Whew, that was a long break, wasn’t it?

-Princess Almira

But I’m not dead. =) Stay tuned.

In addition, did you know Coconut oil helps your hair growth? Can you find out more about it and enlighten us.

Thank you

JazakAllah Khair
(May Allah reward you)

MuslimahBlog

Well, I did some research.

I learned this: that coconut oil is good for… just about everything, actually.

The biggest deal appears to be coconut oil’s benefits for your skin. It’s a great moisturizer with almost no adverse effects. I haven’t tried it myself, but I plan to, at which point I can give a description of how it affects acne-prone skin (which I have.) Because of it’s powerful moisturizing properties, it can help prevent wrinkles–but also because it’s a powerful antioxidant (an antioxidant battles free radicals, which cause aging.)

A coconut oil massage is very relaxing, so it’s also been cited as a stress-reducer. But if that wasn’t enough, it can help treat a full host of diseases and ailments, such as Alzheimer’s, tooth decay, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, Diabetes, infections, and probably others.

Now to answer the actual question: Yes, it is also good for the hair =3 A coconut oil scalp massage can eradicate dandruff and itchiness (product of the powerful moisturizer), and it can replenish the natural coating on a hair follicle, especially a damaged follicle, to shield it from breakage and splitting. This will help keep your hair thick and give it a nice lustre. For this reason, you’ll notice that coconut oil is an ingrediant in many shampoos and conditioners, but nothing beats the real thing!

(To buy extra virgin coconut oil, which is the best kind, click here to get it cheap.)

Thanks for the question =3

-Princess Almira

Like it or not, no matter how AWESOME your shampoo is, and no matter how thoroughly you rinse your hair, it’s going to leave residue. Even worse, many soaps and shampoos are bases, meaning they have a high pH value. To help you understand, here’s a quick explanation:

The pH of your skin and hair is slightly acidic, around 5, instead of 7, which is neutral. This property helps your skin fight infections and keeps your hair shiny and beautiful. But soaps, with high pH values of up to NINE, and water, with a neutral value of 7, try to raise the pH value of your skin and hair any time you get wet or wash! Yikes!

A cheap pH balancer, like this one from Jks, can fix your hair’s pH and make it BEAUTIFUL again.

But if you’re really short on cash, this quick remedy can help: after shampooing, Dilute a shotglass of vinegar in a cup of water, rinse your hair with it, wait a minute, then hop in the shower and rinse it all out. It helps to have the diluted vinegar in the shower with you before you start, too =) This should clear out the residue and balance your hair very quickly.

Just a note: vinegar has a VERY acidic pH, so if you do this more than once a month, expect to see some damage to your hair–or at the very least, it will lighten. But if you only do it once in a while, you should be fine!

(did I mention it makes your hair softer, too?)

- Princess Almira

But seriously, look forward to it. For those of you who don’t know what’s going on, check out this post.

But a bath can serve other purposes as well, especially if you have dry, and/or acne-prone skin. The timing of this beauty tip is perfect if you’re in the northern part of the world, where it’s getting cold and dry fast outside!

For a luxurious skin-renewal, take a quick shower (so you’re clean, not stewing in your own filth!), then add 1/4 cup of honey and 1/4 cup of milk (dry or powdered, doesn’t matter) to the bath, mix around a little, then hop in and soak. Both milk and honey are amazing moisterizers (look around–you’ll find plenty of moisturizers with those ingrediants for this reason!) without adding grease to your skin, if sometmes it’s oily. Honey is also a natural antibiotic that can help you combat acne–adding it to the bathwater is perfect if you have acne on your body.

Sometimes, when I try this trick, I turn the lights down and keep a jar of honey near me so I can spread it around on my face. It’s delicious and has a POWERFUL effect on healing my acne! (I’m EXTREMELY acne prone!)

So, what are you waiting for? Go try it!

(Don’t forget to have a warm-smelling candle and plenty of fluffy towels around!)

-Princess Almira.

(PS: Also try this. I like it.)

1. First thing’s first: Your nails! When you shake hands with someone new (think: job interview! Boyfriend’s family? Hello!) Even if you don’t like to give manicures and paint them up all pretty, make sure they’re the same length and clean. If you DO decide to paint them, when it starts to chip, take the damn polish off! (with polish remover, not your other nails!)
2. Your toenails, specifically. I’m strange and have a lot of trouble cutting my toenails, but I do it anyway. Don’t let yours get nasty.
3. Does your makeup match? Make sure the colors of your makeup–especially things like foundation and concealer–are the right damn color, please!
4. Either the lips or the eyes, not both. There are probably some fabulous celebs that can pull off the bold lips and bold eyes look, but you don’t have a makeup team on your side. If you’ve got bold red lips, stick to mascara only–if you’ve got bold eye liner and shadow, stick to nude lips.
5. Sunscreen is muy important. Do you want to look like you’re 40 when you’re 60? I can’t promise you anything, but sunscreen EVERY DAY (even in the winter and when it rains!) can help.
6. Don’t let dry skin go, especially on your face. Exfoliate and moisturize.

And the number one WORST mistake women can make?

7. If you’re going to go swimming, shave/wax down there. Yes. We can see it.

Stay beautiful!

-Princess Almira

Starting here in the next couple weeks I’ll be known as dictatorprincess.com instead of universityprincess.com, however this website will still be accessible from universityprincess.com, and I will still blog about college-related topics because it’s relevant to my life, but I will adjust the focus of this blog to be a little more inclusive of all young women. Expect to see more about beauty and anything relevant to being a princess (and a dictator! Hah!)

I was not fortunate enough to inherit this, though! D= My nails are as thin as thin gets. Which is why I’m going to try to force them to grow in thicker naturally. I’m not really sure it’s possible, but using just about every trick on the Internet, we’ll see how it goes!

This means…

1. A professional manicure once a month when I can afford it.
2. In between, I must keep them painted myself.
3. It appears that 90% of my breaks happen at work, so… get a new job?
4. Cuticle oil every day.
5. Vitamins: a powerful multivitamin and mega doses of biotin.

Hopefully, by following this routine, my nails will be healthier and grow in thicker. We’ll just have to see! Wish me luck!

-Princess Almira

I have to clean my room out while I unpack to make room for some of this stuff and figure out how to organize things I’m not used to keeping in my room (liked dishes).

And it’s taking forever!

Plus I have a bad habit of finding things and thinking, oh! I remember this! Then, since Quincy’s helping me, I always have to stop and tell him a story… when I find old year books, of course I want to show him.

Also, between his car breaking and getting fixed and working on, well, work, and the bazillion other things I have to do… we just ended up laying on the bed and napping for an hour until one AM, and then I sent him home.

I’d like to get back to posting regularly this week! God help me!