The best thing so far about running this Blog, aside from sharing what I consider vital information with the natural community, is all the “free” stuff I’m offered!  Okay so, it hasn’t been much free stuff but… Well… Ya know. *lol*  At any rate, a couple of months ago I was contacted by author Lori Johnson to review her sophomore novel titled “A Natural Woman”.  While she admitted the book wasn’t about natural hair as much as it was about the life of her central character who has natural hair, she was interested in my take on whether that aspect of the book was authentically encompassed that theme.  Although I am not a fan of “urban lit” because all the books I’ve come across seem to follow a predictable, cookie cutter format that’s about as realistic as Sarah Palin as a competent president, I agreed to the review because I am a fan of free books.  I also agreed because as a writer myself, I know how vital reviews can be to the success of one’s work and I admired Lori’s courage to reach out to a relative stranger for an honest assessment of her book.  It says a lot to me if an author is willing to break out of his or her comfort circle of “yes readers” in order to give their efforts a fresh set of eyes.  So I passed on my address and waited for the goodies.  Much to my delight Lori not only sent “A Natural Woman“, she also sent a copy of her debut novel, “After The Dance”! *insert Tiger Woods fist pump here*  Another aspect that tickled my fancy was along with the books, Lori included a “full” press kit that included promotional information about both books and a personalized letter thanking me for agreeing to the review.  Anybody who’s anybody in the publishing industry knows that that is the proper way to deliver your product to a reviewer and so I was impressed with Lori’s professionalism in that aspect.  It shows she is more than just some fly-by-night “writer” who’s out to “get rich” by putting anything on a page.  Ms. Johnson believes in what she does and her presentation shows it!

I received the package from Lori in a very short amount of time and as is my routine I scanned the back of the cover for a “preview” of coming attractions.  Honestly, I was disappointed in what I initially read of the blurb presented there which made “A Natural Woman” seem typically formatted: Beautiful, well educated church going and successful black woman meets the under-educated,  neighbourhood “homeboy” barber who has emotional hang ups but is not quite what he seems, and against the odds they fall in love. *yawn*  Not only have I read that story a million times, I’ve lived it in my own day to day.  And throwing in the “natural hair angle” seemed bandwagoningly cheesy, to say the least. But, as I have learned time and time again, first impressions (or second impressions, in this case) are not always the end all, be all to a thing, and so since I’d committed to the review I was going to stick it out and see the book to its end.  For the most part, I’m glad I did.

“A Natural Woman” centers around the life of Dr. Aliesha Eaton, an anthropology professor who has returned to her southern family’s hometown from Chicago and is in need of a caretaker for her natural tresses.  The book opens with Aliesha’s first visit to Wally’s Cool Cuts, a nondescript barbershop that’s not unlike any other neighbourhood barbershop, where her professional demeanor catches the shop’s staff and a bit off guard.  All she wants is a simple shape up for her Afro but what she receives at first is a battle of wits with an unarmed gentlemen with designs on setting her “straight” about Chicago.  But before she has to let the Chi come out on this cat full force, Dante – one of the barbers who’d been “on break” just a few moments before – steps in to diffuse the situation and offers Aliesha not just a cut, but a shampoo as well using his “Big Mama’s” homemade shampoo.  The two hit it off and break into easy conversation about their backgrounds, but what they don’t speak on is the almost instant attraction that seems to be building between them as Dante handles Aliesha’s strands.  They also don’t speak about the elements that keep them both from throwing caution to the wind and giving in to their desires: Aliesha’s boyfriend, adoring but boring Javiel, and Dante’s on again/off again romance with the tempting yet unattainable Laylah.  As with all thunderbolt type loves, after a bit of personal back and forth for both Aliesha and Dante, they give in and embark on what seems to be a romance for the record books.  Unfortunately, fate in the form of Kenneth, Aliesha’s violent ex-lover, and the death Dante’s “Big Mama” threaten to stall the relationship before it gets a chance to really start…

Now, I stopped the synopsis here because you pretty much know the formula for books like this.  In the end, love prevails.  However there is much more to the story than I have time to detail, which grated my nerves.  There were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many characters, most of which could have been left on the cutting room floor because they were not important to the plot nor did they move the story along.  Also there was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much back story for those characters that, again, was not important to the story or move it along.  While back story is needed to give your readers a good understanding of the central characters and what has led them up to the point they find themselves in, the readers do not need this type of kitchen sink formula.  It weighs the story down and can throw the reader off track or even cause them to put the book down.  It seemed as if the author was trying to tell several different stories when she should have kept focus on Aliesha and Dante’s.  Also, there was waaaaaaaaaaaay too much action going on from Aliesha’s perspective.  First she has to fight her feelings for Dante in the interest of keeping her relationship with Javiel alive, only to succumb to the realization that she really didn’t want Javiel in the first place.  Then there comes a subplot about Javiel’s mental stability and the suspicion that he possibly killed an ex-girlfriend… Theeeeen comes the subplot of his mother Julia giving the impression that she doesn’t like Aliesha on some “protective mother” trip… Theeeeeeeeeeen comes the crazy ex who tried to choke Aliesha in Las Vegas… Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeen… I’m sure you get the point.  While in real life we each juggle a number of inter-related situations, when it comes to fiction my preference is to keep the story straight forward, with maybe one or two curveballs thrown in to keep me on my toes.  With all the intertwined subplots I found myself ducking balls left and right.  Not my idea of a funky good time.  I will say that each deviation would have made wonderful installments in a series of “Dr. Aliesha Eaton” books, but cramming everything the author tried to pack into “A Natural Woman” was just too much in one timeline.  Another aspect of the book that I didn’t care for was it seemed overly “cliché-y”.  From the no-nonsense, professional Black woman who has everything going for her but a stable love life, the average Joe Black man who has the smarts but missed the opportunity to make it big, the “home girl” best friend sidekick who is fierce and took no shit and on into er’body having a Big Momma (maybe it’s a southern thing, but even that’s clique-y as well), this story seemed to involve every “cookie cutter” element that turns me off of “urban lit”.  It was, in a sense, just like every other case of contemporary Black fiction I’ve ever read and disliked.

However… “A Natural Woman” was penned by a phenomenal writer who, despite the above elements that made me want to close the book and put it high on the bookshelf, kept me engaged with each chapter.  Her saving grace and ultimate talent is her dialogue, which is a part of the story making process that a lot of writers get wrong.  The conversations between the myriad of characters, from the initial verbal rumble in Wally’s Cool Cuts to Aliesha’s drunken and emotional confrontation with Dante at a neighbourhood eatery, smacked with realism and conveyed the character’s thoughts and feelings flawlessly.  It’s through this dialogue that readers can actually get to know the cast of the book and become intimately involved with them.  I found myself actually visualizing each of the characters as they interacted with one another, which is a high point for me.  I love books that give me the opportunity to use my own imagination to flesh out scenarios and the people in them.  Lori is also excellent when it comes to setting the physical scene that surrounds the characters, placing the reader smack dab in the middle of the barbershop, or Aliesha’s church or Big Mama’s expansive property.  I found it easy to bypass all of the parts about the story that irritated me because of how well written the story actually is.  The writing is real and down to earth, relatable and fluid, unlike some books that try to “wow” the reader with poetic license that should not have been issued.  It is these points that greatly endeared me to “A Natural Woman” and kept me reading, along with the fact that the central plot – the tug-o-war between Aliesha and Dante – seemed to be penned from the pen of universal experience.  Although, as Lori admitted, the natural hair aspects have very little to do with the story, the parts about Aliesha’s hair, why she chose to wear it natural and how it relates to her personality are priceless.  It shows that the main character is indeed a natural woman, from the tips of her hair to the soles of her feet.  Suffice it to say, I like the book a lot.  I could have done without the “extras” but Lori Johnson is a great writer who made it work for me in spite of all that.

You can find “A Natural Woman” in paperback for $11.70 (22% less than the list price) and MP3 audio format for $23.62 via Amazon.com.  It’s available in paperback for $12.82 and MP3 audio format for $24.89 at Barnes&Noble.com.

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Dafina; 1 Original edition (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758222394
• ISBN-13: 978-0758222398
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8
• JB2M Review: and a half

FYI: Lori operates a Blog called “Lori’s Old School Mix” that regularly features women with natural hair and their stories along with updates on book signings and writer’s tips.  Be sure to check it out!

Healthy Hair Wishes!

A couple of weeks ago I was approached by a member of my beloved Twitter/Facebook natural hair Fam, Emerald Shaw, with a request to test drive a product she was working on.  Of course I agreed since I love trying out new products on my tresses since I discovered that with it gaining so much length certain products that did wonders on short curls don’t work so well now.  Em wasn’t specific on the type of product she was sending, but I knew it had to be something that helped keep hair moisturized since we both have thick grades which take loads and loads of hydration to keep soft and manageable.

The product arrived within a week’s time with a handwritten note from Em which I thought was a cute and personal touch.  I was sure the product was shea butter based, but not quite sure what else was in it.  The smell has somewhat of a tropical aroma to it, as if there was papaya or pineapple in it, but at the time I didn’t think to ask about the ingredient makeup (bad practice for a natural hair veteran, right?).  The consistency of the product is like shea butter but fluffier…  Not quite whipped but well blended and smooth.  I could tell she’d used a far amount of oils to blend it, olive I thought I knew for sure because of the distinct smell. *lol*  Being that I know how serious Em is about her hair I knew there was nothing to fear component wise so even without know exactly what was in it, once I washed and conditioned my hair with Herbal Essence’s Hello Hydration shampoo and conditioner and detangled with a wide tooth comb, I treated my hair to an ample amount (half dollar sized portion) of what I call Emmy’s Elixir (she doesn’t have a name for the product yet, that I know of) and styled in my normal WNG (wash ‘n go) fashion.

First off, on moderately damp, towel squeezed hair my curl pattern immediately responded to the product and became defined:

(click image to enlarge)

In addition to that, my hair felt very soft and pliable, making it very easy to finger style into a WNG ‘Fro.  Throughout the first day my hair resisted shrinkage, which was a plus, and remained soft to the touch and fluffy.  While I didn’t have to add very much the next morning in order to revive my hair, after spritzing my hair with water I did find that the “high” oil content in the product caused me to have to use more water, since we all know oil “seals” the hair cuticles and makes the water “sit” on top instead of penetrating the shaft.  I figured using less would prevent this, which I kept in mind for the second application the next week.

The product worked great on its own, but I was curious to see how well it played with the other products I used regularly, such as Kinky-Curly’s Knot Today Leave In Conditioner, Going Natural’s Herbal Styling Gel and Yonnea’s GPS Oil.  With the Knot Today and about a quarter sized portion of Emmy’s Elixir my hair initially responded well.  It styled easily and shaped nicely.  But as my hair dried the day wore on my curl pattern seemed less defined and there was a tackiness to my hair that I didn’t like.  Not a good duet, to say the least.  With the Herbal Styling Gel, my edges remained smooth and “in place” throughout the day so the two worked very well together. With the GPS Oil as a “warm oil treatment” on my scalp and a “second day booster”, the two products complimented each other very well without leaving a heavily oiled presence as one might suspect.  With products that I use every blue moon, like Kinky-Curly’s Spiral Spritz or Curling Custard and Long Aid’s Curl Activator, the results were less than desired and left the same tacky feel as when used with the KC Knot Today.  Might be merely an incompatibility of the product’s ingredients, the amounts I used or the reactions of my particular hair texture/type to the combinations. *shrug*

As for the ingredients used in Emmy’s Elixir: shea butter, coconut oil, Jamaican Black Castor Oil, vitamin E oil, grape seed oil, tea tree oil, fragrance and honey.

The only component that might raise a red flag is the one labeled “fragrance” since there’s a great debate about what actually composes this nondescript and generic ingredient.  But for the most part I am in love with the ingredient list as it is.

The one and only drawback with Emmy’s Elixir is that with the “high” oil content combined with the shea butter, by day three of the week it had the tendency to bulk my already thick strands up.  This resulted in a longer than expected style time to get my sleep-packed hair workday ready.  What usually takes me five minutes to “perfect” took upwards of ten to fifteen minutes by day three.  Even with adjusting the amount used my hair seemed to swell by the third day of use, and I found myself having to turn my weekly wash regimen into a twice weekly wash regimen.  I won’t say these are major complaints since the product works so well with my hair, but if you have thick hair this may be something you’d want to prepare for if you ever get a chance to use the product yourself.  Quite possibly Em may want to consider working out the measurements and ingredients for effective long term use on different hair types, which I’m sure she did since she let me know she’d taken climate into consideration when sending out her samples.

So what’s the official JB2M rating:

Emmy’s Elixir:

Overall, the product works as it should, does not have an overpowering fragrance, does not produce an excessive amount of buildup on the hair and keeps the hair from drying out.  Another thing that I considered in respect to the one drawback I experienced, simply testing the product out on one style can not predict how the product will react with other styles and so with that in mind I used Emmy’s Elixir, along with Going Natural’s Herbal Gel, to twist The Lion’s hair and the results were wonderful!!!

NOTE: Don’t you just love a man who let’s you experiment with his hair? *lol*

For a first attempt at concocting a natural hair product, I have to say Emerald has hit a grand slam her first time up to bat!  Keep it up, girl!

Healthy Hair Wishes!

Hey hey, fellow nappies!  What’s good?  Yes I know it’s been awhile but my life outside of hair has picked up tremendously and I haven’t had much time (or inclination) to keep my head in the natural hair game much.  I took a temporary position in July that turned into a full-time, hired in job opportunity as the Front Desk Administrative Assistant at Crete Carrier Corporation (yaaaaaaaaaaay me!) which has taken up a lot of my time, and since I haven’t been experimenting with very many products or styles lately there really wasn’t much to talk about.  But then I realized that I still have reviews on the docket that have been lingering in the recesses of my mind and so this week I’ll work on getting them from gray matter to page.

Hair wise, my tresses are continuing to grow which pleases me to no end.  I’ve been playing with different accents such as the flower in the above picture (I got it for $1 at Family Dollar, along with a pink one) and changed my cleansing/conditioning products from Garnier Frutis’ Wonder Waves line to Herbal Essence’s Hello Hydration line (review to come sometime this week).  For styling and moisturizing I was given the opportunity to test drive a homemade product by Emerald Shaw who’s testing her mettle in the field of kitchen chemistry (review to come sometime this week as well).  I’ve stayed faithful to my WNG’s but have been itching to try some other styling techniques like flat twists whenever time permits.  So my routine has changed just a little but I’ve always been the type who sticks with what works as long as it works.  I will probably be switching products soon because I have noticed that the longer my hair gets the harder it is to achieve “curlitude” without using products that make my hair feel/look crunchy and dry.  So the search may be on for new styling products that work with tightly coiled hair that has “length”.

Beyond that, life has been extremely good.  Aside from landing the job I’ve started my second semester at CSCC and I’m looking to move into my own apartment soon.  So yeah, life is finally going as planned although all my hair reporting has had to take a backseat for the time being because of it.  I’ve been in the loop as much as I can.  Still trying to keep up with “Natural Hair Sundays” by tuning in to The Nappturalite Radio Show and The Nappy Muse Video Chat Show but I’m not as visible for the Twitter Chat or Columbus Meetups.  I hope to be able to post more frequently once I get my work schedule and school schedule down to an organized science.  I also hope to be getting back to my Examiner column as soon as they work the bugs out of the publishing tool, which is taking about as long as it did to launch Examiner 2.0 (which really is lackluster, despite all the hype).

But enough about me… How has your journey been lately?  Any  new techniques for styles?  New recipes, regimens or products?  I’d love to hear about them all, so drop them in the comments section!

Healthy Hair Wishes!