I wanted to take a minute to give a shout out and show my appreciation once again to Nikki of curlynikki.com, who posted Coco’s Natural Hair Puff on “Stubborn Hair” article and video.  You can check it out here: http://www.curlynikki.com/2011/08/natural-hair-puff-on-stubborn-hair.html.  I’m sure the majority of you are already aware of her website, but in case you aren’t, click her banner below and be prepared for a flood of great natural hair information.  Thanks again Nikki!!
By the way, I’m still working on the child hair washing video that I mentioned yesterday.  I almost have it all edited, so please be sure to check back soon! Thanks

We’re back from our 2 week vacation/road trip.  We had a great time, but now I am hard at work.  I am currently working on a how-to video for the Ghana Plait bun that I wore for the first week of my vacation (I have to edit a 20 minute video down to around 8 minutes).  I loved the style and feel that it is a great protective style for the summer months.  I hope to have that video completed and uploaded either late tonight or some time tomorrow.  I’ll be posting the video here on the site, on our facebook fan page, my tumblr page, twitter page  and of course our youtube page. Please check back!

For those who have not “liked” our facebook page or who don’t follow on twitter, you probably don’t know that we are currently on vacation in Oceanside California after a three day road trip from Tennessee.  I love road trips, because you get to see parts of the country that you would not get a chance to see when flying.  We went through the states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and finally Cali.  By the way, I am so in love with Albuquerque New Mexico!  It is a gorgeous city from the highways, to the homes, down to the architecture and colors chosen to paint the buildings…beautiful!

Anyway, this trip has inspired me to re-announce another way to be featured on the website.  Last year, I introduced the “Natural-ness in the States” feature and received about 20 submissions from states all over the country (check out our “Rep Your State” beauties here: RYS).  States  featured so far include Florida, California, Tennessee, Mississippi, North Carolina, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia. My goal was to attempt to post people from the majority, if not all of the states in the US.  I think I want to try it again…so…if you are interested in “Repping Your State”, please check out the following link: Natural-ness in the States.

Don’t live in the United States?  That’s OK, I haven’t left you out.  I’d love to feature you as well!  Here’s the link for naturals outside of the United States: Global Natural-ness.  Here’s the link to check out some of our past Global features: GN

Anyway, back to our trip.  Oceanside is about 40 minutes north of San Diego.  The city of San Diego is so significant for me because it is where I lived for ten years before relocating to Tennessee.   I’m a Cali girl born and raised, originally from the San Francisco Bay area, I moved to San Diego after graduating from high school to attend San Diego State University.  I received my BA in Psychology and my Master of Social Work degrees from SDSU.  San Diego is also where I met some of my best lifelong friends, met and married my husband of almost 10 years and gave birth to my first child.  In other words, this is where I achieved some of my most significant milestones.

Why the heck did we move from this city of paradise to the south?  Well, in a nutshell, affordability.  In the south, we could afford a home.  In San Diego, our rent was more than our current mortgage.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with our decision to relocate.  The south has its own beauty and is so rich in history.  However, it is nice to be back in the city where I experienced so many beginnings.

Well, I’d better sign off before I begin rambling.  I hope you are all having a terrific day and I also hope you’ll consider submitting to either the “Natural-ness in the States” or “Global Natural-ness” features.

Have you been to our youtube channel?  Currently I have how-to videos, product reviews and other hair commentary posted.  My how-to videos include styles done on my own hair, my daughter’s and my son’s hair.  My sister Co, the more creative hair stylist, also has how-to videos and healthy eating recipes there. If you are interested in checking them out you can visit by going directly to our channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/naturalnessdotcom?feature=mhum) or checking out our videos without leaving this site by clicking youtube in the wibiya bar below.  If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe!

I admit that I have not been as diligent as I could be about posting how-to videos.  Partly because my camera was not giving me the quality of videos that I wanted and I was not happy with my video making software.  The good news is, I just ordered a better video making software program.  Yay! I’m happy!  I also have a camera that I hope will create better quality videos.  I am ready to go full swing into video making!

One more thing I wanted to mention…there are videos on this website that are not located on our youtube page. These videos were created quite a while ago…some as far back as 2005 when I first went natural.  You can check out all of our archived how-to videos here: video archives.

Thanks and be sure to check out our youtube page from time to time!

Note: By the way…if you are seeing double underlined words in my posts, please bear with me.  I’m in the process of trying out a new ad program.  The double underlined words link to ads, but I am having that feature removed because I don’t like it.  Sorry about any inconvenience. Hopefully the double underlined ad links will be gone in a day or so!

I just created a Tumblr account for natural-ness and now I’m addicted.  I plan on using the Tumblr to post pictures of natural hair as well as any and everything else that I find beautiful.  This should be fun and very reflective of my personality.  However, I need your help to make the site great!  Feel free to submit pictures, drawings, paintings and animations of natural hair. Quotes are welcomed as well! You can also submit questions that I will answer right there on the Tumblr page.  This should be fun!  If you also have a Tumblr page, follow me and I will in turn follow you!  See you there!!

http://natural-ness.tumblr.com/

Nikki of curlynikki.com posted my  poll question from a week ago on the site: http://www.curlynikki.com/2011/02/are-you-in-hair-war.html, which resulted in a some great comments, some of them very helpful! Thanks again Nikki!!

I’m seriously thinking about participating in this challenge.  In case you all have not heard about it, please check out

Curly Nikki Presents: Kim Coles’ Grow-out Challenge

Please click this link leading to Curly Nikki’s website for more information: Kim Coles’ Grow Out Challenge or click the picture above to get started on the challenge!

Nikki of curlynikki.com posted my last poll question on the site: http://www.curlynikki.com/2011/01/hair-typing-valuable-or-not.html, which resulted in a great discussion. You’re the greatest Nikki!!

Hello everyone.  I wanted to post a quick message before I leave for the weekend.  I’m on my way to New Orleans to celebrate my birthday.  I made 35 today, yay!!  I am ready to enjoy a child free weekend with hubby.

I have posted the last of my old Val & Nadine cartoons and have scheduled them to go live on Saturday and Sunday.  I get back on Sunday and will hopefully have a new cartoon ready to post on Monday.  I’m experimenting with a new medium for the cartoons, so I hope it goes well.

My hair is all braided and ready for a beloved braid-out, one of my quick go-to styles.  I hope it turns out cute, because I plan to look fabulous the whole weekend

When I get back, I still have Christmas and New Year hair pics to post, as well as updates on my daughter’s hair.  I will also post my birthday hair pics.  Well, I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

-LV

I hope all of you had a terrific Christmas!  I wish you all an even better New Year!  I’ve had a very busy weekend, but I hope you have enjoyed all of the Val & Nadine’s over the past few days.  Posting of the archived Val & Nadine cartoons are soon coming to an end.  I only have a few left to post.  Some of the original cartoons that I didn’t post are only available in the Val & Nadine book, available here: Lulu.com.  Now that I am almost done posting the archived cartoons, I am toying with the idea of  creating new cartoons using a different medium.  I’m not ready to reveal what it is just yet,  but I will try to begin posting new cartoons sometime in January.  My son will also be beginning his new semester of homeschool, so I’ll be busy, but my goal is to get new cartoons up by the second week of January.

How many of you tried out new styles for Christmas?  If you have a new style that you tried and would like to share, please check out our new web feature, Style Share, where you can post instructions and/or a video of your favorite hair styles.  I wore my hair in a very simple style for Christmas.  A few days before Christmas, I washed my hair and divided it into four large sections.  I then divided each of the four sections into about six large two-strand twists.  On Christmas morning, I untwisted my hair into a large twist-out.  I will be posting pictures this week. My daughter’s hair was styled in rope twists with clear beads all over.  I plan on removing her twists for New Year’s eve and letting her wear a cute twist-out.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  I also plan on posting a brief hair history of my daughter.  She was one of those babies who was born with hair, but it all rubbed off within a few months of her birth.  I’m amazed at how much her hair has grown since her 1st birthday.

One last thing, I will be randomly picking a winner for the “Rep Your State” giveaway on the 31st.  I will announce the winner here on the website on the 1st.  If you would like to learn more about the giveaway, please click here: Rep Your State Giveway .  We did not quite get to my goal of 20 state reps, but it’s not too late.  I will continue to accept pictures for the “Rep Your State” feature. If you are interested in showing off your natural hair and letting others know what the natural scene is like in your area, please click here: Natural-ness in the States.  If you also want to be eligible for the upcoming giveaway, please send me your info before midnight on December 31st.  After the giveaway, I will continue to feature Naturals in the States.  I am also featuring Global Naturals.

Well, that’s about it for now.  I have a few products that I will be posting reviews for in the New Year and my sister Co has a recipe or two that she will be posting and sharing.  I look forward to the New Year and I hope you all are also!!