Fluffy Braidouts & Smoothing Edges

For the past few months I have been a huge fan of my big, fluffy braid-outs. The fluffier, the better! Here are some pics from today's braid-out. I actually re-did it last night on dry hair, which always yields soft, fluffy, huge hair - YAY :)

The products I use to do a dry braid-out vary. Lately I am lovin' the results that apricot oil has been giving me and my daughter, so I threw that in the mix last night and did a kind of -OC of the LOC method. Taking one section at a time, I applied a little apricot oil, focusing on the ends. Then I topped with SheaMoisture's Curl & Style Milk, also focusing that on my ends so they were smooth. 

After I finished braiding my hair, I applied extra Styling Milk around my front edges and smoothed it down with Puuddy's baby brush. Oh that's right, I never ever ever ever use a bristle brush on my hair other than hers because its bristles are super soft so it's nice and gentle on my baby hairs. Sure, there are quality brushes out there that are safe for my hair; I think I've always heard that boar's head bristle brushes are the best (but don't quote me on that). But I already have this brush and it gets the job done so I'm satisfied :) Anyway, after brushing the Styling Milk into my edges I wrapped my satin scarf around my head and hit the fluffies. When I woke up, this is how smooth my edges looked. I wore another scarf around my edges until it was time to take my hair down to ensure that they stayed smooth.

My hair half-way taken down. 

At first I left the bases of the two front braids secured (my little no-accessory hair pinning technique). But right before I left the house I decided to take them all the way out...

...pulled my hair over to one side, tucked a bobby pin in there and hit the road! :)

Easy, Go-To Style

I think I just came up with a new go-to style. I took my biggest nylon hair tie (I love my nylon hair ties - they're washable, gentle on my hair, last forever, and cost next to nothing!) and pineappled my hair last night. Well, it was a really loose pineapple. Then this morning I took my scarf off and just left my hair alone, and when I went to look in the mirror, it looked like this :) Oh, happy day!

And how did I get the waves? This was what I'll call a "semi-braid out" because I took the braids out while they were still damp the night before.

Senegalese Twists: Tips for Keeping Your Hair Healthy

I always say that your natural hair journey will take you to places within yourself that you never knew existed. 


Today marks a new level of growth in my hair journey - not physical growth, but spiritual. For the past couple weeks I'd found myself admiring (drooling over, really) Senegalese twists. Up until that point this was not a style that I was comfortable wearing. I'd been kind of skeptical of protective hairstyles with extensions because I wasn't convinced that they were effective at protecting the hair while also keeping it healthy. And to be completely transparent, I didn't think it was "me," just like before I started wearing my hair curly I didn't think twists were for me. But what I came to learn through my research on Senegalese twists over the past two weeks (and I'm still learning) is that this style, microbraids and similar styles are okay for your hair as long as you follow a few simple guidelines. I'll go into detail on these guidelines and probably add to them in upcoming posts, but in brief, here they are:

1. Tightness Make sure your hair isn't braided/twisted too tightly, especially around the hairline ("edges"). That is where your hair is the weakest and the most prone to breakage from braids/twists that are installed too tightly.
2. Keep it clean This is key for maintaining and growing a healthy head of hair whether your hair is in a protective style or not. Listen to your scalp. If it is itching constantly then it's time to wash. Many women like to co-wash their twists/braids.
3. Moisturize I've heard of many women who moisturize their hair twice a day when it's in Senegalese twists or microbraids. I think this is sound advice as the synthetic hair and cold weather (if winters are cold where you live) can drain the moisture out of your hair. 

I'm sure there are more tips for keeping your hair healthy while in Senegalese twists, but as I said this is my first time with them and I'm still learning. If you have any tips you'd like to add, please do so in the comment box at the bottom. I can't wait to hear from you. :)

Unlike the pictures indicate, I am THRILLED with how they turned out and I absolutely love them! I'm making those faces because I was dog TIRED after getting them in! LOL! We literally stayed up through the night into the following afternoon to finish them!

I have a lot of styling ideas in the works for my Senegalese twists, so stay tuned! ;)

Cute Updo or New Pineappling Technique?

In an effort to preserve my braid-n-curl, a few nights ago I put my hair up a bit differently for bed. I always pineapple at night, but it usually makes my hair kind of flat the next day. Since my 'do was really bouncy, I wanted to preserve the curl without having to pin curl (I've never pin curled before and I wasn't tryin' to learn at bedtime! lol). So I pulled on my biggest nylon hair tie (I LOVE my hair ties! more on that later) as if I was going to pineapple it, but I wore it kind of like a headband instead. Then I thought, How can I keep my curls bouncy? Next thing I knew I was reaching for my largest, strongest hair clip! I leaned forward to get my hair to hang down toward the floor. With both hands I gently grouped together my ends and pushed them onto my head. Then with my left hand holding my hair in place, I secured my hair on top of my head with the hair clip. Stood up, made a few adjustments, and voila! I was ready for bed. Only time would tell if this new trick would actually work. 

                                    

This hair clip is amazing! Rarely do I find a
clip that can hold all of my hair without breaking!
This one does that and I've dropped it many
times but it's still intact. YAY :)

When I woke up the next morning, took off my satin scarf and let my hair down, I was very pleasantly surprised with the results...it had worked!! And not only had it worked, but it looked like day 1 hair!! (Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics of when I put my hair up the first night, so the first two pics were from the second night that I used this technique.) 

My curls still had bounce! The only thing I noticed was that my hair was a little fuzzy on the top. But that doesn't bother me.

Chime in gals - what do you think? Cute updo, new pineappling technique or both? Oh! And did I mention that yesterday I actually DID wear my hear out of the house pulled up like that!! LOL!

First Braid-n-Curl

Yesterday I did my first braid-n-curl. I absolutely love the results! What do you think?!

   

Here's how I did it:

After shampooing and conditioning my hair this past wash day, I set my braids as usual with my modified Kimmaytube leave-in conditioner recipe (see my Product Preferences page for my version). Unfortunately I had to go out that evening so I wasn't able to set my hair until the next day. But since my hair takes forever to dry, it was still quite damp the following morning. I applied a little SheaMoisture Curl & Style Milk to each braid, making sure my ends were thoroughly coated so they would curl and not frizz. Then I rolled each braid onto a large flexirod. I kept them in until the evening when I had to go out. My hair was still a little damp in the back when I took them down, but I didn't care. "The bigger, the better" is how I think now! 

My accessory-free way of keeping my hair
out of my face - keeping the base of the front
braid secured. 

My hair had such nice bounce to it which I really liked (I'm not used to that with my regular braid-outs). I am definitely keeping this style in my arsenal. ;)

Christmas Style 2012

This Christmas I took out my twists and rocked a twist-out. The pics below were before brunch (no, I didn't wear the antlers the whole day, lol). 

Bun with a Side of Sass ;)

This is a quick post on how I styled my hair on Thursday night. We had to run to a meeting and I was crunched for styling time. I stretched my hair by lightly wetting it and moisturizing with a creamy leave-in, then setting it in braids for a couple of hours. I released the braids and pulled it into a high ponytail. (I'll do a post later on how I bunned it.) The front, crimped part of my hair was braided several nights before, so it was completely dry and moisturized with shine to boot!

Please excuse the bathroom pics! I was crunched for time lol

Oops! A lil flyaway. Oh well. I spritzed with water and slicked
my hair down with gel.

Love the healthy shine in the front

Lovin' My Braid-Outs!

I've found that applying a little gel on top of my leave-in conditioner on wash days really adds to the definition and shine of my braid-outs. 

SO excited for my fuzzy "halo" to grow in! lol

My hair isn't that light on top - the sunroof was open on a sunny day

Crocheted Hat to the Rescue!

I picked up this cute little crocheted hat about a month back to wear out and about while I'm waiting for my braids to dry for a braid-out. (My hair can literally take 24+ hours to air dry - no joke!!) I've gotta thank my Sis for putting me onto the crocheted hat look - love it! :)

(Please excuse the earphones! lol. I was about to get on the phone
and decided to snap a quick pic to capture my new purchase :))

Big, Puffy Ponytail

How I wore my hair for the past few days...gotta love the big, puffy ponytail ;)

Gel Sealing

I actually used this pic in a recent post where I'd reset my hair in between
wash days. But I did use gel in this pic to set the style, so that's why I'm
including this pic here.

Tonight makes my fourth wash day with the protein conditioner added into my regimen. It's also the fourth wash day that I've used gel to seal. Previously I'd never been too interested in using gel to style because I thought it would leave my hair hard, crunchy and dry. But I researched gel as a sealing "tool" and, even though I didn't find much information to confirm this suspicion, I had this hunch that, when used properly, gel could act as an amazing sealant.


I was right!


The gel adds definition to my braid-outs, and it also appears to enhance the sheen of my hair. And - get this - my hair is SOFT when I take out the braids!! Yeah I know, who woulda thunk it?! LOL!


Here's the order of product application:


1. Apply coconut oil to each dampened section of hair.
2. Apply modified KT leave-in (only 1tsp of each oil + Vitamin E oil)
3. Rub a little bit of gel between my hands and run both hands down the section of hair.


I braid up each section as I go and then criss-cross them around my head to stretch them out (not too tight though) as seen in this post. After taking the braids out, I've been resetting my hair in braids a second time that week and taking them out again to wear a braid-out. I'm aware that by increasing the manipulation in my regimen I'm making my hair more vulnerable to breakage, but I'm comforted by the fact that I'm balancing this change with the protein I've incorporated into my regimen as well. I'm still seeing growth so that's encouraging. I still don't plan to straighten it until after my 5K in May. Maybe that will be my reward to myself for completing the 5K.... ;)


A word of caution: should you choose to use gel to seal, keep in mind that more products = more product build-up, and if left unchecked, product build-up can lead to breakage. Make sure you're washing your hair at least once a week with a moisturizing shampoo or a softened shampoo. 

Updo on a Braid-Out

After my awesome 2nd day hair braid-out, it was chilly and rainy, so to preserve my definition I opted to tuck my wavy locks into an updo.

2nd Day Hair ~ Gel Braid-Out

This is going to be a quick n' dirty post, lol. These are the pictures from when I reset my hair, after wearing my natural curl pattern, which I posted about here.

Spritzed and applied my new natural oil blend, focusing on ends. The KCCC was
still very "active," (for lack of a better word) so I didn't have to reapply.
Actually the water seemed to "reactivate" it; I think I could've worn my natural
curl pattern a second time around if I'd wanted to.

Re-braided and then randomly decided to use this stretching technique.
Each braid is stretched and bobby pinned across my head. It's snug but
NOT tight. I didn't wake up with a headache, lol.

The KCCC caked a little in the front, but I just put water on it.

The twisting technique I learned from Teri LaFlesh. Only, I don't tuck
the twisted ends back through the braids.

Ta-da! I was THRILLED with my 2nd day hair!

Bantu Knot-Out

It had been a minute since I'd put my hair in bantu knots. I never really felt like I could achieve a good style with them. But two days ago I decided to give them another whirl. Here are my results. :)

After taking out the bantu knots, before separating and fluffing.

I love the healthy sheen. And my hair is so soft. I'll post next about
the new mix I recently whipped up in the kitchen ;)

After separating and fluffing :)

I was going to wear it down until I realized how much my big, fluffy
hair was blocking my peripheral vision, which I do not like! LOL!
So I opted for a headband. I love how my hair turned out!

I finally got to wear this headband. Unfortunately it broke before
the day was through! Surprisingly not because of the thickness
of my hair, but I guess because my head isn't perfect round enough for it!
LOL!! Ah well!