Everyday Hair...

yup, got this twist out game
on lock! lol.

When I first decided to start taking care of my hair I was amazed by all the 'out' styles. The twist outs, braid outs, bantu knot outs... I wanted to learn how to do them and when I mastered them I felt a huge sense of accomplishment.

But personally I only wear them when i'm performing, or for other special occasions. What about when I want a more casual look? Or a style that lasts longer than two days? I'm talking about everyday hair. For alot of naturals this could be a wash and go or bun etc but due to the limitations uniqueness of my hair texture I needed other options.

I used to watch YT vids and read NHCB's and see all these really extravagant styles and think but what do you do between that? How do you take care of your hair on a daily basis?
I wanted everyday hair styles that didn't take long to do, looked good and were suitable for my hair type (protective). I don't ask for much lol. But I never had/took the time to create them but after my last post I was determined to keep up the positive momentum and spend time styling my hair instead of falling back on twists and scarves.

So in the four weeks since I Love My Hair here's how I've worn my hair.

Week 1: I wore the I Love My Hair hairstyle for the whole week. I took it down to moisturise and seal then put it back up half way through.
Week 2: Began with a wash since it had been two weeks since my last. I left the braids that I used to dry my hair in and wore headscarves
Week 3: Determined to do something with my hair I took down the braids and wore an improvised up do (see vid)
Week 4 aka now: I am currently wearing the flyest twisted bun ever. Video and post coming soon :)

So thats it. I'm going to be taking a more proactive and involved approach to my hair. The best thing I've done for my hair this past month is actually spend time with it. Sorry it's been so long since my last post i've been in exam HELL. But things have finally quieted down and so you'll be hearing from me more.

I guess i'll end with a question? What does your day to day styling routine look like?

Hope this finds you well :)
Rels x

I Love My Hair!!

For those of you who don't know i've had natural hair all my life. Two years ago I decided to stop hiding it away and embrace it fully. It hasn't been easy. The increase of Natural Hair Care Blogs (NHCBs) and youtubers has helped but at the same time hasn't. What do I mean, all of a sudden there was all this beautiful hair to look at and then there was me. 

I'm going to be real here, for a long time I felt like I drew the short straw when it came to my hair. I do not have wash and go hair, I do not have defined, organised curls. My hair is dense, unruly and sometimes a burden. Combs shred my ends and result in splits upon splits upon splits and then there are those pesky single strand knots (ssks) that seem to exist just to make me unhappy.

Don't get me started on products and how nothing seemed to work for me. Despite all of this I still had hope. I still wanted to make things work. I knew that my hair will never be silky and easy to manage and I settled. I settled for only feeling like I had beautiful hair when I did a flat twist out or some other out style that resulted in curls that I could wear loose. 

This Friday all of that changed. I told you all recently that I was going to be cutting my hair and I did. Over the course of a week I'd take down an old twist, finger detangle and cut. Sometimes half an inch sometime three. But when I was finally done I felt like I had a chance at a fresh chance. 

I had also been on the search for a new shampoo and conditioner, the ones i'd been using were on the verge of running out and I didn't know whether to repurchase or not. Before I did I wanted to try something new, something cheaper and more accessible so I did some hunting took a chance.

So there I was, almost damage free with a new shampoo and conditioner at hand, desperately needing a wash. I prepooed over night with condish, honey and oil. Nothing special. Then the next morning it was time. Time to see if this hair thing could work for me. I went all out. Shampooed in twists and actually took down each section to condition. I was thorough and determined. After I got out the shower I applied the leave in, sealed with castor oil and braided it all up to dry while I went to uni. 

I get back from my 4 hour lab and my hair still isn't dry. I refused to let the fact that I had somewhere really important to be panic me. I restyled the braids, packed my stuff and began my two hour journey back to London. Once I arrived at my family home I went to the bathroom and proceeded to take down the plaits. My hair was about 20% damp but it didn't matter, it was going to get styled whether it liked it or not. 

I split it in half, and left hair for a bang or pomp then put the top half in a ponytail. I braided the end then put the bottom half in a ponytail aswell. This time I gathered the tail together and folded the hair back up, I twirled the ends and pinned them so I had a kind of bun. Finally I loosely flat twisted the front and added a clip to the bun. And in less than ten minutes I was transformed. 

My hair was the smoothest it has ever been thanks to the conditioner and the cut just gave my hair life. I look at these pictures and feel so at peace with my hair it's ridiculous. I drool over the texture. I feel special. In that moment I felt so beautiful. I felt regal. Do you know what I mean? I never thought I could get to this place where I fully embrace, accept and celebrate my texture. I nolonger feel like the uglier hair type, I don't feel inferior or unfortunate. I fully and wholeheartedly love my hair in all of it's forms.

I love that I can say that.

I hope this finds you well,

Rels

Superscarf to the rescue!!

Hey Guys!!

I just wanted to quickly come and share this quick hair story with you. So a bit over a week ago I woke up in a musical mood. I'd been meaning to record some new videos but generally laziness had been preventing me, but this morning was different. I was practically buzzing with musical energy! So I get up and grab my guitar and camera but then I remember that my hair was a mess. A hot mess. My twists were well past their sell by date smh so i'm like "what am I going to do?" I didn't want to take out all of my twists and style my hair only to put them back in an hour later but there was no way those twists- if I could even still call them that- were seeing the light of day.

Then suddenly, Eureka! My scarf, my lifesaver of a scarf, the new love of my life. I took out the four twists that made up the front row of my hair, separated and then separated some more and played with the shaping till I liked the way the bangs fell. Finally I donned the scarf and all was right in the world.

Here's how it turned out.

Now I don't know who reads this but get at me guys?
Has a scarf ever completely saved your hair day?

As usual I hope this finds you well :)
Rels x

Hair Talk...

Hey guys,

I've had a very hair filled morning! I've literally spent maybe three hours surfing the hair web *hides face*. Why, you ask? Recently i've grown increasingly frustrated with my hair. The thickness, tangle prone-ness, dryness, single strand knotted-ness all of these -nesses came together to make one defeated feeling Rella. I was ready to call it quits, I felt like nothing I was doing was working and it just wasn't worth the time and effort. At my worst I was ready to cut it all off, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that I haven't found solutions to my hair problems yet and why cut it off when it's likely to grow back in the same crappy condition it's currently in.

Ok to be fair it's not that bad. Anyway this morning I woke up and was ready to make a plan to deal with all this hair ish so here are the problems.

• single strand knots
• splits ends, mid shaft splits, looks like a tree branch splits
• dryness
• detangling time/ tangle prone nature
• products...

The Plan

1. Single Strand Knots and Splits

Trim Trim Trim. Seriously I'm cutting my hair, not that sugar coated 'tip of each twist' business. I'm going through it all and chopping all the damage out thoroughly until all the knots and splits are gone. Section by section. I don't care how much hair it takes I want to be damage free. Next I'm going to monitor the condition of my hair over the next month to see if they return and why. Was it after combing? after a particular style? 

Speaking of combing, a while back, maybe last year I stopped using combs and solely finger detangled. I don't know what happened to make me go back... I think one day finger detangling stopped working on my ends so I went back to the comb. But in hindsight I think that had more to do with the state of my ends than the effectiveness of finger detangling. This time round my ends will be on point so I'm going to make a real effort and see if I can seriously cut down on comb usage.

2. Dryness

I am lazy. I won't lie. The idea of moisturising my hair, all of my hair, everyday is impossible. I just can't. Take a twist down, finger comb, spray with water, moisturise, seal and retwist everyday .0_o, Not gonna happen. But I am going to up my moisturising game, even if it's something as simple as running my hair under the shower mid-week. 

3. Detangling time/ tangle proneness

4 hours is just too long and without a comb it's probably going to take even longer. This month i'm going to experiment with different detangling methods/ combinations to see if there is anything better than my current routine. I already know that detangling my hair in the shower loaded with conditioner does not work for me. Like at all. The spray bottle prepoo detangling method aka my current routine is aiight but I think my next step is to try dry detangling. I mean, my hair just outright misbehaves when it gets wet so I'm thinking eliminate the water all together and maybe just maybe i'll stand a chance.

4. Products

When you're using a product do you ever wonder if it's actually working? It's obvious when something doesn't work because hair protests but what if your hair just shrugs it's shoulders all the freaking time. Is it because the product is average and not worth repurchasing or is it because shoulder shruging is about as excited as my hair can get? At my next wash I'm going to establish a baseline. After washing I'm just going to seal with castor oil and see how it dries. That way I know how my hair feels with no product so if my hair still feels like that after adding product; that product has some 'splaining to do! 

I'm going to leave it there, I'll definitely be back with updates, reviews and all that jazz. I'm really excited, I feel like I've been at a hair standstill for sometime now and it seems like things are finally going to start moving!

As usual I hope this finds you well!!

Rels x x

Video- Quick Twisted Style

So here's the video that I mentioned in this post.

Let me know what you think of the style...

Rels x

Yoghurt Pre-poo and other hair shenanigans...

Prepoo: Greek Style Yoghurt, Crown Pride Naturals Avocado Detangling Conditioner, Honey, EVOO, Castor Oil and Coconut Oil. 

Shampoo: Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo

Conditioner: Crown Pride Naturals Avocado Detangling Conditioner

Moisturiser: Crown Pride Naturals Organic Hair Milk

Sealant: Castor Oil 

So this wash day was not as successful as the last one which was disappointing because I finally felt like I was making progress in my mission to make managing my hair easier.
This sess. I wanted to experiment and try a yoghurt prepoo. I don't really do protein treatments mainly because my hair doesn't seem to need it, but I thought to myself: "Rels, it's been a nearly a year since your last protein treatment, surely you must need one". So I did it. *sigh*

My hair had been in the flat twisted bun for about two weeks so I knew my ends were gonna fight me when it came to detangling, but I was optimistic. I felt prepared, surely my stubborn ends were no match for the thick creaminess of the yoghurt. How naive I was. I took a section of hair, applied the mix and reached for the comb expecting a win. My hair LAUGHED at me. Like i'm sure I heard my strands saying: "Is this chick serious?? she thought *snigger*, she actually thought yoghurt would help her BWUHAHAHAAA".

It took 4 hours to detangle my hair that night guys. 4 whole hours. I felt so disheartened, exhausted and just generally fed up. I was like "hair shouldn't be a struggle", it's just not worth it. Afterwards I donned a plastic cap and went to bed.

The next morning I was NOT looking forward to washing my hair, I had no idea what the yoghurt had done to it and didn't really want to find out, but there were no other options. When I took off the plastic cap I was pleasantly surprised. My hair felt soft. It was as if my strands felt my pain and were like "you know what chick, we'll give you this one". I jumped in the shower, shampooed my scalp, rinsed, and then applied conditioner down the length of each twist. (Oh did I mention my hair was in twists? No? Sorry.) I flash rinsed with cold water and then wrung out my hair.

At this point it was like 8:45, I had a class at 10 and no idea what to do with my hair, the twists that I washed in were way too big to style in any way and I hadn't even moisturised yet but I was like one step at a time. I took a twist, untwisted, moisturised and sealed the hair with castor oil, and then split it in two and twisted again. I did that all over my hair and by 9:50 I was done. Still had no clue what to do with it though, but during the process I had put the front half of my hair in a loose bun to make accessing the back easier. When it came to styling I realised what I had done and was like hmm, this is kinda cute- which is strange because I never have my hair all the way back, I don't normally like the way it looks on me, but for some reason this time it worked. I did the same with the back half, pinned a few misbehaving sections and by 10 I was done.

Sure I was late to class but I didn't care. I had conquered. I felt like a champion. It didn't matter that I am yet to solve my ssk, mid shaft splits problem because that morning I styled my hair in under 5 minutes. I had the biggest smile on my face as I was walking to class.

Smell that guys? That is victory.

I'll post the vid for the style next.
Hope this finds you well,
Rels x