National Infertility Awareness Week & the RARE SOIL Project Website

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This week, April 24-30, 2011 is National Infertility Awareness Week. 

I didn't even know such a week existed until last night, and as soon as I found out, I knew that it was something that I wanted to showcase on my blogs. This is such an issue that is near and dear to me…there are so many myths surrounding infertility...I will tackle one of those myths in the next few days on my other website, Musings of L. Michelle.

Today's post is about this great website that I was recently made aware of and had the opportunity to briefly visit.

The Rare Soil Project

For over two years, the RARE SOIL Project has been working with African-American women and communities teaching about the impact of infertility and involuntary childlessness. The RARE SOIL Project works with women to help them overcome the shame and isolation associated with infertility.

The mission of the RARE SOIL Project is to offer hope, support, and information to African American women who are living childlessness not by choice (CNBC) as a result of infertility, and raise public awareness about the impact of infertility and involuntary childlessness, through education and advocacy. 

FROM THE RARE SOIL SITE:

• 7.3 million American women have had trouble conceiving a pregnancy or carrying a pregnancy to term
• 1 in 8 women and men are diagnosed with infertility

The RARE SOIL Project refers to infertility broadly, including all fertility impairments:

Infertility is a medical diagnosis given when a couple has not conceived a pregnancy despite trying for 12 months. 
Impaired fecundity is medical term when a woman experiences difficulties conceiving or bringing a pregnancy to term during their lifetime (i.e., recurrent miscarriages) 
Involuntary Childlessness is a chronic condition that occurs when a woman/couple desires to have genetic children, but cannot conceive, or maintain a pregnancy to birth.

Because I was just made aware of the site last night, I haven’t had an opportunity to through the site completely, but for what I have perused, I think it is an awesome tool.  If you suffer from issues surrounding infertility, or know someone that does, please go to this website or pass it on. I know that I will definitely be going through it more in detail in the next few days, and passing it on to some very dear blogger friends that are battling issues with conception. You can also find the RARE SOIL Project on Facebook, please click the link and "Like" the page.

Be blessed everyone and let's unite for awareness surrounding infertility!

MONIEK!!!! Hair Update

Remember my best friend Moniek who bravely let ME do her Big Chop last summer?

Well this is her update! I am LOVING her hair!! I see it several times a week and I did  not realize that it had grown out this much!

She makes me want to pick my hair all the way out to see where I am!!



Congrats Moniek on staying the course and keeping your hair natural!!!

Wordless Wednesday: TOTAL Inspiration

I can't wait for the new CD, coming this Summer!!!!

My Fuzzy, Poofy, Natural Hair!

"Bad" Hair Day -- 4/18/11

I have completely fallen off the wagon with taking good care of my hair, and it shows! Blame the warm Texas winter and the ability to continually “wash and go”. And just me being lazy <--the real reason :( One other thing that I just thought about was that I have been working out more and when I wipe my face, I often wipe the sweat back into my hair...gotta stop doing that. 

I feel that my ends look ratty and my hair is dull and lifeless. I do know that it growing, because I have a full inch of new growth (look closely at the picture, LOL). I last colored at the beginning of January.  I actually don’t know when I will have time to do something to it. One thing that I have learned about my personal life is that I need to make short, attainable goals. So, for this week, the goal is to wash, DEEP condition, and twist my hair. Let’s hope I make it...it's Monday night...and I am sitting here. LOL

This morning my hair straight pissed me off. I have a new schedule at work, so now I have to be at work at 7:00 a.m. Which means I need to be out of the house no later than 6:30 a.m. Which means that I need to get up between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Actually, I need to be up no later than 5:30 a.m., but if I take a shower at night, I can get up a little later. But this morning I realized that I have to plan for the time to do my hair. This is what happened this morning. I showered last night and when I got up this morning at 5:50 a.m., I didn’t know what to do with my hair. I decided to mist it with filtered water and then attempt to pull it back into a ponytail (yes! I can finally pull my hair all the way back!!!). This was a #fail, because I had gobs of product on it from the past few days. Gel, and Shea Moisture, Olive Oil, Tea Tree Oil and just loads of all types of stuff. So what does my hair do? Nothing, it just looks a shitty mess. At this point it’s 6:20 a.m. (usually I am OUT of the house by this time, or at least walking through picking up my purse and keys) and I am stressing, so I do like any other seasoned naturalista would…I turn on the shower and stick my head under the water and using water only to “wash” the built up products out of my hair! I didn’t use any shampoo or any conditioner and I tell ya’ll, this worked well to be a "quick fix." I styled using some Blue Duchess Curl Activator Gel and EcoStyler Olive Oil Gel. It’s a little poofy and frizzy around the edges, but for the most part, I like it. And I was out of the house by 6:32 a.m. and at work at 7:00 a.m. on the dot. Now I just need to either learn to trim my ends or schedule an appt.

What’s going on with your hair these days? Did your hair survive the winter?