My December Hair and Products

Hey Ladies,

I have some new products that were given to me as early Christmas presents! Yay!


I'll be reviewing Suave Professionals Almond and Shea Butter Shampoo and Conditioner. And also Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and Deep Cleansing Shampoo.

So, if you're interested, look out for that (after final exams lol).



For now, I just wanted to post how my hair has been since the beginning of December.


Yup! In chunky twist and under my bonnet. When I have to go out -- School, Church or just to hang out and relax -- I put a hat on top of my bonnet and head out.
When I get back home, I take off the hat.



However, because I don't want free form locks, every other day or so I take out each twist individually, wet it, apply a little conditioner if needed, de-tangle and re-twist! That's about it when It comes to maintainance!



In my winter routine post, I wrote about the different styles I wear with my hat.
This winter protective styling thing is easier than I thought.

There are LOTS of benefits:
~ Most obvious is length retention
~ Saving product since I'm not completely re-styling every week
~ More time to do what I need to do: currently studying for final exams
~ Easy cute style for going out: Of I'm invited to go out on short notice and I want to ditch the hat, I can easily take out my twist and have a beautifully defined twist-out that I can style however I want!

I just love it!!


Year's end is going to catch me in Georgia though, so we'll see how that will go.



Are you protective styling for the winter?

Twists: Night-Care and Moisturizing

Since I've been wearing twists for about a month now, I've discovered a way to moisturize and take care of them at night that works for me.

Moisturizing My Twists

From past experiences, I've realized that when it comes to moisturizing twists that you'll be wearing for a while...Less is More.
I used to moisturize my twists with heavy creams and conditioners and 2 days later, they would feel heavy and look dull.
Now, I simply spritz water or wet my hands and run them down the length of my hair, making sure that the majority of the twists were a little damp and I would then seal in the 'moisture' from the water with olive oil.

Twists Night Routine

Caring for my twists at night is very fuss-free. I do one of two things:
1. After moisturising as explained above, I would 'part' my twists in two and braid each side and cover the braids with my head scarf. Braiding the twists provides a crimped/curled look that I like; it gives the twists more texture and makes it look more 'styled'.

2. If I decided to skip the moisturising for that night, I would simply braid my dry twists anyway (which created a more 'wavy' look) or I'd opt for the lazy route of gathering all the twists in the back and covering them with my scarf, leaving the twist hanging out the bottom of the scarf.

:)

Protectively Style Me

I've been reading a lot of blogs, articles and forums...and all of them had something or the other to do with protective styling.
I'm sure that anyone who has decided to grow long, healthy hair has come upon the term 'protective styling' at some point.
Protective styling is the process of styling one's hair in a way that the ends aren't exposed to the elements (sun, wind...) and to keep them from rubbing up against shoulders/clothes.
Some people protectively style their hair by wearing buns and other up-do's where their hair is up and away from their shoulders. Some natural curlies( including myself) wear two-strand twist as their protective style.

If you're a reader of my blog then you know that the last time I wore two-strand twist was in March. I wore them for about a week and a half. I love this style when I need a break from styling my hair and these twist are great because they can be styled easily; as you would style your loose hair.
Mini twists are another way to keep splits and knots away.

My problem though, is getting comfortable with them. I don't feel like my 'big-haired' self with twists and so I tend to sometimes take them out within mere days of putting them in (which takes at least 4 hours).

I will be youtubing to find some videos of women styling their twist...and hopefully I will be able to duplicate them.

Don't be lazy when you have mini twists. I made this horrible mistake earlier this year by leaving my mini twists in for 3 weeks!!
When you think about the fact that hair sheds at an average rate of 100 per day, you can imagine the trouble I had with tangling. Shed hair got all tangled in my twist and created a mess. All because I was being lazy with it.

I'm going to wash my hair tonight and I'm reading for another set of two stand twists...I want to keep them in for a minimum of 1 week and a maximum of 2. And repeat after my next wash...we'll see.

~I'll keep you posted :)

Making it Last

I don't think I've ever written about the way that I do my two-strand twist. It's not a big thing, but I know it has helped me a lot when it comes to helping my twist stay in longer.

I always braid the first inch and a half of my hair and twist the rest of it. I find that doing this prevents the roots from getting frizzy to quickly and prevents it from unraveling at the roots by the 3rd day or something.

Curly Fustrations and Winter Hair Tips

Lately, I've been getting very frustrated with my hair. The tangles, knots, dryness and breakage has been driving me up the wall! This winter has been extremely hard on my hair. I don't remember last winter being this bad. I believe that this was because last winter, my hair was much shorter and much easier to deal with.

This winter, my hair is longer and there's more of it to handle. I also know for a fact, that I have been lacking in the moisture department this winter.
As a result of, the lack of moisture my hair has:
1) Been extremely dry
2) Been tangling and knotting up a lot more
3) Been splitting at the ends and those ends are breaking off.

For some reason, I thought I could do the same things I was doing to my hair during the warmer weather. Big Mistake!

In the winter, hair needs more MOISTURE!
During the summer, I would condition and style and that would be it for the next couple of days, maybe even a week later.
I forgot that the winter calls for a different hair routine. One which includes twice as much moisture, than the summer routine.

I believe that in the winter, hair also needs PROTECTION!
I wear my hair out 99.9% of the time. I love big hair and I feel my best when my hair is big and bouncy. I also have yet to find, at this time, any way to keep my hair protected in a style outside of two strand twist and braids.
Early January and early February, I wore two-strand twist. In January I kept the twist in for three weeks and at the end of those weeks, I had a tremendous amount of tangles and shed hair. Which was a huge frustration for me.
For right now, my way of protecting my hair is making sure my ends are sealed with Shea butter before I go out into the cold winter air.

I have also stepped up the moisture, by spritzing my hair with a water and conditioner mixture, during the middle of the week. Tonight, I had the time (not much homework), so I decided to spray the mixture on my hair, de-tangle a bit and braid up each section.
I've noticed that my hair feels a little softer and I'm not seeing little bits of my hair breaking off.
I will keep moisturizing as much as possible to make sure, my hair doesn't dry out anymore.

Bottom line: I Can't Wait For Spring! :)