Red Hair with Country Flare

Hi All! I hope everyone's been well! It's almost spring break! One more school day for me (Thursday). Then, I'm off until the end of the first week of next month. :) I have a few things I intend to do while on break, one thing being WonderCon. Otherwise, my family is coming to visit for a few days, so who knows where that will take me to. I've already started spring cleaning too. It feels nice to remove some clutter from my life both literally and figuratively. This blog is like a combination of a place review and a life update.

 Last Friday, I went horse riding for the first time with my Equestrian team as a beginner and had a fun time. I am slightly afraid of heights, but felt at ease on Freckles, the horse I was on. I also learned horse care and maintenance and it was nice. It actually reminded me of home being in a barn with various farm animals. The smell doesn't bother me at all like it does various people, but I think that's a product of growing up in the Central Valley.  The barn we went to is called BM Equine in Norco which gives English/Hunt riding lessons, Mercedes is our coach/trainer and she is very nice. I hope to find a Western riding school as well.

Also, last Wednesday, I went and got my hair colored at Tashi's Hair Salon in Diamond Bar, not too far from Brea Canyon. I got a dark reddish color to fix the bad hair color job that JCPenney in Brea had done. It turned out really well and the stylists were very positive and friendly, telling me about each process every step of the way. I recommend this place for people with natural hair styles. They also do other things like two strand twists, braids, and weaves. They can also help people with hair or scalp ailments. So check them out. Side note, they are pretty pricy, but I feel like for the area, it's almost expected.

Here's some pictures :)

Freckles and I before I washed him down :)

Shine on! 🌞

Anyway, that's all for today's blog. My next blog with be a product review rather than a place review for various natural hair products.  I'm trying to get back into the habit of writing more, but writer's block loves to strike when I least expect it. What type of hobbies are you guys into? Have you ever ridden a horse? Or have you ever colored your hair a wild color? Let me know in the comments below!

Till Next Time!

-Hachi

Lipstick Paradise

Hi all! Another weekend is about to come to an end, and I hope you have all had a restful time! So today I decided to play around with the lipsticks I own. These lipsticks are on Mac NW45 skin with L'Oreal Nut Brown highlighting under base. Instead of spamming my post with a billion photos, I decided to Photo Grid the pictures based on each color and far view/close up. I hope you enjoy!

410 Blissful Berry - Maybelline (Favorite)

540 (Moisture Renew) Burgundy Lustre -Rimmel

900 Red Alert - Rimmel

Confession - Urban Decay

All Heart - Clinique (probably my least favorite because it's too shimmery)

If you have any lipstick recommendations for darker skinned individuals, please let me know in the comments below.




Till Next Time!

-Hachi

How about that shrinkage? (Natural Hair)

Shrinkage. My, oh my, the dreaded shrinkage. Or does it have to be dreaded? Can't it be embraced as well? We see everyday in the media, women with long, usually straight hair. So as a collective of  curly haired people, some of us come to desire this sort of hair. Typically it's achieved through the utilization of weaves, or wigs, and for others it is by heat styling. However, this euro-centric viewing can be damaging to the self-esteem of curlies. Some of us strive to achieve length in our hair after going natural, yet when all we see is shrinkage, we start to feel discouraged. However, why? If our hair is growing healthy and strong, why should we care how long it is? We are not defined by the length or style texture of our hair, but by the content of our character. We need to embrace what we have and flaunt it. Although, sometimes my shrinkage does annoy me, I do like the way my hair looks at that length too. My hair looks fuller and more youthful so to speak when the "shrinkage is real".
Also on the topic of natural hair, I get that the movement is more geared towards us African-American women, with "Afro-textured hair", but there are curlies from all walks of life.  Curlies from every country, every age, every gender, every ethnic origin,. What bonds us together is our refusal to accept the euro-centric concept of hair beauty. We refuse to chemically alter our hair. We leave it as it was, as it always will be, curly. We cannot cause this divide amongst ourselves, we must stand together if we are to stand at all. If you are wondering where this slight rant is coming from, it all started on Facebook. I am a "fan" and product tester for naturallycurly.com. This website has men and women from all nationalities and ethnicity and posts pictures of people in their wavy or curly glory, as such. However, I am sad to say that recently whenever Naturally Curly posts non-Afro textured people, others people will bash them as not "true naturals". Truthfully, it makes me sad. We should not be acting like this at all, we should embrace our curl family and support each other on our individual journeys. As our journeys do and will intersect each other, and we should all be there for each other. You can agree or disagree with me as that is just my opinion haha. Take care all :)



Till next time!

Hachi

Well hello there!

Hi, I'm Hachi. Well, not really. Hachi is my nickname, my real name is Dawn (I do go by both, although more of my given name). I'm a 24 y.o Northern California native, living in overly sunny, Southern California. I am a natural hair enthusiast, and am interested in home improvement. Semi-fresh out of college, I am currently in education limbo while taking a year off in between undergraduate and graduate school. I have a bachelors of arts in Linguistics and intend to apply for masters programs in Linguistics with some sort of specific emphasis, as well. We'll see if I get in, fingers crossed, haha. In the meantime, during my limbo between school, I am trying to keep busy doing whatever I can. I am currently a research assistant in Psycholinguistics, and tend to do research projects for conferences. It's both fun and stressful, as is life in general. So other things I am doing are: "working" on a novel (I get bad writer's block), joining groups and committees, going to comic book & anime conventions (love comics, anime, manga, cosplaying and attending cons), comic book collecting, and working out. I also take one online class every semester at a local community college so I am used to focusing on school work and not to get too lazy. Not sure if you can tell, but I like to stay active. This blog of mine will mostly focus on various life observations and ramblings from me and my adventures in Southern California, with a few Northern California ramblings as well, when I go home to visit. I hope you enjoy the ride, because it will either be very long and boring, or very fun, and fast paced. We shall see, hehe. Also feel free to post comments, but please note, unpleasant comments will be deleted. Let's keep this blog happy and positive! :) Tell me about yourself too, if you'd like. :)

Till next time!

Hachi (Dawn)