needed a deep conditioner but it was the first time that he saw my hair). He got it straight for me and looked at it and said that it needed to be evened out. So, have at it he did! He did a lot of chopping but I needed it to get the dead ends off (and to make up for the sloppy cut job that Alecia did). My hair was gorgeous when I was done! He knows how to cut and style. But, when I was done, I had to pay him $75 for the blow dry and $55 for the cut - a cool $130. Now, it looked good but I can't sustain paying that much. Even though I wouldn't get a cut every two weeks, I would need a deep conditioner. Don't know how much that would cost. And it's funny but someone pointed out that it was interesting that he was able to take me within 4 hours. Not much clientele. For someone who has been dong hair as long as he has been, he should have more. Hm. Maybe it was because it was a Wednesday. Who knows. Either way, he's good and I would recommend him if you can afford it. The salon is very pretty and parking was easy (on the street).
4) Canvas Salon, River North: I went to the owner, Steven Deer. I was referred to him by my girlfriend Jody. She's had a keratin for a couple of years, at least, and her hair is always laid. I was hesitant but finally decided to go because I needed someone who would care for it. He is open 7 days a week and took me on a Sunday. OMG! That was the bomb! It was amazingly easy to park in that area. He walked me through everything he was doing and even gave me a color (brown) to cover my gray. Now this is more natural looking to me. Because you have to wear your hair straight with the keratin for a couple of days, he blew it out and gave a little trim to clean it up. No charge. And I'm going back tomorrow morning for the follow up - wash and blow. I loved his customer service and the salon is very comfortable. He is moving from it because it's a basement salon so he's had floods in it but where he's moving is only around the corner and there's free street parking there. I was equally impressed when I saw someone in there with whom I've been acquainted for a while. I have always admired her hair and I come to find out that she has been going to Steven for years! I felt encouraged!
5) Toss Salon, South Loop: I would be remiss if I didn't include Toss because I have gone to Robert for 16 years. He does an incredible job with hair. Long, short, color - whatever! I know that my hair is going to be fly when I go to him! He knows how to cut and he cares for the hair. I could be wrong but, in my tenure of going to the salon, I haven't seen him do a lot of natural hair. He advised me, in fact, that he charges extra to do it because it takes longer to work it. And he doesn't do keratin treatments because he doesn't believe in them. He feels that you should just get a relaxer if you want your hair to be straight. If it's done right, you shouldn't have any problems. Well, I didn't go to hair school so I am not an expert on this but the little bit that I have been reading advised that a relaxer changes the structure of your hair permanently (thus, the need to either grow or cut it out) while the keratin doesn't change the texture but merely adds keratin to the hair. Now, I'm not naive. There's probably something else in there but I don"t know about it. And those who I have seen with it have experience great hair growth and healthy hair. So I think that it's worth a try. Anyway, the salon is awesome (you can buy cutes clothes and purses in there while you get your hair done). Parking is rough on the street but there's a lot around the corner and they do valet in the salon. So, it's good.
So, the moment for which you've all been waiting. Where will I be going? Drum roll please!
I have decided to take my hair to Canvas Salon in River North (soon to be called Steven Deer again). The hours are convenient, Steven knows how to do natural hair and it's easy to park around there. Now, I do have to travel a little further to get there but I can deal with it, especially if it's on a Sunday. I used to go to Ernest Collins on Oak Street and Mario Tricoci when it was on Ontario so I've dealt with the parking and all the other stuff that came with being in those areas. It's very hard to say good bye. Especially when you're someone who's loyal to a fault like me but I feel that this is best for me at this time in my life and transition.
I'll continue to show the growth each month but you'll see it with the keratin in it mostly now.
Ta ta for now!
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