I was hoping to sleep in on Wednesday morning – I was tuckered out, for real. The week and a half before were extra busy, I had been coming down with the sniffles every week and my back was still not 100%… but, I was going to be in New York City! Yay!

The last time I was in New York was for my cousin’s wedding in 2004, so it had been a long time. The craziest thing was that I met some family members that I didn’t know I had, including my cousins that we were staying with in Queens. Long story short, my cousin lost contact with my mother when she moved to the States and my mom moved to Canada. They reconnected at my aunt’s funeral in 2004 and guess what? I have a whole bunch of new family to get acquainted with.

That was one reason for my trip. Another reason was to celebrate Thanksgiving and, yes, I won’t lie, to shop! Shop for clothes, electronics and, most importantly, hair products! Once we got to New York (our flight was cancelled and we were put on another one), The Hubby and I went pretty much straight to Green Acres Mall, a huge mall in Valley Stream, NY. First stop: Target! I was all about getting my Kimble hair products.

Sadness! Everything was gone except for the Ginger Cream conditioner, which I snatched up. I was really looking forward to trying out their Hair Butter. Alas, next time. I also decided to try out Cantu Shea Butter Leave in Conditioning Repair Cream. I had tried their Grow Strong Strengthening Treatment and I didn’t like it. It left a residue on my hair which annoyed me, so I swapped that with The Relaxed Chick and, hopefully, she’s having a better experience with it than I did.

I grabbed Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask. Now, I know that I didn’t have to go all the way to New York to pick up Neutrogena products, but I was happy. I picked up Giovanni Direct Leave-In Weightless Moisture conditioner – another product that I didn’t have to travel to NYC to purchase, but this was a couple of dollars cheaper than I’ve seen at home. And I’m on a journey to find the perfect creamy leave-in conditioner for the winter. Lastly, I slipped some Organix Revitalizing Pomegranate Green Tea conditioner and Enriching Cucumber Yogurt shampoo (the shampoo was an accident, I thought that I picked up the conditioner) into my trolley.

At that point, The Hubby dragged me into the electronics section and I put my hair shopping on hold… until I got inside of the mall. We got some Christmas gifts, saw a pair of boots and accessories, and just as we were going to get ready to leave, I saw it: Solid Gold Beauty Supply.

Yay!

Now after watching Good Hair, I was hesitant to shop in American hair stores. I knew that I wasn’t going to find very many that were owned and run by Black people. But, to be quite honest, I was on a mission to get my wigs and that, dear readers, was my focus. As I walked in a very helpful salesperson came over and told me about some of the sales they were having. I was fingering a curly wig – the hair was soft and it had a realistic look although it was made of synthetic hair. I thought “what the heck? I can’t try it on with all these twists on my head – lemme just jump in there and get me my first wig!” So, I got it for $28.

It is an Isis Collection Red Carpet Collection Style TP08 Half Wig in 1B. Not being well-versed in the whole wig vocabulary, I wasn’t quite sure what a ‘half wig’ was. I now know that I have to leave some of my hair out and blend – which I don’t think will be such a big deal, but it will take some practice. I checked some of Roshini of Glamazini about blending and I know that will take some serious work on my part. I don’t think I’ll be buying any straight half wigs, that would be a mess.

So, instead of getting my Monroe Girl FreeTress wig, I got this one. But I knew I had a couple of days left in NYC, so I was hot about getting my Rihanna FreeTress wig. (On a side note, I am this close to pulling out these damned twists and getting my wig on! I know, I know – I have three more weeks to go before I can take them out, but I may have to take ‘em out early because it’s ridiculous the amount of growth that’s happening.)

That was pretty much Day 1 from a hair perspective. I got back to my cousin’s house and I was happy about my purchases. Next up, Day 2 – Thanksgiving!