How a chance encounter at Target lead to a blog Feature

Just another random trip to Target, I thought. I had one item to pick up then I'd be on my merry way. Since I was out of town and unfamiliar with this Target's layout, I wandered around a bit before I found what I was looking for. Just as I was walking by the beauty section, I noticed someone pass me. What immediately grabbed my attention was her healthy ponytail that swung slightly from side to side as she walked by. My first thought was to casually walk over to the hair product aisle, where she was standing, to see which items she'd pick up and ask her a few questions about her regimen, and how she keeps her hair looking so healthy. Best of all, she would think this was some random conversation and she'd have no idea that I was this crazy hair blogger that followed people to the hair product aisle just to get a closer look at her hair.

 There was no time to rehearse what I would say as I walked up to her, I would simply have to freestyle it. Turns out that this young lady was happy to share her routine. I must say that I truly enjoyed our conversation and her sharing reminded me of several healthy hair tips that we can all learn from.

 Ladies, meet Toni!

 Toni has been natural for several years. Although she does wear her hair curly from time to time, lately she has been maintaining straight hair. Every two weeks, Toni, visit her stylist where she receives a steam deep conditioning treatment to hydrate her hair before straightening session.

****side note**** Remember my post on Healthy Hair lessons we can learn from Naturals? One thing I neglected to mention was that natural haired ladies love to quench their curls with steam treatments. Thanks Toni for helping to remind me of that.

Toni once had color treated hair which she recently trimmed. Part of the reason why I stopped her was because of how thick and even her ends appeared to be. The thoughts from my last post were still fresh in my mind so I decided to ask her a little more about her trim.

Toni and her stylist negotiated about how much to take off and finally settled their agreement on around 2 inches. Her color treated ends were prone to split and they appeared less healthy than the rest of her hair. Since the trim, Toni says that she experiences way less breakage and reduced shedding (which will mean greater retention in the long run). Plus she has the added comfort of knowing that, as her hair continues to grow, it'll have a thicker, healthier appearance overall. Toni's hair was in a ponytail when I met her. When I made the small simple request of asking her to turn around so some random stranger could take a picture of the back of her head and post it on the internet, she gladly obliged. Without a moment's thought she took down her hair and prepared for her shot.

 I helped her prepare for the shot by finger combing her tresses. Her hair was soft and smooth to the touch with no snagging or tangles what so ever (no shed hairs either). To keep her hair feeling nourished between salon visits, miss Toni rubs a little virgin coconut oil into her fabulous mane every couple of days. I could have gone on and on with my discussion with her. Toni was amazingly pleasant to talk to and I could have stared at her hair all day. But alas, we both had to continue on with our Target excursions. But before I go, let me share with you Toni's advice to those of us who are also on our hair journey.

 Toni reminds us to keep our hair well moisturized, love the hair you have, and be patient with your hair in your journey. She's been on her natural journey for over 5 years. My thanks to her for allowing us a glimpse into her world for our learning. While writing this post, what came to mind was how many women, I've talked to, with beautiful hair use heat regularly and can still maintain overall health. I think that's I topic I'll be exploring a little deeper in an upcoming post. Stay tuned.