But Does It Work Though Sis, Part II

 

Pandemic Era Activities

Long after my insightful exchange with the NYC hustleman and his gang of powder-filled plastic canisters for retail sale, I rediscovered moringa on YouTube during the pandemic.

  

And instead of baking bread like my other locked-down and quarantining compatriots, I at last watched the army of natural hair care videos I’d amassed on my array of playlists, and after viewing a twenty-six minute documentary on the long-hair care and beauty regimens of the women of Chad, 

I vowed to grow my hair down to my ankles.   And to develop the consciousness of ankle-length hair, I added to the already-massive collective of how-tos with a demonstration of my Double Trouble Twist method, and an elemental walkabout on the back end, to show how it fared beneath the Floridian sun.  

I arose to my personal hair growth challenge, and frequented the armory--a global marketplace affectionately known as Amazon, arming myself with next-day purchases of chebe powder and a Kingdom Cares steamer as weapons of my warfare.  Alas, I was ready to open my hair follicles and repair my hair shafts, and save my tousled hair one strand at a time--roots-to-ends, strand-by-strand.  

While watching the hair care tutorials and product review videos, I rediscovered moringa.  Though it wasn’t an instantaneous recognition, there was a glimmer of knowing, and a seed had been planted.  I ordered moringa on Amazon and incorporated it into my own hair care regimen, adjoining it with chebe to feed and clothe my tresses.  I wanted to know more about the product and its benefits, and with a simple Google search, discovered its benefits for the reduction of uterine fibroids.  

Hair Gawdesses be thanked!

Note: The Kingdom Cares steamer is presently unavailable on Amazon.

The Regimen

I used the moringa powder religiously--three tall tea cups daily.  I toted the powder with me on daily travel, and adhered to my regimen with relative ease.  I never precisely measured an exact amount, as I simply covered the bottom of the tea cup with a layer of powder, and added boiling hot water to the fill line for steeping.  I primarily drank it mixed with boiled water, and if I’m feeling fancy--a lemon slice.  I have added it to cups of jasmine and green tea as well.  Though the powder didn’t dissolve with the application of hot water, I wasn’t deterred.  I simply drank the remaining sediment, and added more hot water if the powder had mulish tendencies and refused to leave the bottom of the cup.

Friends With Great Benefits

Moringa is great for skin and digestion, as it aids with the elimination of bodily waste.  

It’s counterintuitive, as the latter facilitates the aforementioned.  My sister shared a video with me--a lecture about uterine fibroids with Dr. Llaila Afrika.  He maintained that fibroids were comprised of a combination of waste and mucus.  It seemed to me that my implementation of moringa in my diet was a home run if that were true.  

Thankfully, I didn’t experience any side effects like headaches, nausea, vertigo or double vision, nor did this product have any adverse effects on my sleeping pattern or make me feel wide awake, Red Bull style.  I felt great.  And my abdomen began to shrink.  I’m highly active and ride, walk, and swim, and my activity is surely a mitigating factor.  And it wasn’t just in my mind.  I didn’t solicit commentary, but people commented on how my abdomen had flattened.  I was elated about that, as it wasn’t just me thinking wishfully.  I am aware that the flattened abdomen may have been a result of the release of toxins and not necessarily indicative of fibroid shrinkage.  I’d have to have another ultrasound to determine the variance with more precision than a topical observation--eyeballing, rather, could muster.

Side Piece

I cultivated my inner apothecarist with the discovery of additional fibroid-shrinking natural ingredients, such as turmeric, carcumin and cardamom.  I was delighted to discover the applicable healing properties of the latter, as I’d experienced its innate sweetness  in a yogi tea I consumed each morning after our morning session at the Haramara Retreat Center in Haramara, Sayulita, Nayarit, Mexico. 

Bad Press:  Shaken & Stirred

Moringa can be added to virtually any food.  It’s added to soups, sprinkled and shaken upon meats, coupled with cold beverages, and in my experience, served as/within hot teas.  

I watched a YT video with a news reporter and another person performing a highly mediocre expose on the benefits of moringa.  I was annoyed because the application of the moringa was nonsensical.  A copious layer of the miracle-working green powder was placed atop a banal plate of plain yogurt--WHY would you put yogurt on a plate instead of in a bowl, so, yeah, there was that, which annoyed me off the break--and then mixed half-heartedly.  

As I watched, I wondered if the other individual was a representative of an entity that would discourage the usage of natural products in favor of their chemicalized ones, for there seemed to be an overarching bias. When asked by the reporter, the other individual maintained that there wasn’t any scientific evidence to support the idea that moringa actually worked. The Comments Section disagreed--vehemently.  Stirred by their own opposing experiences and observations with moringa, countless commenters reamed the post, and affirmed the health benefits they’d witnessed and encountered.  I recall one commenter who talked--wrote, about how she grew up with a Moringa Tree in her yard back home in the Caribbean, and how that was the go-to for her family for a multitude of ills.

Bottom Line, But Does It Work Though Sis?

I used the product virtually daily for six months and I contend that it did have a favorable effect.  While there was some shrinkage along an axis, there was an expansion on another.  Though I had higher expectations for the product, and anticipated larger numbers in the delta, I wasn’t deterred from continuing its use.  I opted to continue my experiment--extend the time and measure the effects.  

Though the fibroids didn't shrink, my hair certainly thickened and grew.