MY VERY SHORT HAIR

          

I have been shampooing my hair with rice water for a few years now and I love it. Contrary to many YouTube videos not everyone will have ankle length hair but it will, my opinion, help maintain the health of your hair IF. 

My hair has never been shoulder length though my two older sisters did. Growing up my mother tried various treatments including putting mayonnaise in my hair- no one told her she was supposed to rinse it out before she sent me to school! My hair had some lenght so I could plait it and then comb it out but as soon as it came in contact with humidity my hair shrunk tighter than a geri-curl. (A geric-curl is a type of hair treatment that would give women and men of color really tight curls. People who chose this hair style had considerable hair growth BUT I believe it is because they had to take care of their hair or it would fall out!) Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s (1960!!!) It was embarrassing to have very short hair and be a girl- bald was not beautiful. I was often the brunt of jokes, referred to as baldy. As pretty as I was back then I grew up feeling ugly.

My first husband’s mother tried to help me with my hair. She was the one attempted to  geri-curl my hair, the process made my hair softer with a lot less natural curl but it was not the soft bouncy GREASY look people sought after. After that I put relaxers in my hair and attempted a few curls but it was a struggle that I often failed at. And then he, my first husband introduced me to his ‘friend’ the hairstylist and I was able to look feminine for the first time in my life. And then we divorced.

I have no idea what I was doing with my hair between 1991 and 2018ish, I think I was back and forth between, braids, weaves, relaxers natural and wigs. The struggle as to what to do with the stuff on my head was real! It was around 2019 that I came across a video regarding the Yao women, Red Yao tribe, of China; these women had extraordinarily long black hair. These women washed their hair in rice water and rinsed it in the local river. Their hair length often reached their ankles. It was a simple process and I was interested in natural treatments. 

It was around 2019, definitely in 2020 that I began washing my hair in rice water. On an introductory level I did as the person who released the YouTube video stated the women did in preparing the rice water, my results were not destructive. My hair was softer and easier to manage. I toyed with interchanging shampoo with the rice water only shampoo / rinses and discovered I actually preferred the rice water rinses. I refer to the process as a rinse because it is not a typical shampoo, with lather and such.  

Last year, around December of 2021, I did something without thinking- I washed all of my clothes and headwraps in a laundry detergent that I know my skin would react adversely too. For the past 5 years anything that touches my skin has been homemade, including my laundry detergent, I used to use Tide but stopped. My laundry detergent, soap, deodorant and even hair moisturizer was homemade using natural products and I had of course added to the product line mu own shampoo. My alternative  to Tide was a product that was more appropriate to sensitive skin- Arm & Hammer but on this day the only thing available was Tide so I used it.  It took a few days of my wearing headwraps that had been washed in time for me to figure out that my scalp was itching not because it was dry but because I was having an allergic reaction. And then!  I just so happened to be looking in the mirror and notice all the bald spots; Oh my!!!  All of my headwraps had to be rewashed and I just tolerated the minor discomfort with my clothes, this was easy since they are all loose fitting.

I added a few natural ingredients to my hair conditioner, I don’t use hair grease, and continued with the rice water shampoo. Do I think that the rice water shampoo alone will make a persons hair grow? NO! In addition to using natural products I also made adjustments to my eating, I increased my activity (exercised) and decreased my stress (divorced husband #2 - not laughing out loud) AND I also prayed. 

James 1:5 (KJV) 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 

Yes, I prayed about my balding hair and my receding hairline. The hairline is genetic, during the process of my hair growing back I visited my great aunt, age 92, my hairline is just like hers’. My hairline is also like my mother’s and both my sisters, I don’t like it but I have accepted it. 

There are a lot of videos out there about the Yao women and many individuals will tell you how wonderful the formula is and add their own little twist. Black women will swear that it is making their hair grow very long. Yes, there are people who will tell you it is not worth the effort, and for some this will be true. I am recommending one video with this article from on YouTube: ORIGINAL RICE WATER RECIPE DIRECTLY FROM THE YAO WOMEN IN CHINA ll The secret of real life RAPUNZEL'S, note the individual is selling products. Common sense has to prevail in order for you to not get caught up in the possibilities.

My hair is short and healthy. I would suggest to anyone the key to hair growth is a healthy lifestyle. Rice water shampoo alone is not going to make your hair grow, the foods you eat provides nutrients to your body including your hair. Exercise is important, not putting crap in your body and on your body is also important. Perms, relaxers, gels, hair sprays, hair colorants and such affect the health of your hair- it weakens the follicles (my opinion). Your emotional well being influences how your body responds to the foods you eat and even if you eat at all (my opinion). And your genetics not only determines your skin tone but your hair length (my opinion). 

Now I am concluding this article because I need to wash the rice water out of my hair. Today I actually washed my hair with a deep conditioning shampoo, knowing that it would strip my hair of all of the healthy oils on it and then I applied the rice water shampoo which I normally keep in for about 30 minutes but today I kept on for an hour. My plan is to rinse out the rice water with bottled water, I normally use tap water, and let it air dry. I will then moisturize my hair and scalp with my homemade conditioner and then put my little girl plaits in. 

I will wash my hair maybe once a month no more than twice a month for the winter. In the summer time I try not to plait my hair but twist it since it is gentler on my hair (my opinion) and since I wash it weekly it is easier to take out. It’s like women who have braids in their hair, it does not get a good washing until those braids come out. Anyway, this is what I have been doing around November even before I started washing with rice water; back in the day I would wear wigs during the holiday season so it made since to plait my hair. 

Year to date the longest hair length on my head (top front and my “mullet”) is 4 1/4 inches and the shortest, which is another genetic malfunction plagued by both male and females thanks to daddy, in the back of my head is 2 1/4 inches. For many women that means weave, wig or cut it all off not me.

                                                                        written by Marsha L Floyd

Psalm 139:14-18 (KJV) 

14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 

15  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 

16  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 

17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 

18  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with t

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BLACK COTTON PICKER

 It was not fun but I do want to do it again- pick cotton. It started when I was watching someone on YouTube spin cotton it brought back a childhood memory. 

Of the many field trips I went on, in the Washington Metropolitan area where I grew up, was a trip to a historical sight where there was a woman spinning cotton using a spinning wheel. We were able to get a sample of the bur (the cotton ball part of the plant). I don’t know what happened to that plant but as I watched the woman talking about cotton. I wanted to learn more about it, some of my ancestors picked cotton, a few are still alive. I watched a few more videos on spinning cotton and ordered a drop spindle and some cotton that I could spin, I also ordered some seeds. I am still struggling to learn how to spin cotton but I have successfully completed to cotton growing seasons. The last season I had six plants that produced more than enough cotton for me to not spin (LOL!). 

I remember thinking that I had harvested all of the cotton only to discover that there was more. The fact that I had unused cotton from what I had purchased and the previous years harvest had me shaking my own head! (SMH!) I remember as I harvested the cotton in the hot South Florida sun how not fun it was. I picked by hand, no clippers, no machines. I was thankful I had not planted more and appreciative of what my ancestors must have done even post slavery.

I did a YouTube video of me picking cotton. Someone made a derogatory remark about me picking cotton as if I was still on the plantation. My response was simple: Once upon a time we had not choice and we made no money from the activity. Today I can take the cotton that I grew and harvested, process it and make money from it. 

I want to grow more cotton because the flower is as beautiful as the bur. The cotton plant flowers and then the flower dies and a boll develops, when the boll opens up there is this big puffy ball or bur. Within the bur are the seeds for more cotton, I have lots of seeds. I don’t want to make money off of the cotton that I produce but if I could learn to spin it and make stuff out of it, it would be fun and perhaps a practical skill. There are individuals who make money off of their spun cotton or other threads such as wool. 

How unfortunate it is that so many Black people, “African-Americans” think that learning a skill such as picking cotton is beneath them. These African-Americans do not understand the difference between have to and want to. These individuals are consumers and not producers, they love what money can buy but object to capitalism. I like capitalism but I am not in love with money.

Someone had to grow the cotton! Someone grew it, process it and made something of it to sell. There are those who buy materials and make stuff and then they sell it and make money. These individuals buy more stuff and make more money but the activity of making money requires time and energy. That woman who thought I was foolish for growing and picking cotton has no problem with purchase cotton items that have someone’s name, other than hers, on the product. This same woman, or her type, would buy these products from this woman and not comment on how she obtained the material. 

 The problem is not that the cotton was picked but that a Black person picked cotton post slavery. Slaves picked cotton by force, post slavery cotton was picked on farms under the often unprincipled business association of a sharecropper. Today people of color can own their own farms and sell its’ produce at a price that is to their advantage. 

Growing and picking cotton was a learning experience for me. It was difficult work, it was not that hard because I had only a few plants. People love the money more than the lessons. Scripture teaches loving money is the root, basis, foundation, of evil; nothing good comes from loving money.  I don’t chase after money, all of my basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) are met I seek after wisdom knowledge and understanding. I seek after: “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” I don’t think negatively about those who choose not to buy into the marketing plans of advertising agencies. I appreciate people who grow their own no matter what color they are.

                                   written by Marsha L Floyd

1 TIMOTHY 6:7-11 

7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 

8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 

9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 

10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 

11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  

NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH DAY 1

 WRITERS WRITE

I lied! I said I would not do another NaNoWriMo again, it is to easy for me to write fifty thousand words in thirty days. I did not decide until 3 AM Monday morning (October 31) that I would participate, today is Tuesday. As I set up my National Novel Writing Month page I needed to determine what I would write about, give my project a title; “30 Days” that was it.

Writers always have something to write. Even when experiencing ‘writers block’. Don’t believe me? Check out Facebook. My problem is writing what people want to read. There re all kinds of recommended rules and guidelines we are to follow. Example: What genre are you using? What is your (my) writing style?  We are supposed to stick to a particular genre so that we can develop a following- aka: group of people who will buy our books. I don’t have a genre! 

I have lots of opinions, thoughts and ideas about quite a few things and I write about all of them. I write angry, happy, overly dramatic, serious, whatever.And to make matters worst: since I started writing my last name has changed twice and will be changing again! Maybe that is why I am not on the best sellers list! LOL! (Are we supposed to be using acronyms? Hmmm, another rule broken. Oh well!)  I have actually written and published one fictional peace: The Truth About Vashtai by Marsha Randolph; I will not be using that last name again. I had 6 ebooks, non-fiction, on Smashwords but I unpublished them: Moving Forward by Fatih, Broken and Not Ashamed, Before You Pray For Me, You’re Not Ready, and Questions From the Book of Luke all by Marsha Randolph changed to Marsha L Floyd. The sixth ebook was actually a free download a Prayer Guide. I pulled the ebooks down because I want to rebrand them, yes I will keep the  name Marsha L Floyd (I think it is safer that way). Each published item has a different topic but there is a subtle theme: faith.

For me all roads lead to what I believe and in sharing my opinions I can weave God’s word into the conversation. Moving Forward By Faith, talks about overcoming obstacles by faith.  Broken and Not Ashamed, I wrote about finances and giving and what I really thought about tithing.  Before You Pray For Me,  I wrote about what people believe and how their faith or lack thereof, influences their prayer life. You’re Not Ready, is an overview of emergency preparedness using Scripture to validate it. Obviously Questions From the Book of Luke is about the book of Luke and Prayer Guide is a list of topics to pray about. The Truth About Vashtai was the first wife, before Esther, a woman in the Bible. There is a method to my madness but not everyone wants their authors to change topics. 

People want mystery writers to write mysteries and theolgians to write about the Bible. I suspect that writers use social media to releas the thoughts within; a mystery writer can talk politics on Faebook, a theologian can talk about gardening on Twitter. I think writers get blocked when they want to move to a different topic but their audience is insisting that they stick to the GENRE they like.  (Yes, I was yelling!)

Knowing all of this I decided to do what I have been doing for over ten years now and just write what I am thinking that day. But first I must present my own guidelines and warnings. 

WARNING: I AM A CHRISTIAN If you are offended by the mention of Jesus, the Trinity and the ideas of heaven and hell, don’t read what I write.

GUIDELINE FOR ME: My goal is to post daily on my blog, I have 2 (3 actually) at some point I may close one but I have not decided which one. I will make the final decision. January 1, 2023. 

It is possible for me to write about 2 topics in a day thus there will be 2 post in that day- maybe. 

My genre is Faith Based words that will help that one person. 

GUIDELINE FOR THE READER: Comments are appreciated, shares are really appreciated. (If you write something offensive I will just delete it.)

Unless otherwise stated: All Scriptures quoted are from the King James Bible. 

This is National Novel Writers Month aka NaNoWriMo the ultimat goal is to write something publishable. I have yet to publish anything that I have written since I began participating in 2011. I also participated in 2013, 2015, 2016, and  2021, only one year 2016 I did not reach my goal. Last year I finished before Thanksgiving, this year it is not the number of words I will be writing but the days. 

I was talking to another writer today and she was considering participating but declined. The problem is not that she could not write fifty thousand words in thirty days but the commitment of writing every day. Don’t think of this as a competition but a personal challenge, like a marathon running the important thing is that you finish even if everyone else has gone home. My friend is not going to try this year, she has to many things to do and she is one of those by the book writers- a published author of historical non-fiction. 

The truth is in order to achieve the goal a writer must write at least 1,666 words a day plus 1 word extra for 20 days. My goal is 2,000 words a day which will give me a target date of completion of November 25, 26 if I don’t write on Thanksgiving. 

I begin where I began, many, many years ago I read a Bible verse that stuck to my heart and mind and became the one verse I go to when I am troubled- Matthew 6:33. This verse reminds me of what is important, what other people think is important is not. 

MATTHEW 6:33

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.