Recovering Product Junkie

What is our largest organ?

Our skin.

If this is so, why don't we take great care of it? Considering it's so large that you can't possibly forget about it, because it's like everywhere, but why do we neglect our skin.

Or maybe we do think we are taking care of it. We bathe, we put on tons of product to keep it moisturized, and we even spray on expensive perfumes to mask odors.

Since going natural (hair) I have been doing tons of research about what to use on my hair and what to avoid (blog coming soon). But this search has lead me to learn more about skin.

Before researching I was strongly contemplating buying ONLY organic/natural products but my eyes have been opened and now I am dedicated to that natural way of life.

While researching natural/organic skin products, this website fell on my lap, it is like the Product Bible. It's called Skin Deep it is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products.

"Our aim was to fill in where companies and the government leave off: companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish, and our government doesn't require companies to test products for safety before they're sold. "

LIFERS, get your list together! Pull out all of your daily product, go to this website, see what they say about it. Let's be more informed consumers.

~still chasing organic honey

Great Reads: The Black Snob's "The Hair Up There Is Not For You To Care"

"Can I touch it?"


He could barely get the question out before his hands went right into my hair. He wanted to touch it. He wanted to pet it. He wanted to put it into a ponytail with a dirty rubber band he found on the marble top of the bar.


"I could fall in love with this," he said as he scratched my roots. By the time I freed myself from his hair molestation my blow out was frizzy and wild. Not that he cared. I gave him the look. The John McEnroe "Are You SERIOUS?" look and he tried to cover his painfully obvious fetish.

"I just love that your hair is real. I don't care what a woman's hair is like as long as it's real."

Yet he wasn't attacking the sister rocking the TWA two stools down even though she was incredibly fierce in her own right. No. It was me and the ten pounds of clothes I had on in the summertime. I believe that everyone is entitled to love who they want to love, but I think people should be honest with themselves.

Black men have just as many hair issues about black women's hair as black women do.

Read More . . .

Celebrity Gossip: Usher's Papers

Is it me or does Usher only make good albums after break ups.

Chile if I was Chilli or Tameka Foster I would be asking for a percentage of the proceeds. You making money off us -- our issues -- I helped create those issues as well, gimme my half.

LOL.
 
The album Confession -- OFF THE FRIGGIN CHAIN. I loved every song. What ya'll know about That's What It's Made For?

He then put out Here I Stand while in a relationship. That album didn't do so well. I liked maybe 3 songs on that album.

And his upcoming album that people speculate will drop in December entitled Monster or Raymond v. Raymond (all depends on the source) looks like it too will be doing well. Usher posted a song Paper -- I'm going to go out on a limb and say they are about his divorce from Tameka:

"I damn near lost my mama, I had been through so much drama that I turned into the man I never thought I’d be. I’m ready to sign those papers . . ."

Usher Papers

Great Reads: The Strong Black Woman Syndrome

Kimberly Seals Allers writes: 

Recently, I had an epiphany. It was actually more like a frightening realization, to be honest. And it came to me on the television set of a BET taping, of all places. During the taping, I was sitting next to a young black male who was just singing his mama's praises. He spoke lovingly of how she raised him as a single parent, giving tough love and setting high expectations. Then, he began to talk about how, when his father left, his mother "didn't miss a beat" and just got on with their lives. This struck me. I interrupted him gently, to remind him that her resilience is just what he saw or what she allowed him to see, and that he didn't know what happened to his mother when he went to sleep, or when his mother was alone -- she may have cried for hours.

The problem with what this young man saw is that he was left with the impression that his father left his family and there were no consequences. No repercussions. This is dangerous thinking for our young men -- and, in my opinion, dangerous behavior on our part as black women. My fear is that our Strong Black Woman Syndrome is unintentionally breaking down our families and creating a dangerous legacy."

Source

Great Reads: Essence Article -- Mother Knows Best: Why I Choose Not to Live With My 10-Year-Old Son

Interesting article about a mom's decision to let her son live with her divorced husband in another city.

"My ex-husband and I met in college. We are both native New Yorkers attending the University of Maryland, College Park. Even after he transferred to a university in Long Island, New York, we stayed together. We dated for ten years total and then he proposed. We got married and a child, our son, Adam, was born during that union.

We ended up divorcing after two years of marriage. We were both young when we first got together and eventually grew apart. Shortly after we officially divorced, my ex-husband decided to relocate to Atlanta and I stayed in New York. And when my ex left he took our son with him.

Since our breakup was so amicable, it wasn't really a need for much long discussion early on. We just sorta said, "We'll figure it out as we go." It wasn't like some judge said, "You'll have him for summers and you'll have him during Christmas and spring breaks."It's not like that at all. My ex-husband and I have a great relationship and share joint custody of Adam. It's very open and fair. There were several factors that lead me to make this decision. . ."

Entire Article

Would you allow your son/daughter to live with your divorced husband/wife in another city?

Old Threads

Look at what I did.

Before:



After:



I spotted this on my front porch. One of the many benefits when your mother has a business in used clothing. Anywho, I love vintage wear! I tried it on long and didn't like it so I decided to make it short. I'm thinking about cutting the sleeves off as well -- idk. But I will be sure to post photos when I wear it out!

Interesting History about Somali Piracy

Last night I was on youtube. Yeah I know what you're think, "Such a youtubeawhore!" Yep that's me! But while on youtube I started to watch some interviews with K'naan, the Somali born-Canadian reared rapper. K'naan talked about the piracy issues that his country's facing. He gave me so much insight on the history behind Somali pirates.

We know that Somalia hasn't had a government in effect since it's civil war in 1991. Because there is no government in place there is no one watching their seas. And because of this, European and Asian private companies have been illegally dumping nuclear and toxic waste on the Somalia's coastline.  This nuclear dumping has had major effect on the health of the coastal population.
"At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died."

Moreover, there has been illegal fishing. There has been an estimated $300 million of shrimp, tuna, and lobster taken each year depleting the stocks previously available to local fisherman. "Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters.""

Because all of these atrocities were occuring and there was no government to protect the people - the people started the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia. These were ordinary fishermen who tried to stop others from dumping and illegally fishing and they also tried to enforce taxes.

Of course every pirate is not enforcing a tax. However, I believe that this background information on what has happened and is happening in the Somali seas gives us a complete story. Countries have combined forces to rid the seas of these Somali pirates. I wanna know, will some countries combine forces to will rid the seas of private companies illegally dumping and fishing on Somali shores? Just a thought.


Source