Another DIY Protective styling Project: Braids!

Dear Fashionistas,
Let me start this blog off by apologizing for my absence.  Sometimes life calls but that is no reason to abandon my Style post!

Now that that's out of the way....on to my current DIY protective styling project.  As you know I have been very active these days and Atlanta is pretty humid so keeping my hair looking decent and avoiding the need to touch it everyday is key in my life right now! I have been really enjoying a round of protective styles.  This time I decided to go with braids.  I have been avoiding it for a while because of the time one has to commit to doing their own braids.  However, I know the payoff is worth it! Below are the results and different styling techniques I created with my braids.

This style is a simple bun with a front section of braids wrapped around the bun

This is just a quick, messy bun - a ponytail twisted in two strand and wrapped into a bun

This is a quick, messy bun with half the braids down in the back

Here I braided half the braids and let the back hang

This is an elegant bun, it took a little effort to get it flow this why by pinning the braids in sections

So, it took me forever to do these braids! I started on Friday night and completed about 25% of them that night.  I did not start on them again until after lunch the next day and kept at it, off and on, until about midnight or so.  My fingers were killing me! I used 3 different colors and two different brands of hair...the main brand I used was a new one that was made for dipping the ends in hot water.  The other brand was a cheap brand I bought a long time ago.  Even though the cheaper brand worked out fine...as time moved on, I can tell a different with the cheaper hair.  It started to feel a little rough at the ends, whereas the other brand held up better.  I did not burn the hair at the ends as we did back in the 90's, instead I dipped the ends in hot water and that helped to seal the ends.  I also parted my hair in funky little geometric shapes in the front.

Yes, it took a long time...but I love them and it was worth it! I would definitely do them again.

Ta-Ta for now my lovelies,
e

My New Hair Obsession: Loc Extensions

I don't ever do professionally done braids or twists.  As a matter of fact, I had some braids done about a little over a year ago for the first time and I am 100% sure I would never do that again. I have nothing against braids.  I do have something against women thinking that they have to have their braids or twists done tight so that they last.  I was even more disgusted that when I had my braids done, many of my friends were saying that the pain I felt was normal and offered some home remedies....NO HAIRSTYLE IS WORTH PAIN AND ANGUISH!  You should never allow a hairdresser to style your hair in a style that could cause damage and pain. This should be common sense but....it's not. 

I also decided to never allow someone to braid my hair (with extensions) because no matter how much I told the hairdresser to loosen up, she just claimed she knew what was best.  I can't stand this quality in a hairdresser which is why I hardly ever go to one and when I do, it is only one lady. 

So, I started to do some research on Pinterest and YouTube on protective styling as I wanted to give my hair a break for a while and my exercise routine was killing my hairstyles.  I soon decided on loc extensions. I always loved dread locs but maybe not the permanence of it all...Below are pictures of my first attempt of doing my own loc extensions.

So to begin this hairstyle, I started with Marley Twists completed with Marley braid hair.  The two brands I used were Freetress and Femi.  The brand does not matter though. I pre-wash the hair to get any residue off the hair and to soften the hair. I do this by allowing the hair to sit in a sink full of warm water and mild shampoo.  I then allow it to dry overnight.  Also you may have noticed that I have some red tips in some of the pictures.  This is because I used a red hair for the marley twists and allowed some of of the red hair to peek out.  The ladies I watched on YouTube were Alex Elle of the Good Hair Blog, Tammyluvslyfe, and Cassandra Becai.  Just search for them and you should be able to find these ladies. 

I plan on doing this style again very soon with some purple highlights...yes I said purple. I can't wait to see the results.  Also, I had some pretty rad styling on my locs. I promise to write a blog on styling them. I also received sooo many compliments on this hairstyle from other women and men.  Most times, I could not believe the attention I got with this hairstyle. 

The silver beads in my hair I purchased eons ago from a beauty supply store in the 90's when braids were really popular. For the life of me, I cannot find anything like them now and I recently lost one so I am down to just 3.

By the way...please follow me on Pinterest! Linking up is a beautiful thing! 
One luv,
e

What to do with Your Hair When You Lead an Active Life

For the last 2 months or so, I have really kicked up my workout routine.  I promise to post about my workout routines in a future blog, but for now we can say that I pretty much work out 6 days a week and for the most part twice a day.

Before I increased my activities, I pretty much wore my usual wash and go.  I love changing my hair style all time but let's face it...the wash and go is so easy to maintain. I get up, shake my hair out and go! Who would not love that?!

Not only do I workout twice a day now but I also increased the intensity of my workouts.  This means that my wash and go no longer last a week! Yikes!  Guess I better decrease my workout....Just kidding! Seriously, this problem is very frustrating and has caused me to go out and buy a lot of new products, none of which works!

So, I been really thinking about protective styling.  To be honest, I would prefer to take breaks in between with protective styling but...this is the only way to keep my hair in check and to avoid styling my hair multiple times during the week.  Below are some of the styles I recommend:

2 Strand Twists on wet hair

After wearing the 2 strand twists, I would take the twists out and wear my hair like this!

I used to braid my hair like this all summer...

Individual Box Braids styled into a high bun

My new favorite...Loc Extensions!

These are some of the protective styling I will be focusing on...besides, these styles are easy to maintain and some can last at least a month or so.  I actually had the individual braids in for about 3 months but I would never leave them in that long again.  I have very curly hair that gets tangled and it's just not good for me to leave them in that long.

I am not slowing down any time soon with my workouts...my hair may be jacked at times but at least my body looks great!  I have lost about 14 lbssince I kicked things up a notch but about I am about 20 lbs lighter overall!  If any of you have any suggestions for maintaining natural hair while working out, please let me know!

Toodles my naturalistas!

How I Care for my Natural Hair

Well hello my fellow fashionistas!

So, I have been getting a lot of questions about my hair.  Everyone wants to know how I care for my hair.  I would be more than happy to explain how I care for my hair; however, I want everyone to understand that you have to do what works for your hair! What works for my hair may not work for you and vice versa.  So my biggest advice here is to PAY ATTENTION to your hair and body.  Our bodies react to everything we put on it and in it.  STOP and PAY ATTENTION.  It could save you lots of time and money.

I have and still continue to do research on how to care for my hair.  I have read many books and subscribed to many blogs.  One book I read about a year ago was Curly Like Me by Teri LaFlesh.  You can buy the book or if you are a library nerd like me, you can check it out at your local library.  I found her story to be very inspiring.

To be honest, when I read this book, I thought to myself  "Nahhhh, this will not work for me but I appreciated the read" and then I dropped the book off at the library.  Months later after trying braids, I felt very frustrated with my hair.  It was big, dry and frizzy.  I started following Teri's method by accident.  Tired and frustrated, I got out of the shower after washing my hair and I did not rinse out the conditioner.  When I woke up the next day, I almost cried.  My hair was back to normal.

Teri offers the rules and tips on her "Tightly Curly Method". I follow this method for the most part with some slight modifications.  Again, do what works for your hair.  Please check out Teri's website and/or book for her full method.  I am just going to summarize how I care for my hair here.

1. Moisture is key for curly hair!  Keep your hair moisturized.
2. I mix my own oil treatment for my hair.  I use it as a hot oil treatment and moisturizer.  I make it in 2 main scents for now: lemongrass and lavender. I also sell this treatment for $8 (comes in an 8 oz bottle) for those who don't feel up to mixing their own products.
3. I try to limit shampooing my hair.  1-2 times a month.  Shampoos tend to dry my hair and make it hard.
4. I pretty much wash my hair with conditioner.  Brands I love the most are: Aussie, Tresseme and Nature's Gate.  I will detangle my hair with a wide tooth comb while the conditioner is in my hair.
5. I deep condition every week. I use cholesterol or my new favorite Camille Rose Algae Deep Conditioner. The latter is much pricier.
6. I then apply another conditioner to my hair after rinsing out the deep conditioner.  This is very important, I use a regular conditioner and then I leave it in.  Not a leave-in...just a regular conditioner.  My favorites are Nature's Gate (tea tree and biotin).
7. I then apply a curly pudding or custard.  My hair is too soft to just stop at the conditioner so I have to have a product that will hold my curls and stop frizz.  My favorites are Kinky Kurly and Queen Helene.  Many people complain about hardness of these types of products.  Just use less of it.  Personally I prefer the hardness as it will help my curls last at least a week.
8. Lastly, I add my oil moisturizer.

Sometimes I will use Kinky Kurly's Knot Today which is a detangler and I also have a spray bottle with a mixture of conditioner/water/my oil moisturizer to spritz my hair.

Below is how my hair turns out the next day.  It is just a simple wash and go.

This is an old picture to show how important moisture is for curly hair and especially if it is color treated! I only used a small bit of conditioner in my hair with some mousse and gel. 

In this photo I used Kinky Kurly curl custard and that's it.  Again moisture is key! My hair is still very frizzy here.

Until next time....