I'm going to be posting more regularly as of...well- now.
And i'm thinking I might start posting some videos as well!
I have tons to tell you about
Like the castor oil challenge!
And my two week affair with some mini twists I did in January.
My blow out FAIL.
My favourite 10 minute protective style.
and much more!!
I should have a new post up at some point this week. If I don't I just might slap myself =/
So yeah, watch this space :)
I just posted on my other blog that I feel like a neglectful spouse, but in this case I feel like an absentee spouse. Like maybe a trial separation was involved or something. Or even a runaway bride. The point is I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. How ridiculous! This will NOT happen again. :(
Alot of it was because I didn't have anything to say and then it had been too long since i'd last said anything to just jump back in with something I did have to say...
The long and the short of it is I am a crappy blogger and I will try to be better in the future.
Now for the hair talk. There are pros and cons going on. The back of my hair is collarbone length- pro, the front of my hair is borderline shoulder length- pro and despite kinda ignoring my hair for the past couple of weeks ( deadlines *sigh*) I still have hair on my head- pro.
The cons however get me down, like i'm fighting a loosing battle: dryness- CON. Like seriously? still? I feel like a broken record. Remember NaturalCurls from some posts ago? My hair scoffed at that ish, and it smelt medicinal o_O no bueno. I then moved on to the infamous Giovanni direct leave in which to be fair does something, esp in the detangling department, but that moisturising feel doesn't even last a day!
Will I never have moisturised hair?
I came across a product line that was based here in the UK called Crown Pride Naturals. I ordered their Hair Milk, Avocado Conditioner, and samples of their gel and pomade.
I am trying, despite my hair fighting me every step of the way!
I feel like if this doesn't work then nothing will ( ._.)
Yes I know that i'm overreacting but i'm feeling weary!!
Don't even get me started on mid shaft splits (despite eliminating combing), SSK's, and how drying my hair in a bun resulted in stretched roots but matted, tangled, shrunked ends. CON, CON, CON!!!
Other than that I seem to have master the canerow and flat twist out
Skip to 7:35 to see me, not a plug!! This flat twist out was done on just washed, wet hair which is why it was so shrunked. I used GDLI, shea butter and aloe vera gel, in that order.
Thats one thing I love about natural hair though, I can have it short and compact or big and wild just by changing whether I style it wet or dry.
Thats all for now dearies
but more soon, I promise!
It has NOT been four months!
Ok it has, but I can't believe it's been four months since I last posted ¬¬
I don't even know why...for a long time I wasn't really doing anything special with my hair and then.. I dunno. But i'm here and i'm going to talk braid outs.
Now I don't do twist outs because my hair is not a fan of twists. My roots get really matted in large twists and i'd have to do really small ones to stop this from happening and to get my hair to fall in the way i'd want.
So a few weeks ago I had a performance. And I was thinking of how to do my hair for it. Twist-out weren't an option and a braid outs don't really fall right either because my roots are so thick so I thought to my self: let me try a canerow out.
I moisturised with Giovanni Direct Leave-In and sealed with shea butter and aloe vera gel.
With a side part at the front of my head I braided the front section. 4 canerows on each side of the part going from part to ear. Then I braided the back; 6 canerows going straight down to my neck. I donned a satin scarf and visited slumberland. The next day I put some oil on my hands and carefully took down the plaits.
The results were amazing! I never knew my hair could look like that.
And it stayed that way all day! I got sooo many compliments about my hair lol, but nobody was more surprised than I was.
I've experimented with different sized braids, different amounts and even different canerow patterns.
It nice to have a go-to style :)
Oh and the back of my hair is now collarbone length. When did that happen?
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 :)
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 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
