Saturday 12 March 2011

Twists + Bantu Knot Out = Result!!!!!

when I first took down the knots
I had a curly fro!
i pinned it back and voila :)
Hey Guys,

I am so incredibly happy right now, yesterday I had a great hair moment! For those of you who don't know (and why would you since I haven't mentioned it lol) outside of education I'm a singer/songwriter. In a couple weeks I have a performance and I wanted to try something new with my hair. A while ago I watched this video and was intrigued by the use of shea butter and aloe vera gel. My twist outs never hold their curl and so I never wear them. I didn't want to add a curly butter/pudding to my list of things to find and so I was eager to try the shea and aloe.

On Wednesday night I was reading Curly Nikki she mentioned twisting the front bit of a twist section before twisting the whole twist (confused?) instead of securing the roots with a clip (which never worked for me) so again I was eager to try this. So on Thursday night I was thinking of what to do to my hair for my band rehearsal the following Friday and was like, I might as well try a mix of Kimmay's and Nikki's methods (I didn't want to solely use Kimmay's method because I was in absolutely no mood to tackle flat twisting my whole head ¬¬). It was eleven thirty, my bed was beckoning but I ignored it's call and sat in front of my mirror; here's what I did.

The Method:



  • I put some coconut oil on my hands and took down my wash day flat twists. My hair was completely naked- no product in it whatsoever (I washed and steamed on Sunday, put some coconut oil on and flat twisted- that was the LAST time I touched my hair!)
  • Separated a section hair to twist and finger detangled (my hair wasn't that tangled so this was quick)
  • Applied Giovanni's Direct Leave In (this had to be worked in. I mean WORKED IN. My hair was dryyy but I didn't want to use my normal leave in (Kimmay's Leave in aka the Direct Leave In on steroids) because I didn't see the point of using ALJ and ALG together. This was the first time I'd used it on dry hair, I didn't want to wet my hair because I was trying to minimise shrinkage. 
  • Worked in leave in: Rubbed in hands, stroked into hair, left for a few seconds, stroked some more= moisturised hair. If I didn't work it in my hair would just laugh at the attempt at moisturising and remain dry and crispy.
  • Melted some shea butter in my palms and stroked onto hair
  • Rubbed a tiny blob of ALG in palms and applied to hair
Now for the bit that's hard to describe
  • I took a section and halved it (as you would to begin twisting)
  • I then sectioned off a small bit of the top of a half section
  • I did this for both half sections. So the original section has now become 4: two small and two big
  • I took the small sections and twisted 5 times
  • I then took the remaining half sections, one in each hand, and joined it to the ends of the small twist and twisted it all.
Does that make any sense?? The original sectioned hair become a big twist with a twisted front. At this point I am soo sick of the word section.
  • Lastly I tied the twist into a bantu knot/china bump (I called them China bumps when I was a kid-didn't hear of bantu knots until NHCBs) and that was it.
Wrapped a satin scarf around my head, got into bed (It was like one in the morning at this point) and CONKED out! The next day when I showered I kept the scarf ON. I didn't want any steam getting in my hair and preventing definition. After dressing I stood in the mirror and took a deep breath. I've had many hair disappointments..the moment of truth had arrived. I rubbed some EVOO on my hands and took down the knots. OMG. OMG. Oh My Gosh!!!!!!! My hair was soft and curly (Is that a brand name?). Like FOR REAL!! I was weary of the shea butter because I tried using I when I first started wearing my hair out but we didn't mesh, but guys O how we mesh :)

This will definitely be revisited. That day I got so many compliments about my hair! And it stayed defined and moisturised ALL DAY despite riding my bike to and from rehearsal!! 

The pics don't really show how curly it actually was :( but, 
I feel very much like the cat that got the cream :)


Cat. Cream.
Here's a clip of me a few months ago

I hope this finds you well :)
Rels x

Monday 7 March 2011

Thoughts, Thoughts, Thoughts


Hey Guys,

I've been trying out alot of things with my hair; trying to get a specific result; winning some, loosing some and loosing some more. It occured to me that SO many times on this HJ I've been adding 2 and 2 and getting 5.
Now I did math at A level and I can't ever think of a situation where this is true. There are certain things that we do to our hair that serve no purpose- like none whatsoever or cause serious setbacks, and we do them out of habit or tradition or I dunno- other reasons lol.

Some 2+2=5 moments (from personal experience):
  • My hair breaks when I comb my hair, so i'll continue to comb my hair whenever I style etc. Does this make sense? Like really? The only time I notice breakage is when I comb my hair. I remember at the beginning of wearing my hair out; I combed my hair every time I styled. No wonder my hair never grew, or rather no wonder I never retained any length. Now I try to only comb my hair on wash day, during the week I finger detangle. This month i'm going to try to comb even less- it's hard because my hair is seriously dense and gets denser ever day but combs are NOT my friend.
  • I'm applying something to my hair, straight away it doesn't feel right but I started so I must finish ¬¬ *Slaps hand over eyes and shakes head*. Am I the only one that does this? (probably). This was the case for NaturalCurls buttermilk on wet hair, teeny weeny two strand twists, the infamous FROHAWK incident *sigh*. It's so important to listen to your hair. If it feels wrong then STOP!
  • A good moisturiser has to be an expensive store bought thin concoction made esp. for natural hair. If it's not working; maybe my hair is supposed to feel parched and crap. Ok maybe that last part was a bit of an exaggeration but seriously, my search for a moisturiser was endless until I picked up a spray bottle and spritzed my hair with water.To moisturise = To make more humid. Humid= containing a great deal of water vapour therefore WATER = 4 NOT 5!!!!!! If my old maths teacher could see me now! lol 
  • Lastly, this small unrepresentative section of my hair has more splits or knots than usual so I'm going to take like two inches off my whole entire head. This is like I have a small paper cut on the edge of my finger so I'm going to cut off my whole hand. Not from my knuckle, not even the finger: The Whole Hand. I haven't trimmed by hair in at least 6 months and my ends are thanking me for it. Whenever I see a knot or a split-that ONE hair gets chopped. My hair is actually retaining its length and my ends are healthy.
I used to always wonder why my hair never got any longer and now its so obvious why.
These are just a few 2+2=5 moments, there have been many and there will probably (unfortunately) be more. But this HJ is just that, a hair JOURNEY. We learn, we grow (and so does our hair hehe).

I hope this finds you well,
Rels x




Wednesday 2 March 2011

Coconut Milk = Protein, genius ¬¬


Hey Guys,

I have been incredibly lazy when it comes to posting.. I know I have, isn't acknowledging you have a problem the first step to overcoming it? hehe.
In this post i'm going to take you through my experience using coconut milk as a deep treatment. I had a bit of a blond moment when it came to this DC. I haven't done a protein treatment in absolute yonks, mostly because my hair doesn't need it. In the past when i've done a protein treatment I usually followed it up with a moisturising DC but this time round my brain got distracted by the fact that I wasn't using a store bought PT so I didn't realise I was doing a PT lol. Hence my title: Coconut Milk = Protein because, it does!

I made quite a few mistakes.
1) Not realising I was doing a PT
2) Not realising how much coconut milk is in one can which led to making too much
so now I have a tub of something I wont use often in my fridge, happy days! Not.
3) Being a bit heavy handed resulting in a mixture that was much more liquidy than I would've liked.

The Mix?

  • 1 can of coconut milk (This is how much I used but USE LESS!!!)
  • 4 tbsp honey (there isnt a specific reason why I put four tbsp. It could've been three, five, a gahjillion..)
  • some aloe vera juice (probs not enough to be moisturising, next time it'll be a heap of AVJ)
  • Coconut, Olive and Amla oils (as much as I felt like)

Im sure I would've chucked some eucalyptus and almond oil in there as im trying to get rid of them.

So after washing (in twists) with my Giovanni Triple Treat clarifying shampoo I put the mix over my twists. I would've unraveled then applied but there was no point since my mix was so thin. After my hair was drenched with this I put a tesco bag over my head and sat under my steamer.

*note* When I was applying the mix I stood with my head over the bowl that contained it. That way any excess went back into the bowl to be used again. Obvi if the consistency was thicker this wouldnt be needed.

After steaming I rinsed out the mix with cool water (all still in twists)

Did I apply a leave in and seal? Maybe... See this is why I should post right after I do these things kmt!

The Verdict?
The next day once my hair had dried I took down a twist and realised my hair was crrrrrispy loool, it wasn't in a OMG WHAT HAS HAPPENED! way, but more in a hmm..this is new. I remember thinking is this the protein overload thing I've heard about? (lol) and im sure my leave-in containing protein didnt help matter at all. So to revive my hair I simply spritzed with my glycerin mix, sealed and retwisted. All was right in the world.

I guess I couldn't really give an opinion on this because my hair didn't need a protein treatment so that whole wash day was pretty pointless. And now i've got a bunch of PT mix in my fridge that I wont use *sigh*. But the next day crispiness suggests that it works..

I really did enjoy the smell of coconut though :)

Rels x
this is how the coconut milk looked outta the can
i'd added some aloe vera juice at this point
heres the final consistency 
my roots are getting soooo thick
¬¬
for no reason
ugh! tis v. annoying