What I'm Diggin: Going Natural & Jane Sterling

Natural Black Hair, gorgeous...

Artong Arjok, Sudanese model

Brandi, American singer 

J. Marie, Diva

*************

J. Marie is a lovely woman I met through YouTube way back in the beginning. She has an excellent YouTube channel which chronicles her natural hair journey and gives you the best insight on products, patience and styling. Her videos are a must for any woman considering going natural (i.e no relaxers or perms). 

Check out her channel here and the video below gives a good overview

Jane Sterling from Mad Men: Best Hair of the Season, kiddos!

That is some fancy a** Greco-Roman shiz right there!

prim prim prim.. Kentucky Derby

In my imagination I look this good first thing in the morning...

sadly, Jane's beauty and brains are lost on Roger ...

And thats what I'm diggin. 

Love, BHB

Update on Weight Loss Wanda

Hello beautiful ladies, 
For those of you who follow my weight loss channel I've done an update vlog on what's been going on. You can watch that here or below: xo BHB/WW

Hair Tutorial "Marnie" from HBO's GIRLS

Loving the new HBO series GIRLS. Makes me laugh long & loud.

I plan on doing all the characters as they have really fun styles! Today I picked Marnie's Twisted Updo from the Episode "All Adventurous Women Do"

Marnie is played by the beautiful Allison Williams. Her character is the most responsible of the bunch and she works as an art gallery assistant & lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Hannah (Lena Dunham).

ENJOY!

xoxo BHB

Blow Dry Lounge

Hi ladies! How ya'll feeling today?  I took a cardio dance class this AM with the biggest dance diva on the planet. There was even a live DJ!  This is my new favorite class and it comes at a good time too because - and I cant believe I'm saying this - I'm getting a little tired of Zumba. I know, I know how can you get tired of Zumba? But I am. So to mix it up, I'm dancing like Britney Spears up in da club.

Yesterday I decided to try out a new Blow Dry Lounge which offers different types of blow outs & styling, braiding and updos.  I went with a Basic Blowout and here are the results:

My stylist was really fast and well trained and the 'do 

lasted throughout the night & dancing with the girls

dance floor action shot

If you have a blow dry spot in your area I highly recommend a visit! Here's what I liked:

 1. no cutting or coloring going on so the stylists just focus on styling

2. super high caliber hair dryers which cuts down on dry time 

3. I was in and out in 30 minutes and the cost was $35. (If I hadn't worked out today I'm sure this blow out would easily last me another day or two)

4. this salon hired people who love to style hair so the staff seemed to be having fun and enjoying their work

So that's the scoop on the Blow Dry Salon!

Some of my YT viewers have been asking about my foundation routine so I'm hoping to film that later this week. I cant believe we're leaving for Germany and France in just a few weeks! Time is whizzin by...

Love from Blow Dry BHB

Around the World Braid

I've been wearing this simple braid a lot lately. It's perfect for just-out-of-the-pool or post exercise!

Tutorial to get this look!

Love, BHB

Mini Mexico Break

Over the weekend I visited old & dear friends living in a small town in Northern Mexico. My family & I also plan to travel deeper into the Mexican interior this fall so I've been plugging away at my Spanish lessons. It's refreshing to work on a language less complicated then German!

These men are cutting up "Nopales" which are basically the pads of a prickly pear cactus. You peel the cactus to remove prickly spines and then boil or grill them 

On Saturday we made fresh Nopalito salad (recipe here) which is delicious, hearty and refreshing. Add queso blanco on top for a little kick! Nopalitos taste a bit like zesty green beans.

my friend Vanessa is originally from Mexico City and is sometimes restless up North with the slower pace of life. But alas, she's enormorada (in love)

There's no shortage of pink and minty green buildings around Mexico & I fell in love with each and every one.  I'm a sucker for brightly painted facades.

 We had an inpromptu tequlia tasting - one with sweet agave nectar and maracuya ... yum

With all the spring sunshine my hair is lighter again and despite dying it "copper blond" it wants to be more of a traditional blonde. Oh well...

Lunch & margaritas in a sprawling hacienda decorated with beautiful art and colonial furniture

It was a lovely but brief trip and I look forward to further exploring Mexico over the years.

Greetings to all of my readers in Mexico,

xoxo BHB

Los Angeles

My husband worked in Los Angeles last week so I joined him for a bit of fun. I adore LA! Here are snaps of my trip:

We stayed at The Standard Hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood

The pool area was a great place to relax, take in the view & sip cocktails

we especially loved the Catalina Caipirinha: so refreshing!

Mr Berlin Hair Baby (can you believe homeboy is 46?)

Our room was modern, crisp & spacious with a balcony overlooking Sunset Strip

Mini bar featured a number of goodies including Vitamin C tablets (for the mornin' after) an interactive map of LA & of course lots o' liquor for when Lindsay Lohan stops by. LOL

we strolled Melrose & I loved the vibrant pinks of the Paul Smith boutique

I think what I love about LA most is the architecture. 

Its an amazing mix of spanish colonial, art deco, mid century modern, storybook, craftsman .. you name it, toots!

Saturday we visited the breath taking Getty Museum set up in the hills. I especially enjoyed the Herb Ritts photography exhibit

For the weekend I did 

hair: soft, loose curls with 1 1/2 inch curling iron

make up: black liquid eyeliner & false lashes  

Before trips I love to read about where I'm going (fiction or truth) to set the stage. 

Architectural walking tours & a juicy biography on Hollywood life in the mid 80s (think Guns & Roses, Hanoi Rocks, lots of teased hair & Jack Daniels!)

 Thanks for a great weekend LA! See ya next time!

xo BHB

Welcome to Holland

These past few weeks have been difficult. My son was diagnosed with Autism and although it's not a surprise to his father and I, it still somehow feels final. Autism rates are skyrocketing and it's also common amongst low birth weight babies (you can read about my son's premature birth here)

It's hard for me to articulate everything I'm feeling. I'm all over the place! Angry, hopeful, isolated, focused, tired, determined, fragile. I'm reading everything I can get my hands on about Autism, meeting with a team of therapists, talking (and fighting) with my son's school to get him what he needs. 


I'd like to share with you this very moving piece called "Welcome to Holland". I can relate to it perfectly - and I'm sure a number of you mothers and fathers out there can too. First published in 1987, it's an amazing peek at how it feels to parent a special needs child.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by

Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

                          
                       *************

Much Love from Holland, BHB

ps: I promise it's not all sad around here at BHB's. My husband & I took an LA getaway last weekend & I'll be posting photos soon!

Liquid Dreams & Braid Outs

my Target Neon bikini, ya'll..!

doesn't have to be this one - pick your favorite oil

as tight as possible

There you go: soft waves after your swim! 

Inspired by François Ozon's psychological thriller Swimming Pool a fantastic guilty pleasure film

xoxo Berlin Hair Baby