Thank you Roots Of Blackness, Chasing Metamorphosis  and Nappy Headed Black Girl - for naming our Blog one of the top Stylish Blogger!!!

To Spread the love, I would like to share this award with some fabulous blogs that I follow daily:

Franchesca.net
I Love My Loc's
Le Coil
Beads, Braids & Beyond
Chasing Metamorphosis
Baby Makin(g) Machine
Goapele
Runway Wonderland
Wahidah Fowler
i Rock Loc's

& sooo many more!
Meet Natural Beauty - Helena! Thank you Helena for submitting your story about your natural hair journey.

Q: What is your hair story?  What kind of hair styles have you rocked, before embracing your natural hair?
A: Being a little girl I enjoyed my hair as it was, didn't think a lot about it and my parents have always taught my about natural beauty.
But growing older and watching music videos with Beyoncé, I saw her hair and was like, I want hair like her. I thought that it would be possible with a relaxer. But of course not. I tried a relaxer, but it didn't work at all. Only my hair ends got straight. And only a year after that, I cut my ends of and went all natural again. But now I'm happy it didn't work because i love my naturally curly hair and I'm proud of it.

Q: When and why did you decide to start wearing your hair naturally?
A: In the Christmas/January 2009-2010. I cut my straight ends off, and it was at the length was of a twa. And I loved it. I love my curls, and I am proud to wear it natural.

Q: Did you have any big fears about going back to your natural texture?
A: Not really. My hair was really dry and frizzy, with the straights ends. And I had read a lot about natural hair, so i was very excited for me to go 100% natural and rock my natural hair.

Q: What are three products you can't live without for nurturing/styling your hair?
A: My favorite is coconut oil. It's amazing for shine and makes my hair super soft, and it's great to prevent hair from frizzing. I also loves Aubrey Organics B5 Designer Gel - it's great for braid-outs, styling and it really moisturizes your hair. Also Aubrey Organics Natural Island Conditioner is really good.

Q: What would you say to someone who's thinking about embracing their natural hair, but scared about being rejected in various parts of their lives?
A: I thinks that natural hair exudes confidence, pride and beauty.. whatever what style you are rockin! It's for you. You are beautiful. Don't think so much about what people may say.
Accept and love your self and your natural hair, and others will to as they see your natural beauty shine.

Q: How can we keep up with you and your journey i.e. blog, twitter, facebook, fotki, tumblr, personal or professional website?
A: Yes i have a blog, naturalhairisbeautifull.blogspot.com.

Black Skin Care Tip: Shea Butter, The Natural Ingredient for African American Skin Care 
By Juliette Samuel
Publisher & Esthetician For Nyraju Skin Care

While dark skin may have its advantages, it can be prone to its challenges.  An example of this is dry skin. Yes, African American people get dry skin. Melanin is a great protector of African American Skin and dark skin in general, but dryness is a condition that brings a different set of issues to be addressed. For most African Americans shea butter is among the top natural treatments that can be used on dry and sensitive skin.  It is packed full of vitamins and nutrients that give protection to the layers of your skin.  Shea butter has the ability to refresh and bring it back to the original suppleness and texture that it’s accustomed to.

Good news for you is that shea butter will have your beautiful black skin responding to it quick, fast and in a hurry.  This enables your skin to retain moisture and have greater elasticity immediately after its application. Shea butter, used on black skin, makes it easier to repair the damage sustained by your skin, such as flaking and itchiness that’s caused by excessive dryness. In addition to making your skin feel better, shea butter has the ability to even out your skin tone.  Your skin is the largest organ of your body and if you’ve ever experienced dryness, you know that there is a tendency for white spots to develop.  The application of shea butter to black skin can reduce the dryness, spots as well as get rid of the streaking that takes place when you scratch dry skin.

In order to take full advantage of the benefits offered by this natural beauty product, make sure that when you shower or bathe, your water temperature is lukewarm.  Extreme temperatures in water, particularly hot water, will strip the natural oils from your skin.  If your challenge is extremely dry skin, do not soak in water for more than 10 minutes.

Your body cleanser should be made from natural products such as vegetable soaps or soaps made from vegetable oils, like olive oil.  Even better, use cleansers that contain shea butter.  Your skin will benefit from the gentle cleansing action and provide it with the moisturizing properties of shea butter.  Hopefully you've enjoyed the black skin care tips in this article but here is one last tip: apply the shea butter while your skin is still damp in order to ensure that the moisture is sealed in.  Do not rub your skin with a towel, instead blot it dry or use your wash cloth to remove the excess water.  This is much more considerate of your body’s fragile protective layer.

Guest Writer:  Juliette Samuel
Authors Bio:  Meet Juliette
Picture of Franchesca. Loving her hair and her overall style!
Source - Franchesca.net
I have been talking about this since last year. The original image that I had on the bottom of the Naturally Beautiful Hair Website welcome page, only featured women with loc's. For some odd reason, it did not click with me, for awhile - that this image did not reflect our large community of natural hair styles. I just recently updated the image on the website (see new and old image below). But it is still not feeling very diverse to me. I would like to add some images of our men, as well as coils and braid photos. It is a work in progress.

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