Harmattan Blues

Harmattan is our West African version of  Winter with dust in place of snow. The weather has been hot/cold, foggy, dry, windy and dusty. *Sigh. This occurs around the end of each year from around November and can stay till March/April in Nigeria. It is more severe and prevalent in the Northern parts of Nigeria, Abuja gets hit less than Kaduna and Kaduna has it easier than Jos, etc. Basically it gets worse the more upnorth u go. I spent the Christmas of 2014 in Kaduna and the harmattan was terrible!! Christmas of 2015 was in Abuja and it was bad but still not as bad as Kaduna. This weather is mostly bittersweet, it gets so hot during the day while the weather is still dry, dusty and windy and in the evening it gets super cold, dry, windy, dusty and sometimes foggy till the early hours of the morning. By the way it would be nice for our Nigerian Fashion Designers to design outfits suited to our seasons e.g. Harmattan instead of Autumn, Winter and the likes wey we no get.
So below is a list of the Pros & Cons for me during the Harmattan season.
Pros

• Anything  u wash dries fast
• Roaches/Spiders just die naturally due to the cold weather i guess (i just stumble on dem and sweep dem up happily)
• Its so cold especially at night so u will hardly sweat or need to use the Air Conditioner which in turn saves us electricity units 
• My foodstuff in the pantry (yam, sweet potatoes, etc.) store better during this season
• My face seems to love this weather. I hardly have breakouts, my black spots have been peeling and fading off and it makes me exfoliate more.

Cons

• There is dust everywhere!! and if you have blinds in ur house, u know it is the worst!! All my living room and bedroom windows are closed but somehow the dust still finds its way in. I have to dust every other day and lets not even talk about leaving ur car windows down. Its soooo annoying
• I'm constantly sneezing and easily get nose bleeds  'cos of all the dust and dry, cold air
• Its easy to get a Cold (flu) and Catarrh 
• My nails become so brittle and break easily no matter how much cream, oil i use on them, so i just file them low during this period
• Having my daily shower is a proper chore! I bathe with cold water and have to employ different tactics to get water on my body and be done with the shower asap else i end up with chattering teeth and shivering. Too much for just a bloody shower mahn!
• Everything shocks 'cos of Static Electricity, opening the door, tap, even taking of your clothes and i get zapped! *Sheesh!
• Dry hair and scalp. I have to spritz my hair with a mix of water and rosewater every other day so its not a crispy, crackling mass. Even that is not enough, i still have to wash my hair when it gets really bad, thankfully i have kinky braids on at the moment.
• Dry, Peeling, Sensitive and Ashy skin. Arrrgh... I practically layer on shea butter and oils on my body daily and before i'm even out the door my skin is dry like i did nothing! I have to rub on about 2 layers and still carry a travel size one in my bag to reapply as needed. If i don't do this my skin looks whitish grey and starts to peel and can even hurt when i try to move 'cos its so dry; and oh yeah its also really easy to get cuts, even from just itching.
• Crusty lips. Like i don't have enough issues already, i gotta constantly have balm on my lips otherwise it becomes so dry it splits, cracks and bleeds and hurts. Even with the balm, i still have to peel off dry skin or exfoliate my lips for a smooth feel & look
• The cold, dry air is soo annoying and feels stale if that makes any sense. I miss fresh breezy air
• Gotta drink warm and hot stuff to stay warm
• It can get sooo sunny, dry and hot during the day 

I know people with Sickle Cell Anaemia, Joint issues and Asthma have it the worst during this season. Here are some articles i came across online as regards Harmattan and how it affects our health and well-being and how to cope with it.

• Nairaland
• Vanguard
• Leadership
• Leadership 2

Toodles!XooX

New Exercise Regimen

Crunches, Squats, Lunges, Kickbacks, etc all sound so exhausting in name talkless of me even motivating myself to learn what they are and do them. I used to be quite the Fitness addict in school, it happened after I lived with a roommate who played basketball and would tell me to join her during workouts. Na so I waka from 1 situp/legup to 5 to 20 to 50 and next thing I knew I could do a 100 of each daily on a good day and do loads of stretching/yoga poses, I could even do the Chinese backwards bend without aid! I walked a lot!!and practically everywhere was far from the hostel in my Uni, you’d hardly ever see me  wear heels to class,  I was a master of flats and sandals. We also usually had a jogging session every month or so (though I don’t think it really helped anyone as it was not frequent enough) and I loved it, we’d jog to the school gate and back and I would feel the fat burn in my thighs as they start to itch. I kept this habit up a bit after school for about 3years or so and I’d go on long walks, use the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. I have been super lazy of late though as work and other life activities have piled on. I hardly do situps/legups anymore. My major help was exercise done back den and luckily I watch what/how/when I eat, otherwise I honestly think I’d be outta shape by now. That said, I definitely don’t wanna wait around till I’m outta shape before working on myself. I wanna be that hot and vibrant grandma that people keep guessing her age (color me vain but I go achieve my aim). 

So I have come up with a way to motivate myself, I love dancing, always have, always will so this is my new medicine to keep fit. I’m usually in zombie mode when I get up early in the morning and get ready for work but I’m n batman mode and sharper when I get back from work. For the past week now, when I get home, I put on my fave playlist and dance my heart out while incorporating all dose plenty names at the beginning of this post into my routine (works wonders!!see sweat!) after that I skip for as long as I can (sometyms 200-1leg/2legs) and stretch my body when I’m done all the while my ‘Gingering’ music is on.

I have been far more active in the morning since I started this regime and I think soon enough I’ll be able to do some skipping, situps/legups in the morning before heading to work (AMEN). My night routine also forces me to shower at night, ‘cos of the sweat, which is good for my skin and my brain even wakes up a bit and I can do some work/thinking before hitting the sack.

Why bother, some people may ask, you have a nice shape and flat tummy. I bother because I wanna keep it that way, fit, firm and active, not panting after climbing just 2flights of stairs and its also good for the health and immune system. I wanna form all the possible good habits I can so when I need them the most they are already there. I hope this post inspires someone to find their own fun way to keep fit and live healthy. 

When you love you, you will take proper care of all things pertaining to you and people will learn to love you for you.

Toodles!XooX