Category Archives: More About Me

May24

A Dream Deferred

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Skills

Curlformers Hook Down!!

Ummmmm … see, what had happened was …

So yeah. I just got home a little while ago and decided that it was time to see if the long & wide Curlformer curlers were long enough to set my hair. I pulled the almost two year old box out from under the bathroom sink, dusted it off and cut open the corner of one of the four sealed bags of curlers to remove one. Then, I grabbed the two pieces of the hook and attempted to assemble the little knitting needle like device. The little bugger wasn’t snapping together, so I pushed the two pieces really hard and … it snapped alright. Snapped right in half.

Frick!!!!!

Not to be denied in my quest to discover the truth … I put the two broken pieces together by inserting them into opposite ends of a curler and confirmed what I had suspected anyway …

Ummmm … yeah … this ain’t gonna work. The curlers are too short for the length of my hair and it’s not even stretched to the full length. Chy’s Curlz shared this post with me a couple of weeks ago, because she had ordered the knock-off Curlformers that only came in short and wide. She figured she could use the technique demonstrated in the post when her hair got longer. The blogger in the post demonstrated how to use two Curlformers to set hair that is longer than one curler. That being said, I doubt that I’d have enough rollers in the kit of 40 long and wide and 6 short and wide to set my entire head, if I had to double up most of them.

That being said … guess there won’t be any Curlformers set this weekend. When I did a length check on my pressed hair in February, my longest lengths ranged from 22-23″. It’s been a few months, so I probably gained about 1 1/2 inches since then, but I’ve also cut about 3″ from the longest lengths. The blogger in the above post indicated that the extra long and wide curlers are good for hair up to 22″ long. Therefore, I think that they should work. I don’t have the receipt for this set anymore, but I’m going to see if I can get a store credit/exchange for the extra long and wide. Hopefully they’ll have pity on me as it’s obvious that the set was never used and the hook broke in the first attempt to assemble it. Guess we’ll see! If they won’t do anything for me … I know what the June giveaway is going to be!! LMBO!!

May22

How I Retain Length – Part Two

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Skills

How I Retain Length – Part Two

Last week, I did this post on the three mainstay components of my regimen that I believe have allowed me to retain a lot of length: Moisture, Protection and Strength. I’ve shared how I do these three things over the course of the last year through a variety of posts. Well, I thought it might be a good idea to put the links to these articles all together in one place. As new readers come to discover the site and “old” readers want to find a post that they know they read, but just can’t find, thought it would be helpful to have a “Library” for quick reference. I hope that you agree!

So, here is Part Two of How I Retain Length with links to core posts related to my regimen!

1. MOISTURE

The first step in moisturizing for me is pre-pooing:
My Staples – Virgin Coconut Oil & Vatika Oil
How I Pre Poo (w/Video Tutorial)

Next is deep conditioning, which I’ve recently discovered a new way of doing:
Deep Conditioning Tricks – Cool & Seal (now for post henna or post-wash protein only)
Pre-Wash Deep Conditioning

Let’s not forget the all important leave-in conditioner:
The Power of pH

(I use the Kimmaytube recipe, but modify it to use less oil for my fine hair: 2 tbsp Kinky Curly Knot Today, 2 tbsp aloe vera juice [food grade-whole leaf], 1 tsp jojoba oil or Jamaican black castor oil; the “regular” recipe includes 2 tsp jojoba oil & 2 tsp castor oil.)

And finally, I have to seal all that lovely moisture into my hair:
My Staples: Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO)

2. PROTECTION

Protection starts with gentle handling in my book:
Finger Detangling
Tools of the Trade (gentle tools & accessories)

Next is protective and/or low manipulation styling that hides away those ends from environmental and mechanical damage:
Protective Styling … Boring?
Style Library: Updos

Then I protect the ‘do at night:
A Bonnet for Every Occasion

3. STRENGTH

I have truly realized the importance of treatments that reinforce and strengthen the hair strand.
Henna – My Two Step Henna/Indigo Process
Moisture & Protein, Finding the Balance
ApHogee 2 Minute Keratin Reconstructor
ApHogee 2 Step Treatment (my first time review and process)
I ♥ Aubrey Organics (new product)

♥

And that’s it! Enough isn’t it?! I’m nothing if not thorough .

(p.s. I’ll add new articles to this post as a discover and incorporate new techniques/products into my regimen.)

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How do you moisturize, protect and strengthen your hair?

May21

I ♥ Aubrey Organics!!!

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Skills

I ♥ Aubrey Organics!!!

This past Saturday I finally made time for a long overdue henna day.

Pre-Shampoo Deep Conditioning
On Friday night, I decided to take a leap of faith and do a pre-shampoo deep conditioner treatment with the Aubrey Organics GPB (Glycogen Protein Balancing) Conditioner mixed with Vatika Oil. Though it’s a protein conditioner and I was doing a henna treatment, I suspected that I could violate the cardinal rule to not use protein and henna at the same time for two reasons.

I only henna my roots, so I could concentrate the protein conditioner on my length and go lighter on the roots that would get henna.
I was doing the protein treatment prior to shampooing, so I would still be following the henna treatment and protein with a moisturizing deep conditioner.

I slept in the treatment overnight and, on Saturday at around 1 pm, I set out all of my henna and indigo supplies and hopped in the shower. I rinsed the AO GPB/Vatika Oil combo and my hair felt strong, sleek and smooth! SCORE!! It wasn’t hard or brittle at all, it just felt good! After rinsing the deep treatment, I placed my hair into 6 loose twists and shampooed with diluted DevaCare No Poo (again, diluting the shampoo with water makes it go on so much easier, more thoroughly and aids in detangling). I rinsed that and then applied Herbal Essence Hello Hydration to thoroughly finger detangle before rinsing and hopping out of the shower. Again, detangling was a total breeze. I can’t tell you how awesome that feels as my hair had started to become a struggle to detangle and I thought that it was due to the added length and wear and tear. What a difference Aubrey Organics makes!!! I am in love (I even begged Wei to let me put it in his hair on Sunday for a pre-poo DC before he hit the shower so that he could see what I was talking about!!! I was just so excited about it. I don’t think he was too impressed though . Of course, he didn’t condition after he shampooed either. Men. *lol*).

Henna/Hendigo
Now on to the henna/hendigo treatment. I reeeeeeeaaally didn’t feel like adoing a two step treatment,which at the minimum adds another 1 1/2 hours to the process, so I decided to give hendigo another whirl. I applied straight henna (mixed with honey and Sally’s GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm) to the center top roots of my hair. Then I applied what I think was about 2/3 indigo mixed with 1/3 henna to do the sides and back of my hair (again, roots only) in hopes that it would make them a dark brown. Finally, I applied Sally’s GVP MBCB to the untreated length of my hair and sat under my heat cap for a full 4 hours. #FAIL … AGAIN.

Ugh. So, it looks like I have no option if I want dark brown/black hair in some areas. I can’t take the shortcut. I have to do the two-step henna/indigo process *sigh*.

Anywho, though the hendigo was a bust, the length of my hair that had conditioner on it was so smooth and sleek!! The parts with henna had the typical, post henna, dry, hay-like feel. As it seemed the Sally’s GVP MBCB worked wonders on my length, I decided to pull out the jar of the real deal that I picked up many months ago on sale at Ulta!! Although it isn’t formulated as a deep conditioner, it seemed to work great! So, I applied it heavily to my henna treated hair and very lightly to the length. Then, I sat under the heat cap again.

After an hour, I removed the heat cap and allowed my hair to cool for about 10 minutes. Then, I pulled out my other new Aubrey’s acquisition, the Green Tea Cream Rinse. This is a different looking conditioning product. It has a light, minty green color and smells like mint green tea. The consistency is like Pepto Bismol, which was a surprise. I guess it is because the first ingredient is “coconut fatty acid cream base?”

What they say:

Want shiny, healthy-looking hair in a hurry? Fast-acting cream rinse infuses vital nutrients and rinses clean to help hair dry quickly for easy styling. Detangles on contact and controls flyaways to leave lengths silky and full and curls softly defined.

I diluted it with filtered water in a dye applicator bottle and applied it directly over the DC, then rinsed with cold water. Again, smooth, sleek, silky hair!!

Styling
Finally, I hopped out of the shower one last time and proceeded to gently and easily finger detangle and set my hair in 13 plump twists … yes, you read that right. THIRTEEN PLUMP twists! When does that happen on my fine hair?? I used AO Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner as my leave-in and sealed the ends with a JBCO/EVOO mix.

Wei and I then went out to dinner and those jokers had the nerve to be dry by the time we got home a couple of hours later. AGAIN, another “never” event for my hair!! The hits just kept coming!!

Since my twists were dry, I decided to release them and found a very defined, but soft and silky twist-out!

Could have used some more fluffing, but it worked. I can’t wait until I fully transition out my thinner ends!

And that’s it!! Aubrey Organics is a KEEPER!! My PJ ways may be over y’all! I’ll probably still try other things to give reviews, but I really think that the products in this line are going to be my staples/holy grails!! I mean, have you seen Jasmine and Zhara’s hair?!?! The proof is in the pudding!! I ordered one other product that I’ve yet to try, the Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo. I didn’t want to strip my hair too much as I was doing a henna treatment. So, I didn’t use it this wash day. But, I want to try it this upcoming Friday in order to get nicely clean hair for my first Curlformers attempt!! We’ll see!! I don’t know if I should be experimenting with a Meet-Up on the line! LOL!!

Oh, and lastly, I put my dryer together on Sunday! It was very easy to assemble. Test drive pending.

Don’t get it twisted. I assembled it! He’s just Vanna White;).

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINES!! WISHING YOU ALL A WONDERFUL MONDAY!

May18

TGIF

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Skills

TGIF

It has been a rooughhhh work week ladies. I’ve been on the road up and down the highways and bi-ways of NJ and in meetings galore. I’ve been running after work as well, not getting home until midnight on Wednesday and running to an important meeting for my condo association yesterday. I had a headache all afternoon and went to bed 9 pm with my frontal lobe pounding. Woke up this morning with the same dang headache!! Ughhhh … one more day … one more meeting … then the weekend will finally be here!

Anywho, felt so bad about not having any posts yesterday, but I just couldn’t. And, I HATE missing a weekday ! As I didn’t want the one day without posts to turn into two, I’m posting a couple pics I took of my braid out, turned twist-out, refresh. On Tuesday night, I re-braided my hair with the Curls Curl Souffle for another braid out. Once again, my hair was ÜBER soft when I released the following day. But, by the time the afternoon rolled around, my hair had expanded and lost a lot of the definition (another humid day in NJ). I was deep in South Jersey and hit the road to head back to my north Jersey office.

At the halfway point, had to stop for a potty break and saw the wildness that had become my hair. So, I divided my hair into two, dampened my hands with some water, smoothed them down the bottom half of my hair to “reactivate” the Curls Souffle and twisted. Then, I took two of those big doobie pins and wrapped the ends of the twists around them to secure and curl.

When I pulled up into my office, I released the pins and twists to controlled hair and just allowed it to do it’s own thing (i.e. self-fluff *lol*).

Again, the Curls Souffle adds great softness to my hair, plus it smells delicious. But, it really has no hold for a dry braid or twist out. So, I’ll be trying it on freshly washed, wet hair for a TnC or a WnG like HeyFranHey did here with gorgeous results!

So that’s it! This weekend, it’s Henna Time!! Oh, and my hard bonnet salon hair dryer on wheels arrived earlier this week!! Wooh-hooh! It’s still in the box, because I haven’t had time to open it and set it up! I’ll be doing that this weekend and I may sit under it with my henna, just to see how it works!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

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What do you have planned for this weekend?! (Go see Avengers if you didn’t see it yet!! LOL!)

May16

Frizz Ball

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Skills

Frizz Ball

So, on Monday, I mentioned that I re-braided my hair on Sunday night with a new product, which I would reveal on Tuesday. Well, I didn’t reveal the results, because I didn’t capture them upon releasing my hair and when I got home that evening, my mop was about as defined as the picture above!! LOL!!

I didn’t feel like the product got a fair shake though, because it clearly states on the tub, “Medium Curl Cream – without hold.” However, it does also state, “for effortless, frizz free curls.” The earlier claim I can co-sign, the second one, not so much. You see, it was hella humid and rainy on Monday and my braid-out did NOT survive the moisture-filled air. In fact, halfway through the work day, I formed two twists to tame the frizz cloud that was floating around my face.

But, my hair was super soft and felt lovely. So, I know what you’re saying … “WHAT’S THE PRODUCT SHELLI?” *lol* It was Curls Souffle gifted to me in a Curls Cocktail box by CurlyNikki. It’s one of her faves. And, again, I don’t think I gave it a fair shake. So, this isn’t really a review. I’m just sharing to appease “my public” as Veronica put it!! LOL !!

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Have you tried the Curls Souffle? Any recommendations on what to layer it with to get moisture with hold?

May15

How I Retain Length

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Skills

How I Retain Length

Last week, I mentioned that I was getting quite a few questions about what I do/did to get my hair to its current length. Usually when I get asked that question, I’ll point to my regimen post. But, to be honest, that is ever evolving and what I may be doing or using today may be totally different a week or two from now. So, I started to think about the various Tips and Tricks that I’ve shared over the last year. Then, I grouped them into categories of things that I consistently do to retain as much length as I can.

Right now, my hair is the longest that it’s ever been in my life … not ADULT life … my ENTIRE life. I have what is viewed as a “looser curl” and some assume that length automatically comes with that. However, I was not one of those little girls with a thick, long ponytail hanging down her back until the yearning for a “perm” set-in and destroyed her long, luxurious mane.

Instead, my hair was fine, frizz prone and armpit length was probably the longest it ever was pre- or post relaxer. All this to say that, at 40 years of age and 12 years natural, my hair is the longest that it has ever been … EVER.

Now here’s the disclaimer! LOL! This post isn’t to say that I’ve got this length retention thing down to an exact science, that my methods are the only ones that work, that I don’t have setbacks or that I have a perfect head of hair. I am trying to grow out a shorter, dryer, coarser and more breakage-prone crown, a shorter nape, transition out henna-loosened ends and recover from the amla induced “Great Shed of 2010.” I don’t have a perfectly even, thick perimeter and although my longest areas have reached waist length, not all of my hair has (I’m testing Chicoro’s “Lead Hair” Theory and the goal point method of trimming). So, yeah … my hair is a work in progress and I hope some of the things that I learned and began incorporating late last year will help me to achieve healthier, thicker, stronger and longer hair in the twenty twelve!!

So, without further ado, here are the 3 things that I am doing to “grow” my hair long or, more accurately, retain the length that I grow!

1. MOISTURIZE: Every week (or two weeks at the most), I pre-poo with Vatika or coconut oil, deep condition, apply a leave-in conditioner and seal with an oil. I re-apply a water-based moisturizer and seal between wash sessions, as needed.

2. PROTECT: I’m not just talking about protective styling. I think about protection as everything I do to reduce stress on my hair and prevent “premature” breakage. I finger detangle, use gentle hair accessories and tools, search and destroy to trim knots and splits that can cause “collateral damage” to adjacent strands, sleep on a satin pillowcase, wear a satin scarf or bonnet every night and wear low manipulation/protective styles that tuck away my ends 5-6 days a week.

3. STRENGTHEN: Throughout most of 2011, this element was largely missing from my regimen and I think it resulted in preventable breakage. But, I rectified this in November 2011, learned how to use protein correctly and began incorporating strengthening protein treatments every 2-3 weeks, or as needed. I also use henna. But, as I do roots-only treatments due to curl loosening caused by repeated applications, it isn’t sufficient as a strengthening agent alone. So, it became imperative for me to begin using protein to reinforce the “structural integrity” of my strands.

Here are a few pictures that show my progress from 2008, when I had my hair cut to ear length straight, to present.

Sept. 22, 2008

Feb. 19, 2011 (post 2-3″ trim)

Feb. 5, 2012

Feb. 10, 2012

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What do you do to retain length?

May14

Pre-Wash Deep Conditioning and a Braid-Out

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Skills

Pre-Wash Deep Conditioning and a Braid-Out

Okay, I am officially an Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose (AOHSR) Conditioner convert!! OH EM GEE!! On Saturday morning, I melted some Vatika oil and mixed it with AOHSR. I globbed the mix on my dry, stretched hair and smooshed it down the length, but didn’t detangle. Once I worked the conditioner through and ensured that my hair was thoroughly coated, I bunned and donned a baggie while I hopped in the shower. Then, I got dressed, removed the baggie and went about my day. That evening, I placed my hair into 6 twists and hopped in the shower to shampoo with DevaCare No Poo diluted with water (thanks to Bdanni of mightyfinenatural for this tip! It makes my DevaCare even more awesomer!!).

My hair was sooo smooth and soft and felt virtually tangle free through the length. But, after rinsing the Deva Care No Poo, I still applied HE HH to each twist, one by one. Then, I started with the first twist and thoroughly finger detangled. Given that I hadn’t detangled at any stage prior to this, you’d think that this would have been a little tough. Not at all!! My roots were the most tangled, but I was able to get through them very easily.

Once I finished detangling and re-twisting each section, I rinsed with cold water. I exited the shower, blotted with a Curl Cloth and then applied my modified kimmaytube leave-in (1 tsp jojoba oil only) to each section and decided to braid my hair for a braid-out! I don’t think I’ve done a wet braid out since I’ve been natural, to tell you the truth! LOL! Oh, and as an afterthought, I applied Wonder Curl Butter than Love (BTL) Pudding down the length of each braid. You see, it hit me, I’d been somewhat doing the L.O.C. Method on my TnCs when I used the kimmaytube leave-in (the “L” and the “O”) and then BTL (the “C”). So I thought, what the heck? Next time, I’ll apply BTL before braiding.

Once I finished braiding, I set the ends of each braid on big doobie pins to seal and curl. Then, I tied a satin scarf around my edges and hit the sack. I didn’t release my hair until around 2 p.m. on Sunday. As usual, my hair was still slightly damp, but actually wasn’t as wet as usual as I didn’t apply as much leave-in as I usually do. In fact, I was surprised how close to dry it was as my hair was very wet when I applied the leave-in and braided it. Anywho, when I released the braids, my hair was very defined and oh so soft. It lost some of the definition once I fluffed since it wasn’t fully dry. But, as you know though, I don’t mind sacrificing definition for big hair .

I re-braided Sunday night with a new acquisition and sealed with JBCO. I’ll reveal the new product with a results posts tomorrow . (On another note, I need to henna in the worst kind of way! I really planned to do it this weekend, but it was sooo nice out after 2 weeks of overcast skies! I just couldn’t bear to stay in to henna. But, I know what I’ll be doing this upcoming weekend!!)

Okay, now back to Aubrey Organics. Ladies, I am so sprung on this conditioner!! Mixing it with Vatika Oil and washing with diluted DevaCare No Poo seems to be a match made in heaven!! And, as I previously indicated, I love pre-pooing and deep conditioning in one fell swoop, with the bonus of being done with one round in the shower!! No going back in or having to use the kitchen sink to rinse!! In fact, I’m so sprung, that I went back to Jasmine’s November GOC update to figure out what shampoo she uses and ordered the Green Tea Clarifying Shampoo, the GPB Conditioner, the Green Tea Finishing Cream Rinse and another bottle of Honeysuckle Rose from the Aubrey website (I should have researched a little better first though, each product is about $2 cheaper on Vitamin Shoppe’s site)!! Anywho, I really want to see how the products from this line work together!! If they are anything like AO HSR, I may really give up my PJ ways y’all and retire a lot of stuff!!

Okay, let me not get ahead of myself. But, it’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about a product!! Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be as blown away by the other offerings in the line!!

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When was the last time that you were blown away by a product? What was it and why did it turn your grey skies blue ?

May10

I’m Bringing It Back!

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Skills

I’m Bringing It Back!

Okay ladies, I’m coming to you crying tears of sadness again as comments, ratings and likes have been pretty scarce . *lol*

As I mentioned when I ran this poll the first time, I know how it is. Sometimes you don’t have anything to say or you mean to comment, but can’t because … ya know, you’re at work and not supposed to be on hair blogs. Or maybe you visit a site every day, but don’t even think about commenting or rating. Or maybe you really, really, really want to comment, but just don’t have the 30 minutes it takes to enter your info and decipher the CAPTCHA: “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” to get past the spam firewall. But, you know, comments, likes and ratings are a bloggers bread and butter … they let us know that you are actually enjoying what you’re reading and seeing and want us to keep doing this thing .

So, anywho, just to hopefully make myself feel better , I’m bringing back a couple of polls I did in January. There was a GREAT response and I had a grin from ear to ear for a couple of weeks:). If you already answered these polls, thank you very much for brightening my January!! But, I don’t think you can do them again. For those who always comment, thank you so much as I read every single one and get so excited when I see a new message in my inbox!! For everyone, if you have any thoughts that you’d like to share, I’m all about it!! If there is anything that you’d like to see or read more of, I’m open to suggestions about that too, so use that comments section !!

And, without further ado (shoot, I probably lost a few people who didn’t make it through that intro!), here are the polls!!

May8

Protective Styling Boring?

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Skills

Protective Styling Boring?

[PIC HEAVY]

On Sunday, I decided to start going through my photo “archives” from 2011 to present to build a Protective Styles album on Facebook. And, it started me thinking about the recent questions I’ve been receiving about how I’ve been able to “grow” my hair long. I put grow in parentheses as I think “growing” hair long is generally a misnomer. As many of us know, absent a medical condition, our hair is always growing. Shoot, how many used to relax every 4-8 weeks, because that new growth was coming in so fast? So, yeah, that smashes the concept that our hair doesn’t grow. However, what is often happening when hair plateaus at a certain length is that we aren’t retaining that growth.

Enter protective styling. Now, there are a variety of factors that I believe have contributed to my ability to achieve my current length, which is the longest my hair has ever been, though it’s still a work in progress. What I do know is that protective styling (i.e. wearing styles where my ends are tucked) has played a major part in helping me get where I am now and will continue to be of benefit. But wait. Let me be more precise. Low manipulation protective styling has played a major part in helping me get closer to my goals.

You see, unlike those with hair of heartier stock, my fine strands can’t deal with too much pulling, tugging, braiding, twisting, cornrowing, flat-twisting, etc. So, I learned about a year and a half ago that my hair fares much better when I stretch it with twist-outs or TnCs and then place it in protective styles that can be done in 5-15 minutes with large sections of hair and pretty much left alone for several days or even a week at a time. Although I love the idea and look of small twists, mine tend to unravel. So, having to re-twist every couple of days kind of defeats the purpose of that particular protective style (though, I still wear twists on occasion). And wearing my hair down results in tangles, knots, splits and breakage due to friction and debris!

Now, to my real point. I have often read the sentiments like the following about protective styling: “What’s the point of growing your hair long if you always have to hide it?” and “Protective styling is boring.” But, I’d like to posit that “hiding” one’s hair can be anything but boring and is actually fun! In the last year and a half, I have done more simple, protective styles than I can even remember. The key for me has been to:

Play around with a few gentle tools and accessories (i.e. banana clips, satin scrunchies, bobby pins, Spin Pins, Comfort Flex barrettes, flowers, hair sticks, headbands and *gasp* braiding hair! *lol*).
Search YouTube for inspiration from all sources, not just naturals with my texture and/or length (shoot, one of my favorite Youtubers for protective styling inspiration is Lilith Moon, a Russian blonde with naturally straight, shoulder length, thin hair).
Use my imagination.

With those things, I have found protective styling to be enjoyable and generally prefer to wear my hair up and hidden, over down and out, most days of the week.

So, with some creativity, a few hair tools, a little time and patience, I think protective styling can be fun, fancy, and fierce for hair of all different textures and lengths. And, bonus!! Switching up protective styles from week to week can save our strands from repeated tension on the same areas, which can cause thinning and breakage. With that, here is a sampling of the protective styles that I’ve done over the last year and a half. The same old plain bun and twists aren’t our only options!!