Cocokind is my all-time favorite skincare brand. If you checked out my post on what to do when you make poor skincare decisions, you will note that Cocokind products are a must in my skincare routine.
I discovered the brand on IG and after reading reviews I started with one of their best sellers, the golden elixir. This product literally changed my life. My skin loves the ingredients and consistency. It’s extremely lightweight and the perfect oil for day or night skincare.
Next, I decided to order the oil to milk cleanser and the rose water. I then added the mymatcha stick, texture smoothing cream, and the watermelon hemp oil to my collection.
I love the fact that Cocokind is a clean beauty brand. All of their products are vegan (with the exception of their products with beeswax). Additionally, they contain organic ingredients that are great for my sensitive skin. A few of my favorite products are:
Oil to Milk Cleanser
Rosewater Toner
Texture Smoothing Cream
Matcha Moisture Stick
I also love the fact that Cocokind promotes sustainability. Their website shows you how to recycle each product and they even give you ideas on how to reuse the bottle. For instance, they encourage customers to re-use the rosewater sprayer for your plants. I am totally going to use that suggestion!
Most importantly, Cocokind is a huge supporter of the Black Lives Matter Movement. In June, they donated all of their proceeds to various organizations for an entire week. Ultimately they donated over $50,000 to ACLU, NAACP, BLM, Loveland Foundation, and more. This is major, seeing as though Cocokind is a small company fighting to keep their sales up during this pandemic.
I can’t get enough of this amazing brand. They recently launched an SPF. If you have been following my blogger journey, y’all know sunscreen is a must for me. Cocokind SPF will be my next skincare purchase!
What about you? What is your favorite skincare brand currently? Leave a comment below 🙂
What is one thing I wish I knew before going natural? One word. Porosity.
Porosity is your hair’s ability to retain and absorb moisture. If you have low porosity hair that means your hair is moisture resistant. If you have high porosity hair that means your hair allows moisture in easily.
How do I figure out my hair porosity?
You can do the float test using a cup of water and a few strands of hair from your brush when you detangle. Drop the strands into the cup of water and let them sit for about 2-4 minutes. After the hair sits in the water you want to check and see if it is floating or if it sinks. If it sinks you have low porosity hair. If it floats you have high porosity hair!
I do want to warn that there are things that can affect the float test. You will want to test using clean, product-free hair. Gather your sample immediately after washing and allow it to dry before testing.
Another way to test is to run your finger up and down a dry stand of hair. If it feels smooth, you likely have low porosity hair. A rougher, snagged feel indicated highly porous hair.
What does it mean to have low porosity hair?
If you have low porosity hair this means your hair doesn’t easily allow moisture to be absorbed by the hair shaft. If you have low porosity hair you may find that your hair dries quickly. If this is true, you want to make sure you always pre-poo, deep condition, and seal your ends with oil.
Try to avoid all products with protein. Low porosity hair is protein sensitive and naturally contains too much protein within its structure. Adding additional protein to the hair strands will cause breakage. Lastly, you want to make sure you protect your hair with satin, avoiding cotton or other fabrics that will pull moisture from the hair.
What is high porosity hair?
High porosity hair has holes and gaps in the cuticle layer, which allows moisture in easily. You will need to deep condition regularly and use heavier moisturizers and sealant butters.
If you have high porosity hair, your stands do not contain a lot of protein. Therefore, it is ideal to use products that contain protein and aloe vera juice. You also want to make sure you use gentle cleansers and apple cider vinegar rinses to bring your hair PH back to normal.
What if my porosity is somewhere in the middle?
If you are somewhere in the middle then you have medium porosity hair. This means your hair allows the right amount of moisture in and out. Your hair does not suffer from severe dryness and will require very little maintenance in between styles.
What affects hair porosity?
There are lots of things that can alter your hair porosity, making it more porous. Any damage to the cuticle will increase the porosity of your hair.
Chemicals
Heat
Bleaching and coloring
Exposure to the sun and pollution
Products
If you have porous hair naturally, you will want to avoid excess heat and chemically altering your hair with relaxers or texturizers. You will also want to avoid lightening your hair and excess exposure to the sun and pollution.
As you can see, it is important to know the porosity of your hair so that you can select the appropriate products, especially when selecting your leave-in and deep conditioners. You want to avoid damage, protect your hair, and use products that work well with the porosity of your hair.
I hope this was helpful. If you would like a product list for each porosity type leave a comment below!
At the beginning of 2020 I had a plan. At least, I thought I did…
In January, I promised myself to get my life together. I was honestly all over the place. I wanted to get really clear on my goals and aspirations. Being the person I am, I sought coaching. I decided to sign up for Lyra and talk to someone who didn’t have a personal connection to me.
I started my first session with my truth; I didn’t know where my career was headed. Everyone would ask me where I saw myself in 5 years, and to be honest, I hesitated every time. After a few sessions, I told my career coach, “I think I want to move to New York to live with one of my best friends and do something more creative.”
I focused on those two things for the next three months. Well, that plan fell apart in March. My coach asked me how I felt about it, and honestly, I had a hard time putting it into words. That’s when I realized I was approaching this all wrong.
I was consulting the wrong person. I was creating a checklist like I normally do instead of following my heart! I wasn’t following God’s plan.
I decided to take a step back and focus on figuring out God’s plan for me. On May 31, 2020, I wrote this in my prayer journal.
“God I pray that you guide my heart. I pray that you guide me every step of the way to a prosperous life. I pray that I touch the lives of many and I overcome every fear and doubt I currently have. Lord, please be my source of strength as I move toward what you have called me to do. I love and worship you! – Amen”
Two months later, I feel as though God is answering my prayers. He’s leading me toward my calling and giving me all the tools and resources that I need to get there (amidst all the chaos of the world).
The messages I’ve received over the past few weeks serve as confirmation. He is helping me figure out my Destiny and I am forever grateful for this unexpected spiritual awakening. What a blessing!
Chakras are the seven circular vortexes of energy placed at different points on the spinal column. They connect to the organs and glands throughout your body. Keeping your chakras in balance is directly correlated to maintaining mental and physical wellbeing. Although there are hundreds of different chakras in the body representing energy centers, it’s best to focus on seven core chakras.
Use the colors to visualize each chakra during meditation.
What are the 7 core chakras?
Root Chakra – found at the base of your spine. It governs your connection to the wider world and your fundamentals needs.
Sacral Chakra – found below the naval. It is intimately involved in the creative process, controlling both your reproductive organs and your imagination.
Solar Plexus Chakra – sits above your naval in your stomach. This is your source of personal power with an important mental and spiritual role.
Heart Chakra – located at the center of the cardiovascular system, it is tied to the organs around it. A balanced heart chakra allows you to form emotional connections with others. Imbalances cause respiratory problems and high blood pressure.
Throat Chakra – located in the throat, governs communication and self-expression. A blockage can cause a feeling of isolation and physical issue such as hormone imbalance.
Third Eye Chakra – lies above your eyebrows, regulating insight and intuition. Keeping it in balance allows you to see how the world around you is interconnected and makes it easier to understand your place.
Crown Chakra – sits on the top of your head. When your chakras are in balance, and your energy is healthy, this chakra is a power connection to the world. Maintaining a healthy crown chakra leads to a sense of peace, well-being, and confidence.
How can I identify blocked chakra?
When one of your chakras is closed off to natural flow, you will compensate by directing more energy to the more functional chakras. Some chakras may shut down while others become hyperactive. Both can be detrimental to your mental and physical balance. Meditation is the best way to bring them all back to a normal level.
To identify the chakras that you could improve on, I suggest taking an online chakra test and doing more research to help identify symptoms that may indicate an imbalance for each chakra.
What is chakra meditation?
Chakra meditation is a specialized form of meditation that helps you open up blocked chakras. It is best to meditate on all 7 chakras to bring your entire system into balance.
You want to find a nice quiet place on the floor and sit with your legs crossed for about 15-30 minutes. Breathe deeply and take time to think about each chakra from the root to the crown.
To help you visualize the energy flowing into each chakra, use color associations provide. Visualize the associated color radiating throughout your body. Ultimately this will help you to isolate the different chakras.
It can be a challenge to keep track of each energy center and the colors you need to focus on when you are starting. I am linking to a guided meditation that can help.
It takes practice. You will start to feel more sensitized and find it easier to visualize the energy flowing through your chakras when you have completed a few successful chakra meditation sessions. The more you meditate and visualize the power of each, the easier it gets.
Self-care Sunday came early. I have really been slipping on my skincare. I actually have a confession. There were a few nights this week where I fell asleep without doing my full skincare routine. I couldn’t help it! Actually I could, but I was tired y’all!
Normally, I would properly cleanse, tone, and moisturize. Yet, this week my routine turned into a quick rinse. I actually had a few bumps show up today (sigh). I was mad at myself because I know I didn’t take the proper steps to care for my skin.
Today, I am going to give myself a full facial. Below you can find my normal skincare routine and the steps that I follow when I am experiencing a breakout:
On a normal day I would use the following products:
Cleanse – Cocokind oil to milk cleanser
Tone- Cocokind Rosewater
Treat- Skin Nutritions Retinol or Cocokind Golden Elixir Serum
Moisturize- Cocokind Texture smoothing cream, Cetaphil hydrating eye gel cream, Cocokind Mymatcha all-over moisture stick on my lips
Since I haven’t been following my normal routine as I should, I am going to add a few extra steps. Here are the products I am planning to use today:
Double Cleanse – Oil cleanse with Cocokind oil to milk cleanser & treatment cleanse with ponds pure detox facial foam
Exfoliate- Dermasil facial scrub with Vitamin E
Tone- Cocokind Rosewater
Mask- Loreal pure clay mask
Tone- Cocokind Rosewater
Treat- Versed Overnight facial peel
Moisturize- Cocokind Mymatcha all-over moisture stick on my lips
I can tell my skin needs a little extra TLC, judging by the random breakouts and the rough texture. I hope this brings it back to normal by the weekend.
I tweeted that this morning and so many of my followers could relate. It has been a rough day for the LinkedIn family. The company officially announced layoffs, and I honestly don’t know how to feel.
Although my role wasn’t directly impacted, I am a total empath and my heart is heavy. Both my work family and real family have been affected by coronavirus from job loss to hospitalization. I can’t even begin to explain the emotional roller coaster I have been on in 2020.
Today, I made sure to give myself and my colleagues a little extra love. I checked-in with so many people this morning, spent some time outside with our plants, made myself breakfast, and went into full praise and worship.
My spirit needed it. While my energy was completely depleted, I had agreed to speak at an event today. In order to prepare and get through it, I desperately needed to get my energy up.
Part of me wanted to cancel, but I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So praise and worship were in order to center me. If you’re interested, I created a gospel playlist (with a bit of a turn up) when you need that extra boost of motivation.
Gratitude (for maintaining my job) and sorrow (for my family, friends, and colleagues who did not) reside in my heart at the same time. I feel helpless, but at the same time hopeful that all will land on their feet. With so many emotions, a good strong dose of self-care is necessary.
Whatever self-care looks like for you, make sure you take some time for yourself each and every day. On the good and the bad days. The days you are happy and the days you are sad. The days when you are winning and the days when not so much. Sometimes the love you need is from yourself!
