Style Star: Julia Sarr-Jamois

Julia is a style star because she displays a good mix of edgy and casual attire. When I look at style stars, I look for someone who just has fun with fashion and it shows with Julia. She is  half French and half Senegalese and was born in London. A fashion stylist who previously worked at Wonderland magazine as an editor and now works at I-D magazine as fashion editor-at-large, according to her instagram. I remember seeing her in some blog a few years back and she has become my fashion inspiration! I mean look at her fro!  

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Citizen Couture

  

 Photographed by Yuval Hen & Nathan Rissman for Plastic Dreams  Issue 06 - S/S 2011/2012

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http://juliasarrjamoislove.tumblr.com/

         

Whose style do you envy the most? Leave a comment below, and maybe they can become the next style star!

Outfit of The Day: Patterns on Patterns!

Hello! I secretly love fashion! So I am going to incorporate my looks of the day from time to time! Hope you like! 

        

Shirt-Salvation Army 

Leggings- Charlotte Rousse

Shoes-Payless

My Trip to Paris:The Unplanned Happened

 

The Eiffel Tower as it rains outside. 

  It has been an interesting school year for me. Since the start of Spring 2014 I have been doing a lot with starting a school organization, doing extracurricular activities, hanging out with friends, and trying to maintain good grades.

  Therefore I was excited to hear that I was going to study abroad to Paris and London for a month this summer! I couldn't believe I was going on this trip, in fact I didn't tell anyone I was going ( except my family and those going with me) until  I think the day I got to Paris. It wasn't because I felt like I was dreaming, but an unnerving feeling in my gut came about when I thought about it sometimes.

  However, I, along with over a hundred students, boarded on a one way flight to Paris. It was surreal. The day I got there my roommate and I went to go and eat a nearby sandwich place. While siting outside eating croque.  (delicious French version of grilled cheese!) I couldn't believe I was there, relaxing  in the cool wind, glancing at the esoteric architecture, watching the Parisians walk by.It was surreal. 

Infamous croque! So yummy!

  Each  day  was filled with whirlwind adventures. I enjoyed eating at a crepes restaurant by myself late at night, trying escargot for the first time with my friend,  hour-long museum  tours with my classmates, and hanging out at the beautiful Luxembourg and Parais-Royal Gardens. It was bitter-sweet, because as I was enjoying my time I was bummed we were only staying for  two weeks. Besides I had already been to London when I was twelve. 

    Unfortunately, something  happened. I wrote a post about this before, but previously I was hospitalized for almost two months and one of the reasons was from having avascular necrosis. It all started trickling down when our class went on the Louvre Museum tour.The Louvre was one of the attractions of my  "Things to do in Paris list" I had to check off. Before the day of the tour, I had done a lot walking and had a tour of my own with my friends and a couple of my schoolmates. The day of the Louvre tour,I  was having sickle cell crisis (not too bad),  I took some pain medicine and tried to carry on with the Louvre tour. 

   However, during the tour it became increasingly difficult to move on. I wanted to desperately capture and appreciate years of artwork, but I started feeling ill and wanted to pass out. I thought maybe I hadn't eaten enough while taking my medicine, but when the effects of the  medicine wore off the crisis came again and much stronger. It was impossible to walk any further and I  had to sit down multiple times. 

What up, Mona? 

   At the end of the Louvre tour I was in tears from so much pain. Thankfully I was approached by a few girls from my class who saw me in pain and stayed and helped me. After eating a sandwich and taking my medicine I felt a lot better and was able to go out and eat at  "the best French restaurant"(details on that soon). 

   Unfortunately,  days later I would be in pain every day. It became harder to take long walking tours with my friends. Mostly the pain was in my hip, and one day after looking for a subject to shoot for my class project it got so bad I had to get the doctor called immediately. I  spent a few days in my room not being able to walk. 

    It was getting to the point where it was questioned whether or not I could continue on with the trip. Yet, those who know me, know that I don't back down easy. It wasn't until the last day of Paris, I had already began walking incredibly slow and I didn't want anyone to be bothered with my difficulties. Therefore, after eating a croque sandwich  I was to spend the day alone and take the Metro to the Shakespeare's company. 

   I couldn't make it down the steps of the Metro.  I sat on the steps just having the physical feeling of defeat. Two security guards came rushing in to help me, despite the fact that they didn't speak English and I don't speak French. Moments later I was rushed to the Emergency Room  in an ambulance. I thought I was only going to stay in the hospital for a night, but I stayed for six days leaving behind my friends, London, and the past and future experiences. 

   It wasn't my ideal situation to end up in the hospital in Paris. Since this experience is still new to me ( I just got back to America), I am not sure what lessons are to be learned here. All I know is, things happen unexplained, unplanned. I just have to move on from it. I can still say I've been to Paris, which not many people can say. Additionally, I took a lot of pictures and some videos of my Parisian trip that I will gladly share to everyone. Just remember to be positive, if not for you, for someone else. 


     

How to Be Confident with Jaundice Eyes

I write this article on a bad day. I have sickle cell as I've stated before and with all the emotional and physical pain that comes along with it jaundice is one of the consistent problems I have. Today I came in late for class and missed a much needed quiz to boost up my grade, I encountered two of my classmates avoiding me despite the fact that I was just walking like everyone else and had no intentions of talking to them anyway. In addition to that, I forgot my money to buy sushi, an energy drink and embarrassingly walked out of the store  with my lunch left behind at the counter. I know these all seem trivial compared to the  chaos that goes on in the world.

However these mishaps seemed to flood my mind as  I drove back home. So when I hopped on my laptop in my room and searched "how to be confident with jaundice eyes, " I was looking for reassurance.  There needed to be  something to kick me out of the funk, to know that everything would be okay, and yet I got nothing. The same emotion that surrounds my inner thoughts come attacking. It's the same disappointing feeling I get when I Google "makeup for jaundice eyes," or dare I type "how to cure jaundice".

I've been dealing with this tug of war since  middle school. When will I just accept my fate? I know that my  life wouldn't drastically change if I woke up suddenly with milky white eyes. However, it would be nice to be able to look at someone in the eye, without awkwardly looking away. Or have someone understand how you feel.

This is just me being dramatic I assume, I mean I know about the man with no arms and legs who just got married and now has a child. However, sometimes I can't help but to think these stressful reminders. In our world, we often ban this thinking as  if it were a selfish thing to do: talking about your problems.

Yes, I write this article on a bad day. So, maybe tomorrow I will feel differently, maybe tomorrow won't be as awful. That's how I have to think to get through this life.

Music Monday: I Am Not My Hair

I recently "big chopped" last week! It was supposed to be after celebrating my two year transition, but that got cut short to 21 months. After taking out my twists I attempted to do a braid out which turned out to be really greasy ( seriously I had to keep going to the bathroom during church to dab away the oil). The style also didn't last too long as it became increasingly  apparent of the two different textures. So, I grabbed my scissors and clipped away. Now I am so happy with my hair do, and it's so much easier to maintain. I will post up a video of my "big chop" soon, but in the meanwhile listen to some India Arie (I know,I know)!

Pink Hair!

Fierce!  source: http://prettyblackpastel.tumblr.com

   I am thinking of dying my hair pink, a purplish pink.I have been transitioning for 15 months now, and if I were to big chop my hair it will be dyed pink. I was thinking about it once I stepped into the steamy shower this morning, while droplets of water were beating my skin.

    I instantly thought of myself dancing in one of those edgy commercials where the product is  skinny jeans, and I am surrounding by tall, gorgeous people dancing to rock music. My hair sways to the left than to the right. My painted lips snarling here and there, and I just don't care anymore. No more worrying about what others think of me, or slaving to others expectations.
 
      It's just me and my pink hair, studded stilettos,punk shades and my punk attitude. People wouldn't know what to do with me anymore, they'd think I lost my marbles. In response I would get a septic nose ring and tattoo my knuckles.

     Two years ago, I craved for red hair a year afterwards it was blonde. The most I've ever done to my hair was have a burgundy gloss. Inside my habitual crevice, my hair was the same black color since birth, but out into the sunlight  my hair grew into a red aura.

    When I hopped outside of the shower and changed into my jeans and t-shirt, I felt uncomfortable. I sat in my chair unsure what my next move would be. My thoughts changing as fast as a nerve synapse.  Staring at my laptop, I wondered if this draining sensation would  scratch away if I finally did what I wanted to for a change.

Transitioning: Wash day!!

Source: blackgirllonghair.com

     So I have been transitioning my hair from relaxed to natural for  thirteen months! Yeah! Whoo hoo!  It hasn't been easy at all. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more, but here I am now! What has changed the most (besides my hair texture) is my hair routine. For the past year I have been changing up my hair routine, to see what works best , and the routine I currently have makes my hair so soft!!

    So this is my hair before I wash it. It was an old braid out that's dirty and dry.

I decided to deep condition my hair before I wash it, which is something i have never really done before. I lightly damped my hair and detangled it thoroughly, then I put my hair into four braids while I condition them. 

Putting my dry hair into four parts.

 

Here's my hair wet, you can see the stringy ends attached. And my hair is like a reddish brown due to the henna.

      

                                                 
                                                                           

              I used the Shea Moisture' s Deep Treatment Mask and I added some Jamaican castor oil I got from a Caribbean market to it.  I think I got ripped off, because the bottle is the size of my palm and it costs $ 3.99!  Anyway, since it was late at night and I was tired, I decided to deep condition over night. However, I wouldn't do nightly deep conditions in the future because it can weaken the hair and cause it to break easily. 

    Next, I woke up the next morning, and I washed out my hair still in the four braids (but made it looser) with Kera Pro Restorative shampoo. It has sulfates, so choose another Shampoo that is sulfate free like Tresemee! 

 

       I then dry my hair with an old t-shirt and let it air dry. Usually I plan my wash days on days I have nowhere to  go, therefore I can just read and wait until my hair is  dry and ready to style. To stretch it I will moisturise with a leave-in conditioner and then braid my hair.  

   The number of braids depends on what I feel like, whether it's four braids, sixteen braids, cornrows, whatever! Then I will put some rollers at the end of my hair because I am transitioning, and keep it in for six hours or until the next morning to reveal the pleasant surprise my hair has undertaken.

So here are the (usual) results. And I love it, because it's fun, flirty, and soft to the touch.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

    

Celebrities Who Embrace Their Flaws!

  Hello everyone! I hope you guys had a great mother's day! I got my mama a candle because I am a college student with no job! But she said she likes it and it was kind of  expensive for a candle, so I'm glad she does. Anywho,  I am making this post about celebrities and their physical flaws and how they embrace it, because a lot of people look up to celebrities and think ohmigod they are just soo perfect. However no one is! I don't understand how being famous makes you perfect, but okay here's a list of celebrities that embrace their flaws.


1. Anne Hathaway--Prominent Features



      I've liked Anne Hathaway since the Princess Diaries. I just think she is gorgeous and she has prominent features like big eyes, ears,  and teeth but she still looks stunning whenever I see her on the red carpet. It actually makes her unique and shows that you dont have to have quaint little features to be beautiful! Yeah you go Hathaway with your shiny Oscar!


2.  Grace Jones--Androgyny



I love Grace Jones from her razor-sharp cheekbones to her high top fade! Even though the Jamaican singer, actress and model is androgynous, it's what made her the fashion icon she is today. Like Hathaway she shows that having strong features can be a beautiful thing.Plus, it's her fashion and flair that has influenced big pop stars like Madonna and Rihanna!


3. Padma Lakshmi--Scar
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Padma Lakshmi is a model and has written award-winning cookbooks like Easy Exotic, and also hosts Top Chef on Bravo. Another seemingly confident celeb whose physical flaw seems to be her scar located on her right arm. As someone with many scars myself, I admire Padma for not hiding her scar, but wearing outfits that reveal the scar she got from a car accident like the one above.

4. Rebel Wilson--Plus size



  Rebel is pretty and funny what more could you ask for? Even though the world is obsessed with being the perfect size, she's fine with who she is. She brings in the confidence that has leads her to star in blockbuster movies (do people still say blockbuster?), hosting the MTV movie awards, and  now her own show on ABC called Super Fun Night !

5. Tyra Banks--Big Forehead



Tyra! Tyra! As stated in a  previous entry, I loved the Tyra Show, some may have found it annoying I guess but I really wish the show did not go off the air! Anyway, if anyone knows this supermodel/actress/children's book author/ Emmy-award winning talk show host/ ANTM host is that she embraces her big ol' five head. That's right you wont see her wearing bangs much, nevertheless she is still beautiful! Honorable mention in this category goes to Rihanna.

This is the list I've compiled so far, but stay tuned because I might add more to it!

Henna: My Experience As a Transitioner!

The back of my henna'd head!

                                                

   So I have stated before that I am going  natural and that I was going to do a henna post, well here it is! I heard of hennaing natural hair before, and the purpose of it for natural hair is to naturally dye hair is (only works if your hair is not black or dark brown), give shine,  stronger and thicker hair, and some believe it can loosen the hair texture. I wanted all of the above but was hesitant to do henna because, like most natural hair blogs I researched henna from, the "henna experiment" was done on fully natural hair and not on transitioning hair. 

   So I went on youtube and I found one transitioner who henna'd and it's pretty much the same thing! Also everyone can henna their hair no matter what race. So I went to my local Indian store which is an hour away, and I got whatever henna there was 'cause I trust the store to bring me the good stuff. The henna I bought is called Reshma Henna, and it looks like this:

                                                   

  Yep, anyway the henna process is a long one that's why I'm planning on doing it once a month to see the benefits. I tried the application after Christmas and my hair kind of had a looser texture but not really, and it was softer, but what I like the most was that my hair was easier to detangle and I could literally put my fingers through my hair after being out of the shower which never happened before. The cons of the henna application is that it is a long process ( I would say from setting the henna before applying to rinsing out the henna it is about a total of 12 hours!), and it is very hard to rinse out so don't expect it all to rinse out after washing it once.

   I was also warned of the application being messy, but there really wasn't too much of a mess when applying, just that when I slept overnight with it in my hair my bedsheets were stained (oops!). I also didn't get to play much with my hair this month to fully embrace my newly henna'd hair. The reason was beacuse my hair was in cornrows and under a wig for protective styling. Overall, I like it so far and will continue applying it once a month to see better results. Here's me rocking the henna:

My hair now at seven months of transitioning (no product):

  P.S - Henna can be drying to your hair, so I wouldn't suggest using lemons or ACV when mixing in the henna.I instead  used brewed tea and olive oil!

Pamper Yourself, Dahling!

  
                                  


     Now that Christmas break is over, and I am instantly swamped with a butt load of coursework, I have to remember to pace myself while making sure to get things done. In our ever-changing fast world we find ourselves to be cramped up with so much work, like doing errands, homework, whatever people do at jobs ('cause I wouldn't know in this economy), cleaning, volunteering, and so forth. It is very important to just take a break and to not overdo these requirements  because you may end up in the hospital with IV fluids running through your veins (no joke). Seriously, when we pamper ourselves we acknowledge the fact that we care about ourselves more than anyone else, which isn't as bad as it sounds, because in the end every single choice we make should benefit us in some way.

   You don't have to go to some five-star hotel and order the most expensive spa package  there is, it would be nice though, but it could just be going to the beach, reading a good book, painting your nails, writing a good story, writing a bad story, eating your favorite dish, basically anything that you like to do for fun. You see today while I was running around and doing my errands, I stopped by at Red Mango and you know I got me a nice, tasty Mango Mandarin smoothie. I also decided to paint my nails my favorite color: purple!

Ignore the bad paint job.

 

 

 

       Honestly, doing these simple pleasures makes me feel a lot better and takes a whole load of stress weighing on top of my shoulder blades. Also, it only takes about five minutes to do some of the things I like to do to pamper myself. In addition, let's just all breathe in and then breathe out whenever we feel stressed, just to know that we are still alive  and how much of a blessing that really is.

Natural Hair: Transitioning



That's my hair guys!



           I am transitioning to natural hair from relaxed hair. I wanted to transtition since I watched that "special" episode of The Trya Show about natural hair. Does anyone remember the theme song? "I'm coming out! Tyra! Tyra!" Anyway, that was when I was in high school but I was too scared to go natural because I thought that if  I were to go natural I would have to chop all my hair off! I don't know about anyone else, but I don't look good with  short hair--I think.  You see I was the girl with "good hair" my hair has always been long since I could remember ( even reaching to my butt) and I remember when I was in the fourth grade, and some ghetto child argued with me about my hair on the school bus.

    She turned around and opened her big mouth "Yah hair is a weave! That can't be yah hair!" I was peeved then, but I laugh at it now because although it was the hair growing out of my head it wasn't the texture God gave me. And since my hair was relaxed at a very young age (since 5) I could understand her confusion now. But anyway, that is why I am transitionining because I think it's weird that I am in college now and I do not even remember my own texture. And growing up in the late 90s and early 00s I realize that this is the case for a lot of African-American woman.



Me as a kid

                       
                                                  
   Now six months earlier I was looking at the website blackgirllonghair.com and I was amazed at all the glorious crowns that the natural-haired woman were wearing and I wanted my own glorious crown. So, without hesitation I decided to just not relax my hair that week like I was supposed to and now fast-forward to today, I am still happy about my decision. I can't stop touching the different ringlets of coils, kinks, and curls that are my hair. I wish I was always natural but this experiece, although hard at times, has made me appreciate my own set of curls.

   What other race can say they have African-American hair? So why, should we be ashamed of it? Because of what the media depicts as beautiful? Please! I dont care what anyone says my hair is unique and I rather have this hair then any of  those models in the before-and-after hair commercials. Now, I have been transitioning for six months now, and I would like to make it to a year at least.

    I used to think transitioning meant cutting inches off every month, but some don't and even transition for three years and don't cut off any of it until the "big chop".  I'm not saying that's the correct way but instead of cutting off as I go, I am trimming my hair. So far my only problem is that my hair has different textures all over, and my hair in the sides seem longer than the hair in the back. Hopefully, I will henna my hair tomorrow for the first time and see if it will my make my hair stronger and promote more hair growth. Now, let me go back to my nasty habit of feeling my kinks, coils, and curls.

Thanks for reading, and share please!


    

What is Beauty?

                                      
    Hello, guess what? The Mayans were wrong, which is  spectacular depending on who you ask. I just recently read an article on The Frisky titled "Mirror, Mirror: You ARE Pretty Enough to Find Love". It is all about accepting yourself and not worrying about being "beautiful" because there is a type of love for everyone. You know, all the stuff our elders try to teach us. However, I have been reading Iyanla Vanzant's book "One Day My Soul Just Opened Up" and it is a daily self-help book that is meant to be read in 40 days. I am on my sixth day, and the day is titled Creativity.I don't want to give you too much details, but   in this chapter I learned that I can always change my mind.

         I have always had a very negative way of thinking, maybe I inherited that from my dad. Anyway, this negative thinking stems mostly from my physical looks. You see I have sickle-cell anemia, which is a serious illness. It  can cause me to get physically weak,  have excruciating pain and has caused me to spend most nights in the hospital as a child.

      Besides the frequent hospitalizations I received, I had a creepy,green, slimy appearance that used to make me shudder whenever I saw it. It was in the whites of my eyes, you know, the ones that people first notice in other and it's called jaundice. Jaundice appeared right in middle school ( not a good place to start), and I remembered the guy I had a crush on back then make fun of my  eyes and it caused me to cry severely in front of him. I also remembered  in my last years of high school some kid would always ask me if I had drugs. It wasn't in a nice way, but very harsh and taunting. Those weren't the only two, for other followed suit and made sure I always new my eyes were a yellow greenish color.

                                    
      I never understood why people made fun of me, I was shy (still am)  but very nice to others. However, in those years of bullying I stood up for myself once, which resulted in a fight. But other times I just stood there taking my parents advice, which was ignoring them, but it did not help at all. So I thought that I soon as a graduated from high school that there would be more mature people and bullying will have no avail.

     I was wrong in fact the first year of college was spent worrying about what others were thinking of me. I still get teased and bullied, in fact the other day I was at Walmart and someone busted out laughing saying that "I look like a stick" . But guess what? It doesn't bother me now. Because I have a positive mind that loves every inch of me. It's hard, and it is not overnight that you will wake up loving yourself like that. I still struggle from time to time, but I just pray to God to hinder my negative thoughts and to love everyone instead of hating everyone and everything like before, and it helps.