Captured Curls: Rachel Stewart

Many of you are familiar with the GORGEOUS Rachel of Rachel Stewart Jewelry.
I was finally able to catch up with her for a feature and
 this is by far one of my favorite interviews. See below for her story and fabulous pictures.

Rachel, I am a huge fan of yours! Thank you for agreeing to be featured on my blog. Can you give us a little background on yourself and amazing jewelry line?

I’m 38, a mom and homemaker, I started my jewelry line 3 years ago after being laid off from my job, I decided I didn’t want to go back in to the workforce and I began making and selling my jewelry from my blog TARGET QUEEN….

   

For those of us who have seen your gorgeous head of hair, we LOVE IT. Can you share your hair care regimen and products that you use?

Well, in February I did another big chop so the hair is GONE!...I normally shave my head every few years, it’s my favorite hairstyle and I always seem to go back to it around the 2 year mark…I always promise myself I’ll get to bra strap length before I cut it BUT I just can’t seem to make it that long…when I had hair I NEVER used shampoo, I condition washed only and used the same conditioner as a leave in, I believe buying a separate leave in conditioner is nonsense, it’s the same as your conditioner but maybe watered down or scented and packaged differently…I challenge anyone to skip leave ins and use your regular conditioner after shampooing or condition washing.

After 20 years of being natural I found that only one product worked best for me and that was my conditioner, I used garnier fructis triple nutrition deep conditioner as a shampoo AND leave in, I also did ACV rinses as needed, that was it for me!

3.       I read on Naturally Obsessed that you often shave your head after letting it grow out for a few years, I think that is amazing! How long have you been natural and what makes you want to shave your head?

Well as I mentioned earlier, I’ve been natural over 20 years and I just always seems to get to the same point after 2 years when I just NEED a change, plus the shaved head is my favorite style..so it’s not a big issue for me to shave it…long hair isn’t the only option for me..I love it long but short hair fits my lifestyle and personality even more.

Many of us are familiar with your jewelry line, how did you get started with making and designing jewelry?

I started a fashion and lifestyle blog about 3 years ago…after losing my job I decided to try my hand at making earrings and headbands and see if I could make some extra money…it just took off from there and since then my business has grown.

Your pieces are very unique, what inspires you when creating a new addition for the line?

I’m an 80’s and 90’s baby and I’m just stuck in that time…I like earrings that are big and bold like the ones I grew up wearing and seeing my mother wear, I just try to create things that are fresh, unique and eye catching…my earrings aren’t for the wallflowers.

What advice do you have for new naturals and business women looking to venture out in becoming entrepreneurs?

It’s not as hard as you think to get started, you don’t need an expensive website..blogs are free, paypal is free, all you need is a camera and a product..don’t hesitate, you don’t need a physical building or a bank loan to have a business anymore…just do it!

      

What makes you love your kinks, curls and coils?

How can I NOT love what the creator gave me?  He knew what he was doing when he made our hair!

      Where can we find you on the web?

I’m everywhere:

http://rachelstewart.bigcartel.com/ (my shop)

http://rachelstewartjewelry.tumblr.com/ (tumblr)

http://www.facebook.com/rachelstewartjewelry (facebook)

http://twitter.com/#!/RStewartJewelry

Royal Wedding Day

SweetAmbs Royal Crown Cookies have been featured on Fun Friday Finds at ItsyBitsyPaper along with some other great handmade items. Take a look!

Loc'd Man: Garfield

Please enjoy this weeks Loc'd Man...

1.      Tell us a little about yourself? (ex. name, age, state, school)

                                      i.      My name is Garfield. I'm a 25 year old 2nd year law student at North Carolina Central University. Born on the island of Jamaica, raised in Ft. Lauderdale

2.      How long have you been growing your locs?

                                      i.      September 2006 was my last haircut. I got my first twists done in December of that same year...so depending on what you count as the starting date, somewhere around the 4.5 year mark.

3.      What do you use on your hair, product wise, to maintain it?

                                      i.      Jamaican Mango and Lime Wax with the black top on it. It's the clear wax. They have other ones, but that's the one I use for my hair. I wash with a dandruff shampoo because my scalp is dry and sometimes gets flaky. I also use Pine Tar on my scalp. Smells terrible, but keeps my scalp healthy and helps with hair growth. I wrap it every night before I go to sleep as well.

4.      How often do you have to wash and re-twist your loc’s and who styles them?

                                      i.      At this point, maybe once every couple of months. I used to get it done more frequently when I was gainfully employed, probably once every 6 weeks back then.

5.      What do you think about women with natural hair? Do you care if your woman is relaxed, natural or loc’d?

                                      i.      I love women with natural hair. I noticed that it's becoming more popular these days and I'm all for it.

                                    ii.      It's not a big deal to me. I mean, as long as you take care of your hair and you look good with whatever style you rocking, then I'm not really in a position to complain. I will say that I've always had a love affair with women that have neatly done locks. Probably biased with that because my hair is loc'd too.

6.      Do you think women who choose to loc their hair are sexy?

                                      i.      Hell yes! Sorry...that was a little strong. I love women with loc'd hair. I've seen women with locs and the way they style them, it's just...man...it's a beautiful sight to see.

7.      What are the pros and cons about having your hair loc’d?

                                      i.      Pros are obviously less day to day maintenance. I wrap my hair at night, I wake up in the morning, I take the wrap off and I make moves. No brushing, no greasing, none of the prep time I had to deal with back when I was rocking fades. And I like the way the look. I think it fits my personality and my look. Also, having someone else wash your hair is hands down one of the best feelings in the world. Like...I see why women always get someone else to wash their hair. It feels pretty awesome.

                                    ii.      Cons? Summertime immediately springs to mind. These things get hot. Also, sometimes I can't get to the loctician within the requisite time, therefore, my hair tends to start looking real crazy. And the itching. Not as bad as it used to be, but every once in a while it flares up and I want to run clippers all the way through my hair. Other than that? Not much. Oh...and sitting under the dryer. Definitely not a fan of that.

8.      What made you decide to loc your hair? Have you always had hair or did you start your loc’s from “scratch.”

                                      i.      I've always wanted them, but we're Jamaican. I have Rastas in my family and I wasn't sure if it'd be offensive to my family if I grew them without taking on the entire culture. Plus, I wasn't sure of the costs, or who was going to do them. Finally, my senior year of college, I met someone who said they'd start and maintain them for me, so I got them done.

                                    ii.      As I explained earlier, I got my last haircut in September of 2006, so I pretty much grew my hair from the lowest fade possible, to where I am right now. 

9.      What makes a woman’s hair beautiful to you?

                                      i.      For women with locs, the styles they come up with can be absolutely amazing. I just think the way hair can be framed to fit someone's personality and bring out their best features can makes their hair beautiful. Also the way it smells after it's freshly washed.

10.  Do you have any advice for my readers who are considering loc’ing their hair?

                                      i.      Patience is a virtue. This is a long road, you gotta be willing to see it through to the end. Also, if a product isn't working, don't be afraid to switch up. Ask other people with locs what they use and see if it works out for you. It can take a while to find the proper products that go best with your hair, so don't be afraid to search for them.

11.  Where can we find you on the web?

                                       i.      http://twitter.com/#!/RealGoesRight

                                     ii.      http://realgoesright.wordpress.com

                                    iii.      http://chan-lo.com

Random: New Personal Twitter Page

Hey y'all! Some of you may have been wondering WHERE did Alex's Twitter go? Welp, I decided to delete it and make a new one. I was going to try and stay OFF Twitter but I know many of you look for my blog updates and stuff, along with the fact that being bored at work without a Twitter can be dreadful, LOL. Any who add the  new page I kept the same name @AisforALEX. 

Queeny Belle Frills Giveaway

Check out Queeny Belle Frills she has the cutest headbands/bows and necklaces she is having a giveaway of  $25 on her BLOG go check it out her stuff is AWESOME! Also check out her FB page.

I Love New York

After much deliberation I finally decided to leave Chicago and move back to my home state of New York. It was a tough decision to leave friends and a full time job but I'm glad to be back on the east coast and super excited to get SweetAmbs Cookies back up and running!

Mini Monograms

These monogrammed cookies are a smaller version of the original. One dozen for $30 at http://www.sweetambs.etsy.com/.

Raising girls

I have seen so much about raising boys but not much about raising girls.  I know, college attendance and graduation statistics all point to the challenges of raising boys, hence the focus.  But, still, there seems to be the delicate balance between getting it a bit right and totally dropping the ball when it comes to raising girls.

Several things have occurred to remind me of this issue of raising girls recently. The most recent is the visit I had with a college friend I had not seen in quite some time.  Another was the shock of seeing a young teenage girl on the Washington DC metro with a HUGE tattoo of what I presume to be her name across her entire chest. (For some reason seeing a young black woman with a tattoo that measured nothing less than 3 inches in height of a long name across the entire form of her female chest made me choke up with pity. I can't explain it.)

Anyway, as the mother of a girl, I wonder if certain things I might do (or likely say) to my daughter could totally backfire and cause my daughter to rebel, get a huge tattoo across her face, follow some loser dude, drop out of high school, and never do anything with her life. All because I said the wrong thing that one time.

I went through young adulthood and college on the same quest as everyone else. To find myself, to find my space in the world, to learn as much as I could about myself and the world around me. This invariably occurred with a whole slew of mistakes and errors in judgement. The ones I had the opportunity to apologize for, I did or have since. The ones that reflected my poor judgement in friends or associates I took as a lesson in the perils of keeping bad company and moved on.

But the errors that were more complex, less black and white as to who was at fault are some that still baffle me today. Many of these errors were not mine; instead I focus on the experiences of young women who were around me and into whose lives I was more than a casual observer.  Some of those college girls I now wonder how they are faring given the odds stacked against them in their quest to become strong women who will eventually own themselves and control their destinies.

What did I see as a college student? Well a little bit of everything.

1. Abusive boyfriends who belittled, berated, and sometime beat their naive girlfriends who kept coming back? Check.
2. Young women who believed that to be loved, they must sleep with and in some cases get pregnant by the man currently interested in them? Check.
3. Naive young women who dropped out of school because of a relationship either gone bad or supposedly gone good? Check.
4. Excessive weight gain all related to a boy? Check.
5. Denying your friends, accusing your friends and associates, and downright paranoia about losing your boy from some perceived threat from your girlfriends? Check, Check, Check!
6. Decent into madness over a boy? Check. 

I think about the different women I witnessed going through some version of my summaries here. As an adult, I believe I can attribute most of these to some form of low self-esteem.  I think that if a young woman has the esteem to handle social pressures when faced with the difficulties of a relationship, or even at work, she is able to handle those challenges without denying the core of who she is. From a young age, I believed that if I ever found myself about to confront another woman over a boy, I've already lost the boy!  My father (who raised his girls to know we were princesses) once said if a man tells you to "shut up" the relationship must end! And he would say, if nothing else, no matter how bad or pathetic you believe your situation to be, know that anyone who misspeaks or insults you, does NOT deserve you; so gather the courage to walk...immediately, he would add.  Without realizing it at the time, I cannot understate the importance of this upbringing as I faced college, adulthood, life.  Many women I have known have never heard such advice from anyone.

My daughter, a strong, confident ladybug in a sea of samurai, spidermen, batmen off to trick or treat.

But watching college friends, and now adult women with children dabble in one form of the list above, I cannot help but wonder where the gaps may lie. I think (I am not sure entirely) that if I arm my daughter with a healthy dose of self esteem before she leaves my nest, I would have equipped her with about half of the armor she would need to face the world. The other half comprises her education, talents, and compassion.

Two new videos!!

Watch me put on my usual routine of makeup with a bare-faced me on the side for comparison!



Haul video of my purchases from F21 and Topshop.


I've been a hardworking youtuber LOL!!

Please support by subscribing ok!!










CLICK THAT BUTTON!!!


DO IT! It's my freaking birthday today and I demand it!!

I think I'd have an awesome birthday weekend (it has already started yesterday :D). I'd blog about it soon with peektures!

It's An Urban Jungle

So, although things may appear to have been a little quiet on here I've been busy at work... Both with A level revision (oh the joys!) and with doing some modelling for a friend.  The theme for her photography work has been based upon the city, so we decided upon glamourous clothes mixed with her dramatic location of a deserted car park.

Understandably, it wasn't all glitz and glamour as I rapidly switched outfits under Jeni's careful lookout (I didn't want to frighten the local wildlife) in the middle of the carpark and promptly found myself enjoying the idea of becoming "spiderwoman" for the morning...

Take a look at the photos below and let me know what you think.  If you're interested (or just want to leave Jeni a note about how amazing her skills are), click any of the photos below or head to JLB photography on Facebook...

 [Topshop jumpsuit - image courtesy of JLB photography]

 [Topshop jeans, Topshop heels, unknown lace leotard - image courtesy of JLB photography]

 [clothing as above - image courtesy of JLB photography]

[DKNY top, Topshop heels, Armani leggings - image courtesy of JLB photography]

Enjoy!

Lottie

xxxx

The Growth of a woman

In 2008 I decided to loc my hair & then in 2010 I took it down to live the afro life. Now that 2011 has come I returned to my locs! check out my video blogs and pictures to watch the evolution of my hair!
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAisha?feature=mhum
cheers & happy hair days!

modern bob haircuts

Bob hairstyle is the most fashionable style with hairs falling down between ears and the chin. The style was invented in Paris in 1909 by a famous hair dresser Antonine but was made widely popular in 1920s as a sign of women's liberty. The style has regained popularity and has discovered many versions of the original bob cut.Among all the latest trends in hairstyles bob cut has made a benchmark in the fashion industry. These hairstyles fit just about any face, color and lifestyles, giving a completely new look to the wearer. Traditional, short bob hairstyles comprise of short, sleek and severe cut with hair being cut uniformly. It goes well with any age group, hair type, hair length and facial structure.

rihanna long hair

Rihanna looks gorgeous with this dark sandy blonde color by far works.And the angled waves give her a soft sweet look.I think this hairstyle better than the short bob she has now.What do you think.

rihanna long hairstyles with bangs

In touch magazine has recently voted rihanna as the celebrity with the best hairstyles, this is a big achievement for a newcomer like Rihanna!

layered long hairstyles

If you have long hair, you definitely have quite an advantage over those who have short hair because you are free to do a lot more things with your hair than someone with short hair is able to do. There are many long hair styles that you can adapt to and you can stylishly wear your hair up or down. As well, there are a lot of layered hair styles that are very appealing that you could incorporate too. Layered hair styles have become the main type of hairstyle that people with long hair are interested in recently.













Long layered hair may take a little extra time to style, but the beautiful result is more than worth it. Make sure to get a trim every six weeks or so to ensure that your hair looks its healthiest and layers appear top notch. Long layers look great when curled with a one-inch barrel curling iron. For extra volume, use two-inch curlers while hair is damp and don't take them out until hair is completely dry.