****This was a post I was asked to write on Our Natural Kids. It is an awesome website where families get together and discuss hair tips for their children. One of the members of the site asked that I post something about shea butter as it seems she and some others were confused. Here is the post I wrote. I'm posting it here and on my business blog as well.

Hi everyone! I'm a new member here to Our Natural Kids and I was asked by member TheSistahChick to write a post about shea butter. She asked if I could simply state the difference between yellow and off-white.

Off-white shea butter is the natural color of shea butter. It becomes yellow when it is dyed with red palm oil. Red palm oil has a similar texture to coconut oil (at room temp). Red palm oil is generally used in cooking, especially for those who have a vitamin A deficiency. Red palm oil is also very high in antioxidants. Red palm oil makes the shea butter a bit softer and creamier and easier to work with. Off-white shea butter that has not been whipped is a little bit firmer than the yellow, and so some people prefer the one they can emulsify the easiest.

I own a business, Belle Butters, LLC where I sell whipped shea butter. I have sold both yellow and off-white shea butter. At the end of the day, it pretty much comes down to the preference of the person as to which type they like to use. I have a lot of customers who use the yellow as opposed to the off-white.

Recently, a set of videos have been published to youtube by a young lady who states that yellow shea butter isn't shea butter and that it is African Butter and from a different region and a different tree. She also went on to say that some suppliers dye shea butter with a toxic dye that can be bad for you to make this butter yellow. However, she did not mention that off-white shea butter can be dyed with red palm oil which is safe for the skin and that is what makes it yellow. I understand that she wanted us to be informed that businesses can be malicious, however it is the responsibility of the business and the customer to make sure the shea butter they receive is authentic and good quality. If at any given time you feel a little leery about the yellow shea butter you are purchasing, ask questions. If the seller refuses to give you any information or if you are not satisfied with the information you are given, look for another seller to purchase from.

I was asked by a potential customer a few days ago, "If the lady in the video said that the yellow shea butter is bad for you, why would you sell it?" Not all yellow shea butter is bad for you. If it was bad, I would not sell it, period. I offered to give her my suppliers information, along with my suppliers website to better inform my potential customer. The customer eventually decided that she wanted off-white shea butter and not the yellow and I told her that was absolutely fine. It is really up to you and your families discretion, which type of shea butter you choose to use.

I understand that staying informed is the best way to go when it comes to what we put into our bodies and on our bodies. However, what a person chooses to put on their bodies and on their hair or eat, is their decision and their free-will to do so. It is already tough for us to make the transition to being natural. We seek out peers who have faced the same trials and errors so that we know that we have some sort of support. Lately, I've noticed that we have found yet another thing to debate over and it kills all of that unity and growth that we have built up. As it is still ongoing, there is the debate that altering your natural hair with heat, means that you are not natural. We have a tendency to be so micro-minded about the details. Sometimes it's easier for us to just let some things go and let what another person does, be their choice. You cannot knock a person for wanting to do something different. If we all did things the same, this world would be a boring place. I just wanted to mention this because it is a simple disagreement like this that can cause disruption and hurt feelings and I'm sure none of us are here to do that. So, if I decided to use yellow shea butter, then so be it. I won't tell one person that they are wrong for using off-white and I feel like they shouldn't tell me I'm wrong for using yellow. If it is your money, you choose to spend it however you want to and no other person can tell you what to do with the money earn.

I remember when I first went natural and I was initially using off-white and I was interrogated basically as to whether or not I checked to make sure my shea butter wasn't bleached by hexane. Feeling completely intimidated I switched to using yellow shea butter. Now, I'm being questioned about the yellow shea butter, and I feel it is only because of the videos that have recently been put onto youtube. People have been using either color for years and as far as I know, no one has reported any adverse reactions from using the yellow shea butter. Defending myself about which one I choose to use took a lot out of me and basically made me feel like an idiot. The same natural hair community that I looked to for guidance is now contradicting itself. Initially I felt bad. Now that these questions are coming in regards to my business, I can't really let it get me down. I have to keep on moving and pushing. There are so many businesses out there that sell shea butter and so I have to remind myself constantly, that I can't satisfy everyone and if I do not have what someone is looking for, I can suggest an alternative, try to make it work or I'd have to tell that customer to try a different business.

I hope this clears up any confusion anyone was having in regards to the yellow and off-white shea butter. Let's keep our unity alive and well and remember that we are here to help each other in a supportive and constructive way.

...keeps you forever young. I want to be this cool when I'm older.

Hey guys! I will be selling Belle Butters at this all female-vendor arts and crafts show! Please spread the word. Support local and support handmade!

Please join us for our Craft and Conversation
Saturday, March 6th from noon 'til 6pm
1627 NORTH 19TH STREET (upstairs) SAINT LOUIS, MO 63106
we are excited about our:

Art and Craft Show
honoring Women Artists during Women's History Month...
"As Spring approaches our individual creative spirits come together as a group for renewed energy and creative growth."

Fiber Art by Jean Brantley
Fine Art & Handmade Jewelry by Dail Chambers
Candles & Hand Treatments by Alison Henderson
Handmade Jewelry and Accessories by Simiya Sudduth of The Speckled Owl Collective
Vegan Desserts and Artwork by Fannta Drummer
Craft & Art by Musician & Crafter Sallie DuMaine
with poetry by Andrea Richardson
We will have info on local arts initiatives and showing artwork of various artists in the community.

This is a FREE for ALL grassroots initiative hosted by Dail Chambers' Visual Art Studio and the participating artists.

Be involved in the St. Louis Arts Community. Come support, meet, and network with us! We are a diverse group of local black women creatives!

Although not required, please RSVP to Dail Chambers| dailchambers@gmail.com
or reply to our facebook events page: (Un)seasoned| http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=294537243289&ref=ts

...and please bring a friend! PLEASE forward to all of your affiliated groups, listserves, calendars and friends!

Day 1 of my vacation has been excellent thus far.

Goody Goody, yes and yum.

I was in good company of my sister, and my two aunts.

After Goody Goody, we headed to the mall. Well, we were supposed to see an early movie, but somehow, someway, I got the time wrong. So we decided to browse through the mall instead. Our first stop was Claire's. My sister needed to get some earrings for my niece (who is ALWAYS losing her earrings btw).

So, I was just looking around and lo' and behold, I stumble upon a Magic Mic. Do you guys remember Magic Mics? They've been around for a long time. If you don't know what a Magic Mic is, it is a microphone shaped plastic toy that is built with springs on the inside. You sing into it and this causes your voice or any sound for that matter to bounce off the walls on the inside of the plastic mic and creates a sort of echo.

If you know me very well, this is the wrong type of toy to put in my possession. So, in the store I loudly announced my aunt's name as if I was that boxer announcer guy....I forget his name. Hold on, lemme google it lol. His name is Michael Buffer!!! Yes, "Let's get ready to rumble!" style!

So, periodically up until we got to the movies (yes, while in Cheesecake Factory) I used my Magic Mic.

I even came home, called my mom and talked to her with the Magic Mic. I told her I bought a Magic Mic (she thought it was a new cell phone lol). She was in total disbelief! Well, she's gonna be surprised later!

I had so much fun earlier saying random things to my sister and aunt, we were all laughing and having a great time. I thought about how important it is, to stop being all grown up and reserved and to act like a kid again. It's a fantastic release and definitely what I needed to kick off my vacation.

I even decided to make a mini video of me singing into my Magic Mic. Even though you can't really hear the echo, I think my enthusiasm is more than enough to let you know that I really really like this toy lol I'm NOT a singer btw. This is me purely having fun.

The song I'm singing is a snippet of Janelle Monae's new song "Tightrope" Theee best song out right now!

And have that be the top post on my page (dermatographism post) lol

TRUST, I don't like looking at it either, but I thought it would be kinda cool to educate the masses a bit on that.

Anyways, some fun eh?

I was browsing through blogs and I found this blog that highlights some VERY hot leather pieces. I don't wear lots of leather, if any, but the designs that I saw on this site were pretty hot.

The name, Haute Macabre.

This style, kinda punk, old world, futuristic and very fierce.

Here's a few that caught my eye.

WARNING: pics in this post are not the easiest to look at. I have them all located at the bottom of this, but just to forewarn you, they may or may not make your stomach turn.

I think I've kinda mentioned this at some point, in detail, but it was with another post, blah blah blah. Okay. Here's the short of it.

Back in 2007, I woke up one morning to comb my hair and shortly after combing and I had this crazy ass itching sensation all over my scalp. I wasn't sure what the problem was, or what was causing it, but it was wretched.

I had just recently dyed my hair a new color, but I didn't think that had anything to do with it. Now, I'm noticing that whenever I scratch my arm or anything rubs up against my arm, it leaves me with hives, an intense red color and an intense itch. If I scratched my arm more, the worse it got. So, I would have to wait about 30 minutes for it all to settle down and stop.

It gets worse.

I fall asleep on the couch with my covers and all that bundled up around me. Just from the simple pressure of my body against the wrinkles of my covers alone, caused my skin to whelp up and itch.

It had gotten to the point where I needed to figure out what was happening to me and why it was happening all of a sudden.

I typed in my symptoms and things like that and I came across a forum that mentioned what I was experiencing to the T. I self diagnosed myself at this point with dermatagraphism (my spelling is always off on the work and I don't feel like correcting right now even if it needs to be corrected). The literal meaning of the word is "to write on the skin."

And the literal meaning is just what it is. I could take the tip of an ink pen or my credit card, anything hard basically with a tip and run it along my arm. Wait a few seconds and the line appears along with the intense itching and hives just along that line. Come back 3o minutes or so later and it disappears.

It turns out that there is no known cause for this. It is considered a skin allergy. An allergy to what, no one knows. The condition could last as long as a few weeks to a lifetime. Right now, I still have it.

I went to a derm. who I told that I had this and she basically just prescribed me some Allegra. I believe an 60 or 80mg daily dose. This worked, however it only worked for 24 hours. As soon as it began to wear off the intense itching came again and I had to remember to take it or else I'd be totally uncomfortable until I was able to.

Once my prescription got refilled once again, I couldn't do it anymore. It was 45 dollars for a 30day supply, and that's expensive.

So, I asked my sister who is a nurse practitioner what I could use that would be cheaper and she told me claritin or a generic for claritin. I went with the generic for claritin, loratadine. Initially it wasn't doing much, but I figured at 10mg a dose, it wasn't going to. So yes, I take more than what is recommended on the bottle, sue me. In order for me to keep my sanity, I MUST take at least 3omg of this every few days or so, otherwise I'd be driven completely mad. When it wears off, it is more subtle than the extreme itchies I got from the Allegra.

The downside to taking 3 or so every few days has now caused me some kind of rash I randomly get. It's not contagious, doesn't spread (sticks to one area) and it doesn't itch. I don't know what the hell it is. My doc gave me a cortisone cream for it and it works for a while until a rash appears some where else. It's not visible unless I point it out and you can't really see it (same tone as my skin) unless I rubbed it and made it red. *shrug*

What I have is actually considered average. Chronic cases of this skin condition usually persists when a person is effected by extreme temps, hot/cold and parts of their body you wouldn't expect it to happen to (like their feet). Luckily, my situation hasn't been that bad and I hope it never gets that bad.

I'm not sure how or why my skin all of a sudden developed this random sensitivity to things. I've changed the soaps I use, the lotions, and all of this even lead to my decision of going natural with my hair and to stop relaxing. I pray for the day my dermatagraphism finally goes away, in the mean time, I just have to deal with it.

Here are some pics of what dermatographism (i found the correct spelling ha) can do to people, like myself, with it.

Cop status.

Never heard of this guy, but I really like this song, track, errrthang. Found on BlueErroSoul

Fine brothas in the vid ain't so bad either :^)

Nottz - Shine So Brite

Nottz "Shine So Brite" from Raw Koncept on Vimeo.

I'm horrible at taking vitamins.

Main reason number 1: they make me nauseous.
Main reason number 2: they are too big to swallow.

I went to Target Friday so that I could re-up on my trusty generic claritin for my dermatagraphism. I'll write a long blog post about that, maybe now since I'm kinda in the mood, but in the next post, not this one. With pictures!!! Ha! Who wants to see how my skin acts up? No? Yes? Oh you know you wanna.

Anyways, I see they finally have a nice myriad of adult gummy vitamins. I figured I'd give it a shot. What's there to lose really? Other than the fact that they'll taste gross? So, I took my chances.

I got in my car and got caught at a light and so I took this as an opportune moment to pop open the bottle. Not sure WHY I thought that was a bright idea, seeing as how I had no water or liquid beverage in my vehicle just in case they were gross or I started to choke or something.

The shape of the chews resemble Gum Drops, if you are familiar with that old school candy or Dots. They are in three flavors, orange, peach and berry. I picked out an orange one first. I figure most places usually get the orange flavor correct and I didn't think it wouldn't be too bad. I popped one in my mouth and to my surprise, it was good! A+ for the Up and Up brand of adult gummy vitamins!

We are now going on day 3 and I actually look forward to having my daily dose of vitamins and I no longer have to dread it! I'm a happy camper! The other flavors are great too!

Of course to make them tasty, there are somethings added. Here are the ingredients:
Glucose syrup, sucrose, gelatin, natural flavors, citric acid, tactic acid, fractionated coconut oil, natural colors (carrot and blueberry juices, annatto extract), and beeswax.

All those ingredients look fine to me! :)

To get through this thing called...life.

Oh wait.

That's from a Prince song.

We here to celebrate the life and impending death of my beloved JCrew cable knit mules.

In past entries I've mentioned how I had a slight uppity taste back in the day. I shopped only name brand, well, because I had the money to blow back then. So of course, with expensive taste, came quality (oh you know it's true! that old navy brand doesn't last forever! lol)

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way some girl who only likes name brand clothes and such. My philosophy is to purchase a brand that I know offers quality and gets me every pennyworth out of it.

Like I usually do, I shop the sale items on JCrew. It is rare for me to purchase anything full price from them unless it is a coat which I have done once before. Anyways, I came across these very cute cable knit mules and I got them for about 30 bucks I believe (translated into maybe 50-60 full price). I loved them! They were nice and cozy and I got a lot of compliments on them.

Every fall I take them out of the box and every spring I put them away. This year, I'm going to put them away for good as they will have to make it into the trash. They are no longer presentable, are falling apart and are starting to get slightly uncomfortable.

The shoes are primarily wood soled (REAL wood). There is this rubbery type material on the very bottom so you don't slide, and a strip of leather in the footbed. The part that goes around the feet are leather, with a suede trim and of course the grey cableknit.

Well, the wood is splintering, the rubber is peeling off and horribly beat up, and the suede is pulling away from the wood. As much as I'd like to hold onto them for another year, I gotta let them go. It would be easier to do if I had stepped in some dog poo or something (once I've stepped in dog poo in a shoe, no matter how much they are, I toss them. I can never seem to get rid of the smell).

A few years ago my suede Birkenstocks shared a similar fate, so this letting go thing gets easier and easier as time goes along lol

Say good bye to the JCrew Mules...*wipes solitary tear from eye*

I can't wait for it to get here. I'm uber tired and just need a mental break.

How tired am I?

I like myself out of a room, well not technically, but at work we have an "interview room" where I do telephone interviews for the study. You can get in with a key and you can get out by turning the handle, but once that door is shut, from the outside you NEED a key. My key is attached to ALL my keys.

I realized this and then I couldn't think for a moment. I was walking around everywhere until it finally clicked to me that I knew where a spare key was locked up at. Thank goodness for spare keys, I would've had to go through a lot of trouble just to get my damn keys outta that room (you don't want to know).

So then I get home and my ma goes to heat up her food. Lo' and behold the milk that she warmed up for me last night so I could make some hot chocolate was STILL in the microwave. It wasn't gross or anything but it's just the fact that I freaking forgot about it and wasted 2 cups of milk.

I cannot wait to get in some rest.

Thinking of different ways to use the word ratchet. Today I said, "Ratchery."

Janelle Monae - Tightrope *blogger get us an f'n embed player like today*

Pictures of plants/flowers/mountains.

Nail Polish. More in particular OPI for Sephora. I haven't looked up a place to purchase Chanel colours for fear of losing my everloving mind.

Fruit and granola parfaits.

My business. Belle Butters, LLC

What are your current obsessions? I'll update this in a few months to see what has changed and what remains. My obsessions come in trends.

These brothas are so dope.

Sewn From The Soul from Alejandro on Vimeo.

Dear St. Louis Galleria,

Once upon a time, you used to be my favorite store. As a teenager who worked full-time during the summer, you were the perfect getaway for me to be uppity and buy name brand clothes. Over the years, I have welcomed your changes with open arms. The economy has now taken a turn and the mall was once in a slump but now seems to be bouncing back. Bouncing back however in a West County mall like way. So yes, you've stepped it up by adding a Lacoste, Coach, Forever 21, Wet Seal and maybe in 10 years the Nordstrom will finally open. However, there seems to be an inconsistency. In an effort to bring commuters closer to retail, our city has expanded it's commuter transportation options, more in particular with our light rail system. In turn, what used to be a good quality of people who came to the mall to spend money, has now turned into a plethora of ratchetness.

Yes, ratchetness. Not only on the consumer side, but yes, the businesses. I know the procedures for hiring has changed a bit, where credit checks are being performed now and such, so, this has caused a major increase of high school teens with no business or work ethic to fill jobs at these stores (naturally only because they have no credit history). So, I receive ratchet service in these so called luxury stores, and don't get me started on the food service/court. When you took out the greek restaurant, that really broke my heart. I loved that place! The name of it slips my mind, but most folks know what I'm talking about. Panda Express served me dry chow mein. The sushi place, eh, let's not go there. Well, let's. Extremely chewy sushi and you have to yell to get service because well, they don't think black people come to the mall and order sushi I guess.

I'm thoroughly disappointed. I expect better. I went to the mall today and saw a guy who looked just like Lil Wayne. Down to that fugly lip piercing and all, or whatever that's called since it's technically not in the lip, or through it. See what I mean! There should be some kind of a ratchet filter. No, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, but serious. I know that stereotyping is bad, but are they really shopping? I don't see them with bags. Like the guy who had eyes tattooed on the back of his head, yet kept turning around to see who was behind him.

That last sentence alone sums all of this up. Do better St. Louis Galleria. I really don't want to have to let you go.

A concerned shopper,

Miss T

I've been tried and tried. Wheeeeew!

I prayed and I'm getting through it. Thinking negative thoughts, to my bro-in-law having to go to the ER twice, now my car giving me problems... I'm just thankful to be alive and keeping the stress at a minimum. Me a few years ago would be a wreck with all that I have going on. I thank God that I've been given the strength and that I've grown in my faith, so that I may turn things over to Him.

I've made it too hard in the past to put trust in Him, when it should be the easiest thing to do. No worries. Everything will work out in the end.

rom here If you don't have a tumblr account, get one. I love tumblr.

esterday I finally bought more memory for my Mac. A couple of weeks ago, my Mac did some ummm...foolish things. I was working on a spreadsheet, had Firefox open, Apple Mail and I believe I was just working between those three windows. I got to save my spreadsheet to my thumbdrive and it wouldn't save. This thing straight objected to saving anything. So, I went to eject my thumbdrive and Mac wouldn't eject it so I just yanked it out. Now, my computer tells me that I shouldn't have done that blah blah, but who pays attention to all of that...oh you probably do lol. I knew the thumbdrive was fine, I put it back in, went to try and save again after closing the prog for the spreadsheet and opening it again and it did the same thing! So then it tells me it can save my spreadsheet in some temp folder instead and I save it but I don't know where to retrieve a damn temp folder on here and I can't just have it floating around on my mac as it holds important info. So, I said f it and restarted. I went to restart and I left the room. I'm gone maybe 5 minutes. I come back and every program has shut down, but my desktop background is staring me in the face, looking all lonesome with nothing else on the screen. I'm like, umm, what's the deal? I close my Mac. I open it back up. Still on the desktop background. I had to force a shutdown. WTF??? I've had my Mac now for about ohhh, 3 years and some months. Aside from an issue with my iSight (had it replaced once), I haven't had anything like this happen before.

Fast forward to me making an appt. with the Apple store and bringing in my Mac. They ran some sort of diagnostic on my hard drive (after asking me 3 times if it was okay because apparently I could've lost EVERYTHING...do your weekly backups folks). Whilst running this diagnostic, it finds an error or some sort of damage to my hard drive! I had no clue that actual, physical damage could happen to a hard drive. I was told that my Mac being moved around, sat down, or possibly bumped could cause the problem. Uhh, it's a laptop, that happens right? Right. So he says that the hard drive is like a vinyl record and the needle can "scratch" the disk. Somehow it magically repairs itself with a press of a button and all is well and I haven't had any probs. My Mac still starts up slowly and progs take a bit longer than they should to open so I purchased another gig of RAM. I'm going to install it myself and hopefully I don't screw it up. To have Apple do it they charge you 30 bucks. Kinda pricey for just unscrewing something and putting something in a slot. I'll post an update on this later and hopefully it all works out.

et's get into it shall we.

sidebar-I'm infatuated with dropcaps now.

I was listening to some MJ before I started to count the songs.

Song #1
Share My World - MJB

Song #2
Human Nature - MJ

Song #3
4 Season of Loneliness - BoyzIIMen

Song #4
Richard Pryor talking about interracial dating - Richard Pryor (yes I have comedy tracks in my iTunes)

Song #5
The Single Man - Frank Sinatra

Song #6
Black Republican - Nas ft. Jay-Z

Song #7
Gimme - Jill Scott (this video is so fun)

Song #8
Little Green Apples - Frank Sinatra (having almost every song he has ever made causes iTunes to shuffle to his music quite often. I'm thinking about cutting Frank down a bit)

Song #9
The Whut (Animal Shit) - Joell Ortiz (this mixtape is a must have)

Song 10
Say Goodbye To Love (remix) - Kenna ft. Lupe Fiasco

"Me And The Devil"

what Jay really wanted to do, but didn't do. Besides, Gil's song actually goes with the vid. I'm jus' sayin'

Hey ya'll. I haven't been updating too much here and I kinda suck for that, sorry.

I feel like the catching up on things isn't really nearing. My business is doing great, however there's a lot that has to do with me getting Belle Butters out there that's kinda sorta overwhelming me. Don't get me wrong at all, I love being busy. I have to create challenges or have challenges come my way to be motivated. What I like about having a business is that there is rarely any monotony. I've touched on this before where I've felt like without some type of change, I get bored with what I'm doing.

I'm so blessed right now, it's just amazing.

So, right now I have a few things going on and my customers...I have the BEST customers! The word of mouth method is what's driving my business. One of my customers belongs to a Yahoo group that consists of 2400 people and she told me this morning that she broadcasted a message out to them this morning about Belle Butters! Shortly after that, I received an inquiry about Belle Butters from Canada! My mother told me the other day that my primary care doc wanted me to mail in some business cards. He has a lot of patients who have biracial children or couples who have adopted African-American children that need some help with which products to use for their hair, etc. Customers are blogging about how Belle Butters is working for them, and I have an ad that I need to come up with that will be placed in a playbill next month.

WHEW!

Lots to do. In addition to all of that, I will have a new product rolling out next week! Hopefully, my packaging will come on time and if it does, the new product should be avail for purchase by next Thurs or Fri (1/21-1/22).

I can't say enough how blessed I am and how glad I am to have taken a risk to venture out into the world of skin and hair care.

I just wanted to update folks who do not follow the Belle Butters blog as to what's been going on with me. If you want to follow the Belle Butters blog, please click on my profile link and it will direct you right to it!

Now, I have to get back to work!