Daily Fix of Hair

Todays fix is of Terry Lynn - Jamaican artiste.

Shot by Peter Dean Rickards

Candidly Speaking

Had the pleasure of interviewing mastermind behind the visually stimulating That GOOD GOOD Blog

Enjoy =)

Tell us a little about yourself.

Hello world! My name is Dami Oyelola. I am a 20 year old girl from Nigeria, currently residing in peaceful Pennsylvania. I attend Penn State University where I am a third year student studying Food Science. I love Christ, people, hip-hop, vintage clothes, poetry, and apple pie.

When & why did you decide to start blogging?

I started blogging a little over a year ago (July 14, 2010). The reason I started this blog is because I had been seriously longing for a creative outlet at that point in my life. I've always loved writing and I have a strong affinity for fashion, music, and art. I realized that a blog would be a great way to combine all of these interests. Being completely new to blogging, I didn't have any major plans or goals for the blog; it was purely just going to be something for me to do during the summer in my free time. Now, as I think about how far the blog has come between then and now, I am beyond speechless.  I never, ever, ever, EVER thought that so many people would be interested in the things I have to say! I find it terrifying, to be honest. But when that fear settles, all that is left is excitement and hope. I'm excited because I can't wait to see where this blog is going to take me & I'm hopeful because I know that there is a good reason I have been given this unique opportunity to share my interests and the people/things that inspire me with other people.

How has your blog affected you?

It's amazing because I have been asking myself this question a lot lately. I find that the periods in which I am not able to blog, I get a little sad. I didn't realize how big of stress reliever blogging is for me, it truly is therapeutic. Especially when my schoolwork is becoming too much, it's so nice to have something to take my mind off of organic chemistry and agribusiness management every once in a while. Also, my blog has really giving me a renewed sense of conviction in my opinions. I've always been a bit quirky and into things that not too many other people were into (specifically music) and I would get some flack from my sisters and some of my friends about it. However, knowing now that there are over a thousand people around the world who share the same interests as me is liberating. Also, being able to put hundreds of people onto things they didn't know about is awesome as well.

What do you hope to achieve with your blog?

The main thing I wish to achieve with my blog is to inspire other people to chase their dreams, whatever those dreams may be. Like I always say, our generation is full of really determined individuals who refuse to wait to chase their dreams. So many people my age already have established businesses and are indulging themselves in their crafts. It's so inspiring and I want my blog to serve as a resource for such.

So let's talk about hair.. are you natural and if so why did you go natural?

YES! I have been natural since I was in the 7th grade (13 years old). In all honesty. I went natural because my hair was badly broken from perms. However, I have remained natural for so long because I am truly in love with my curls, kinks, and coils.

4 words to describe your mane.

thick, unpredictable, beautiful, & mine :)

5 things you're loving at the moment.

1. film photography

2. vinyl records

3. cherry red Dr. Martens

4. really, really, really big knit scarves

5. cocoa butter chapstick (my favorite thing in the world)

Candidly speaking.. (anything else you would like to add.. quote, mantra you live by etc)

"Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you." -Marianne Williamson, "Our Deepest Fear"

Foodie Wednesdays: Guest Post by Jessica from Jessiker Bakes {Pumpkin Pie}

Hello Candid Cinni followers! My name is Jessica of Jessiker Bakes and this is my guest post on Candid Cinni's blog. Every Wednesday we will be doing a foodie themed blog post to satisfy your sweet (and sometimes savoury) cravings! Everyone does love to eat, right? Great. So it's almost December (wow) but here's one last Fall themed dessert - pumpkin pie!

Give us your feedback so I can cater these guest posts to your desires!

Happy reading and even happier eating! 

- Jessica @ Jessiker Bakes

________________________________________________________________________________

What better way to end Thanksgiving season/Fall with Pumpkin Pie? I made some for the Thanksgiving holidays and just wanted to share this delicious recipe with you! It's a delicious Graham Crusted Pumpkin Pie straight from the genius Rachel Ray! So you know it's good! I topped it with some whipped cream and it's a delightful treat!

Graham Cracker Crusted Pumpkin Pie
P.S. the original recipe calls for granola bars but I didn't have any on hand so I just used Graham Crackers and loved it! I used about 1 1/2 cups of crumbs.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box (8.9 oz.) crunchy granola bars, broken into chunks
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. packed light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg white
• 1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°. Grease a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Using a food processor, grind the granola bars with 2 tbsp. brown sugar. Add the butter and egg white and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Pat the mixture evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake until the edge is crisp and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar, the pumpkin puree, eggs, cream, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Pour into the piecrust. Bake the pie until the center is almost set, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Daily Fix of Hair

Todays fix is of Jordenlee Mendez

shot by Rendel Gonzales.

Fashion Editorial featuring PILAR - clothing line by Anya Ayoung-Chee 

Project Runway Season 9 Winner

Soundtrack to Life

I know I'm not the only person who thinks that life should be a musical.
Let's all prance about and break out into a choreographed dance number.
Anything profound we have to say which is every 12 minutes, it's a catchy song.

A lot of songs would be in the film entitled "My Life" for it is still being written.
Right off the bat.. anything from Shirley Bassey.

Maybe because I was introduced to her way back when through James Bond movies & I've always wanted parts of my life to play out like Jamesy.
Yes I call him Jamesy. Only his friends call him Jamesy.

What would be included on the soundtrack of your life?

MANE-ly Speaking

Who are you?

My name is Shamar Chin. I am 21 years old and I am currently a junior at Wesleyan University studying Earth & Environmental Sciences.

3 words you would use to describe yourself.

Driven, bubbly and quirky

Why did you go natural?

I was 8 years old when my hair was first relaxed (long time ago).  Clearly at this age I did not appreciate my mane, instead, I was caught up with crying about how thick my hair was.  As I got older I grew tired of the maintaining relaxed hair. No matter what I did, I was never satisfied with the state of my hair. The brittleness, constant breakage and my lack of patience made the process painful and tiring. I have attempted to go natural a few times, this time being my third try and my second big chop. Each time I had a different experience and this time around I feel like I am more prepared to take care of my hair. All in all, I was killing my hair and it was time for me to stop. 

Was it difficult or easy to go natural?

Going natural has definitely been difficult for me despite the fact that this is my third attempt.  I tried to transition once and I gave up after 5 month, so once I made the decision to go natural again I knew I had to big chop. Both times I big chopped I did it myself and it was quite impulsive. Chopping my hair off was the easy part.  This journey has been difficult for me because I am in the awkward phase. My hair is not short enough to slick it back and go and it is not long enough to pin it up. I feel like I am at a standstill point and it is very frustrating because I like to change the style of my hair on a regular basis. Another difficult thing is learning how to take care of my hair because what works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. It is also hard being in this climate because it is cold and dry for most of the school year which is quite harsh on my hair.

4 words to describe your mane.

Thick, coily, big and sponge-like

Tell us a little about your regimen.

For my protein treatment, I use an egg and mayo and allow it to dry on my hair for about 2 hours. 

I deep condition my hair every other week with some coconut oil, mayo, jojoba oil, a conditioner and olive oil. 

After I wash out this deep conditioner I apply avocado oil to my hair.  For shampooing, I use a sulfate free shampoo (Organix is one of my favorites).

Everyday Regimen:

• I wet my hair using a spritz bottle. 
• I apply mane n’ tale as a leave in conditioner. 
• If it is humid, I apply vegetable glycerin to my hair because it is a humectant.
• I apply some cantu shea butter and seal in the moisture with castor oil. 

What have you learned on your natural hair journey?

I am learning to be patient. I have a long way to go before I reach my ultimate goal and I know that it won’t happen overnight therefore I constantly remind myself that patience is key. I am also learning to love myself and appreciate my natural hair.  I have also become a stronger person during this journey because there are days when I feel like giving up but I have to tell myself to keep it together and be strong. 

MANE-ly speaking.. (anything else you would like to add)

Everyone is beautiful in their own way. I have made the decision to go natural but I am not against straightening your hair because at the end of the day it’s your happiness that matters. Whatever you do, do it for the right reasons. Also, if you are thinking about going natural, give it some thought because it is not easy. Do some research about how to take care of your hair, decide if you want to transition or big chop and figure out if you would want to use extensions to make your journey easier. 




Follow Shamar on Twitter @Sham_Cee

Daily Fix of Hair

Todays fix is close to home.. it's my sister Shivonne =) 

SHE DID THE BC! She chopped off her locs yesterday & surprised me by sending me a pic.

I just had to share.

my sister in May 2011

Lil difficult for me to find a headshot of my sis & her locs recently *shrug*

the locs all gone!

Daily Fix of Hair

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Today's fix is Me, Myself & I.

The hair is a kind of wash n go. My hair needed a pick me up before I wash my hair this weekend so I did a semi co wash...meaning I just drenched my hair under the shower & with some conditioner.

Rinsed out the condish then applied Cantu Leave in haphazardly.. one half then the next and then applied Cantu Hair Silk.

Put it in a bun, went to bed & pulled out the bun today.

I might post a pic of my hair not up.

Foodie Wednesdays: Guest Post by Jessica from Jessiker Bakes {Black Velvet Cupcakes}

Hello Candid Cinni followers! My name is Jessica of Jessiker Bakes and this is my guest post on Candid Cinni's blog. Every Wednesday we will be doing a foodie themed blog post to satisfy your sweet (and sometimes savoury) cravings! Everyone does love to eat, right? Great. This week it's a way to incorporate something new and familiar (beer!) into your Thanksgiving celebrations! 

Give us your feedback so I can cater these guest posts to your desires!

Happy reading and even happier eating! 

- Jessica @ Jessiker Bakes

___________________________________________________________________________

Let me make two points -

1. I hate beer.
2. I am in love with these cupcakes.

I'm not sure, if it's the chocolate-y but not so chocolate-y flavour. If it's how deliciously moist they are: the most moist cupcakes I've ever tasted. If it was the distinct after taste. Or maybe it was how fluffy they were. Or the fact that I just did a little potion magic and turned Guinness into a sweet butterbeer-esque potion.

Whatever it was, these were so good.
I brought them to school, and my friends devoured them in I'm estimating about 2 seconds flat?
I converted non-chocolate lovers with these cupcakes.

I converted myself.

I would say I enjoyed them so much that I had 2, but I didn't have 2.

....

I had 3. 

Oh dear, that's pretty horrible isn't it? Especially since the smell was so intoxicating that I ate one about 4 seconds after it came out of the oven doing the infamous -it's-so-hot-it's-burning-my-tongue mouth blowing dance and enjoyed every second. Then I thought about them all the way until the next morning and started my day with one.

Then I kept one back in the fridge to have after class since Tuesdays are my roughest day. Yum.

Let me know what you think!

P.S. I left out the almonds.

Black Velvet Baby Cakes by BBC Good Food
Makes 10 regular cupcakes

• Ingredients
• 100g softened butter , plus extra for greasing
• 175g light brown soft sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 5 tbsp cocoa , plus a little extra for decorating
• 150ml Guinness

• 200ml double cream
• 25g icing sugar
• splash Champagne (optional)

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the bases of 6 dariole moulds with baking parchment. Put the butter, sugar, egg, flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate, cocoa and Guinness in a mixing bowl. Beat together until lump-free. Divide between the tins then bake for 20-25 mins until risen and a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool for 15 mins, then remove from tins and cool completely - the same way up they baked, don't turn upside-down.
2. Whip cream with the icing sugar and splash of Champagne, if using, until thick. Spoon a dollop onto the top of each cake and dust with a touch of cocoa. Serve with glasses of Champagne or Black Velvets for pudding.

NaturalBelle Hair Talk Feature

My sister & I were featured on NaturalBelle!

I'm head over heels for her blog & have been a follower for over a year now. Love it so much.
I was elated that she asked for not only me to be featured but also my beautiful older sis =)



CHECK IT OUT HERE

Daily Fix of Hair

Today's fix is in video form due to my prancing about Youtube land.

Reggae Dancehall I love, yadda yadda... if you follow my blog you know this.. if you didn't know.. well yay you now know! =)

Know how one thing leads to another? Right so I've been clicking on videos that come on the side because well they're similar and interesting.. aaannnddd I happened upon Shisha.

Shisha is a dancehall queen from France who captured the European Dancehall Queen title.
The first reel of footage I watched of her dancing, I was blown. Girl got skills.
As I was watching it, I thought of how I used to dream about being a dancehall queen (circa late 90's) & how I've never really seen much natural hair on a dancehall queen.

Clicked on another vid on the side... SHISHA IS NATURAL!

I was surprised & slightly creeped out because I just thought about natural hair & dancehall. Happy though :)

The first video is with Shisha & another dancehall queen Aaxxia.
The second is the one I mentioned.

Enjoy =)

Daily Fix of Hair

Today's Fix is chock full of Jamaican goodness.

Esther Beckford modeling Jae Jolly. Photography by Marlon James

Foodie Wednesdays: Guest Post by Jessica from Jessiker Bakes {Bruschetta}

Hello Candid Cinni followers! My name is Jessica of Jessiker Bakes and this is my guest post on Candid Cinni's blog. Every Wednesday we will be doing a foodie themed blog post to satisfy your sweet (and sometimes savoury) cravings! Everyone does love to eat, right? Great. This week it's savoury - bruschetta, my favourite appetizer! Let's switch it up with some divine flavours!!

Give us your feedback so I can cater these guest posts to your desires!

Happy reading and even happier eating! 

- Jessica @ Jessiker Bakes

______________________________________________________________________________

Bruschetta is my favourite appetizer in the world. If you're a tomato lover and you haven't tried bruschetta yet, you need to try it. Bruschetta originated from Italy, and is basically toasted bread that has been rubbed with garlic, butter and lightly salted topped with a blend of tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. Sometimes it's served cold, sometimes hot; I love both ways. What you're essentially making to describe it differently, is garlic bread topped with delicious tomatoes and cheese.


To twist it a bit, I roasted my tomatoes first to produce an absolutely delicious home-made version of sun-dried tomatoes. If you want me to do a separate blog post on that just let me know; it's so easy and delicious.
Anyhow, then I blended them a bit before using them. I also added parsley, well, because I love parsley. Please! Fresh ingredients only. Needless to say, I ate every single serving as a meal; no judgments please! It's appetizer portion *wink*

Roasted Tomatoes Bruschetta


1 french bread roll
Fresh basil (fresh is always the best!)
Fresh parsley
2 roasted tomatoes or 4 halves
Sprinkling of mozzarella
1 crushed and chopped garlic clove
butter
salt

Prepare the roasted tomatoes first. If you aren't using roasted tomatoes, then just wash regular tomatoes and use those. Note: roasted tomatoes give a lot more flavour. To roast tomatoes, cut them in half, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes 

Place tomato halves into a blender with fresh basil and parsley (leave some behind for garnish). Select "chop" or grind" and pulse in 1 second pulses for about 10 seconds.

Preheat toaster oven to 400 Degrees F. Slice french roll into slices that are about 1/2 inch thick. Mix butter, a pinch of salt and crushed garlic together and rub and top bread with the mixture.

Place slices with topping up on a tray and bake for about 5 minutes until lightly toasted.

Remove slices and top with tomatoes. Add a sprinkling of mozzarella and parsley or basil for garnish. Serve and enjoy!

Daily Fix of Hair

Today's Fix is courtesy of Rox - British soul singer.

I'm convinced Britian is just an island of great soulsy singers. Like.. seriously.

I've seen pics of her hair in various stages but I liked these two pics.

I love her music as well.. copped her album Memoirs.

Tracks I love

-My Baby Left Me

-Rocksteady

-I Don't Believe

Anita Grant Product Review

My first official product review and what product line better to kick it off than with Anita Grant Goodies?!

I was uber excited about doing this. After a lil convo on twitter with Anita Grant.. I was offered to try out 2 of their products since I didn't formerly have the pleasure of doing so.

 I WAS SYKED! Listen.. these goodies have been on my hair product wishlist for about a year now.

I was interested in trying out the infamous Rhassoul Deep Condish & the Creamy Cafe Latte.

The ingredients spoke to me... I love me some chocolate & coffee so to have that in hair products? WIN.

So I was sent 3 30g cubes of the Deep Condish & the 2 oz Creamy Cafe Latte in Mint Twist.

I received them the very next day! Anita Grant is so sweet and very efficient so that alone sold me.

From the site :

Rhassoul Deep Condish 

Our Rhassoul Deep Condishes contains Unrefined Black Cocoa Butter & natural Soya based Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) which helps to guard scalp & hair from free radical damage. When hot liquid is added to our Rhassoul Deep Condishes, it swells & increases its surface area like a highly porous sponge.  Attracting & trapping toxins into these open porous spaces so that when it comes time to rinse the Rhassoul Deep Condish from your hair the toxins are eliminated and you're left with detoxified fluffy soft tresses.

So instead of a Hot Oil treatment why not detoxify your scalp & hair.

& 

Creamy Cafe Latte

Pure Brazilian Coffee Oil stimulates the follicles while the wholesome goodness of Organic Virgin Coconut oil, nourishes your skin and naturally curly hair. Decadent Organic, Unrefined Fair Trade Black Cocoa Butter from Ghana conditions from top to toe, and the vitamin enriched - velvety suppleness of Australian Macadamia Nut Oil lovingly caresses you everywhere. All engulfed in an abundance of delicious natural & organic skin and curly hair care loving ingredients...mmm-mmm-goodness!  

For your curly  hair - a teeny-weeny dollop'll do ya!

Enhance your hair's natural curl definition and seal in moisture - without build up. Just rub a teeny pinch of Creamy Café Latte between the palms of your hands, work with your naturally curly hair and cover from root to tip - caress & detangle dry hair (YES, dry curly hair) for instant softness in seconds. Then sit back and enjoy the scent, softness and sheen.

CHECK OUT REVIEW AFTER THE JUMP

Muzik Mondays

I'm a Reggae head. I always have to listen to it... It's just wonderful.

Don Corleon, producer straight from Jamaica who has done work with just about every big Jamaican artiste, has come out with a new riddim called "Antique Riddim"
It's a "one drop" riddim and features Kymani Marley, Protoje, Vybz Kartel, Tarrus Riley, Romain Virgo & Da Professor.

Di riddim smoootthhh & the horns in it reminded me of a song called "Handcart Bwoy" by Perfect that came out years ago.. I was still living in Jamaica but it's a fave of mine.

So do Enjoy the sounds of the Antique Riddim & Handcart Bwoy

=)