What are you doing with your hair?

This is the #1 question that women have repeatedly asked since learning about our adventure. Sometimes this question competes with: How many pairs of shoes are you bringing? What clothes are you packing? You're not bringing any makeup?!?!...but, " What are you doing with your hair?" still takes the cake. So nearly three months into this trip, it is imperative that I answer this burning question. Every naturalista has a story so here goes mine:

I made the decision to go natural on January 25, 2013. This was the day before our wedding and also my last partial relaxer. I had flirted with the idea for several months, but I could not decide if this was the right decision for me. I knew so little about the natural hair community at that time. A few of my cousins had already taken the plunge. Some were transitioning and some were already fully natural. I admired their strength through the process but still doubted myself.

Looking back, I can say that the transition actually started in October 2012 since that was the last time that I got a full relaxer. Prior to that I had permed, dyed, and tugged at my hair in all the wrong directions. It was a vicious cycle of growth and damage and I knew that something had to give. I also had done a lot of protective styling and unlike some, the protective styles did not damage my hair and I always saw healthy growth once it was out. Every 2-3 months when it was time for the next relaxer I could feel the strong virgin hair that grew in but then I just turned around and slapped a relaxer in it. What was I thinking?!?!

After years of hair torture, I realized that my natural hair was healthy and thick, and by applying relaxers to it, I was making it thin and weak and therefore destroying it.

I did a lot of contemplating and researching and decided that I would give myself a quit date. After our wedding, I continued to use protective styling intermittently and vowed to never get a relaxer again. The transition stage is no walk in the park, but the protective styling eased the pain. While transitioning, I had two hair textures and the point where they met was extremely delicate and prone to breakage. Products were a challenge as well because I was unsure if I should still use products for relaxed hair or natural hair. I can admit that at this point I was on my way to becoming a product junkie! Throughout the year, I gradually trimmed the ends and decided it was finally time to cut all those dead stringy ends off right before our trip. Surprisingly, I didn't have that scary moment that women usually have when they realize that half their hair is gone. I was sooooo excited!

I hate relaxers, I hate the process, I hate the smell, I hate the burn, and most of all I hated how it stripped my hair of its natural beauty.

So where am I now in my natural hair journey?

I am loving every day of my hair. Having healthy natural hair is no easy task, but then I remember that NOTHING good comes easy. I am very particular when it comes to what products I use in my hair. Are there sulfates? parabens? alcohol??? I want products that have organic ingredients or as close to that as possible. I had used a variety of black natural hair products while at home, but being abroad in countries with limited options initially made things difficult. However, I quickly realized that it was not that complicated.

I started the trip with the Tresemmé naturals conditioner because I love to co-wash. Along with most naturalistas, I do believe that shampooing strips my hair of its oils and I can't afford to lose those precious oils. I purchased some extra virgin coconut oil while we were in New Zealand, and then I purchased pure shea butter extract while we were in Australia. These products are not cheap, but they are well worth it. My hair has flourished with these simple products. I co-wash as often as I need to, which may be a couple of times a week, and I wash with shampoo about once every couple of weeks. I moisturize at night with the shea butter, and about 25-50% of the time I will braid my hair for the braid out look in the morning. I always sleep with my satin scarf to preserve the moisture. Each morning, I moisturize my hair with coconut oil. Scarves and headbands have also proven to be lifesavers while traveling.

Roaming natural has been a journey in more ways than one. While I have been experiencing new places, meeting new people, and learning about different cultures; I have also been learning how to manage my natural hair while living out of a backpack. I can humbly admit that I still do not have all the answers and that is okay. The journey is the destination.

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below! xo

 

 

Australia in 5 Weeks

We have been roaming for just over 2 months now and have wrapped up our travels through Oceania. For the last 5 weeks, we have been making our way through Australia. We could have easily spent 5 more weeks there and still not see everything. While 5 weeks sounds like a good amount of time, its easy to forget that this continent is roughly the same size as the U.S.

Flying out of Christchurch, New Zealand, we arrived a few hours later in Sydney. Australia's largest city reminded us a little bit of of NYC with its skyscrapers, cultural diversity and constant hum of activity. We spent our first full day getting to know the city by walking all around. We hit all the major landmarks including: the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Circular Quay, the Rocks, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Hyde Park and St. Mary's Cathedral. By the end of the day, we were pretty exhausted and the walk back to our hostel seemed twice as long as we remembered from earlier in the day.

The next day we decided to take a day trip out to the Blue Mountains. From Central Station, we hopped on a train and made our way through the suburbs into the country side. While on the train we caught a glimpse of our first kangaroo and our excitement amused an Australian gentleman sitting across from us.

Our first view of the Blue Mountains was pretty spectacular and made it hard to believe just a couple hours ago we were in the heart of the city. After making our way across the sky gondola at Scenic World, we rode the world's steepest railway down to the base of the valley. We spent the remainder of the day hiking along the top of the cliff edge and taking in beautiful scenery.

We were pretty beat from all the walking and hiking so we decided it was time to check out some of the beaches around Sydney. We spent a day at the iconic Bondi Beach as well as Manly Beach. Bondi was exactly what we heard: crowded, touristy, over the top and never ending shops. It reminded us a lot of South Beach actually, and since we knew what to expect, we fully enjoyed it.

As we jumped off the bus, we could see some large grandstands filled with people and a massive crowd. By chance, we had showed up as the Vans Bondi Bowl-A-Rama skateboard competition was taking place. We made our way through the crowds and tried to get a view without actually having to buy tickets. We were able to catch most of the masters competition and saw Tony Hawk take first place. It was awesome getting to see him skate in person as well as some of the other greats like Steve Caballero and Bucky Lasek.

Photo by Dean Tirkot. We are way in the back somewhere.

This is my picture of Tony Hawk.

The next day we caught the ferry across the harbor to Manly Beach which was nice and chill compared to Bondi. We had some local Coopers ales and a picnic on the beach before heading back to the city.

From Sydney, we flew down to Melbourne, Australia's second largest city and its cultural center. Per our usual style, we explored the city by walking all around it. The Queen Victoria Market was one of the highlights we stumbled upon. It is the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere and had everything you could possibly want from fresh fruits and veggies to aboriginal art sold by an aboriginal man with a pompadour that would have made Elvis jealous. We went back for the night market as well which had lots of food stands and live music.

We still hadn't been to any Australian wineries which simply wouldn't do... Australia is the country that gave the world screw top wine bottles and boxed wine after all. On a side note, the screw top is the greatest invention ever when you are backpacking, forget your bottle opener is in your carry on and TSA confiscates it. So we decided to make a day trip to the Yarra Valley which is best known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. During the tastings, I would swirl the wine around the glass and gave it a good sniff... pretending my knowledge of wine is much more sophisticated than being able to decipher red from white... damn you rosé. We also made a stop at White Rabbit Brewery which made some nice craft beers like Barley Wine which was amazing.

While researching Melbourne, Christine had become infatuated with Little Penguins which come up the beach every night in a "penguin parade" on Phillip Island. We also wanted to go camping in Wilson's Promontory National Park, known for its beautiful rainforests, unspoiled beaches, and abundant wildlife. During this trip, we have figured out that we don't like tours as much as just doing things on our own. That way we are able to see exactly what we want and go at our own pace. So we decided to rent a camper and hit the open opposite side of the Australian rode. Christine wrote about our experience in her post, "We Believe in the Experience."

We spent our last day in Melbourne checking out the street art on Hosier Lane and a neat museum exhibit about the evolution of moving pictures and video in Federation Square.

From Melbourne, we flew up to Cairns. We didn't really enjoy the city very much. Cairns seemed kinda dirty. However our hostel, Tropic Days, was very chill and Cairns Botanic Gardens was a highlight. We also took a day trip to do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and to the little rainforest hippie town of Kuranda.

We purchased a hop on hop off bus pass with Greyhound Australia which we would be using to make our way down the east coast. As we traveled to Mission Beach, we learned there were two cyclones, Gillian and Hadi, that would be hitting Queensland. In all our trip research, we had completely overlooked cyclone season. It was described to us as a sudden hurricane that spins in the opposite direction.

There was close to nothing in Mission Beach, especially since we were already seeing rain from the cyclone and the beach was not looking so attractive. They do have wild cassowaries in Mission Beach which is a prehistoric looking, flightless bird, but we also didn't see any of those either.

We headed for Airlie Beach the following day which is known for sailing the beautiful Whitsunday Islands off its shore. Unfortunately, Cyclone Hadi was also sitting off its shore and the marina was closed. We spent 4 nights hanging out in our room waiting for the wind and rain to stop. It may have been a blessing in disguise since I was feeling a little under the weather and this forced us to rest. It's difficult to accept that kind of logical silver lining when your plans are being blown out the window by a cyclone.

Shipwreck not from Cyclone Hadi but used for dramatic effect

The sun finally came out the day we were leaving Airlie. We spent the day walking along the shore and lounging at the lagoon. Our bus didn't leave till 7 that night and was a 15 hour over night stretch down to Rainbow Beach. We got as much sleep as possible in the cramped bus seats and were actually happy that we had saved a night's accommodation by sleeping on the bus.

When we arrived in Rainbow, the sun was shining and life was good. Up until this point of the trip, we had stayed in nothing but hostels... some nice, some not so nice. There weren't many options in Rainbow and we decided to stay in a quaint hotel, Debbie's Place. Deb ran the place along with her guard dog, a shitzu named Susie that refused to be house trained and wore diapers every day. Deb was hilarious and once she got talking there was no telling where the conversation was going. She told us how she traded in her ex-husband for Susie and then showed us pictures of some of her travels in the States where she took pictures of Buster, a small, stuffed bear, in front of all sorts of different landmarks and doing things like driving a life guards ATV. Apparently Buster made a break for it in the San Francisco zoo, and she never saw him again.

Deb even checked us into a nicer room at 10am since we had been on a bus all night and the room we booked wasn't ready yet. That evening she told us to turn up at 5:40 to see the most beautiful view of Australia. We couldn't turn that kind of offer down and we showed up having no idea what to expect. She drove us up to the Carlo Sand Blow where we watched the sun set from the top of the giant sand dune with the town down below us. It really was one of the best sunsets we have seen on this trip.

We spent the next two days on a tour of Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. There are no paved roads on the island, and we were on a large off-road bus with about 20 other people. We made stops at Lake Mackenzie and Lake Wabby and hiked over giant sand dunes and through the only rainforest to grow on a sand island all on our first day. We were told the fresh water lakes were some of the cleanest in the world. Our driver, Warren, made sure to mention that Fraser Island was world heritage listed at least once every hour. We spent the night at the Eurong Beach Resort which was clearly built in the 80's and never updated since for posterity's sake.

The following day we were back in the bus and driving down the beach. We stopped at Champagne Pools which are protected from the crashing surf by natural rock formations. We also saw the Maheno ship wreck, a fresh water stream where some of the local Aussies were partying it up and the highest point on the island, Indian Head. We even saw some wild dingos! Warren had some good stories about people almost getting mauled by dingos and then being saved by another person at the last second... he failed to mention what exactly to do if you should find yourself in a similar situation and aren't so lucky. Don't go off on your own... "the dingo ate your baby!"

Noosa was our next stop down the coast. It was a chill surf town with a big national park protecting most of its coastline. We hiked from our hostel on Sunshine Beach along the coastal trail through the national park to Main Beach. There were a lot of nice surf breaks along the hike. In Main Beach, I rented a long board and Christine lounged on the beach. The waves weren't huge but I struggled to control the 9'4" log in the water, taking several nose dives and feeling pretty beat up by the end of the session.

We met a really interesting Australian couple at dinner one night in Noosa. They had met while traveling in Pakistan. Since then, they got married and have travelled all over the world together, and continue to do so even now with two young boys. Unfortunately, we didn't get their names, but the woman was a doctor and the man a physical therapist. They lived in an aboriginal community providing health care to the locals. We spoke for a good while about everything from Seinfeld to Obamacare. They were two of the most interesting people we had met, and they even offered to pay for our dinner (food is extremely expensive in Australia). Unfortunately, we had already paid the bill, but we couldn't believe their generosity to make such a nice offer to some travelers they had just met.

From Noosa, we took a day trip to the Australia Zoo which is the late Steve Irwin's Zoo. It was an exciting and interactive experience and now one of our favorite zoos. The crocodile show was awesome, we got up and personal with some kangaroos and there seemed to be a real emphasis on conservation and protecting the animals. Christine realized her dream of holding a koala too. We also checked out the animal hospital they have on site where anyone can bring in hurt wildlife. Crikey!

We made our way to Brisbane, Australia's third largest city. We decided to try out Air BnB and booked a room in someone's home. The couple, Anthony and Sam, had great reviews and were located in an awesome location in one of Brisbane's oldest neighborhoods. It looked like the city had sprung up around the neighborhood. We had a great experience with Anthony and Sam and it was nice to feel like we had a home to stay in rather than a hostel or even hotel.

Over our few days there, we put on our walking shoes and made our way around the city, taking in the Botanic Garden, the South Bank park, Gallery of Modern Art, Westend, Chinatown, and the whole downtown area. We even tried two of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants, Trang and the Vietnamese Restaurant, and judged them based on their pho. The Vietnamese restaurant was the winner just in case you find yourself looking for good pho in Brisbane.

Falling to Earth at GOMA

We also went to a rugby match while in Brisbane. We saw the Sydney Roosters take a last minute victory over the Brisbane Broncos. The game was exciting and fast paced as we tried to figure out exactly what the rules were. Some rowdy blokes around us screamed expletives as the players bashed into each other to round out the entire experience. I have to say, I could get into this game.

Our last stop in Australia was Byron Bay, another little surfer town. Our hostel was located directly across from the beach making our stay there even nicer. While there, we checked out the lighthouse, the most easterly point of mainland Australia, saw a couple pods of dolphins and lounged on the beach. The waves seemed pretty big so I decided to stick to body surfing after my stellar performance in Noosa.

We also took a day trip to Nimbin, which is a little hippie town where alternative lifestyles flourish and the people are left alone by the local authorities. We were on the Happy Bus tour which was an experience in itself. The bus must have been built in the 1960's or 70's and we quickly wished we had seat belts as we bounced out of our seats down the tight twisty roads at bus tipping speeds with an old undecipherable hippie behind the wheel.

And that was Australia in 5 weeks. We really enjoyed our time in the land down under.

We made our way back to Brisbane to catch our flight to Bali and start our adventures in Asia.