Delicious Black Rice Recipe

Part of my natural hair journey is taking care of my body from the inside out. If I'm healthy, my hair, skin, and nails reap the benefits. So, here's one of my favorite vegetarian recipes:

black rice and spinach salad

You'll need:

spinach, 
an avocado, 
a carrot, 
a tomato, 
garlic, 
parsley, 
black rice, 
olive oil, 
sea salt, 
grounded black pepper
manchego 

For some ingredients, I don't really measure the exact amount. I think measuring can make cooking stressful and tedious. This salad recipe is suppose to be easy and delicious.


Step 1:
Boil some black rice. The best way to do this is pour the amount of black rice you want in a pot. Then, add some water such that the level is about an inch higher than the rice. Turn the heat of the stove all the way up until it begins to boil. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat all the way down to the lowest temperature. Cover the pot, and let it simmer. Periodically check on the rice to make sure that it isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Tip: one way to avoid sticking is to drizzle a little olive oil over the rice, add a splash of water and stir.

Step 2:
While the rice is cooking, chop the spinach, tomato, and avocado. Then finely chop the parsley and garlic. Lastly, take a peeler shave a carrot into thin slices.











Step 3:
When the rice is ready, season it with a little sea salt and black pepper. Now that the rice is done, it's ready for plating.
Tip: If you're having trouble deciding if the rice is cooked, have a taste. If it is soft enough to eat, but firm enough not to be soggy, it's done. Be careful not to overcook the rice. It does take longer to cook than white rice would, but it's worth the wait!.

Step 4:
Add the spinach, avocado, tomato, carrot shavings, garlic, and parsley.

Step 5:
Add a little sea salt, black pepper, and drizzle some olive oil over the salad. 





Step 6: 
Top it off with a little bit of manchego.

Bon Appetit!

United Member Roy Lee

Meet Roy Lee!
Roy is a martial artist, musician, and training in the field of phlebotomy. He attended Gwinnett Tech, went to training school for phlebotomy, and teaches martial arts at Total Boxing. Roy also plans on going back to school next year.

What is your nationality?
 I am black, white, and Native American. My grandmother says that we have Thai in the family as well, but who knows!

Have you always had big hair growing up?
No, I've always had a buzz cut as a kid and haven't even started growing my hair out until my junior  year of high school. Once I did that, I grew it out a lot and then I cut it, grew it out again, and cut it again. It was like a cycle.




Why did you decide to cut your hair?
Mainly, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a job. As a young man, it's hard for people to take you seriously if you don't have a sharp hair cut. I've been encouraged by a lot of people to get my hair cut as well, so I gave in.

Where did you go to get your current haircut?
I actually went to Great Clips! The stylist that cut my hair had a good understanding of what I was going for even though I had trouble explaining it to her. I was surprised, she really hooked me up!

Have you  noticed a difference in your professional life with shorter hair? Do people take  you more seriously?
There hasn't been much of a difference so far professionally. Socially speaking, I haven't traveled to other circles to see if people see me differently at first glance. To be honest, I wish just kept growing it out. 

 












How does your family feel about your hair?
My mom was always telling me to cut my hair. She's very adamant on me getting a hair cut. Even though I didn't cut all of it off, she does like the haircut I have right now. 

What is your current hair regimen? 
Right now, I wash my hair every other day. I condition it every day and I apply leave-in conditioner every day after I wash or co-wash. Occasionally, I put gel in it for styling.

United Member Alyssa

Meet Alyssa!

She's a third year studio art major at Georgia State University. She was born in Germany, spent a couple years in Turkey, and then finally moved to Georgia. Her mom was in the army, so she moved around a lot. Alyssa is a creative passionate individual with a unique natural hair story of her own.

How long have you been natural?

I've been natural all my life. I've never actually chemically processed my hair, but I did get it pressed regularly starting in middle school.

Were you excited to wear your hair differently?

I wasn't too concerned with it. My mom was the one who wanted my hair straight. My biggest worry was how I was going to sit in the chair still for that long.

Why haven't you had a relaxer?

I was fortunate enough to have an awesome hair stylist named Ms. Christy. She had dreads and had a firm stance on me not relaxing my hair. To this day, she's the only person I trust to do my hair.

How often did you get your hair straightened?

I got my hair straightened every 2 and half weeks, sometimes once a month. At night, I would braid it up to keep it from getting messy and then I would do a little touch up at home to keep it looking fresh.

When did you stop getting it straightened?

I stopped straightening my senior of high school. My home life was becoming toxic emotionally. I didn't feel like I fit into either side of the family. My mom is African American and my father's side of the family is Italian. Although they did love me and was there for me, there were some things that they couldn't help with simply because they didn't understand. I really wanted to stop trying to be what my mom wanted me to be and became more self aware. It was important to me to be myself and love myself as I am without changing my appearance to drastically. This was my way of accepting myself and my unconventional place or role in my family.

Was your family supportive of your decision to wear your hair naturally?

 My mom was not supportive at all, actually. I grew up living with my mom and her partner and I found it surprising that she had such a problem with my hair especially since she is a homosexual. I expected her to be more open minded. From her perspective my hair  looked under-kept. None-the-less, I had to make this decision on my own and do what was right for me. My mom's partner, who was essentially my second mom, was actually very supportive. She even helped me research how to care for my hair in a more healthy way. That's how I learned about the ingredients in the products I was using and what was actually good for my hair. This was the key to finding a better regimen that I use to this day.

Was it easy for you to make the transition to natural hair?

At first, it was difficult. While I was learning about my hair, I had to get use to the work that it took to maintain its health. I could no longer just go to the hair salon and have someone else take care of it. It was my responsibility. There were some days that I was so frustrated and would just start to cry because I didn't know what to do with it. Eventually, I realized that I had to throw away my unrealistic expectations and just accept my hair for the way it is. When you make this transition, you really have to change the way you see yourself and the way you see beauty all together.

What is your daily regimen now?

In the morning, my hair is usually tied back from the night before. I usually style my hair according to what I have to do that day. I am an artist, so if I'm headed to the studio, my hair needs to be out of the way. There's nothing fun about getting acrylic paint in your hair! If I'm going to school, an event, or maybe an interview, I'll wear it down. It just depends on the day. I usually use Shae Moisture's leave-in conditioner and I wash my hair once a month with Shae Moisture's shampoo. I also like to use and oil spray that I mixed myself: it has olive oil, water, and a little bit of leave in conditioner.

What's the best advise you can give someone who is thinking about transitioning to natural hair?

Prepare yourself for how the people closest to you may react. It can be positive, but not always. And just take care of yourself first. Do what makes you happy because that's the most important thing.

How to Cure Dandruff

In order to maintain healthy natural hair, one of the most important components in doing so is maintaining a healthy scalp. One of the issues I had with my hair while I had a relaxer and even the early days of my going natural was dandruff. I would wash my hair regularly and "grease" it, and I still had issues. My scalp was either flaky, or too greasy from the product I was using trying to keep it moisturized. However, as time went along I started to learn more about what my scalp needed, I was able to cure my dandruff.


But first I had to ask myself the following questions:
 What causes dandruff?

In order to understand what my scalp needed, I had to understand what was going on. Dandruff is made up of small flakes of dead skin cells on the scalp. It's caused by an overproduction of sebum, the natural oil your body produces to keep your scalp and hair moisturized. Other causes of dandruff can be the Malassezia furfur, a fungus commonly found in the skin.


What could be causing my scalp to overproduce sebum?
My shampoo that I commonly used. I used the cheapest possible brand and when it comes to most things, you get what you pay for. The shampoo would strip my hair and scalp of its natural oils and then I would use petroleum based products to replace the moisture. I also lived in Connecticut during my dandruff days and the weather was often extreme. The winters were very cold and the summers unbelievably humid. So, there were a few factors that lead to me having dandruff.


Now that I have a better idea of what's going on, what do I do now?
After a few years of battling dandruff on and off, I managed to make some big changes with my hair. In 2010, I transitioned to natural hair. This is not a necessary step to curing dandruff, but it did inspire me to look into better ways to care for my hair. The next change I made was cutting out petroleum based products from my regimen.
Finally, in the summer of 2012, I was introduced to using organic oils. For example: olive oil, tea tree oil, coconut oil, argan oil, and many more. I started paying attention to my scalp and noticing that healthy oils get absorbed into my scalp rather than just sitting on the surface and clogging my pours.


Finally, the last step is to establish an effective moisturizing and cleansing routine
 It's important to find what works for your hair and scalp. This part is the easiest because it's pretty obvious if something does not work. If you apply a product on your scalp and it left your skin feeling greasy or oily, then, it didn't work or maybe you applied too much product. If your scalp feels clean, moisturized, and does not have too much excess oils, that's a good indication of a product that works for you.

Another important element to a healthy scalp routine is a good cleansing routine. If you have oily scalp, washing your hair more often is not the answer. This will cause your skin to over produce sebum. Another thing I started to do was use less shampoo. I began to incorporate co-washing into my routine and if I use shampoo, I massage my scalp with a gentle at home cleanser, like apple cider vinegar, before applying a small amount of shampoo. Throughout the week, I also massage my scalp in order to promote blood circulation and also help to avoid clogged pours.

Well, I hope this helps guys! I know this is a lot, but I just wanted you to understand my thought process as I worked on improving my scalp.
Please leave comments and if there's anything you can suggest about curing dandruff, do not hesitate to let us know! This is something that effects everyone of all hair types and it can go away so long as you take a little time to find what works best for you.

-Naturals United

Key Components to Retaining Length: Sealing Your Ends

There are many things that are important when it comes to retaining length, (if that is your personal goal, of course). For the next couple of articles I'm going to discuss a few things that can potentially help you guys (and myself) reach our hair length goals.

Today, I'm going to discuss sealing your ends. As you know, the ends of your hair strand are the oldest part of your hair. Therefore, it needs the most attention.There are products that I'll use on my ends, but never on my scalp because it takes a much heavier amount of moisture to keep it in good shape. Having properly sealed ends is very important because it prevents unnecessary breakage, it prevents split ends, and your hair will appear more polished overall. This is also a good way to avoid having to get your ends trimmed so frequently. So, keep some of that hair that you've got growing and find start sealing those ends!

First thing's first: You need to find a good sealant. It can be black jamaican castor oil (the cheapest way to purchase it is online. It can be expensive at other organic retail stores), shae butter, or sometimes even something like olive oil. It all depends on the individual and once you find something that works for you, stick to it.

Here is how I thoroughly seal my ends. This is something I do whenever I feel it's needed.

Step 1:

 section your hair in about 4 or 5 sections. Which ever is the most comfortable and makes your hair more manageable.

Step 2:
Within the first section, grab a small piece of hair and spritz the ends with water.

Step 3: 
Apply very small amount of your favorite leave-in conditioner. Just enough to moisturize the ends. This is also a good time to do a little finger detangling if needed.

Step 4: 
Apply your sealant to the ends. It can be shae butter and an oil of your choice.

Step 5: 
Twist your hair into a loose 2 strand twist and repeat until you have an entire head full of twists.

Optional Step 6: 
Unravel the twists and style your hair as you would normally! You can always leave them in if you prefer.


 Well I hope this helps! When you pay close attention to your ends, you'll notice a difference in your length retention for sure. The most important thing is not to stress over it too much. With time and care, your hair can grow to the lengths you've always hoped for.

Please leave comments and suggestions. Don't forget to subscribe via e-mail, and like Naturals United on facebook!

-Naturals United

A Professional and Protective Style

 There is a misconception that natural hair doesn't look professional and that is just not true. We've set these standards for what is professional and what isn't as a society. We can however, work around these little hurtles and wear our hair as is but just a little toned down. After all, there is a time and a place for everything.   

Here's one of my favorite styles to do for an interview or any other professional setting. Just a little inspiration for ideas for styles that you guys can do rather than just wearing a fro all the time or a twist out. It's also a really good protective style, so there are multiple benefits.

I hope you guys like it and I hope this gets your creative juices flowing!

Don't forget to like Naturals United on Facebook!

Naturals United

United Member Iman

Meet Iman, she was born and raised in Morocco and studied economics in Paris where she received a Masters Degree. She is fluent in French, English, Moroccan dialect and Modern Standard Arabic.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of natural hair?

For me it’s more of a cultural thing. When I was a little girl, my mom used at home products like olive oil, Ghassoul, Argan oil, and rose water for both our skin and hair. My sister also liked to use a egg yolk, coffee grinds mixture as a home made conditioner and lemon juice as a gentle cleanser. Another common product is henna which was commonly used as a hair dye or just as a treatment. These natural hair recipes were passed down from my grandmother to my mother and then to me. Natural hair care personally reminds me of my family and my roots.

How does your hair texture differ from the other members of your family?

My sister and I both have really curly hair. My mom’s hair is wavier and not as kinky as ours. My Father is descended from Tagounite and that’s where we get our kinky hair texture of hair from. It’s more common for Moroccan women to have straight or wavy hair but my family has members from multiple ethnic backgrounds so we are quite diverse.

What lead you to decide to wear your hair curly on a regular basis?

When I was about 13 years old, I decided to change my hair style and went to this particular hair salon my mom regularly goes to. Little did I know, the stylist did not know what to do with my hair at all. Because he was so use to working with straight hair, he just resorted to chopping off most of my hair! I was mortified. At that age, having a short hair cut was a huge deal. I then developed a fear of hair salons. The last time I recall having my hair straightened was for my sister’s wedding in 2009. 

For me, it’s just easier to wear my hair as it is. Straightening it just requires a lot of maintenance. Every time I straightened my hair my curls pattern would change because of the heat damage, so it's not really worth it at that point.

How has the media and other influences from the people around you effected your perspective on beauty?

 I am a young woman and it is hard to say that the media doesn't affect how I see my self or others. I did grow up in Casablanca, which is a major city, so I grew up seeing women straightening their hair and chemically processing it or applying color. However, I was also exposed to the opposite. For example: the organic side to hair care like the henna and the ghassoul. By being exposed to multiple perspectives, I was able to make a lifestyle choice of my own.

What is your current hair regimen?

I wash my hair about once a week or even once every 2 weeks. Every morning I rinse my hair and every now and then apply a conditioner to co-wash if my hair feels really dry (especially during the dryer weather in the winter). Then, I’ll apply a leave in conditioner and let my hair air dry. It’s a pretty simple routine. I prefer to use products that have argan oil in it because it helps to maintain the frizz.

How to do a Flat Twist Out

As I was strolling through tumblr,  I landed upon a photo tutorial of a "flat" twist out. Now, maybe I'm late in participating this trend, but it seems to be a popular way to achieve fuller curls. I decided to give it a try and I really love how it turned out! If you would like to give it a go, keep on reading :)

Step 1: In this case, I started with dry hair. Before I did anything, I finger detangled my hair with my Shae Moisture conditioner, moisturized my scalp with coconut oil, and sealed my ends with my home made whipped shae butter. (Since my hair and scalp were really dry, I thought it would be a good time for some TLC.

Step 2: Once my hair was all prepped, I sectioned it in 4 quarters.

Step 3: I took a small row of hair, finger detangled a bit more, and made sure my ends were nicely sealed one last time. Then I flat twisted that section starting from the center of my head and in the direction of my hairline. Then once that section was all twisted, I rolled the ends into a bantu knot. Repeat this step until your entire head of hair is all twisted up.

Step 4: Wrap with a satin scarf.

Step 5:  When you're ready, unravel the twists!
 (Since I did this before going to bed, I unraveled the style in the morning which was about 8 hours later.)


I did not have to add any additional product in my hair since I used both my leave-in conditioner and my shae butter. Throughout the day, my hair remained moisturized and did not feel bogged down with product. It was awesome! My hair was fuller and softer. Since the flat twists had a direction, styling my hair took little to no effort. It also behaved really well since I took the time to thoroughly finger detangle before hand. I think this is something I'm going to do on a regular basis.

I hope this helps everyone! Don't forget to subscribe via e-mail and like naturalsunited on facebook :D
Naturals United 

How to do a Perfect Bantu Knot Out

Bantu knots are a great protective style and it's an effective heat-less curling method as well. They can however, be a little tricky to do and sometimes the curls don't turn out the way you would like. Recently, I've tried a different way of doing them and the results were awesome. So, here's how to get your best bantu knot out and in even less time.


Step 1: Start with damp or wet hair. If your hair is dry, spritz it with water.

Step 2: Grab a small section of hair, starting in the back of your head, detangle with your fingers or a wide tooth comb, apply your favorite moisturizer, and twist it as much as your hair will allow.  In most cases, people do a 2 strand twist, however, by doing a single strand twist, the curls are more stretched out, shinier, and take half the time to do.  (Think of it as the same method used when you're doing finger coils.)

Step 3: Wrap the twist into a little ball or a "bantu knot". Continue until all of your hair is in bantu knots.

Step 4: Wrap your hair with your satin scarf and leave the style in until your hair drys, but you can also leave it in for a couple days because it actually is a cute style.

Step 5: Unravel the bantu knots and reveal beautiful, manageable curls!

I really hope this helps guys! Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions!
And you can also subscribe to my blog via e-mail!

How to Make Your Own Moisturizer

Trying to stick to organic products can tend to be expensive. One way to lower the cost is to make your own products. In my opinion, the most important product is your moisturizer. Here is one of my favorite home made moisturizers. It's affordable, you get plenty of product out of it, and it smells really good!: Whipped Shae Butter Cream. 
You're gonna need raw shae butter, and a couple of your favorite essential oils.

Step 1: In a food processor, blend the shae butter. Don't add anything else yet, just blend it so that the texture is softer and creamier.

Step 2: Add a few drops of your favorite essential oils for scent. A great moisturizer needs to smell good, right? And it doesn't hurt to add the extra benefits of organic oils.  In this case, I used rosemary essential oil, and tangerine essential oil.  I don't like to add very much else because the shae butter is already loaded with moisture and I don't want my hair to feel greasy.

Step 3:  Mix the essential oils and the whipped shae butter manually with a spoon or mixing utensil. 

Now you have a nice large serving of awesome moisturizer. It's also great for getting super defined twist outs.

Hope this helps! Don't forget to subscribe to naturals united here on blogspot. 

Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions!

How to Eliminate Frizz

 

When it comes to maintaining natural hair, there's a lot of mixed feelings about what "pretty curls" are or how we define "nappy hair". Really, all it boils down to is health. Healthy hair that is clean and moisturized behaves well regardless of its texture. So today, I'm going to talk about how to eliminate frizz and keep your hair frizz free throughout the week.

There's many ways you can do this, however, this is something that I implemented in my routine, so I'll share this method with you.

The key is to combine a number of things in order to achieve hair that's free of frizz. I like to spritz my hair with water, then massage in a tiny bit of leave in conditioner, a little bit of a soft hold gel, and some oil on the ends. The best time to use this method is when you're doing a twist out, braid out, or just finger detangling your hair. Because you have multiple forms of moisture that serve different purposes, you combat every issue that you may encounter for that day. The water gets soaked in right away, the cream seals it in, the oil takes care of your ends, and the gel activates the curl. With this combination, the look will last for a long time. 

So give it a try! It takes a little bit of effort, but in the long run, you can save time because you only have to use this method once or twice a week at most.

I hope this helps! Please leave comments and suggestions and don't forget to like naturals united on facebook!

-"stay calm and love your natural hair"

5 Beauty Supplies Found in Your Kitchen

You may have noticed by reading the other articles that a lot of hair products I use are actually food related. For example: organic oils, fruits, honey, etc. Using the healthiest products on your hair and skin can tend to be expensive. One of the best ways to be cost effective is by using food items.
So here is a list of 10 hair and beauty supplies you can find in your kitchen or easily access in the grocery store:

Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is a great moisturizer for your hair and skin. It is among the few oils that can actually penetrate the hair shaft and the skin. This means moisture without the greasy feeling later.
Tip 1: If you have oily skin, try cleansing with olive oil. One of the most common misconceptions about oily skin is that they need to be exfoliated more often, when in fact, it's the opposite. If you moisturize your skin well, it won't overproduce its own oils. Thus, less breakouts!
Tip 2: Add some olive oil to your favorite conditioner to bump up the moisture content.


Coconut Oil

Extra Virgin coconut oil is one of my favorites. It's super light, can also be absorbed into the hair shaft  and is usually made in a solid form which is great for easy application to the hair and scalp. Coconut oil is also high in lauric acid which kills unwanted microbes on your scalp like dust mites. Over time, using this oil on your scalp can reduce the amount of hair that you shed and help to retain length.
Tip: One of the ways I control dandruff is by applying a little bit of coconut oil on my scalp once or twice a week after a cleansing.

Honey

Honey is one of my staple deep treatment ingredients. It is a natural humectant which means it pulls in moisture from the surroundings and retains the moisture as well. This is great news for your hair.
Tip 1: try adding some honey and oil to your favorite conditioner to make a kick ass deep treatment. Your hair will behave really well, be more manageable, and you'll see less frizz.
Tip 2: mix honey and oil meal together for a gentle scrub for your face. You'll be able to exfoliate and moisturize your skin at the same time.


Yogurt

Plain organic yogurt makes for a great protein treatment for your hair. This is especially good since protein treatments that are actually good can be some of the moist pricey hair products to buy.
Tip: Try mixing yogurt with honey and/or your favorite oil to make a great protein treatment for your hair. This mixture is also great for people with straighter or wavy hair as well.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Probably among the most surprising products is apple cider vinegar. It's actually a great gentle cleanser for your hair and scalp and removes dirt without stripping your hair. It also gives your hair a great shine. Although it is vinegar and may have a harsh smell, it does go away when you rinse it out.
Tip: Try diluting the apple cider vinegar and pouring it into a spray bottle. Spritz your scalp with the mixture and gently massage your scalp for about a minute. This can be a great alternative for shampoo washes.