Twists

So Thursday I was sitting here,cutting single strand knots out of my hair, irritated because my tangles were OC even though I had JUST did a damn good deep condition, So I realized maybe my hair was tryna yell at me...no more damn wash n go's for a little minute, nooow Yall know I LOVE my Fro, I also LOVE my wash n go, however when my hair is not thriving well, and i see more shedding than usual on my weekly co-wash, detangle and wash n go day, the eyebrows are raised LOL. I have invested TOO MUCH into my hair, to let it break because of tangles, SO I am going to wear some two-strand twists for a while, to minimize the tangles, and in turn maximize my length retention, DON'T get me wrong, MY hair IS GROWING regardless of my wash n go knots and tangles, but I want to make sure it remains healthy, I don't want straggly ends, or thinning strand from knots and tangles!! & I have began working out so, It is easier anyway, aaaaaand many people like them :) so I don't feel self conscience about not having big hair which is my thing!! I actually Washed my hair with Aunt Jackie's Sulfate free Shampoo only because my hair needed clarifying because just Wednesday I did my wash n go which means I had a hell of a lot of Eco-Styler in my hair and I did not want to just co-wash it out because I really did not want any residue ya feel me, and after i shampooed, I co-washed to get my moisture back in with a little V05 moisture milks, then I blow dried my hair(on a medium setting) I blew my hair out after being inspired by Elle(Denimpixie on YT, Quest for the perfect curl) her twists were done on blown out hair and they were so cute to me, So I blew out my hair in 4 sections, and proceeded to twist, I did not use any special method, I just twisted and applied a moisturizer JUST to my ends, mine of choice was the curl enhancing smoothie, I applies a very small amount to my ends, and twirled the twist around my finger to curl the ends, this took me about 3 hours, I am convinced it would have taken less time but I joked around with my parents, and cousins for at least 40 minutes, I never honestly worked at a steady pace LOL. but 3 hours was nothing especially since I was twisting and watching the VMA's! I did good y'all. My plan is to seal and moisturize my twists mainly the ends every two days with light water and coconut oil, or a little curl enhancing smoothie and coconut oil, when they get frizzy I will use a little gel along the length of the twist to smooth it back out.!I honestly plan to wear these for at least 2 weeks before needing to retwist, and then after 4 weeks have passed I will wash and retwist them, this will be my protective style for fall/winter. Below are many ...many pictures of my twists all from yesterday.

Finally finished....BOX BRAIDS!!!

It took 6 packs of hair, plenty time and patience, and the thought of wanting something different for a change. I love that this a protective style with plenty things I can do with them. When I finished I dipped them in boiling water!!!! Now they are flexible and not all stiff and itchy!! They are pretty long...almost waist length! I love love love them I'll be trying Senegalese twists next

Bunning it Up

In the beginning of the summer, I experimented with buns:)) Here are some of the looks I came up with. Buns are SUPER easy to do very low manipulative and CUTE, but if you Bun often try to place the bun in a different spot ever so often and not to bun too tight to protect edges.!

I achieved this bun with NO added hair on an old braidout, I rolled and tucked the hair under to make it a bun.

Top of a bun with hair added in the middle

Simple easy WET bun method i did to retain moisture.

Favorite bunning technique. The Roll n tuck under bun .

Faux bun: with Kanekelon hair rolled into a big ball, placed in center of ponytail, hair wet and  pulled on top on the faux bun secured with bobby pins.

Meet Peyton

This is my daughter Peyton...she is almost two and acts like she's 22! She is a curly of course. I use a homemade spritzer on her hair and cantu shea butter, I recently tried "Liv"

Great cream but too heavy for her fine hair.

 a conditioning cream Brielle and I used as children but it seems too heavy on her fine hair! When my parents and sis visited we gave her box braids something else we had as kids and she LOVES them! Low manipulation and trendy!

Oh...there she is!!

OMG...I know, I know, I know! I made one post and promised to post more....SORRY! I have been super busy new job and I'm still getting used to the hours I work. I was a stay at home mom for over a year. This time, I will stay on top of things. I have a calendar with my work schedule,workout schedule AND BLOGGING SCHEDULE!!!!! While fully introducing myself and my curls I also want you guys to meet Peyton my almost 2 year old daughter...Brielle has posted pics of her latest style! posts and pics coming your way!!!!!!

Sidenote: Wasn't Brielles' latest feature awesome!!!
It can be found at www.hairscapades.com

Protective Style: Two Strand Twists.

My Top 10 reasons You should try Protective Styling 

1. CANT KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT YOUR HAIR
2. EXPERIENCING BREAKAGE
3. NEED A BREAK FROM A STRENUOUS REGIMEN
4. SAVE MONEY
5. LENGTH RETENTION GOALS
6. CONVENIENCE
7. EXCESSIVE SHEDDING
8. UNCOMFORTABLE WITH CURRENT LENGTH(WEARING IT OUT)
9. HAIR IS AT A STAND STILL
10. LOW MANIPULATION TURNS TO HIGH MANIPULATION i.e (retwisting/ rebraiding for that twist/braid out EVERYNIGHT.)

       Lately I've been noticing my damn HANDS IN HAIR SYNDROME is getting straight out of control I go right to the crown of my head about 20 times a day and scratch, pull on the hair, rake through it with my fingers and anything else I want to do but I wonder why that part of my hair always feels dry...maybe it is because i wont keep your damn hands out of it. I really think i do this because self consciously I know that part is shorter than the rest of my hair, but praise God that it is still growing despite my crazy habit. I was sitting on the couch watching TV when my cousin tapped me and said "there you go messing with your hair again" and I'm all looking stiff faced because she was not lying although i know i need to stop i keep on bothering it and scratching it, it could just be a habit or maybe its something I do out of nervousness but hell it really doesn't matter I just need to quit. My cousin said you need to do a style that you wont touch as much and I was reluctant at first because I'm Curly Girl Method crazy lol aaaaall about moisture so I had no idea what to do. I know my hair needs a small break from WashnGo's because of me smh I will touch it ALL damn day if i could so I told myself Id just wear some two strand twists for at least two weeks-1 month maybe even the rest of the summer(trying to challenge myself&retain as much length as I can) now being curly girl I WILL still incorporate my co-washes and deep conditioning because i know how important moisture is for my hair of course I'm remaining silicone and sulfate free I'm just trying some protective styling protecting my strand against myself lol! Since My hair is really curly and not coarse at all and I have medium fine strands, (my hair is not necessarily "fine" but its not "coarse" at all and it is more fine than medium so I just say I have "medium fine strands"), My twists are not super fat and puffy as you can see in the photos so they are not going to stand longer than a week, ill just co-wash with the twists still in and retwist each one weekly just to keep them from unraveling, I did them around a medium-small size, Im not into mini twists because my hair is not thick enough to pull that look off and the small-medium twists look nice on my texture and density.
To begin my Twists I first started off with a DEEP conditioning with oil treatment, washed that out and let it air dry in a puff overnight, I woke up this morning and went straight to twisting my hair like always I have my "what i wish i would have known" Well although i am satisfied with my twists I can not wait til Friday so I can retwist them this is because I feel like I did not twist tight enough! I twisted down my hair instead of not being lazy and twisting it properly and more tight for a longer time.Friday when i co-wash I am going to twist tighter and try the "sister twist method" because I am wearing the twists out of town and Id like them to stay at least til I arrive to Texas I feel they are a great "on the road hairstyle" being that it takes a whole day to drive from Illinois to Texas.
LAST THOUGHTS- If your hair feels dry and you find yourself touching it all the time or you are not retaining as much as you would like TRY protective styling I have always said it is not for me but I have a length goal and I plan on reaching it, and at some point you must listen to what your hair needs!

Because i twisted on Dry/Damp Hair I did not experience much shrinkage!

My hair can be manipulated straight EASILY if I`brush it it will lay down as I pulled my hair to twist the ends became more straight than curly but they are slowly reverting back due to a little water I spritzed on them.

Mahogany Curls inspired wash n go.

Usually I NEVER use Eco-Styler but the longer my hair gets the more similar it looks to MahagonyCurls via www.MahoganyCurls.com which I totalllllly LOVE  but anyway recently on her blog she has tried Eco-Styler again on her hair, so I said to myself okay if she can give it one more go I figured so could I especially since gel is known to give you more than 2 day hair, I was all in.So heres what I did:

•  I co-washed my hair
•  left about 20% of the conditioner in
• squeezed the remaining water out
• finger detangled in four sections
• applied a small amount of conditioner to each detangled section
• applied a small amount of Eco to each section
• went through each section and smoothed my curls instead of raking because my hair is much more defined that way
• smoothed down my edges&waited to dry
• PINEAPPLE at night!

The end results are posted as pictures and I loved it HOWEVER I did realized some things I would have done differently like a little more conditioner and less gel, this is because after applying gel to each section I added MORE when i smoothed my curls which was not necessary but at the time I thought it was and it led to crunchy hair which of course I did not like. But, all in all I might just incorporate the Eco once again. Thanks to MahoganyCurls :)

Pineapple to stretch at night.

Right after i finished smoothing my curls

texture shot

Smiling right before bed, slept on my satin pillow case.

SWITCHING IT UP!

I ALWAYS wear a SIDE part, I really don't know why but I am quite sure that it is because when my hair is straight I wear a side part with the hair falling over my left eye lol. So naturally it is what I am used to wearing, I hope nobody else has this weird habit going on because with natural hair if you consistently do the same thing you will become BORED and uninspired trust me I know I'm going through this phase now because I wear wash n go's all the time which I do because it helps my moisture retention which of course leads to length retention and I have not quite got into the habit of protective styling probably because I really like wearing my curly fro and personally protective styling can become a little plain however, every once in a while I will twist it up and out of the way to preserve and give my ends a little protection.

Damp Wash n Go with Eco-Styler just on my edges.

Another look at my Wash n Go

Being crazy lol

Lets Jam Custard

I picked up some "Lets Jam Custard" from Walgreens just to see what all the hype was about. I applied it after i watched a tutorial on (WWW.MAHOGANYCURLS.COM) the application was one like applying  conditioner as a leave in.I only used this one product with no conditioner after my co-wash i washed most if not all of the conditioner out because i wanted to make sure the product did as it says.HONESTLY I loved it, it's Curly Girl friendly& cheaper than most natural hair custards!! It was $ 3.49 at my local Walgreens!

dried hair,shrinkage

my definition after the product was 80% dry

After a whole day curls still defined&moisturized in 101 degree summer heat&humidity

Happy with the results.

pineappling to stretch

PINEAPPLE at night